Okay, now Shinobu and her husband are still not returning to Japan, although they eventually will, of course, by the end of this story. They still have a number of birthday presents to find or collect components for, but they still don't know where they'll be, or who's leaving them or will be giving them to Shinobu later on. Among any number of other things that they don't yet know here, that is.

They don't know who they'll meet yet, or whether those people are well-known to them or not. But they will be meeting several familiar faces, in any case, for sure. Even in this chapter, although they might not have seen them for quite some time in the recent past, to be completely honest with you here. As to whether or not this story definitely connects somehow to my story here called Earth Versus the Power-Hunters, I would now have to say that at least in large part, if not entirely, it does. Although, just how it does, I'll not fully disclose just yet here, folks. Which reminds me, in fact, that I should honestly try and post another chapter to that particular story just as soon as I can, whenever that might be possible. If not for certain other stories as well on this account of mine, as well.

With all that now said here, let's see what happens and who Shinobu and Kei meet wherever they'll now be. And let's see if we can't find out more clues to the true identity of Shinobu's husband. I know many of you may already have strong suspicions as to who he may actually be, somehow, but let's just wait and see if those suspicions prove to be quite accurate here, folks. You could be quite right, of course, but there are several males from various anime/manga series, no doubt, who could have the simple name of Kei for either their first name or a shortened version of it. In any case, however, you will know exactly who he is by the end of the story, if you don't already know who he is now. Supposing I'm ever able to actually finish this story somehow, of course, that is.

With no further ado, then, I'll close this introduction, and get back into the story. Thank you for your time and all here, everyone. I can say this, though. It will be at least a little while yet before Shinobu and her husband are actually back on Japanese soil again on this story, for sure. But they will return to it at least twice by the end of this story, in any case. I do really hope to see plenty of good reviews for this chapter and the rest of the currently-posted chapters for it soon, of course, somehow. TUS out.

Surprise Nine: Necklace

Some time later, in another part of the world, Shinobu and her husband woke up suddenly in a hotel lobby with all their things near them as they found themselves on two chairs there, at almost six in the morning local time. They hadn't been asleep for a full eight hours, but they had slept for at least six hours straight, in any case.

When they realized they were where they now were, and still dressed in their respective sleepwear items, they quickly gathered up their things, and went looking for the nearest restrooms in the hotel they had now mysteriously found themselves both in here. It wasn't long after that they found them, and changed into other attire more suitable for public viewing. Fortunately for them, in certain ways, the lobby was quite empty, and any counters where hotel staff would normally be present during normal business hours were also not currently manned, due to the earliness of the current hour.

When they both reemerged from the restrooms they'd each quickly found in the hotel, it was now nearly 6:15 in the morning, and they'd both also found out they somehow were now in Scotland. And specifically in Edinburgh, Scotland, at that, much to their not-inconsiderable surprise here. They soon wondered why they were where they now were, before ultimately leaving the hotel without being spotted by hotel staff or other temporary or permanent occupants of the hotel.

It wasn't long after they did so that they discovered that their money had changed itself yet again, to at least some degree, this time from Israelite Shekels to Scottish Pounds. After that happened, they decided to see if they could learn more about where they now were, and why they were now in Scotland, of all places, instead of back in Japan where they both really wanted to be.

As they were trying to get their bearings now in Edinburgh, just basically wandering to wherever their feet might take them and all, several younger people began following them without them knowing that or noticing they were being followed at the present time. Especially seeing as they were now in an area of Scotland and/or Edinburgh that they'd both likely never been in before. Both had been in Scotland before, but not generally in Edinburgh when they'd been in Scotland for various reasons before, for sure.

All of a sudden, they unexpectedly saw and encountered two middle-aged people who seemed quite familiar to them here. Although they didn't immediately recognize those two people, having not seen them both knowingly in person for at least a few years, if not even longer than that, in truth. By now, those who had been following them were generally now all within about five to ten feet of them, having gained ground on them from various directions of travel, without Shinobu and Kei having known of them or having noticed them.

