See, I'm like some sort of virus. You think I'm gone and then I just keep coming back. Expect updates to other stories uh…pretty soon. Check my profile page for updates, if you're interested.

A/N the first: I've chosen to represent airplane seats with Arabic letters and numerals as we do in the US. I'm not entirely sure what they do in Japan, but I imagine that it involves Japanese characters, which my computer (not to mention my brain) doesn't do. However, if anybody knows how they label airplane seats in Japan, feel free to drop me a line, and, if I can, I'll try to incorporate it.

A/N the second: I went back and edited the first chapter of this story once I realized that the flight from Tokyo to CA would be shorter than the flight from Tokyo to NY. D'oh. (Geography plus Bog Witch equals fail. It's a mathematical certainty.) I slapped on an explanation, though, so everything should make sense now.

Chapter the Fourth: Deranged Exchange — in which two witches don't actually appear

"Please pay attention," said Ms. Haruna, tapping the board. "You all should look over your information packets with your parents or guardians before we go on the trip."

Minako yawned, covering her mouth with her hand, while Ami bent studiously over her notepad, scribbling notes in neat handwriting. Makoto sat up very straight and put her hands on her knees. The trip to London, England was part of the school's new cultural exchange program. It was too bad Usagi hadn't been able to get in, but her poor grades precluded her from participating.

Ami chewed her lip. Who knew what would happen if Eudial tried to attack during their absence? However, Usagi had assured her that she and Rei, who went to a different school, would take care of everything.

This did not exactly inspire confidence, but then, Usagi had never let them down before. Or at least (as long as you didn't count reading comic books during their senshi meetings) not when it actually mattered.

Usually.

Well, anyway, Rei would be there, Ami reasoned.

"Don't worry so much, Ami," Minako said, sensing her friend's discomfort. "You'll just love England…I'll show you around to all the coolest shops—"

"Aren't we supposed to stay with the school group, though?" Ami asked.

Minako waved her off. "School group, schmool group! You have to live a little. Take a walk on the wild side once in a while!"

Ami smiled weakly. She often felt that running around Tokyo battling monsters in a mini-skirt and knee high boots was quite wild enough for one person.

"Eee! I'm so jealous!" Usagi wailed.

"Well, it's really your own fault," Luna muttered. Usagi had been complaining about missing out on the cultural exchange trip for the past three weeks. "You should've studied harder for that math test."

"Oh, don't be too upset, Usagi," Minako said, patting her shoulder. "We'll bring you back lots of presents."

"Well…" Usagi sniffed, brightening somewhat.

"Don't worry, Usagi!" Rei said, hiding her own disappointment. "We'll have a good time right here. She thought for a moment, wondering just how she was going to make good on that promise. Then something came to her. "Yes!" she held up a finger in determination. "We'll—we'll…go to the new shopping mall and take advantage of all the opening day freebies they'll be handing out!"

"Oh yeah! I hear they have a chocolate shop with treats imported from around the world." Usagi's mouth watered at the thought. And they were going to be giving out so many free samples…

Makoto smiled a bit. Then, she chanced to look down at her watch and her face froze. "Ah! Guys, I think we have to run. The plane will be leaving soon!"

As if on cue, a voice from the loudspeaker announced: "Last call—Section C of flight 1027 to London, England boarding now."

"We're going to miss you!" Rei said.

"Oh no! Where's the rest of the group?!" Ami scanned the airport, panicked.

"Calm down, Ami," Minako said. "I'm sure they've just boarded already. We'd better get to our gate. Bye, guys!" The girls hugged and Rei and Usagi waved to their friends' backs as they scrambled for their gate.

"Okay, Mina, you're our resident travel expert. Where are our seats?" Makoto asked. Minako glanced down at the tickets.

"Hmm… seats KA, KB, and KC. Gate 21. Hey, we're all together!"

"I call window seat!" Makoto announced.

