Author’s corner: HELLO HELLO! Some family time and reunion!

ANYWAY, some slightly more serious moment in this chapter, only to degenerate into silly comedy like always, because why not? It’s also the first appearance of one and a half character! (because one you already appeared in game, and not offline), so enjoy it!

ALSO, We did it, brothers! We made VRDraco put on more monster hunter monsters on his story! Hooray! But simply doing that would be plain mean, so whoever have an idea, tell him of some unique monsters he could use on his story, okay?

Have a good read!

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Hattori made a quick gesture towards one of the bodyguards, who quickly came out of hiding and approached him. They exchanged some quick words in Japanese that I couldn’t quite understand before the bodyguard nodded and spoke something in their communicator.

I looked confused at that for some time, but decided that it shouldn’t be anything important, as the man walked away so that he could do whatever it was that he was supposed to do. Yet, noticing my curiosity, Hattori quickly explained to me.

“I asked him to go and get our baggage.” He explained. “We left it on the airplane until we could load it on the car.”

“So, this way you wouldn’t need to carry it around… Smart thinking.” I said with a nod.

Now that I stopped to think about it, the fact that I hadn’t seen their baggage at all was a bit strange, but it didn’t really cross my mind at all.

“Excuse-me, Hattori-dono.” Cyg said, getting his attention, I quickly flipped the cellphone so that he screen was pointing towards him. “It’s a pleasure meeting you. My name is Cygnas and I’m the AI responsible for managing the game your daughter plays.” Cyg said while bowing.

“Oh! So you are the said AI?” Hattori said amused while leaning in for a closer look. “The pleasure is mine!” He said with a nod.

“Thank you!” Cyg replied before going back to her curious look. “Now, if you allow me to ask, but where to you plan to stay during your visit?” She asked with a tilted head. “I mean, you are renting an apartment for Yuu, I know that much, but I don’t think it’s big enough for the whole family.”

“Well, Cygnas-dono, we plan on staying on a five-star hotel in this city for the meantime.” He said with a nod, but…

“Campos has a five star hotel?” I asked confused and saw as Cyg face-palmed herself.

“How come you don’t know that, Gon?” Cygnas said in a tired tone. “Don’t you live in this city?” she asked me.

“Well, it’s not like I needed to find about five-star hotels in the city, right?” I said while shrugging, which made Hattori smirk slightly.

“Well, he does have a point.” He said with a nod before turning back to Cygnas with a curious look. “Say, if you are on his cellphone, does this means that you are also on Yuu’s and Mary’s?”

“Actually, no…” Cygnas said with a wry smile. “If I were to do that, I’d rather ask them before doing it, and I never really had the chance to do it yet.”

“I wouldn’t mind?” Yuu said while tilting her head as if confused.

“To have my very own Cyg on my cellphone…” Mary said while thinking for a moment. “I think I that would be interesting.” She said cheerfully.

Well, as much as I enjoy Cyg’s company and help with using my cellphone and so on, shouldn’t they think a bit more before giving a top tier A.I. like her access to a personal device like a cellphone or so on? The only thing keeping her from accessing all the data in the cellphone is… Actually nothing?

I mean, really, when I think about it, the only reason she didn’t access the data in my cellphone Is because she didn’t want to, after all, she is the most powerful computer in existence right now, so if she felt like it she could hack a cellphone like ours in the blink of an eye.

…

I need to be a bit more careful to not piss her off too much.

“Then, if you don’t mind…” Cygnas said with a shy smile. “As soon as we get a decent connection I’ll download the necessary app. It’s a bit too big to use the cellphone connection.”

Well, she had an eager tone to her voice, so I guess that she’s a bit happy to have some more people to talk to while we are offline. She does seem to enjoy following people around, even if she doesn’t end up speaking too much.

As Cyg explained what she could do while being in the girl’s cellphone to them, the bodyguards came back carrying some suitcases with them, leaving it besides Hattori and Fuyuki and Yuu. Looking at the scene, I raised an eyebrow towards Mary, who didn’t have a single baggage besides her.

“What?” She asked me confused, and I pointed towards the baggage, and she made a face as if she understood. “My maid have my baggage. I couldn’t leave it with Yuu’s group, right?” She said cheerfully.

“Wait, maid?” I asked surprised.