As the two semi-casually-dressed people who appeared to be close in age to them slowly passed by them, apparently on a slow and relaxing and luxurious walk, they both heard, from the male of the two, "Head straight on this road until you reach a bookstore on your left three blocks away. Do not stop walking until you reach that bookstore, and do not look back. You both are being stalked by several people right now, so don't look back, and don't stop until you reach the bookstore. Stay there until we see you again. And definitely do not talk to anyone until you're in the bookstore, no matter who they are, either, for your own safeties."

They complied immediately with the male's instructions, and were at least a block away from where they'd encountered that couple no more than five minutes later. Another ten or so minutes passed before they both were safely within that bookstore, immediately let in by one of the five then-present workers there without a single word being spoken, and ushered to a couch not far from the main door of the establishment. Once there, they quickly dropped their things near the couch they were now both on, and began holding each other closely. But not too closely at the present time, considering where they both now were, for obvious reasons.

It wasn't much longer before they were each provided with some tea and scones, along with some eggs and marmalade to put on the scones, for one of the workers had suspected they'd both not yet had their breakfast on the current day, seeing as it was now close to 7:15 in the morning, local time. A glance from Shinobu at a nearby calendar told her it was now December 5, 2020, even as some Mozart music played from a classical music station in the area. Shinobu soon asked, "Do you have a phone we could use? We need to call some people elsewhere in the world, if possible, somehow."

"I am not sure that we can let you use the main business phone for international calls, ma'am. We'd have to check with our superiors before we could let you do that, it seems," said one of the store's female workers currently sitting near the cash register and inputting certain financial data on a desktop computer in front of her.

Just then, as Kei and Shinobu both had scones in one hand apiece while holding the small plates in their other hands, several people came in, including the two middle-aged people they'd both encountered not very long before while they were still trying to get their bearings well enough here in Edinburgh. Moments later, coats were shed, along with hats and scarves, to reveal two somewhat familiar-looking faces to them both here. And three other faces they didn't yet fully recognize, never having actually met them before in person.

It took Shinobu and Kei several silent moments to recognize the two faces that looked most familiar to them, but eventually, Shinobu beat her husband to recognizing who they were. She said, "Rolando and Sylvia Volois, I take it. It has been a while since we last saw each other, for sure."

"Months, if not years, since you last saw many of our family members either here or in Israel, I believe, Shinobu-chan, actually," smiled the older-looking of two ladies then among the five that had just entered the bookstore. "It's also been quite a while since Rolando and I have been at the Hinata Apartments, for sure, in any case. Much too long in my view, I think, and I'm sure Rolando here agrees with me," she said, as she indicated her obvious husband standing within arm's reach of her, one hand on a shoulder.

Kei asked, "Who are these other three people, if we may ask, Sylvia-san?"

Sylvia looked briefly around at each of them, before each of them nodded back at her, before saying, "The other middle-aged male here is Barrett Ross, the woman next to him is his wife Gianna, and the young man is his eldest son Sheldon. We all dealt with those who were stalking you both earlier. Don't worry, we didn't kill them, or hurt them permanently without just cause, but we did have them arrested, at least, if not put them in the hospital. In fact, several of them were considerably well-armed, but we still dealt with them, even so, as needed and all. It wasn't easy in some cases, but we still neutralized the threat they posed to you, for sure. They won't be causing trouble again here in Edinburgh, at least for a while. If not elsewhere in Scotland as well, come to think of it."

After about five minutes or so of relatively quiet conversation later, between Barrett, Sylvia, Rolando, and the worker at the computer, and Shinobu soon heard, "They can make all the calls they feel they need to make now, seeing as it's Saturday, Christina, and we're still not open yet. We won't be open until 9, so if they want to talk to certain people before then, then let them. Even if they actually do need to call certain people in Japan at least once or twice, as they evidently will need to do for at least a little while, unless I miss my guess too much here, let them call."

