Volume 20 - Grand Finale, Chapter 155 - Epilogue

"Miu!" the young boy shouted to the sky. "That's not fair!"

"Is too!" came a reply from somewhere above, probably up on the roof. "You get to use your hands."

"That's not the same at all. I'll tell momma on you if you don't play fair."

A face appeared over the edge of the rooftop, wide golden eyes framed by a wild nest of white hair. Miu peered down and asked, "Which momma?"

The boy grinned up at her triumphantly. "My momma. Your gramma."

"Fine. I'll come down," Miu whined. With a flutter of wings, the young girl leapt from the roof and landed next to the boy. Her talons left deep indentations in the sandy soil, identical to the numerous footprints that littered the entire property. Sometimes they followed rabbit tracks, sometimes deer, and sometimes they'd been left in the middle of nowhere, marking places Miu had rested between flights.

"Thanks, Miu," the boy said, smiling. He had a kind smile that was just as wide and welcoming as his uncle's, or so he'd been told. Then he gently slapped Miu on the back, shouted, "You're it!" and took off running.

"Ichiro! You cheater!" Miu yelled as she ran after the older boy, using her wings for extra speed without quite leaving the ground.

"You're sure it's alright for us to stay here without paying?" Ken asked. Flecks of grey in his hair suggested that 6 years of parenthood had taken its toll.

Yuisu sighed. "Yes, it's fine. You're family and it's not like we're using the space. I can't really put inn guests in the empty rooms with Miu running around and being a menace."

"But what about food? At least let me reimburse you for that."

Yuisu rolled her eyes, then turned and called into the kitchen, "Mom, please tell Ken to accept my hospitality!"

Kazumi called back, "Take her hospitality! She owes me at least that much after everything she put me through."

Yuisu blushed at that, but she considered it a victory. Ken was a good guy, but he was too afraid of imposing on anyone.

Ken bowed and said, "Thank you for your generosity. We'll make it up to you if you're ever in Tokyo."

"Fine, fine. Now, should we call the kids in? Lunch is almost ready and they're probably both coated in dirt. Sometimes I wonder if Miu intentionally rolls around in it."

Ken grinned. "Maybe she wants to follow in my footsteps and be a soil scientist."

Yuisu was far too familiar with Ken's jokes, and that one barely deserved a groan.

"And then we saw a giant skeleton of a tyrosaurus rex! It was even bigger than Iormu-sensei!" Miu boasted, holding her wings wide for emphasis. She held a wide-handled fork with one wing but her meal was mostly forgotten

"It's tyrannosaurus," Ichiro said in a scholarly tone. Then his sense of wonder took over and he said, "But that's so cool! I've heard about dinosaurs, but I've never seen any in person." He turned to his parents and said, "Momma, can we go to a museum too? I bet Tokyo's got the best museum in the world!"

Kazumi nodded. "Of course." She turned to her husband and asked, "How about the Saturday after next?"

He hummed in thought, then said, "That should work. Maybe we can make a day of it and visit the university labs too. Then Ichiro can see what I do for a living."

"I already know you study dirt, dad. Nobody cares about dirt."

Miu cheerfully said, "Momma cares about dirt. She complains whenever I track it inside, or when I leave footprints on the walls."

Kazumi let out a giggle at that. She loved watching Yuisu's adventures in motherhood, and she didn't envy her one bit. Miu was twice the handful that Ichiro was, even with the great support system Haru and Yuisu had.

For the rest of the meal, Ken rambled about how important the field of soil science was to agriculture, construction, and even the weather. "…and without my lab's work, we wouldn't be able to grow enough food for Japan's booming population."

Miu wasn't able to keep up with his story, so she scarfed down her remaining food and hopped out of her chair. "I wanna go fly with mom now!"

Yuisu shook her head. "She's still at work. She'll be home in two hours, okay?"

Miu pouted with her wings at her sides. "Why does she work on Saturday? Other parents don't work on weekends."

While that was true for Ichiro's parents, it was definitely false for the parents of many of Miu's friends. Yuisu took on a motherly tone and said, "Lots of parents have to work on weekends, like Miss May at the bakery. If she didn't work on weekends, you couldn't have your favorite 'cloud cakes' fresh on Sunday morning."

Miu snapped out of her grumpy mood in an instant. "Cloud cakes! Can we go get some tomorrow?! Can we please? Ichiro's never had them before."

