Emerging out of the end of the long hallway, the host and the three guests enter a grand room with a continuation of white walls and light purple carpeted floors. The room has an abundance of room, with such vast open space unobstructed by furniture. Balanced white light brightens the room, illuminating Rohan and Dana, the first to step in, with Kokei and Ekitai following behind.
The wall beside their entrance is curved, with a series of other passageways presumably leading to more halls. Ahead of the group is a ledge with three levitating silver bars functioning as railings. Beyond the ledge is a greater lobby with a wide window covering the region of the wall visible to the group, which invites the morning light to radiate its cyan shine.
Leading the guests, Rohan approaches the ledge, his hands drowned in his pockets. Ekitai watches him reach the railings, to which a section of each bar in front of him dissipates, allowing him to step off of the balcony. He continues forth, seemingly casually strolling into a plummet, to which Ekitai strides toward and extends his arm, exclaiming, “Wait Rohan, watch where you’re going!”
Disregarding concerns, Rohan pursues off the floor, yet to Ekitai’s astoundment, he doesn’t dive. Instead, a circular surface composed of soft blue light projects beneath his feet, instantiating a holographic pad with a projected ring acting as safety railing. Ultimately stopping his steps, Rohan turns to face the three as the virtual pad begins autonomously moving, carrying Rohan forth before carefully descending him.
Dana lightly chuckles from Ekitai’s panic, mentioning “He’s not that careless, come on,” before following the same path towards the ledge. Kokei’s eyes momentarily glisten in awe from the transportative system before they immediately dull upon recalling who used it, and she follows along with Ekitai towards the ledge.
More openings in the railing provide leeway for each of them, with Dana being the first to step off the ledge, being caught by another holographic blue pad. She turns around as it begins to carry her down, watching as Ekitai does the same, his jaw dropping in excitement as he slowly inches his hand to the railings.
However, Kokei remains at the edge, seemingly anxious about simply stepping off ground. Her expression appears flustered as she glances at Dana, only to see her warm smile cast back. Sighing from the pressure, Kokei cautiously moves her right foot off the ground, and slowly in front of the ledge. She steadily lowers her foot down to the ground level, to which her foot is caught by a suddenly appearing projected surface similar to the others. She then grabs the railing beside her as she carefully carries her left foot onto the pad as well, gradually moving onto the pad whilst remaining careful in the event that she’d fall through.
Finally making the move onto the pad, Kokei cautiously relinquishes her grip on the railings, letting all her weight be held by the pad. In her delight, she remains on the surface, and watches as her pad moves too, sinking down and following the others.
Now being transported to the lower floor, Kokei glances around her, gazing at the substantial lobby. Similarly curved yet with more ground, the smooth white lobby has hard glossy white floors with a crystallized texture.
Now able to view the entire window, it seems to droop down on its sides, covering the sides of the lobby to further bring a view of the outside world. Between the apertures is a wide translucent door with a faint blue hue, bleeding immense light into Kokei’s eyes which have only recently awoken, causing her to squint.
She raises her head up, to which she is once again taken aback as the white ceiling is considerably higher than expected, with there being an uncountable number of other croissant-shaped floors above, similar to the one they just got off. In fact, there were several more below, as they weren’t even on the second floor.
Her pad lastly reaches the floor, to which it disperses, freeing her to roam. She glances around the lobby to find the other three who were awaiting her presence before then continuing forth into the wide pathway between the walls. She follows behind, catching up to Ekitai while continuing to survey the interior in silent awe.
Entering through the passage past the lobby, the four trek through a tremendous corridor with wide openings leading into various other rooms. While Rohan leads the guests without needing to evaluate his surroundings, Ekitai and Kokei glance through the various rooms, which are all decently large. Most rooms have hovering tables in them as well as cabinet spaces, although most of the rooms seem fairly vacant from furniture.
Even then however, the sheer magnitude of the space was astounding to the two, who had never seen a place so lavishly extensive. Beyond the rooms adjacent to the hall were doorways that lead to other rooms, as it felt like the building could be regarded as a warehouse or an office building due to how immense the space is.
