Eurydice glanced up from her wiggling toes and respoded, "Yeah. I can’t believe this is the first time we’ve visited California... er... aside from that incident at Disneyland."

Anaera sighed. "I suppose we should have enjoyed it a little first. What I saw was better than Disneyland Tokyo."

"It is the original."

"Was."

"Don’t argue with me about verb tense. It’s relaxing here and no one’s around."

"What about those men?"

"They’re going surfing, so they’ll soon be gone."

"Man! Everybody in California really must surf if those men do! They look like high school teachers!"

"Shush! They’re getting close now and we don’t want to offend anybody."

"You think anybody in this small town--""-Cambria-"

"Knows that much Japanese?"

"You never know. Anyway, let’s hide behind this rock so they don’t try to talk to us."

"Okay, mouse-girl."

Otaku and Guardian sat on the other side of a knobby volcanic rock and leaned their backs against it. Eurydice peeped a little when she sat on some seaweed, but both were quiet by the time the men were close.

"...Senor Ward."

"Um, Mister Fisher, I’m not a student... you can speak English."

"Lo siento, Ken. The year’s only half over and you know how it gets."

"I know, Jim. I don’t know if I can deal with one more kid burning an eraser with a bunsen burner or thinking I won’t notice them cheating."

"Well, isn’t that one of the reasons we surf before school?"

"Yeah, I guess. Just don’t crack any ribs this morning!"

"Oohh. Yeah, that really hurt! Not to mention there aren’t any good subs for Spanish."

"There are few good subs for anything except kindergarten in SLO county, and Paso always gets the worst. Like Mr. Magic Show..."

The two Paso Robles High School teachers walked out of listening range and the two women stood up.

"They were high school teachers!" Anaera exclaimed as she brushed sand off of her jeans.

"Well, I hope they have wetsuits on... that water is freezing!" Eurydice commented.

"Guess that rules out a swim. Oh darn!" Anaera’s sarcasm cut more than the chill air.

"Oh, I don’t know. I could still throw you in!"

"And I can pretend we’re a lesbian couple every time a cute guy walks by!"

"Okay, I think there’s some bikes in your Hammerspace and a nice tourist attraction north of here."

"You mean this ‘Hearst Castle?’ I dunno. Considering the time era it was built in and all, it’s probably a monument to bad taste."

"Might still be some good architecture.

"Well, okay. Not like we’ve got anything better to do."

Eurydice jumped up and down at the thought of going to a castle, then helped Anaera pull the two bicycles out of her Hammerspace. The Guardian had considered switching to mouse form and getting a free ride, but Anaera had mentioned cute guys... That made her think of her waistline and attractive tour guides, so she was cycling to San Simeon. She only hoped this part of the world gave her Otaku a break. Sure, Anae hadn’t had any encounters since the Disneyland fiasco, but she really had been training hard. And working hard to make sure they had plenty of money for the next few years. Konan currency had got them plenty of dollars when they sold them to a several rare coin collectors down along the coast from the San Jose airport.

"I’m gonna miss that green leotard," Eurydice told the breeze as she pedaled up Highway 1.