After being forced to close their eyes due to the strong light that filled their vision, they opened them in surprise, seeing an incredibly familiar sight from recent memory.
"We're back in the lab…?" Riyoko said, looking astonished as he observed his surroundings.
"And we're nearby the elevator too," Arisa said, looking around, "though, couldn't you have just teleported us directly to the third floor?" she asked, looking at Reine.
"Hehe, it's been a while since I've been here so my memory of it was kind of vague. it wouldn't have worked unless I have a clear image of the place, so I chose here since it was the area I remembered the most," she replied.
Flop*
Suddenly, they heard a faint sound of something falling on the ground behind them.
As they turned around, they saw a woman wearing a lab coat who seemed to have dropped her books in shock as she looked at Reine with enlarged eyes and shivering knees.
"M…M…M…. Ms. Reine!?" the woman said.
"Yo!" Reine replied casually with a smile as she raised her hand in greetings.
The woman looked pale for a moment then quickly bowed formally, "G… good evening ma'am! To what may we owe the pleasure of your visit?"
"So formal!" the three of them thought in sync with a variety of blank expressions.
"Ah… umm. first of all, let's skip the formalities, ok? It's kind of… stiffening," Reine said, looking somewhat perplexed.
"Ah! Sorry, they say I talk a bit too formally when I'm nervous," she raised her head and then bowed repeatedly.
"ok umm, can we stop the head lowering…?" Reine said with an awkward smile and tone.
"Ah! Yes!" the woman stood straight with a salute.
"We're in the military now…?" Reine mumbled with a blank expression.
"F… forgive me for suddenly asking but, why is Ms. Reine here? has something important occurred?" the woman asked with a concerned look.
"Well… I do have a bit of business here, though I'm mostly here for my cousin," she said, glancing at Riyoko.
"Ms. Reine's cousin!? N... N… Nice to meet you!" she bowed her head once again.
"umm, likewise," Riyoko slightly bowed in response.
As the woman raised her head, she took a good look at Riyoko, feeling a sense of familiarity.
"Hm…? you are…" the woman tilted her head, trying to observe him carefully.
"Umm, sorry but if that's all we'll be on our way, we're kind of packed in schedule at the moment," Reine said, turning around as she waved her hand in goodbye.
"Ah! Umm, yes! Sorry for wasting your time!" she once again bowed her head, "Ah! But please let me say one last thing… I feel like I'll regret it if I miss this chance,"
They all stopped as they were about to leave to hear what she has to say.
The woman took a deep breath, "I… I just want to say, I'm a big fan, Ms. Reine! Please keep up the good work!"
Reine's eyes look shocked for a moment then quickly switched to a mature stare along with a gentle smile, "thank you. You too, keep up the good work," she said as she turned around and waved her hand, followed by Riyoko and Arisa.
"Wow… Reine sure is a big deal. She acts and responds like one too…" Riyoko thought.
After a short moment, as they waited for the elevator to come down, Riyoko noticed something odd about Reine.
"Reine…?"
"What…" she replied hesitantly with her back toward him, not turning an inch.
"Hmm… nothing, I just thought you seemed a really big deal back there," he said blatantly, observing her carefully.
Reine slightly flinched as she continued to look forward.
Arisa smiled mischievously, "didn't you know? She actually is a big deal, she even has fans from across other worlds, acting similarly to that one earlier,"
"Eh!? Woah, so actually are a big deal, huh? you must be feeling really nice after meeting a hard fan, huh?" Riyoko teased.
"Stop it you two…" Reine said gently as she slowly turned around.
"I… I can't handle that kind of thing too well, so please just stop talking about it…" Reine said with an unbelievably innocent look, flustered and blushing as she used her finger to play around with the bottom of her short hair.
"S… so cute!" Riyoko and Arisa thought in sync with poker faces.
"I see, understood," Riyoko replied as he looked around.
"I can see where all her confidence is coming from… though she's not acting right now, is she?" Riyoko thought, avoiding eye contact with her as he tilt his head and wonder his eyes around the area.
