22 October 2018: Many thanks to Down for the help with this chapter, and letting me borrow Miura so I didn't have to invent my own Head of the Healers Guild for this fic. Despite lots of tears and both of us having terrible fevers the past two weeks, this chapter is finally finished. I'm happy to be able to share it with all my faithful readers. (I'll get back to answering comments this week. It's been a rough two weeks)

If anyone sees any glaring errors that I missed, please feel free to point them out.

Content Note: No changes were made from the AO3 version of this chapter.

Chapter 17
In which Clef travels to Tokyo

The Mage's Guild meeting on Thirdday running long wasn't good on Clef's nerves in the first place, but they finally got to the call for any other business. Clef stood and in a voice which was remarkably calm in the circumstances, so he thought, announced he would be taking a brief leave of absence from Cephiro come Firstday.

There was nothing but silence for a moment and then the room erupted and kept erupting. People were asking where he was going, and how long for? Those were almost reasonable questions. Then there were ones asking how they were meant to hold Cephiro without him? Did he want to come back to rubble? Leaving Cephiro without a Guru for several hours was irresponsible and dangerous! Those commenters stretched his temper to the breaking point, until he slammed his hand down on the table with enough emotion to send sparks up about his fingers and leave a charred handprint behind.

"Cephiro will not crumble without me holding her together! Just because I once stepped in and held on a tightly as I could, doesn't mean I'm still acting like some sort of buttress. Between the two dozen ward circles and spirit rings, there should be no problem holding Cephiro together for the better part of a single day. Nor has that ever been a part of the Guru's job description!"

He didn't add aloud that, if the trip snapped his magic - or worse - they could hold it just as well until his replacement was instated. That was the whole idea behind the circles.

It didn't stop the panicked grouching at him. It would have helped if all the Wardens had been present to attest they were doing their job without his interference perfectly well, thank you, but the Wardens didn't sit on the Guild council unless they happened to have another job that gave them a seat, and he was the only one actually present. (He was the only one fool enough to have multiple full-time jobs.) In the end, he left the meeting in a huff and stormed back to his rooms.

It took a little while before he was calm enough to make his call to Aveo back at the main house. As his second, she needed to know - he'd put off telling her until he'd run the gauntlet of the Guild meeting, but now he had no reasonable excuses left, and he was only going to worry about what she would say until he got it over with. He still paced the floor until the mirror cleared and she appeared in the surface in place of his reflection.

"Clef, what's wrong?" she asked. "Did something happen?"

"Not yet." He sighed. "I need to tell you I will be attempting to travel to Tokyo on Firstday. I have no idea what that will do - what it will do to anything. To Mazda. You'll have to hold the Ward while I'm gone, but you do that a lot of the time already. I'm sure Cephiro will hold, and I think I'll be okay-"

"You think?" Aveo's voice was sharp.

"It's a bit further than Autozam, and there's no magic there." He dropped into the desk chair and rubbed a hand over his face. His voice dropped low. "I'm honestly not sure if I will actually survive the trip. I should, but. No one has attempted it before."

"If you don't return before the next Council meeting, Uncle-mine, I will personally come and hunt you down. Whether in that other world or the world to come."

Clef snorted out half a laugh. He could just picture Aveo ripping a hole between worlds to drag him back so she didn't have to attend a Council meeting. "I should be back in Cephiro by the end of that day."

"If I don't at least hear from you by Secondday, I am going to come looking." The warning in her voice faded into a sigh. "I hope you two sort out whatever this problem is. I'm sick of seeing you so upset all the time."

Clef hesitated, then nodded instead of replying before he cut the connection without a farewell. That would probably get him scolded next time they spoke, but he didn't know what to say to her. Depending on how meeting Umi's family went, he might have some very different news. He had no doubt that Umi would argue with them over being allowed to continue seeing him, but with a child…

It might well be the most sensible thing for all of them for her to cut off all contact with him for the next few years.

