Here's another chapter! A bit longer this time and I attempted some Spanish in there...I tried! Anyway, I hope you enjoy your reading!

Hotarou rolled over as he heard the sound of beeping next to his head. He groaned and covered his head with the pillow. Not this early in the morning! He grumbled then stuck out his hand to grab the watch. He brought it around to his face and flipped it open.

"What?"

"Good morning, Oreki."

"Fuyumi, we're in different time zones. It's 4 am here."

"Really?" she asked, her voice sounded a little surprised though her expression on the screen didn't show it.

"Yes. Now leave me alone," Hotarou snorted.

"You are already up." Irisu retorted. "So we're going to talk."

Hotarou let out his breath then arranged himself with his chin propped on his pillow. He waited expectantly.

It had been like this for several weeks now. Hotaoru had stayed with Isa and lay low—almost too low. Meanwhile the rest of the crew went back to the ship to find that nothing was the matter with it. No traps, no destroyed rooms or anything of the like. But just to be sure, they moved it to an island off of coast of the continent. Irisu had been the one to think of calling Hotarou on his watch while the others doubted that he would even have a signal, wherever he was. So Irisu kept in close contact with him telling him about the day's events, but rarely even hearing about what he was doing or even where he was.

She had asked him several times if he could come back to the ship. The response was always, "If you can find me, come get me. Otherwise, I'll stay here."

Irisu was irritated by this response. "It's irresponsible," she told him. "You're the one who brought us here."

"You're the ones who decided to come. It's not my fault you're here," he would reply with just as much bite. Then he would quickly end the conversation.

Irisu reported in today that already, Loki had directed everyone to certain tasks, though Satoshi was the one in-charge. She talked for several hours with only a few comments from the listener.

"Oreki, you really need to come back. I don't trust him…Shun…and Mayaka is becoming angrier and angrier with you."

"I don't trust Shun either. But it's none of my business who Chitanda 'dates' or whatever." Hotarou had a twinge of irritation whenever he thought of Eru and Loki together. "I have a theory about him…"

"And what's that?"

Hotarou heard Isa coming up the stairs, and rather than bother her with written explanations of everything in English, he decided to have Irisu call back later.

"But…"

"Later." He clicked his watch shut then sat up. He lifted his hand in greeting; Isa returned the gesture then smiled and held up a white board.

"I have something to show you. Ready soon?" Hotarou nodded and flipped back the covers.

Soon the two were walking back towards the church, a now familiar path for him. He pushed open the door and let the woman in first then followed.

Water dripped from the ceiling after the most recent snowfall the night before. It was still early so the two were bundled up in the warmest clothes they could find. Hotarou had noticed, though, since the first time he had met her, she had slowed down considerably. Hotaoru waited on her as she led him back to the library of the church. She stopped and wrote something on her white board for a bit then showed it to him. It was a long explanation.

"Hotarou, you are a good boy, I think you're the boy that an old friend of mine told about. I think his name was Jun. He left something with me and told me that if a boy, just like you, should come along, I should give these to you. It's your family's treasure."

Hotarou's eyes widened as she gave him a box wrapped in cloth and tied with yarn. He held it gently in his hands wondering what it could be. He glanced up for permission to open it. She gave a short nod as well as a smile.

He sat down on a stool behind him and carefully the untied the string that had been tired for so long with gentle hands. With the yarn removed he pulled back the brown cloth to find a brown box and he opened this as well, but upon opening the box, he saw that it was empty. He seemed surprised. The box had something in it; it had to for its weight. He looked at Isa quizzically. She didn't make a movement or gesture to help him. He put his hand in then it hit something invisible. He recalled his earlier disappearing act on the ship and figured that this could be a similar situation so he ran his finger along the walls of the box for a button or a lever. There was a small grove that he felt and when he touched it he felt a slight a snap at the end of his finger. He jumped at the tingling sensation even while a little button went off and declared "Hotarou Oreki-box unlock" in Japanese. He glanced again at Isa who seemed to expect this all—or at least wasn't worried about it.