"Very well, boss. But it may be expensive, you know, just the same."

"Well, these two are very close friends of Sylvia and Rolando, who have both saved me and many others periodically in the past, in certain ways. As have other people I and my wife, at least, both know, in fact. So I don't care how much it costs, let them call whoever they wish to call. Somehow I don't think it will take them until 9, though, for them to call everyone they want or need to call at the present time, though."

"As you wish, boss. I suppose you want us all to go to the back room while they make calls to whoever they call, and find other things to do in the meantime?"

"You can go get yourself some breakfast along with Jason a few blocks from here, and go check the postal mail at the post office. Lawrence, you go to the back room and organize the yet-to-shelve books by category as needed. Timothy and Norman, you go check on your wives, for I believe they both had a common doctor's appointment to check on the current statuses of the babies they are each carrying. As for the store business here, if anyone comes in before you each return from your assignments, then we will handle that business ourselves. Is that clear for you all?"

"Yes, boss, it is," Christina soon said, as she grabbed her purse and moved to stand next to Jason, who was not only her slightly-older coworker but also her boyfriend of nearly three weeks. They didn't actually lace their arms together, for instance. But it was still fairly plain to see for Shinobu and Kei here that they both were newly involved personally with each other. Even though Jason was keeping a very straight face with little to no current apparent effort, all while Christina deliberately stood within at most a foot or so of him on his left side, shot him a rather mischievous grin, and winked her shining bluish-green eyes at him. Although she was doing so out of his direct sight, she still shot him such a grin, in any case, for sure.

It wasn't much later, then, that the five workers were all gone from the front of the bookstore, and off to do the tasks they'd each been assigned. Once they were all gone, Barrett said, "Feel free to make whatever calls you need to make here, then, Shinobu-san. If you want to find us once you're done making your calls, look for us on the fourth floor of this building. We will be in one of three personal offices there, while other rooms there are for other members of my and Gianna's family, in truth. You will easily be able to tell which is which, for the doors will be quite different between those of our offices and those of personal rooms."

"Thank you, Barrett-san. We'll let you know if anyone comes and wants to enter the store, in the meantime, of course."

"In that case, press the green button near a Minnesota North Stars logo on the wall nearest the phone, and one of us will come down to handle things here," he said, as he indicated a large bank of buttons in various colors ranging from red to blue and black, to name just a few of them. Little did she know that they represented various North American professional sports teams, ranging from baseball teams to hockey teams, at least at first. When she asked why there were so many buttons on the aforementioned bank of buttons, Barrett told her that many of his employees in various business ventures of his worked for the teams in question, or were big fans of those teams. Not only that, but Sheldon had also played a couple of years already for the Minnesota North Stars as a hockey defenseman, after finishing his college education in the United States. Hence the reason why Barrett mentioned the green button near the North Stars logo in question here.

It wasn't much later, then, that Shinobu and Kei were left alone in the front of the store to call whoever they might now wish to call here. A few brief moments of relatively quiet conversation later, they decided to first try and call the Hinata Apartments, to see if anyone was available at roughly 4:40 in the late afternoon there, somehow, with it now being roughly 7:40 in the morning, Scotland time.

Meanwhile, back at the Hinata Apartments complex, Naru and others were currently sitting in the main building's common room with each other. Some were playing games with each other, a few were watching television, one or two were reading, and some were studying with each other, in various areas of that area. Many of the residents of the Apartments were currently elsewhere, most of them not even being on the complex's grounds, at that.

Naru was currently reading a manga from decades earlier as she sat in a random chair there. While next to her, Kitsune was working on a crossword puzzle, semi-bundled up in a comfortable blanket from her and Yoshiki's own bedroom in the family-oriented dorm on the grounds. Motoko and Kaolla were occupied with sitting on the couch, watching old movies that were now being shown on the television, from way back in the 1950's and 1960's. As for Mutsumi, Sarah, and Nyamo, they were studying from various textbooks, for they had all decided to see about further trying to enhance their professional skills as much as possible, even if they'd already earned doctoral-level degrees in certain fields of endeavor for their lives.