He couldn't stand the thought of that time without her, with or without their child, but he certainly understood the logic of it. Her parents would be in the right to demand he make reparations for being so irresponsible as to allow this to happen, and beyond staying away and letting them know and raise the child as a part of their family, there was nothing else he could grant her in Tokyo.

Not that he knew what to expect from this meeting, outside of the stilted, awkward scenes that occasionally turned up in novels. He'd never been in a relationship as serious as this, and had certainly never been introduced to anyone's family.

He'd never even thought to introduce Umi to what family he had left, though he seemed to have already done so.

Dropping his head in his hands, Clef let out a shaking breath. Four and a half days to go. He just needed to keep his head together in the meantime. There was so much work to deal with in the Guild right now, he should have plenty to occupy himself with.

.*.*.*.

Saturday evening, Umi walked into Clef's rooms with only one goal in mind - and it wasn't getting him out of his clothes. She was focused on devouring the hamburgers in the paper bag she'd brought with her from Tokyo.

She'd been looking forward to her last school festival for months, but when it finally came around, she'd been miserable. Her class were performed late in the program, so she had to endure the food stands for hours. The smells had the unfortunate effect of making her feel horribly ill and overwhelmingly hungry at the same time, and there had been almost no place on campus to escape. She thought the play had gone okay; she hadn't flubbed up her choreography, but her memory was clouded by the smell from the 'American diner' class 3-D had been running just down the hall.

At least she'd been able to take part.

By the time she'd met up with Hikaru, she'd been craving a burger and onion rings for what felt like hours. The fast-food restaurant closest to the Tower had made her feel so nauseated she couldn't make herself set foot inside, but that hadn't kept her from handing money to Hikaru and begging her to buy them.

Dumping her other bags and shoes at the door, Umi waved briefly at Clef as he started up from the sofa where he'd been sat with his nose in a book, and sat down at the table with her meal.

"What's that?" Clef asked, as Umi unwrapped the glorious thing, murmured a thank you for the food, and took a bite.

"Hamburger," she answered, once she'd swallowed the first satisfying mouthful. "I got you one too, if you want it. I'll eat it if you don't." She pushed the bag toward him.

Clef took a seat and picked up the second paper-wrapped sandwich. Carefully unwrapping it, he poked at it, looking at the lettuce and tasting the sauces with his finger before he took a tentative bite, chewing carefully before swallowing and looking back at the burger. "Isn't this a bit greasy for you right now?"

"Don't even start. It's been a trying week, I should be allowed to indulge a little." Umi reached over and tugged the bag back so she could get to the fries. "I wanted a chocolate shake too, but Hikaru wouldn't get one for me. I guess that would have been even harder to get into the Tower. It was really crowded this evening."

"I just meant you're sure it won't upset your stomach?"

"I honestly don't care right now," Umi told him, but she felt fairly certain it would be okay. Her stomach had been behaving itself more often than otherwise, this week, except when she was completely overwhelmed by a cacophony of smells.

They worked their way through the two burgers and a side each of fries and onion rings. Clef seemed particularly partial to the onion rings, and Umi had to practically fight him to get her fair share. It was still the best meal she'd had in weeks.

"You look better, you know," he said, not quite absently as he ate one of the last fries. "Not so thin."

Umi eyed him suspiciously. "Are you saying I look fat?"

"No, you just look healthier than you did a few weeks ago." His lips curled into a crooked smile. "You look good."

Umi's face flushed hot. "Well, you look all bony still." She reached across and poked his cheekbone where it was clearer than even normal, leaving a smudge of grease on his skin. "Hasn't Aveo been chasing you around with dinner?"

"I haven't exactly been home in a while. There's been some Guild business - I've been busy. But you don't have to worry, Ascot's started coming and looking worried at me if I haven't gone to dinner after an hour."

"Good," she muttered, and let him wave her away from the table to go wash her hands while he cleared the rubbish away.

Hands clean, she flopped onto the settee and picked up the book Clef had left behind when she came in. Cephiran script was almost weirder in print than in cursive, all sharp and angular in its strange shapes. She much preferred the way it looked in Clef's handwriting - any handwriting really - even if she couldn't read much beyond their names and titles.

