A sea of clouds. This was the first thing I saw as I looked outside the plane window. Just below that sea is the land where I grew up. Being half-American, I spent most of my time in the states. My dad is a Japanese immigrant who works as an agent, while my mom is American, working as an info broker. They both work and met at the FBI operations room. At home, I would speak Japanese. But outside, I would speak in English. And so having lived in two motherlands made me familiar with both countries' language and culture.

"Attention, all passengers…" the flight attendant announced through the receiver, "The plane will be landing shortly…"

Then the flight attendant switched with another and the announcement was repeated again in Japanese.

"Shibaraku omachikudasai. Hikouki wa…"

The plane had landed. It took a while before it could come to a complete stop. And when it did, the seatbelt sign finally went off and everyone stood up to retrieve their belongings on the overhead compartment. I, on the other hand, couldn't turn away from the window. It was only until a stewardess called for my attention and guided me out of the plane. Then when I took my first step, I uttered:

"Here we go again…"

Down the stairs, I walked. Entered the terminal. Had my bag and passport checked. Grabbed my luggage from the conveyer belt. Had my bag and passport checked again. Finally waiting at the pick-up section. Every action I did happened so naturally. Perhaps it's because I've been flying vice versa ever since I was small. But this time, I travelled on my own, without my parents or brother. Because of my parents' busy schedules and my brother getting promoted recently, they didn't have the time to travel back to Japan. And it's ironic seeing as they were the one who enrolled me at Inuzuchi High. And so, I, Yulie Takasaki, have decided to live my high school life differently during my stay.

Waiting for me in the pick-up section was my uncle Kyou. He held a sign which read, "The child of my sister." He was never the serious nor the bright uncle, but he is the friendliest person I've ever met. In fact, he's so friendly that almost everyone in Inuzuchi knows him. Hard as I try, I could never accomplish such feat. But that's fine because no one would want to be friends with a secret agent's kid.

Anyway, he took my luggage and put it inside of his parked car. Afterwards, he opened the doors and said in English, "You go in!"

The way he spoke in English was… a bit forceful. But I didn't want to ponder over it and did as he asked. He then closed the door, ran to the driver's seat and sat down comfortably. It was a long ride to Inuzuchi, so we had a little chat.

"So, how was America?" he asked, this time, in Japanese.

"Fine, I guess. My classmates don't really worry about their grades and the teachers pretty much just leaves us to fend for ourselves."

"Must've been tough…"

"Not really. On the contrary, studying was easy. It's the bullies that I had to look out for."

"I see…"

The conversation didn't last long, and it was a quiet trip all the way to the apartment. Uncle Ryou owned a small apartment building, and he insisted that I lived on one of the apartments for free during my stay. That, or my mother paid him in advance. Either way, residency was no longer a problem.

"We're here!" he exclaimed.

One glance out of the window, and I knew that it wasn't the apartment I used to know.

"What happened?"

"Oh, I remodeled the house. It looks nice, doesn't it?" he said.

I had to agree, it was much nicer than before. In the past, it looked like a crime-infested building. The inside was also cleaner, with the walls painted in eggshell while and the wooden floor glossy. There were trinkets of knick-knacks neatly arranged on tables and drawers.

"Why don't I carry your stuff to your room?" my uncle suggested.

"I appreciate it…"

"It's no trouble!" he responded.

Then he proceeded to carry my luggage to my new room. It wasn't too much of a chore since my room was on the first floor. Once all my stuff was inside, uncle Ryou asked if I needed help with unpacking.

"N-no, I'll be fine."

"I see…" then he looked at the room once more and said, "You guys used to live here… All five of you…"

I wanted to reply somehow, but I was still a baby during those times. But when my elder brother got older and my parents got more preoccupied with work, I ended up occupying the whole room to myself.

Uncle Ryou wore a long face, but it wasn't long before he returned to his usual jolly personality.

"Okay then! I'll go prepare tea!"