Most of those who were playing games at present in the room were daughters of the five women just mentioned, in truth, but not all of them. For Kotomi Irie, for instance, was one of those Hinatans now present in the room, for sure.

As everyone was gathered in various areas of the common room, doing whatever they were then wanting to do here, it was at this time the main Hinata Apartments phone started ringing. Naru was only just barely the closest to where it was then sitting in the room, and she managed to be the first one to get to it, once it started ringing much to the surprise of everyone then present. For Kaolla had immediately jumped up and over the back of the couch she and Motoko were both then sitting and watching the television on with each other.

Naru frantically waved her hand for quiet, and everyone quickly hushed up, waiting to hear what they could from the phone while the call was still in progress, as best as possible and all. Naru said, "Hinata Apartments Complex, Naru Shirai speaking."

On the other end of the line, Shinobu said, "Naru, this is Shinobu. I don't know why we're where we are now, but we're currently in Edinburgh, Scotland, it seems, somehow."

"Where have you been? We've been wanting to hear from you for a good while, in fact. You've been missing since you disappeared from Naha, for about two weeks, if my math is correct enough."

"Kei and I have been in three different countries since we were last in Japan, much to our surprise. I can't tell you all we've seen and done since we were last in Japan just yet. But we've been having a really unexpected adventure and have traveled quite a bit since then, for sure. Darling is fine, fortunately, but we don't know just how soon we'll be able to be back in Japan for a while, honestly."

"We're holding down the fort here as best as we can without you two here, but the Apartments and its residents still miss you considerably, Shinobu-chan." said Naru, brushing a bit of hair out of her eyes briefly as she said that here.

"What else has gone on in Japan since we were last there? We haven't heard much of events in Japan since we suddenly found ourselves out of it somehow, actually?"

"I'll put you on speaker phone here, so we can all tell you about those things where and as much as possible, if that's all right with you, Shinobu," said Naru.

"Go ahead, but we still have to make some other calls to various people in Japan, to be sure. So please have everyone try to be as brief as possible during this call, even though we're not paying for the calls themselves, due to the kindness of a few strangers we met here in Scotland."

Thirty or so minutes after beginning their call to the Hinata Apartments, then, Shinobu and Kei both had gotten at least a basic understanding of certain recent events back in Japan that they'd not known about ever since they'd unexpectedly been whisked off to the United States as they'd both been earlier. It wasn't quite as in-depth of an understanding as they might have each had if they'd actually been in Japan during the current conversation, of course. But at least they knew that the yet-unknown alien menace had carried out several more attacks during their current absence from Japan, if nothing else of sufficient enough importance in that time.

They weren't happy, obviously, to find out several people close to them and to certain friends of theirs had been attacked, or at least put at risk of being attacked, by beings from that alien menace. But they were glad to find out that the Sailor Senshi and several of their allies had largely managed to drive off, and, in certain cases, even destroy certain enemies that had appeared to wreak havoc in various areas of Japan, every so often, for sure.

"How are things with our restaurants there in Japan, then?" asked Shinobu. She was hoping that they'd not suffered any real damage or that patrons of them weren't seriously hurt, or at least not permanently hurt, or killed while she was still not back in Japan, of course. Fortunately, none of those types of things had occurred during her and Kei's mutual absences from Japan. Or at least they'd not happened yet, anyway, according to Naru and several others near her at the present time in the common that they were all now in with her.

Not long after Shinobu and Kei learned that, they eventually had to hang up their call to the Hinata Apartments Complex, so that they could make all the other necessary calls they still had to make to other people in their lives. That took them about another half hour or so to do, at most, after which they finished their last call, and then went in search of those who'd let them call other people as needed here. When they did that, it was still before 9 o'clock local time, in any case.

