The twins and Kumori settled down somewhere in the jet, making themselves comfortable in the seats.
Everyone settled down after an initial buzz of excitement, and the jet took off, on the long thirteen hour flight.
"Meow," Kaguya chirped, rubbing his head against a dozing Korū.
"Mh, go away, Kaguya."
"Meow."
Alina clicked her tongue, "Come here Kaguya. You can disturb him when no one else is on the jet. If not, we'll all die tragic deaths."
"Mrrrr."
Korū cracked one eye open, picked the cat up, and set him down beside Kumori, before going back to sleep.
Alina chuckled before going back to staring out of the window. Linda and Cayne had been watching with amused eyes, while everyone else laughed, then went back to sleeping, using the built-in screen, or using their phones.
Kaguya gave up on trying to get Korū's attention and moved to lie down beside Kagami.
A many hours later, they finally landed. "Doing nothing is so tiring." Alina complained as she stretched, getting out of the jet as soon as the doors opened.
Korū, who ended up sleeping most of the way, was pretty reluctant to leave the comfort of the jet. Kaguya was once again flopped over his shoulder, sleepily. Kumori was beside Hikari, holding the other two cats who were far too lazy to walk.
Cayne tapped Korū's shoulder lightly. "Come on, get up."
Korū shoved the middle finger in his face but got up anyway, surprisingly without any snarky comment.
Cayne chuckled and followed him, glad that he could live another day. Linda saw the exchange, and glanced at Hikari to gauge her reaction.
A spark of happiness shot through Hikari as she, too, observed her brother closely.
Linda frowned at her lack of visible reaction.
"Yo, let's get off the jet." Cole said in a brash tone from behind her. "I wanna see Japan."
Hikari spun around to face Cole, hand on the gun tucked in its holster, which Korū had returned earlier. "Shut it."
Korū just stared, looking a little bored. Honestly, he didn't really mind if Cole or Liam died. Cayne stood a little behind him, hoping that his friends would have the common sense not to pick another fight with their company. They had, after all, been the ones who insisted on going on this particular mission when they could have just chosen something else, since the main aim was just to get them out of school.
"Dream on," Korū growled to Cole. "We're gonna move fast once we hit the outskirts, so keep up."
"Let's go, let's go." Linda said, turning Hikari around and lightly pushing her to the exit before anyone else could make a move.
"Fun. Let's go find Kaito." Alina said, easily making her way to the pick up point, the others trailing behind her.
"Do you know where you're going?" Linda asked.
"Maybe, maybe not." Alina replied breezily. Linda raised an unimpressed eyebrow at her.
"Here." Kumori waved at a car pulling up near the pavement.
Kaito stopped beside them, and a second car pulled up a minute later. The driver got out and disappeared into the airport. Kaito appraised the group standing in front of him, and sighed, "Someone reliable please drive the other car." Korū, Hikari, and Kumori got into Kaito's car, leaving space for just one more person.
Linda volunteered to drive the other car, and Alina decided to accompany her and alleviate her suffering as the other three boys climbed into the second car. The three cats went to the first.
"Good luck, Linda," Hikari called, sticking her head out of the window. "Don't die."
Linda laughed. "I think I will."
Alina managed to call shotgun, sparing herself from sitting the guys.
"Oh, look at her." Liam said, pointing out the window.
"Damn, but I prefer Cerys." Cole said.
"You make it sound like you're dating her." Cayne remarked.
Cole gagged. "Ew, she doesn't do relationships. Neither do I. We're all waiting to see if we have mates, remember?"
"How often do you Earthlings get a mate? And how would you even know if you have one?" Alina asked, curious. This has never come up in any of her previous conversations. All wolves from the inner world had mates, save an unlucky few, but it was not a widely known fact that it was normal for wolves from Earth to not have a mate.
Cole shrugged. "The elders can tell if you have a mate bond."
"Ah." Alina responded.
Everyone lapsed into silence for a while, before Cayne asked, "Do you think the others are still alive?"
Kaguya leaped up to curl around Kaito's neck in the other car, purring softly.
"Oi, anyone dead yet?" Korū asked coincidentally, mindlinking Linda.
Kumori was hugging Kagami and refusing to let go, though the cat didn't really mind.
"I don't think so." Linda replied, listening to the idle conversation coming from the backseat.
"Also, ask the two idiots which packs they're from. My Alpha has to know."
There was a pause as the question was relayed.
"Predators' Bane and Silver Arrow."
Linda could almost hear Alina's quiet judgment, and saw her give a few small nods out of the corner of her eye. Alina had told Linda that she had always hated their pack name, even before she disappeared no one knew where, and it seems like that hadn't changed over the years. She made it a game to see which packs had names better than theirs, apparently.
So far, only Moonlight had failed the "test".
"Not too sissy." Alina mindlinked Linda, causing her to chuckle.
"Why so critical?" Linda shot back playfully. Alina just grinned.
"What's happening?" Liam asked from the back. "What in the world are you guys talking about?"
"Never you mind, Alpha mini."
Alina searched around for nearby werewolf links. "I'm bored." She told Hikari, coming across a familiar smelling, midnight blue door, with a hint of silver here and there.
"Sleep," Hikari responded simply. "Although it's not far from where we're getting off. There's no way to our pack's home by vehicle, at least for the last part of the way." She paused for a moment, then added, "It's easy to get lost, and easy to lose people there."
"Sounds fun." Alina remarked, plugging in her earphones.