Yuisu smiled and ruffled Miu's pure white hair. "Yep, we can all go to The Muse's Grace as a family. Haru too."

"Yay!" Miu danced around on one foot, spinning herself with her wings, then she switched to the other foot and spun the other way.

Yuisu felt dizzy just looking at it. She turned to her mother and said, "I hope that's alright. They've got really great pastries and cakes."

"Oh, I know. Your wedding cake from there was delicious," Kazumi said.

Yuisu blinked. "You remember that? It was over seven years ago."

Kazumi smiled knowingly. "Mothers remember things like that."

"Cloud cakes, cloud cakes, gonna eat some cloud cakes. Fluffy, fluffy, they taste just like a cloud tastes," Miu sang. Her voice rang out from her vantage point on Yuisu's shoulders. The little harpy was so light that carrying her around wasn't a problem at all. It also kept her nearby instead of flying every which way.

"I don't think real clouds have a flavor, at least not a sweet one. They're just water," Ichiro explained. He stayed close by his parents' side, a little wary of the unfamiliar neighborhood they were walking through.

Miu glared at him. "Nuh-uh, water isn't fluffy, so clouds can't be made of water."

"They are too," he insisted.

Miu leaned forward over Yuisu's head and peered down at her face. "Momma, which is true? Are clouds made of water?"

Haru was the one to answer the question. "Actually, clouds are made of water, but water can be fluffy when it's in vapor form. If you promise to behave today, we can fly up to a cloud so you can see for yourself."

Miu's eyes were wide and shimmery. "Deal! I'll be the best little girl ever all day, I promise."

The group reached the bakery and a bell over the door jingled as they stepped through. The inside smelled like frosting and fresh baked bread. There were a few small tables in the center of the room and two glass cases were filled with delicious looking baked goods. There was a big blackboard on one wall with the menu on it in brightly colored chalk. A drawing of a chameleon in a baker's hat occupied the bottom right corner.

Kazumi pointed and said, "There's the menu, Ichiro. You should read it and choose what you want."

"But I want to look at them in the cases," he whined.

"Okay, but you have to read the signs next to the pastries." Kazumi had been pushing Ichiro to read more, particularly Kanji symbols. He loved learning about things that interested him, but it could be hard to motivate him to learn more mundane topics.

Miu was a year younger and she was learning the Hiragana and Katakana alphabets in kindergarten, but Kanji was still beyond her. She ran along the glass cases, looking at all the colorful food inside, but her mind was already made up. She said, "I know what I want! Cloud cakes!"

"Which ones are cloud cakes?" Ichiro asked. "I don't see that on any signs."

Miu pointed with one wing. "These ones. The fluffy puffy squishy tasty ones!"

Ichiro furrowed his brow as he eyed the pale yellow sugar-coated rolls. "The sign says 'melon bread'. I've had melon bread before."

Miu gave him a smug look. "But you've never had Miss May's cloud cakes. They're special."

Meanwhile, the adults quietly discussed what they wanted, then approached the teenaged girl who was operating the cash register. Yuisu and Haru decided to split a croissant with honey-bacon spread, Kazumi ordered a single mini-cupcake with caramel-buttercream frosting, and Ken got a cinnamon pecan swirl nearly as big as his head.

"Really?" Kazumi asked him. "What happened to trying to eat better?"

"We're on vacation. It doesn't count."

"Uh huh…" she said. "I'll remember you said that when we're at the shoe store later."

"You don't need more shoes!"

Kazumi grinned. "And you didn't need that giant pastry, yet here we are." Then she turned and said, "Kids, come up here and order."

Miu sprinted up and stood on her tiptalons so she could put her chin on the counter. "I want two cloud cakes, please."

When the teenage cashier looked confused, Yuisu explained, "She means the melon bread. And we'll only get one. She's hyper enough as is."

"Momma! The other one was for Ichiro!"

Yuisu turned to Ichiro. "Is that true, Ichiro? That's what you want?"

He nodded, then faced the cashier and said, "One melon bread for me, please."

While the cashier gathered all their pastries from the display cases, Yuisu crouched down to look the kids in the eyes. "I'm sorry for my behavior. I didn't realize Miu was ordering for both of you."

Miu blinked her big, sparkly eyes at her mother. "So I'm not in trouble? I still get to go flying with mom?"

