Complete stranger: is as surprised as they are! Well, slightly less surprised at the impossibility, more at the event happening to him -

He glances around, wary.

He's standing on a strange sort of floor made up of light brown panels. The panels are arranged like an aesthetic puzzle, with panel-sized gaps revealing pools of water or white sand in which tiny ornamental trees and decorative rocks have been planted.

The walls to either side of him are painted with a mural of Japanese landscape, containing mountains and scaled-up versions of the tiny trees. The room is lit by round, glass lamps arrayed neatly across the ceiling.

On one side of the room is a polished wooden platform. A pale girl in green robes kneels in the center before a small podium. She has surreptitiously closed the book that rests on the podium and is watching him carefully.

Opposite her, across the floor puzzle, is -- this turns out to be a very large room. There are a dozen men in suits populating dark wooden benches. The benches are tiered, built into stairs that lead up to a much longer portion of room containing rows and rows of bookshelves.

All of the men are staring at their unexpected guest, alarmed. The oldest one there, sitting on the bottom tier, grey haired with alarming spiky eyebrows, rises to his feet looking affronted. "How did you get in here! How dare you slink into my private property during this private event, are you a thief?"

" - I don't know how I'm here, and I didn't intend to come here. Not a thief."

Old man seems unconvinced. “What does it mean, that you didn’t intend to come here? You are here! Do you expect I’ll allow you to rampage my library simply because you claim you don’t know how you —“ He breaks off and shakes his head. “Absurd. If you aren’t a thief, what is it you’re after?”

Hideko takes advantage of this disruption to begin quietly fanning herself, still watching closely.

"Figuring out where I am and then going home."

"You are in my library. In my mansion. On the outskirts of Kuwana City, if you're that daft. Where's your home, boy?"

(It's technically not his mansion. But it is his library, and the technicality means next to nothing.)

Hideko watches the other men in the room. Some of them seem intrigued, ranging from bemused to affronted, leaning forwards as though trying to take a closer look at the boy's explanation. Others are shifty and glancing at each other, concerned that some sort of stealthy sabotage is afoot and they're all about to be either sent to prison or robbed blind, or both.

"I don't recognize 'Kuwana City.' I'm from Ĝešil-Iri, on Zikum-Anubda, part of Mes-Kalam."

Sigh. "That's gibberish. You've offered no explanation from how you got here, from -- wherever Mes-Kalam is supposed to be. Are you just planning to squat on my property until you figure out where you're intending to be? Because I won't allow it. Not unless you have money -- real money! Not some gibberish Gesil-ibum money -- or some manner of valuable skill, which at this point I would find surprising."

On the one hand, a random stranger materializing in his library feels like a threat, which he dislikes. But he actually doesn't recognize the style of the young man's clothes, which makes him... interesting. And Kouzuki does like interesting things.

"Don't know how it got here. Last I was aware, I was in my house."

"Huh.

And so what are your immediate plans? Other than holding up my auction."

"Auction?"

"...yes. The auction." He gestures at Hideko. "Hold it up for him."

She lifts the book from her small podium and holds it up, eyes lowered demurely. The cover of the book looks expensive, but conveys no information about the manuscript's contents.

"The girl reads from the rare manuscripts that I auction, to conjure more vivid images and better impart the books' worth. These men here are all appreciators of such art."

"Uh huh. And people are nervous about this because...?"

He used to be a detective before taking parental leave. He can practically smell the wariness about the law on them. Not that he really cares, most laws are pretty damn stupid, but he's getting an odd feeling.

Several of the men abruptly look More Nervous. Kouzuki scowls.

"Because everything here is quite expensive and irreplaceable, and some young miscreant just appeared out of nowhere as though ready to wreak havoc!" he blusters. "Would you not be nervous if an intruder barged into your home and your private affairs?" 

"Eh, depends on what else was going on."

"What else do you think is going on?"

"With me or with you?"

"I am interested to hear what you think with is going on with regards to any aspect of this situation. Be that how you got here, or what you think we gentlemen have to be nervous about, or what you would hypothetically be doing when someone burst into your home."

