SME: E--Chapter 2

"… Are we there yet?"

"Not yet, Ed…"

This dialogue was repeated about every two minutes or so from Ed and Double D as Ami drove the three Ed's to the Hikawa Shrine. Needless to say, it was starting to get on Eddy's nerves.

Ami only chuckled at their behavior, "It's about a minute away from here now."

"Good," Eddy started to say as he crossed his arms across his chest in a bit of annoyance, "I was gettin' tired of Ed asking the same question."

It was a few seconds later that the three Ed's could see something up ahead from where they were; a huge, slightly old Shinto shrine rested on top of a huge hill with a long set of stone stairs going up to the shrine.

"… Don't tell me we have to climb up those stairs," Eddy stated a little in disbelief at the mere site of the stairs leading up to the shrine, "And with all of our luggage, too?"

"We do," Ami replied back as she then parked her car not too far away from the shrine; in the privately owned parking lot for the shrine.

All the three Ed's seemed to drop their shoulders at her statement, 'Oh dear, physical activity…' Double D thought with a sigh.

Ami only chuckled at their reactions, "Oh come now; it's not that bad."

The three Ed's made a heavy sigh as they then gathered up their stuff from Ami's car and proceeded to take their stuff towards the shrine, with Ami in front of them to guide them. It was when the four of them got to the stone stairs that they proceeded to climb up the long set of stairs.

About a minute later, the four of them all made it up the stairs, with the three Ed's all gasping for a little bit of breath.

"Oh, there you are, Ami-chan!" stated a feminine voice up ahead. The three Ed's looked over to where the voice came from.

It was a woman in her early twenties. She had long, midnight black hair that went to her waist. She wore a regular, red and white Shinto priestess outfit.

Eddy widened his eyes when he saw the woman in front of him as a bit of rose came into his cheeks, 'Whoa, she's hot…'

"Ah, Rei-chan!" Ami stated with a small smile as her friend came over to them, "Sorry I was a little late; the traffic on the way over here was awful."

The woman named Rei only laughed, "I would have expected much; there is a concert by Michiru-chan coming up in a few hours or so nearby, so I think everyone would want to get there early."

"Oh, Michiru-chan's concert is today?" Ami questioned with a bit of a gasp, "I forgot about that."

Rei only nodded her head as a reply as she then looked at the men behind Ami; she immediately widened her eyes at Eddy, 'That man… His hairstyle is the same as the one in my vision!' she then noticed something else, 'But… he seems a bit too short to be the one in the vision…'

Ami noticed that Rei was looking at the men behind her, "Oh, I forgot to greet the person and his friends I picked up," she stated as she gestured towards Double D first, "This is Eddward Johnson; he is the one that will be working with me…" she then gestured towards Ed, "This is his friend, Ed McNeal; he says that he's a manga artist…" Ed made a little wave of hello to Rei as Ami then gestured towards Eddy, "… And this is Eddy Wendell, his other friend."

"Nice to meet you, Ms. Rei," Double D greeted with a traditional Japanese bow.

"Y-Yeah, same here," Eddy also greeted back with a bit of a dazed voice, which was noticed by Double D and Ed.

"Nice to meet you all as well," Rei replied back as she then gestured towards the part of the shrine that looked a bit like an old Japanese house, "Let's get your stuff inside."

The three Ed's nodded their heads as they soon trailed off with Ami and Rei to the old house. Meanwhile, we could see three young figures standing behind a tree not too far away from the shrine as the Ed's and two women walked towards the house.

"Is that them…?" questioned one of the figures aloud as she turned to the other two beside her.

"I know it is, Tori! I would recognize them anywhere!" answered one of the other figures, "Let's just go up to them and tell them--"

"W-Wait, Shika; we can't!" stuttered the other voice with a gasp, "W-We can't tell them why we're here; o-or where we came from yet…"

"… You're right, Yuki," muttered both the other girls in agreement solemnly, "… We should try to introduce ourselves tonight," stated the second girl, "But, we need to come up with a story to cover up why we're here for now."

"… Agreed," replied the other two girls with a bit of a sigh.