"There you are!" Nallie exclaimed impatiently. "It took you, like, forever to get here."
"Excuse me? It was only a few seconds after you called me from here. It's not like it was an hour for me to reach here..."
"Yeah, but still..."
Mom went in between the two arguing siblings, each hand blocking their way to each other.
"Now, now—settle down. All four of us are finally here, and we're one of the first people in line, isn't that great? We're finally getting to see the part of the museum that everybody was talking about. Even my friends at my workplace kept rambling on about it."
Dad nodded, a tinge of excitement over visiting the new exhibits visualized through small movements of the chin.
I'm not sure if I could handle having to have all the other members of Quad Four keep talking about the Morkiss Museum. It would be like how Cloey and Sam keep getting on Manson's nerves with their chaotic shenanigans together.
So this was it, the whole point of going to the museum just for something that already exists. Nate didn't want to go, but with the tickets for each family member now stamped with a red symbol, he might as well look at the new things that were implemented in the new room sections.
But even with the internal poutiness that came from having to waste time here, instead of hanging out with Quad Four and learning more about his powers in order to properly wield Rupture, Nate knew that it was for his sister and father. Both of them were immensely passionate about the knowledge gained from the Morkiss Museum, truly from the heart. His mom knew that too and made Nate tag along to know that they were there for them.
"Right... I'll give this a bright outlook over the whole thing for once," Nate sighed to himself. "Let's see if the history here might 'enamor' me or something."
The door to the new exhibits was closed off, offering not even a single view of the inside. Two security guards oversaw the crowd forming in front of them, carefully watching the movements of the people nearby. Nate and his family were also sluggishly shifting their position as more and more people within their tour group had arrived. The line had even made its way to the other side of the wall, forcing those who arrived later to form a new line in a zig-zag pattern.
After a couple of minutes, the door out in front finally opened, revealing a sharply dressed man tidying up his tie with a smile that looked like it was caused by sucking a raw lemon. The coat that he was wearing was noticeably larger than it was supposed to be fit for, giving off an impression that he was more toned than he really was body-wise. His trousers were an ordinary color of blue and weirdly had a pair of traditional-looking slippers instead of normal closed-toe shoes that Nate saw with the other curators stationed around the general section of the museum, along with the security guards standing right next to the door.
"Greetings, everyone in the current tour group." The man gave a slight bow to the crowd in front of him. "Welcome to the Morkiss Museum, and to the exclusive grand opening tour of the exhibits in the third east wing."
"Ooohh, this guy looks so professional," Mom whispered to Nate.
The professional-looking man continued.
"My name is Arch Volskin. I am the leading curator of almost every artifact and historical item that you see here."
Some of those within the tour group whispered in amazement at how such a young man could lead a group of people dedicated to preserving artifacts within the most important cultural institution. Nate himself wasn't really moved by his infectious supposed charisma, but with the way Mom, Dad, and Nallie stared intensely at his words with unhidden curiosity, he guessed his family didn't share the same sentiment.
"We welcome you all to the group for this one-time grand opening guided tour of our newly established corridors, each containing priceless artifacts and mystical gadgets that were once lost in time," the curator announced loudly for those in the back. "As the leading curator for the whole museum's valuable collections, it was only respectful for me to properly explain the significance of what we are about to cover, since an ordinary tour guide would be inefficient at explaining otherwise."
"It's starting!" Nallie feverishly shook her brother's arm. "It's starting, oh my gosh."
Nate tried to pull away from her enthusiasm, as it was so unusually happy for her, almost to the point of being extremely joyful like Cloey.
"Nallie, let go, you're seriously gonna cut off my circulation if you keep grabbing my arm like that..."
Their father aggressively shushed them as the two continued to bicker with one another.
"Settle down, you two, focus on the tour, not whatever you are both doing."
Dad's sharp whispered words immediately made the two of them zip their lips for the time being. At the same second, Mr. Volskin signaled the whole group with a flick of the hand to follow him into the doors of the elusive exhibitions. Some of the people out in front were way too into the secret exhibit, giving early access to those who paid extra to participate in.
The moment that the people in the back were praying for was finally unveiled to their very eyes, and that was the interior that welcomed them into the first exhibits of the new rooms of the Morkiss Museum. The entrance to the first destination for the tour: Beach Bych Island.
"Oh my, what a view this is," Mom mentioned as she surveyed the whole area. "I've always wanted to take a vacation in a place like this."
"Definitely, that would be a total dream come true!" Nallie swooned.
For Nate, the whole room was really bright. He could see that the sources of the light were the machines that were propped up on tall metal towers. Their light acted as the hot sun, giving off intense heat rays that gave off similar heat to actually being on the tropical island itself. The deep blue sea that was painted into the walls of the room looked like they were actually well thought out by professionals, an artwork that Manson would probably never reach that kind of artistic level with his amateurish skills. But still, Manson was still growing.
Although fake, the torches and the campfires looked so real that someone could almost perceive that it was real. The rolling of the brown carpet instantly formed an impression on the onlookers' faces.
His father, in particular, showed no signs of uncontrollable happiness, probably from within. But he let out only a few words.
"So far, the entrance to the exhibition is to tell most people here about what will be presented."
Mr. Volskin stood in front of the crowd, on top of the carpet as he stretched out his arms like he wanted to give a big hug to the whole group at the same time. He carefully drank a few bottles of water and dabbed a tissue on his forehead for any lingering sweat.
"Ever since the year 1900, our city has been prosperous thanks to the efforts of our loving founder of Standart City, Jeremy Halchens, and the combined efforts of the expedition group that explored with Jeremy through the once unknown parts of the Middle Groundlands. Two of the members of this expedition group were Geralt and Carrie Whitford, the ancestors of the prestigious, wealthy family that still lives in the city today, the Whitford Family—one of these members is the mayor of the city: Jerome Whitford."