"I wasn't trying to teleport, so I figure someone else moved me. I don't have many enemies anymore, but it might have been someone who doesn't like me. There are a lot of things you could be nervous about. If someone randomly appeared in my home I'd probably be reading or looking after my children, and I'd probably take them to the nearest community office so someone else could bother getting them home. If they were fleeing somewhere and didn't want to interface with the law I might offer to help them keep moving to somewhere safer, depending on why they were fleeing."

"What does that mean, to 'teleport'?"

"...To be in one place and then move instantly to another place? Does your language not have a word for it?"

"There's a new English word, I heard overseas," one of the men in suits chimes in. "Teleportation, for -- anomalies to appear. Or disappear. Like ghosts. I suppose this boy is an anomaly?" He squints at Sugira as though he will reveal himself to be a ghost upon closer inspection.

"You can do this? This te-le-por-tuh -- moving instantly, you can do this magic? Are you a ghost?"

He doesn't look like a ghost. Why would a ghost wear clothes that no one has seen before? But she sort of hopes that he's a ghost anyway, and she has no better explanation for him appearing when the lights flickered. Kouzuki deserves for ghosts to exist, to find him.

"I can't without - items I don't have." Their language definitely does not have even a jargony word for the magic rings. "It needs technology. I'm fairly sure I'm not a ghost."

"Sir, if I may," says another one of the men, rising to his feet on the bench-steps and bowing politely to the old man. "Clearly this boy has a wealth of stories that we might want to hear, perhaps technological insight that we might find profitable. Or, perhaps he is insane and a thief, but his composure is thus far sturdy enough that -- ahh, we might want to give ourselves more time to thoroughly come to one of these conclusions? And I do think we all wish to continue the auction."

He clears his throat behind a fist. "I propose that we accommodate him here overnight and tomorrow question him more thoroughly. And then send him into town, as he apparently thinks to be the proper protocol, or to an institution."

He eyes their intruder narrowly. "If we shelter you overnight, you will cause no trouble? Tomorrow we will have more leisure to question one another. When you are not interrupting."

"First define 'trouble.'"

"Stealing things. Damaging my property, causing a mess. Interfering with the work of any of the servants. Interfering with my private affairs."

"Don't see why I'd want to do those."

"Hmph."

He glares at Sugira, and then glares at the Count, and then glares at Hideko for good measure. Then back at Sugira. "Hmph. If you find yourself changing your mind, about that, I can promise you will regret it." He waves his hand. "Sasaki, escort him to a room."

An old woman in rust-colored robes steps out from a corner behind Hideko and walks neatly across the floor in small, prim steps. She bows slightly to the old man, and then grimaces a thin smile Sugira's direction.

"Come," she says shortly, lifting a lantern, and she leads the way up the stairs without looking back. The men in suits on either side shift uneasily to watch them pass.

He glances at the men in suits, considering them, but follows the woman in silence.

They walk between a long stretch of bookshelves, past a table displaying fine landscape paintings under glass. There are small sculptures on tables at the end of each row between shelves, which will appear unremarkable at the appropriate distance.

At the end of the room, right in the center of the floor is a statue of a cobra, coiled up and snarling at the door.

Sasaki ignores the snake. She walks neatly around it without looking down, and pulls open the sliding metal door. Beyond it is a small, unadorned foyer. Sasaki holds the second door open, and waits for Sugira to step out into the night air.

He glances around, committing the path to memory.

"Who were those men?"

"The Master's guests," says Sasaki, still without looking at him. Her voice is flat, and she looks straight ahead at the path before them. "Rich men who are book lovers, like the Master. But he is the richest. They visit to see the fine works he collects, every month or so."

It's not a very well-lit path, with only Sasaki's lamp to reveal it, but they walk through some sort of garden and follow a neatly maintained rock path around a pond. Then there's a longer walk through more garden, past a looming cherry tree. The tree's pale petals are ghostly in the moonlight. 

Ahead of them, finally, rises a large house.

"And the woman?"

“Lady Hideko,” says Sasaki after a long pause. “The Master’s niece. She has a gift for reading, and so she assists during his auctions.” Sasaki’s face finally makes an expression, not directed at him, and it’s a faint, unpleasant smile that almost looks cruel.

They enter the house through a long, Japanese-styled hallway of wood and canvas, which leads them to a large wooden hall, richly furnished and lit by elegant candles, incongruously European.

