How long has it been since Second came into his life? Vector watched her make dinner while he pondered the thought. Michio sat next to him coloring. He was still too short to sit in a normal chair but Vector was still shocked to see how much his son had grown.

"What are you drawing, Michie?" He asked, leaning over.

"It's a bird!" he said, proudly holding up his drawing. It did look vaguely like a bird so there was some effort there.

Vector patted his head. "Very good, but why is there a bag on it?"

"It got stuck, so now it's running around to get unstuck," he smiled while waving his arms around.

Second walked into the room and looked at her son's drawing. "What a silly bird," She giggled. "I'm sure he'll get free. But for now it's time to put that away and go eat."

Michio looked a little disappointed, but picked up his pencils and paper and shimmied out of his seat. He looked up at the counter and then at Vector.

"Daddy, help."

Vector got out of his chair and set his things on the counter.

"Thank you!" Michio smiled happily. Vector then picked him up and helped him sit back in his chair. Second served them some rice and they all started eating.

"Oh yeah, Third called me," she stated after a while.

"Yeah, I heard. Anything important?"

"Somewhat."

He looked up at her. "What does that mean exactly?"

"Well, Eliphas wants the five of us to go back to Astral World in about a month," she replied, looking down.

"I hope it's not to stay there permanently."

She shook her head. "Oh no, it's just a meeting, so to speak. He wants to see how we're doing, if we've noticed anything wrong, stuff like that."

"Ah, I see."

"Yeah, nothing bad. I hope," she said hesitantly. "But the thing is, I'm going to be gone for at least a week."

"And your point is?"

"Well, you'll be alone during that time and that hasn't happened since I got here. And you'll have to watch Michio too."

"I can handle that. I was alone for six years before you came here. And I can handle Michio just fine. I've watched you take care of him enough times to get the gist of it."

"You sure?" Her voice was laced with worry.

He nodded.

"Well, alright then. Oh and there's Yuma too, he can always help if you're having trouble."

"Yeah, if you want to call that help." He chuckled.

"He has more experience than both of us."

"I know, and I'm still shocked by that."

She nodded in agreement. "But, if you really think you can handle it, then I guess I don't have to worry too much."

"You don't have to worry at all, dear. I can handle it just fine."

"Right. Well I should at least make some food for you two, that'll definitely make me feel better."

He shrugged. "Less for me to do so I won't complain."

A few weeks passed after that and Second finally felt Eliphas summon her.

She now stood in the living room dressed in her armor. Michio simply stared at her and then ran to hug her leg.

"Ah, it's okay Michie," she said, picking him up. "I'll only be gone for a little while, and daddy will be here with you."

He hugged his mother tightly, trying to hold back his small tears. She gingerly kissed his cheek and set him back down. "And Vector," she looked directly at him, "if anything goes wrong, go to Yuma."

"I know, I know, it's not like you haven't told me that twenty times already." He smirked and then kissed her. "Just do what you need to do and come back as soon as you can."

"Of course." She kissed him back and then took a step back. She waved to them one last time.

"Be safe you two, I love you." And just like that she disappeared. Michio kept waving goodbye until she was gone completely.

"Love you too, Momma," he said quietly.


Second walked through the palace of Astral World and was greeted by the others.

"Good to see you again," Third smiled warmly. And before she could respond Fourth had already enveloped her in a tight hug.

"Things are still okay right? Did you really leave him alone with Michio to come here?" she whispered.

"Yes yes of course, and it's okay. Please don't bring this up right now." she whispered back.

Fourth let go of her and smiled. "Good, at least you're all right, that's all that matters to me."

They heard footsteps coming towards them and they all turned their attention to the noise. Eliphas stood before them, looking down at them with an unreadable expression. Second suddenly felt nervous.

"So you're all here, that's a good start," he said. They all nodded and Third and Fourth stepped forward.

"I have noticed no abnormalities on Earth," Fourth stated.

"I have nothing to report either," Third added. "and haven't detected any type of interference from outside sources."

Eliphas nodded approvingly and then turned around. "I will meet with each one of you later in private," he announced before leaving the room.

Third and Fourth seemed to let out a sigh of relief at his departure before they looked at each other.

"Wow, that seemed way too easy." Dark said.

Third shrugged. "We've been updating him every week, so this was nothing more than basic information."

"This was actually the easiest it's been for us," Fourth said. "We usually have to go on for a good hour explaining this and that. It's so much."

Second was quiet for a moment. "What type of meeting was he talking about?" she finally asked.

"Hm, I'm not sure. Well, like for Dark, I'm sure it'll be asking if he's changed, probably stuff about chaos too."

"I see." She looked down at her feet.

Fourth walked behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about it. No one's said a word. He'll just ask you about Vector and if he's still an issue. That's it."

"If you say so."

Fourth smiled. "I know so."


There was one thing that Second had forgotten about Astral World: it was boring. Maybe after being exposed to Earth for so long it made Astral World seem so dull, either way there wasn't much to do outside of talking to Eliphas.

First sat back in a chair.

"I wish I brought something with me. My phone, or a game, something!" he complained.

Third, who was watching some screens, just shook his head. "They wouldn't have made the trip. Just deal with it for now, we'll be back home soon."

He just crossed his arms and looked at the ceiling. "I'm happy we were asleep all that time," he muttered under his breath.

Second was sitting next to him and patted his shoulder affectionately. "You sound so much like Yuma." She teased. "But you are right. I wish I could call home, at least to see if they're doing okay."


Back home Vector was watching TV mindlessly while Michio was putting a puzzle together. Ever since Second left he'd been bored out of his mind.

"How many days has it been now?" He asked out loud. He counted on his fingers.

Michio looked up at him and held out four fingers. "Four, daddy."

"Oh, you've been keeping track?"

He nodded.

"I guess you miss her a lot then?"

He nodded again.

"Same here." Vector got up and started digging through some drawers.

Michio got up too and tried to look in them, but was still too short to see. "What are you doing?" he asked.

Vector just looked down and patted his head.

"I'm looking for something—something old. I wonder if it's still here..." he said, pulling random bits and pieces out of the drawer. Finally, he pulled something out and smirked. "Here we go. Hey, Michie, do you know what these are?"

Michio shook his head.

"They're cards. Me and your mom used to play with them a lot, but…" Vector grimaced, lips pursed together. "We stopped...for reasons."

"Oh, I wanna see!" he said reaching up for them.

"You can, just not right now." Vector picked him up. "Maybe when you can read I'll teach you the game, how does that sound?"

Michio nodded.

Vector looked through the cards a little and put them down. "I wonder if I could beat Second in a rematch," he said, laughing a little.