“Yup…” She said cheerfully before blinking surprise. “Oh yeah… This will be interesting…” She said with an amused smile.

“What do you mean?” I asked confused. She simply smiled while snapping her finger.

“Maya, my baggage please.” She said in a commanding tone.

“Who the heck is May…” I started asking.

“Here it is, milady.”

I almost fell from my chair when the sudden voice simply appeared from thin air besides me. I turned in a hurry to see who the heck was the owner of the voice while holding on dearly on the chair’s edge so that I wouldn’t fall from the sudden movement.

Besides me was a girl that I hadn’t seen before in my entire life, with a short light brown hair cut right around the height of her neck. Wearing a simple black blouse and jeans pants, she stood straight up right besides us with two large and one small travelling bags beside her.

I stared at her for a moment while blinking in surprise. She didn’t even notice my gaze and looked straight to Mary.

“Thank you, Maya.” She replied while smiling to the girl, who nodded slightly. “Gon, meet Maya. She’s been my personal maid ever since I was a kid. Maya, this is Gon, or Richard, and he’s the one I told you that I met in the game.”

“So I’ve heard.” Maya said in English while turning to me for the first time. “It’s not my pleasure to meet you. Still, thanks for taking care of milady for me.”

“I thought you two would get along well.” Mary said with a playful smile while I stared at Maya.

“Yeah... I think I might actually like her.” I said truthfully. And no, I did not miss the ‘not’ in her greeting, and no, I did not miss that look of smugness in her eyes. “It’s my pleasure to meet you, Maya, and you can leave it to me to take care of Mary while we are in-game.” I said with my brightest smile, which made her click her tongue in annoyance. “But seriously, how did you appear like that? I was sure that there wasn’t anyone nearby.” I asked surprised.

“A servant must be wherever her master is, and always be ready to attend to her call.” She said monotonically, as if repeating something she read in a manual.

But seriously, what the hell with that kind of manga-esque reply? And how the hell did she even do that whole poofing into existence thing? I turned towards Yuu and co., but they simply shrugged, saying that they had no idea either. Finally I turned to Mary, who was raising from the table so that we could get moving.

“She grew up reading too many manga about butlers and maids… So she’s a bit weird in that aspect.” She said with a wry smile.

My eyes widened at those words and I had to hold back a mischievous smile that was threatening to appear. Maya simply glanced at me with an annoyed look before quickly following Mary through the airport while carrying the larger baggage.

I shrugged it off and raised myself from the table at the same time as Yuu and her parents. They left it for the bodyguards to carry the luggage as we made our way out from the airport. Which… became quite the scene.

Just imagine this, six people walking around an airport, three of them being beauties, one being a woman wearing a kimono, a man with a  dangerous look wearing a business suit and lastly me, all the while being surrounded by bodyguards wearing black suits.

I felt strangely badass while stuffing my chest out in pride.

Or I would do that, if my legs weren’t screaming in pain at the fact that they were being used again so soon.

We quickly reached the taxis in front of the airport and I took the one with the girls, taking the front seat while the girls shared the back-seat. I did notice the taxi’s driver giving me a surprised look once he saw the girls, I simply put my best poker face and told him the address to go.

He shrugged and turned on the car after helping the bodyguards load the baggage. A few minutes later, we were already on the road and it finally sunk in.

“Say, will Maya also stay with you?” I asked.

“Yup. Maya will stay with us to take care of our apartment.” Mary said cheerfully before looking confused. “Didn’t I tell you this?”

“Didn’t I just meet her?” I said dryly, and she made an ‘of course face.’

I sighed loudly while turning my attention to the car following right behind us. I frowned slightly because I could see Hattori, Fuyuki plus two bodyguards riding the taxi following us. Wasn’t he going to the five-star hotel?

Anyway, it didn’t take much longer for us to reach my apartment, and once there we had a small surprise.

“Hello Sonny! What a coincidence to meet you here!”

“Booh!”

“So, these are Yuu and Hanbei? Which one is which?”

“Why the hell do you keep ignoring me in-game, you bastard!”

Said four different people in Portuguese.

I smiled weakly at the scene while looking at the four people gathered in front of my apartment as if waiting for me. I took a deep sigh while staring at them.

