He had done it again. Mikomi slipped up once with Ryan when he talked about VX Command and now he made that same mistake with Serah over Shadow Wing. He rubbed the back of his head as he realized that this was going to be quite an awkward conversation. As his mind instantly began to think of excuses, Serah asked the most obvious question in the world.

“How do you know about something you haven’t seen yet?”

Mikomi was a bit nervous but as he thought about how to get out of this, he remembered what he had told Ryan before. With Ryan on the brain, he decided to take a shot in the dark while adding a bit of playfulness to it.

“Don’t you know? I’m from the future! Either that or Ryan told me. Whichever one seems more believable.”

“Sorry, buddy, but you’re going to have to take the bullet for me on this one. Damn, I need to be more careful!”

“Ryan told you!? How in the hell is he higher than level 37? I might have to cancel Thanksgiving dinner so I can go home and get further than him. For him to be that far ahead, he had to have started playing the moment he got home. I guess it makes sense… he doesn’t exactly have a boyfriend to keep him away from the game.”

Serah shot Mikomi a look that could kill. He could only sit there in disbelief that he was being blamed for her being behind someone else in the game. Mikomi also realized he was being blamed for no reason at all because he made up the lie to get out of the corner he backed himself into. In all reality, Ryan is the kind of person who would probably be still stuck trying to kill the level-one giant rats in the starting village. The more he thought about it, something else popped into his mind… something that he didn’t catch right away.

“Um, Serah? You said that Ryan doesn’t have a boyfriend to keep him away from gaming. Did you mean girlfriend?”

“Honestly? I was referring to you and me. You’re my boyfriend and you kept me from getting higher than level 37. I guess I did word that a bit odd but… now that you mention it… I’ve never seen Ryan hang around any girls other than me. He is also rather energetic and gets a bit too excited over things. Wait… you don’t suppose, do you?”

Mikomi then thought about how Ryan kept jumping and hugging him every morning, his always cheerful attitude, and the fact that he really does get too excited over things such as action figures and the like. Even though Serah had meant it in a different way, that one choice of vocabulary messed with his head a bit. Serah waved her hand in front of Mikomi’s face as he began to space out thinking about the possibility.

He shook his head and brought himself back to reality. He decided to give his pondering a rest and got up to go through his normal morning routine. By the time he got dressed, the house began to smell like turkey. It was a pleasant and welcoming aroma that would fill the house for the rest of the day. Serah practically foamed at the mouth once the smell hit her nostrils. For her, the wait was agonizing so she decided to make herself useful and help out Karoline in the kitchen. After learning about Serah’s inability to cook, Mikomi became concerned over the quality of his Thanksgiving dinner.

In the end, everything turned out just fine. Serah only burnt an entire tray of biscuits but Karoline ensured that she cooked the rest. The feast was quite exquisite as there was a large twenty-pound bird jammed up with stuffing in the center of the table. Surrounding the succulent fowl was a gravy boat, a bowl full of peas, a bowl with a heaping amount of mashed potatoes, a platter full of biscuits with the burnt ones on the very bottom, a glass plate containing black olives and cranberry sauce, a casserole dish of three-cheese macaroni n’ cheese, another dish with broccoli saute and finally, a bowl of miso soup to honor Ryunosuke’s heritage and culture. The miso soup was really out of place compared to the other dishes but Ryunosuke didn’t particularly care. All he saw was good food in front of him and his goal was to devour as much as his stomach could hold.

After a prayer led by Ryunosuke, they all dug in until they couldn’t eat another bite. Ryunosuke and Serah ended up having an eating competition to see who could polish off the most food. Serah ended up winning and earning herself the title of ‘bottomless pit’ from him. Serah and Mikomi rested on the couch as his father watched football on the TV. The two of them laid there all snuggled up together. Karoline came in and asked who was ready for dessert but Ryunosuke put his finger up to his lips. Karoline looked over and noticed that both Mikomi and Serah had fallen asleep together and looked so peaceful. Karoline couldn’t help herself as she went into her room and grabbed her camera. She took a photo of the two of them sleeping together to keep as a memento of this day.

