It took awhile but eventually everyone was once again at the table, getting stared down by a very angry Yuka.
"Now Kouta..." She starts off calmly. "WOULD YOU CARE TO EXPLAIN WHY THIS PLACE IS FILLED WITH THESE ABNORMAL COSPLAYERS!"
"Cosplayers! Where!" Caboose exclaims.
"Caboose, she means us." Tucker clarifies.
"Mam, I know our appearance may seem strange to you but-"
"Quiet! I wanna hear what Kouta has to say!" Yuka interrupts Wash.
"Yuka, they're family of Kaede's. And I know it's hard to believe but they're not cosplaying." Kouta tries to assure her.
"Than what is up with them? And why is her family here so late?" Yuka asks.
"Well... um... they're staying overnight..." Kouta ventures.
"What! Why would her family need to stay overnight here! Do they not have any money!" Yuka exclaims.
"Hey. Who are you to tell him what to do?" Grif asks.
"None of your damn concern!" Yuka snaps.
"Miss Yuka, I know we sound suspicious but listen to our story. It may be unbelievable, but it's true." Wash tries to assure her. From then on, they fill her in on who they are, where they come from, and how they got here leaving out minimal details.
"Your right. I don't believe it." Yuka says. "Soldiers from another dimension, Kouta you believed this crap."
"In a certain way, it makes sense. Remember the festival we went to two years ago and what we found. It explains how it appeared out of no where and why no one came to claim it." Kouta says.
"Just out of curiosity, what would that be?" Kaede asks.
"Here. I brought it with me." Kouta says as he leaves the room to go search for it.
"Now, who are you really." Yuka insinuates.
"Listen brat. We've explained who we are." Carolina growls. "Our currency is not compatible with your currency and we cannot simply exchange so we technically don't have any money. Your cousin was just nice enough to let us stay here awhile until we find a way back home."
Carolina's anger was having an obvious effect on Yuka as the woman backed off. Damn, she was scary.
"Here." Kouta comes back in, carrying Wyoming's helmet.
"No way." Tucker says.
"Is that who's I think it is?" Wash asks.
"You knew who this belonged to?" Kouta asks.
"Yeah. Bounty hunter called Wyoming. That guy was a dick." Simmons says.
"Yuka I know this may not be enough proof, but it's all we have. Maybe after sometime we can further convince you of what we say is true." Wash assures her.
"Fine." Yuka says abruptly standing up. She didn't know about the others, but this agent Washington seemed genuine. Perhaps she should at least humour them. But... "But one thing. Starting tomorrow I will be moving in."
"Moving in?" Kouta questions.
"Oh. This is gonna be double the fun!" Donut exclaims.
"Shut up Donut." Tucker retorts.
"Yes. I don't expect you to handle all these house guests alone, so I'll move to help keep an eye on them." Yuka explains. She then abruptly leaves, not just the room but the house.
"I'm so sorry you had to deal with that. and us." Kaede apologizes profusely.
"Hey, it's alright Kaede. Yuka's just a little... intense." Kouta assures her.
True to her word, next morning Yuka with boxes of her belongings which Kouta and Donut helped set up in her room leaving 4 of the ten spare rooms unoccupied. Sarge insisted that red team stick together, so the four of them slept in the same too. While the blues got their own room, the freelancers had theirs, and Kaede had one to herself.
"Man. This is getting complicated real quick." Kouta says aloud.
"Look at the bright side, we're all in this together." Donut exclaims.
"I guess that's a way to look at it." Kouta agrees.
"And in the event the power goes out and it's freezing, we can all snuggle together to preserve our heat." Donut says.
"Yea- Wait What!?" Kouta exclaims.
"I mean, it's an unlikely scenario, but I'm just putting it out there." Donut said. "Simmons said it happened to him once."
"No I didn't Donut! I just said we got trapped in our base and had to eat the dogs for food because command couldn't get rations through!" Simmons exclaims in his run on sentence from another room.
"Yeah, but surely you had to have done that to keep warm when you went to sleep." Donut questions.
"I don't wanna talk about this." Simmons exclaims back.
"Uh, your suggestion is noted. Donut." Kouta tried to assure him.
"So, Uh, Wash? What's the plan for today?" Tucker asks his ex-freelancer buddy.
"We're gonna send a small team to survey the beach. People who are really low profile." Wash explains.
"Dude, we may have been low profile in our universe, but here, not so much." Tucker says. "Besides some of us are more loud than others."
"Miss Yuka! What is this and where does it go!" They hear Caboose shout.