It wasn't long before both of them found Barrett and Gianna sitting with Sheldon reading sections of the local paper as the desire had struck each of them prior to Shinobu and Kei's entrance into the office they'd found them all in. They talked a while with each other, and Shinobu wondered why Sheldon was currently in Scotland instead of being with the North Stars on the current day. Sheldon told her that the North Stars had allowed him to come back to Scotland for some important family-related business, including a wedding ceremony for certain people he'd known for quite a while already in his life. And that the North Stars were expecting him back with them by December 15th, if at all possible, as well.

Just before 9 o'clock, the three Rosses went downstairs and opened their store, with Shinobu and Kei following closely behind them when they did so. By the time they all got downstairs, Sylvia and Rolando were both sitting together near where Shinobu and Kei had first sat down after coming into the bookstore with each other. Sylvia was in the process of putting a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle with a space-related theme to it together at a table near there, while Rolando was at the same table holding a paperback copy of Pilgrim's Progress in one hand and making some notes in a rather plain-looking spiral-bound notebook then in front of him in a language Shinobu couldn't currently read from the base of the stairs she and Kei had just come down here.

Shinobu asked in English if she and Kei could perhaps join them at their table, and Sylvia immediately turned to Rolando, for his own input on the matter, before Rolando said, "Why not, Shinobu? I can certainly continue reading Pilgrim's Progress at another time, after all. Besides, I think you and Sylvia need to talk for a while, and your husband and I need to do the same as well, very soon. Don't worry, the workers here won't needlessly divulge any secrets they might perhaps overhear here, in any case. Not if they want to keep their jobs here, I'm sure, that is."

"That's right, we won't," said Christina and Jason together, even as they entered the bookstore with several pieces of postal mail and a few boxes of assorted sizes in their hands or on a cart near them both.

"Ditto on that," added Lawrence, as he came from the back room pushing a multi-level two-sided near-chest-high cart that had dozens of books on its three levels, with books from six different categories of books on them, arranged by category as needed here. "What you say and within these walls, the general public doesn't really need to know without good enough reason, for sure. We love working here, and the Rosses treat us well, as best as they each possibly can, as well."

That pleased Shinobu and Kei quite considerably, even as they began to help Sylvia put the puzzle together in very short order, once Rolando had vacated the seat he'd been occupying when they'd come downstairs with the Rosses several minutes earlier, and brought another chair for Kei to sit on at the table. It wasn't much longer here before Rolando had decided to go for a walk in the area and had invited Kei to accompany him on that walk. Kei looked at Shinobu for a few moments, before Shinobu finally said in Japanese, "Go ahead and go walking with him, if you want, Kei. I trust that he will keep you safe from harm as best as he can, of course, in any case. But please try to be back before mid-afternoon, at the latest, for I'd like to see more of Edinburgh with you today, at least, if I can, obviously."

He responded in the same language, "I'll try, Shinobu, I'll try. Just don't go anywhere without someone accompanying you here, if you can possibly avoid it, for obvious reasons, of course."

"I'll stay here until you return, unless absolutely necessary. Go have that talk with Rolando-san, and Sylvia-san will have one with me as well, for sure."

Kei looked at the bearded Rolando, and Rolando said, "It's best that we go where they're not for the time being, I think. I have already walked with Sylvia a bit today, but another walk still wouldn't hurt here for me right now, in any case. Besides, our ladies haven't likely seen each other for a while in person knowingly, so I'm sure they have a lot of things they want to catch up on with each other as a result."

"Are you sure it's honestly a good idea for them for us to leave them for a while?"

