On the flight home, Naoki commented, "You seem like you actually had fun?"

Shinichi and most of the others turned to hear her answer, but Danika could only shrug, and admit, "I don't know. It was definitely an experience?"

"That's one way of putting it," Hideki complained with his arm over his eyes.

"It was fun to meet Natsume in person," Danika added to Akito. He still had glittery red streaks in his hair from his event costuming that reminded her of his genie's flame red hair.

"I can't wait until we get married and I can see her every day," Akito replied fervently.

"She seems… more independent and social than I expected from the way you always describe your future married life?" Danika ventured. "Will she be happy as a housewife?"

"That part is her idea," Akito replied with a shrug. "She can change her mind later if she gets bored, and if all goes well, we will continue to be successful enough that the two of you can flit off on holidays whenever you want."

"Danika can't flit off whenever she wants," Shinichi objected. Danika turned and stared at him, even Hideki lifted his arm and gazed at Shinichi with surprise. Shinichi quickly explained, "I want to take her to a lot of different places and she's almost a work-a-holic. It'll be hard enough to schedule those between jobs!"

"I can schedule more time off as soon as we're done with the demos, but we need one of those to be successful if we want to keep Jade running," Danika replied quickly.

Kimitoshi started to laugh quietly, and Naoki joined him a moment later. Hideki dropped his arm back over his eyes with an amused smile. Shinichi just grinned and reached out to run his fingers through her hair affectionately.

--

Danika intended to sleep in the next morning, even though Shinichi had to be up and out for another interview far too early. She didn't get to sleep much longer than he did though, because her phone's notification tone went off, and then her assistant dragon announced that she had messages from both her aunt Hati and her cousin Mei stating their intent to visit her that morning.

She was a little irritated by the short notice, but she could also understand their curiosity, since her feedback on the movie had actually been one of the clips shown in the broadcasts. If her cousin or her aunt had been in her position, she would have been curious too, even if she would like to think that she wouldn't have accosted them the morning after.

Ryuske was the one who had told them that her clip had been used, when they got home. At the same time he had said, "You did well."

She wasn't entirely convinced that Shinichi's manager and employers would agree with Ryuske, because she had followed the parental advice she'd been given and answered honestly. She hadn't said anything very bad; only that she hoped future VR previews could at least include a method of moving your viewpoint around like you would be able to in a VR system, and that the story had made her cry.

Her assistant prompted her again, "Based on your average time spent getting ready each morning, you need to get up within the next three minutes to be ready when your family members arrive."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

The wording made Danika sit up and ask, "Are there more of them other than Hati and Mei coming?"

"Both messages specify 'we', and they may be speaking of each other, or they may both arrive with more people," her assistant replied cheerfully.

Danika scooted up to the top of the bed and touched the control that opened the door into the bathroom, as she slid off of the mattress onto the raised section that now linked the rooms.

--

To Danika's relief, only Hati and Mei showed up. They had also brought breakfast with them, and come with an obviously nosy intent, since they were barely in the door before they both started asking questions.

Danika was a little irked by the whole thing, but she calmly answered both of them and then asked a few questions of her own. She asked Mei, "How do you like Jade's demo?" And she told Hati, "I'm surprised you had time to come along?"

Hati replied airily, without a hint of embarrassment, "I've been meaning to come and visit you ever since you moved in with this boy of yours. Seeing you in such a flashy setting was really quite a shock, but you looked good! I was surprised!"

Danika was nettled by the addition of the last line, but she had barely drawn a breath when Mei said apologetically, "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Danika asked her cousin instead of snapping at her aunt.

"I feel like I should love it, it's got all the right settings, and the gameplay is smooth. It's just… something. I don't know? It's like everything is over-dramatic? Which seems like a really silly thing to say if you compare the story lines with most of the games I play, where you usually start off with your planet destroyed or something," Mei said uncertainly.

"Oh. He… uh Jade is what we call the main game system, and he was given mostly space opera examples for crafting storylines. Those are usually pretty melodramatic?" Danika asked Mei.

"Melodramatic is about right," Mei agreed promptly.

"Should you be assigning a computer system a gender?" Hati questioned doubtfully.

Danika shrugged and explained, "It's arbitrary. The next one was set as a female, and we've been alternating them. It's better than ships, which are always female, right?"

"Nav systems and home AI systems have always let you set a voice and gender for them, so I'm pretty sure it's perfectly normal," Mei assured their aunt.

"Ah, true enough. Maybe I'm getting a little old after all," Hati said a bit regretfully.

Danika and Mei gazed at their aunt in amazement, as she jumped and stared upward with a distinct blush, when Ryuske suddenly leaned over the balcony and called down, "You don't look old at all to me!"

"Morning?" Danika ventured as she turned to look upward.

Ryuske had obviously just woken up. His short white hair was still touseled and he seemed to be wearing one of the t-shirts he usually slept in. But he replied cheerfully, "Good morning. I didn't expect to wake up to a house full of pretty young ladies! Is there enough of that breakfast that I may join you in a few minutes?"

"There's plenty!" Danika and Mei both replied in unison.

Hati didn't respond right away, even after Ryuske had grinned at them and vanished back into his room. After another moment passed, Danika asked her, "Are you a fan?"

"Fan?" their aunt asked a little blankly. "Who is he?"

"Kobayashi Ryuske, from an old band called Mirage," Mei explained.

Danika added, "Shinichi's dad. The one who adopted him. I told you about him?"

Hati blinked at her and then nodded. "Er, yes, you did," she agreed a little faintly. "Are you sure that he's actually in his seventies?"

"Um, fairly?" Danika agreed. Ryuske was actually in really good shape for his age, but he always looked shockingly old to her after she'd spent an evening playing with Ryullusion in 'Living Jade Empire'.

"I suppose that he could be in his eighties since sometimes production companies have falsified ages," Mei speculated. "But all of his published information agrees that he really was only fifteen when he launched his career."

Hati gazed at her nieces for a moment and then shook her head and grinned. "I'd have guessed that he was only in his fifties," she told them. Her voice lowered and she added, "There are very few men who can still look that hot in their later years."

Mei gave their aunt a sharp look and then crossed her arms and made a tutting noise. "Are you sure you're our aunt? The same woman who used to tell us that more than a five year difference is destructive to a relationship?"

"You were trying to date someone almost twice your age," Hati protested. "And I am not going to start anything. He's Danika's future father in-law after all!"

Danika struggled to remember whether or not she'd actually told their aunt that she and Shinichi had decided that they were going to get married, but all she said was, "If you want to see hot, you should meet him in 'Living Jade Empire'."

"His elf, yeah," Mei agreed promptly. "Smoking. And I'm not even into really pretty guys."

"Is your problem with 'Living Jade Empire' also that the quests are too melodramatic?" Danika asked Mei suddenly.

"Trying to change the subject before he comes down?" Mei asked with a knowing grin.

Danika stuck her tongue out at her cousin instead of replying, and was surprised when both Hati and Mei giggled like school girls.