The first one, as you may have noticed, was my father. People say that we are very similar, even though I don’t really see it. He’s a bit taller than me, probably half a palm taller, and have a tanned skin. His hair had some signs of going white on the sides of his head due to his age.

Second, was the little pest I call sister. Being as tall as my legs and with long hair that goes to midway her back, she had a slightly chubby appearance and was smiling widely while being held by the neck by my father’s hand.

The last important person was a short girl, being a bit to the chubby side and having long tinted red hair tied in a bun, she wore a black shirt and jeans, looking curiously towards the girls. She was the one known as Red hurricane, AKA Barbara.

Then, we had Incarnus, or Paul IRL.

I sighed deeply while face-palming myself. I should have seen this one coming.

“Let me guess…” I pointed towards my father and my sister, speaking in portuguese. “You two followed my location on the GPS.” I said and he made a fake surprised face, then I moved my finger towards Barbara and Paul. “You two received news from somebody.” They smiled smugly while I heard someone whistling innocently on my cellphone.

I shook my head before turning to the Yuu and Co., who had all disembarked the taxi by now. Her parents included. I pointed to the others and said in English.

“Guys, these are Roger, my father, Lily, my sister, Barbara and Paul, my friends.” Finished, I quickly turned to the others and pointed to Yuu and Co. before saying in Portuguese. “Guys, these are Yukihime, Mary, Fuyuki, Hattori, Maya and bodyguards.” I said while pointing at them.

They quickly exchanged greetings, with me introducing Yuu and Mary to Incarnus and Red a bit more deeply.

Once she recognized them from the game, Yuu almost immediately opened up to them, and started to talk a bit more openly. Mary… Didn’t have any problem even before she knew that, cheerful the way she is.

My father and Yuu’s father quickly analyzed each other before exchanging a quick handshake and giving an invite to share a glass of whisky later, all in Portuguese. No that he was bad with English, but since it was more of a technical one, he had some problems using it daily. It seemed that my stepmother didn’t manage to come as she was occupied with work, so he quickly apologized to them.

Lily came to me and looked at Yuu, Mary and Maya with curiosity. As I laughed when she pointed at Mary ands said that she was short, I barely managed to notice something coming at me with high speed.

I turned and caught a fist that was going straight to my stomach.

“Why the hell did you keep ignoring me, you bastard?” Paul asked me with a vein popping on his forehead. I smiled wickedly while I blocked his other hand, making us lock our fingers in a contest of strength right in the middle of the street.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“I have no idea what you are talking about!” I said while pushing him back.

“Oh, you know exactly what I mean!” he said while trying to kick me, but I stopped it with the sole of my sneakers.

“Why would I need to pay attention to an annoying guy like you anyway? You are better left ignored anyway!” I said while he pushed me back this time. “By the way, where’s Phantons?” I asked while frowning.

“Guess…” He said with a sigh, and I smiled awkwardly.

“Playing.” I said briefly and he nodded.

“Will the two of you stop flirting and take your attention back to the real world for a minute?” I heard Barbara say.

“WHO THE HECK IS FLIRTING WITH THIS BASTARD?” Paul and me asked angrily together.

While we did that, I managed to get a glimpse of Maya taking out her cellphone and pointing the camera to us. Looking at her confused, she quickly looked at us for a moment and said.

“What, aren’t you going to kiss?” She said in a confused tone.

Paul and me started swearing at her angrily while trying to take the phone out from the girl. Mary was laughing wildly at the exchange while Yuu simply looked confused at everything.

“So…” My father said suddenly, making the three of us stop surprised and look at him confused. But when he smiled mischievously I knew that I shouldn’t have stopped. “Which one of the girls is my son’s girlfriend?” He said in a slightly hesitant English.

The moment those words left his lips, I saw as the whole group on the street froze, with everyone looking at him in confusion for a moment. I took a deep sigh and just as I hoped to talk my way out of this, I noticed Mary smiling mischievously.

Then, she, Paul and Barbara all pointed towards Yuu in synchro.

And it took her a couple more seconds to understand what was happening, and until that happened she stared at the others in confusion before finally blushing violently.

I also heard an ‘Ara ara’ and felt a huge surge of killing intent aimed directly at me, but I kind of got used to that kind of thing when I walked around with Yuu and Hanbei in Eldor, so I simply shrugged it off while shaking my head.

