"Alright, make sure everything is unplugged and you have all of your bags." Hiroshi commanded, as they were preparing the house to be unoccupied for a coming month, unplugging everything electrical, and taking everything they needed on the coming trip.

  As they were about to finish, they could hear a car come to a stop by their front lawn, and with Hiroshi making absolutely sure everyone had their stuff, they got their shoes on, and headed out with bags in tow.

  They saw as a van was parked in front, Kat in driver seat, Sophia on shotgun seat, and Edith with Ingolf opening the side door to help put bags on, and help them to get on and pick their seats, as Matthew was still heavily asleep, on his own spot.

  With all on board, and doors shut, the van was off as their vacation was about to start in proper. "This is so exciting!" Nata exclaimed, vibrating on her seat from the energy on what is to come, which Edith gave a light laugh at. "Absolutely."

  "So, any more joining on the trip?" Julia asked, as she gave a judging glare at Matthew and Ingolf, to which Ingolf couldn't help but try his best to avoid eye-contact with

  Sophia calmly looked to the back, as she explained "everyone else didn't seem too interested, but Klas and Clara would be coming. Supposedly curious to do their own research on local monsters and mana. We will be meeting up at the airport."

  "How far is this airport?" Olivia wondered in curiosity, as Edith answered "It will be in Helsinki, so about hour's drive."

  As the thoughts of airport came up, Edith calmly checked on Hiroshi, who was relaxing in his own mind for time being. "So, got all the passports?"

  "Yep," as he brought them up from his pocket, Nata's, Olivia's and just in case Julia's, to which Edith gave a light smile. "How about your own?" she clarified.

  "It is still valid." Hiroshi muttered, as he brought it up, which Edith was quick to take and put in her bag, confusing Hiroshi. "Uhh... what are you doing?"

  "Well, you did tell us about your current situation, so how about try using this instead." Edith said, to which she handed an other passport, taking Nata and Olivia by surprise.

  Hiroshi didn't say anything, as he checked inside, and as he was starting to presume. It was an edited passport, having his picture, and surname changed to that of Hamilton, same as Edith's, and date of birth and social information was changed.

  "I... see" He muttered, feeling cold sweat thinking about going through airport with it, and not to mention, his surname being hers, either implied half-siblings by how little they looked like each other... or marriage.

  Julia curiously peaked around Hiroshi, while keeping guard Nata and Olivia didn't see it, and as she noticed it as well, as she gave a light smug smirk at Edith, feeling both of them knew which was more likely implied, as she gave a light blush and look away from her, "Just for his safety, nothing else."

  "Right, thanks" Hiroshi spoke, as he awkwardly put it in his pocket, as he started to get light blush as well, unable to look towards Edith as well.

  "What is going on?" Nata complained, as Julia calmly noted her to return to sit properly, letting Nata pop in between the two seated in front of them.

  "Isn't it clear" Kat spoke from the driver seat, clearly able to predict what was going down as she and Sophia were in on the plan. "It's the classic lovebird language."

  Nata was left to buffer for a second on what she meant, before realizing. She could feel a mix of emotions come from it, but knowing better, she decided to bottle it for now with a light huff, making Olivia lightly chuckle.

  "Oh, so Edith and Hiro are dating?" Ingolf clarified, clearly being late on the fact than the rest of the crew. "Took us a while to realize as well. Surprising it is only secret she is willing to keep." Sophia commented, with a light chuckle on the thought. "To think the local tattletale is quiet when it's about her feelings."

  "I-it's not that deep." Edith muttered with light angst at their teasing, as Hiroshi by now is used to it. "I guess better time than any to be public about it." he admitted on top, to which Edith was about to respond, but didn't find right words, as he seemed right on point.

  As trip went on, and as Nata's curious eyes looked around the van, and the piled up bags in the back, one bag took interest to her. A full on proper metal box, with heavy duty lock on it.