"Put that down you pervert!" Yuka screams.
"See?" Tucker continues.
"I said some of us, not all." Wash says. Carolina and I, Simmons, Donut, and yourself will go. The rest will stay here and keep out of trouble. If that's possible that is."
"Why not bring Kaede?" Tucker asks.
"Why not let her have this time to catch up with her friend." Wash answers. "I think she's more than deserved it."
Just as Washington said, five selected soldiers were scouring the beach for any sign of the dimensional device.
"It's not here. Maybe someone picked it up and took it with them?" Tucker suggests.
"Or worse, transported them to our dimension. That would leave us stranded here." Simmons reminds them.
"Just keep looking, we need to be absolutely sure." Carolina urges them.
"At least we have this nice view of the ocean." Donut comments.
"Let's just find this thing quick." Tucker groans.
This SHOULD be nice. It really should. Yuka stood atop the stone stairs overlooking the beach with Kouta just like she always had when he visited. The only problem was he invited Kaede to come with. This was getting frustrating, getting some alone time with Kouta, but then again it's only been the second day.
They stood watching as some of the multi-coloured soldier combed the beach for their missing dimensional device, or whatever it was.
"This is really nice." Kaede comments.
"Yeah. I never get enough of this view." Kouta comments.
"Imagine living like me. Spending your time in a rather hot, unremarkable canyon and then after a few years, seeing this." Kaede says.
"I'd imagine this is quite a treat for you." Kouta smiles at her.
"You could say that." Kaede smiles back. Why did he have to talk to her like that? Do they even realize what they were doing? Before Yuka could say anything, the group heard a nearby voice.
"Sneaking... sneaking." Someone whispers. The three turn to see Caboose crouched down and very poorly hiding.
"Uh, Caboose. What are you doing?" Kaede asks.
"Uh yes see... I am spying on you." He whispers.
"Spying on is? For what?" Kouta asks.
"You go to fun places and not invite everybody. That makes me not happy." Caboose whispers.
"Oh, Uh, so sorry. Would you like to come with us Caboose?" Kouta asks.
"Now I am happy! Thank you friend Kouta!" Caboose exclaims.
"Not so loud." Yuka complains.
"Sorry, I'll try to be quite as possible with how excited I am." Caboose whispers.
"Caboose, people are gonna look at you wearing that armour and they're gonna feel weary seeing you have a gun." Kaede says to him.
"Don't worry. I like it when people look at me. And I have a gun in case things get bad." Caboose explains.
"Why can't you just put on some regular clothes then?" Yuka asks.
"Because how will people know I am blue? I don't want people thinking I am red." Caboose explains.
"Then why not put on a blue shirt?" Yuka asks.
"Y... y'know cause... cause... can we just go now?" He stutters.
"Um, there's this shrine nearby, wanna look there?" Kouta asks.
"Shine?" Kaede asks.
"Yeah. We'll take you there." Kouta says. "Sound good Yuka?"
"Huh? The shrine? Yeah... let's all go there." She says.
"Ugh. Still no luck." Tucker groans. "I think it's safe to say the thing is gone now."
"Damn it!" Carolina punches the sand. "So we're fuckin stranded here then?"
"It seems so. But on the bright side, its not the fucking canyon again." Simmons says. "Kaede was kinda right in a way in that its nothing but a hot canyon."
"Oh hey there! I remember you." They hear Donut exclaim. They turn to see an early teenage girl with short brown hair walking her dog on the beach. Wait, that was the same person Caboose ran into yesterday.
"Uh, yes. Hello." The girl shyly replies.
"Sorry about or blue friend the other day. He's... he's kinda dumb." Tucker says.
"Oh, Uh, no. Don't worry about it." Mayu replies.
"Um. Excuse me. Have by chance seen anything that looked like a purple ball around here?" Washington asks the girl.
"Uh, no. I haven't. Sorry." Mayu nervously replies.
"That's fine. Thanks anyway." Washington says. And with that. Mayu and Wanta go on their merry way.
"Somethings up with her." Tucker says to Wash. "I'm pretty sure those were the same clothes as yesterday, and she seemed quite nervous to an extreme degree."
"So? Maybe she's just a nervous person." Wash suggests.
"Maybe, but something in my gut is telling me she's homeless." Tucker says.
"I guess that is a possibility. But unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it." Wash says.
"Maybe there is, and we just don't have it yet." Tucker says.
"Maybe." Wash says as he continues the search. "Maybe you're right."