Introduction
Minatozaki Sana •
Minatozaki Sana gingerly stepped out of her father's SUV onto the drive below and stared up at her new five thousand, seven hundred and twenty six square foot single family home. She had traveled all the way with her father, Mr. Minatozaki, from Osaka where she had been born and raised to the new city of Lima where they would be living from now on. Mr. Minatozaki had recently inherited his father's garage in the center of town after he had passed away a month ago and was set to reopen the joint once they had moved and settled into their new house.
Normally, the Minatozakis wouldn't have been able to afford such a beautiful place, which stood proudly in front of them in all its glory, but considering Minatozaki Tire and Lube had been rather lucrative in the past, coupled with Sana's grandfather having been extremely generous with his will, they had been given the chance to live in a good looking house rather than a large apartment in the capital.
415 Whitman Avenue resembled, from the outside, like the traditional American two story house with its highly symmetrical white walls, multi-paned windows evenly balanced on either side of the central door with a grey tiled roof and liver shaped swimming pool in the backyard.
It boasted five bedrooms, six bathrooms and what he assumed to have been bought much to his horror for one million, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
She had questioned if Mr. Minatozaki had gone a little overboard with the spending, after Sana had taken it upon herself to curiously research into the property's features and financial worth, but she'd only been dismissed once her father had claimed that the house had in fact not been purchased, but had been rather deemed to them in the will.
Didn't know grandpa was this loaded, thought Sana as she opened the white picket fence gate at the front and made her way to the navy blue front door via the brick path, which seemed to slightly weave itself through the front lawn. Didn't know her grandfather also was this conservative when it came to the good old architecture.
"Okay Sana you can give yourself a little tour if you want," offered her father as he unlocked the front door to reveal the foyer. Sana's eyes were peeled open as she took in every single detail and as she wondered further into the entrance hall, Mr. Minatozaki shut the door behind them.
"I used to come here sometimes when I was a kid so I know the place pretty well. As well as the bedrooms and bathrooms there will be the living room, dining room, kitchen, study, recreation room, basement which is also funnily enough one of the bedrooms and bathrooms so you might want to check that out, there will be several closets and rest rooms scattered around the place and... I feel like I've forgotten something... what have I left out... oh yeah, the utility room and studio are both on the first floor."
"Alright... well I'll explore the place and find out where everything is," muttered Sana, her voice trailing away as she began to wonder about the house, her father chuckling as he made his way back to the car to collect the luggage they had brought with them. However as Sana whipped around as her father left the house, she called after him.
"But if you need help you can call me and I can lend a hand unless I get lost in this maze of a house we have here."
"How about I start bringing my belongings and then you start bringing in yours later?" suggested Mr. Minatozaki , laughing aloud at Sana's comment concerning the sheer size of the house.
It was definitely a change from the large flat they had had in Osaka and it would take some time getting used to actually living also in another country that was foreign to his daughter considering Sana had never visited the place. "It'll give you more time to check the place out and all."
"That's not fair, I have more stuff to carry in, you have next to nothing," complained younger Minatozaki , walking to the front door and squinting her eyes as the summer sun blared down onto her father outside.
"I'll need some help at least with the suitcases in the back. Come on dad, I don't have the power in my little old arms. I need help."
"It was your choice to buy those monstrosities Sana," replied Mr. Minatozaki , shaking her head as Sana leaned on the door frame and pouted.
"I mean you wanted to bring your whole wardrobe, your skin stuff and every other piece of furniture from your old room so you have no one else but to blame but yourself."
"Are you saying you're not going to help at all?" asked Sana in disbelief, Mr. Minatozaki once again braking out into a round of chuckling as his daughter frowned at the amused reaction.
"What are you laughing at? I offered you my help, the least you could do is lend me yours. Plus I haven't been given a chance to see this gorgeous house yet so pretty please."
"I was only kidding with you my daughter," laughed Mr. Minatozaki , flashing a smile at Sana as he made his way over to the Navigator and white moving van which had accompanied them there.
"Can't blame me for fooling with you, you're just too gullible for your own good. Go on into the house and get back to looking around. I want you to have memorized exactly where every room is so that when it comes to assigning things to each area, you'll know where I mean. That and if there's an explosion somewhere you'll be able to point us both towards the nearest exit before we become giant flaming hot pieces of bacon, alright?"
"Sure, I'll do that," replied Sana, returned the warm smile before bouncing back into the house, leaving the door wide open so that she wouldn't be interrupted if her father wanted to come back in.
"Okay... where should I start off first?" asked Sana to herself as she made her way through the hall into the kitchen. Checking if the cupboards and drawers had enough storage space for their large collection of gleaming utensils, the brunet was just about to head towards the backdoor that led into the garden when a door to the right suddenly caught her eye.
She stared at it, thinking it would just be another run of the mill coat closet of some kind but as she pulled it open to confirm her guess, she was faced with a wall of darkness, the light behind her streaming down on to a set of white stairs that lead down below.
"This must be the basement," she muttered, switching her gaze from the floor to the white walls for a light switch, but there was none. There was no switch or device of any kind that worked in both the on and off mode.
Yet her curiosity had her running back to the rucksack that her father had brought in when he had unlocked the front door, rummaging around for the black metal torch, pulling it out and racing back towards the basement door.