  "Hey, what is in that box?" Nata commented lightly, as others wondered what she was asking about, but thankfully Ingolf was able to reach and check what she was meaning. "Oh, you mean the gun box?"

  "GUN BOX!?" She shouted in surprise, as she quickly calmed down by Olivia and Hiroshi, as Kat groaned in annoyance at the trouble.

  "Nothing to worry about. It has some gear from Kat for just in case, and some tamer gear, if we want to help in the city-state with monster trouble. the Tamer branch there is pretty brand new, so they need a lot of learning to get on our level of expertise." Edith explained, which eased the crew, but still just the prospect of having weapons with them made many of them mildly uncomfortable.

  But as things calmed down, chats moving onto plans about what is to come came up, Olivia was calmly left to watch at scenery outside the window, her attention at times got broken by seeing Matthew still slumbering like nothing was going on, and before long, she had to ask the question burning in her mind. "Is Mat... you know... alright?"

  "yeah, he is just paying his sleep taxes off." Edith noted. "I made sure he had everything he needs, and seeing on time..." she glances at her watch, before returning to topic "He should be awake around when we have already boarded the plane."

  "So what, you are just gonna carry him on board?" Julia noted in humor, to which the long-time tamers kept silent on, before Kat broke the silence. "Not the first time." which made Julia give a light huff, as seems Hiroshi wasn't the weirdest one in the van.

  Slowly, scenery went from forestry, to motor road, to proper city, Holding old beauty and culture in it's design, and as Nata and Olivia enjoyed the views, slowly and surely they came to the airport. As they hopped off and took their bags, while Edith hunted down some employees and with some requests, got a wheelchair to help taking Matthew around much easier. Olivia was intimidated by the packed location as they got inside the main hall, Nata gave curious looks around, as Hiroshi kept hold of her hand to make sure she didn't run away, while rest kept to themselves, as once everything was set, it was time to go through the process.

  Tickets, luggage, scanners, even Hiroshi having to end up padded down for misfire on the system before being free, as with calm walk across the grounds, they arrived at their gate, and nearby, it was not hard to notice the swede with a robot.

  "Took you long enough." Klas commented with a smile to see the group, as he greeted them alongside Clara, while giving Ingolf introductions as it was their first time meeting.

  "Damn, didn't know you had such advanced tech." Ingolf commented, before getting hit on back of his head by Julia "It's an poltergeist, a tamer should see that on the spot" which gave an awkward chuckle from Clara. "No offense. Undead are rare these days anyways, so I can't blame him."

  As ingolf gave annoyed look at Julia, Klas happily approached Hiroshi, clearly happy to pick up a chat "So, I heard you know Fuku."

  "Yeah, that's correct." Hiroshi muttered, not sure where he was going with it. "Then would you be kind and when we meet, convince her on sharing knowledge on magic."

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  "I would be happy to." Hiroshi said, before having to clarify. "But you shouldn't put trust in me. I wouldn't say we have a... good relation, in a way." which seems to get Klas mildly disappointed, but not giving up on his intent. "I see, I won't force you then. I appreciate the willingness."

  And as chat returned, Nata and Olivia wandered to the windows, as they saw airplanes go by, and plenty of flying monsters perching on one of the towers, and compared from how far they were watching, they looked like birds than people. "What do you think they are doing there?" Nata questioned, as Olivia just shrugged, herself seeing it first time.

  "They are to assist with flight communication and navigation." Kat informed, as she tailed them, keeping an eye out when rest weren't.

  "Oh, I guess that makes sense." Olivia muttered, as Nata was left partly confused, which Kat could take note easily on how they looked at each other.

  "In short, many of the flying monsters have sensitive instincts on wind and air-pressure, so with their location, and some gear they get specially made, they are able to detect storms and heavy winds before than some of the best tools we have."

  "That sounds wild." Nata commented, before a question came up. "Wait, how do you know so much?" as she understood knowing on the instinct, but gear and reason were something else.

  "Oh, I did some of that work when I was in the military." She commented with a shrug, shocking both girls, enough that Olivia couldn't help but mutter "That's pretty impressive."

