Hey all, I try not to start typing stuff at the beginning, but I thought I should let you know a couple of things:

I'm sticking to the normal parings OrekixChitanda and SatoshixMayaka. So this means there won't be OrekixIrisu or anything. BUT, I am tossing it out there nonchalantly (see note 2).

I need you to like Irisu. I have a very special plan for her! You don't have to love her, but she is part of the main cast at this point, so she's gonna be around.

I'm telling you ahead of time: if I pair someone with a random non-existent character, NOTHING WILL COME OF IT! So don't freak out. It's for character development, similar to the once office worker in my other story Reminiscence of the Classics Club (shameless advertising).

So dear friends and readers, don't get your knickers in a twist if something unexpected happens. I have it all planned to resolve with happy couples and hopefully happy readers! :D

Now I'll let you guys read! Enjoy!

The crew decided to all head to town that day. They had been on Earth for a couple of week and aside from eating dinner once in a while at Ken'ichi's house, not much happened. Satoshi and Ibara worked away on their jets, with Hotarou's supervision, but eventually hit a wall. He told them to work around it until he could find someone who knew more about smaller jets. He had decided that on his next trip to the city he would ask Ken'ichi for a recommendation.

The group dispersed, the girls heading for the shopping area, Satoshi towards the small town library to look for some books about jets, and Hotarou to Keni'ichi's shop. Ken'ichi was an old cobbler, he fixed already worn shoes to become slightly more wearable for a few pennies or for free if the person he was helping was hard-up on cash. The few extra coins didn't mean much especially as currency was really outdated, but it meant that he could buy something special for his wife once in a while.

The bell rang as Hotarou stepped into the doorway of the small shop. Ken'ichi was bent over a shoe mold polishing an old leather boot. He glanced up and smiled as Hotarou walked in.

"'Mornin'!"

"Good morning, Ken-san," –san rolled off Hotarou's tongue strangely, but he wanted to please Ken'ichi so he attempted to use it.

"Finally gonna let me polish yer boots?" he joked, pushing back his chair to stand.

"No, not yet, I was wondering, though, do you know of any mechanics who could work on small jets?"

The man thought for a moment. "I can't think'a too many on the spot. I know some things about jets myself, what's the matter with it?"

"It's a kind of an electric problem, the hatch won't seal when it's closed in one and the heating and cooling in the dash won't work in the other."

"How old are they?"

"The jets? Pretty old, they came with the ship that we arrived in and it's certainly not a new model."

"I see, I can take a look at 'em. Electrics ain't my specialty, but I know a thing or two about heatin' 'n coolin' systems."

"How's that?"

"Oh, call it genetics, but my ol' man's job was systems like that. In buildings, in jets or ships…he did it all. So he kinda passed it on ta me." Hotarou nodded. Well, that's one less problem I'd have to worry about. So Hotarou asked Ken'ichi to come take a look, Ken'ichi happily agreed, saying that he would come out the next day.

Eru woke up early upon hearing some commotion outside. She followed the noise back into the hanger at the back of the ship and found Hotarou, Satoshi, and Ibara with two men working on one of the ships. She wandered down and stood a little ways from Hotarou who was observing the progress. The younger of the two men turned and noticed her. Then his eyes lit up.

"Well hallo!"

Eru jumped as his eyes met hers. Everyone paused and turned to see who had arrived.

Hotarou turned last, "Oh, Chitanda, this is Ken'ichi…san and his son Haruki…kun." He hesitated, still, with the endings. Eru smiled politely and nodded her head to each in greeting. "They're here to help with the jets."

Eru moved closer to see what was going on, sidling up next to Hotarou. She watched as Ken'ichi slid under the jet on a dolly next to Satoshi. He was explaining something she didn't quite understand when she felt another person come up next to her. She turned and saw Haruki. He had jet black hair and tanned skin, and he wasn't as tall as Hotarou, but he still seemed to loom over her.

"Gee," he said without blinking. "Yer sure pretty. I ain't never seen a girl like ya. Yer a gem!"

Eru blushed a deep crimson; Hotarou twitched a little. "T-thank you?" she stuttered slowly.

"Yessir, a girl with yer looks would have guys hangin' all o'ver her 'round here if she gave 'em any sort'a time 'a day. We don't see many girls like ya!"

Ibara overheard his comments to Eru and her ears burned with annoyance. 'Hanging all over her'…sheesh. He's shamelessly flirting with her and she doesn't even notice. Then again, shouldn't Oreki be doing something about that? Wait, he's too lazy to do anything. Ah…I wonder if Satoshi would even say anything if that was me…why isn't it me anyway? Ibara began to stew on these thoughts and worked herself into a nice fit. Satoshi and Hotarou could sense it form their distances and decided to lay low.