The cardboard box unfolded quickly in his lap and a holographic menu sprung up glowing a soft bluish-green. The voice then became similar to that of his old teacher.

"Hyouka: Volume one," his voice pronounced proudly. On the menu was a list of about 7 names each the name of a desert or snack. Pudding, Turkish Delight, Gelato, Pavlova, Strudel, ect. Hotarou wanted to see what these were but didn't want to let his hostess stand and freeze while he gawked at the hologram. So he stood and closed the box back up.

Isa looked at him and said something in Spanish, "Sí, es un bueno chico…" but Hotarou didn't understand. He made a gesture of the head and the woman smiled and led the way. He wondered what this meant: hyouka. Hyouka in Japanese was simply a frozen treat like ice cream or a popsicle. Was this some kind of cook book for deserts? If so, then why did it have all of the safety formalities? It must be something more than that, he decided.

When back in the house the two sighed. "It's very cold!" The woman wrote on her board. Hotarou nodded his complete agreement. Isa went to go pull out some blankets and told Hotarou to start a fire in the fireplace. He pulled the piece of wood from the small stack next to the television and piled them in the pit and put some old paper in there and lit a match.

Today would be a good day to have a fire, he thought. The satellite on his watch warned of heavy snowfall from mid-morning into the late evening. It had been such a long time since the eruptions that Hotarou hardly worried about acid in the snowfall, though Isa still did, combined with the fact that civilization had greatly diminished on Earth in favor of other planets, he doubted the sulfur content would be anything to sneeze at, but he still took the necessary precautions as she had told him before. After setting up the fire he bundled up and went outside to cover as much of the house and barns as he could with special acid-proof tarps which supposedly neutralized the acid. These were issued by once separate governments as the mass exodus from Earth began. Many of the politians sympathized with those who didn't want to leave Earth, and so gave them these covers as a last attempt at any support on Earth.

With the canvases spread and the fire blazing the two settled down with some tea and a book.

"Long time since I read this one," she wrote pointing to her Spanish copy of Gone with the Wind.

"I never finished reading this," he returned gesturing to the old book which he had brought with him from Dione. "I only started a little ago." It was the small book with hand-written pages and what he had learned from reading was that this person had very strong ideas about how a government should be conducted and, therefore, came to writing this book about how the Organization functions from as much research as he or she could muster, even being in a poor status. He or she because the author's name was left out. Hotarou wished he could have talked to this person himself at some point, but the author was most likely already dead. He thought that this author had probably been an orphan like himself to write such daring thoughts against the Organization, no civilized brain-washed person would raise a pencil against the all-know entity. Those who were given the job of being authors were a slim few who were specially trained the more imaginative separated and trained carefully to write fiction that would never blaspheme the Organization. The others wrote non-fiction about the magnificence of life and biographies of some of the people in government positions—of course pseudonyms were given so that no one ever strictly knew which official they were talking about. This was likewise with musicians and actors all having special "creative" training so that the masses could be entertained but still kept within the guide-lines.

It was as Hotarou was reading that he mind began to drift back to the box and the hologram it contained. Hyouka…he repeated in his mind, what could it mean? He also wondered why Isa hadn't said anything prior to this, or even while he was opening it and investigating. Did she already know what it was or what it was for? It was a family treasure, but what could she mean by that? Maybe it was something like that…maybe that's why the map said to come to Earth! He made a quick glance up at her but her eyes were glued to the page of the book. He waited, as if for the right moment to speak amongst the quiet snapping and crackling of the fire. But his thoughts were so restless that he couldn't even pretend to focus on his book—he wanted to know what she knew about his teacher and about that box.

He swallowed and shifted, trying to get her to look up. She did so, finally, with a smiled and grabbed her white board as he took his. He began to write on it, but she wrote something faster.

"Hotarou, you should ride up to the next city," she wrote, "fill the jet with gas."

Hotarou hesitated in writing his thought and erased what he had previously written to jot down his response. "Tomorrow? There is a lot of snow and I don't know where to find the fuel."

