Chapter 217: 45: Argumentative Bonds

A woman took advantage of the lull in their conversation to approach nervously and ask, "I'm sorry to intrude on your time with your family, but um, you're really Aichi Shinichi aren't you?"

Danika turned to look, and almost laughed at Shinichi's shocked expression. His fan's sudden approach seemed to have taken him even more by surprise than it had her. 

The woman flinched as they all turned to look at her and Shinichi shot Danika a really worried glance and she reached out and squeezed his hand. "It's ok, you can take a moment if you want?" she said questioningly. She wasn't certain what he was worried about. 

Shinichi nodded and gave the woman a carefully practiced smile and asked, "You have a question for me?" 

"I, if I could get your autograph?" the woman blurted nervously. She kept glancing back at the table she'd come from where several people were watching with interest.

"Sure," Shinichi agreed calmly. His grip on Danika's hand eased as he conversed with the nervous woman for a moment. He signed the scrap of paper the woman offered with a pen that Danika hadn't even realized he carried 

As soon as she departed he turned back to face Danika's father with a worried expression and reached for her hand again. Excited chatter wafted up from the woman's table and Dimitri looked up from his phone with a rather sour expression, and asked, "Doing well eh? Why bother with an alias."

Shinichi flinched, but Danika answered calmly with a question, "Why would I introduce my boyfriend to my father by his stage name? I told you he's really good at it." Her eyes showed her amusement again.

Her father snorted. Shinichi explained quickly, "Technically neither name is an alias, Aichi was my mother's family name and mine until highschool."

"I see," Dimitri replied with less scorn. 

Dimitri looked away from his daughter again and Danika's expression tightened. Shinichi rubbed her fingers with his thumb where their hands were still clasped. She sighed.

After a minute Dimitri told them uncomfortably, without meeting his daughter's eyes, "Anyway, about meeting here… I thought that meeting at a restaurant would be less awkward?" 

"Why?" Danika asked a bit sharply. 

Dimitri said sheepishly, "Well, she wanted me to have you come home to meet her before she officially moved in… but…"

Danika stared at her father open mouthed and then demanded, "She who!?" 

Her father returned his gaze to her face and protested, "It's been ten years Danika!" 

"That has nothing to do with you refusing to talk to me or even email or anything," she snapped. 

Her father started to laugh. "Yes, you're right, I'm sorry." 

Danika snorted and rolled her eyes. "Papa," she began. 

Shinichi interrupted doubtfully, "Why does it seem like you're getting along better the more you argue. Are you going to expect me to argue with you?" 

Danika looked at his worried face and replied without thinking, "I don't think you'll have any trouble arguing with me if you need to, you're pretty bossy sometimes."

"I'm bossy?!" Shinichi protested. 

"Even Sea Song Tione said so," she pointed out questioningly. 

"I guess that's true," he agreed uncertainly. "I don't feel like I tell you what you should do very often though? 

"What an odd name, is that an exchange student you are friends with?" Dimitri questioned. 

"It's a character from the game we play together," Danika explained. She turned to Shinichi and told him, "I don't know that it's very often, but sometimes you really do seem a bit… high handed?"

"Sorry," Shinichi replied uncomfortably and Danika shrugged. She didn't really mind most of the time. 

Dimitri questioned doubtfully, "A video game character is judging your behavior?"

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"Yeah," Danika agreed enthusiastically. She explained a bit about the complexity of the NPCs in 'Living Jade Empire', but then remembered the woman who was moving in with her father. She demanded suddenly, "So now let's hear about this mystery woman!"

-- 

Shinichi ate his very expensive but also quite tasty breakfast, while Danika quizzed her father about his not-so-new girlfriend that she hadn't known about. There was an underlying bitterness to her side of the conversation, but as far as he could tell her father seemed to be mostly relieved. 

He was afraid to reach out and push her food closer to her the way he wanted to, after having just been told that he was inclined to be high handed with her. She saw him glancing between her face and her plate and started eating after a bit without him saying anything though.

It was difficult to understand how the two of them had managed to let the misunderstanding go on for an entire decade. It was also kind of difficult to just watch when their words became more bitter, but after awhile he remembered that he and Kobayashi Ryuske hadn't really gotten close until after they'd had a pretty bitter argument, and his wary tension eased. 

He was watching Danika and thinking that they hadn't had any really bitter arguments yet, but that he felt like they were pretty close anyway, when her father suddenly asked, "What about you Shinichi?" 

He was reluctant to admit that he'd stopped paying attention, but couldn't see any way around it, when Danika answered for him, "He'll be on tour then, he won't be able to come." 

"Sorry," Shinichi added quickly. "If you want to set a time after we get back I'll come?" 

"It's not like there's a limited time opportunity for him to meet her is it?" Danika asked dryly.

"Of course not," her father replied with a frown.

Shinichi paid more attention to the rest of their conversation, but they mostly left him out of it, to his relief. 

--

After they left the restaurant Shinichi asked Danika a bit sheepishly, "Did I agree to meet your father's girlfriend after I get back? I'm sorry, my mind had wandered off for a bit."

"She's probably his fiance," Danika said rather neutrally, "and yeah, but not just to meet, but to spend a whole day with them?" 

"Oh. We'll definitely need to schedule that in advance," he replied.

"Why were you so worried when that lady asked for an autograph?" she questioned. 

"I wasn't sure how your dad would take it, or how you would take it," he replied a little warily. 

"I felt kind of smug," Danika admitted.

"Smug?" he questioned. 

"Well, I was kind of happy about how it showed off your success after all his doubts over your choice of careers," she explained. "I guess it was a bit petty," she admitted ruefully. 

Shinichi grinned at her and teased, "I already knew that you can be a bit petty sometimes."

"What? When else have I been petty?" she asked doubtfully. 

"There was that gopher you were tormenting in the game awhile back," he suggested cheerfully. 

"It was a shrew," she corrected, without protesting that she'd been petty. 

"I'm sorry to have dishonoured your enemy by misidentifying it," he said with mock seriousness.

Danika giggled.

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