Anticipation

6:00 PM

The sunset excited Tatsumi. He realized that the sunset amplified the true beauty of the garden. He thought that everything was made in perfection. While looking at the view, one of the maids opened the door and gave them a very big smile. She was in her twenties and her blonde hair and blue eyes empowered her beauty.

"Excuse me, sirs, Master Hansel is calling for both of you in the dinner room, some of the mansion's visitors are also waiting for you," she called. The two of them looked at each other and Tatsumi's curiosity was opened.

"Oh, so there are visitors aside from us?" replied Tatsumi.

"Yes. The daughters of Master Hansel and two business partners."

"His daughters? Are they not also living in this mansion with Sir Hansel?" Rook asked, as he was wondering how would his daughters be considered visitors rather than masters of the mansion.

"Both daughters of our master are living independently. They were originally living here but they started to move out when they had their own work," she explained.

"Hm, I see. Could you please guide us to the Dining Room?" Rook continued.

"As we intend to do," the maid replied and guided both of them. In Rook's imagination, he thought that the maids from the ero games he played are not far from reality. He made a wide smile as they walked into the dining room.

The dining room is on the first floor near the paintings that were hanged in the wall. Rook and Tatsumi noticed two men in their thirties and two ladies in their twenties.

"By the way, Rook, Tatsumi, this is my personal and business secretary, Aldern Bach. I bet you have seen him around here," said Hansel, introducing his secretary. The man had this energetic look and composed.

"Yes Sir. We saw him a while ago from the lounge," Rook replied. He tuned a short look to Aldern and shortly bowed for greeting.

"I see. The others here are surely new to you. Let me introduce them to the both of you," said Hansel.

"This is my first daughter, Sari Mortensson," he introduced. Sari is a tall young woman, grey eyes and cherry colored lips and a charming smile. Her blue dress and black fitted pants suited her well.

"Konichiwa, chess champions. My father told me about you two, my name is Sari Mortensson. I'm basically a dress model here in Sweden. I am also a stage play actress. Sorry, I only know very few Japanese words, I thought I can use them today," Sari stood and bowed to introduce herself without wiping the sweet smile in her. Rook and Tatsumi did the same.

"Nice to meet you. It was a perfect pronunciation," Rook replied. Tatsumi looked at him sarcastically.

"She didn't pronounce it right, you mug," Tatsumi thought. He knew that it was just his friend charmed with the woman's beauty.

"And this is my second daughter, Jenny. She is a professor in one of the universities here. She does voice lessons too," Hansel continued. In contrast to Sari, Jenny had this innocent look on her face, pink lips and hazel eyes. At first sight, no one can tell if both of them are really sisters or not.

"Hi. Nice to meet both of you. I never thought dad here had such talented friends," Jenny said and bowed shortly.

"Hello, nice meet you," Tatsumi quickly replied. Rook gazed at him with a hopeless eye.

"This is bad, this pervert is hopeless. He's totally into girls like her," he thought. His friend has always been a sucker of innocent looking girls.

"And these are my business partners," Hansel finally turned his eyes on both his business partners sitting on the left side.

"Yo. My name's Gabriel Zelezny. I am Sir Hansel's business partner on our Chess Factory Business. Nice to meet you," the first man introduced. Rook focused his eyes to observe him. he was tall, around five feet and eight and his brown tuxedo suited his welcoming personality. He noticed that his hands had a few cracks and a small tint of ink. The Japanese man stood up and introduced himself. He wore a white shirt, black jacket and black pants. He had this tired eyes and Rook can gauge the stress from how moved. He noticed a pen from his chest pocket.

"Nice meeting both of you. How's Japan? I'm Nakahara Junji," the man said.

"It's going good, Nakahara-san. It's amazing to find another fellow Japanese here," Rook answered with delight. He felt relieved that to see fellow countrymen abroad. The feeling was mutual. Nakahara felt that he can talk about things with Rook and Tatsumi about the country he missed so much. Tied with his work, he never had the time to return home.

"I miss home. I work for Sir Hansel in the Entertainment and Fashion business," he continued. After each introduction, they went straight to dinner. It was a very lively dine. Each had their own stories to tell and each were asked how their lives were. Nakahara was greatly excited to hear about the new things that happened to Japan. Tatsumi was happy to talk about them and Nakahara was very attentive to the details. Rook smiled as he had felt the same when he stayed in Sweden for a few months and his body somehow always missed the air in his motherland.