Al had been through a busy week. He'd met someone, had one of his friends punch him in the face over that someone, and by the end of the week that someone had saved him and he'd got his own back. The word for that was probably karma, yet not only had all the exchange funding for the translator and other accommodations "magically" vanished, but some phone call also meant that Akahana was supposed to return home quickly.

In other words, Al was fucked.

Anyway, Bob finally arrived at his house after getting through the absurd traffic this side of town. "You two get out. I've got to get back to the office and get this sorted..."

The two of them got out, and Bob drove off immediately. They got into the house and sat down in the living room for a few moments before Akahana stood up and started opening drawers while sifting through the contents.

"...What are you doing?" Al asked.

Akahana turned around and looked at him confused for a few seconds before resuming the drawer investigation. Al eventually walked over to the other side of the room, pulled out a notepad and passed it to her, and she then sat down and started writing in it as if none of that happened, to his confusion.

A few seconds later, Akahana passed the notepad back to him with the words "What did you mean when you said I could see it in a different way?" written in it.

A still-bewildered Al wrote "They're getting it from a book. Nobody said anything about how you had to read what's in that book, or if the book actually represents this deity at all."

Akahana took a moment to read that before she just wrote "What is there without right and wrong? Making up a meaning isn't how it works."

Al facepalmed on the inside. That was exactly what he was trying to tell her! He managed to write "What do you think whoever told you the meaning did then? What makes that correct other than coming first?" before the phone rang and he went to pick it up.

"Mongus household, Al speaking..."

"Oh, hey, Al! How's things been going in Hulbury while I've been gone?" a familiar voice answered.

"...Jono? How?" Al asked.

Jono cleared his throat. "You seriously think I'd be friends with you for five years without finding out your telephone number?"

"Yeah, I get that, but still... how did you–"

Jono shrugged, not that Al could see over the phone. "Al, these people are basically royalty. You really think they'd pay for their long distance calls?"

"Ah, right, fair enough. So how's things been going?" he asked, his shoulders relaxing.

"Oh, it's been great! Everyone here is so nice to each other, it's really refreshing compared to the state the Academy was in, and the language barrier wasn't nearly as bad as I feared it would be because Seiji had one of his translators with me."

Al's look fell then. "I wish I could say the same. Darren–"

"Oh, goodness, what's he done now?" Jono interjected.

"Well, he was harassing the Snowpoint student because she didn't understand a word of Galarian..."

"Wait... So I had a translator, and his own daughter didn't?"

"Yeah, and guess where all the funding magically disappeared to?"

"Say no more, I'll explain the situation to Seiji and–"

"According to Bob, Seiji wants her home because of the mess that's happening, and he's not unwilling to use her faith as a reason..."

At this point, he trailed off as Ahakana held up a piece of paper that said "長寿".

"Al? You still there?" Jono asked.

"Yeah, I'm still here, she's just holding some text up... I guess it's Hisuian because I have absolutely no idea what it means."

"Hang on a moment, I'll get the translator–"

Al noticed Akahana had written under it the word "'Chōjū".

"I'm pretty sure she wants you to find someone or whatever, under the name Choju but for some reason the 'o' and 'u' have eyebrows... Language is complicated."

"...Don't ask how, but I might have heard of him... I'll go find him."

The line died, funeral time again.

So Jono went to find someone, and he ended up finding the person who had been introduced to him as Akahana's older brother.

"Hey, Mitsue, would–"

"I honestly don't know how many times I have to tell my dad I'd rather go by 'Craig', but go on..."

"Would you happen to know where Choju is?"

"...Okay, first of all, it's pronounced 'Chōjū', second he's at the other end of town. Why you need him?"

"Akahana seems to think me talking to him about what's going on in Galar is important."

"I heard about that one... He's the only person he'll actually listen to these days, so–"

"Wait, what did I miss about this place?"

"He's my father's advisor. He'll barely even speak to anyone else anymore."

"Ah, got it. Still, I need to speak to him."

"I'll take you there. Fair warning, he doesn't know much Galarian."

So they proceeded to walk to his house and open the door.

"...Chōjū? Are you here?" Jono called out before walking into the house. It was small and empty, yet it still felt like it could qualify as a home.

Eventually, he came across an old man trying to catch a fly with chopsticks, and then said old man noticed him.

"Ah, guest boy. Sit."

Jono proceeded to sit on the floor, as Chōjū didn't have chairs.

