Chapter 5- The timer until his soon return

With a weightless feeling, as the cold breeze passes through their skin, they gently levitated above the ground.

"A glass elevator, nothing that shocking," Riyoko thought, looking out the glass wall as they rise higher, "except for the fact that I don't know whether this is magic or technology. I'm scared to ask… who knows if I'd sound stupid or weird if I did,"

As Riyoko admired the view, Reine approached him from the side.

"Beautiful isn't it?"

"Yeah… it sure is,"

Reine giggled, "just wait till you see the city…" she said, then walked towards the black-haired girl.

Riyoko glances at Reine as she walks away, "speaking of weird…"

Ding*

A high-pitched sound occurred, opening the elevator doors as they reached the top of the building.

"that was higher than I thought,"

Getting out of the elevator, they were greeted by two receptionists sitting by a long table at the side of the area.

"Welcome, to transfer!"

As Reina walked over to the reception along with the black-haired girl, Riyoko observed the area.

"This place is quite spacy, and there's quite a lot of doors spread out the area, it's like a hotel or something. I wonder what we'll be doing here?"

"Hey, Riyoko! Over here!" Reine called, "our place is 007, let's go,"

Riyoko nodded as he walked over towards them.

Reaching their area, Reine joyfully opened the door, "here we go, door 007!"

As she opened the door, the black-haired girl and Riyoko looked amazed as they gazed at the room.

"Oh yeah, it's the first time for the both of you to use this mode of transportation, right? go ahead and enjoy yourselves!" Reine said as all of them entered the room.

The room had a fancy design, like a five-star hotel room, with fancy couches, glass tables, and a large king-sized bed.

"This is transportation? What kind?" he thought.

Riyoko looked around with excitement and curiosity imprinted on his face, "how long are we going to stay here?" he asked.

"About 15-20 minutes or so," Reine replied. Closing the door, it made a small and strange sound.

"That fast!?"

Reine nodded.

"well, this is teleportation, so I doubt we would be waiting too long," The black-haired girl said, also looking around, "I wonder, why go through this much for just waiting about twenty minutes?"

Reine laid down on the bed, "I have the perfect explanation for that! first of all, would you want to wait about twenty minutes in an empty room? Just waiting to be transported doing nothing?"

Riyoko nodded, "true… that would be kind of horrifying,"

The black-haired girl looked around and noticed a bathroom door in one of the corners of the room, "oh? Is that the bathroom?"

Reine tilted her, "do you need to go?"

"You could use the bathroom in this kind of thing?"

"yeah, the whole room will be the one transported after all. what we're not allowed to do is touch that exit door right there, but as you can see…" Reine pointed at the exit door.

Riyoko looked at it carefully, "its knob turned red…?"

"It means we're locked in this room and that door knob is not interactable,"

"what do you mean by not interactable?"

"Try opening it…"

Feeling nervous but curious, he decided to go to the door in an attempt to open it.

"While you two are going to go on about that, I'm going to…" the black-haired girl said with a slightly embarrassed look.

"Oh! So you were still there, haha!" Reine teased, "go on now!" she said with a mischievous smile.

The black-haired girl pouted, "jeez… I'll be right back,"

"Have a good one!"

"Don't reply like that!"

And with a slightly red face, the black-haired girl went inside the bathroom in the corner of the room.

Riyoko let out an awkward laugh as he stood still in front of the door.

"Hm? What are you waiting for? Touch it,"

"Hm? Oh yeah… right,"

"Don't be too afraid, try out many things and explore with just the right precaution, I'm here so you should loosen up a bit despite this not being natural for you," Reine said, "you only have a limited time right now after all..."

"Hm? What's with the way she's talking right now? It's almost as if…" he thought, "wait… what did she mean by I have limited time?"

He turned his head around with curiosity and a slightly confused look, "hey, umm…"

Reine let out a mysterious smile, "oh? Tomorrow is your birthday, isn't it? You ought to go back and celebrate with Iris and that one friend of yours from your school,"

Riyoko fully turned around with shock as Reine kept her smile.

"H… huh? y… you…"

"Wait! Think for a moment!" he began thinking as he fights his tension, forcing himself to calm down.