She flashed the torch on; it's slightly blue tinted light shining bright ahead of her and only then did she start to descend the set of stairs, treading carefully so as to not slip and bang her head on the hard looking floor below.
This isn't creepy at all, she thought sarcastically as the light led her down, down, down into the room below.
This isn't scar-Oh!
"Oh my fucking lord!!", Sana screamed.
Sana's heart nearly broke out of her rib cage as the in-built lights in the ceiling of the basement rose to attention, her shaking hands nearly dropping the heavy torch from her grip as her eyes adjusted to the increase in widespread light.
Silently awing to herself as she scanned the room, a wide grin graced her features as excitement soared within her. This was just the best. She was standing at the foot of the staircase leading to the guest basement bedroom but it was better than she had actually imagined.
When her father had mentioned 'basement' and 'bedroom' in the same sentence, images of a dingy like dungeon fully equipped with a rotting mattress infested with insects that made Sana's stomach churn painfully came very much to mind, but never the impressive sight before her.
The room was extensive with white painted walls and floor, a low ceiling, in built wardrobes lining the right hand wall, a modern baby blue four poster bed directly in front of her against the opposite wall with see through curtains attached to each post and finally, a scarlet couch at the foot of the bed atop a carpet printed in to match.
"Heaven, I'm in paradise", thought Sana as she unconsciously dropped the torch to the floor from her loosened grip and stumbled forwards towards the in built closets, running her fingers along the polished wood before opening them up and diving deep inside them.
Pulling her head out from taking whiff after whiff of the wonderful aroma that was brand new leather, Sana spotted the bed and rushed on over to it, stroking the soft brown and blue duvet and allowing her knees to buckle from the sensation stroking her palm.
"I see you've found your grandmother's little sanctuary," chuckled Mr. Minatozaki as Sana gasped and stumbled backwards, nearly dodging the chic wooden table end and golden lit lamp as she attempted to recapture her composure and dignity. "I knew you'd like it. You and her share similar tastes I guess."
"You mean she decorated this room?" asked Sana in disbelief as she made her way back to the center of the basement only to have her eyes stolen yet again by another door which led onto the en-suite bathroom, her father laughing as a delighted 'Yes!' echoed around its walls. "I'm really surprised. She is probably the only elderly person who isn't obsessed with horrible and overused floral patterns... and pictures of creepy judgmental kittens lining the walls."
"Well she was a modern kind of woman so it's to be expected," replied her father as he made his way to the blood red sofa before lounging on it, taking in as did Sana, every detail she could.
"Yeah, this was her little den where she would come to be on her own. She was sad when she had to say goodbye, you know, now that she's in the care home and all but I think she'll like it if someone were to actually use it and not abandon it."
"Will she really mind if I make this my bedroom?" inquired Sana, walking from the bathroom to stand in front of her father, her head still spinning from side to side, attempting to catch anything he hadn't yet noticed. "Because if I do then I'll have to fill those wardrobes with my clothes, have my shower and bath products in that bathroom and sleep in that bed."
"Sana I'm aware of what happens when one switches bedrooms," dismissed Mr
Minatozaki as he rose from the couch and rested his hand on Sana's right shoulder reassuringly.
"I know what it entails. I just think it would be nice for my daughter to appreciate the work her grandmother did by sleeping in the room she worked very hard to style and decorate which I just think suits you very well. It'll be a touching gesture and when you come to tell her in when we next see her, I'm sure she'll be more than happy... although try not to let her kiss you on the lips, she tastes like raw liver nowadays."
"Noted, but do you think she'll mind if I install in built speakers into the ceiling, remove the stair lift and change the shower so that it doesn't have a seat with handles in it?" asked Sana as she gestured back towards the bathroom, her father following her line of sight.
"It's just that I can't really live without my music and I'm not at risk of falling down the stairs or in the shower unlike grandma."
"I'll allow the shower to change sure, but if in built speakers are going to appear then we're going to have to sound proof the walls because no way am I going to be one of those dads who pound at your door for minutes on end crying out 'turn that racket down!' over and over again," replied Mr. Minatozaki , Sana smiling and nodding in agreement as her father headed for the stairs. "I love my voice at it is, I'm not done with it yet."
Well actually nanna wasn't very patriotic," countered Mr. Minatozaki as he stuffed his hands inside his pockets and examined the carpet with his foot.
"She was never into the good old Americana much preferring the European culture, you know, that's why she had that huge cabinet stuffed to the brim with souvenirs from London, Paris and Rome. I think this was in the attic but when it came back into fashion especially in the youth section, she brought it down."
"Do you think I got my sense of style from her then?" inquired youngest as she raised her head in curiosity, her father smiling as he chuckled deeply.
"I mean I don't think I got it from you because you're not into stuff like that, mom's style was too eclectic compared to mine and grandpa was just plain old war veteran."
"I think there's a slight possibility yes," agreed Mr. Minatozaki as Sana smiled and looked back down at the intricately embroidered quilt, her skin getting caressed with every millimeter of fabric she stroked.
"But you'll have to earn those new audio features, daughter. You've already been spoilt with a new bedroom you love, you'll have to earn the bonus stuff. Now, want to come into town with me? I don't know about you but an empty fridge that's as empty as my stomach right now simply won't do."
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