Time worked differently inside the Great Spirit.
What Yoh deduced as hours, maybe a couple of days at best, fighting the newly-proclaimed Shaman King inside the GS took a good chunk of his time, much to his surprise. This he found as soon as Hao transported them back to the island, with a clear promise to rid the world of those filthy humans should Yoh and his friends fail their tasks.
The outcome of their fight was both relieving and daunting because of that.
The extension given by Hao was a welcoming thought, but it was not a sure solution. They were still in the mercies of the Shaman King, and such odds were to be taken with a grain of salt. Who was to say that Hao would change his mind about sparing the humans? Who was to say that Hao would give them a few more years, especially when the human's greed and depravity were unending? They were merely borrowing time from a being too powerful for them to subdue, and they all knew it.
The Shaman King could toy with them if he wanted to.
And toy with them Hao did, although in a different way. The great Shaman King had transported them to different places because he knew it was well within his power and he knew they couldn't fight back. In a way, this was sort of a payback from Hao because he had been so embarrassed at the arrival of his mother and how she handed his ass back with a mere slap.
But that was more of Yoh's guess.
However, and back to the topic at hand, everyone who had gone to Mu were placed back to the island where the humans had dared to trespass the Shaman Fight. The only difference was that the wreckage that Hao brought upon the place was eerily quiet. Cleaned up, even. Or, at least, not as chaotic as it had been before they had to travel to Mu. There were still remnants of the carnage - broken glasses and metal by the shore, smashed planes and ships almost submerged beneath the ocean - but the humans were no longer there.
At first, Yoh thought it was all Oyamada Mansumi's doing. The man was filthy rich - annoyingly so, judging from how easily he assimilated the attack. Maybe he was able to collect his troops and send them home using all the jets and ships he had in his arsenal. Maybe even Anna ordered him to do it, who knows. But everyone was gone, and it gave off a strange feeling that made Yoh uncharacteristically frantic. Luckily, he found a working phone at the inn they were staying at before Mu and it took one call from his best friend Manta, who much to his shock, was miles and miles away from where they were that a month had exactly passed from the battle in the island of Mu to the present.
This information had Yoh's jaw fall, and when he related it to the others, they were just as flabbergasted. Their collective screaming had Manta shout as well, before he chuckled.
"Oh, and, everyone's home except for you guys, so don't worry!" Manta immediately said, just so everyone could finally calm down. And before Yoh could ask, his best friend added, "Even Anna-san."
Yoh didn't forget to say his gratitude, body sagging with ease the moment the phone clicked.
It was slightly jarring not seeing Anna when they were sent back to the land of the living. At first, Yoh even had a horrid thought that Hao may have kept her there in the GS, as sort of a bargaining chip, because… well, it was something his twin would do, now that he thought about it. It was a thorn off his chest to know that she was back home, in Funbari, safe and sound.
It took them another week to get back to their respective homes.
Things just didn't go their way, after all. There were no more private transportations left in the wealthiest of their group - aka Tao Ren of the Tao Family - and even Manta couldn't help. Something to do about a recent investigation concerning his butler and all. The details that Manta told Yoh were fuzzy at best. Yoh assured him it was fine. They would find a way. They ended up using their Elemental Spirits, but it was a while before they could fully master their spirits.
When he did finally step foot in Funbari, Yoh wasn't surprised to find Manta sweeping by the entrance, his look of sheer boredom quickly replaced with wide eyes as Yoh came his way with a grin.
Manta shrieked his name. The inn behind him almost roared to life, much to Yoh's shock.
Then came the sound of barreling footsteps, the entrance door opening with a bang, and Redseb was flying his way to Yoh, screaming about his older brother being home finally and guess what Yoh-nii but Miki said we're gonna live with you guys and we haf'ta go to school but can we not? Coz it's all so boring and we have so many homework and gah!
He was still going on and on about his first day of classes - lamenting at his farewell to a school-free life although Yoh could see his smile widen when he mentioned his new friends - and was clinging to Yoh as he dragged him to the inn, when something else caught Yoh's eyes. He glanced from Redseb and to the door, and he swore his grin must have reached ear to ear judging by how his cheeks hurt.
There she was, in all her glory, arms crossed over her chest and a smile that seemed so miniscule to many but spoke so much to Yoh. Next to her stood Seyram, who shyly waved to him before reaching to tug Anna's dress.
It was here that Yoh found that Anna was no longer wearing her short, black dress.
As always with Anna, the dress was sleeveless, but this time it was a floral, pale-red one that reached just below her knees. It wasn't as form-fitting as her black one, but it still looked good on her. He told her so as soon as she was at an arm's length. His eyes, unconsciously, drew to the barely-noticeable bump beneath her new wardrobe. He grinned.
"I'm home." He said, finally.
She nodded, eyes closed in relief.
"Welcome back."