For the rest of the time there, Haruki continued to follow and chat with Eru wherever she went. When she finally went back upstairs he left her alone, much to everyone's relief.

Later that day, Eru came back down with Irisu in-tow and served lunch.

"How is everything going?" she asked sitting down next to Hotarou.

"We're pretty much done!" Satoshi announced. "Now we need to clean the jets and them both are ready to go!"

"So you got everything worked out?" Eru said happily, smiling over at Hotarou. He nodded and took another bite. "So we can practice riding and flying them?"

Ken'ichi nodded. "I can show ya'll how to fly, but it'll take some time."

Haruki came up and crouched behind Eru. "I can teach you to fly!" he whispered to her, sending a shiver up Hotarou's spine. Hotarou noted a slightly frightened look in Eru's eyes as she turned and gave a weak smile.

Ken'ichi stood spun around with a wave of his hand and said, "We can come back tomorra 'n teach ya, if ya want."

"Sure," Satoshi chirped. "We'll look forward to it!"

Hotarou and Eru glanced at each other then watched Haruki follow after his father; both breathed a sigh of relief as the teen disappeared. The group walked back upstairs, Hotarou and Eru falling behind the others.

That guy was weird, Hotarou thought as they entered the living room. He headed to a couch and reclined on it. He makes Chitanda nervous too. I need to keep an eye on him.

Eru wandered past and walked into the kitchen. "Would anyone like tea?" she offered. Satoshi, Ibara, and Irisu declined and headed towards their rooms. "Oreki?" she looked expectantly at him.

"Sure," he replied. She worked busily to prepare the drinks for the two of them. As she busied herself she wondered about Haruki. He seemed to like to be near me; it was very strange. As if he was expecting something of me. She audibly sighed as she set the pot on the stove to heat. Hotarou heard the sigh and watched her. She didn't have her usual bouncy energy; something was definitely weighing on her mind.

If I ask it'll become awkward, he decided. But not saying anything makes it awkward too. "Ah-"

Eru turned.

"T-thanks for lunch earlier. It was really good," well that was awkward enough…

She simply smiled. "Thank you, I'm glad you liked it." Hotarou heard the water begin to boil. Eru took it off the stove and poured the drinks. She walked and sat across from him and sat the drinks on the table.

Hotarou took up the cup nearest to him. "Those two…they have very strange accents," Eru initiated the conversation.

Hotarou nodded. "That's the old Osakan dialect. The new dialect sounds closer to our own, but it depends where in the galaxy you travel."

"Why does that matter?" Eru asked, eyes beginning to glow. "Why don't we just speak the same everywhere?"

"That's because of isolation. Sometimes certain groups of people separate and move to another area that gets little contact. If they're isolated enough, the language around them changes so they end up speaking a different form of the same language," Hotarou felt his mouth getting dry. He took a quick sip of tea and continued, "There's also a case where a group moves off and interacts with another group that speaks differently or a completely new language. Words from the two groups mix and a newer dialect or even a new language forms. On Earth, this was a common occurrence because people lived so close to each other and the rich and poor weren't separated like we are."

"There was no line between rich and poor?" Eru asked; a curious expression on her face.

"Not to say that there wasn't," Hotarou considered. "It's mostly that the rich didn't like to enter the poor areas, and the poor generally weren't allowed where the rich were. They could interact, but often they didn't. It was more comfortable that way. And there was also a group that wasn't necessarily rich or poor, they just lived and worked, and they could work up with by earning an education or by doing something great like inventing, ect."

What things were invented by poor…rather, these middle folk? And what happened to then?"

"I think the middle group died out a little while before humans began building on planets. There became an extreme separation in the systems."

"I am curious as to how they died," Eru commented to herself.

"They didn't all die," Hotarou correct. "It's an expression."

"Hmm," she sighed, mostly ignoring him.

Hotarou rolled his eyes dismissively. "I'm going back to my room, thanks for the tea." He left his empty cup on the table along with Eru pondering the reason for the universe.

Oh! I should note (sorry about all of this from me!) that if you have a comment or a question I'd be glad to answer it, but I can't if you're signed in only as a guest! :I

So If you ask a question I will most likely answer it fairly quickly, and if it's a good question that pertains to a character or to the story line you may earn spoiler points and learn something extra about the future plot. No, I'm not above bribery. Do leave comments or questions! :P