"this girl… Reine. Now that I think about it, she was acting all-natural, and yet it also seemed like she was covering for my lack of common sense for this world as well… she was the one who told me my reason for being here, and she also basically have my background… Like a set NPC to greet a player when they enter a certain quest area, it's as if she was waiting for me…"

He suddenly recalled and analyzed his memory from when he first saw Reine, "If I remember correctly, she said I came earlier than expected. and it might not have been too obvious, but I noticed signs of her being in a hurry when she arrived at that house… I got so many questions, but for now…"

Riyoko locked eyes with Reine in all seriousness, "who… are you?"

Reine covered her mouth and giggled mischievously, "Great question! It's the easiest to answer for me… though, from that look on your face, you got a lot more important questions, don't you?" she smiled as she stared back at Riyoko's serious but non-hostile eyes.

Riyoko nodded, "I guess…"

"well… to answer your question. As I said before, I'm your cousin, that fact remains true even now,"

"you're my cousin? But I met all of my cousins before, I remember them but I don't recall meeting you before…"

"When you said you met all of your cousins… aren't you only referring to your father's side?"

Riyoko's eyes shrunk with shock as he felt a cold wind suddenly brushing past his body, giving him goose bumps as it sends shivers down his spine.

Reine walked forward near him and tilted her head along with her body, smiling mysteriously at Riyoko, "hey… have you ever asked about your mother's side of the family?"

"Y… you know my mother?"

Suddenly, Reine looked sharply at the bathroom door in the corner, "we're out of time… don't worry, we can discuss this another time,"

"What!?"

"Just keep going along like the way you've been earlier and just enjoy your current time," she ran back on the bed and laid down facing up.

Riyoko scratched his head in stress, "so this means that black-haired girl doesn't know? Well, it's not a surprise from the way she was acting,"

"Oh yeah, I haven't told you yet have I? her name is Arisa," she let out a sigh, "Just chill out for now… I'll create time for us to discuss things thoroughly… I'll create time…" she placed her left hand on top of one of her eye as they began to glow bright yellow.

"What are you doing?" he questioned, looking at Reine's focused expression, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Suddenly, the bathroom door in the corner opened as Arisa walked out, "I'm back,"

Arisa observed the room, "umm, did something happen?" she asked, noticing the somewhat awkward mood left by the two of them.

"Uhh…" Riyoko was stunned as he didn't know what to say.

"Nothing, he just kept asking questions and I got somewhat irritated, It happens all the time," Reine replied blatantly with no trace of emotions as if she was speaking directly from her mind without conscience.

"Geeze Reine… you two are basically family so you should try to get along," Arisa said, "also, I see you're doing THAT again,"

"This is just how a lot of families are to each other and how we get along, not like you'd understand," Reine said blatantly, creating an awkward silence.

"Um… wasn't that…" Riyoko thought, shocked, looking at Arisa standing still with a blank expression.

"AH!" Reine quickly sat up from the bed and looked at Arisa with a guilty look as her eyes stopped glowing, "I'm sorry Arisa!! I didn't mean that, I…"

Arisa stood still in front of Reine with a blank expression.

"A… Arisa?"

Arisa then crouched down in front of her and smiled angelically, "I understand, I know you can't control what you say when you're doing something like that, and it's not like you mean it either…"

"Arisa…" Reine smiled with teary eyes, like a forgiven child after being scolded by her mother.

Arisa then placed her hands on top of Reine's thighs.

Reine looked flustered, "ah… Arisa, what are you doing…?"

Suddenly, Arisa pinched Reine's thighs as hard as she can.

Flop*

Reine fell off the bed and rolled on the floor groaning in pain, holding her left thigh.

Arisa let out a sigh of relief then smiled brightly as she walked over toward Riyoko.

"I may not be as useful as Reine, but please don't hesitate to ask me for help whenever she refuses, I'd be happy if I could somewhat be of assistance,"

She smiled, emitting a bright and pure aura like an angel gifted by the heavens.

Riyoko nodded with a smile.

"she's like an angel… but I have mixed feelings about her regarding this kindness…"

Looking at Reine still on the ground groaning in pain, Riyoko kept his smile and swallowed his nervousness, "I better be careful…"