One Month Later

True to her word, Ms. Smith gave Banjo & Kazooie 200,000 yen for the golden note, along with a I.D. Card, and a book on the variety of extraspecies that the program has documented. The duo used the money to pay for food, and living amenities that are considered normal for didn't want to risk anyone finding out there was a bear living among them, even with government protection, bears living in suburbia isn't considered "normal".

On the way back from their shopping trip, Kazooie had a concern.

"Where are we going to store all this junk? Our house is barely big enough for the bed!"

As if to answer her question, the house appears to have grown in size when the duo returned. The familiar yellow door was still visible, complete with "BANJO" written on the front, but the rest of the house was unfamiliar to them. Windows that appeared rectangular appeared at the front and the height of the house increased. The color scheme was still yellow windows, blue roof.

"Did someone replace our house with someone else's or this a nightmare that we cannot wake up from?" Kazooie asked her companion.

"I think that construction crew Ms. Smith talked about arrived while we were gone. But how did they do their job so fast? We were only gone for two hours!"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" a voice said behind them.

The duo turned around and sure enough, Ms. Smith was standing behind them, glasses and all.

Banjo gave a surprised "WHOA!" while Kazooie wondered just how did she get behind them without either of them noticing.

"The cultural exchange program hires a quick efficient construction crew to accommodate extraspecies. In fact, your particular extraspecies shall arrive tomorrow. Well I must be off now, see ya in the morning." And with that, Ms. Smith walked off, leaving a very confused Banjo to contemplate what she said.

"Wait a minute, that's ridiculous, telling us to expect a new houseguest and not tell us the species they may be? Is she forgetful or plain lazy?!" Kazooie voiced her concerns. Loudly.

"Calm down Kazooie, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation. Maybe she doesn't know?"

"Joy, a agency that tells its own employees nothing. We're doomed if we stay here."

"I sure hope we're not doomed, let's go inside and see what that crew did to our house."

So the two went inside and saw a completely different sight from when they left that same morning.

The two saw that there was now a space for people to place their shoes ('jokes on them, we only use our shoes temporarily' Kazooie thought) along with a few extra doors and a stair case. To the left was a dining room and kitchen combo. The right contained the living room with a variety of couches and tables. Above what appeared to be a television ('Wait, how did the crew get all of our stuff inside when we only just bought it earlier today?' Banjo thought) was standing in front of the biggest couch. Above the television was the portrait, now with a single piece filled in, a piece of the sky that overlooks Spiral Mountain. It appeared tiny, and a small list appeared beside it. The list contained a full Jiggy count (out of 90. 'Something tells me we're not going to get a Jiggy after every single part of this adventure' both Banjo & Kazooie thought) along with information on how each one was obtained.

"I guess Ms. Smith told the crew to leave this portrait alone knowing how important it is to us." Banjo said.

"C'mon Banjo, let's climb the stairs and see a second floor that doesn't try and hurt us." Kazooie said.

So the two climbed the stairs and saw three doors. The first led to a roof deck ("It's high up here" Banjo remarked. 'Plenty of room to stretch my wings every once in a while.' Kazooie thought), the second on the immediate right to a bedroom that wasn't there's. The two assumed it was for their homestay. The third door led to another bedroom designed to be based off their original home, table, fireplace and all. There was even the rack to serve as the backpack stand. That said, the two noticed some new additions, such as windows and a closet that weren't there before. The two agreed the construction crew did a decent job this time around before deciding to turn in for the night.

The Next Morning

Banjo was nervous about their new homestay. True he did read the book describing every single species so they wouldn't be caught off guard, but with so many options, there was bound to be problems right off the bat, especially since even the individual species could be different (and he didn't want to think about the subspecies!). The sound of tires snapped him out of his thoughts so he decided to head outside and see what the noise was about.

A long black car was situated outside the house. Ms. Smith got out of the back seat and opened the door wider than it appeared to open. Outside, Banjo winced as he saw a long red object appear first, followed by more red.

"Wait, a snake? Why does that slimy fool get their own room yet I'm forced to sleep in the backpack on a rack?!" Kazooie snarked.

"Kazooie! You don't even know their character yet you're already judging them?!"

At the moment Banjo reprimanded Kazooie the object as it turned out was an extraspecies. One that resembled a human female from the tail up. Wearing a yellow shirt and blue skirt, the snake like person had red hair and small golden "D" rings in her hair.

"Oh my, I never heard of another extraspecies becoming a homestay to another extraspecies." the snake-like lady said.

"Miss Snake..." Banjo started.

"My name is Miia, what is yours?"

"I'm Banjo, this is my buddy Kazooie."

"Why is your 'buddy' in your backpack?"

"More comfortable in here than out there, you sneaky snake!"

"Kazooie!"

"Actually your loud mouthed bird friend is quite right. Miia here is a Lamia, a species of snake like people." Ms. Smith spoke for the first time since getting there.

'Lamia eh? I hope she's not as lazy and tired as Ssslumber was. Not waking him up was a challenge.' Kazooie thought to herself as the air around everyone suddenly became colder.

"Hmm, must be a small breeze coming in. I gotta ensure some of the warmer species don't freeze over. Take care of Miia now!" Ms. Smith left in the vehicle.

"Ms. Miia, perhaps we should head inside and get you some warmth?" Banjo asked, hoping to get out of the cold himself. So Miia went to the living room, where she sprawled herself on the biggest couch. Banjo & Kazooie went to a spare closet in the house, grabbed the biggest blanket they could find, and laid it on Miia.

"Hope this warms you up after that wind." Banjo said.

"Thank you so much! That cold was unbearable." Miia said (Kazooie facepalmed at what she thought was a random pun). Miia then looked around the room and the three (mostly Banjo and Miia, Kazooie only chipping in to discuss some of her favorite things) discussed their past, with Banjo being the main provider given the duo's backstory. Miia went over to admire the portrait once he mentioned it.

"So this portrait is apparently magic enough to send you back to the sky pictured in it? Why are you still here then?" Miia asked.

"It's incomplete. We need to find all 90 Golden Jigsaw pieces to complete the portrait and return home. A note to the side of the portrait does keep track of all the Jiggies we found." Banjo answered.

"So finding all of them will send you two home? Sounds daunting, but the longer I can spend time with my darling the better!"

"That sounds nice Ms. Miia, we hope to be..." Banjo started before realizing what word she had said. "Did... did you say, 'Darling'?" (Kazooie started laughing the minute Banjo said this.)

"Yes, no one else has shown me kindness, it's been agent after agent ever since I left my village. It's been awful having these people in suits, never allowed to speak my thoughts beyond what they tell me to say" Miia said with a bit of sadness to her voice. "But now that I'm here, I'm gonna spend as much time with my Darling as possible!"

Suddenly Miia tackled Banjo and pulled him into a hug. With her tail and arms.

"Kazooie! HELP!" Banjo yelled out.

Unfortunately for Banjo, Kazooie was still laughing over him being called 'Darling'.