"Alright. Thanks again."

Then I started unpacking and fixing my stuff. Clothes on the drawers, laptop on the desk, a few books on the shelf and my favorite pillow on the bed. And it only took me an hour to do all that.

"…That was faster than I thought…"

I left the room and went to Uncle Ryou's office and caught him preparing tea. I was expecting black tea or green tea, but…

"Oh, you're here!"

He was pouring tea through the kettle. What's more is that he laid out his most expensive glassware and porcelain.

"Y-you really went all out…"

"I wanted to give you a warm welcome." He responded.

Judging from the way the glass glittered, I could tell they were new. And it made me wonder:

"Are you sure it's not because you bought it on impulse?"

Then he froze and, shivering, replied, "W-w-why would you think that?"

He was like an open book. It was obvious from his response that he did indeed buy it. He always was an impulsive buyer. But he does get a large income, being a guidance counselor for an international school and all…

I also noticed that there was only one cup. I guess he didn't want to drink with me. And so I took a seat and slowly grabbed the-

"NO!!!"

He moved my hand away from the cup and wiped its handle.

"H-huh?!"

"S-sorry!" he said, "But it's just so precious and delicate…"

He kept on wiping the handle until it was all clean, not that it was even dirty to begin with. Seeing how he really liked the cup, I decided to take a rain check on the tea.

"Y-yeah, I think I'm good."

"You sure?! I can give you another-"

"No, really, it's fine."

I stood up and headed for the door.

"Besides, I'm going to an old friend's house anyway."

He ceased in carrying the cup and asked, "Oh, you're going to Haru's house?"

"Way to spoil the surprise. Now the readers know who my childhood friend is."

I apologize in my uncle's stead. We didn't mean to spoil you. Anyway, I left the apartment and walked to Haru's house. It was only a couple of feet away, so there was no need to ride a bus.

The city was still quiet as I remembered it to be. Hardly anyone walking on the streets. The clothing stores still had very few customers and the candy shop that I would often go to as a kid closed down. Not to mention, that poster about the red-eyed monster was still posted on telephone posts.

I made it to his house, hardly gasping for air. I did some stretching and some breathing before I opened the door.

Slowly, I pressed the doorbell, and the door opened, only to find a toddler with silver hair. She was about 2 feet tall, give or take, and had really puffy cheeks.

"Umm… Hello…?"

"Aba!" the child uttered.

"I-is anyone home?"

Wait, why am I talking to a kid? More importantly, why did this kid answer the door?

At first, I thought I might be on the wrong house, but I could've sworn the nameplate wrote "Satou". If it was the wrong house and I entered nonchalantly, and with a kid in front of me, it would result to a situation with the only conclusion of me behind bars.

"Abaabaabaabaa!" the kid exclaimed repeatedly.

Panicked, I told the kid to keep quiet and slowly left the house.

Then I heard a voice from the kitchen; "Seri, where are you?"

It sounded awfully familiar. I took a peek in the kitchen and saw Haru's little sister, Chiaki. She, wore an apron and a shirt and shorts under it, and tied a pigtail on the left side of her dark hair. She was taller compared to the last time I saw her, but she was still as responsible as always.

"Yo!" I said out of the blue, "It's been a while!"

She saw me and began jumping for joy.

"Yuri! Welcome back! How are you?"

Chiaki was like a little sister to me, but she was independent in more ways than one. It's her who did the cooking, cleaning and laundry in the house. And that's a lot of responsibility for a girl in middle school. Even when we were small, she would always act as the mature one.

I owed her so much, and she deserved only the best, but I couldn't give anything in return. And so, I made sure to buy her the best souvenir from America: a refrigerator magnet with Mount Rushmore printed on it.

"Umm… Thanks." she said, rather disappointed.

"You don't like it?"

"N-no! I love it! Really!" she replied, "At the very least, everyone in the house can see it, right?"

"Everyone?"

