"How do you know that they are there?" Iris asked them. She was facing the opposite side and was next to Alek so, she didn't notice them waving hands until her uncle asked.
"We just know." Jin shrugged his shoulders and took his sister's hand.
"We are colliding with the river." Kai spoke as he watched them approach closer to the clear water.
"Wow." Panacea gasped when they were sucked into the river. From down, the river was clear and could see the fishes swimming but, once they were inside, they were surrounded by darkness and chilly.
The current didn't interfere with them and, they kept going straight up. Some of them were close to the edges of the tunnel and could feel the river water avoiding meeting with the magical water stream. Like an ant going around a rock to get to the sugar.
"Just a minute and, we'll be up." Izumi told the visitors as the water became clearer and clearer, warmer and warmer.
Just as she said, in a minute, they were all above water. They were back to where they sank in when they came to go underground. They didn't become wet as they walked out of the water. Not even a single drop on their body or clothes.
"Where are lugges?" Lake looked around himself to find none of the caretakers that had taken their luggage when they were thrown to the river before they came.
"They are waiting at the car with with my son." Minaki answered calmly and walked into the forest with his wife and daughter-in=law beside him and behind him.
The group didn't ask anything anymore and followed them. It wasn't long before they saw their cars parked in the same way they left them. Around them, there were four caretakers and the head of Nagatsuki waiting for them while the plate of food was covered in aluminum foil.
"That was longer than I expected." Junto spoke and stopped leaning on the nearby tree and, walked to them.
"They were careful." Minaki told them. Only a handful of people actually understood what they meant, including the twins and Alek. "Do you have the car keys?" He turned around to ask the two brothers.
"Yep." Lake spoke and took out his car key and went open his car, while Robin did the same thing in silence.
"You can keep the bags in the boot." They opened the car and, two caretakers went to each and stuffed in. They bowed their head slightly before going into the water hole nearby.
"Thank you." Robin and Lake told them before they fully disappeared.
"So this is it. I hope you have a safe journey and hope to visit again soon. Next time, I hope you would be able to meet the people of Fumizuki." He specifically addressed Alek in the last line.
"I do hope to meet them. But before that, I would become stronger and more educated." Alek smiled at them.
"I can't wait to see you like that, Alektrona." Yukari smiled at them softly. She looked like a saint.
"Thank you for having us here, Minaki, Yukari. And also you too, Jun and Izumi. Your help has brought much happiness to our family that we cant thank you enough. We will repay it." Robin shook hands with the former head when he closed the boot.
"When you come back, we want group combat with you people. The three clans, Mutsuki, Minazuki and Nagatsuki. By that time, I hope you to be powerful and stronger than you are now or it wouldn't be fun." Minaki flashed a mischievous smile.
"If that makes you happy. We'll do." Robin chuckled hearing that.
"Now, now. Finish the goodbyes." Yukari came to their side and spoke. She had hugged everyone apart from Robin and Alek.
"Okay." Robin let go of her husband's hand and hugged her.
"Take care, right?" She told him before breaking away and going to his daughter. "The recipe of the green tea is in the side pocket of your bag." She whispered when she hugged Alek and winked at her when they let go.
"Thank you." Alek whispered back to her. In truth, she had been wondering what happened to the recipe. She thought she had forgotten about it.
The families of Mutsuki and Minazuki got into the two cars randomly. Robin is the driver, with Alek as the sub driver, and Kai, Bia, Astraea as passengers behind
"You know how to get out of the forest, right?" Minaki asked the drivers that had started the engine.
"Yes. Again, thanks for everything." Robin told them again before driving out of the forest with his brother's car behind him. He didn't know that it was one of his nephews who was driving the car.
"Take care!" The family of Nagatsuki waved their hands at the leaving visitors until they went out of their sight.
The car swiftly joined the highway and sped as they drove. From there, they knew where they were heading as it was one road and, they needn't worry about getting lost. Plus, they each had people in the car who were navigators.
In each car, they chatted on their own until Robin slowed down at a supermarket and parked his car in the parking lot.
[What are you doing?] Lake asked his brother through telepathy from the other car. The car that he was in didn't slow down at the supermarket and was still driving on the highway.
[Buying the rocket for my son.] Robin answered before he got out of the car.
"I'm coming too." Alek also got out of the car. She knew why they stopped as was happy he didn't forget about it. 'You guys are staying in the car?" She asked from the window and handed her sister the car keys.
''Yep." Bia raised her eyebrows and twirled the keys with her fingers. Kai nodded.
"I'm coming to get water." Astraea got out of the car and went with them to the supermarket, leaving the
siblings.
"We'll be back soon!" Alek told them before following her aunt and her father into it.
"I know." Bia didn't have the energy to shout her answer and told her in an ordinary tone.
"Will you tell me about the heirloom?" Kai immediately asked his sister when he was sure Alek couldn't hear or wasn't paying attention to them.
--------
"This one is better."
"But I think this one suits his demand." A daughter and the father were arguing about which red rockets they should buy in the toy area of the supermarket.
The rocket that was in Alek's hand was red, had three windows and was a little vintage looking. The one that her father had was also red with three windows and was checked in the middle with white.
People in the area looked at the strange pair of a girl and a man arguing about which rocket to buy for the last ten minutes without trying to approach them. Who were they buying for? Because Alek looked more like her mother, not many thought that they were father and daughter.
"What can I do for you today?" The shopkeeper came unwillingly when the argument continued for ten more minutes. Customers couldn't go near them as they were occupying the rocket toy rows.
"But I want this for Aether!" Alek complained to her father.
"Excuse me..." The woman still didn't get the attention as she approached them from behind while they were discussing furiously.
"But he is eight, Alek. I think he would love this."
"Are you choosing a birthday gift?" The woman asked louder this time and finally got their attention.
"Uhh, not exactly but, it is a gift for my son. He said he wanted a red rocket with three windows and was deciding on which one to buy." Robin saw that she was a shopkeeper and told her the situation.
"But yours look like an insect, dad." The windows of the one Robin had were black and, they resembled spider's eyes.
"But that doesn't look like for his age." Robin pointed at the one his daughter had. It looked like it was made in the nineties.
"But he is more mature than his age."
"Umm, how old is he?" The woman asked hesitantly.
"He is eight." Alek answered.
"Okay. I would find some more rockets that meet your demand." The shopkeeper rushed away from them as she felt suffocated standing close to them. She needed air.
"Let's wait for her, dad. Maybe she has something better than ours." Alek calmed down a bit and told her father to wait. While they were waiting, they sat on the bench at the kids' play corner in the shop.
[Are you done?] Kai asked his sister. He, his sister and his aunt have been waiting in the car for a long time. When Astraea returned with the water, she said that they said they were almost done. And that was about twenty-five minutes ago.
[Not even close.] Alek answered with tiredness. She wasted her energy arguing with her father and, she was driving from thereon. Good thing her driver's licence was on her phone cover.
[How long then done?]
[Im not sure.] When she had heard her brother knocking on her door, she had lowered her head and covered her eyes so that people wouldn't see her eyes shifted.
[We are running out of patience.]
[We'll decide as soon as possible.] With that, she ended the link and looked up. She saw the kids playing in the bouncy castle and balls. She remembered that she used to play like that with her brothers and twins when they were small.
"Seriously." Kai flinched from his sister violently cutting off the mind link.
"What did she say?" Bia asked.
"She said she doesn't know how long it would take." Kai closed his eyes to rest.
"Oh jeez."