  "Not really." Kat calmed their expressions. "Monsters have been taken pretty notably in by finnish government. The unique utilities and abilities we have help in assisting other monsters and humans, in a way humans and us alone couldn't otherwise. That is also why co-habitation is important aspect to us tamers." She explained, to which the girls gave short look at each other, before nodding in agreement.

  "Giving political lectures again?" Sophia noted with a light smile, to which Kat huffed. "You may not like it, but it is important for our work, and why we have such mess to bear currently."

  "I know." Sophia eased her mind. "But I doubt you will be recruiting these two anytime soon." she muttered, while giving a elbow against her waist.

  "Hey." Kat groaned, as Nata and Olivia couldn't help but share a smile, as they couldn't deny wanting to help, but also easily agreed they would no way be qualified for such work yet.

  Before they knew it, last of the setup was done and the gate was finally opened, letting the group enter with plenty of other people, no doubts with similar plans as theirs. Enjoying a good long vacation.

  Even if Sophia was willing to pay for the trip, they still had to take economy seats, as boys got their own row, across the hall having the tamers, and seats in front of boys were Nata and Olivia with Hiroshi keeping an eye out on them, with Julia and Clara taking other side.

  "I hope you don't mind me taking Window seat." Clara notified, which Julia didn't mind, but was curious "What for?"

  "Oh, I have to go into airplane mode, so I cannot easily get up and do stuff. Wouldn't want to entrap you into the corner." She clarified, which she didn't mind too much, as with boys making decisions, Matthew got the window seat, Klas took middle and Ingolf got hallway, while Olivia gave window to Nata, as Hiroshi took hallway, leaving moth at the middle, and Sophia took the window and Kat took the hall seating, with Edith relaxing next to them.

  As bags were put on the top, Julia took laptop for searching on some specifics of their destination, Nata kept eyes to the outside, while Kat took note of passengers coming in, as slowly the seatings were taken, but as she noticed the hallway started to get empty, a peculiarly dressed feline was going towards back of the plane, so with firm grip on her tail, and head turning full 100 degrees to stare at who dared to join in their trip, as the catgirl gave a light chuckle and look back, only to get mortified on the head being nearly backwards.

  "I suspected you'd join us, Bast." Kat said in disappointment, and as others took note of what was going on, Hiroshi could tell it was the familiar journalist, Mittens.

  "J-just a coincidence, that's all." She muttered with cold sweat, as she took steps closer, not wanting to get in trouble with the infamous Kat. "I was-"

  "Was about to start taking sneaky pictures of us on vacation." Kat said sternly, which made her yelp hopelessly, as she should have predicted she couldn't fool her. "ye... yes."

  As her tail and ears slumped, as while others didn't mind her, and as Kat was about to call her off, Hiroshi got an idea. "Hey, How about a small deal." which took them by surprise.

  After some negotiations, and considerations, a plan for both parties was formed. "Alright, I will be more than happily be your vacation photographer." She said, as she happily gave a mock salute.

  "That's nice, and remember to send the pictures when vacation is over at least." Hiroshi said, as with it, the excited cat went off, with plenty cheer, letting them rest for now.

  "Don't you think that would be risky, having a snooper take pictures of us for free, and use it for whatever." Kat questioned his decision, as Hiroshi calmly waved it off. "And you claimed I was an pervert when I joined the forces. Have some faith at least, she seems to value the pictures enough to do this for free. And what? She is gonna report how we are having a good time across the sea. And she did promise not to publish anything dubious."

  Kat still didn't put too much trust on the situation, but was willing to let it go, as no one else seemed too worried about it. "Fine, but if she gets in our way, you will be at fault."

  "Not the first time." Hiroshi muttered, as slowly the boarding was finishing, and as the attendants made sure everything was in order, flight started.

  Process was usual, seatbelts put on, dealing with the tilt, as Nata gave curious looks outside the window, seeing the world move past her in speeds she hasn't seen before, and before they knew it, they were in the air.

