Star Squad

The black cat easily walked along the top of the fence until he arrived at the Hoshino household. Reaching his destination, he sat for a moment until the scruffy brown dog he had come to meet came into his field of vision. Nimbly jumping from the fence, he landed right in front of Hoshi.

“What did you want to talk about Karas?”

“I don’t know if the girls will be able to take out Lord Rizu in their current state. They have more power than the Esterlian army, but I just think it will be too difficult.”

“They aren’t terrible.”

“I’m not saying they are. You’ve been with the Star Squad longest…do you think they can? If you do I’ll leave this alone and go home…”

Hoshi sighed. “I’m not really sure. They are good…but they could be better, I know they could. There were a couple of times they barely survived Mercutio’s attacks and Rafiel is even stronger than him…but they have to be able to do it.”

“I think we should go back to Esterlia and do some research on the Light Crystal. I think the girls may have to power up before they go up against Lord Rizu.”

“Should we leave them alone?”

“Mari-chan told us about that one time in Kyoto when it was just her and Momoko-chan. They did fine without you.”

“But Karas, that was one of the times they almost didn’t make it.”

“But they did make it!”

“Fine, fine. We’ll go to Esterlia, tomorrow.”

***

“I’m here!” Sora chimed happily as she took off her shoes and walked into Mari’s living room.

“That’s everyone guys. So what’s the meeting about?” Yuki looked at Hoshi and Karas expectantly.

“The two of us have decided that it would be in the Star Squad’s best interest if Hoshi and I went back to Esterlia for a little while.”

“What?!” Then entire group stared at the pair in disbelief.

Hoshi sighed. “We can tell that your fight against Lord Rizu is coming soon, we’re going home for a little bit to make sure that you’re as prepared as possible for the fight.”

“But what are we gonna do without you guys?”

“You’ll be fine Yukari! I mean, we don’t really do anything except yell instructions from the sidelines. If you need protection that’s what Nebula Prince is for, and the rest of the Squad are practically veterans by now.” Karas said as he reassuringly laid his hand on her shoulder.

“Most of you girls, and Hikaru, have been at this long enough that you know what to do without us.”

“We aren’t going to make you two change your minds, are we?” Mari asked.

“No, but I promise we’ll be back soon,” Hoshi said, “Now, do you wanna see us off or not?”

***

Two days had passed since Hoshi and Karas had teleported to Esterlia, the final countdown to summer vacation had started, and there had been no attacks from the Dark Army.

“What do you guys want to do this summer?” Momoko asked before sticking the straw in her juice box.

“Ooh, ooh! I wanna go to an onsen!” Sora happily yelled over phone.

“What did she say?”

Eating lunch on the roof with someone’s phone in the middle, with Sora on speaker, had become the normal lunch time ritual for the girls. They had recently added a second phone with Yukari on speaker, but it wasn’t working out very well.

“She wants to go to an onsen.” Mari informed the other girl on the phone.

“This isn’t working…” Momoko hung her head and tried to think of some other way they could all talk during lunch.

“Sora-san, where do you think we’re going to get the money for a trip to an onsen?”

“Oh, um, that’s a good question…”

“What did she say?”

“She doesn’t know.” Yuki answered the other phone this time.

“Well, if we only go for one day and all pitch in we might be able to afford it if we find one that isn’t that expensive.”

“That’s actually a good idea Kurono-chan.”

“What’s a good idea Mari-chan? What did Yukari-chan say?”

“If we only go for one day and all chip in we might afford a cheap stay at an onsen.”

“We can all meet up after school and look for cheap onsens online.” Yuki said as she finished up her yogurt.

“I got it! We can Skype during lunch!” Momoko yelled happily, clapping her hands.

“Momoko-san, were you even paying attention?”

***
“This is the perfect way to start off the summer!” Sora chimed as she jumped up and down in the room of the bed and breakfast.

“I kinda think this would be better to do in the fall Sora-san.”

“We weren’t friends then!”

“I guess you’re right…”

“Let’s get our hot spring on!” Momoko yelled excitedly, throwing her hands in the air. She was already in her robe.

“When did you have time to change?” The other girls just looked at her, confused looks on their faces, as they asked her.

“That doesn’t matter, now let’s go!” She threw her hands into the air dramatically again.

Yukari laughed. “Just go tell your mom we’re gonna go ahead and go, okay.”

***

“This is so exciting! I’ve never gone on a trip like this with friends before!” Yukari chattered away as the girls walked down the ladies’ hot spring.

“Neither have I!” Momoko responded in astonishment before she started giggling.

While Yukari and Momoko continued to chatter away, Mari saw a patch of white hair out of the corner of her eye. She turned around quickly to see a man with long, snowy hair turning the corner toward the men’s hot spring.

“Was that…?”