Isa's eyes glimmered in the glow of the fireplace. She was thinking about something, he could tell, be he couldn't be bothered to ask. "No, but when the snow melts. It will be spring soon and you should go." Hotarou was confused. He knew writing on white boards couldn't convey emotion very well and especially since they were both writing in basic English, but something about the way she wrote seemed somewhat forceful. More questions stirred in his mind; why so sudden? have I done something wrong? does she need me to do something that requires the jet? The English isn't very clear so I don't know what I need to do. Leave? Go somewhere else? With all of the questions spinning in his mind and all gears working to figure out what she was saying, Isa continued to sit, but she had a peculiar gleam in her eyes.

Hotarou mustered his thoughts together and wrote, "I don't understand?" on his white board. Isa nodded, but turned to the window instead of the board. The sun was setting and cold silence was steeling into the room. "Está oscuro, vamos a dormir," she muttered with slurred speech under her breath. She wrote then turned to show him the board which suggested that they turn in for the night. She was trying to hide something, Hotarou recognized, but why should she hide something from him? He stood and followed her without a word then turned to head up the stairs.

"Buenas noches," she called from the bottom of the stairs. He grunted in reply then closed the door behind him. After preparing himself for the night he lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He pondered the day's events, stretching his arms behind his head and taking a deep breath, and wondered about Isa's sudden and strange actions. His mind immediately went to a certain assumption which he hated to even consider. Is it the Organization? Was she planted here just for me to find her so she could misguide me? He heard coughing downstairs, something which often persisted until late into the night even after he fell asleep. I doubt she is in contact with the Organization at all. I have been with her almost every moment so there couldn't be a time where she could talk to them—he remembered his calls from Irisu, Isa didn't know about those so he supposed there could be a time where she could get in contact with them, but he still highly doubted that she had any contact with them. There wasn't any evidence for it. He heard her coughing again, but it was a harder cough this time. He suddenly thought of something and pulled his hand around to a forelock of hair and fingered it. He didn't like this conclusion, perhaps even less than his Organization idea, but it was certainly more plausible…

…

The sun came out very boldly the next day and immediately began working on melting the snow and ice off of everything. The morning was still very cold, even when Hotarou woke up later in the morning than usual to the smell of breakfast cooking on the stove. He quickly dressed himself and walked down the stairs to realize that Isa was nowhere to be found. He suddenly, for some reason unknown to him, felt his stomach tighten. He immediately walked outside without the extra layers and looked around on the slush he found footprints that were about Isa-sized. He quickly followed them around the other side of the house and beyond to the barn; he still didn't see Isa. He began to worry slightly about where she could be. She hadn't been gone too long because the food on the stove wasn't burning yet and the tracks were still fairly deep in the slush, meaning that it hadn't melted too far since she had left. He continued following them up until they led into a more forested area. He stood in front of the trees and strained to see how far in they went then he felt a hand on his shoulder. He started back violently then whipped around to see Isa wearing a smile. He stood still tense, but greatly relieved.

"Estabas preocupada?" she asked in a teasing manner.

"Somewhat," he confessed somehow understanding her meaning. He searched her eyes for some hint of what she was doing all the way out here. "You left the door open and the stove on." He recalled that she couldn't hear or understand what he was saying and so sighed. He turned to go back to the house and Isa followed slowly. He suddenly felt the cold so he crossed his arms. He wished she would hurry up so he could get into the warm house, but waited for her anyway.

She wrote on her board once in the house and breakfast was settled, "Hotarou today is a good day. The city north of this one has the airport. Get the jet fuel there."

Again with that? Hotarou wondered. He wanted to do the childish thing as ask why repeatedly, but decided against it and decided, rather, that she must have a good reason for it if she brought it back up again. He looked up from his thoughts and saw her rubbing her temples with her fingers.

"Are you okay?" he wrote, figuring she had a headache. She nodded then wrote in return, "Head hurts, that's all. Get the jet fuel. I will call you when you get up there." Hotarou wondered how she thought she could contact him on the phone, he had noticed that she had a land-line phone but nothing else, perhaps she was betting on the electricity to still work up in the city and perhaps there would even be people there. From there he assured her that he would do as she said. She packed him a lunch and extra snacks while he prepared some things to take along.

