As soon as he handed her phone back, Danika saw that MatchlessMinion's little grey cat was waiting for her again. This time his message read: "Why didn't you tell me that was the problem sooner? I could have messaged Shrubbery to get on and fetch it. Anyway, I'm already headed down!"
"Oh, I guess he already jumped," Danika told Shinichi. "Should we tell Akito?"
"No, I still want him to come get me anyway," he replied cheerfully.
"Okay," she agreed. Since she'd already let the crane go, she teleported to the mark she'd put on Shrubbery's tree anyway, and zipped over to the flower bed where she'd hidden the little stone that held her garden. When she entered it, her pet firefly greeted her with a sullen glow.
"You look healthy," she told Hikaru happily. "I know it must have been boring waiting here the whole time, but I'm very glad that you did."
She pulled a candy out of her pocket and broke it up for the little beetle. Hikaru ignored it at first, but then snuck over to eat some of it while Danika watered her little garden. A lot of her new fruit and vegetable plants were getting close to producing their first crops, and several butterflies had snuck in somehow.
The viewports in Shinichi's new stone made it great for using as a transportation pod, but her own space was more restful. She patted her little apple tree before exiting.
When she checked the party and guild menus, she expected to see that MatchlessMinion had already died and revived. But instead, she saw that his health was low, but his location was listed as 'On the Jade Path', and Kit's location was the same.
--
When ZipZing's messenger arrived, MatchlessMinion spat a curse that made Kit give him a rather critical look. She couldn't really blame him though, and the smug snow leopard cub had obviously intended to unbalance the little chinchillamin where he clung to the tiny, nearly translucent, jade platform that the chain of sky islands had reduced to.
Kit drifted slowly downward from the previous step. She still couldn't fly upward at this height, but she could control her descent in her new celestial dragon form. She was embarrassed to admit, even to herself, how reluctant she'd been to leave, even after MatchlessMinion had been injured, until the Emperor had murmured, "Until you learn the way, you can message me and I'll come carry you home."
MatchlessMinion shoved the cub off the little platform, and Kit had to repress a snicker as the cat landed neatly on the next stepping stone down before vanishing. That stepping stone was even smaller and more difficult to see than the one the chinchillamin currently stood on. He read the message and rolled his eyes.
"What did she say?" Kit asked.
"She just asked about the Jade Path, which her fat messenger almost shoved me off of, again," he grumbled. He added more cheerfully as he held up the bag that had been attached to the message, "She did send up more health potions though."
Kit looked downward along the nearly invisible chain of jade, and then glanced upward. Above them the stepping stones were larger and closer together until they became small islands like the gardens that had already floated in the sky around the Jade Palace when she'd arrived. Below them the stones grew smaller and farther apart, as well as more transparent, until they completely vanished from view.
--
MatchlessMinion's reply said: "The Jade Emperor added this world's first jumping puzzle, or maybe just its ultimate jumping puzzle. I've slipped a few times, but fortunately the steps go back and forth, so I had a chance to catch myself before falling all the way to the ground, or the sea or whatever."
Danika considered the information thoughtfully. The game's quest generation system had always been able to add objects and characters as needed, so it wasn't that strange, but it seemed like the merchant's claim on the Emperor's identity allowed him to create things on an imperial scale. She was actually kind of excited to start her shift in the morning and discover just how much he could do.
Saaki interrupted her thoughts by appearing in a puff of flame and demanding, "Energy!" He gazed at the small handful of candy that she produced for him with an expression of disappointment.
"Sorry," she apologized quickly. "I'm all out of potions and coin. But we might not need to go get MatchlessMinion after all, so we can start with Aishin, I mean, ShinZing." She blushed a little as she used his new name, it was going to take awhile to get used to.
Shinichi bent and bit her ear, and Danika jumped. "Hey!" she protested. She hadn't noticed him turn away from the game screen to watch her playing.
He just grinned at her and pointed at her screen and then touched her pink cheeks. "So cute," he murmured. He pulled her into a kiss that lasted long enough that there was a screen full of dialogue from Saaki by the time she looked at it again.
Danika hurriedly read through the string of complaints about being used as a taxi, comments about the guild tree's increased size, and to her surprise, a more serious question: "Can you and Shin wait to go public in real life until fall, no until winter?"
"What happens in the winter?" she asked.
"Ugh, text speech is so flat." Saaki complained. "Can you use voice?"
Danika tapped the control that switched the mode. "Sure," she agreed aloud, "but, uh, Shin is right beside me."
"Wow," Shinichi commented. "It's a little weird hearing you call me Shin."
"You don't like it?" she questioned. "But everyone else seems used to calling you that way?"
"Yeah, it's fine," he assured her.
Saaki coughed and interrupted, "Annnnny way… you obviously didn't tell her. Maybe you should just forget I asked Zippy?"
Danika turned and looked at Shinichi, who said sheepishly, "I was going to tell you, it just… seems kind of lousy to say, 'I'm back,' and then follow up with, 'next time we'll be gone for at least two or three months'."
"It's okay," she said gently. "I already know that you're gone a lot. But," she directed the question to both of them while giving Shinichi a look, "why should we keep our relationship private until then."
Shinichi's expression turned stubborn, but Saaki explained cheerfully, "Because he's the lead this time, and it's a romance. The speculations will increase the publicity! But then the furor when you make the big reveal after it releases will boost it again!"