Chapter 5: New Tenants
"So, about our living situation. Since we're tied together in this game, we should probably find a place for the both of us to stay. My apartment hasn't got a lot of room, especially not for two people." The scarlet eyed girl said to her partner.
"I couldn't agree more. I'd love to spend more time with you. I know a friend who may put us up and her rooms have a considerable amount of size to them."
Murasaki pondered over who Neiyo's 'friend' would be, but decided to go along with it. If Neiyo trusted her, then she could too.
"Sure, shall we go and find out then?" she asked. Neiyo did nothing but nod happily and let her take his arm once more. However this time, he grabbed her waist and hoisted her beside him as he jumped from roof to rood.
"Whoa, whaaaat?" Shocked, she grabbed tighter incase she would fall.
"Don't worry, I won't drop you. This is how Sekirei travel. We have high speed and can jump farther than humans can so it makes it an easy way of making our way through the city."
She relaxed to the explanation and let Neiyo carry her until his voice rang out again. "We're here!"
They landed outside a serene, traditional looking house, that could've been mistaken as a small hotel by the size of it. It's walls were wooden and dark coloured, with the only modern look to it was the windows and the double doors at the front. There was a sign to the left of the door, that proclaimed the house as 'Maison Izumo'. Landing rent at 50,000 Yen a month.
"50,000 Yen a month!? We can't afford that." Murasaki exclaimed, starting to worry about where they would be living from now on.
Neiyo let off a laugh at her worry, "You may not be able to afford that, but I can. I saved up a lot on my travels. Plus the landlady is an old friend, she may let us pay our way in other methods too."
Following his own explanation of why Murasaki shouldn't worry, he walked to the door with her in tow and knocked three times.
"Just a minute!" a voice rang out from inside.
They waited for what seemed more than a minute but decided not to complain when there was certainly a chance of overhearing to be taken place.
The door suddenly opened to reveal a young woman with waist length lavender hair in a shrine outfit. Her eyes radiated the same colour, if not a bit darker.
"May I help you, Neiyo?" she asked politely.
"Hello to you too, Miya. Do you have any rooms spare these days?" he smiled at her enthusiastically.
Miya turned to see Murasaki beside Neiyo, who towered over her like he did most people. Murasaki almost hid behind Neiyo, because she guessed that Miya was also a Sekirei and was unsure of how to treat the situation.
"We can work something out," she said, then turning her gaze to Murasaki again, "It's nice to meet you. I'm Miya Asama. I'm an... old friend of Neiyo's."
This seemed to cause Neiyo a reason to nod in approval from Neiyo. She knew there was something afoot between the two but again, decided not to aggravate the situation. They had turned up, uninvited to her doorstep to ask for a room of all things.
"Sorry, I'm just a bit nervous. My name's Murasaki Yatsu. A pleasure." she smiled.
Miya turned back to the silver haired 'Smoke', "Come in, and we can discuss the details."
They both bowed in their thanks and entered the house after her with Neiyo closing the door behind them.
The house was very traditional inside, with tatami mats in the majority of rooms besides the inner lobby and the hallways where it was darkened floor boards. The walls were a cream colour but door to the lounge, Murasaki noticed, was a traditional slide door, the others however were more modern with a wooden door marking the entrance of each room thereafter.
Miya led them to the living room where they knelt around a small table in the middle of the room, on one side of the room was a stand with a small TV and the others wooden furniture with pictures on. Murasaki didn't recognize the man in the picture but assumed he was close to the landlady.
Neiyo caught Murasaki looking toward the picture and placed his left hand on her right thigh, squeezing reassuringly.
After a minute of adjusting and bringing out some paperwork, they began to talk about staying in Izumo Inn.
"Now, are both of you wanting to stay in the one room?" Miya promptly broke the silence.
Neiyo turned to Murasaki, assuring her that it was her decision.
After a moment of deep thought, she plucked up an answer, "I... I would like that. If you would allow it."
