The July morning was warm, not as hot or humid as was characteristic of the season. However, nobody would complain. It was a refreshing sign that the heat wave that had hung over Tokyo for the past week had finally passed, or was at least giving the inhabitants mercy.

Shidou Hikaru stepped through the open back door to her home, announcing, "We're back!" Her dog, Hikari, passed her and went into the house, where he lay down at the feet of one of Hikaru's older brothers, Masaru, who was sitting in a chair at the kitchen table.

"Ohayo, Hikaru-chan," he said as she walked in and opened up the refrigerator. "Did Hikari enjoy his walk?"

"Yup." The red-haired sixteen-year-old pulled a carton of milk out of the fridge, then made a face, turning to her brother. "I thought Okaa-san bought more milk. This carton's empty."

Masaru motioned with his hand. "It's in the back of the fridge. You can blame Kakeru for not throwing that away."

The redhead sighed, tossing the empty carton into the trash can and taking the full one from the back of the refrigerator. She poured herself a glass of milk and downed it quickly, then put the carton back in the fridge, the glass in the sink, and headed for the door again.

"Hey, where are you going in such a hurry?" Masaru asked as Hikaru reached the doorway.

"To see Fuu-chan and Umi-chan," the short girl called over her shoulder, shutting the door behind her.

Hikaru's fifteen-minute jog took her to Tokyo Tower. Rushing up to the spot where she was supposed to meet her friends, she found the two of them waiting there, both looking as though they were beginning to get concerned over Hikaru's absence.

"Hikaru-san," Fuu said as the petite redhead bent over, resting her hands on her knees and gasping for breath, "you are almost twenty minutes late. Are you all right?"

As Hikaru nodded breathlessly, Umi suggested, "Then shouldn't we go, since Hikaru's here now?"

"Hai," the cranberry-eyed girl responded, finding her breath again. She stood up straight, taking the hands of her two friends. "Let's go."

Hands joined, the threesome closed their eyes, summoning their will. Within moments, a bright flash of light filled the room. When it faded, the three teenage girls were gone.

"Ah ha!" Umi grinned, turning to her group of friends, hands on her hips. "Was that a great shot or what?"

Fuu smiled, clasping her hands before her. "Yes it was, Umi-san. You're very good at aureale."

As the blue-haired girl smiled proudly, Ascot nodded in agreement. "It's sorta hard to begin with. I'm surprised you picked it up so fast, Umi."

"Well, Fuu's good, too," Umi said with a smile, trying not to sound quite so full of herself, "and she's a beginner, too."

"Although I'm afraid we can't say the same for Hikaru," Ferio added, staring over at Hikaru, who was furiously trying to knock her ball past a pole stuck in the ground. But the yellow wooden sphere kept striking the pole and bouncing back, causing the redhead more and more frustration.

"It's just like croquet!" she squealed, dropping the golf club-like bat she was using to hit the ball and kicking it instead. The yellow ball rolled past the pole, and Hikaru's teammates all sighed with relief.

"Actually, this game is a little like croquet, or perhaps golf," Fuu noted as Presea patted Hikaru's shoulder, calming the petite girl. "You hit the ball past a series of scattered poles to get it into a hole at the end."

"Hey," Umi said in a tone of mock anger, "are you guys copying games from our world?" She wagged her finger in Ferio's face. "That's not nice!"

The green-haired prince stepped back, looking rather nervous. Fuu laughed softly, placing her hand on Umi's arm and lowering it. "Now now, Umi-san..."

"Waa! You got your ball in, Caldina!" rejoiced Hikaru, clapping her hands. She turned and grinned at Fuu's team, flashing a "V" sign and grinning. "Five points for us!"

"But isn't it two points when a ball goes in the hole?" Zazu asked, scratching his head.

Hikaru stopped celebrating and pondered a moment. "I don't know," she said finally. "We're both new to this... Is it two or five, Presea?"

"Neither. It's three," the blond woman said, smiling as Hikaru resumed her celebration, jumping up and down and crying, "Three points for us!"

"Oy!" All eight people assembled turned their heads as Geo called out to them. "Food!"

"Yay!" Hikaru dashed forward, grabbing Umi and Fuu's hands, dragging them towards the doorway where Geo stood. "We get to eat now!" Her companions laughed as the exuberant girl pulled them past a sweatdropping Geo and back inside the castle.

"Ah, gotta love Cephiro's food," sighed Umi as they exited the dining hall about an hour later. "I wish I could eat here every day."

"Ano, we do eat here almost every day, Umi-chan," Hikaru said. "We visit at least every other day." Umi grinned sheepishly, then reached over to ruffle Hikaru's red hair. "Hey!"

