"Do you know why Solomon lost his thumb?" Saya whispered to Haji, while everyone else paid their attention to other things. She noticed that Haji hadn't expected the question. His mood became serious at once and he turned his head so that Saya couldn't see his face anymore.

"Why don't you ask him? It's his matter." She shook her head: "He didn't want to tell me."

"And because he doesn't want you to know it, you ask me?"

"I'm just worried, I mean, a Chevalier doesn't lose a finger by cutting vegetables. You know how it happened, don't you? So what was it?"

Haji only shook his head so Saya went on asking anxiously: "There aren't any Chiropterans around, right?"

"No, there are no Chiropterans. There was just a slight variance." He turned around to go to the others and finish the conversation but Saya grabbed his arm and held him back.

"Who had a slight variance about what?" she became more and more impatient. Haji remained silent. It was this silence, which told her more than she had wanted to know. She couldn't hide her shock and disappointment. Not knowing how to react she was glad to hear Kai calling for breakfast.

During the meal she could neither look at Haji nor Solomon. She didn't talk much and listened carefully to the stories Kai and Monique told her.

A few years after Saya had fallen asleep, Glay had died and Monique had moved to Okinawa to help Kai raising the twins. They had fallen in love and married, and now had two children. Their daughter was traveling through Europe and their son studied in Tokyo. "I will call him and tell him that you woke up", Kai promised, "he for sure wants to get to know his aunt, after all what he heard about you." Two years ago they had adopted Mei, whose parents had died in an accident.

It wasn't even eight when the door opened and a man dressed in a long grey coat entered. His hat threw a shadow onto his face so that it couldn't be seen. He was neither tall nor did he seem to be very strong, but his posture presented self-confidence.

"We haven't opened yet", Kai said, but the man ignored it and sat down on a chair at the bar.

"I did not come to eat or drink, Kai", the man said and took of his hat. His hair was dark and cut short and his face looked a lot younger than Saya had expected. "I was nearby and saw the light in here so I decided to come over. I wanted to ask you, when Hibiki and Kanode will come home, or have they already?"

"Oh, it's you", Kai answered astonished.

"So you still remember me?"

"You haven't changed in all those years, so why wouldn't I."

The man shrugged. "So what about the girls, are they at home?"

"They are not, and they have decided to stay in the USA ", Kai answered, "Why are you still asking for them? It has been over ten years now."

"I told you, I was nearby and wanted to say hello to some old friends. But as I see you have visitors", he threw a glance around the table and added: "I don't want to disturb this lovely meal, so I will better go now. Please tell them I have been here." Without looking back he went out of the Omoro's and left a puzzled Kai behind.

"Who was that?" Saya asked, not knowing what was going on.

"He was Hikaru, a friend of the twins when they went to high school, but then they had some conflicts. I don't know, what it was all about, but after that I haven't seen him for a while. After they had fallen asleep, he came here and asked for them. I told him, that they had left for the USA."

Saya noticed that something was wrong. It where the glances Haji and Solomon threw each other and Lulu's nervous finger tapping.

Lulu was the one who broke the silence and said: "They never told me that Hikaru is a Chevalier."

Kai almost spilled his coffee over the table, showing Saya, that he hadn't known either.