Lazily thumbing through it, Umi found a page of thicker paper with an illustration. She imagined it must be the hero and heroine of the story given they way they were gazing longingly at one another. It was beautiful, all soft colours and light. The clothing looked a little like some of the things she'd seen the visitors from Fahren wearing on occasion.

"Am I still going home with you tomorrow?" Clef asked, putting on the kettle.

"As long as you're still happy to," Umi said, flicking through the book to find more pictures, determined not to worry about tomorrow before she needed to. "We can discuss details of how to get you there with Hikaru and Fuu after dinner."

"You're still hungry?"

"No, but they're probably eating right now."

The next image was of the same two people sharing a romantic kiss with a golden sunset behind them, but the one after that that nearly made her drop the book. The same couple again, this time in a passionate embrace. There were hands very blatantly slipping under clothing and into not-so-public places, and they were very definitely not just kissing.

It wasn't like Umi hadn't seen illustrations of people having sex - she and Mako had been reading the smutty manga Daichi passed on to Huki for years - she just hadn't expected Clef to be reading something like it.

"Is this pornography?" she asked, holding up the book.

Clef walked over with a tea tray, glancing at the page. "Don't your romance books have love scenes in them?"

"Not illustrated ones!" Umi stared at the picture and back at Clef who was calmly pouring tea. "Are these sorts of pictures normal in your books?"

"It depends where they come from." He held out a cup to her.

Umi dropped back down on the settee and stared at yet another illustration page when she took her tea from him. That position the two characters were in could be best described as acrobatic. "Is that even physically possible?" she asked.

Clef leaned over to take a look. "I'm not actually sure?" He turned back to the teapot, pouring himself a cup. "It doesn't look comfortable, though."

Unfortunately, however impossible some of the positions looked, by the time she set down the book Umi was feeling more than a little worked up. But they still had to meet Hikaru and Fuu; there really wasn't time to get distracted.

She tried to think of uninspiring things. There were several of those. "My parents are going to expect you to marry me. We'll have to explain why you can't do that, and that's going to be awkward."

"They will understand I don't have any of the paperwork you mentioned was necessary, I'm sure. At least, once they've seen Cephiro, if you're planning on bringing them here."

Umi shook her head. "Papa's already worked that one out. I told you he was in politics, right? He knows a lot of people. He wouldn't normally do something like that, but in the circumstances… he's said he can fix that." Which had been something of a surprise. "No, I meant it being illegal for you."

"Well, if he can find a way around the paperwork, is that something you would want? To marry me?" Clef asked, and Umi stared at him.

"We already had this argument! Clef, it's treason!"

"So is this child." He pressed a hand to her abdomen and smiled. "Besides, I wouldn't be marrying you in Cephiro; I'd be marrying you in Tokyo."

"How is that any different? Cephiro recognises other countries' laws, right? That's how Caldina was acknowledged as old enough to be Ascot's guardian, we heard all about that."

"And you just happened to conveniently forget about that when talking about your own age? Anyway, it is different. If we get married in Tokyo, there won't be any paperwork about it in Cephiro for people to find."

"Clef!" She dropped her head to his shoulder, exasperated. "I'm serious! There might be a bit of - talk, but you don't have to marry me. I could always marry Huki, instead."

Clef stilled. "Do you want to marry Huki? I thought -"

"No." She shook her head. "But this is all going to turn into scandalous gossip if I'm not married to someone by the time it's obvious, and I know Huki and I could make it work. We've been friends since - well, practically since we were born."

"Didn't you say marriage is supposed to be an exclusive sort of relationship?" he asked. Umi nodded guiltily. "Wouldn't it cause more of a scandal when the child doesn't look like your partner?"

Umi stared as him as the words sunk in. "I forgot the baby's going to look like you too!" She dropped her head on his shoulder. There went that back-up plan. It was either marry Clef or hide the baby in Cephiro if she wanted to protect the Ryuuzaki reputation, which clashed horribly with any plans of hiding the baby in Tokyo and not marrying Clef to protect his reputation.