He climbed up in the jet late in the morning and started the engines. The whole machine groaned and whirred lazily then rolled slowly forward. Isa waved her hand as he pulled out and Hotarou nodded his head in return. Once he was a good distance away he tested the ailerons, flaps, and rudder and then checked the fuel levels as well, which were about at the half-way point. Then he pushed the engine to full throttle. The jet rocketed into the sky and Isa watched it disappear.

Hotaoru flew for some miles north; there was very little wind resistance so heading due north wouldn't take much fuel. If he stayed on course with his tracker on his watch he would make good time—no shortcuts, he reminded himself.

He reminisced of the days of his youth working in the metal shop with the other workers. They often tried to take shortcuts, and before his teacher came along, he often took part in taking shortcuts too. He had thought it was always a bad idea to take shortcuts, but he saw no differently because the other workers always passed it off with, "We get more work done this way, the more work done the better!" Hotarou always worried about quality, though he didn't care at all who bought them or if they even worked, the thought was always in the back of his mind.

When his teacher came, he taught him that the shortcut was never a good way, the same day he taught it a good example was given. A man who had been working on pounding out the imperfections in the metal figured that by adding a certain chemical combination the imperfections melted right out and it became easy to form. Of course, he said, in a matter of weeks the metal would be corroded, but it was never used for important things so why should it matter? But one time he was applying the solution and it dumped on the fire. The fired roared up before him very eyes and almost seemed to turn just on the man. Hotarou had seen the incident and one of the other workers told him to look away as the fire consumed the man, but his teacher stopped him and told Hotarou to keep this image in mind, "That," he said, "is what happens to those who take shortcuts."

Hotarou's watch beeped at him telling that he was within 10 miles of the destination. He had made excellent time and found the place he was looking for: the airport.

The jet sighed as he turned off the engine. He stepped off and took a cautious look around. The city was caked in ash. It was surprising how much ash completely coated everything in the city, the buildings, once probably shinning in the bright light, were now a dull, dark grey color. When he had landed on the strip, a huge cloud of ash blew up so that he had to stay in the jet until it settled. The look of this place was unsettling and made him very wary of the pure silence the resided there. It hadn't snowed up here as the ash was still dry, and he preferred it that way. Thick, goopy ash would make take-off difficult and walking in it, though only about an inch deep, would be very troublesome.

He shuffled his way back to the hanger, the door still wide open, expecting jets and other aircrafts to settle inside of it. He walked in to have a small hologram pop up beside the door and make him jump just a little. It said something in Spanish, which Hotarou didn't understand still, so he moved on. He finally saw something that looked like a pump, but it looked very old-fashioned. Could this even work on this older jet? he wondered. He glanced back at his own and frowned. Might as well try…

He trotted quickly back to his jet the urged it forward into the station. The amount of ash wasn't as bad inside as outside but he still had to wait to the cloud to calm before he could climb back out try to fill the tank. Doing so, he found that the pump still worked and even still had high-grade fuel. He noted that this was a hazard, but was simply glad to have the fuel. He filled the tank then turned to board when he froze. There was a faint sound, ringing, which he registered from old videos he had watched with Isa as the sound of a phone. He looked around, still tense, and followed the sound. His brain recalled that Isa said she would call him when he got up there, but how she even knew when he would be up there was unknown to him.

He crept inside the building, every squeaky door and every sound of his footsteps on the linoleum flooring sent a spike of fear up his spine. The ring persisted until he finally found the room where the phone was. He hesitated, only hearing the sound of his own heart beating in his ears. The phone was layered with dust, just as much as those that had been in the library at the church, but added to this also a thin layer of ash. Brrring! The phone went off again sending a spike of alarm his from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. He reached out carefully with a handkerchief and picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he answered in his usual Japanese manner.

"Otarou," came Isa's slurred speech and heavy accent on English words, "No vuelvas! Don't come!" Hotarou felt a pit of anxiety start to open in his stomach.