Then suddenly, I heard a female's voice from upstairs saying, "Haru, come on! It'll be fun!"

"Haru". I haven't heard that name in years. Curious, I ran upstairs to see what all the commotion was. I opened the door to his room and saw him lying on top of a naked girl with long, silver hair.

There was a moment of silence. Then I just ignored everything and left the room.

Haru saw me leave and said, "I-it's not what you think! I w-wasn't d-doing anything to her!"

The girl came to his defense: "I was just testing my new chemical on him: I call it the color-swapping tonic!"

"That still doesn't explain why you're naked." I replied, outside the room.

The girl stuck her tongue out and replied, "Teehee! I guess it still needs some work!"

"Stop smiling and put some clothes on!" Haru demanded.

After that odd event, they invited me to dinner. I rejected the offer, but they kept insisting. So I had no choice but to stay.

I waited at the dinner table, along with Seri, the kid from before. I started a conversation with her, but she didn't reply to anything I said. Then I realized, "Why am I having a conversation with this kid?". To break the monochromic atmosphere, Chiaki prepared the table and called everyone for dinner. Haru came down first, then the girl from before, then another silver-haired girl, but this time, slightly younger, with a short bob-cut style and wore slightly revealing pajamas.

I thought I had seen everybody, but it seemed that there was one more person who had yet to leave her room.

Chiaki got irritated, "What's taking her so long?"

Anxious to see the other person, I volunteered to call her down.

"Okay, but do you know where her room is?" the older silver-haired girl asked.

"N-no…"

It was stupid of me to volunteer when I didn't even know much about their new residents. But out of pity, they taught me where it was.

"It's the empty room right beside the comfort room." Chiaki said.

"But isn't that your mom's-"

Then I realized what I just said was probably heartbreaking for the two siblings. I remembered that the empty room once belonged to their mother. How insensitive…

"S-sorry… I didn't mean-"

"I-it's fine!" Haru responded, "I mean, the house was getting crowded."

"I see…"

Brushing off my previous comment, I rushed upstairs and walked into the hallway, the same hallway Haru and I used to race in. It was narrower than I remembered. I knew it was because we grew up, but it was still hard to believe.

Right beside the comfort room was a door with the name "Anna" hung in front. I knocked ever so quietly and the door opened on its own. And as it opened I saw a girl with short silver hair watching something on her computer. I couldn't see her face but I could smell the scent of flowers, even from a distance.

I called for her, but then she started moaning. She probably couldn't hear me because she was wearing headphones. But why the sudden moan? I decided to open the door all the way and saw a… very private scene… Her hands were placed in between her legs and her eyes were focused on the screen.

Any normal person would have closed the door and left, but… the way she did the act was full of so much passion, like there was a connection between her and whatever it was behind the screen, that I couldn't look away. Eventually, I snapped out of it and shut the door.

Apparently, I shut it too hard that she felt the impact and asked, "I-is anyone there?!"

Panicked, I ran downstairs and went back to the dining room, pretending that nothing ever happened.

"So?" Chiaki asked.

"So?"

"Did you call her?"

"O-oh! She's on her way!"

Then Chiaki noticed how fidgety I was and asked, "Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah! I'm fine! No problems here! Hehe…"

She and the others saw how strangely I acted. Then just in the nick of time, the girl they asked me to call finally went down the stairs and entered the dining room.

"Chiaki-san, did you call?"

"Finally!" the girl with the revealing pajamas reacted, in English nonetheless.

"S-sorry, I was busy with something." She young girl replied, also in English.

I was amazed that they spoke in English, and with a European accent too. Well, they did look like foreigners, so I guess that was a given. But I was so excited to hear someone speak in fluent English. Being half-American, it was a relief to find out that there are others who can speak the language. I was so overjoyed that I just joined in on their conversation.

"Yep! You were reeeal busy!"

Then the girl with the short hair blushed. Realizing what I just said, I took it all back.

"Y-you saw?!" she asked, flustered.