Clef wrapped his arms around her. "I would be happy to marry you, if that's what you want, illegal though it may be. If they do pull me up on charges, well, I can always come to Tokyo and look after home and child for you, if you'll have me."

Her breath caught "Really?"

"Yes." He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers, then to her forehead, just as gently. "Who knows, you might even find some job I can do in this company of yours. Cleaner, maybe?"

Umi knew he was trying to distract her from the terrifyingly serious statement he'd just made, but it worked - the image of Clef in a cleaner's uniform bowing to her mother as she left a meeting was too much and she burst into giggles that wouldn't quit until it was time to meet the others.

.*.*.*.

Clef decided a practical lesson on translocation would be more useful than just an explanation, so they only talked things over for a few minutes before he took them outside for a few practice runs, in the hope that might ease all their minds a little. It wasn't hard to explain the theory when they'd been working a harder relation of this spell to get themselves here and home again for several years. Bringing someone along was a little more complicated, but it was one of those spells that was more about power and control than it was technique - ideally suited to the Knights, who had power and will in abundance.

Hikaru was the first to make the jump, frowning with concentration as she took Clef's hands and her magic wrapped about them both, hot but comforting. They landed outside the kitchen gardens and she let out a pleased shout of victory, dancing in a happy circle which Clef couldn't help but smile at before she took his hands again and sent them both back.

Fuu's spell worked with a bit more finesse when she brought Clef to the little taiya orchard where Ferio had been drafted by the gardeners to help with pruning the trees, her power swirling them into place in a grove almost at his feet; Ferio yelped at their appearance, and Fuu just twinkled mischievously up at him, before whisking Clef away without any explanation.

Clef was sometimes glad that Umi didn't have a pinch of subtlety or sneakiness anywhere in her.

Then it was her turn. When he offered Umi his hand, she took a step back from him. "Should you be doing this?" she asked, glancing up at the bulk of the castle above them, and the many windows.

His mouth twitched up slightly. "There are a number of things I shouldn't be doing with you. This is definitely the least of them."

"But -"

Umi had been keeping her distance during his explanation, being more of an observer than a participant in the lesson, but he wasn't going to let her get away without practicing the spell at all. Besides, he had several hours of lessons he could still give without being caught in that particular trap.

"Are you saying you can't handle a simple translocation spell?" he challenged, trying and failing not to grin at her. "You can move an ocean, but you can't move me across the gardens?"

Crossing her arms, Um narrowed her eyes at him. "I didn't say that I couldn't do it."

"Prove it."

With a huff of annoyance, Umi took his hands like the other two had done before her. Her magic washed over him clean and cool as spring water, leaving his skin tingling as they landed.

Clef had anticipated Umi taking him to the edge of the training fields, or one of the pretty little flower gardens Caldina was always dragging the girls out to for tea. The last place he'd expected to be that evening was the base of the third tower, standing just a few paces from the patio that ran out from the small cafe, shut at this hour. He looked from the empty tables over to Umi.

"You said favourite place," she murmured, her cheeks going slightly pink in the golden light.

Those first weeks after she'd kissed him, Clef hadn't been sure he could trust himself to be alone with her. He knew what she wanted from him, and it terrified him how much he wanted the same, so he started to insist they meet in public - places like this little cafe - to take tea and talk like they'd always done in his office. He'd told her it was because he was trying to take everyone's advice and not work every hour of the day, but he knew she never had believed him.

"I said favourite place in the gardens." His voice cracked slightly.

Umi shrugged. "It's garden-ish."

Clef gave her hands a squeeze and pulled her close enough to take them back himself, rather than having her cast again - she was trembling slightly and didn't need to overdo it. After reappearing by the others he dropped her hand, but she stayed close enough to his side that their fingers still brushed as the lesson turned into a more general discussion of tomorrow's plans.

.*.*.*.