"A Japanese wing and an English wing, these are both parts of the main house," says Sasaki as she leads Sugira up the stairs, seeming to assume that 'Japanese' and 'English' will mean something to him. She says the words more fondly than she did 'Lady Hideko.'

"The Master renovated them this way as a tribute to his admiration for Japan and England." On the wall of this grand room, before them as they ascend the stairs, are two large oil paintings: one of the Lady Hideko in an elegant green dress and the other of a young girl in a red kimono, clutching a doll.

He nods, slowly. "...Who's she?" he asks, gesturing to the young girl in the painting.

"Lady Hideko, also," says Sasaki, glancing at the painting. "Though getting this done was a hardship. She was a disagreeable child."

The stairs lead them up to a hallway. At a certain point down the hall, Sasaki stops in front of a sliding door and pulls it open. It's an unremarkable bedroom. The mattress is bare, with the sheets folded neatly on top of it. There are some nice vases with nice plants and some very ugly green wallpaper. The room lacks an abundance of Valuables.

"This is the guest room for you," says Sasaki. "You should sleep here and not leave this room for the rest of the night."

Uh huh.

He nods, keeping his skepticism to himself.

Sasaki doesn't look like she likes or trusts him, but possibly this is just the way her face is.

"In the morning, I imagine Master will have you summoned, if or when he decides to meet with you. Otherwise, avoid making yourself a nuisance." She bows, understated enough to be considered rude, and then slides the door closed to leave him to his own devices.

He explores the room, looking for cameras or other surveillance methods, for entry and exit points, for hidden latches...

There are no cameras. 

There is a very small concealed hole in the wall, in the shadow of a wardrobe where the light doesn't fall on the uneven patch naturally. The hole is covered by a small circle of wood and matching wallpaper, which can be swiveled out of the way with enough effort. (Possibly something exists that makes this easier to maneuver on the other side of the wall.) Nobody seems to be on the other side.

There's a window, which is painted over so that it won't open, but the glass can presumably be broken if necessary. Otherwise there are no entry or exit points beside the door.

As for hidden latches: one of the drawers in the wardrobe has a false bottom, but nothing is currently hidden there.

The room sadly isn't very exciting.

Can he hear anyone in the hallway?

Nope.

Hm...

He doesn't have his magical rings. He doesn't have most of his spells, either, just cantrips... None of which are very helpful for stealth or scrying.

He still does, though, know how to pick locks, and how to sneak the mundane way.

He waits a little while, then goes to try the doorknob.

It’s unlocked.

Does anyone react if he eases it open?

Nope! The hallway is dark, but there’s enough light through the windows to see by. No one seems to be out here waiting to catch him in the act.

He checks the rooms nearest his, first.

Two rooms are unlocked and completely empty, one room is locked. Just around the corner, where he and Sasaki came from, is a sliding door that does not match the other rooms.

He investigates.

Instead of a room, there is another hallway.

There is one window, at the end of the hall, and one door to his left halfway down the corridor. Directly across from that door, on his right, there is a bed set into an alcove in the wall. A girl is sleeping underneath messy blankets in that bed.

...Interesting.

He softly moves toward the left hand door, keeping an eye on the girl in case she stirs.

She does not.

The door is unlocked.

He investigates inside.

It's a very large bedroom. The room is so large and contains so much artfully arranged furniture that it might take a while to notice the bed in it at all, directly opposite the door on the other side of the room. There are also dressers and wardrobes and a set of chairs around tables. There are many lamps, which all look to be expensive.

There are windows on the right hand wall. Also against that wall, directly to the right of the bed, is a desk that boasts a tall ornate mirror, some papers and ink pots, and a set of makeup that seems to have been recently in use.

Nobody in it right now?

Nope, all empty! (Those closets on the left wall look theoretically large enough to hide a person, but that would be unlikely and silly.)

He ghosts back out, looking for other places to explore.

He can go back downstairs, if he wants, past the large oil paintings again. If he pokes around, he'll find a very fancy dining hall and some parlors. These rooms contain fancy clocks which will consistently tell him that it is shortly before midnight.

Almost all of the doors are unlocked, with one elegant wooden exception in the upper floors of the European-styled wing.