"I didn't mean to!"

"You did!" she replied, almost in tears.

"W-what are you guys talking about?!" Chiaki asked in Japanese.

"I didn't see it!"

"What did you do to my sister?!" the slightly older sister asked, once again, in English.

Hearing both languages at the same time confused the heck out of me that I fell to the ground. Well, it was my own fault.

When I came to, we all sat at the dinner table and a wave of questions started going my way.

"So what's your name?"

"You can speak English?!"

"Y-you really didn't see anything?!"

I answered the questions one by one:

"Name's Yulie, I'm half-American, and no, I didn't see anything."

It was pretty straightforward, but it was easier to give simple answers. I answered their questions, now it's my turn.

"And who might you three be?"

The girl with long hair introduced herself, "I'm Elena Dubois-Gardenia, and I'm Haru's fiancé!"

Haru added, "S-she's only staying here because her country's at war! W-we just happened to meet near the river!"

"Yep!" Elena responded, "Some thugs were after me and he came to my rescue! That's when I decided to choose him as my husband!"

"N-no! I was late and we just happened to bump into each other at a crossroad near the police station!"

"Then I started living in his house, and met a lot of friends at school, then Alisa and Lilianna moved in as well…"

"That's… pretty cliché…"

No, seriously, that sounded like something out of a romance manga- scratch that, it's something out of a harem manga, with all the girls suddenly living in Haru's house.

The English-speaking sister introduced herself next, "I'm Alisa Dubois-Gardenia, and I'm the second princess of the kingdom of Gardenia."

I didn't respond because there was nothing to respond to. Neither did Haru or Chiaki (probably because they don't really speak English). There was a moment of silence, then she started hitting me in the head with her fist. Seri enjoyed so much that she started cheering for Alisa.

"Oh, and this little girl is Seri Dubois, our cousin!" the eldest spoke.

"S-stop hurting our guest!" said the girl who was yet to introduce herself.

Alisa stopped hitting me and the last girl introduced herself, "My name is Lilianna Dubois-Gardenia, and I am the third princess of Gardenia."

All three of them had distinct characteristics. The eldest had waist-length hair and cyan eyes. Not to mention she had the body proportion of a supermodel, tall and slender, with her chest size a little bit excessive. Alice, on the other hand, was the opposite. She had short hair combed only to the right and her eyes glowed of bright green. Unlike her sister, she had the proportion of a swimmer, thin and flat. Lastly, Lilianna had mid-length hair tied into low twintails resting on her shoulders. Her eyes had a purple glow in it. Her figure was… too mature… for someone her age.

"It's nice to meet you, your Majesties."

"No need for formalities!" the eldest princess said, "Right now, we're just three high school girls living a normal life!"

"I see."

It would be nice if that were actually the case. Also, you might be wondering why I didn't act surprised that the three sisters were actually princesses of a foreign kingdom. Well, any sane person would know why. And Haru explained it all for me.

"It happened a month before your departure to Japan, at the FBI headquarters. The team received an SOS from the small kingdom of Gardenia. The message stated that there was a coup de 'at inside the kingdom and the royal family was in grave danger. Fearing that the coup might get worse and the secrecy of the kingdom might be made public, the American government asked the FBI to save the royal family and put them into hiding until the coup had been dealt with.

And so that's when your parents and the other agents swooped in and saved the royal family. However, being the rulers looked up by its people, the king and queen stayed to settle things with the coup. The princesses were brought to a small city in Japan called Inuzuchi and remained in hiding in one of the residents' houses.

But the FBI and the kingdom was not satisfied with simply keeping them in hiding. They needed someone to look after them, to protect them from possible threats."

And it just so happened that the house where the princesses stayed in was Haru's place. And so, he just so happened to become their temporary "knight" until the kingdom is finally at peace."

So as I sat beside the princesses of a broken kingdom, an independent girl, and the most cliché harem protagonist in the most cliché situation. At least, that's what he thinks…