Okay, now Shinobu and her husband are in Israel. They will be going to various places in Israel in this chapter, in order to gather assorted things for the surprise gift in chapter nine to be made of, ultimately. In this and related stories, whether definitely confirmed as related or not in the applicable stories, all of Judea and Samaria belongs properly to Israel, and all the cities and towns and villages within Judea and Samaria. The relevant territories have been acquired by Israel since their refounding after various conflicts with the Arabs considerably similar to the ones in our known real-world timeline, but not entirely like them. As I said before, this story may or may not tie in to at least some degree with my story Earth Versus the Power-Hunters, which takes place in a non-9/11, non-virus timeline, at the very least. So this story does not exactly follow our real-world timeline as we know it now, in terms of historical events and all.
As far as places such as Hebron and Bethlehem go, for instance, they belong only to Israel, not to any Arab terrorist organizations such as Hamas and Hezbollah, for example. While Hamas and Hezbollah, among other terrorist organizations, do exist in this timeline, they are not necessarily as powerful and as effective in certain ways as the ones in our real world might perhaps be here, in truth, whenever they do try to cause trouble for innocents of all present belief systems in and around Israel, no matter who those innocents are.
For the most part, at least, most Israelite Arabs typically have a better living situation being in most places in Israel than not, or considerably better than those Israelite Arabs living in areas of Israel where terrorists try most often to strike against the innocent civilians of all political and theological stripes and all. It isn't always easy for the Israelite Defense Forces to protect the innocent, of course, but they still do a very good job of doing so, at least for the most part, generally speaking. Either in the real world we know or in the world of this story's timeline, in truth.
With little to no further ado, I therefore will close this introduction to this chapter. Who do you think Kei is? Do you think it's the Kei that we know from Love Hina or someone else? Many last names could begin with U, even if they're Japanese in origin, of course. Like Utara or Utachi, for example. I won't be revealing their full last name for a while, and they may use aliases at times in certain situations, when and if needed here. I'm not saying if they're currently doing so, just yet, but don't be surprised if you see any strange names that you might not normally expect used by any of the known canon characters in this story so far, just so you know, everyone. Hope you all really do somehow enjoy this next chapter and perhaps also even leave some clean, courteous, and constructive reviews for it very soon, for sure. TUS out.
Surprise Eight: Itinerary
Shinobu and Kei woke up about nine hours after getting to sleep next to each other in the same bed, waking up just before 10 in the morning. Not long after that happened, they were in the Jacobs' moderately-sized dining room, getting their breakfasts from Baruch's parents Herschel and Dana, who were both spending time having morning coffee or tea with each other, as the mood then struck them both here. However, Baruch was not to be seen. For he was at school, along with the rest of his siblings who were old enough to attend it. Dana provided them with most of the food here, but Herschel still provided them with some bread and various jams or jellies to use as they then saw fit during their breakfast consumption here, to be sure.
When Shinobu asked, in English, "When will Baruch-san perhaps be available to be with us again, Herschel-san?"
"If all goes according to plan, and his services are not required today by the royal family, he should be back before 5, I believe," said Herschel, in Japanese.
That surprised both Shinobu and Kei considerably here, for they hadn't expected either of Baruch's parents to be able to speak Japanese. Kei soon asked, "How do you know our language, when your son Baruch apparently doesn't?"
Dana answered, with a smile on her face, "We met each other years before while we were both exchange students as high school students in Japan, from America and Israel, respectively. We eventually started dating, even though we were attending rival schools at the time we were both exchange students in Japan, in truth. One thing led to another, and in the course of time, we eventually both found out that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with each other, if at all possible. It hasn't necessarily been all that easy, mind you, for us and those around us, in the years since we first met, but we are still together, many years later, and living here in Israel with each other and our family members here in it."
"Who was the American in the couple, and who the Israelite, then, if we may ask?" asked Shinobu.
"I was American, and he Israelite, Shinobu," answered Dana, as she sat down at the table with a cup of tea and a saucer in her hands. Sitting down, she then placed her teacup and saucer down in front of her, just before taking a slice of bread and some grape jelly from elsewhere on the table, along with a small spoon to collect that jelly from a jar of it. It wasn't more than a few seconds later that the bread had the jelly spread on it, and Dana was taking a bite from that bread slice.