He doesn't pick any locks yet. Those seem likely to have people behind them, and he's being careful right now.

He notes escape routes out of the mansion, then retreats back to his room to sleep very, very lightly, until whatever awaits him in the morning.

What awaits him will eventually be a light knock on the door, assuming he doesn't leave his room.

He doesn't.

He wakes up easily, swinging himself so he's sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Yes?" he calls.

The door slides open. His visitor is a maid, a girl in a plain black dress. She bows nervously to the maybe-ghost. "Good morning, sir. Miss Sasaki told me that the Master says you can eat food with the servants, if you want to. He doesn't have plans to meet with you yet. But, um."

She glances out into the hall, and then blushes slightly. "Um. Count Fujiwara said he'd like to talk to you at some point."

"I'm fine eating with the servants, it's alright. And I'd like to talk to - whoever will talk to me, really. Not right away, though."

"That's fine, I think. He has painting lessons with the Lady at 2 o'clock anyway, so maybe you can try to find him after that." She steps back out into the hall, bows again. "I can take you to breakfast whenever you're ready."

"Give me a few minutes, and I'll be ready shortly."

"Of course, sir." She bows and slides the door shut again.

And he straightens out his clothes, repeats the prestidigitation cantrip a few times to clean up, and then soon enough heads over to open the door.

She's still standing there. She offers him a little smile and nods shyly down the hall. "This way, then, sir."

He smiles slightly back, before following.

She'll lead him down some stairs and down another hall and out an unimpressive door and then they're outside, again. They walk down a covered stone path towards a smaller house in the shadow of the large one, where a wood-and-canvas sliding door already waits open for them.

This takes some time, if he feels like making conversation, but she won't initiate any herself.

He's saving his ability to form coherent sentences, mostly.

Well, she won't mind.

Inside the smaller house is a long, low wooden table set with food, rice and egg and vegetables. There are lots of maids in the same black uniform seated around it, eating their breakfast and gossiping with each other. When the first few notice Sugira and perk up with curiosity, most of the others turn to look at him.

"You can come sit with us here, if you want," says the maid who brought him, taking a seat beside the cluster of the maids. Most of them are sitting together at this end of the table - actually, all except one. The outsider sits by herself further down, shoveling rice into her mouth as fast as she can. She glances at Sugira, frowns, and then turns her attention back to her rice.

Maid hands Sugira a bowl.

He takes it, giving the outsider a long glance with a curious expression.

She doesn't look up again. She is very focused on the rice; it's great rice.

When she finishes she sets down the bowl, looks Sugira over as she slips her shoes on by the door, and dashes out into the garden. She runs all the way to the main house, footsteps loud on the stone path, and then disappears inside.

The other maids watch her go with some distaste; a few of them scoff. The girl who'd fetched Sugira shakes her head.

"Now I suppose we're supposed to clean away that bowl for her, like we're her servants," someone mutters.

"Who is she?"

"And I can clean the bowl; I think I startled her, anyways."

"She's a bitch."

"Hush! That's Tamako, the Lady's new maid. But none of us like her; she clearly has a very poor upbringing, no manners."

The girl sitting across from them leans in, lowering her voice conspiratorially. "Everyone's upset because we were cold to her just a little when she arrived - which is normal, and it's not like she was trying to get along with us yknow? But then she went and whined about the missing shoe and Lady Hideko got really mad at everyone, she's meaner than Miss Sasaki -" her whispering breaks off and she glances around, checking that Sasaki isn't somehow lurking in the corners of the room. 

"So really Tamako isn't the bitch." The girl who says this is emphatically shushed.

His guide sighs. "You don't have to clean the bowl, sir, we'll take care of it. And yours, once you're finished."

"...Alright."

There's a bit more mumbling to each other throughout breakfast, mostly about how handsome the Count is, but no more exciting gossip about Tamako or Lady Hideko.

When he is done, they do indeed clean his bowl away. The maid who brought him to breakfast asks if he wants to go back to the main house? Or he could walk in the gardens close by...

"Gardens."

Here are some gardens. They're very pretty; it looks like they have been quite expensively maintained.

The maid requests that he stay in this general garden area so that no one else becomes alarmed about him vanishing and getting up to Otherworldly Hijinks. 

"Alright."