Ding*
"The elevator's here, come on you too," Reine said, going back to normal as she entered the elevator, followed by the two.
Reaching the third floor, they stepped out of the elevator and looked around.
The whole floor was an area that once again contained a variety of rooms, filling the spaces in every section of the floor.
"Reine," Arisa said, calling her as she pointed to their left, "I already prepared a room earlier over there,"
"huh!? you already did?" Reine replied in shock.
She let out a sigh of disappointment, "aww… I prepared a room especially for you two as well though…" looking down as if she was sad.
Arisa felt guilty as she looked at Reine's puppy eyes, "well… it should be quite an honor to receive such treatment from you, might as well take what you offer us, right?" she said, glancing at Riyoko as he nodded in response.
"Yeah! Thanks, you two!" she said, quickly bouncing back from her pessimistic state, "let's go over here!"
And so, she walked toward their right, being followed by Riyoko and Arisa whom both had feelings of unease due to her quick mood change.
"why do I have a bad feeling about this," they both thought in sync, with Riyoko showing a blank expression while Arisa clearly displayed discomfort on her face.
"We're here!" Reine said, stopping in front of a door as she smiled at them brightly.
"open the room then…" Arisa said as she and Riyoko stood beside each other with uncertainty.
"All right! Here is your specially prepared room by yours truly!"
As Reine clicked the button on the side, making the door slide open, Arisa and Riyoko were stunned shocked, and flustered as they saw the incredibly suspicious room.
The room emitted a dark pinkish light from all over the room, with two barely separate beds both facing a massive tv placed on the wall in the center, and a massive fancy heart-shaped carpet placed under the bed along with suspiciously soothing music running in the background.
"Well!?" Reine said with enthusiasm.
Without saying anything, Arisa quickly clicked the button that closes the door.
As the door shut, Reine was silently shocked along with the disappearance of the background music.
Without saying anything, Reine opened the door, letting out the music.
Not letting the door fully open, Arisa once again closes it.
Suddenly, the two began mashing the open and close buttons, making the door go back and forth.
"Hey… aren't you two going to break the door?"
"He's right! so stop it!" Reine said as she stopped pressing, leaving the door open
"YOU stop it!" Arisa said with a slightly flustered look and an irritated tone, "there is no way we're using that room!" closing the door.
"W…why!?" Feeling as if she was struck at the heart by Arisa's words, she asked with a confused expression and tone as she opened the door.
"Why!?" she repeated with an increasingly irritated tone as she looked inside the room.
Arisa hardly pointed at the inside, "look again! How the heck do you think we could sleep there!?"
Reine stopped for a good look, "how couldn't you?" she said blatantly with a confident expression.
"H… huh…?" Arisa and Riyoko felt baffled, "w… what…?"
"I mean… the bed is made of high-class cotton and very expensive sheets that I personally hand-picked myself for quality! The lights are also from the top brands that produce them and it is said to be their best and most beautiful color that doesn't hurt the eyes, not to mention it's expensive! And don't even get me going on the large T.V and carpet as well as everything else that designs the room!"
Arisa and Riyoko went silent in shock as they began to turn pale and stressed.
"No way…" Riyoko mumbled.
"What? You can't believe I'd spend this much on you? Didn't we go out just the other day with me paying for everything?"
"No… I… I mean yes, but…" Arisa felt extremely baffled and held her head as she began to stutter with her reply.
"Agh!" Arisa snapped, "what I mean is there's no way you don't know what you're doing! You're messing with us, aren't you!?"
Reine calmly tilted her head to the side with a look of slight confusion, "Hm? why would I be messing with you?"
"Y… You're lying…" Riyoko said, filled with doubt and confusion as he looked at her as if he couldn't believe what was happening.
"Lying…?" Arisa looked at them with an innocent look and a slightly baffled expression.
"I… I can't tell!" Riyoko and Arisa thought in sync, not being able to tell if she was pretending from her expression.
And so, in order to move forward, they decided to move into Arisa's prepared room as they stood their ground about not going inside that room together.