Miya's gaze turned towards Neiyo, who knew himself where this was going. "You are aware I don't allow illicit relations inside Izumo Inn unless the two people in context are married."
Neiyo let off a grin and smiled. Murasaki noticed a Hanya mask appear from behind Miya, which terrified her. In reflex she grabbed Neiyo's right arm and held it tightly, signifying her fear to him.
He thought it was endearing, and allowed himself to make his own 'Hanya' of sorts. A smoky guise appeared behind him, a full figure standing next to him with it's arms folded. It's face was hidden behind the vapour, only to make out a form of a breathing mask.
That must be his combat suit in full, Murasaki thought to herself.
It seemed to combat Miya's mask but both of them didn't seem to be backing down. Sitting in awe of this, the blue haired Ashikabi decided to break the on-going mental battle.
"Uhm, I don't know what the two of you are doing but can we get back on track, if that's alright can we put the scary... things, down?" It took every ounce of courage to stop the two and speak up whilst they were doing... whatever it is they were doing in their heads.
Miya sighed to herself letting her mask down. Neiyo didn't sigh but let the guise he created fade away.
"Sorry, I guess we got carried away." Neiyo smiled to her reassuringly.
"As I was saying, I do not allow un-wed couples to have illicit relations in Maison Izumo. Is that understood?" Miya continued.
The pair opposite her nodded in acceptance. Neiyo remarked to himself, This is her home I suppose... only right to honor her wish...
"Then you two will be staying in room 203 upstairs. You may meet some of the tenants aswell this evening. The rent is as stated 50,000 Yen a month and that includes breakfast, lunch and dinner."
Neiyo interrupted her train of thought for a moment, "Pardon my interruption, but who are the other tenants exactly?"
Miya knew this was an underhanded question, the real motive of it to find out if any others were Sekirei or not.
"We have two other tenants at the moment." Miya stated, and paused. "They live in rooms 204 and 103. You will meet them later today."
She turned her gaze to Neiyo oncemore, "There will be no fighting in Maison Izumo. Is that clear?"
Neiyo nodded again, "Crystal."
"Excellent", she replied. "I have to get dinner started, and I have to increase the amount of food I'm using since we have two more guests."
Murasaki seemed to shy away in embarrassment, whereas Neiyo perked up a bit; "So long as you're cooking is still as good as it used to be, I have no problem going out and getting some extra shopping for you."
Miya put a hand over her mouth and giggled a bit, almost in gratitude, "That won't be necessary. You can make up for it tomorrow doing chores around the house."
Neiyo merely chuckled and agreed.
An hour later
The two decided to go to their respective apartments and Neiyo said he would meet Murasaki within the hour at her place. That was 45 minutes ago and Murasaki had finished tying together her clothes and books she needed. It was only after she had done this she noticed how bare her apartment was. The only thing she actually had furniture-wise was a table to study and eat on.
A knock came to the door, followed by two more. She got up from the table and answered it, smiling broadly as the man she loved stood in front of her.
"Ready to go?" The ashen haired Sekirei asked her.
Nodding she grabbed her three heavy bags, that to Neiyo, looked like Bin Liners somewhat, and came out the door, locking it.
"I can take those if you want?" Politely gesturing to a hand.
It was only then that Murasaki noticed that Neiyo was carrying a huge bag on his back, making her bags look like half of what he was carrying in total.
"What?" Neiyo noticed Murasaki staring at him.
"It's just I never knew you were so strong..." she answered. Neiyo laughed it off and took her bags as they started walking.
It took the two almost two hours to finally get to Maison Izumo from Murasaki's apartment. Where they were once again greeted by the landlady, with another stern reminder about her 'illicit relations' rule.
I'm starting to regret even asking for a place to stay here. Especially if I have to hear about illicit relations every damned day. Neiyo chimed to himself upon hearing her reminder.
"We understand, Miya. Are we okay to move into the room just now?" Murasaki asked.