Between the school festival, travelling to Cephiro, and translocating Clef across the gardens, Umi was too exhausted to be embarrassed by bidding Hikaru and Fuu goodnight when she followed Clef into his suite. She turned down the offer of a bath and simply changed into one of Clef's nightshirts before crawling into bed.

But sleep didn't come quickly. She was so tired her mind wouldn't stop spinning in circles, fretting over what might happen tomorrow.

At home, in a mood like this, she would quite often use her mini-disk player to distract her from her own thoughts until she fell asleep, but she hadn't thought to bring it with her. While she eventually managed to push tomorrow out of her head, it was only because it was replaced by the fear she'd been fighting to ignore since she'd made the decision to go through with the pregnancy - giving birth.

Starting the baby had been fun and exciting - if completely unintentional - but getting it out just sounded all kinds of terrifying. Umi buried her face in the pillow, but that didn't stop the thoughts already in her head. It just made it difficult to breathe. Flopping over onto her back she stared up at the ceiling, trying to think about anything else.

She rubbed her hands over her face. It was ridiculous. She'd had enough injuries in those first two stays in Cephiro that she knew she could fight despite deep gashes and blood running down her arms, but one little baby was too much? The idea of keeping it healthy and alive afterward should possibly be the greater concern since she hadn't the faintest idea of what to do with a baby - she'd been more interested in climbing trees and starting sword fights with walking sticks as a child than playing with dolls.

Umi threw herself out of bed and went for the door. She needed a cup of tea, a hug, or basically anything else but laying alone in the quiet. She opened the bedroom door to find Clef half-asleep at the kitchenette, pouring hot water from the kettle into a teapot. A towel was still draped over his shoulders to protect his pyjamas from his hair that he obviously hadn't dried yet.

"I don't want to give birth!" she wailed at him.

Clef startled, turned, and stared at her. "Okay…" he said carefully, and then nothing else for a moment. He was opening his mouth again when the teapot overflowed beside him; he yelped and took a leap back when the water hit his bare feet.

Umi shot across to help, reaching out with her magic and sending the water on the countertop spilling back the other way until it cascaded into the sink instead as Clef hastily set the kettle down and yanked the towel off his shoulders to dry up the worst of the mess.

"You don't have to, if you really don't want to," he said, still on his knees and looking at the floor.

Dropping into the closest seat, Umi stared at him. She hadn't considered that there might be an alternative. Then again Cephiro was the weirdo land where will determined all. "Really?" she asked. "Does Cephiro have some sort of cool spell for getting the baby out when it's ready?"

That look of confusion on Clef's face was enough to tell her that they had just started two vastly different conversations. "When they're - ah. No, unfortunately, most healers encourage the old-fashioned way as best, unless there is some sort of complication." He still didn't move from where he knelt his knuckles nearly white from how hard he was gripping the towel. "If you don't want to continue-"

"Hey!" She held up a hand to stop him going any further with that statement. "As ridiculous as it sounds, I want to meet this child and see what kind of person we made. I just - I don't want to do the whole giving birth thing to do it."

Clef let out a sigh so quiet Umi wasn't sure she heard it before busying himself making two cups of tea and bringing them over to the low table. "I may have some bad news for you about that."

Umi pulled a face at him, but when he sat down on the settee, she moved over to join him.

"Both pregnancy and childbirth are dangerous, so it's only natural to be apprehensive," Clef said, handing her a steaming mug.

"Yeah, that's not helping the whole being freaked out thing."

"My mother had eleven of us, so it can't have been that bad?" he offered.

"Mine always says she thought once was more than enough. And yours didn't do it that many times intentionally. You said you were an accident."

"That may be, but I'm quite sure most of my siblings weren't."

Umi nearly protested his ability to know that, but she didn't really want to fight. Instead, she sipped her tea and just leaned into his side.

Clef wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer. "Do you want something different to worry about tonight?" he asked, his voice carrying a hint of mischief.

"Like what?"

"Well, supposing I make it to your world safely tomorrow, what are the chances this translation spell doesn't work on anyone besides you three? Or doesn't work outside of Cephiro at all?"