"You do indeed. If the wind is calm, you can even go flying right after this, while the rest of us are shopping." She glanced up at Haru and said, "The safety harnesses and rope are in the truck." Haru and Miu used the harnesses whenever they flew higher than two stories, in case Miu got tired or caught in a gust of wind. The rope was long enough to give her freedom while still protecting her from a bad fall. Then Yuisu added, "And make sure to watch your airspace."

Haru nodded. "We can probably find a low cloud by the mountains, but I'll be careful."

"Here's your order," The cashier said as she handed a large paper bag to Ken, who had insisted on paying for all the food. "Thank you for your business."

Miu looked at the bag and frowned. "We aren't eating here? I wanted to see Miss May!"

Haru patted her on the head. "We can still eat here. Go pick a seat and I'll see if Miss May can come out and visit." She approached the counter again and said, "Is May available to visit for a moment? My daughter wants to pay her compliments to the chef."

The young woman nodded. "She's just wrapping up something, then she'll be out. If I remember correctly, she's going on her lunch break at eleven."

Haru glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that it was 10:55, then said, "Perfect. Thank you."

A few minutes later, Miu was licking her lips and savoring the last sugary bits of her 'cloud cake' when someone called out her name. She looked up at the store entrance and saw a massive man with three small children. Miu knew one of them from class.

"Hello, Julie!" she called. "Your mom's still the best baker ever!"

The human girl skipped over to Miu's table. "You got that right. Nobody else can compete!"

The two boys stayed close to their father, Kyle. All three kids were adopted, but the oldest one didn't look it. John was an orc like Kyle, with a broad physique, a pig-like snout, and a natural mohawk. Then, in order to look more like his adoptive mother, he got his hair dyed in rainbow colors. The youngest child, Tim, was another human and he looked a lot like his biological sister Julie. They both had wide brown eyes, glossy black hair, and cute button noses.

Haru waved at Julie from across the table and said, "Hello again, Julie. Here to visit your mom?"

"Yes, Mrs. Nakahara. We're going to eat lunch together in the park!"

At the mention of 'Mrs. Nakahara', Yuisu and Kazumi also turned their heads. Kazumi's decision to keep her maiden name could be a little awkward sometimes, and there just wasn't an unambiguous way to refer to someone by last name when their partner was the same gender. If that was the price Haru and Yuisu had to pay to be together, they didn't mind one bit.

Then Julie noticed the boy sitting next to Miu. He'd already devoured his melon bread and was fidgeting idly, not sure what to do with himself.

"Who's this?" Julie asked. "I don't recognize him from school, and I know everyone in our year."

"That's my cousin Ichiro," Miu explained. He was technically her uncle, but it was far easier to say cousin. "And he doesn't go to our school."

Julie stomped a foot on the floor. "You have to go to school, Ichiro. It's the law."

He just stared at her and said, "I do go to school, in Tokyo. And I'm a year older than Miu, so I wouldn't be in your class anyway."

Kyle stepped up and put a massive hand on Julie's head. "Now, now, Julie. What did I say about enforcing the law?"

"It's the police's job?"

"Yep. If you see someone breaking the law, you can let an adult know, but it's not your job to fix it." He glanced at the other adults and whispered, "She's become a bit of a tiny enforcer. She wants to be a bouncer like I was before I went stay-at-home."

"Wow, we've got quite a party out here!" came a cheerful voice from behind the counter. May had stepped out from the kitchen, drying her hands on a towel. She used her prehensile tail to dunk the towel and her work apron into a basket in the corner, then approached the group of kids and adults.

"Miss May!" Miu cheered. "Your cloud cakes are the best!"

May raised an eyebrow and her entire body turned an inquisitive lilac purple. "Cloud cakes?"

"Ichiro said they're called 'melon bread', but they'll always be cloud cakes to me. I even made a song about them. Wanna hear it?"

"I'd love to, Miu, but my family has plans. How about next Sunday?" May's melon bread was a weekly special that she only made on Sunday mornings. She had known the bread was popular, but never realized it had such a dedicated and adorable fan.

"It's a date!" Miu proclaimed.

Haru and Yuisu just shrugged at went along with it. Visiting the bakery on Sunday mornings was already a family tradition anyway.