"What's wrong?" he tried in his best English, then he recalled that she could not hear him. "Isa…?"

"No vuelvas, Otarou! Corre! Run! Están aquí! Go away!" he heard he panicked voice and suddenly the sound of a gun shot in the background he flinched away from the phone. "Go to home! Yours!"

The connection was spotty and the crackling did nothing to sooth his jolting nerves. "Isa…but…"

"Don't…come…!" was all he heard then he lost the connection. He stood, at the end of his courage. He breathed deeply, trying to calm his anxiety, but realized his hands were shaking. He put the phone back on the receiver and felt completely weak. Too weak to fall to his knees, too weak to move, too weak to even think.

But logic soon took over his brain. I can't do anything at this point and standing here will make no progress, make me a bigger target, and it's inefficient. Move! So he moved, unsteadily as if just awoken from a deep, restless sleep, down the hall back towards the hanger. Once he reached the hanger he looked at the jet. It was ready to go at least 50,000 miles, perhaps more. Where should he go from there? Isa told you to run. Why, I don't understand. But where will you run to? Back to help and when you get there it will probably be too late? Away and back deeper into the mountains? Or to those people who are waiting for you? Where will you go? Where will you go? Where…? Where…?

...

There was a small black dot on the horizon that once in a while sent a flash of light back at the fearful group of girls. Mayaka had seen it first as she was moving clothing items outside to dry. It was moving at a good pace, but she couldn't be sure what it was of if it was coming towards them. The sun on this island, though still in the grasps of winter, heated the cold ground so much that it seemed like it was more of a mirage. But when the object didn't waver from its path but instead seemed to grow larger, she ran inside to get the other girls.

Irisu stoically confirmed that it must be a type of aircraft, but said that at this point, moving theirs would make no difference, the person in the ship would have already spotted their movement. All they could do is wait.

"Should we tell the boys?" Eru worried, still glancing nervously at the black dot sailing across the water.

Irisu's countenance darkened noticeably and an irritated flicker flashed in her eyes. Mayaka noticed this change and felt wary, but Eru, either brave or not taking the hint, looked earnestly at Irisu for her suggestion.

"Miss Eru I don't think we should tell them just yet. It could just be a passer-by, y'know?" Mayaka tugged on Eru's sleeve to get her attention away from Irisu whose violet eyes were snapping with annoyance.

"Alright," Eru granted then turned to Mayaka, "do you need any more help unloading the washed clothes?" Mayaka shook her head, she still wanted to keep some distance between these two rich girls for fear that a fight might break. Whenever Irisu entered an area, especially with Loki, the tension was thick enough to cut; add to the fact the Eru agreed with most everything he said and it shortened the time they had until she would explode, but how the explosion would manifest itself was something none of them had ever experienced.

The three worked at the front of the ship often catching each other glancing out to see the progress of the ship. Irisu seemed very irritable, but only she could tell why and neither girl dared to ask.

As for her, it was because, aside from yesterday, she hadn't been able to get into contact with Hotarou. Reception was blocked or very fuzzy in the least, so reaching him was impossible. What is he doing? She wondered with a burning anger and curiosity. She looked out of the doorway as she heard a cry from Eru. The ship was close enough to be heard; the engines were roaring with effort to keep up with its pilot's demand. The true color of the ship began to show and they all felt at once that they had nothing to fear. This person coming would be a good thing.

The jet came close then suddenly dropped its landing gear and landed a couple hundred yards away. A person dropped out of it then speedily marched toward their ship. The girls were frightened a little at these unexpected actions, but at the same moment they realized. It was Hotarou!

All three girls picked up their skirts and ran towards him as if he were just returning from war but even as they suddenly surrounded him he shook them all off without even a word a greeting. Mayaka and Irisu glowered in irritation as he swept past them. They all followed, trying to keep up with his quick pace as he unwaveringly boarded the large ship. The girls stopped at the entrance and though the two were off-put by his brisk, cold behavior, they all thought the same thing.

"Hotarou! Hotarou is back!"