Umi pulled back to look at him, halfway between horrified and cracking up. Of all the things that might happen, she hadn't actually considered that they technically spoke completely different languages. The idea of having to play translator between him and her parents was hilarious despite how terrible the reality would probably be if it did happen - well, if it did, her parents might just end up coming here tomorrow after all.

Huffing out a soft laugh she leaned back into his side and sipped her tea as Clef quietly told her about his day, details from his meetings over the past week, and little bits about what legislation was currently being debated in Council. The sort of soothing minutiae that always helped her settle when she couldn't sleep. It had been months since she'd wandered into his office late into the night, but this hadn't changed, and by the time they curled up in bed together she fell asleep almost before the light was off.

.*.*.*.

Umi woke better rested than she had in days, but that was the only bright point to her morning. Picking up her watch off the bedside table, she swore when she saw the time. She and Clef were supposed to be meeting with Fuu and Hikaru now.

She flailed out of bed all but shrieked as she threw open the bedroom door. "You didn't wake me up!"

She barely heard Clef say "I thought you could use the extra sleep" because the person she was staring at was definitely not Clef. A small, round woman - a healer, if her robes could be trusted - was sat on the settee and looked just as surprised to see Umi as Umi was to see her.

Umi threw herself back into the bedroom, slamming the door safely shut behind her. She leaned back against the door and clutched a hand over her pounding heart. Why did she think it was a good idea to stay the night with him? They should have just talked and kissed, and then she should have collected her stuff and gone up with Hikaru and Fuu!

Rubbing a hand over her face, she took a deep breath.

It was fine. Clef was allowed to have lovers. That was all this looked like. Right? For all that healer knew, she and Clef had slept together last night, nothing more. It wasn't like everyone could tell she was pregnant by looking at her.

Well, Hikaru could.

But even if they knew that, they wouldn't know it was his. Would they?

Umi shook the worried thoughts out of her head. She would just get dressed and go wait for him with Fuu and Hikaru, grabbing something to eat on the way down. The only problem with that plan was the fact she'd left her overnight bag by the main suite door.

Pulling Clef's dressing gown on over her borrowed nightclothes, Umi stalked out of the bedroom to fetch her bag.

Clef was sitting in the chair opposite the healer with a teacup in one hand and a handful of papers in the other. He looked up at her from over the papers with an annoyingly pleasant "Good morning."

"We're going to be late, Clef!" she growled, stomping the rest of the way back to the bedroom.

.*.*.*.

The bedroom door slammed shut again and Clef stared at it. Maybe he shouldn't have let Umi sleep so long, but she'd just looked so tired by the time he'd finally gotten her back to bed. He hadn't intended to let her sleep this long, but he hadn't been anticipating Miura turning up at his door with a report she needed him to sign off some changes in before a meeting that afternoon.

Miura looked back at Clef with a raised eyebrow. "You didn't tell me you had company."

Clef shrugged. "I wasn't inviting you into my bed; it didn't seem relevant."

"Really," she said, flatly. As Master Healer she'd been in every irritated Council meeting, but as far as he knew she'd got out of Ouran's ball - she normally managed to be 'on duty' when the big formal events were happening - so she'd not actually met Umi before so far as he knew. From the exasperated look he was getting, that hadn't stopped Miura managing to identify who had come flailing out of his bed.

Any further comment was interrupted by a flushed and fully dressed Umi thumping back out of the bedroom to head for the door. She nearly tripped over pulling on a pair of shoes and glaring at him at the same time. "You have fifteen minutes," she warned. "I will be back to get you if you're not down by then."

The main door closed behind her, and Clef turned his attention back to the report and Miura. He set down his cup and made an abbreviated gesture with his hand. "She's just-"

"I don't want to know the details. Why didn't you suggest we went to your office?"

"You'd have known something was up if I had, I've never bothered doing so before," he retorted, and Miura's lips might have twitched a little.

"True, but you could have been polite and at least left her a note warning her I was here - though I suppose she probably doesn't read Cephiran?" There went any chance she'd not known who Umi was, but Miura just looked him over with a measuring gaze. "How long has it been since your last standard healer's appointment?"