While walking, Kokei softly murmurs to Ekitai, “So I’m confused…what is this place? Is it like a hotel or something?”
Smiling widely, Ekitai explains, “Nope, it’s his house!”
Her pupils immediately shriveling, Kokei turns to Ekitai with terrified shock before imploring, “Wait…Roh-...Rohan’s?? You’re kidding me…that guy…this is his house??!?!”
Nodding in response, her dear friend clarifies, “Yes it is, he told me himself! I know right, I mean his pod is nice don’t get me wrong, but this…I would’ve never guessed! See Kokei, I struck rich! I have the best friends in the whole hundred worlds!”
Rather than reciprocating with pride after her friend’s gleeful declaration, Kokei’s bangs drift over her eyes as she tightens her fists and grits her teeth, gnarling silently in mute rage while eyeing Rohan in front of him. He had already put her off, but to know that this grand building she was so awestruck over was his own house enraged her.
For as odd as it is, Kokei internally blamed Rohan for owning such a great abode, even though it only seems to serve him well rather than it being a burden. Her pink eyes blaze behind her bangs as she watches Rohan make a turn, entering one of the rooms to the right.
Following out of the hall, Ekitai enters a great well lit white room with a long black hovering tabletop residing in the center of the room. Beside the otherwise vacant room seems to be another room attached adjacent, separated partially by another black tabletop. The second room has a table along the three walls along with white cabinets and containers below. The tables are entirely clean with not a spec littering, the room slightly resembling Kokei’s kitchen, albeit sleeker and much larger.
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Considering the second room to be a kitchen, the first room would thus likely be the dining room, which further explains the presence of the black table. Although, the long rectangular black table with smooth edges remains solitary without accompanying seats as though sitting isn’t possible.
Examining the entire room, Ekitai’s eyes glitter in excitement with an open jaw, explicitly overwhelmed. Behind him, Kokei follows, gazing around the room with a fidgeting mouth, as while she too found it immensely impressive, her resentment suppressed her expression. Unobstructed, Ekitai focuses on the table, springing towards it while observing, “Huh, where are the tables? Is this a standing table? You guys don’t actually buy those lies that eating while standing is healthier right? It’s just a bunch of ignorant moms online, they don’t even research the garbage they spew!”
Dana shakes her head while approaching the table, finding a spot along the long side of the table. She proceeds to squat, bending her legs as though attempting to sit on nothing.
Incredibly, midway through her squat, a white cushion materializes right beneath her, propping her up. On the back edge of the cushion forms a cushioned backrest which catches Dana’s back, perfectly summoning a chair to her position seamlessly. The finalized chair has a soft white leather body seemingly without stronger support, and yet even then it has a refined tough appearance due to its sturdy build. Like the others, the chair doesn’t require legs of its own, as it hovers off the ground silently and with immaculate stability.
Demonstration concluded, Dana raises her head to Ekitai before clarifying, “Don’t worry Ekitai, he’s not that insane, he has seats, just sit anywhere around this table and one should pop up. Although I don’t know if he actually uses them.”
“You assume I actually eat here,” retorts Rohan coldly whilst approaching the table where Ekitai stands across from Dana, bending down and contemplating how to trigger the seat as he wasn’t entirely sure how it was summoned or if there were any specifics he missed. Rohan places his hand on the table as Ekitai slowly bends his knees to which a seat does appear, causing his body to jitter in astonishment.
While Kokei gradually walks around Rohan and views the table, approaching Ekitai to sit beside him, Rohan inquires, “So, what do you want to eat?”
Humming in deep contemplation, Kokei’s mind races as she stands beside Ekitai and squats down, to which a seat manifests for her. Her finger rests on her raised chin as she stares at the white ceiling which exudes a light that reflects off her pink irises.
“Well…I guess I could go for maybe some warm croissant with dark chocolate filling and vanilla icing on top just solidified. Beside it I could go for a fruit bowl, I particularly crave strawberries and mango, but toss some others such as blueberries and banana slices into the mix. Beyond that it would be nice to accompany it all with a side of yogurt with crushed granilla pieces, oh and maybe even small fruit fragments, those make it so much tastier! And then I guess to top it all off, a strawberry smoothie to start my day would be great, maybe a little bit of peanut butter could be a good thing with it too.”
