When Chiyo Mihama first set off for America, she wasn't quite sure what to expect, but she was very excited nonetheless. She felt the very same excitement for her first few months there, but afterwards, she began to feel somewhat disappointed. Although there were new experiences to be had here and there, she described the place overall as 'like home, but without my friends'.

Fortunately, when she returned for Christmas that year, she found that her friends had missed her just as much, to the point where Ayumu Kasuga, better known as 'Osaka', insisted on finding a way for them to stay in touch. They quickly found that the cheapest and most efficient method was through the internet, or more specifically instant messaging, and for the next year there was hardly a day gone by without the two of them exchanging a couple of sentences at the very least.

When the next Christmas arrived, Osaka was understandably eager to discuss Chiyo's next visit, although the subject quickly shifted to other, albeit still closely related, matters.

Osaka said:
but you're not really a fan of flying, are you?

ChiyoChan said:
I'd honestly prefer it if you didn't remind me…

Osaka said:
i know, but i know the secret to surviving air travel now!
after you get where you're going, take off your shoes and socks and then walk around on the rug barefoot and make fists with your toes

ChiyoChan said:
...Fists with your toes?

Osaka said:
i know, i know, it sounds crazy
but the guy who told me about it said he'd been doing it for nine years
said it was better than a shower and a hot cup of coffee

ChiyoChan said:
Okay…
By the way, how have the others been doing?

Osaka said:
oh, you know. they're pretty much…
actually wait they changed a lot
i barely even noticed!
okay, so tomo and kagura are cops now
they say they're "buddy cops" but you're only supposed to call them that if they're polar opposites and there's a lot of tension between them but eventually it works out, right?
but these two are just making one liners and high fiving and asking each other how they haven't been fired yet

ChiyoChan said:
That actually sounds like it'd be fun to watch…

Osaka said:
oh, it is
anyway, yomi's pretty much the same as she was before
but i think she swallowed a hornet's nest or something?
she's gotten so foulmouthed lately…
but yeah that's all that really happened with her
as for sakaki and kaorin… well, who can say?
there were times when i thought they were getting closer, but no one else seemed to think so, so… i dunno?
i bet if i asked them they'd say "it's complicated"

ChiyoChan said:
I see…
Well, see you there!

ChiyoChan is now offline.

Osaka is now offline.

During Chiyo's flight, she had to wonder where Osaka got her advice from. Her main guess was from someone who hadn't flown very far, because she could see the technique coming in handy after a journey from one part of a nation to another, but when flying to the other side of the world, it was quite a long wait before she'd be able to try this infallible technique.

In the meantime, she fell back on her second most trusted technique, something she'd actually tried before, but found to be easier said than done. She tried to fall asleep, and, to her surprise, she managed in a matter of minutes.

When Chiyo's eyes opened, she found herself in a familiar white void, where a familiar orange, oval-shaped cat was waiting for her.

"...Didn't I get you for my birthday?" She tilted her head.

"Very observant!" he bellowed. "If you recall, she also insisted on you taking me to America, so that I could protect you!"

Her head remained tilted. "...Didn't I have this exact same dream last year?"

"What is a dream?" he said. "An echo of one's past, often distorted beyond recognition. One without dreams is one without… um… help me out here."

"Why should I?" she said. "I'm honestly ashamed that what you've said so far was something that came from my mind."

"Well if you don't like it you can wake up." Were he capable of changing his expression, he probably would have pouted. "I don't even know how close you are to your destination, but it looks like you'll be awake until you get there! Enjoy!"

Sometimes, Chiyo hated her subconscious.

Luckily, Chiyo arrived home mere minutes after waking up, and she arrived in time for a pleasant surprise. Of course, the only thing making it pleasant was the fact that it came from her friends, and she understood that their heart was in the right place.

On the floor was an "Orange Dream Cat" plushie roughly 60% larger than the one she already owned. On top of that was a sleeping Osaka, and above her was Tomo, trying to pry her off.

"Somebody get me a friggin' crowbar!" She grunted. "I paid like a zillion yen for this thing!"

"Okay," Yomi said, "one: a zillion isn't a real number."

Chiyo felt the urge to inform her that one zillion was actually officially recognized as 10^50, but instead she decided to let the moment last.

"Two," Yomi continued, "you won it at Magical Land. By cheating."

"It's not cheating if there's good intentions behind it!" she said. "Future generations will look at my actions and say…"

Chiyo knew that if she allowed it, this argument would last the rest of the day, which was sadly something she didn't have time for. Reluctantly, she cleared her throat, and her friends held in a scream and leapt to attention, save for Sakaki, who actually seemed to have been aware of Chiyo's presence the whole time. With Osaka no longer on top of the plushie, Chiyo noticed a gaping bullet hole and frowned, immediately realizing the details behind how Tomo 'won' it.

A while after they finally returned to Chiyo's house, another plane landed. Had any one of them been there to notice, they may have noticed that surprisingly few passengers were exiting for a plane of its size. They might also have noticed that the route they took from the airport was nearly identical to the route they took.

But even if somebody had noticed this, they could never have predicted that it wasn't just their journey, but also their destination, that they shared with the group.

A/N: THIS TOOK ME WAY TOO LONG

I really hope I don't have to leave a note saying "to be continued next year"