“Hoh… You got yourself quite a beauty there…” My father said while looking Yuu from head to toes. “Don’t you think so, Lily?” He asked my sister, who blinked surprised before nodding happily.

“She’s very pretty!” She said with a cheerful nod.

“See! Even your sister likes her!” He said with a laugh while still looking at her. “So, how far have the two of you gone?” He asked fearlessly, making Hattori widen his eyes in shock.

Yuu became even more embarrassed once she understood what he meant, and turned to me with teary eyes looking for help. I sighed loudly while walking forward so that I could stand between my father and Yuu.

“Father, stop that. She can barely hold it any longer, okay?” I sighed once again while my father laughed at us.

“Okay, okay… I’ll stop then.” He said cheerfully while turning to Yuu’s father. “Anyway, why don’t we go inside and help you set up?” He said while putting his arm around Hattori, which made the bodyguards tense up for a moment as Hattori paled a little.

Well, I am already a bit taller than him, and my father being even taller than me makes it so that he must feel like a dwarf besides him. And he also isn’t used to how Brazilian act, so the sudden movement must have surprised him.

Still, he managed to drag him inside while Fuyuki watched everything going ‘Ara ara’ and smiling playfully.

Everyone, bodyguards included, soon followed them suit, with only me and Yuu lingering behind. I smiled a bit awkwardly and petted her a bit before motioning for her to go in.

...

Due to the sheer amount of people and baggage, we had to take two trips up the elevator, even when there were two different elevators we could use.

We took it up to the floor of the girl’s apartment, which was oddly familiar.

“So… You even managed to get one in the same floor as mine.” I said with a dry laugh.

“Eh? Shishou’s here too?” Yuu said surprised. I nodded while pointing to the door of my apartment as we passed it.

“Hmm? What is that Shishou thingy?” My father asked in Portuguese, and Hattori nodded.

“That also interests me, actually.” Hattori said in the same language with a nod as the bodyguards opened the door at the end of the corridor. “Why does she calls you Shishou?”

“Well…” I said with a shrug while continuing in Portuguese. “I tricked her into believing I’m some kind of great gamer when we met and started teaching her. After that, it simply stuck.” I said with a shrug. I saw Yuu tilting her head as she didn’t understand our words, so I quickly explained it to her.

As we entered their apartment, I noticed that it was a bit bigger than mine, probably because it was a corner one. Everyone soon got in to find that it was already furnished with top of the line products, like a tv larger than me, a large and soft sofa, a high-tec looking fridge made of stainless steel in the corner and so on.

They must have brought it in previously so that we could get ready to use it as soon as we got here.

Maya and the bodyguards quickly took the baggage to the bedroom. In there I saw that there were only two beds and I started thinking that Maya would probably start sleeping on the sofa, but she noticed my gaze and turned to me with a perfectly serious face.

“What? Can’t you see that I’m preparing milady’s and mine love-nest?” I blinked surprised for a moment before laughing it out.

“Goddamit! I really am starting to like you!” I said cheerfully.

“Thanks for your feelings, but I have no interest in having a relationship with you.”

Okay, now its official, this girl is awesome. I started laughing loudly while following her outside of the room. The others looked at us confused but I simply shook my head, saying that it was nothing.

Red started helping Yuu separate her clothes on the wardrobe while Mary had some help from Maya. Fuyuki was playing along with Pea while she talked about something with my father and Paul.

I smiled a bit and decided to go to my room really quickly so that I could take off my shoes and maybe put on something a bit more comfortable.

I quickly took out my keys and opened the door to my apartment, seeing how it was still the same as I left it earlier today. I had this feeling that I had been away for two days, even though it was only a few hours ago… Strange?

Anyway, I quickly made my way to my room, where I took out my sneakers and jacket and put on some sandals. I also dropped my sunglasses, since I wasn’t in the sun anymore.

As I got out of my room, I noticed that Hattori had come in my apartment and saw everything with curious eyes. Raising an eyebrow at him, he quickly turned to me and said seriously.

“Rick-kun. There is something I wish to talk to you. Man-to-man.” He told me in Portuguese. I frowned slightly before nodding and pointing to the couch. He sat on it while I took one of the benches I had on my tables. “Firstly, I would really like to thank you for being here for my daughter.” He said seriously, which caught me by surprise. “You see, my daughter was always too serious, always studying and training non-stop. And although I initially liked that, after some time is started to get worried, as she never did something for herself, and herself only, like playing or going out with friends.”