"So, uh... What do I tell him?"

Craig said a few things in Hisuian, and then the old man turned to Jono.

"No worry. Akahana handle self."

"I'm pretty sure you haven't met Darren, so I'm not sure how you-"

"When eyebrow man attack, I fight him. He go away."

And with that, it was time for a flashback... to a four-year-old Akahana running in the snow. Why was little Akahana running, and how was she not slipping on the ice, you may ask? I don't know either. Maybe she was just that curious as to where her brother kept going every day. Normally she stayed at home with her mother... Yeah, the society was that bad. Quite a shame, because it was still a nice city.

Anyway, she arrived to a person doing what looked like weird arm movements, and then... Wait... It was her brother? She'd have to take a closer look, and... Oh, he saw her.

"...Hang on, how did you get here?"

Akahana blinked as Chōjū walked over to them.

"Who's this?" Chōjū asked.

"It's my sister, Akahana," her brother replied.

"...Your father never told me you had a sister. If I'd have known, I would have started training her, too!"

"Is that allowed?" he questioned.

"I don't see why it wouldn't be if she's interested... I have distant family members who shared it with anyone who wanted it in Johto."

Akahana was of course interested, so she stayed there for a few hours before a very unhappy Seiji showed up.

"Didn't I phone you as well? Why didn't you say anything?" Seiji asked of Chōjū with a thousand-metre stare.

"We were busy," Chōjū answered simply.

Seiji now looked at Mitsue the same way.

"Yeah, what he said... We were... uh... busy..." Mitsue answered.

"You never told me you had a daughter!" Chōjū cheerfully interrupted.

"...What? I only asked you'd train my son, not–"

"You only had one child at the time you asked, and it's really not a problem."

So that's how Akahana began her karate training. Anyway, back to Chōjū, Craig, and Jono.

"She might have already done something like that, but it's not that–"

Craig interrupted Jono. "I'll explain it to him."

Jono just sat there for a good ten minutes while Craig was explaining everything to Chōjū, and during this conversation he understood absolutely nothing at all.

After this, Chōjū just stood up... "No worry. I fix." ...before walking away.

Back in Galar, Al was on the computer trying to figure out how he was going to write and present a presentation entirely on his own.

Oh, wait, Akahana just came back from the spare bedroom before randomly pointing at stuff on the screen. As if this life couldn't get more confusing... Was this the real life or just fantasy?

"...Should I understand that?" Al replied, getting a deadpan look from Akahana. "Where's your notebook? I'll try and– Oh, you're holding it..." It just said one word on the page: Presentation. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Now she's pointing at the screen again, this time at one very specific word.

"Read? What does 'Read' have to do with-"

"...Read," she said before nodding.

How the fuck had she done that, and what had Al just gotten himself into? Was this her... trying to learn how to talk? Was this somehow his job now?

"Look, I realise not being able to talk is frustrating, but you're probably not even going to be here by next week so I don't see–"

"No." Akahana took the computer mouse and found the PowerPoint on the computer.

"...You want me to read the presentation to you?"

She nodded. "Presentation."

Well, it looked like Al would be doing that, then, and in fairness to Akahana, it did work. Getting Al to say certain words did help with learning speech, even though she still didn't know some crucial things.

At that point, Bob got home unannounced. "Well, there's some news, but– Wait, what are you two doing?"

"Hello," Akahana replied.

Bob proceeded to look at her blankly.

"That's what we were doing," Al answered.

"...That girl needs to be studied!"

"So, what happened?" Al asked.

Bob shook his head before answering. "We had a call from my representative in Sinnoh stating that means have arranged for Akahana to stay here, though that does mean here, so–"

"Tree," Akahana interrupted.

"...I don't think that's the word she meant, she probably meant something like 'good' or-"

"No," she replied, before walking over to the spare bedroom all of a sudden.

"...Did she bring a tree with her or something?"

"Al, I didn't see one in the hotel she was at, probably–"

Akahana then walked back with a tiny bonsai in a plastic bag and what was most certainly a centuries-old pot.

"...Maybe she forgot to unpack it or something..."

She then put the bonsai by the living room window, probably because the guest bedroom window wasn't set up for it.

"Tree... window." She pulls the bag off the tree and points at the window.

With that out of the way, these two spent basically the entire weekend sitting at the computer and working on the presentation... and, well, talking.