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That day was practically picture-perfect for Mikomi. Thanksgiving turned out exactly how he thought it would. It was the medicine he needed to help relieve the depression that had weighed so heavy on his mind these past few weeks. After their little food-induced coma, Mikomi and Serah woke up right at the tail end of the football game. Karoline was asleep in one of the chairs, exhausted from all the work she had put into making that dinner but Ryunosuke was on the edge of his seat. The game was in overtime and his team was driving down the field. A field goal settled the game and Ryunosuke was excited that his team won but he knew he had to keep it down otherwise Karoline would kill him for waking her. Mikomi sat up as Serah scooted over to the other side of the couch.

“Have a good nap, son?”

“Yeah…” said Mikomi after letting out a bit of a yawn. With the way things were going, and with his happiness restored, he decided to take the plunge and talk to Ryunosuke about something that had also been weighing on his mind. Even though he knew the consequences of changing things too much, this one should be easy since it would align with the original timeline to a degree, therefore, any ripple effect should be minimal.

“Dad, I wanted to talk to you seriously about something.”

“Oh? What’s on your mind?”

“Since everyone is here, I guess this would be the perfect opportunity to do so but I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and I came to a decision. When I’m done with school, I want to come work for Onyx Technology Ventures. I want to follow in your footsteps and carry on your work.”

“Mikomi. It makes me very proud to hear you say that but you’re still only fourteen. Even though you are doing very well in school, I don’t think you have any idea how hard of a job it is to develop something as we have. I had to scour the world to find some of the most talented programmers and engineers to create the products that we have. It’s going to take a lot more than a few advanced placement classes to do the kind of work needed.”

Mikomi stood up and looked his father straight in the eye. Mikomi was done playing around. After thinking about things for the past few weeks, Mikomi concluded that he had already changed so much that no matter what he did from this point forward, it was all new. The single fact alone that Serah was here sharing Thanksgiving with him was proof of that. Maybe it was the clarity in his mind from taking a nap after a perfect day but Mikomi decided to throw caution out the window with reckless abandon and just give in to the flow of things.

“I’m well aware of that and I’ve already begun preparing. I already think I’m well qualified to work there.”

Karoline was awoken by the conversation. She looked at Mikomi when he said that with a raised eyebrow. Ryunosuke chuckled because he remembered what he was like when he was Mikomi’s age. He thought he knew everything, too and he saw a lot of him in his son in that regard. Ryunosuke decided to entertain his son for a moment.

“You do? What makes you think you’re qualified to work at the company?”

Mikomi gritted his teeth. Even Serah was perplexed by Mikomi’s behavior. He looked his father dead in the eyes and took a deep breath, preparing to drop the proverbial bomb on him. Mikomi opened his mouth knowing that this was an all-or-nothing moment.

“Because… I’m the one who wrote you that letter.”

His father was stunned into silence. He was so shocked, he dropped the television remote on the floor. Karoline sat there in her chair and just watched to see what Ryunosuke’s reaction would be. After sitting there for a moment, he spoke up.

“No… you couldn’t have. You’re only fourteen. What do you know about artificial….”

“I know that the parameters of your logic were out of scope. I know that the logic itself was flawed in the fact that it was based on taking in information only when it was inputted manually. You never thought to use the input channel on a recording device as a means for data intake. All you had to do was set up an algorithm to constantly monitor the input channel and then have the logic write the data to a storage device that the program could constantly access. Once accessed, the main program would then translate it into computer data and, in turn, sound data. All that was left would be the audio output in which the data would be translated into English. You were on the right track, you were just going about it the wrong way.”

Ryunosuke’s jaw hit the floor. He sat there, mouth open and eyes widened as he couldn’t believe what he had just heard come out of Mikomi’s mouth. All this time, he suspected it was someone on his team… never in a million years would he imagine that it was his very own son who delivered to him the answer which would save his company. Even now, Ryunosuke couldn’t speak clearly… his mind was completely blown to the point where he had no idea what to make of any of this.

“There it is, dad. The cold, hard truth. Now… what are you going to do?”