For the next several minutes, then, as Shinobu and Kei continued to have their breakfast with each other, they also learned more about several places on the itinerary they'd been given earlier by Baruch. Especially from talking to Herschel, who they soon learned was a professor of theological studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, while Dana, for her part, was an artist/novelist/housewife. They also learned that Baruch was the oldest of nine children between the ages of sixteen-year-old Baruch down to five-year-old triplets, Adam, Eve, and Abel, with Abel being the youngest of their nine children, which consisted of six boys and three girls now.
Herschel and Dana, seeing as they were still in their late thirties to early forties, though, were still trying to have more children with each other since the births of their triplets, but to this point in time were still unsuccessful in that regard. They hoped that wouldn't always be the case, because they'd both wanted at least a dozen children with each other, in truth.
"Nine children for you both so far? That's quite a few, to be sure," mused Kei. "Shinobu and I have about half that many now, and we don't expect to have any more at this time, to be honest." He said, "We'd like to be able to spend more time with them, at least, but our lives are rather busy at times, with the apartment complex we run, and the restaurant chain that Shinobu co-runs with someone else, to be completely honest with you both here."
"Mind if we knew their names, or not, then?" asked Herschel, sipping at the last of the coffee then in his cup here, before rising from his chair to return it to the sink in the nearby kitchen.
Shinobu thought for a few moments, periodically shooting Kei a few glances, until he suddenly nodded silently at her, whereupon she then answered, "We have two sets of twins, both with one of each gender as part of their sets, plus a single younger child. Our children are Kameijo and Karessa, both born in 1996, with Karessa being the girl of the set, followed in 1999 by Persanji and Anzadria, with Anzadria being the girl, then one more boy named Akerudibo born in 2001. We've tried to have more since having Akeru, but none have come our way since. It would be nice to have more kids, but seeing as we're now quite close to fifty years of age, it doesn't appear very likely at the present time, if not impossible."
The four adults talked for a while longer before Herschel eventually said he had to leave to go to work again as a professor at HUJI. After a few brief kisses near the front door of the Jacobs' residence, then, Dana soon returned to where Shinobu and Kei were again sitting in the family's living room area, each sketching out several things in their current sketchbooks that they'd retrieved from the guest room they'd been put in not long before while Dana was still seeing her husband off to work again. Dana soon asked them what they were drawing, and both quickly showed her a few yet-uncolored sketches they were making of various items near where they now were in the house.
When Dana saw those still-basic sketches, she was very impressed by them, for at least the most part, but there were a few that she couldn't quite make out well enough just yet. For they'd just been started, with only a few strokes at best for a few of them on paper, so far.
After seeing a few of their sketches, she briefly left them to head to her studio elsewhere in the house so that she could retrieve her own current sketchbook, some drawing utensils, and a few other arts-related supplies. She wasn't out of their sight for more than about five or so minutes, and she rejoined them in the living room, with a bag hanging from one shoulder across her body, a pitcher of tea in one hand, and three teacups hanging from three of the fingers for her other hand. Dana set the pitcher on a large coaster, and the three teacups on three smaller coasters, so that they wouldn't needlessly damage the cedar table that she'd put the tea and cups on here, if it could possibly be avoided somehow at all.
For a while longer, as they all waited for Baruch to eventually return home with all his siblings from their respective schools, then, the three of them spent a good deal of time, though not all of it, either chatting more with each other or drawing in their sketchbooks as the need or desire to do so struck each of them. While they were each still doing that, they also periodically showed each other what they were doing in their respective sketchbooks. For instance, Shinobu had drawn many of the people who'd ever lived at the Apartments in various pictures, whether those people were now alive or dead. Including Grandma Hina and Haruka, to name a few such people, sometime around her own wedding to her beloved husband many years before the present time, in fact.
"It sure was an interesting wedding back then," commented Kei, remembering many of the people who'd been part of it, and especially the ones who were no longer alive. "Haruka helped keep the other girls in line who wanted to be where you were, as did others, but I still married you, Shinobu. They made their final plays for me just before we were married, but I still chose to marry you, and I have never regretted sticking with you all this time, even many years later."
