The Warubozu Usagi

8:30 am

Kumamoto, Japan

In a hot springs village tucked away in a hillside along a river, in the town of Minamioguni, the crew of the Black Flea have been relaxing the past week.

S: (eyes closed, in a relaxed state soaking in a public hot spring) This place was exactly what I needed. Sounds of the river rushing by and the rustling bamboo and hinoki, while soaking in hot springs water.

SM: (eyes closed but smiling) And kawaii shops all over.

RP: (eyes closed, imagining different foods) And cute little places to eat. Sasa mochi. Kashiwa mochi. Sakura mochi. Kusa mochi...

WU: (opens eyes, turns to Red and smiles) All the mochi!

RP: (excitedly opens eyes and throws two hands up) All the mochi!

SM: (sinking into the hot water) Ahh, sugoi!

WU: Shoko, do you have a plan to sweep for malware and trackers?

SM: (eyes still closed) Already done. The day we got here I programmed a thousand nanobots to search for anomalies and new parts throughout all of our belongings and the microship, and then used some sentinels to search for software changes.

WU: ...

S: (slightly annoyed) Did you really think that we'd go a week without doing something about it?

WU: Well no, but I sort of forgot about it. (turns to Shoko) Did you find anything?

S: (eyes still closed) Yeah.

WU: And?

S: (eyes closed, sipping on iced lemon matcha tea) All cleaned three days ago.

RP: (fawning with adoring eyes) You're so cool!

WU: So...we can leave to hang out at the new house in Shirakawa-go?

S: Why would we do that? This place is so nice!

WU: We need to get under way and deliver the data to Doogé, but I wanted to spend at least a couple of days in the new house before we left for Decca. Ikimashou-ka?

RP: I'm packing a dozen mochi in the fridge, then.

SM: I'm packing a dozen omiyage...for me.

S: I'm packing a dozen tins of unagi.

WU: I'm going to take a hike with Meri and take some photos.

S: I'm starting to feel sad already.

WU: Daijoubu! We'll come back here in the future, Syvil. With a house in Shirakawa-go, we'll be able to make day trips whenever we come to Earth!

S: (heavy sigh) Yeah, but it's not the same as staying here for a week. There's something to be said for being in one place.

WU: ...did you not want to continue with our space adventure?

S: I didn't say that. We just need to take more breaks on terra firma, you know?

WU: My dear Syvil, that's why I've been asking you guys to put down houses on different planets. You should see what I've had built on Mars.

S: Wait, did you go ahead with building a place on Mars?

WU: Yeah.

S: When were you going to tell us?

WU: Now?

RP: Yay, we have a place on Mars!

WU: It's super huge! I designed a giant lab area for Shoko and a massive indoor landscape to grow things.

SM: (smiling nonchalance) Cool.

S: Did you use up all the money?

WU: What? Of course not. Well, like ninety percent of it. But that still gives us an uncomfortable amount of cash just lying around doing nothing.

S: (shakes head) Warui!

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— The Warubozu Usagi