Eren nodded. "Yeah, I take it that Armin's helping him out..." he laughed.

---

Armin blushed harder, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "It... It's no big deal.."

Sasha gasped. "Armin! Yes it is too a big deal!"

Armin laughed a little. "You don't need to make it one though..."

Sasha giggled and squeezed Takahisa's cheek gently. "Takahisa here looks excited!"

"Well, we're back," Peyton said as he pulled the car over to the sidewalk closest to the "hideout" house. With that said, they all exited the car, and as soon as they would enter the house, Nero and Umiya were at the living room watching the television news.

"Oh, so you all made it back in one piece. Assuming from the fact that the police and even the investigative forces are already at the club area, I thought you were caught," Nero said, with the subtle message of "what the hell happened?"

"Look, the Shadow Essence developed a lot faster than we expected, and we had no choice but bring out the big guns on it as well as handle the assaulters at the place. Besides, it's not like the authorities are going to figure out what really happened," Kaika said with a nervous laugh, thinking that they screwed up the "stealth" part of the mission.

"Considering yourselves lucky then. If you didn't escape out of there quickly enough, your faces would had been caught on camera and then put with a "wanted" sign on it. The last thing we want is to have you hunted down, you still have a normal life to take care of here," Nero sighed.

---

"Yeah, yeah I am," Takahisa said despite having his cheeks squeezed a bit.

Eren listened quietly, laughing in hus mind at their failed stealtg.

---

Armin laughed nervously.

Sasha squealed. "You're gonna be older than all of us!"

Armin smiled. "I already am.... I think...."

"Well, besides the almost failure of staying hidden, there isn't anything else that you have to do," Nero said as he told them that there wasn't any other mission that they had to do.

"Great! I needed some time off of that stuff anyways," Kaika said as soon as Nero told them there wasn't anything else to do, and she immediately went over to her laptop.

"She must be quite tired...wouldn't blame her, it's actually a lot of work to juggle between her supernatural duties and live a normal life at the same time," Umiya said with a light chuckle.

---

"Oh! Oh! I'll have something set up for tomorrow!" Takahisa got an idea and hinted that he may have something for Armin for his birthday.

Armin laughed. "You son't need to do that, Takahisa..." he said.

Sasha giggled. "Of course he does!"

---

Eren nodded. "My life has never been normal, even before I knew about my own abilities..."

"And it's a surprise, so keep your eyes peeled," Takahisa said, knowing perfectly on what he was thinking on giving Armin.

---

"Then it's safe to assume that no one has a normal life, because we all don't understand what "normal" truly means," Umiya says, starting again with her psychological phrases.

Sasha pulled him off to the side. "Whatisitwhatisit?" she whisper/squealed.

Armin chuckled and went back to his food.

"It's a rare type of plant," Takahisa scratched his head, trying to remember it's Latin name. Even for his age, he couldn't really remember all of those Latin names of all of those special plants he had manifested in the past year.

"Ooh! He's gonna love it! Can you show it to me?"

---

Eren nodded. "Yeah, I guess..."

"Hold for a moment, I don't really have it with me yet," Takahisa said, knowing it would be a chore to even manifest the plant into existence. Plus, he had to do it in a place where Armin wouldn't see, it was a surprise after all.

---

"You know, it's a bit careless to leave things unattended," Umiya suddenly brings up as she holds up the key that Eren would always wear around his neck. Apparently, she had been holding onto it ever since he got into this dimension.

Eren's eyes widened and his hand flew to his neck where it usualy is. "My.. My key! How did you get it?" he asked, reaching for it.

---

Sasha nodded. "Okay! I bet he'll love it though..."

Armin finished his food and went to puy it in the tray collection.

"When you and Kaika left for the mission, you left this behind," Umiya said as she tossed the key over to him.

---

"And it will be a great surprise," Takahisa said, seeing that Sasha was quite excited herself.

Sasha giggled. "Well I'm gonna go tell the others about his birthday! They'll be so excited!" and with that she skipped off down the hall.

Armin came up to Takahisa. "Oh boy... I'm gonna have to keep an eye on her.."

---

Eren caught it and returned it to his neck. "I never took it off though... Huh.."

"She's really full of energy, I bet she never settles down or something like that," Takahisa says to Armin once Sasha ran off.

---

"Sometimes people don't realize until told," Umiya shrugs.

Armin chuckled. "Yeah, but she is a sweet girl... And a great friend..." he looked at Takahisa. "Speaking of which, ypu don't need to give me anything tomorrow.... You being here is a great gift enough..." he said, hugging the boy to his chest gently.

---

Eren shrugged. "I guess.......So what are the schools like here?"

"The schools here are quite basic. As much as Kaika is average in school, she doesn't really seem to be much into it," Umiya said and pointed over to where Kaika was, on her laptop.

"And....done. That was easy," Kaika says as she was playing a game on the laptop.

---

"That's good to know," Takahisa said as he happily hugged Armin back.

Eren tilted his head. "Huh..."

---

Armin looked down at the boy. "I am a little curious on what you're planning..."

"Oh, hey, just playing a game and stuff," Kaika says as she completes another pokemon battle online.

---

"It is a surprise," Takahisa said with a shrug.

Eren tilted his head. "Hmm..."

---

Armin laughed. "I know..." he said, releasing the boy. "It's getting late... I'm going to go take a shower..." he began to walk out of the mess hall. "See you later..."

"Well, I'm beat," Kaika says as she yawned a bit. By now, it was reallt late night by now.

---

"Oh, see you then," Takahisa said as Armin walked out, and before he would go to sleep, Takahisa went to do a bit more exploring from here.