Peony indeed had the right idea. Perhaps if his younger companion had caught sight of those CD players, Christmas Hits for a Very Happy Holiday would have only been two-clicks away. Instead, Rena decided to search for a suitable replacement in the form of a cassette tape. "It would," she said thoughtfully, digging through the first of the music boxes. "If those tape players had speakers built-in, maybe we can listen at the same time."

"All-der-ant?" Rena attempted slowly. It was a strange name, but it also had a pretty tone to it. Kind of reminded her of Star Wars, actually. "You have monsters in Allderant, Peony-san?" Images of deadly dragonflies and clawed midgets flashed through her mind. "How do you defend against them? Do you use the fonic artes 'magic'?" She wanted to ask about the rappigs as well, but the man seemed pretty tired of explaining them.

"Uh-huh. Rena is from a country called Japan," began Rena as she peered into another box. "It isn't very different from here; I haven't had trouble missing most things." Or so the girl thought.

"The language is confusing, though," she continued with a frown. "I sometimes can't understand what people mean when they say things like, um, 'getting out of the wrong side of the bed.'" Courtesy of her nurse, who used it whenever Rena was too quiet. "Is there a specific side we have to wake up to?" she asked, although no answer was expected. Peony wouldn't know anyway, right?

Ah, here was something! "Aww, aren't they cute?" A starry-eyed Rena brought her search results to Peony. Three seemingly rodent-like illustrations in red, blue, and green topped the cover, overlaid with the words A Chipmunk Christmas. "I don't know if they have all the Christmas carols in here, but... Hau~ I wanna take them home!"

She really did. Those chipmunks would make a great addition to her collection of the cute, the cuter, and the cutest.