"Okay, okay, let's hurry. Gate 21 is all the way at the end of the airport."

The girls rushed across the polished floor as fast as they dared. Only a handful of people milled around the edges of the airport, most of them waiting in the seats near their gates, reading newspapers. No one so much as looked up at the three girls. Soon enough, they reached the gate. They shimmied into a line at the boarding ramp just behind an older man with a large dog.

"Are you sure we're in the right place, Mina?" Ami asked, clutching at the strap of her purse.

"Don't worry so much, Ami! See, there's Kenichi, boarding ahead of us." Minako pointed to a boy in a bright red cap a few people in front of them. "I recognize his hat."

"Oh, okay then." Ami checked her purse for her wallet one last time. Somehow, she couldn't help but feel as though everything was about to go horribly wrong. This may or may not have had something to do with the fact that things went horribly wrong in a monster-related way on an almost daily basis.

Still, she thought firmly, there would be no daimons on this flight. None at all. The senshi (well, three of them, at least,) were on vacation. A nice, relaxing, much-deserved vacation. Finally.

For some reason, though, she kept wondering if maybe she should've stayed behind to help Usagi and Rei… Oh no you don't, Ami. She shook herself. It was better that she stopped that kind of idea right in its tracks. They'll be fine. I'm just nervous about flying, she thought. She had been on an airplane before, but something about hurtling through the air at hundreds of miles per hour in a giant metal tube always made her stomach do unpleasant acrobatics.

"I'm sorry, sir, but you can't bring that dog on the plane unsecured…" the attendant at the door argued with the man in front of them.

"Come on, come on…" muttered Minako, hopping in place. "We've got to get this show on the road!"

"Really, Mina, I don't think we have to—" Ami started.

"Come on!" Minako grabbed Makoto and Ami by the wrists. She barreled through the doors onto the boarding ramp. Makoto shrugged and followed along, while Ami took a glance back at the preoccupied attendant.

As they entered the plane, they passed a woman with brown hair organizing a group of teenagers.

"Hi, Ms Haruna!" Minako sang out. "We're here! Our seats are back there somewhere, though." She pointed towards their seats, an empty row not far from the bathroom. "See you when we land!" Without waiting for Ms. Haruna to respond, Minako practically skipped toward the back of the plane.

"I don't know if that was a good idea," Ami said, once they had found their seats. "Don't they have to check our tickets?" She looked around. The plane was fairly empty, except for a few elderly couples and the group of teenagers, including Kenichi, who sat several rows in front of them.

"No, I think they can check them in our seats, like on a train," Minako said airily. "Besides, they know we're with the school group. Ms. Haruna can vouch for us." She settled into the seat, clearly unconcerned.

"Mina, I'm not quite sure it works that way…" Ami trailed off.

"Don't worry so much, Ami," Minako said, cracking open a magazine. The cover showed a full body picture of that male model/actor/singer/songwriter Gustav Valcignione. "We're on vacation!"

"Yeah," said Makoto, "we should just try to get the most out of this. Hey, is that who I think it is?" Makoto pointed to the magazine.

"Yep," Minako sighed dreamily.

Ami had never seen the appeal; Gustav was pretty, but judging from the magazine interview, wherein he answered that his favorite color was 'seven', there was not much going on upstairs.

A short beep sounded as the loudspeaker cut in. "Good morning, everyone," the pilot began, his voice a deep rumble. "Welcome to the six am flight from Tokyo, Japan to—"

"Oh my god, Gustav Valcignione and I have the same blood type!" Minako exclaimed.

"No way!" Makoto leaned over for a closer look.

"You know, if he was ever in a horrible accident, say, thrown from his manly (and oh so sexy!) black motorcycle while rescuing an orphaned child's puppy from a burning hospital, and I was there, say because I'd been discovered by a modeling agent and was on my way to superstardom, then the doctors could totally give him my blood in a transfusion. Hee hee, my blood and Gustav Valcignione's mingling together in his veins like lovesick dolphins or something! And once he learned that I'd saved his life, he'd—"

"I don't mean to interrupt, but shouldn't we be paying attention to the safety instructions?" Ami asked, anxiously. She leaned out into the aisle a bit to get a better look at the stewardess, who was demonstrating proper seatbelt technique.