"Nor I choosing to marry you and to eventually have a family with you. Others have tried to break us up from outside our circle of friends and/or associates, but none have succeeded in their attempts to do so, and nobody ever will. Whether male or female, we are bound for life. Bound in many ways, both by blood and not by blood. Our children carry our genes, as they always have been and always will," said Shinobu.
"Bound in body, bound in mind, bound in soul," said Kei.
"Also in heart, sight, and hearing," added Shinobu.
"Don't forget touch and smell and the tastes of all the delicious items we've made for each other in the past, either, come to think of it, when we've cooked at times, sweetheart," smiled Kei.
"We have bled together, we have cried together, and we have laughed together, and shared much with each other that many others know nothing about, and there is nobody on this planet I would have wanted or do want to share such things with more than you, Darling," said Shinobu, as she got up, set down her sketchbook temporarily, and went over to him so she could hug him and kiss him briefly, much to the happy surprise of Dana here. The two Japanese hugged and kissed for a few brief moments, until they heard a knock at the front door, and saw Dana quietly rise from where she was sitting to go and see who it was at the front door.
While Dana was out of the room, the two of them quickly gathered up their things, and they went back into the guest room, just in case it was someone who didn't need to know they were here at the Jacobs' home for any possible reason or reasons, at least. Fortunately, it wasn't, and it was just the Jacobs' children returning home from school, as Dana soon told them, led by Baruch.
Thirty minutes later, at most, Baruch, Shinobu, and Kei left the Jacobs' home, and they began to see what they could do on the current day to find the items they'd need to find to successfully complete the requirements of the itinerary they'd be attending to for a yet-unknown length of time, starting somewhere in Jerusalem or its local area. They started off in very short order by browsing quite a few stores in Jerusalem, even ones near the Temple Mount, and Shinobu took quite a few pictures as they did so, as well.
There were many things they saw while browsing in and around Jerusalem, but most of them didn't really attract their attentions much, along the way, as they did so. But eventually, they did come to a shop that sold various items of jewelry and/or stonework, for example. It took them a while after getting there to decide on what items they might want to buy from there, and several more minutes for them to agree on prices for such items, especially seeing as the shopkeeper couldn't really speak English well, in truth. So Baruch spent several minutes translating dialogue from English to Hebrew and vice versa between his Japanese friends and the Israelite shopkeeper, of course.
Ultimately, a few items were purchased, and those included miniature versions of menorahs and/or stars, for example. Those were quickly wrapped up, with instructions related to them quickly recorded in English and Hebrew, before Shinobu and her two male companions finally left the shop in question. Not only that, they unexpectedly found a mysterious message written in what appeared to be some form of Hebrew that mentioned Bethlehem, the next place listed on their current itinerary, for some yet-unknown reason to them all.
It took a little while for Baruch to translate it well, for it seemed to be an older version of Hebrew that the message had been written in, but he eventually was able to translate it well enough by the time he returned to his family's home with Shinobu and Kei around 11 at night. He told them, just before they all retired to either their bedroom or the guest room, for the rest of the night, "We won't be able to go to Bethlehem until after I return from school tomorrow. I should be here by no later than 4:30, I hope, unless I am unexpectedly delayed somehow during the day. We will need to leave quickly once I return. So be ready to go as soon as I return. Good night, then, Shinobu and Kei."
Moments later, he was away from them, and they were both inside the guest room with each other. Once they were sure they'd not be disturbed needlessly by anyone, they quickly got ready for bed, and also found things to occupy themselves with until they were too tired to remain awake in their borrowed bed. Including a fairly long chat with each other about their unexpected travels of late in multiple places far from the Hinata Apartments, for example.
They remained awake for about an hour or so after entering the guest room again, falling asleep just after midnight, and drifting off to sleep around 12:15 or so in the morning of November 26, 2020. They remained soundly asleep, primarily lost in dreams of Hinata City and other places they'd been to in their respective lives, or of people they'd periodically met in them. Although there were a few dreams of things they'd like to do or people they'd like to see or never even imagined seeing or meeting before mixed in with their main dreams for their current period of slumber also present.
