Title:
Fandom: Magic Knight Rayearth
Rating: General
Length: 3000 words
Content notes: None
Author notes: We got a nintendo switch a week and a half ago. I have played so much animal crossing. So this fic happened. Umi and Clef, post-canon.
Summary: "Thank the spirits you're here. You can take him away!" Ferio said, with a grin.

oOo

It was a few months since the Knights had been able to get to Cephiro - the end of their second year at University had been busy for all three of them, and there hadn't been much time for going home, meeting up, and getting to the tower. Hikaru was the only one of them studying in Tokyo - Umi and Fuu were in Kyoto, but at seperate Universities, and they barely saw each other even though they were notionally in the same city.

But this weekend, all three of them were back home for the start of the long holiday, and they had been planning to head to Cephiro as soon as possible - only to be delayed a very little when Fuu got home to find her sister was about to relocate abroad for work for a year.

It wouldn't have been quite such an issue, if she wasn't engaged and planning to get married in two months. The marriage had been yanked forwards on very short notice and this had suddenly become the last week she and Kuu were likely to live under the same roof.

Umi and Hikaru had both insisted she take the time to hang out with her sister and help with arrangements and everything wedding-related; Cephiro wasn't going anywhere, and no one knew precicely when to expect them. Another week and a half wouldn't hurt, and a wedding was important. Besides, Hikaru hadn't had much time to spend with her brothers while she was wrapped up in University - partially because of the work, but mostly because of all the societies and clubs she'd ended up joining.

"Will you be okay, Umi?" Fuu asked, her voice anxious even over the phoneline. "I don't want to leave you without plans-"

"Fuu! Don't be ridiculous, I'll be fine. There's plenty here to do, and do you know what task Mama's set for me this holiday?"

"...No?"

"Testing some new games on the latest of the Ryuuzaki handheld games console, the one which plugs in to the TV," Umi said, feeling pretty smug about that. "When we're back from Cephiro, you'll have to come stay round here for a few days, and have a go on them."

"That's a promise, right?" Fuu demanded, and Umi had to laugh. Of the three of them, Fuu had always been the one most interested in video games.

She nodded, though Fuu couldn't see her. "It'll be here. Hikaru can come stay too - my parents are headed off to a two-week conference in a bit so we can have the place to ourselves and play games all day."

"I'll be looking forward to it!" Fuu said, much more cheerfully, and they said their goodbyes.

Poking the 'end call' icon on her phone, Umi sighed, flopping back on her bed. She hadn't been kidding, she did have a pile of games waiting for her... she'd just planned on playing them with her friends, inviting them to hang out at hers for a few days after Cephiro.. It was more fun that way. Now, it looked like she was going to be mostly on her own after her parents headed out. Her old friends from school were scattered all over the place, and most of them were busy.

Oh well. She would have time to relax! There hadn't been much of that the past few months.

oOo

The morning after her parents headed out, Umi woke up just after eight as usual with her alarm ringing, looked at her clock, and proceeded to turn it off and roll over.

She woke up again at lunchtime, and wandered downstairs, yawning; there was a brightly-coloured box on the kitchen counter by the kettle, a note proped up on it with her name across the front.

'I'm sorry your friends aren't free this week; this game is already out, but I thought you might like it, after all your trips to a land where you can make rivers at will. ~Mama.'
(Her parents had been to Cephiro twice, and by the end of the second trip they'd seemed completely at home with the whole thing. "After all," her mother had said, looking thoughtful. 'It does explain a lot when you think about it - we always knew something drastic had happened to make you such fierce friends with Hikaru and Fuu in one afternoon.')

Umi set the note aside, and picked up the box - it was covered in cheerful looking characters going about their daily lives in a very cute digital world. She'd even heard of this game - it had taken off last year and proved massively popular, but other than watching Fuu play a little, Umi hadn't actually played it herself. She preferred fighting games, if she was playing, or sometimes puzzle games. Not something which involved paying off a mortgage and working to earn money to buy decorations for your in-game house.

But she did have a lot of time to fill, no real wish to go out anywhere, and she thought that you could change the island about in the game - which would explain her mother's comment about moving rivers.

Over the years she'd wondered what Hikaru would have done with Cephiro, if she'd remained Pillar. Even more occasionally, she'd wondered what she would have done. It was a pretty terrifying thought, havign that much control, but in a little digital world where no one could be hurt?

It might be interesting, at least.

She got herself some cereal and a large bottle of apple-flavoured drink from the fridge, and headed back to her own little sitting room to start the game up and just see what it was like while she had her belated breakfast.

oOo

She was still playing when the phone rang at nearly six, her parents telling her they'd got to their hotel safe. "Did you find the game I left you?" Mama asked. "Did it look interesting?"

