"What do you want?"

"We want you."

"What do you mean?"

"You need to come with us."

"So I found this neat café!" Loki said as he walked hand-in-hand with Eru. "I think you'll really like it!"

"I am looking forward to it!" the two smiled gleefully at each other. Eru was relieved to see him acting more like himself. Over the past two days since he asked her to date him, the two had been nearly inseparable. They often had to be forced apart when he left her back at the ship. In Eru's eyes the person who had saved her could do no wrong.

They walked into a quiet corner café with dark wood interior and red velvet plush seats. There were portraits of apparently famous people which Loki pointed out to Eru. He told her each movie they starred in and enthusiastically explained the plot of each. Eru hadn't seen too many movies when she was younger, but she was very curious to see one now.

The two settled into their booth and ordered a coffee and a parfait, both brought promptly. "How do you like it? Isn't Earth food the best?"

Eru nodded. "It has a lot of flavor! I really like it! What's this though?" she pointed to an orange, crescent shaped fruit.

"That's a peach, they're pretty sweet, just like you!" he dabbed whipped cream on the tip of her nose and she giggled. The waiter soon returned to take their orders. They both decided to split a light lunch and have snacks along the way so that they could burn off the food while the walked.

The atmosphere was light, though the place was dark and small, thanks to the couple, and put other attendees at ease.

"So Eru," Loki said, venturing to address his date by her first name; she didn't mind at all. "Why did you come to Earth?"

"Why…? Well Oreki brought us here. He wanted to come here for something. I think it had to do with the thing from Mars…"

"He went to Mars as well?" the other looked vaguely surprised.

Eru nodded confirmation. "Yes, he stopped only to dig something and brought it back aboard the ship he rented. "

"Do you know what it was?"

"No, but now that I think about it, he never told us what it was. I am curious now! I want to ask him!"

"Perhaps we should ask him later," Loki agreed. "aside from that though, why are you joining him?"

Eru considered for a moment then began again slowly. "I think very highly of him. He knows and understands more than I could ever dream to even think of! Sometimes I think he is not very comfortable around other people, but I know he is very sweet and worries about all of us."

"You really understand him."

She shook her head. "I do not think I understand him at all. He keeps a lot of things secret from us and looks like something is always on his mind."

Hotarou spread his things out on the table. Now that no one was around he could finally get some planning done. He pulled out an old bottle and examined it. He ran his hand along it then found a groove and pulled a little hatch on the side of the bottle open. It asked for identification and it scanned his eye. He heard it click and saw it blow away some dust as it opened to reveal a hologram machine. The message beamed up and provided a list in some foreign language. He sighed then tuned his watch to translate the text. When he watch found nothing relatable he pulled out a book from a box that he had on the table. He thumbed through it then found the translation for the text. He typed the text into his watch then closed the bottle and replaced it back in his bag. He sorted through is articles among then were several types of ancient currencies. Some paper money was included in then grouping, battered, but in decent, sellable condition. Some rich collectors would pay a good amount of money for old currency, especially paper money.

If he sold the paper money and kept the coins, which he hoped was made of silver and gold still, he would have enough to fuel the ship for the trip at least halfway. But the further out one goes the less chance they have of getting help or fuel…speaking of which, Hotarou thought, where is that thing at this point? He powered on the massive table which slowly illuminated itself he scrolled through the catalog of maps and selected the Milky Way. The map spring up in a 3D hologram portraying the system. He added a GPS location feature which lit up as a red dot on Earth. He zoomed to that specific layer then used his fingers the drag across the small system. He pulled up a search and tacked in a couple of letters and numbers. It zoomed to a small asteroid at about a 25 degree angle from Earth in the asteroid belt.

It's close enough now that it'll take a half an hour or so to get there. Maybe an hour. We've been here for a few months and nothing's really happened. This quiet is making me nervous. I can't take much more of this…"If you're coming to take me away…why don't you just do it…" he said aloud to himself.

He pulled up a weather report for Earth and scanned through for a clear day in the atmosphere then tensed as he thought he heard a sound.

"Okay, that's it for food," Satoshi said as Ibara put group of carrots into the basket. Irisu stood aloof, scanning to see if there were any good shops. Satoshi noticed he distant gaze. "why don't we go shopping for fun?"

Ibara looked at him and narrowed her eyes. "What're you up to?"

"Fuyumi is eyeing those shops like a crazed wolf, why don't we do a little leisure shopping?"

"Oh!" Ibara scoffed. "So when Fuyumi wants to go shopping you bend to her will, huh? I see how it is…"

"No, it's not like that!" Satoshi assured. Irisu, rather than watching the two fight, walked off toward a shop that look interesting. Satoshi lured Ibara toward another shop while noticing which one Irisu entered then coaxed Ibara into putting her excess energy into looking for a certain scarf and hat combination for him. He perused the books in a store adjacent to the two others and found some interesting sewing and cook books which he decided to keep for future reference. He made his purchases then walked out to meet up with Ibara and Irisu again when he heard his watch vibrate in his chest pocket. He glanced past his scarf then pulled out the little time piece. When he opened it the screen flashed a green dot at him and made a quiet, fast beeping sound.

Bewildered by the small device's actions he moved quickly to find his companions. Ibara met him in the door way of her shop. "Satoshi…?" She was looking at the watch then looked with a confused expression up at Satoshi. Her watch flashed a red light and was making the same sound.

"Let's find Fuyumi first." She nodded but they didn't need to search for long. Irisu found them and upon walking up to them and held out her watch. It was flashing a purple light and making noise.

"What is it doing?" she asked, expecting the other two to know. They didn't have a clue.

"Let's find Chitanda, maybe Hotarou told her something that we don't know."

"But she's on a date," Ibara argued. "we can't break it up!"

"It does't matter," Irisu said shortly. "We need to all get back to the ship so we can fix this."

Loki ran up to Eru with a crêpe in hand. "Sorry it took so long! The line was huge!"

Eru shook her head. "It's fine! Thanks for getting one for me!" the two walked on enjoying the smells and foods of the street fair that was going on in the center of the city. Here cultures combined to form the remnants of festivals from several countries. Extensive research was done and the old family books were pulled out to remake the food and create the colorful vibe from the past.

"I never knew there was such a difference in groups!"

Loki smiled. "What you're eating is generally French. You could pick those up anywhere along the streets of Paris! But many other countries sold them too!"

"Wow! You know so much! I think you and Hotarou would really get along!" she leaned on his arm then heard a fast beeping sound from her purse. "Sorry! Let's see…" she dug her watch out of her purse and opened it up. A little white light blinked as the beeping pierced through the hum of the crowds.

"What is it doing?" Eru wondered aloud. "It's never done this!"

"Someone must be in trouble!" Loki said quickly.

"Why do you say that?"

"I kind of know how that works. Let's go find your friends!" He took her by the hand and led her through the crowds towards the shopping district.

Eru followed very confused and a little scared of what was happening. Who was in trouble? What was going on with her watch? How does Loki know someone's in trouble? The questions flooded and took over her mind as she ran behind her date.

Here we go! Something a little more interesting maybe! I think things'll pick up from here!