Shinichi protested, "We don't have to wait for that."
Danika blinked at him, and then grinned. He raised an eyebrow and she asked cheerfully, "You guys are making another movie?"
"Yeah, and it'll be in full VR, 3D, the whole shebang!" Saaki explained excitedly.
"But…" Shinichi began.
"Give us a minute," Danika said quickly, and muted the game again. "Shinichi, I…" this time she hesitated.
"Danika, we don't have to use our relationship for publicity," he protested stubbornly.
"I'm glad," she replied wryly. "But, if I'm not really misunderstanding, you've been telling me that you want us to," she stumbled over the words again, and she was sure her cheeks were flaming. "You want our relationship to be lasting," she finished a little weakly.
"Yes," he replied simply, and a moment later he scooped her into his lap and kissed her again.
"Stop," she instructed after a minute. He stopped instantly, but his wounded expression made her explain quickly, "You're distracting me from what I'm trying to tell you! If, if we're still going to be, I mean, if you mean it for real," she wanted to take all of the words back and start over, but she could only muddle onward.
"Shinichi," she insisted, "It doesn't matter who else knows about us, because everyone close to us already does." He smiled suddenly, but the smile faded at her next words. "If I can be an advantage to you, instead of a disadvantage, that would be great?"
"Danika, you'll never…" he began, and she could tell that he wanted to insist that she wouldn't be a disadvantage to him. But he was actually better at understanding people, and how awful they could be, than she'd probably ever been.
His hands clung to her, but he didn't tell her that pretty lie. After a moment she kissed him.
--
Saaki very pointedly didn't say anything when they finally returned to the game. He only asked ZipZing lightly, "Ready to go get him?"
Danika grinned, and tapped a very smug emote that made Saaki reply with an eye roll. "Yeah," she agreed happily. She zipped over to Shrubbery's tree and collected the harness and her storage rings. She handed Saaki the harness for her stone, and re-entered her garden.
Times like this were when the other stone space was more useful. She had nothing to do but wait until someone told her that they'd arrived, fortunately Shinichi was right beside her in real life and she could lean on him and watch his screen.
His pixie ShinZing was near the top of a mountain. She didn't see anything near him that was familiar, but to the west lay the patchwork landscape of the towns and farmland clustered around Fogton. It was a view that could probably be seen from at least half the mountains of the eastern range.
"Where's your pod?" she asked.
He turned the character and pointed, "It was in the valley beyond that hill. I headed upward figuring that I could get a rough idea of where I am." He turned the pixie's perspective again. "You were in that direction when you were at the lake, that you said the crane had landed at. The compass basically pointed toward that tree there." He pointed.
All that told her was that the lake had been to the south of Fogton. It could even have been out in the new desert in the west if it had been far enough away.
Saaki arrived in front of ShinZing in a puff of flame, and Danika tapped her phone screen and exited her stone space. The genie's startled reaction was amusing, but he recovered quickly and said, "Oh, you can see Shin's screen. Cute."
She checked the mark's location and pointed, "The crane either hasn't gone very far, or is really far away, because it's that way. Speaking of cute…" She turned and surveyed ShinZing's cute avatar, and held it up for Shinichi to see.
Shinichi grinned at her. "You're bigger than I am now," he pointed out, and reached out to pet her. It looked strange, as though she'd grown to the size of a horse.
After a moment, Danika nodded. It had been difficult to judge his size from his screen, because he just looked like himself, only with wilder hair, and narrow translucent wings that sparkled in the same fashion as hers. With them both on the screen together, his pixie was about as tall as ZipZing, but he was only a fraction of her bulk.
"When you're done admiring each other all over again…" Saaki drawled.
"So in a few decades?" Shinichi joked.
"You have less than half an hour before dinner is ready and I abandon you," Saaki replied seriously.
Danika checked the status of Kit Tay and MatchlessMinion. They were still 'On the Jade Path', but neither of them were injured, although their energy was a little low. She posted on the guild board this time, so that they could both see it: "Kit, Match, how is it going? Should we come for you next?"
They didn't have to wait, because MatchlessMinion replied moments later, "I can't believe this is supposed to be a way for people to climb up to the Jade Palace. Yeah, if you think you can, given that I'm standing about a kilometer above the ground on a small gemstone embedded in nothing but air."
"That sounds like when you appear beside him you'll be in mid air?" Danika told Saaki worriedly.
"Yeah," he agreed. "But if it's that high up, there should be enough time for me to say the entrance word, and for you to exit as soon as I appear."
"Alright," Danika agreed swiftly, and she turned ZipZing around and zipped back over to him.
She re-entered her stone space and ShinZing followed her in a moment later. Hikaru flared up warningly. "No," Danika told the firefly firmly.
"It's alright, it's just me," Shinichi said quickly.
Hikaru circled him suspiciously, and Danika suggested, "Maybe try telling it something about the day you bought it for me? I don't know how you're supposed to show that you're the same?"
"Um, Hikaru, do you remember the list of ways that I thought you could be useful to ZipZing? Distracting enemies with your light, scouting through keyholes, and such?" Shinichi asked hopefully.
"I don't think Hikaru has really done any of that, but its skill list is getting to be really impressive, and it has been really useful?" Danika pointed out doubtfully.
Hikaru's light brightened, but the beetle stayed between ShinZing and ZipZing.
"Look at my face, it looks the same even though I'm smaller. I was the assassin who accompanied Nao1 when she bought you, and who suggested your name to ZipZing in my past life," Shinichi added.
The little firefly didn't back down, and its accumulated level was more than four times ShinZing's. Danika was pretty certain that if the beetle insisted on attacking the pixie, that the legendary sword he carried would make up for the difference though. She instructed the firefly firmly, "You can trust him, I promise."
After a moment Hikaru circled her twice before landing on an apple tree branch above them.
"You are doing a good job," Shinichi told Hikaru cheerfully. "You do much more than I ever expected. Let's work together and take care of her for a long time."
Hikaru's light flickered in response.