They woke up around 8 in the morning, and they soon were having their breakfasts with each other and Dana. For Herschel and all their children had already left the house by the time they'd both woken up and gotten ready for the day ahead that they'd be having. Herschel for some morning classes, and the others for school at their respective schools in the Jerusalem area of Japan, leaving just Dana present at the Jacobs' house when they woke up next to each other again.
Dana had made them Japanese-style cuisine, including miso soup, after having Herschel pick up the necessary items from a few shops near the Japanese Embassy elsewhere in Jerusalem. It hadn't taken her long to make the breakfast, and she and her husband had already had it along with their children before she'd sent them all off to work or school about 7:30 or so.
As Shinobu and Kei ate their steamed rice, miso soup, and several other things, Dana asked them about life at the Hinata Apartments, both currently and in the past. Both told Dana many stories, even as Shinobu and Dana bonded over cooking adventures and other things. And by the time that Baruch showed up to pick up Kei and Shinobu for their planned trip to Bethlehem, many recipes had been exchanged, several pictures had been taken or drawn or at least sketched out, and all three of the adults were frequently laughing at comments from each other or from other things they saw and heard during their time with each other on the current day. Even while in the back yard with Dana as she attended to a small garden of assorted plants and flowers from various places all over the world that Dana and/or Herschel had previously been in or visited, in truth.
Dana told them that she was from New Jersey, but she'd had relatives spread out all over the United States, including a few in Missouri and Minnesota, to name a few states from which relatives of hers had been born in or had lived in prior to her wedding to Herschel many years before the present time. She wasn't much of a sports fan, in truth, but she did like a few pro sports teams, just the same. While she wasn't much into baseball, for instance, being more into individual sports like tennis, for example, she did like the California Angels and St. Louis Cardinals, among other such teams that she knew of, at least a little bit. And her favorite Japanese baseball team was the Chiba Lotte Marines, but she still didn't follow them all that closely, either, to be sure.
To Shinobu, Dana seemed like the kind of woman who preferred a peaceful life with friends and family to great activity, especially when it came to potential conflict, and that she was the kind of woman who would often remain quiet and spend most of her time either thinking over things or people or listening to what people were saying to or around her, before commenting on anything. Shinobu and Kei had done most of the talking that had gone on between them and the Jacobs' adults here, whether or not Herschel was present during such conversations they were having with them since their arrival in Jerusalem not long before.
Kei, for his part, liked Dana's apparent general mien, for it reminded him a lot of Mutsumi, in its general gentleness of nature. While he could tell that she still had some personal issues to work out in her mind, as did Herschel, he could still tell her general mien was normally quite pleasant with an interesting sense of humor, for instance, as she'd cracked a few jokes about various people she'd known in her life to this point in it. None necessarily mean or anything like that, but still some unexpected turns of phrasing, at times, related to those jokes, especially of the slapstick variety. When Dana had been younger, like around Koharu's age or younger, she'd been well known as a prankster back in the States. Dana hadn't told them about all those pranks, but she'd told them about a few she'd pulled, just the same, in the past, especially growing up in New Jersey and other nearby states.
Dana wasn't all that happy to have heard of the mistreatment of boys and men by several of the former Hinata Apartments female residents over a substantial amount of time, of course. But after Shinobu and Kei had both quite well informed her that kind of behavior had eventually ceased in relation to many of those tenants, if not all of them, she soon settled down. After which, the three of them had talked quite a bit more about various other things related to those who'd resided at the Hinata Apartments. Both in the past and up until the present time. Among many other things they then discussed with each other during the current day.
Baruch arrived just after 4:30, along with all his siblings. And by the time he did, Shinobu and Kei were already ready to leave with him for Bethlehem. It wasn't more than another five to ten minutes or so, then, before the three of them were off and about, and heading to Bethlehem.
As they were heading there, Baruch asked them, "How was your day today, you two, if you don't mind me asking too much?"
"Baruch-san, we spent a lot of time swapping recipes and stories of our lives from our childhoods to now, to at least some degree, but not totally. We talked about other things, of course, but mostly about things and people in our respective lives, when we did talk to each other during it. Your mother was a real prankster when she was younger, it seems," said Shinobu, not long after they began heading to Bethlehem with Kei and each other.