Umi looked guiltily at the clock, then down at her pyjamas - then shrugged the guilt away. She was on holiday, and resting. Six solid hours of gaming wasn't really that bad, was it? "Yeah," she said. "I've played a bit. It's pretty cute." On screen, her character was selling as many fish as she'd been able to cram in her pockets - there was a pocket expansion item she was trying to earn, and fishing seemed like the most lucrative task open to her right now.

Plus, the satisfaction every time she caught something was real, and had done wonders for her mood. (If not her back, which was cranky from sitting here so long.)

"I wondered if you might like it for a change. But it's not long before you'll be visiting your friends."

"Not long, no." She wouldn't be able to take the console, either. It did undock and work as a portable console, but there would be no way of charging it in Cephiro.

Plus, who knew what the journey would do to her save data?
"Have you had anything to eat yet?" Mama was asking, and Umi winced, looking at the empty bowl of cereal and the packet of crisps she'd found in her bag instead of going as far as the kitchen when she got hungry.

"Uh. Not yet."

"There's some frozen meals in the second freezer - some from the stores, but some leftovers too. Make sure you eat well while we're away."

"I've been looking after myself in Kyoto for ages, Mama," Umi protested.

"Yes, you've told us all about the Udon shop next door to your dorm, and the conbini down the road," her mother said, with a laugh. "Look after yourself, love!"

oOo

Microwaves, Umi decided, were awesome. Five minutes and she had a perfectly wholesome meal hot and ready.

...And she'd spent so long on the game today a little more could hardly hurt, could it. After all, she was only a third of the way through unlocking all the features she could get to today, and wanted to work on building up a stash of money so maybe tomorrow and the next day, when she needed to do a bit more of the set-up, she could just spend ten minutes paying things off and then do something else.

oOo

By the fifth day, she'd given up on the lie that she was going to play this casually - she was reading tips online, finding guides that told her when fish and other creatures were available and how to catch them, making a 'wish list' of decorations for her little house and planning themes for the different parts of her island once she could terraform them.

It was addicting - challenging, and creative, but never stressful. (Apart from the occasional tarantula appearing at night and chasing her about.) She'd played a little bit of the other games she'd been left, one ones in beta versions, but kept coming back to this little game with its little world and the small but growing collection of people living there, who she was starting to feel highly protective of. She was adding fancy features all over so they had drinks machines, parks, fountains and a beach cafe and the best possible fishing lakes.

The echoingly empty house didn't matter when she was focused on her tiny one. Neither did the days seem long.

oOo

The break came to an end the day she packed up a bag and headed out to meet Hikaru and Fuu at Tokyo Tower. They'd planned on meeting in the park nearby and hanging out for a while before heading off, but all three of them were bouncing with excitement.

"Oh, come on!" Hikaru said, grabbing Fuu's hand and reaching for Umi's with a laugh. "We can catch up in Cephiro! Let's just go!"

So go they did, the fizzing joy of the transportation spell dropping them into the familiar hall of the Castle.

They had barely touched down on the familiar stone floor when they were hailed.

"Oh! You're here! Great!"

"Ferio?" They span about, just in time for Ferio to grin at all of them, wrap his arms about Fuu for a very swift hug, and pull away again.

"Thank the spirits you're here. You can take him away!" Ferio said, with a grin, like that was meant to make sense to them, and then looked back over his shoulder. "Hey, Clef! The Magic Knights are here!"

"I can see that, Ferio, thank you." Clef walked through the doorway to the Hall. "It's good to see you."

Umi grinned to see him - then started, very swiftly, to frown. He was looking too pointy again, like he hadn't for several years now.

Still, he smiled at them, and nodded a greeting. "How has your learning been, these last few months? Are you on vacation at the moment?"

"Yes," Ferio cut in, "please say you are on vacation and can take him with you?"

'Him' was, according to the out-thrust hand, Clef. Who rolled his eyes at the dramatics.

"I'm not going anywhere, Ferio-"

Completely ignoring this interruption, Ferio clasped Fuu's hands, glancing at all of them. "The only people who owe me a favour are in Autozam and they don't like it when Clef visists, all the technology tends to go wrong. But your Tokyo would be perfect!"

"Why do you think Clef needs a holiday?" Fuu asked, and her tone was the kind of polite enquiry which meant she had some suspicions about it.

Umi had her own suspicions, but they were derailed when Ferio said "Because he's arguing with the Priests about where the river on the plains out there is meant to be and it's messing everyone up!"

"…What?" Hikaru said, at the same time as Fuu said "Pardon?". Umi didn't manage to say anything, so much as yelp an echo of Hikaru's question.

Clef glared at Ferio. "I am not having an argument with them-"

"Then why has the river been in the east of the castle three days this week, and the west the other three?" Ferio rubbed a hand over his head. "The position was agreed in full Council, and it's in the west."