Mayor Jerome Whitford. The guy sitting up top the tallest, technologically advanced tower of Standart City, the pinnacle of power and authority, even countering the whole claim of Standart being ordinary in every aspect. Nate hadn't seen the man up close physically before, but did view the speeches on the television when he was just a little toddler. He wondered how different the new mayor might be if the next election was right around the corner.
Mr. Volskin closed his eyes and clasped his hands together.
"The Whitford Family provided decades of support and finance to our noble institution, giving their family heirlooms and their exclusive pieces of antique art for our director of the museum, Gorman Morkiss, to graciously accept. And in turn, we utilize the available resources so that professionals from all over the country would be amazed and comfortable with what we offer."
Gorman Morkiss? Nate hadn't heard that name before. Perhaps he was a new director to replace the old one that was retiring? Either way, this guy sounded like he was important.
"Oh, our large museum and the Whitford Family had immensely helped order become more stable," the curator tearfully said. "Ever since a Green Catastrophe had hit Standart City many years before, chaos and riots were all over; people were destroying everything they saw without a clear conscience. However, the Whitfords all changed that with their unlimited support for everyone they can with deliveries of perishable goods as one of the good things that came from such a destructive event... However, it appears that I have been straying off-topic; let us begin with the first part of the tour after the conclusion of our heartwarming introduction..."
One single gesture from Mr. Volskin made everyone move forward. The sheer amount of bodies forced Nate to separate from the rest of the family. He tried reaching out, calling out to them while not putting too much attention on himself. Despite the best he could do at that moment... or the worst he could do... Nate found himself at the back, making him the tail of the moving tour group, shuffling their feet slowly in the opposite direction he was in.
Nate reacted with a shrug and glanced around. It wasn't that big of a deal; it wasn't like he was in danger or anything like that, because nobody in their right mind would attack someone in the middle of a public place with guards placed all over the corners. He could just join them later when the tour ended if things were to come to that.
He decided to pace his own view of the things that were in the little glass containers and skim through the reading on the little white square blurbs next to it. But when he went over to an empty spot near some life-sized building room models, someone was also left behind with him.
A brown-haired girl in a ponytail stood rigid over the exhibit of a model apartment in Beach Bych Island. Her magenta and dark red clothes clashed violently with the tropical blue and brown color schemes in front of her. He noticed a bit more that her lightly tanned skin was a bit shiny and nourished, like she applied some sort of lotion.
Hang on... she is—
Her hairstyle, the clothes she was wearing, and the fact that she was slightly taller than him by a few inches. It was another classmate from Standart High, and none other than Kana Namuro, also known as the president of the gardening club.
Another one of Quad Four's acquaintances within the class of Mr. Mouch. Within class, she was usually reasonable and ordinary in a bearable way, unlike most of the eccentric classmates in the room. Her handling of anything related to gardening, ranging from tending to flowers to growing crops with traditional techniques, made her look like an expert in those areas.
Talk about the odds of meeting two people from homeroom class in the same day in the same place. First Randall Evans, and now, Kana herself. If these two were here in Morkiss Museum, could they have met each other before Nate interacted with them?
He wondered what the two of them thought of each other. It was a weird thought for him to think about what kind of interactions two completely unrelated people without any history with each other would have with each other's personalities. It was like having to play a game to predict what the other person would say to each other.
He went over to her and tapped her shoulder to get her attention.
"Hey, Kana? It's me, Nate, from homeroom math class."
Kana was immediately startled by the contact, turning towards him like something was going to attack her.
"Woah, w-woah," Nate stammered. "It's me, not some thug on the street."
Her aggression dropped as she realized who was right next to her.
"Nate? Are you really here in the Morkiss Museum? Wh-what are you doing here?!"
Kana was really startled by Nate walking up to her, maybe from her extremely focusing on the history classes she was taking at school? If that was the case, then Nallie and Kana would really become good friends through this shared quirk.
Nate cleared his throat, still trying to understand what she was afraid of.
"W-well, I'm here because one of my family members wanted to go here for this grand opening of the area. Like, am I correct that applies to your reason for going here?"
Kana went silent only for a few seconds before saying, "I guess you could say that..."
"You... feeling alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I'm fine, it's just... I really need to go to the bathroom for a bit—'scuse me!"
Without uttering another word, Kana left the room both of them were in and departed for the exit, probably making herself off the tour group members list. Nate was deeply confused over the whole thing, but the fact that it was bathroom-related business meant that he shouldn't dig into the issue further than it already had.
Nate moved on to checking out all the things that were in the room. He really tried his best to stay interested in the museum tour, but his mind clouded with fast-paced activities instead of the slowness of real life that was right in front of him. Nallie and Dad had to be superhuman to stay awake through the whole lectures and lengthy explanations that were given to them, with joke theories he planted in his mind about how that was their Theomic ability.
When the last person in the tour group line was out of view, it was a sigh to Nate that he should probably hurry up before he got lost. After all, this part of the museum was still brand new; it was his first time visiting such a place in the Morkiss Museum. A problem might occur with the security guards dragging him back outside when they mistook him for someone sneaking into the brand-new exhibitions instead of Nate being part of the tour group that went inside.
He trudged towards the other room at a slow pace, intending to reach it after something peculiar had claimed his eye's attention. A lone door far away in a dimly lit hallway was moving by itself, causing creaks to echo throughout the room, but only those who were trying to listen to the door they saw could hear.
Nate stopped and looked at the moving door. No one was there, yet it was moving back and forth like someone was there. A sudden chill appeared on his spine, unsure of what to make it of.