"Kathleen is much the same way, thirteen years old as she now is. You may not have caught her name easily earlier, I believe. Caroline, her roughly five minutes-younger twin sister, may look almost exactly like her, but there is still a considerable difference in their general personalities, which you didn't see when you were introduced to the rest of my siblings. They both acted politely, but they didn't really show much of their basic personalities to you both when that happened, just like most of my other siblings didn't then. Caroline is much more the reserved sort, but Kathleen is quite gregarious, as a general rule, and often very unpredictable, when it comes to what she may be planning often in her life."
"How will we often know better when we're near Kathleen or near Caroline, then, Baruch-san?" said Kei, with a moderately curious look on his face as he asked the question while they were entering Bethlehem a few moments later.
"Kathleen has a birthmark that is roughly about the size of an American quarter or so that looks like a winged star near her right ear, on the side of her neck just a bit back and just a bit below the earlobe. Caroline, however, has a birthmark that's just below her hairline on the back of her neck, situated right in the middle of her upper neck, that is about 20 percent larger, and roughly in the shape of a rose, but still not rather detailed in its nature, just like her twin's own birthmarks as well. Both girls' birthmarks seem to look like silhouetted items, somehow, to me, most of the time, though not always, in truth. They aren't seen often, because they typically wear their hair down in their lives, if and whenever they possibly can do that somehow in them."
Not too much later, then, B.J. parked the car they were now in near a restaurant in Bethlehem. They weren't far from the main part of town, and not far at all from the Church of the Nativity, either. He parked it in a normally safer area of Bethlehem, but he still secured it against any possible troublemakers in the local area. Troublemakers such as potential terrorists or other kinds of criminals in the area, for instance.
After he did so, he soon led Shinobu and Kei all around the area, and they eventually came to a couple of novelty shops and other interesting places in it. Ultimately, after visiting those places, and visiting the Church of the Nativity, at least for curiosity's sake, if not for any other reasons whatsoever at the time, Shinobu and Kei bought a few more things at those shops. Those new items they bought included some things that they hoped would go along well with the menorah and star-like items they'd acquired earlier while still in Jerusalem, for instance. Specifically, those items included some crown and harp-like items, for sure.
By 9:45 or so, then, the three of them were already back on their way to Jerusalem, and to the Jacobs' residence there, so they could spend the rest of the night there in very short order. As they returned, and after they returned, to that place, they also talked a little bit about their purchases and their days, where and when possible, appropriate, and desired here. Although Kei didn't talk much during their related discussions on the current day, in truth, for reasons not yet known to Shinobu or Baruch here.
They soon retired to their respective rooms, after returning to the Jacobs' home in Jerusalem, but not before Shinobu asked, "Does your family observe the Sabbath or not, Baruch-san?"
"My father does, when possible, but not my mother, normally. As far as myself, I occasionally do, and my siblings have not yet made their respective decisions whether or not to observe it in their lives for sure. Some are apparently leaning towards doing so, while others are not. And the triplets are too young to even understand easily enough what the Sabbath is and why it was created, it seems to me, as of this point in time."
"Your mother is Christian, is she not?" asked Kei.
"Yes, she's Christian, a Protestant Christian at that, although she hasn't really said what kind of Protestant Christian she is to me yet, I believe. We talk occasionally about theological matters with each other, when the others aren't near us, but not all the time, in truth. My father is Jewish, but not a Jew that can easily be categorized either as a Reformed Jew, an Orthodox Jew, or as any other kind of Jew, at least theologically speaking. He is descended from the Tribe of Judah, at least, as far as we've been able to gather, but some genealogical records seem to have been lost over time for various reasons, including the Holocaust. Three of his grandparents and various other relatives were taken by the Germans in the Holocaust, so some of the records have either gone missing or have been lost, for various reasons. We do have connections to Austria and France and certain other European countries that the Germans at least partly occupied for some time, as well."
"They were led by Gerhard Heitzel, all throughout both of Herbert Hoover's terms and most of Truman's Presidency, right? Especially after the failed Beer Hall putsch attempt led by Adolf Hitler that led to his death and the deaths of a number of his close associates, for instance?" asked Shinobu.