"I'm not doign it on purpose!" Clef snapped, and Umi stared at him as he flushed bright red. "I- my last home, there was a river to the east, and I used to listen to it when I was falling asleep-"

"Basically," Ferio said, cutting through the babble, "we need to get Clef out of here long enough the rest of Cephiro learns where the river should be so he can stop thinking 'that's wrong, isn't it?" as he falls asleep and messing up geography. The cellars have flooded twice now. Please say you can take him with you?"

Umi glanced at the others, seeing their hesitation. "He would be welcome, so far as I am concerned, but… there are several family members staying in my parent's house, as my sister has recently married, and it has turned into an excuse for several people to invite themselves to stay for a few weeks…"

"Clef could stay with me, I'm sure my brothers wouldn't mind?" Hikaru said, but Umi knew how much she'd been wanting to spend a decent week here.

Umi shook her head. "He can stay with me," she said, firmly. "My parents won't care, they aren't even home right now anyway, and the house is huge. How soon are you kicking him out? I did want to stay a few nights, but if things are really bad-"

"You could bring him back in two weeks and stay then?" Ferio suggested, leaping at the suggestion with a telling speed.

It was still less indicative than Clef not saying anything against the idea. Instead he stared at the wall behind Umi's shoulder, face red and biting his lip. "No one is required to host me-"

"If you're willing to deal with no magic for a couple of weeks, it could be fun? You could learn more about our world, instead of you always being the teacher," Umi said, the thought becoming more appealing. "Plus, Ferio's going to owe me a huge favour, what's bad about that?"

They'd tested travel to Tokyo with only one or two of them, and with a tag-along, a couple of years back - they tended to not come except when all three of them were about as otherwise they each felt guilty. But they were probably going to have to start coming alone, now their schedules were so different. The more Umi thought about it, the easier she became with the idea - so the next morning they stood in the reception hall again. Hasty arrangements had been put in place for Clef's absence (with the speed that happened, several people and the entire Mage's Guild must have been planning to get him away for a while) and he'd been given a set of clothes pulled from Umi's (fortunately his legs were skinny and about the same length as hers, and she had a bunch of stretchy t-shirts that didn't look too odd - but they'd made a late-afternoon dash to the shops in Tokyo to find him underwear from earth which wouldn't vanish when he appeared in the Tower).

The one thing they hadn't really counted on was how overwhelming Tokyo would be to someone used to Cephiro.

Umi got him into a taxi, wincing at the inevitable cost but not about to try getting him on a train, and by the time she had time to breathe again she had him installed on the sofa in her sitting room with a cup of tea and a slightly haunted expression.

"Well!" she said, cheerfully. "I think we need a break before we try getting you clothes which aren't mine. Though I think those jeans fit you better than they do me, actually."

"These trousers?" Clef poked at them with one finger. "They fit well enough, though they are… strangely stiff."

"We can probably find some sweatpants that'll fit you, anyway," Umi continued to muse, "and I've a bunch of t-shirts which are too large, so it's not an immediate thing. Let's just… chill, for a while?"

They were in the sitting room - alone, in her house, and Clef was on her sofa in Tokyo and wearing her clothes and Umi briefly started panicing about all of that when Clef poked the controller for the games system, obviously doing his best to find them a topic to talk about. "What is this? It has a lot of buttons, but doesn't seem attached to anything. Does it control the house somehow?"

"No- well, not the real house," Umi picked it up, with a mental shrug, and dived for the thing which had distracted her so reliably for the past week. "It's a control so you can play video games on the screen over there - the games are actually on the little blue thing that's plugged in beside it, here, let me show you what I've spent the past week doing far too much of."

The game was, it turned out, straight-forward enough that it made sense to Clef - it didn't really require knowledge of things like cars, or trains, or - zombies, or anything like that. When she got up to find them lunch, she handed over the controller with a brief description of the buttons and a 'you might as well have a go'.

She'd finished off most of the stuff in the freezer, so she actually ran to the nearest conbini for food. By the time she got back, Clef had managed to find the terraforming options and was frowning at a strangely shaped pond he seemed to have dug by accident.

Umi laughed. "I guess in the game the only person you're going to argue about river placement with is me," she said, and took the controller back. "Here, lets make you your own character."

oOo

A week later, when Hikaru and Fuu appeared on the doorstep to check on them, they'd both clocked hours and hours on the system. But on the plus side, Clef had spent a lot of time not thinking about his work - and the island they'd built was pretty impressive.

That meant Umi was going to have to work out how to get him a system to play when he went back to Cephiro and how to power it. Right now, though, she was happy to give their friends a virtual tour of their little shared universe. The real world could let them rest a little longer.