1

Homecoming

I woke up with a series of hazy memories stuck in my mind. Or was it a dream? It seemed to be a dream, for as I opened my eyes I saw that I was once again in the backyard of my family's house in Inner Tokyo. The famous Opera Populaire was gone. Gone was the underground room with candles and the knowing smile of the Angel of Music. I further began to question the legitimacy of the events I had witnessed when I saw Giroro next to me.

He was simply, Giroro. No mask, no black cloak. No human form. He was once again the little red Keronian I had lived with for almost three years. I pulled a lock of my hair in front of my face. It was pink again. So it was a dream.

"Well, that was one experience for the record books," Giroro chuckled beside me.

Or not.

"So it was real," I murmured.

He gave a small smile. "Unless it's possible for two people to have simultaneous dreams."

I had just opened my mouth to reply when a small green shape came darting out of the house. "Natsumi-dono! Giroro-kun! You've been missing for weeks!"

"Bokegaeru!" I called out. I had never been so happy to see Keroro in my life. Said Keronian was only the first of many to file out. His call caused my brother Fuyuki to dash out, followed by my mother and best friend Koyuki, who promptly gasped and dashed over to hug me.

"Careful!" I gasped, still a bit in a daze. "It's already hard enough to breathe with the…" I trailed off as I looked down and the one solid proof of the events that had just happened.

"…corset."

For I still wore that beautiful blue dress Christine had leant me just a day ago. How could I have it if it had all been a dream? It was reality. It had happened.

"Why the heck are you wearing a corset, Nee-chan?" Fuyuki wanted to know.

"And more importantly, where have you been?" my mom questioned.

I glanced at Giroro, who gave a small chuckle. "I'm not sure you would believe us."

"I still want to hear it," she replied. "Come on, we need to get you both inside."

As I stepped through the threshold of the back door, I noticed every living being in the room- which consisted of Momoka, Saburo, Mois, and the Keronians, thank you very much- do a double take at my strange attire. "I know, I know," I grumbled. "I'll explain everything."

"I thought we had decided they wouldn't believe us," I heard Giroro say behind me. I turned my head in time for him to give me a wink and a mischievous grin.

"Is he flirting with her?" I heard Tamama murmur in disbelief.

"Again," I stated as I struggled to sit down on the couch- mentally cursing the stupid corset and myself for not adjusting to it in the three weeks I had lived in 1870 Paris- "I'll explain everything." Momoka slid over to allow me room, and Mois forfeited her seat to Giroro. Something told me that, while kind people, neither of them would have done that in a normal situation.

Once everyone was situated, I turned Giroro. "May I?"

"It's yours to tell."

"Fuyuki," I called to my brother. "Is there still a DVD case with a man in a mask holding a brunette woman on the TV shelf?"

"Yeah," he responded, clearly puzzled.

"Could you bring it here?"

He hesitantly retrieved it and handed it to me. After a brief glance at the cover, I held the DVD case up. "Do any of you know what this movie is?"

"Um, the Phantom of the Opera?" Keroro said with a hint of sarcasm.

I smiled. "Exactly. And this DVD is where our story begins."