"Yes, and because of him and many others, World War II saw the loss of not only a huge proportion of the Jews in Europe, but many more deaths elsewhere, and it lasted even into 1947, before victory was finally achieved, in truth. From what I've heard, there were at least seven or eight million Jews, if not at least nine million Jews, killed either in the Holocaust or through other means all over the world, by the Nazis, during World War II and the years leading up to it. Tojo and others from your part of the world killed many millions of people, especially civilians and prisoners, or at least commanded forces that did so with their blessing, if they didn't do so directly themselves."
Baruch soon parted from Shinobu and Kei here, but not before saying, "I don't know yet if we'll be able to do more traveling until after sundown on Saturday, but if we can't travel before then, please feel free to just try and enjoy yourselves as you like and can here, until we can travel again."
"All right, Baruch-san. We will certainly try to do just that here, of course, then," said Shinobu. With that then said, Baruch immediately left them both alone again where they now were.
After he was gone from their sights for the rest of the night, Kei asked, "So what do you think of the items we've been able to purchase or order so far, while here in Israel, Shinobu?"
"I don't quite see how several of these items are going to work well with each other once joined together just yet, Darling. I know we have some instructions here, but I still think someone is going to have to put the components together that we're now collecting here, somehow."
It wasn't much later before they both retired to their bed for the rest of the night, and went to sleep shortly thereafter in each other's arms. Even while still pleasantly holding each other as they quietly and calmly each slipped into the countless lands of dreams, they still did so. And they then spent most of their slumbering just holding onto each other, if and whenever they could do so, unconsciously, at that, though not quite all of it, in truth.
By the following Thursday, Israel time, after somehow having managed to visit not only Hebron and Beersheba, but also Tel Aviv, Haifa, Nazareth, and Tiberias, they were back in Jerusalem, near the Mount of Olives. Along the way, they had encountered several other people, much to their considerable surprise, who seemed to know at least a little bit about Shinobu and/or Kei. Or at least Shinobu, from knowing about her cooking skills and/or restaurant chain primarily based out of Japan, anyway.
They'd first encountered Andie and Blane McDonough in Tel Aviv, when Andie was part of a fashion show there, and they got to talking with them soon afterwards, once the show was over, at a local restaurant there. It wasn't long before they got each other's contact information, after Andie and Shinobu started swapping cooking recipes with each other. They then met Claire Bender and Allison Clark in Haifa while those women were on a tour of the Mediterranean Sea, and it wasn't long before they got to talking about their families and husbands with Shinobu, while Baruch and Kei were checking other things out with each other in the Haifa area of Israel. As for Shinobu and Kei and Baruch's meeting of Kevin and Gwendolyn Arnold, they finally encountered them both while Kevin and Gwendolyn were primarily visiting friends who now lived in Israel. Those friends of theirs mostly lived anywhere between Nazareth, Tiberias, and Jerusalem. And they did so mainly as part of the diplomatic contingents for several different countries or as regular businesspeople, for instance, at that.
When Andie mentioned that she and Blane had twin sons that were hoping to attend college in Japan after they finished their high school educations in the States, preferably in or near Tokyo, Shinobu conferred briefly with Kei. And she quickly asked him, when they were again in private with each other, "Do you think they'd both be good potential tenants for the Hinata Apartments, Kei, or not, based on what we know of them both so far here?"
"The younger twin seems to be much like Mitsune was when we were still both getting to know each other, while the other seems to be much like you were, in certain ways. But I think they could get along with many of the people now at the Apartments, just the same. Or at least most of the time, I think they both could, in fact. They might have some trouble with others there, at times, of course. But do try to remember just how many of us were for quite some time after I first arrived at the Apartments myself, at least, Shinobu."
"I do, Kei, I do remember. I remember pretty much all of it, if not all of it. And it still hurts at times to remember how things often were for us before I finally put an end to all the mistreatment you were getting from certain people, once and for all, you know."
"And you don't want to see those kinds of things happen ever again at the Apartments, if you don't absolutely have to, right?"
"Right. Kei, right. And as long as I draw breath in this world, I'll certainly do all I can to make sure such things never get so bad again where we are, no matter where it is anywhere in this world of ours, for sure."