Neiyo noticed the upfrontal attitude she had with Miya. She's more confident than usual in front of Miya. I wonder where that came from.
"Of course, I cleaned it while you were out collecting your things. I'll have dinner ready within the hour so don't be late downstairs."
"Wouldn't dream of it, Miya." replied Neiyo.
The two silently went upstairs and started to find places for their possessions and found it relatively simple. Murasaki was almost in charge in the room since Neiyo didn't really care where his things were kept, so long as he knew where they were kept.
Half an hour passed and Neiyo was happy enough with the placement of things. Murasaki had just finished putting away her clothes in the set of drawers supplied and finding a place for her books when her partner suggested going downstairs again. She happily accepted, getting a chance to relax and explore her new home more.
Neiyo decided to sit down and watch TV, catching up on the news of what was happening within the city, only to get depressed at seeing Hiroto Minaka's face on the screen, stating that MBI had bought 80% of Shinto Teito stocks. He humphed at the screen, intently listening on what the reporter had to say about it.
"Shareholders are arguing MBI's attempt at holding 80% of stocks in Shinto Teito today as an outcry came from business owners everywhere throughout the city." The news reporter relayed confidently.
Outcry, pfft, if anything Minaka has blackmailed them to do so. But knowing him, he has set this up from the beginning anyway, it was only a matter of time.
Neiyo rubbed his forehead in annoyance, only to be greeted by another tenant; "Why the long face there?"
He looked up to see a young woman in a blue and pink shirt that seemed to scream at the stretching from her humongous busoms and blue capri jeans. She was a brunette and had long waist length hair, but had a side ponytail which seemed to uncover one side of her face. She had the same coloured eyes, if not close to hazel.
"And you are?" Neiyo replied.
"Uzume, I live in 204. You must be the new tenant right?" She smiled, trying to ease the tension.
"Correct, I'm Neiyo, your neighbour as of today."
She walked towards him and sat beside him looking at the television set. "That man is up to his antics again, huh?"
Neiyo didn't quite pay attention to her as she passed and sat on his right, his mind looked to her neck, spotting her Sekirei symbol. At least one of them is safe here under Miya's protection.
"Oh, yeah. He's a pain in the ass. You've got to respect him though, for what he has done, even though it may not be good." A belated reply came eventually from the Smoke Sekirei.
"Respect him? Why?" Uzume questioned.
"Think about it. It takes a stronger than average man to think of how he's going to run things. If things are going according to his plan, he's smarter than he looks. He'd look better with my fist through his face though."
"Whatever you say. Why do you have such a grudge against him though?" Her eyebrows raised as she spoke.
"You could say, he wronged someone close to me." Neiyo told a surface level truth. Strictly speaking it wasn't a lie. But his daughter, and her upbringing was up to Minaka and she had been stripped of her childhood. But, all the Sekirei had, not just her. For that he wanted retribution... and Minaka's head.
Trying to break the awkwardness, Uzume began again; "So what do you think about MBI then?"
Neiyo was about to answer, but then decided against it. This girl could well try to destroy me. Best not let out too much information. It's a battle royale afterall.
"I think you ask too many questions." Neiyo smiled at her, causing her to pout in the sudden show of rudeness.
They sat in silence for a while until Miya showed up with a tray of several plates of food, all seemed to contain a singular fish with sides of vegetables and rice. "Dinner is about to be served. Uzume, can you fetch Kagari and Murasaki please?"
"Sure... wait who?" Uzume quizzed.
"Kagari and Murasaki, she's with Neiyo as one of the new tenants." Miya stood with the tray in her hands. Uzume failed to move immediately, and when a Hanya mask shot out from behind Miya, the bell dropped. Uzume sprinted past Miya and went to fetch the two.
Neiyo chucked, "You still got it, Miya."
Miya turned and put the food down on the table, and politely smiled back giving a small laugh, "I don't know what you're talking about, Neiyo."
Just like old times...