"Listen, Kei, and listen well. They need to talk to each other a good deal, and they won't feel as comfortable with doing so in relation to certain things from their lives if we're near them right now. Trust me, I've learned this many times over since I married Sylvia a long time ago, and I'm not sure how many times you have learned that with Shinobu since you married her in your own life. Besides, you haven't been in Edinburgh very often before, and there's probably a lot of it that you two haven't likely seen before whenever you've been in Scotland, as well. Granted, none of us Voloises have generally lived here in our lives, but we've often come to Edinburgh when needed and all in them, for sure."

It wasn't too much later, then, before Rolando and Kei had both exited the bookstore through its main entrance. Although Kei was still quite unsure that it really was the best thing for him to do at the present time, even though Rolando would be with him outside it for a while. As soon as they were out of sight of both Shinobu and Sylvia, Sylvia said, "I notice he was rather reticent with the idea of leaving you behind here, Shinobu. I wonder why."

"Because we've both been unexpectedly whisked a few times between various places in this world for a good while now, actually, since we were both whisked suddenly out of Japan a while back. He's probably afraid that if we're apart from each other for too long, he'll never see me again, and I'll never see him again, and all," said Shinobu, as she took up a few puzzle pieces in her hands, hoping to find good places to put them all in for the puzzle here. That puzzle featured what appeared to be an especially alien-looking world with about a dozen or so spaceships of various sizes near it that were each releasing several smaller ships apiece from themselves. Those smaller ships generally appeared to be either merchant crafts or colonial shuttles, as far as Shinobu could currently tell here well enough.

"I see," said Sylvia, a few quiet moments later. "How long has he been this way, if I might ask, of late, then?"

"A while, especially after I got caught in a monster attack back in Japan unexpectedly on or around my last birthday a few weeks ago, Sylvia." Shinobu then spent another fifteen or so minutes telling Sylvia whatever she could about Kei's actions and all ever since that time, though she didn't go into complete detail here at the present time, seeing as Christina, at least, was still somewhere nearby at the present time.

Certain information would have to wait to be shared between the two women, of course, seeing as that was currently the case here, for sure. In the meantime, however, Shinobu and Sylvia continued talking with each other while they also worked on the puzzle together.

Christina and the other workers were soon released for the day, around 1:30 in the afternoon, after having only seen about a dozen customers come into the bookstore by then, by the Rosses here. It wasn't much later, then, that the Rosses went back upstairs to various rooms on multiple floors of the building, leaving Sylvia and Shinobu pretty much alone with each other then, although they might still come downstairs every so often for a while yet here. By that time, the puzzle had finally been completely finished and photographed by them both with cameras they each had with them. Shinobu with her recently-acquired camera, and Sylvia with an older camera of her own she'd had for a number of years already.

As they patiently waited for their husbands to return to the bookstore here, Sylvia noticed that several of Shinobu's things were now visible to her from where they now sat near each other elsewhere in the front of the bookstore. She soon asked Shinobu, "When were you in Israel recently, Shinobu?"

"Actually, Sylvia, we were in Israel not too long ago before we were unexpectedly whisked here. And we went to various places all over your country, in truth," Shinobu said, not more than a few quiet moments later. That sparked about another thirty minutes or so of conversation between the women, before Shinobu said, "I'd not mind seeing the Jacobses again, I think, if at all possible, in the future. At least the ones we've seen so far, anyway, while we were with them for a little while."

"So how long do you expect to be in Scotland, then, perhaps?" asked Sylvia, with a smile.

"No idea, but for some strange reason I can't quite explain at the moment, I expect to find us somehow back in Israel at least once more before the end of this year. I don't know why we'd be there, in truth, of course, Sylvia. But I really don't expect us to be completely done traveling to various places elsewhere in the world for at least another week or two before we're back home at the Hinata Apartments again for a long enough period of time.

"So what's the latest you've heard of things back in Japan, then? Besides what you've already told me of them today, of course?"

Shinobu told her everything that she'd learned from talking to those at the Apartments she'd talked to earlier that day about recent events since she and Kei had unexpectedly been whisked away from Japan as they'd been some length of time before. By the time that she was at least two-thirds, but not more than four-fifths, through her telling Sylvia about enough of those still-recent events, as best as she then could, Kei and Rolando finally returned to the bookstore, and it was quickly nearing 3 in the afternoon, as well.