They both decided to consider letting them reside at the Apartments if the McDonough twins ever did actually attend college in or near Tokyo, starting the following year. And when they told Andie and Blane that, both McDonoughs were quite happy to hear that from them both.
As for Bender and Clark, they soon mentioned that they each had children either living in Japan already, or might soon have children living in it. Clark said one of her sons had just been signed as a free agent shortstop by the Yokohama BayStars, but hadn't yet found a place for him and his family to live at in the Yokohama area. A short conversation later, Kei and Shinobu offered to try and help Nathan Clark find a suitable place in the area for his family to live in, which eased Allison's mind considerably, especially seeing as she'd not be able to see him as much as she'd been able to do before now in her own life. Bender, for her part, said one of her daughters was married to a Japanese novelist she'd met while in college at Oxford in England. And a son was an actor/model working for a multinational media conglomerate, with its main bases located in Japan, the United States, and Australia.
Eventually, all six of their new acquaintances went back to the United States, not to be seen anytime soon by either Baruch, Kei, or Shinobu, for sure. They didn't necessarily catch the same flights back to the States, of course. But eventually all six of them soon had flown back to the United States, in due time, as the need for them to then do so arose for them all.
Shinobu and Kei then spent about the next day or two, more or less, basically winding up whatever business in Israel they thought they might still have to attend to in it. And they both did so as best as they thought they could before they eventually found themselves going somewhere else in the world, no matter where it might be in it, as well.
Eventually, when it was nearly 3:30 in the morning, local time in Jerusalem, Israel, on December 5, 2020, they were then sleeping in the bed they'd been sleeping on for a while. And while they were still doing so, they suddenly vanished from that bed, and all the things then with them were soon whisked away from the room they'd both just been in as well.
Where they'd been whisked to, exactly, they'd not know, however, until they finally woke up in whatever place they'd ended up being taken to, for sure. And that probably wouldn't happen, either, for at least a good while here, if not a long while. For they'd spent quite a lot of time with Baruch and his family. Even whenever it was quite late at night while they were both still staying with Baruch and his immediate family in Jerusalem, even late at night, as well, they still often did so while there.
Whether or not they'd ever return to Israel in some manner, whether voluntarily or not, was not yet known for sure, one way or another. But they still would have at least a few rather positive memories of their time in it during their unplanned traveling all over the world, in any case, for sure. If not many, due to their times with Baruch and his family, at the very least, in it.
Okay, folks, this concludes this chapter of the story. Where do you think they should perhaps go next out of the following countries in the world, and why, then? Scotland, Australia, or Greece? And where in each of those countries should they go, if they go to them? Please choose only one country in your reviews of the three for them to potentially go to in the next chapter, if you don't mind too much here.
The next chapter will be an N chapter, for Necklace, and the chapter after that will be an O chapter, for something beginning with an O. I haven't decided what the O will represent yet, but I do have some ideas on what it could represent in this story, to be sure, folks. As for potential destinations with the O chapter, I'm thinking of perhaps having them go to Germany, France, or Switzerland. But if anyone has any other suggestions that might go well with the O item I'd choose to use in this story, they're more than welcome to make any suggestions on that front, of course.
I hope you've all enjoyed the story so far, at least to some degree here, for sure. And if you'd like me to try and include cameos by characters from other media sources, such as movies, books, or television shows, for instance, please feel free to make reasonable enough suggestions, and I'll consider them for possible later inclusion in this story.
I still haven't revealed who Shinobu's husband definitely is here, but I did try to leave some more clues to who he might just be here, as well. Don't be afraid to guess about his actual identity, if you like and all, but don't be surprised if he's not exactly who you may think he is, by the end of this story. He very well could be, of course, but I'm not saying for sure just who he is right now, in any case.
With all that now said, then, I'll close this bit of writing for now, and hope to see more clean and courteous and constructive reviews from you all very soon, if and whenever possible and all, everyone. Please take care of yourselves, as best as you each can and all. And I really hope you can all somehow stick around here on this planet for as long as possible, in as good of health as is possible for each of you, where possible and all, of course. TUS out.