After the bakery, Yuisu, Kazumi, and the boys went to the mall to shop while Miu and Haru went flying. Haru helped Miu into her modified climbing harness and clipped the other end of the rope to her own harness. Then they both spread their powerful wings and launched themselves off the ground. Haru held herself back for Miu's sake, but only a little. The young harpy was already a powerful flyer. They gained altitude until they were above the rooftops then flew east, toward familiar landmarks.

They flew over Sports Club Kobold, one of 8 locations in Japan with international locations opening soon. Korbin owned a couple of the franchises, but most of his financial focus was still on Okayado. The more the town grew as a world-famous liminal haven and travel destination, the more his investments paid off. However, he had dumped a worrisome amount of his profits into liminal cross-breeding research. He was determined to have a child with Rosty some day, and although they'd had no luck yet, they remained hopeful for a scientific breakthrough.

Haru and Miu continued up and out of the valley. Miu wanted to touch a cloud, and the lowest one Haru could see was just beyond the mountain that Yuisu's property was on, Yuriyama.

These days, the entire rest of the mountain was owned by Hakuto. She lived there in a small two-bedroom house constructed with the remaining money from her shrine tributes. The little shrine that Mara and Tsuen had built for Hakuto still stood by the Mountain Lily Inn, but there was a larger shrine complex by her house. She had help maintaining it from a live-in Shinto priest, a young man named Yanosuke who was also asexual. They lived as friends and roommates, content with their peaceful mountain life.

The harpies finally approached a low-hanging cloud in a mountain valley. Miu shivered and said, "Why's it so cold? Is it gonna snow?"

"Nope, the air just gets colder the higher you go. And look how high we are compared to Okayado."

Miu turned back and flapped to stay in place as she looked down at the town in the distance. Sure enough, they were nearly 2,000 feet higher than it.

"Now follow me. You might get a little wet," Haru said. She started toward the cloud and Miu followed. At first it felt like nothing had changed, then it got a bit foggy. As they got even deeper, the sun overhead dimmed and the air became humid and misty.

"Wow, it's just like a foggy morning," Miu said.

"It's exactly like that, Miu. Fog is basically just a cloud that's low to the ground."

Miu playfully darted around inside the cloud until moisture beaded on her hair and shoulder feathers in shiny droplets. They couldn't form on her flapping wings, but water still accumulated and started to weigh her down.

"This is hard work, mom. I feel heavy."

"Yeah, water in your feathers will do that. Remember that if you're ever tempted to fly in the rain. Let's head back down now."

They dropped quickly out of the cloud and caught themselves above the treetops. The two harpies cruised along the sloped mountainside, gaining speed as the lingering moisture was whisked away by the dry summer air. The wind was too loud in their ears for conversation, so Haru used wing signals to guide Miu back to Okayado.

When the ground leveled out and things like power lines became a concern, they slowed down to a casual pace.

"Thanks for taking me to a cloud, mom! It was so fluffy, just like a cloud cake!" Then Miu frowned. "But it didn't have any taste. I tried."

Haru chuckled. "Just leave that job to the cloud cakes, then. So, should we meet back up with the others? Or do you want to fly more?"

It was pretty clear that Miu wanted to keep flying, but she was having trouble keeping up. The climb in elevation and the weight of the water had taken a lot out of her. With a resigned frown, she said, "I'm tired. Let's land." Then she smiled. "And I can tell Ichiro what it was like inside the cloud!"

In the mall shoe store, Kazumi and Yuisu sat together on a bench while Kazumi tried on shoes. She was on her third pair, but had yet to find any she liked well enough to buy. While she pulled on another pair with low heels and open toes, she asked, "So how are the other girls doing, now that they're graduated from the Exchange Program and moved out?"

Yuisu smiled. "They're all doing great. Hakuto bought the rest of the mountain to preserve it, and she has her own shrine complex now. Aluru's a hairdresser here in town, and she's a godmother to a young alraune, Cissu. She was a flower girl at the wedding, if you remember."

Kazumi nodded. "I remember. They were just the cutest!"

"I'm not sure Aluru's the best influence on her, though. Cissu's an early bloomer, but middle school feels a little young to be into 'gal' culture."

"What about the other flower girl? Pwess, was it?"

