The Unified Soul

The Bigger Move

After a few more days on the cruise, the group finally made it back home. While heading back home, Airis revealed that she was speaking again, and let's just say that their reactions of her voice.

Kawaii~Chan squealed in pure overjoyed happiness and almost squeezed Airis to death. Katelyn happily congratulated Airis for having the courage to speak. Zane affectionately pat her head and laughed. Garroth was crying tears of joy.

Everyone was so happy to have Airis to open up enough for her to speak. It meant that she was trusting them a lot more.

They stood on their street, a bunch of crates and boxes littered all over the street.

"Ah, we're home!" Aphmau said, relieved that they were finally back home.

"About time." Lucinda said, "Now, if you guys would excuse me, I have to go check on my shop."

"Oh, that's right! Kawaii~Chan has to get to her shift at the Maid Cafe."

"Aphmau, could you be a dear and hold onto our things?"

"What? You guys just got off vacation and you're already going back to work?" Aphmau asked.

"Hey, work is work. See ya later." Lucinda said before she and Kawaii~Chan walked away to get to work.

"Have a good day at work, Aunties!" Airis said, happily smiling and waving her 'aunts' goodbye.

Travis groaned as he stretched, "Finally, at least here I don't have to worry about the sun too much."

"That sounds like something Uncle Zane would say." Airis pointed out.

"Speaking of which, where is Zane? Did he go to work already, too?" Aphmau asked.

Everyone looked around and spotted Zane hiding behind a large set of boxes and crates.

"Zane? Why are you hiding behind those crates?" Aphmau asked.

"What are those crates even doing there?" Aaron asked.

"I don't know. A delivery maybe." Garroth answered.

Aphmau and Airis walked up to the crates, "Zane, I know you wanna get home, but you could at least give me and Airis a hug. Knowing you, you're gonna seal yourself away in your house for a while after this whole summer fiasco."

"NO I'M NOT!" Zane defended.

"Zane..."

"I'm not!"

Airis chuckled, "It's okay, Uncle Zane, we believe you. You've still got work to do after all."

"Why is he hiding?" Travis whispered.

"Hasn't he been hiding all summer?" Dante asked.

"Yeah, kinda."

"Come on! Give us a hug bye at least." Aphmau grumbled. Zane growled and reluctantly came out from behind the crates, showing off his new tan that he had gotten during the trip back home.

"Z-Zane!?" Aphmau and Airis shouted in shock.

"What happened?" Aaron asked.

"You've gotta be kidding me." Garroth said before he and Dante laughed at him. 

"Shut up! It happened on the way back home." Zane shouted.

"We were only on the ship for a few days, and we saw you for most of it. What happened?" Katelyn asked.

"I fell asleep on the deck for a few hours and I tan easily." Zane said, "But Airis was there too taking a nap with me, and she didn't get any darker."