"Ah…" It had been longer than recommended for someone of his age, and Clef knew Miura wouldn't accept any excuse he might give her. "Two… and… a bit?"

"Months, decades, or centuries?" she muttered. Clef kept his mouth shut as Miura moved over to give him a check-up herself.

"It's really not necessary," he argued but knew there was no escaping it. This whole visit had probably been a ruse to check up on him, and Miura was more than stubborn enough to be head of the Healer's Guild and manage all sorts of awkward patients, himself included.

"Think of it this way, if this is a visit as your healer, it's privileged information what happened and no one can make me testify about who I might have seen in your rooms," she pointed out, and Clef sighed and tried his best not to fidget too badly as she cast various diagnostic spells over him. "Oh, that's cute." Miura pulled on his roughly cast protection charm. "It's effective, I'll give you that, but that's a terrible casting." She pulled it off and he felt the soft chill of a new one sweep over his skin and settle on. "Those girls are here quite often, aren't they?"

"Yes…?" Clef wasn't sure he trusted where this was going.

Miura finished and started gathering up her papers while he retrieved a pen and signed off the changes she'd needed his agreement for - Healer training was a joint responsibility with the Mage's guild, but he generally left it in her hands. "I expect to see all three of their names in the infirmary register within the next month."

"I'll speak to Umi about it," he promised, walking her out, and returning to the bedroom to don the clothing Hikaru had brought him to wear. The shirt was brightly patterned and clashed rather horribly with the trousers that had also been in the bag. Both fit well enough - the trousers better with a belt and the hems rolled up twice, but he was at least decently clothed. He shoved his feet into the shoes that were nearly too big to be comfortable and went down to the receiving hall.

Umi was chatting with Hikaru and Fuu when he walked in, looking far more put together than when she'd rushed out. Her hair was neatly pulled back into a more complex braid than a simple plait, and Clef realised now her clothes were far more formal than her usual visiting attire; a pretty pink little top and a skirt with a bold pattern accentuated with metallic threads.

Hikaru waved him over with a cheerful "Good morning!"

"Took you long enough." Umi glanced at the timepiece on her wrist, and back at him. "We're going to be late."

Clef sighed. "You said we weren't meeting your parents until after lunch time."

"We still have to go shopping, so you are not meeting them wearing that!" She waved a hand at him. "You will be dressed formally, not in tacky clothes that don't even fit you."

"Hey!" Hikaru said.

"Oh, don't you even start. You know perfectly well that Kakeru has terrible taste in clothes," Umi snapped at Hikaru, who pulled a face.

"I wasn't expecting him to have donated his old uniforms to a friend, sorry. At least these should make it to Tokyo?"

Umi took a slow deep breath in and then out before turning back to Clef. "My parents are sending the car to pick us up at Tokyo Tower in less than two hours. We need to get to Piffle, get you a respectable suit, and be back in time to meet that car. Lunch will hopefully happen somewhere in there too. I hope you're up to running."

"If we must," Clef said.

Umi narrowed her eyes. "Next time you have a meeting in the next room, please let me know before I make a fool of myself again."

"You were asleep!" he shot back.

"Because you didn't wake me up!"

Fuu stepped between them as the air started to crackle. "Perhaps you could wait to finish this argument once we have made it safely to Tokyo?"

The four of them shuffled into a circle. Clef positioned himself between Hikaru and Fuu in the hope that it would lessen some of the strain on Umi, gripped their hands tightly, and took a deep breath as their combined magic washed the world away with a blinding light.

He knew this was going to be more than a jump across Cephiro, but he hadn't expected the spell to feel like was ripping his heart from his chest. His breath caught in his throat, and he choked as the barrier between their worlds tore through him.

They coalesced, his hands still tightly grasped, in a place he barely registered as full of people and surrounded by great windows and the sweep of a strange sky, but he still couldn't catch his breath, and his chest was banded with overwhelming pain.

The last thing he saw before everything went dark was Umi's worried face.