They entered it just as Sylvia asked Shinobu, "Would you perhaps like me to try and help you out by putting together a necklace for you here with the items I just saw a little while ago in your things from my country, by any chance, Shinobu?"

"I'll have to think about that for a while, to be sure. But I still might just let you try here, if we're actually able to spend enough time together with each other while Kei and I are somehow still here in Scotland before we're whisked somewhere else in the world. In the meantime, I think it's about time Kei and I should return to the hotel we found ourselves in this morning, before too much more time passes here for us both. If you two would both like to accompany us back there, then we can continue our current discussion on the way there. At least to a degree, if not entirely, here, that is, of course."

"Very well, then, gather your things, and we'll take you both back there, you two. And make sure you get back there safely enough, of course, as well."

So Shinobu and Kei gathered all the things they then had with themselves, and went to that hotel they'd found themselves in earlier, with no needless delay here, just as quickly and just as safely as they possibly both could here. On the way there with Sylvia and Rolando, Shinobu and Kei even found themselves unexpectedly found themselves picking up several other items from nearby shops in the area. Including some other items they might even be able to use while still away from the Hinata Apartments Complex, for that matter, if enough things went well enough for them both, for sure.

When they both got there, to the appropriate hotel in the area, all while conversing periodically with the Voloises, they were soon surprised to learn that they'd mysteriously been registered as being assigned to a suite of rooms about twice the size of Kei's original room at the Hinata Apartments many years before, more or less. Although Shinobu and Kei knew they hadn't actually rented a suite of rooms there, somehow they found themselves assigned to it not long after returning together to the hotel they'd earlier found themselves in rather unexpectedly that very day.

Sylvia and Rolando spent about the next hour or two after Shinobu and Kei learned about that hotel suite being assigned to them in trying to catch up a bit more with each other, where and when they each then could here. Ultimately, though, Sylvia and Rolando both said they had things they both needed or wanted to do now, and thought that was likely true for Shinobu and Kei as well, at the same time. So they both soon left them alone in that hotel suite, to do whatever might then strike their fancy and all here, for sure. It wasn't much later that both Shinobu and Kei got the urge to try and take a nap next to each other in the four-poster bed they'd not expected to see in said hotel room, after their friends had both vacated their current room here easily enough.

Fifteen minutes after Sylvia and Rolando's departure from that very hotel suite, both Shinobu and Kei were sleeping quite soundly indeed near each other under the rather fancy bed's mostly dark-colored covers, and lost in their dreams there, no matter what kind of dreams they each were at the present time. They didn't know just what the future held for them both just yet, or for anyone else currently in their lives, at least, of course. But they both still did so here, in any case, for sure.

So now Shinobu and Kei are in Scotland for a yet-unknown length of time. What else will they find there, or what else might happen to them before they get whisked away to some other place in the world? Where do you think they'll end up next, and what do you think the next item or items will be with a starting letter of O for them? Please feel free to make reasonable guesses and all about those things, and who Kei might actually be here? I know who he is, but do you? Remember, there are at least a few male protagonists from various manga and/or anime franchises, for instance, whose first names begin with the letters Kei, you know, if not even some live-action movies or television shows as well, folks.

I'll try to have at least something else added to my main profile here before the end of 2021, whether it's the start to another story or a new chapter for one of my stories also present on this profile, if at all possible and all here, for sure. It may not be easy for me, I must admit, for various reasons, but I'll still see what I can do here, just the same, in any case.

With no further ado, then, I'll close this here, and hope to see some more good and reasonable reviews from at least a few of you readers and all, as soon as I can and as best as I can, of course. Thank you all very much, then, for dropping by here again, folks, and I hope you come back to this story often, if and whenever possible, too. TUS out.