After Kisuke and Yoruichi left the same day, Aika came to the Urahara Household and only met Sakura who is reading an invitation card.
"Good morning, Sakura-san."
"Ah, Good morning to you too, Aika-chan. Do you need anything? Don't you have school today?"
"I skipped it. I want to at least do a proper Flash Step today, but do you know where Kisuke or Yoruichi-san is? Koneko and I tried to enter the Training Grounds but we can't use our pendants to teleport." Aika asked after she was invited inside the house.
"Why can't you enter the Training Grounds?" Sakura prepared some tea for both of them.
"There's a restriction to the teleportation device. We can't go there and train if they are not around or inside the Training Ground itself. He put it there so that we won't train secretly which is dangerous." Aika took her tea after a small thank you.
"... So he really didn't tell anything about his plans to all of you..." Sakura sighed. Kisuke left letters addressed to Koneko and Aika, but she thought it was just some notes and reminders.
"Hmm? What do you mean?" Aika tilted her head in confusion.
Sakura stood up from her seat and opened the cupboard in the kitchen to get a letter and candy. She handed it over to Aika and said, "Maybe you'll understand if you read this. That candy is also for you."
With apparent confusion, Aika silently opened the letter and read its contents.
"Dear Aika,
I'm currently on a honeymoon with Yoruichi.
Sincerely, Kisuke"
"Huh!? On a honeymoon!? And that doesn't really explain anything!" Aika shouted after reading the strangely short letter.
Sakura's mouth twitches when she also saw the letter, 'Why did he even write it?'
"Sakura-san! Please tell me where they are!"
"What are you gonna do? Follow them?"
"Of course not! It's their precious time. I don't want to disturb them now. I'm just curious about where they went... For future reference."
Sakura chuckled and replied, "They're in Greece. They just left this morning." Sakura kept quiet about someone invited him to come over. However, strangely, she suddenly remembered joking about him bringing her another daughter-in-law, 'It can't be... right?'
Aika's voice roused Sakura from spacing out, "Just this morning!? Is it so hard to at least leave a text message that they going somewhere like a normal person!?"
"Did you think that my son is a normal person or capable of thinking like a normal one?"
"... You've convinced me, ma'am... You're his mother, without a doubt." Aika nodded sagely and asked, "When are they coming back?"
Sakura thought for a bit before replying, "He said around a week or two..."
"...Sakura-san... Should we expect your grandchild nine months later?"
"I'm fine with that~. Though that probably won't happen and anytime soon. Despite how perverted he is, Kisuke is really careful with things like this... What I heard from Yoruichi anyway."
"Figures..."
Sakura pointed at Aika's letter and said, "Continue reading the letter, something is still written at the bottom of the paper."
Aika looked down at the paper again and read a sentence at the end of the paper, "P.S. Use the candy if things get a bit dicey."
"What does that mean?"
Aika took the candy with a pink wrapper and carefully kept it inside her pocket, touching it several times to make sure it's secure, "I'm not sure..." Although Aika isn't indeed sure what the candy does, she has a clue when she saw the words 'a bit dicey'.
Sakura didn't pry further as she probably knew what she should do with that candy, if not, Kisuke wouldn't purposely leave those kinds of words, "What do you plan to do now?"
Aika used her minimal control on her Reiatsu-Ki to shred her letter, "Well... I have nothing to do so I'm going to school to attend the remaining classes and maybe take a look at Sona-kaichou..." Aika drank the rest of her tea and stood up to say her farewells, "Thank you for the tea. I'm leaving now."
Sakura didn't mind her actions as she's only being careful like Yoruichi taught her, "Be careful on your way. And please pass this to Koneko-chan. It's also from Kisuke." She then passed another letter to Aika, this time, without a candy.
She raised it up towards the light bulb to see the shadow from inside and noticed that Koneko's letter is quite long compared to her, "What's up with this difference in treatment? Can I cry?"
Sakura chuckled at her words and comforted her, "Just think of it as Kisuke trusted you that he didn't have to say anything more."
"I see... Thanks~," Aika left for school.
'I also need to prepare... It's been a while since I've been to Hokkaido...' Sakura took a look at the invitation card that she received earlier. It's an invitation to the wedding of her co-worker which will take place in Hokkaido. She was also invited to stay for a few days to have a get together with her close friends at work.
Sakura left the house after lunch to take care of somethings along with the groceries and only got back late in the afternoon. She realized that she bought the normal amount of groceries, 'Ah... It's just me tonight...'
Just as she was about to reach her house, she saw someone pacing around her doorstep while wearing a maid uniform, "A-Akeno-san?"
Akeno turned around with a bit of blush on her face, "Um... Good evening, Urahara-san..." She's feeling embarrassed with the maid attire she's currently wearing.
"What are you doing?"
"... I got a call from Ura- Kisuke-san this early morning and said that I should start my maid duties today."
Sakura recalled that Kisuke indeed won a bet that will let Akeno serve as a maid in their house for a week or two, "Ah... I see... Come in~." Sakura invited her inside, 'That son of mine... Couldn't he properly remind people of his plans?... Well... I guess I won't be alone tonight~.'
"Excuse me. Thanks for having me over, and please take care of me for this coming week." Akeno set her luggage down and bowed in front of Sakura.
"Don't worry about it. Do you plan to stay here for a week?"
"That's what Kisuke-san said earlier. But he also said that I'll only do my maid duties before and after classes or when it's day-off in school."
"Good~. Be sure not to neglect your studies. There won't be much work here aside from regular cleaning so you can have the rest of your time for yourself."
"Thank you." Akeno started fidgeting and looking around, "Uhm... Where is Kisuke-san?"
"Oh? He didn't tell you?" Sakura mouth twitches at her question, 'This guy... At least tell her!'
"What is it?"
"He and Yoruichi are on a vacation in Greece and they won't be coming back for a whole week. They just left this morning..."
"Ha?" Akeno was frozen in place, "H-he left? And won't be coming back for a week?"
"Yes... It might take two weeks it is long..."
"They why did he want his reward for bet now?"
"Eh? Maybe to accompany me and help me out with some chores?"
Akeno's tense feelings suddenly went away and her shoulders slumped. She came here thinking that she has to follow Kisuke's ridiculous orders but he isn't even here... She felt a bit disappointed.
"Could it be that you want to work for him?" Sakura noticed her reaction and asked.
"Ah? N-no! I'm only here to honor our bet! Nothing else." Akeno defended herself but her eyes kept swimming around.
"... Do you have some strange expectations?" Sakura hit the mark with that question.
"O-of course that's not true! I'm only here for work, ma'am!" Akeno frantically replied.