"Safety instructions?" said Minako. "Nothing's gonna go wrong. And even if it did, I know just what to do."

"You do?" Makoto asked, suspiciously.

"Yep! If the plane starts to crash, we just put on our seatbelts, adjust our oxygen masks, announce our undying love for Gustav Valcignione, and prepare to die. Oh, and remember that our seat cushions can be used as flotation devices in the event of an emergency that doesn't kill us as we hit the water."

"Uh, that doesn't sound like such a good plan, Mina," Makoto grimaced.

"Sure it is! If we spend our last thoughts thinking about Gustav Valcignione, at least we'll die happy."

"Well, how about we skip the dying part and just think about Gustav Valcignione?"

"I like the way you think, Makoto." Minako leaned back in her seat with her hands behind her head.

Ami laughed, buckling her seatbelt as she felt the plane rolling down the runway, lifting into the air. So what if she could barely hear the announcements over the sound of her friends' hyena-like giggles? She knew she was lucky to be able to enjoy such an educational trip with them. She opened up her book and tried to relax. It was going to be a rather long flight.

She hoped they wouldn't get too bored.

But predictably, a few hours into the flight, Minako began squirming in her seat. "Ugh, guys, how much longer is it going to be? I feel like we've been cooped up in this plane forever."

"It shouldn't be more than another few hours," said Ami, without looking up from her book. "If you like, we can ask the stewardess if we're going to land any time soon."

"Yeah," said Makoto, "I brought a special flavor of gum just for the landing. You know, to stop my ears from popping? I was saving it 'til the end of the flight, but I just can't resist a little taste…."

"Ooh, what flavor is it?" Minako asked.

"Blue cotton candy," Makoto said, unwrapping it. "Want a piece?"

Ami flagged down the stewardess. "Excuse me, Miss," she said, "Do you know how much longer it's going to be until we land?"

"Hmm…" The stewardess's nose wrinkled. "I'd say about thirty minutes or so." Ami thanked her and she walked back down the aisle.

"Oh my," said Ami, "that seems very quick, doesn't it?"

"Quick?" said Minako. "You can't be serious. I feel like it's been about a thousand years!"

"And my legs are cramping," sighed Makoto. "There's just not enough room."

"Do you want to switch with me?" Ami said, "You could stretch your legs into the aisle."

"No thanks," Makoto said. "We'll be on the ground in a little while anyway."

Suddenly, the pilot's voice cut in over the loudspeaker. "Good afternoon, everyone! We made some great time this trip, so we're going to be arriving a bit early."

"Well, that explains it," said Ami. "We must've made some very good time indeed." It was supposed to be about eleven hours and forty-five minutes from Tokyo to London. According to Makoto's watch, it had only been around eight and a half hours.

"It sure looks pretty down there," said Makoto. "I thought London was supposed to be…I don't know… rainier? Though I do see some smog…."

"Well, it doesn't rain all the time," Minako said. "We probably got a nice day."

"Hmm…" said Ami, getting an ominous feeling in the pit of her stomach. She had checked the weather report in London online, and it was supposed to be drizzling and a bit overcast. Maybe it just looks different from so high up, she thought, willing herself not to think about how they had walked past the attendant at the gate.

"Please fasten your seatbelts, put your tray tables up and your seats back in the full upright position, ladies and gentlemen. We're about to land in sunny San Francisco, where the temperature is currently eighty-two degrees!"

"San Francisco?" squeaked Ami.

"They're kidding, right? Please tell me they're kidding!" Minako shot up onto her feet.

"Miss, please sit down for the landing," the stewardess chided.

Makoto choked on her gum.