The next morning over breakfast, Lin heard the connection over Skype beeping an incoming call. Mai looked at him with a mouth full of bacon and he had to smile as he opened the connection on the computer. He looked down to find the monk and miko eagerly peering into the camera.
"Mai?" the monk asked.
"She is still eating breakfast." Lin answered turning the video so it headed toward the dining room. "Mai!" the Miko and Monk both echoed through the speakers when they saw her.
"Ohayo mina-san." She greeted them. She put her dish in the sink before taking up a chair next to the computer. "How are you?"
"Mai, you were too tired last night to open your present." Ayako stated.
"We were hoping we could watch you open it," the monk finished for her.
"We hope it makes your stay easier, Mai-san." Mai heard the voice of Father Brown in the background.
"John-kun? You were in on it also?"
"We all helped Mai-chan." Yasuhara purred into the camera as he turned it toward himself and away from the rest of them.
"This is not an internet café, so if you want to be here make it quick." She heard Naru call from the background. A door slammed closed and the camera was placed back into its original place.
Lin came over to Mai and placed the unknown suitcase in front of her on the table then moved the camera so there would be a better view of her and the suitcase.
"I don't know what to say guys; you didn't have to do anything."
"Just open it Mai-san." The priest prompted and Mai clicked the locks on the suitcase and opened the lid and was greeted with white towels. She felt of them and their fluffy softness. Before pulling them back slowly. Inside she felt several large flat pieces coming to the first one the back was facing her but she still recognized it. An older wood frame she lifted gently and flipped it over to reveal the familiar photo. In it, her mom and Dad were holding her as a baby, her own chubby self in a snowsuit while flakes floated around them. She held it close to her and cried.
"Thank you mina-san. Thank you." She truly did not know what to say. Leaving her parents behind was the hardest thing she had ever done but was sure they would be too much trouble for Lin-san and everyone. Carefully she unwrapped each one, three photo's in all, an old cup and bowl where she left her offerings to them. she placed them all carefully on the table in front of her as the others watched intently.
"Thank you guys," she repeated in a whisper as her family looked back happily at her. She didn't notice the wink that passed from the monk to Lin. Nor did she see Lin nod back his thanks.
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