"Ah, she grew up fast and moved out. She's working for the Exchange Program now, as assistant to my friends Kehp and Froze. They're Ambassadors that travel the world and check if hidden societies want to join the rest of the world. Things got pretty wild with Pwess during her rebellious teenage year, giving Quess and Iormu quite a scare, but that's a story for another time, in private."

Kazumi raised an eyebrow but she let that topic be. "What about the others? You had, what, four more girls living there?"

Yuisu nodded. "Chione lives in town with her girlfriend and still works as a bouncer at the nightclub. It's basically the perfect job for her, other than maybe policewoman. But she likes all the free time it gives her to work on the comic convention she manages with Mara. They're up to two ComicMons per year now."

Then Yuisu frowned. "Mara, Tsuen, and Rem… all moved to Tokyo. I miss them."

Kazumi put an arm around Yuisu's shoulder in silent support.

Yuisu continued, "But they're doing so well. Tsuen's running the Tokyo Sports Club Kobold now, and Mara launched a liminal clothing line, 'Maratus 8', and she cross-promotes it with ComicMon. The company is still small, but Rem's her CEO of sorts, handling all their business deals." She smiled at the thought of the tiny gremlin bullying big businessmen into contracts.

A voice cut in. "Excuse me? Momma and big sis Yuisu? Dad wants to get moving."

Kazumi sighed and shook her head. "That coward, sending you instead of facing me himself." She put the shoes she'd just tried on back in their box and said, "It's alright. I didn't find any shoes I like here anyway."

Yuisu checked her cell phone and saw a text message from Haru. It was a little clunky since it had been written with speech-to-text, but the meaning was clear. Yuisu looked up from the message and said, "Miu and Haru are back. How about we get some lunch in the food court?"

Ichiro's eyes lit up from the mention of food or Miu, or both. Kazumi gave his shoulder a squeeze and replied, "Sounds good. Lead the way, Yuisu."

"I want takoyaki!" Miu cheered as she tugged on Haru's wing. As an afterthought, she smiled at her mom and added, "Please~"

Haru chuckled and let herself be dragged toward the food court's takoyaki stand. The balls of batter and octopus had never benn Haru's favorite, but Miu loved the stuff. Before they could reach the counter, Haru heard an intimately familiar voice from the other side of the food court.

"What do you want to eat, little bro? You don't have to get the same thing as the rest of us," Yuisu said.

Ichiro answered, "I don't know. Where's Miu?"

"Ah, you want to try what she's getting? Hmm…" There was a pause while Yuisu stood on her tiptoes and looked for distinctive white feathers. Then she said, "Ah, looks like she's getting takoyaki. Do you want that?"

"Sure," he said, sounding somewhat unsure.

Ken stepped in. "It's fried octopus, and you can get all sorts of toppings. If you want that, I can help you order."

"Okay!" Ichiro felt much more confident now.

While Ken led Ichiro by the hand to the takoyaki stand, Yuisu and Kazumi visited a place selling udon. Once everyone had purchased some food, they all met up in the center of the food court. Haru and Yuisu pushed a couple tables together and everyone sat down with their trays of steaming food.

Things were quiet at first while the hungry family dove into their lunch then once the eating slowed down, Ken held up an octopus ball on a toothpick and said, "Hey kids, how do you make an octopus laugh?"

Ichiro and Miu both scrunched up their faces in thought, then Miu guessed, "Tell it a joke?"

Ken grinned. "Nope, you give it ten tickles!"

In unison, Kazumi, Yuisu, and Haru groaned, but the children actually giggled. Miu seemed to find it particularly funny because she repeated, "Ten tickles!" and stuffed the last of her takoyaki in her mouth.

Yuisu said, "Mom, did you know Ken was gonna be this much of a stereotypical dad when you married him?"

Kazumi smiled. "Oh yeah. It was one of his major selling points, actually. Along with his great teeth."

In response, Ken grinned even wider to show off his pearly whites, then leaned over to give Kazumi a kiss on the lips.

"Ew," Ichiro whined. Then he jumped from his chair and said, "Mom and dad, can we go play on the playground?" He pointed to the little play-place at the far end of the food court.

"Ooh ooh, I wanna play!" Miu added.

"Yes, you can play, but stay—" Kazumi couldn't even finish her sentence before the children cheered loudly and took off running. Ichiro ran straight toward the playground but Miu took a meandering path with her wings wide and leaning into the turns.

Haru smiled and shrugged her shoulders. "At least they get along really well."