Ferio shook his head, smiling, then leaned down to kiss Fuu's cheek softly. "Thanks for coming to see us today," he said with a smile. "Come back as soon as you can."

The blond girl smiled back at him, taking his hand in hers breifly and giving it a small squeeze. "I promise."

Umi smiled, winking at the pair. "Aw, how sweet," she teased.

"Ah, Umi, don't tease them," Ascot chided as Fuu blushed slightly. He pulled the blue-haired girl into a quick embrace. "See you tomorrow."

She smiled up at the tall boy. "Hai." Then she noticed Hikaru standing alone. "Aren't you going to say 'bye' to Lantis, Hikaru?"

"He's not here," the short girl replied, blinking and looking around. "He was with us while we were eating... Where did he go?"

"I don't know..."

"I'll give you a hug!" Zazu offered, throwing his arms around his friend.

Hikaru laughed, hugging him back. "Okay, Zazu-kun, okay! I'll see you next time." She let go of the dark-haired boy, then went around in a little circle, hugging each of their friends in turn before joining Fuu and Umi.

Joining hands, the three glanced back at their friends in a final farewell before closing their eyes and focusing their thoughts on the will to return home. However, unlike most times when they could get back to Earth without difficulty, the three girls found themselves standing there for a prolonged period of time. Almost in unison, although unaware of the others' throughts, they all focused even more upon their wish to go back to Earth. Still, nothing happened.

After a long moment of silence, Umi snapped her head up and cried in frustration, "Why isn't it working?"

Fuu opened her eyes as well as the threesome dropped hands. "I do not know, Umi-san. Were we all concentrating fully on returning home?" Both Hikaru and Umi nodded vigorously, and Fuu cast her emerald eyes downward, her brow furrowed as she thought hard. "It doesn't make sense..."

Nobody moved for a while. Everyone seemed to be pondering the reason for the girls' difficulty in leaving Cephiro, standing in silence. Finally, Hikaru suggested, "We should try again."

They did. Umi, Fuu, and Hikaru stood for even longer than the last time, trying to leave Cephiro, narrowing their minds desperately to their one thought, their wish to go home. But still, after trying and trying until they were mentally exhausted, they remained standing there. Ferio, Presea, and all the rest stood a few steps away, watching the girls in silent worry. It was an unusual occurance, and a frustrating one.

"This isn't fair!" Umi broke the silence. "I'm giving myself a headache and it's not working."

"Something's wrong," Hikaru said quietly. "We should be able to go home."

Clef focused his gaze upon her. "Are you sure you can't return home?" The redhead nodded in response. "Then I would suggest that we find you a place to stay. If you can't get home, you'll be staying here." He turned to the blond woman to his left. "Presea?"

She nodded, moving forward towards the three girls. "Let's get you girls rooms, okay?" she said gently. "You look awfully tired."

Hikaru nodded mutely in response, and Presea put her hand on the petite girl's shoulder. She motioned for Fuu and Umi to follow, then led the girls down the wide hall.

Umi sighed, pulling the nightgown that had been supplied for her over her head as they prepared for bed. "This is really bothering me," she said, folding her clothes and setting them on a chair. "Something feels... strange."

"I know," Hikaru muttered, trying to yank a hairbrush through the back of her hair. "Something does feel wrong. Oh, arigatou, Fuu-chan," she added as the blond girl came up behind her, smiling, and took the brush from Hikaru, untangling the red waves much more gently than Hikaru had been doing.

"Well, at least we're safe while we're here," she said as she brushed out Hikaru's hair. "Cephiro is much safer than when we were summoned, and our parents will not worry since they won't know we are gone."

Umi sat on the edge of her bed, one of the three lined against one wall. "But what if we can never go home? What if we're stuck here forever?"

"Don't worry, Umi-chan." Hikaru stood up as Fuu finished brushing her hair. "We'll get home eventually." She climbed into the bed nearest the door, sliding under the white covers.

"Do you think we might need our armor or weapons?" Fuu asked as she took the bed furthest from the door. "Cephiro is peaceful right now, but have there not always been monsters in certain areas? We might have to defend ourselves at some point in our stay."

"We can worry about that in the morning," Umi sighed, lying on her back with her hands behind her head. "I'm really tired right now. Trying so hard to get home wore me out."

Hikaru nodded, rolling over onto her side and yawning. "In the morning... and we'll see Mokona, too. We haven't seen him yet."

"That's also unusual," Fuu said softly, but both of her friends had already drifted off into sleep. Fuu smiled a little, then closed her eyes and let sleep overcome herself as well.