Looks like I am still walking. We are on campus grounds, but I have yet to see the room. I don’t want to be late, so I hope we reach the room in time. Oh, we finally stopped.
Hachiko turned to Kai and me and stated, “The room should be right here.” Here…why is he pointing to the ground? I see a manhole…are we taking classes in the sewer? I am kind of doubting what Hachiko said, but we are short on time, so I should trust him.
“Are we talking classes underground?” Kai suddenly asked with an annoyed expression.
“I’m not sure. This is my first time going to the room,” stated Hachiko and the next thing I knew, he kicked the lid off the manhole, carried me princess style, and then leapt into the manhole…OH MY GOD! Why is this hole so deep? I can literally feel my stomach dropping. This is scary!
“AHHHHHHH!”
…Not scary anymore. Kai’s scream was pretty funny that I forgot my fear.
Hachiko held me a little closer and whispered, “Get ready.”
“Get ready for what?”
The next thing I knew, a huge gust of wind hit us followed by us rushing through what looked like a tunnel. This is kind of making me dizzy. Is this how Alice in Wonderland felt when she went through the rabbit hole?
I thought I might faint, but Hachiko suddenly landed on the ground gently still holding me close. Oh, Kai also landed gently…but he looks exhausted.
“We’re here!” announced Hachiko as he placed me down gently. A door is here with the infinity symbol on it, but I don’t see a handle.
“How do we get in?”
Hachiko practically jumped toward the door and knocked on it saying, “Hachiko Lorenzino!” The door flickered a bit and then words appeared before us.
“What is this?” I heard Kai ask. Hachiko chuckled saying, “The headmaster said that in order to get into the room you have to answer a riddle. The number of riddles depends on how many people are present and each person must answer one riddle correctly.”
“A riddle…seriously?”
Hachiko nodded and added, “I guess he just wanted us to answer the riddles, since the others were teleported in, so only three riddles.”
I guess the riddles are going to be hard, but let’s just hope we enter the room on time.
Let’s see what the riddle for Hachiko says.
I come in hard and then come out soft.
…I know the answer to this, but if a person has a dirty mind then they will totally think the answer is something else…Kai looks embarrassed. Oh dear, Hachiko looks pretty confused.
“Hachiko, do you remember the name of the sweet I gave you once and told you not to swallow.”
“Uh-huh, you called it gum!”
The words turned green and then changed into a different riddle. I guess the words will change green when the answer is correct.
“I’ll answer the next riddle,” stated Kai as he stood in front of the new riddle.
What has a heart, but no other organs?
I know the answer to this riddle too. Actually an elementary school kid would be able to get the answer.
“A heart st…”
I immediately slammed my hand against Kai’s mouth to stop his answer. He was definitely going to get it wrong.
“Simon, I believe you were going to say something else, right?”
Kai looked confused. I guess he really thought the answer was a heart stone. It seems like a good answer, but it is not correct.
I want to tell him the answer, but then it would most likely count as my turn and he might get the answer wrong. Oh, I have an idea.
I removed my hand from Kai’s mouth and began to scratch words into my arm making Kai yelp in pain and beg me to stop. Just withstand the pain for now. Ah. Looks like Kai noticed the words I scratched into my arm (his arm): a deck of cards.
“A deck of cards?”
The words changed to green and went to the next riddle. Kai looked at me with wide eyes and asked, “How did you know the answer?”
“It’s easy.”
I then approached the new riddle:
What walks on four feet in the morning; two feet in the afternoon, and three feet at night?
…THIS IS WAY TOO EASY! I thought these riddles would be hard, but this is too easy.
“Man!” I announced. The words turned green and I expected the door to open, but felt my face falter when I saw a new group of words. I thought Hachiko said there would only be three since there were three of us. Hold on, the words before me aren’t a riddle.
Say the magic word!
I want to flip a table. I feel like I am being insulted.
Hachiko suddenly approached saying, “Isn’t the magic word ‘please?’” The words turned red and then went back to its original color.
I thought the magic word was please too, but it was wrong…why?
“So we have to figure out what the magic word is? Why didn’t you mention this kid?”
“I didn’t know,” claimed Hachiko. This is really bad. It is almost time for class start. I can’t have my school life end here. Out of desperation I yelled out the first words that entered my mind to open a door.
“OPEN SESAME!”
The words turned green and then the door began to open. THAT WAS CORRECT?
“Good job Mama!”
“Where did you get those words?”
I can’t really tell them that the words came from my previous life…now that I think about it: these riddles are from my previous life as well. That’s why they were easy for me. Could there be a person who reincarnated just like me and made these riddles here…no way. That would be so cliché.
The door soon opened and I expected to see a classroom, but what I saw was a black void. What’s going…KYAH! Why am I being sucked in? THIS IS SCARY! I could hear Hachiko and Kai screaming too as we were all sucked into the black void.
It was so dark that I couldn’t help, but close my eyes. This is really scary…I can’t even hear anything.
“Can you hear me?”
OK, I heard that. It sounds like a man’s voice. Definitely doesn’t belong to my companions or to the jerk Headmaster. I opened my eyes a little, but they immediately grew wide when I saw a young man with long silver hair with a monocle covering his right eye. He wore what looked like a butler’s clothes with a silver pocket watch dangling from the side of his jacket pocket and long white rabbit ears on his head…WHY DOES HE HAVE RABBIT EARS? Actually, he looks straight from an Otome game version of Alice in Wonderland’s White Rabbit.
“So you know of the Alice in Wonderland?”
HE CAN READ MY MIND?
“I can…should I not?”
“Please stop reading my mind.”
“OK, I shall stop, but can you please explain why is it that I can’t read your past.”
“My past…wait a minute, who are you, mister?”
“Who am I? I was born without a name, but I guess when people do meet me they call me father time. Would you like to call me that?”
“Father time…that’s a strange name.”
“I agree, it very much is, so how about you choose a name for me.”
“To be honest, I would call you White Rabbit, since you look like from the story of Alice in Wonderland, but that seems pretty long, so how about Buffy.”
“Buffy…I like it. So please call me Buffy.”
I don’t think he is reading my mind now, so I’ll keep it a secret that I just combined fluffy and bunny together to make the name and that it actually sounds like a girl’s name.
“Now can you tell me why I can’t see your past or future little one.”
“My name is Laveda, not little one. As for your question…I can’t really explain it, but the way you asked, does that mean you have the time talent?”
“That’s correct. I have control over time,” he said and then asked, “You really pique my interest, Laveda. I control time and yet can’t even see yours. I hope to see you again.”
“Wait a minute, can you tell me what you are?”
“For another time. I wouldn’t want you to be late and lose the chance to speak to you again.”
The next thing I knew, Buffy disappeared and everything grew dark once again making me close my eyes.
“Laveda…Laveda, wake up.”
I open my eyes and found myself sitting in front of a desk with my companions looking at me in concern. I also noticed Bibi and Darkie sitting on the desk tugging the sleeves of my uniform.
“How did I get here?” I asked them.
Sensei stood next to me saying, “You just appeared in your seat as did Hachiko and Simon.”
“Appeared…”
I was really confused. The dark void did bring us to class, but why did I meet the man…Buffy in that void. I wonder if I will ever meet him again, but it is time for us to get organized for class…why does the class look slightly destroyed?
Manga Hunter 