“Wow…” I said surprised.

“Yeah, but then, when she started playing that game and met you… She changed.” He said solemnly. “She started to smile more, to actually ask for a few selfish things and so on. It might look like I am overreacting, but for us, it meant a lot that our daughter actually started to care for something other than trying to make us proud, and started to care a bit more about herself. And for that, I am deeply thankful to you, who became such a key point in this story.” He bowed to me deeply, which left me a bit embarrassed and lost on how to react.

“No need to thank me like that!” I said. “I was just fooling around most of the time, so it’s not like I did something worthy to be thanked like that.” He lifted his head and nodded deeply.

“Still, thank you.” He said one last time while staring at the wall and the direction towards where Yuu’s apartment was. “It has been so long that I have seen her so… Expressive.” He said with a dreamy voice. “Her anxiousness of coming here, her laugh when you fooled around, her embarrassment when your father made that question…” I felt a drop of sweat roll on my forehead at that last part. “She truly cares a lot for you. I didn’t even dream that I would get to see her like that so soon.” He turned to me with serious eyes. “But, that raises me a question. What are your feelings about my daughter?”

I sighed, not really surprised by the question that I somehow knew that it was coming sooner or later, but more because I still didn’t know how to answer it. I took some seconds to answer before nodding.

“You see, Sir Hattori, I… Like your daughter.” I said finally, and saw as he widened his eyes, but before he spoke anything I raised my hand to stop him. “I mean… I like her, but… I’m still not sure whether it’s THAT type of like. I enjoy being close to her, playing around with her. I care deeply for her and would surely be there should she ever need me. But I’m still not sure whether this truly is love or something like that.” I sighed deeply. “That’s… All I can tell you right now.” I said finally.

Hattori nodded solemnly and we both kept silent for some time before he finally nodded.

“I see. Thank you for being honest with me.” He said once again while bowing. I smiled a bit awkwardly while scratching my cheek. But suddenly, I felt as the whole room suddenly became hostile, and I paled slightly at the feeling. “But… Let me tell you one thing…” He said with a voice that sent shivers down my spine. “Even if you did something so important to her… Even if she likes you that much… I will never. NEVER allow you to have her, okay?” Oh god… It’s… It’s coming! “IF YOU EVEN DARE… IF YOU EVEN THINK ABOUT LAYING A FINGER ON MY DAUGHTER… I WILL HAVE YOUR HEAD. ARE WE UNDERSTOOD?” He said with a voice bordering a threatening shout, which made me sweat in worry for a moment.

Almost as if waiting for this moment, my cellphone beeped, warning me that I had a message. I took the chance to quickly take a look at it and see what it was. Nothing too important, but this also gave me a chance.

I told him to wait for a moment while I gave a call, and he nodded angrily while I went to my room. There, I made a quick call that would save my life.

After finishing it, I came back with a wide smile in my face, sitting at the bench once again and looking at him with a wide smile. He frowned at my expression, so different from the previous one.

“What is it? Why are you smirking?” He asked me angrily.

“You'll see why in a couple of seconds…” I said while looking at the door, and he followed my gaze towards it while looking confused.

Just then, the door opened.

And in came Yuu, and if I didn’t know better, I would have swore that there was a demonic mask following right behind her, making her hair float up in anger.

She stared right at her father, who lost all of his intimidating aura and was almost falling from the couch in surprise.

“You see, mister Hattori. You are mistaken in one simple thing.” I told him in Portuguese as Yuu approached him furious. “The one who makes the final choice in this matter, isn’t you nor me, but her.” I said with a smile. “This means that whoever controls Yuu holds the rights to do the threatening.”

I raised myself from the bench and made my way towards the door, petting Yuu on the way out. She looked at me briefly before turning back to her father, whom I told her on the call through Cygnas that he was threatening me if I stayed too close to her. Which isn’t too wrong, if I stopped to think about it.

“And right now, I am the one controlling her.” I said in my best James-bond villain tone while walking away. “See you later.”

As I left my room, I could only hear the cries of lamentation of a man trying to apologize to his furious daughter, and said daughter who was lashing out furiously at him.