  Things went calmly, no problems at all, until air pressure started to lower, and while Kat, Clara and Olivia didn't have anything to worry, Nata started to complain in discomfort. "Ahh, ears feel weird."

  "Close your nose and try blowing through it." Hiroshi advised, and as Nata followed his guidance, eventually her ears popped with light discomfort, before easing on the pressure, even if with still a mild discomfort settled in.

  Flight would be long, as during it, many took good sleep, and around middle of the flight, Matthew finally started to wake up from a haze, slowly trying to process where and what was going on, before remembering in full.

  "Morning, Mat." Klas greeted quietly, as outside was pitch black, as Matthew gave a light stretch and some wiggling to his limbs to wake his body up in full. "Morning to you too... so, we are already on board?" he made sure, to which Klas gave a nod.

  With him checking his phone for any notifications, and messaging with Edith for short moment for clarity on more specifics of the trip, so others wont get disturbed by their noise, as with Matthew in action, the crew of twelve has officially started their vacation.

  "Hey, wake up." Olivia calmly nudged Nata, as she stirred awake, only to see sights of japan from the air. "There is about hour until landing."

  She couldn't help but watch the view in excitement, as Hiroshi calmly returned from bathroom with Ingolf, carrying with them some snack bags, offering them to everyone in the crew, which they took happily.

  And as their hunger were sustained for now, and as they came to land, with weak legs getting out of the plane, they could sigh a breath of fresh air, as the local attendants happily greeted the people to japan, and with luggage getting on each person, and steps were made with Hiroshi's guidance, they got a rental van to head out and get some proper dinner, as at last, they saw the city of Kushiro.

  They drove through the streets, Nata, Olivia and Julia couldn't help but get notes to Old Elmspring, but instead of suburban finnish architecture, this time around it was suburban japanese. Houses were small, and very big contrast from expectations that some of them had when most of the time their thoughts were on larger cities like tokyo.

  After some negotiations on a place to stay eat at, they decided sticking to something local, so with some help from GPS, they eventually arrived at a spot where they could fill up their bellies.

  While Sophia handled with tamer's on japanese, Hiroshi helped with his fosters, while for Klas and Mittens, Clara was there to help with an translator, which even then Hiroshi had to correct lightly, not wanting to cause trouble to the locals, which some were having no trouble dealing with them, especially the waiter as Hiroshi was able to ease their minds, however he could still note there were couple others eating in nearby tables that has taken note of the packed tourists.

  But he knew others could handle them, if they caused trouble. He was unsure how to feel about his own fosters though, as after some negotiations, seems their immediate interest was trying some ramen dishes.

  With orders taken, Julia kept calmly leaning on her chair, Nata was getting overly excited as she happily was taking everything in the experience to the fullest, while Olivia was lightly contemplating, before speaking up.

  "So... we have to use chop sticks..." she muttered under her breath, which Hiroshi couldn't help but give a light laugh at. "No need. If you want, I can ask they give you forks to eat with. When we arrive at Fuku's place, you can spend as much time to learn on your own." he tried to ease their time, but also him wanting to avoid enraging the other customers who already weren't that happy with their presence.

  Before long, some of the meals were brought onto the tables, during which Hiroshi quickly informed on the small request, to which they didn't mind and shortly, they got their meals. Hiroshi enjoying the normal way, while the fosters getting easy way with using a fork, as they happily dug in and enjoyed the meals.

  Hiroshi kept his guard up, but seems as thankfully after couple comments on the food, silence eased the judging of others, as after some good time enjoying the food, the bills got paid, thanks were given to the server and cook, and it was time to hit the road in proper.

  It didn't take long until they hit rural lands when heading out of Kushiro, and as they drove through couple towns, keeping up on a good pace while it was still mid-day, they finally arrived at ōnosai. When Hiroshi saw the old home appearing similar as it was two years ago, he couldn't help but feel worry hit him, as it was time to confront his past in proper.