“Here’s your eggs,” assigns Rohan before circular white plates begin appearing atop the black table top in front of Dana, Ekitai, and Kokei. On each of the circular plates are yellow scrambled eggs with a dull consistency that lacks an organic beauty. Instead it feels more appropriate as college food rather than anything to be offered in such a stunning abode, yet ultimately the three guests are left to stare at the plate of unexceptional eggs.
“Oh, I forgot these,” annexes Rohan before clear cylindrical cups materialize to the left of the plates. The cups contain a white liquid, clearly milk, similarly with a dull consistency that houses an artificial tone. The liquid fills half of the cup, leaving much volume to be desired, and instead reserving a minimalistic proportion.
On the right side of the plates appear small metal rods, and upon emerging, sharp extensions protrude from the front, creating the trident-shaped construct of a fork. The rods have simplistic designs, sleek and elegant without excess detail and dress.
Rohan lifts his hand off the table and takes a step back before turning to Dana and appointing, “Okay, I have some work I need to do, especially after everything that happened, so I’m going to be in my…’office.’ Dana, make sure they don’t break anything, okay? There should be a theater somewhere if they want to be entertained, and there should be a handful of lounges on this floor. I’m sure you have it handled.”
Chuckling sarcastically in response to the sudden designation, Dana implores, “Rohan, you’re the host, shouldn’t you be the one leading them around? I mean…I haven’t really been…up here much, so I don’t actually know where everything is. Come on, why don’t you show us around first before you head off?”
However unbeknownst to Dana whilst presenting her alternative, Rohan has traversed towards the exit of the room. As he steps out, he announces, “Sounds like an opportunity for exploration, should give you an activity for the day. I’ll be back when I’m done.”
Dana smiles nervously as she helplessly watches Rohan depart from the room, chuckling timidly after being presented with the burdensome task of hosting guests at a house that wasn’t her own. With Rohan’s footsteps gradually softening before silence, she turns her attention to the two other guests, to which she immediately finds Kokei growling between gritted teeth, her bangs partially covering her blazing eyes that glare at the eggs.
The delegated hostess turns to face the other guest, who gleefully chows through his meal with the complementary fork, plunging the prongs into the yellow scrambled eggs before yanking it into his mouth and taking exaggerated bites. He makes quick work of his given breakfast, consuming the final remnants in seconds as though greatly starved.
Upon taking the final bite, Ekitai drops the fork on the plate to grab the cup before gulping down his milk while Kokei beside him still doesn’t touch her food, resorting to a staring contest with the inanimate item. Gulping down the last of the milk, Ekitai pulls the cup off his face and slams it on the table beside the plate, revealing his face to have milk stained around his mouth, indicative of a lack of proper mannerisms at the table.
Satisfied with the meal, Ekitai leans back on the hovering chair before remarking, “So that’s how the rich feast? I could get used to this!!”
Sitting across from the pleased man, Dana maintains a delicate smile, acknowledging that the meal Rohan had presented with them was not what one would label as luxury, yet it seemed the astronomically low standards of Ekitai brought him to such a conclusion. Still, it seems to have made him happy, which Dana wouldn’t complain about.
However, there was still the issue of the other guest who hadn't removed her eyes from the food. Dana sighs softly before gracefully gesturing, “Kokei, you should eat it anyways. Here, I’ll get something better for lunch, but come on, eat up and we can go look around this place.”
Fury rages within Kokei’s eyes as she grips the fork tightly, growling as she raises it before stabbing it into the center of the scrambled eggs, plunging it not in the delicate fashion for consumption but rather as though she was attempting to take a life. She twists the fork into the eggs, only ruining the prong’s grip, to which Dana’s expression becomes more awkward, closing her eyes with an uneasy smile while watching Kokei lift the eggs she had captured.
“Why did you even ask…?,” murmurs Kokei to herself, her mind still fixated on the cold rejection of her request upon the seemingly open offer for orders.