Chapter 436: 78: Stars that Flash By

There was a sweet lull that lasted for two weeks, and even Danika had to admit that she and Shinichi must be incredibly annoying to be around. Ryuske spent more time out of the house, but he never seemed annoyed when he was home, just amused. Naoki rolled his eyes at them every single time she saw him though.

Danika was still busy with her work on the newest demo game, and Shinichi was still busy with Underneath, but apart from work they were practically glued together. They even did most of their gaming on their phones instead of using the full motion console and VR-medi pod.

The reason for that was that Underneath had gotten another contract almost as soon as the first was finished, and would only be home for a month. Their vacation was going to be postponed, but Shinichi had demanded time off to go to her father's wedding with her.

The premiere was scheduled to be held almost as soon as the editing finished, but Danika pointed out, "It actually took a really long time compared to our game updates?"

Shinichi laughed and told her, "Different industries. Games in general have always been putting out more content as fast as they can, trying to keep people interested. It's rare that anyone plays the same game for more than a couple of years anymore, isn't it? But I really don't think that 'Living Jade Empire' needs to push as many updates and events, since the NPCs actually live entire simulated lives in it, it's a world that's always changing anyway."

"You reincarnated though, so you were starting to get a little bored, weren't you?" Danika replied doubtfully as they disembarked from the plane.

"Mmm… more like, it was more convenient because of extenuating circumstances." His grin said he meant her. "That and the Twin Goddesses threatened to curse my character if I revived again. I guess there are limits aside from just how much Karma you have," he said thoughtfully.

Danika stared at him opened mouthed for a moment. She didn't remember him telling her about the threats the goddesses had made before, and she had never heard of a character being cursed like that. They followed their security team through the checkpoint, and out into the vast, yet crowded building.

Behind her, Akito asked, "Do you see her yet?"

Danika dropped the topic and searched the crowds for Natsume, but Shinichi, with his height advantage was the first one to say, "I can see her."

The members of the security team swept forward and scooped Natsume out of the crowd like the villains in a movie. She looked like she was an innocent hostage being marched off to some rich villain's lair until Akito reached her, and it turned into a scene from a romance. Danika glanced at Shinichi and blushed, but he just winked at her and reached for her hand, with no embarrassment at all.

The ring on his finger had a texture that reminded Danika of her tea cup, and his little dragon was colored like ZipZing, even though it was a completely different style. The ring on her hand sparkled instead, because it was transparent with a silver lining like a mirror, and every tiny flat plane in the identical dragon's shape reflected the light. She had secretly scratched a line on its tail, just to reassure herself that Shinichi hadn't replaced her order with something much more expensive.

They ate a light, but hurried meal at the hotel where they were dressed and turned over to the makeup artists. Danika would have been nervous if even Natsume hadn't treated the whole process as a matter of course. Shinichi and Naoki even looked utterly bored and talked about all of the food they wanted to eat afterwards.

When Danika rolled into the van that had been stretched like a limousine, and which was just as fancy inside, she couldn't help getting nervous anyway. But when Shinichi got out of his seat and knelt beside the position her chair was locked down, she couldn't help objecting, "Seatbelt!"

He laughed and kissed her before saying, "I guess I was worrying too much if you can worry about that."

She was relieved when he went back to his seat, but she had to admit that it had been an effective distraction.

--

After all the splendor, flashing cameras, and amazement over how many famous people she could see with just a glance around, Danika was disappointed by the actual premiere showing. They were watching it in a standard old fashioned 2D movie format. According to the announcement at the beginning, they were seeing the default path that a VR viewer would see if they didn't move around independently.

She understood that it would be difficult to get enough VR systems for a crowd this size, but she thought that they could at least have used ordinary consoles and let them move their own view around, even if they still wouldn't have the other senses. Once she got over the presentation, the movie made her cry.

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Shinichi was used to her reactions, and had actually had packets of tissues hidden away somewhere in his outfit.

Naoki worried over her and whispered repeatedly, "It's just a story, I'm perfectly fine and right here."

Even though the story was supposed to focus on the romance, Danika felt like the girl in the story was kind of heartless and selfish. She seemed entirely focused on what Shinichi's character thought about her, while his long term rival that he had finally made peace and formed a real friendship with revealed that he was dying.

Kimitoshi actually summed up her feelings pretty well when he commented, "Some parts are annoyingly realistic and others are just ridiculous."

"Some of the events are in a different order than I expected," Shinichi replied.

From the comments of the people around them, Danika wasn't the only one who was disappointed by the format they'd watched it in, but most people seemed to think that it was "a very sweet story."

Natsume seemed to think that Danika was cute and sweet too. Danika was glad that the younger girl's amusement was friendly, as she deftly touched up Danika's makeup with a tiny pocket case full of miniature brushes before they left the theatre and went out to "mingle".

It was the first time Danika had ever been glad to be in her chair while attending some kind of formal event. Her feet ached in sympathy just from watching some of the women in heels trying to shift their weight subtly while smiling brightly. Everyone was very careful not to mention her chair, at least to her face, until a rather drunk seeming older gentleman wobbled over to her.

He said loudly, "It's been awhile since I've seen a pleasantly squishy looking young girl at one of these." Danika braced herself as Shinichi turned with a frown that turned into surprise. The man continued cheerfully, "Who designed your chair pretty miss?"

Danika didn't recognize him at all, but since she rather liked her chair modifications, she gave him the designer's name and asked curiously, "Are you planning to get one modified in the future?"

Shinichi stepped closer and placed his hand on her shoulder, but the older man just laughed merrily. "Oh, eventually, I'm sure! But I was asking on behalf of another pretty lady that I'm acquainted with."

"How is your wife doing Director?" Shinichi asked politely. "Did she like the copies of Danika's VR bathroom remodel plans?"

"Mmm, she said she did, but then she completely changed everything around!" the man Shinichi called Director replied laughingly. "She's doing better, you kids don't need to worry about us, we're good."

Danika was pretty sure that he was not the man who'd been introduced as the filming production director earlier, but Shinichi wasn't responding to her glance, oblivious to her mental prompting. They spoke with the old gentleman for at least half an hour before he finally wandered away and Danika could quietly demand, "Director of what?"

Shinichi blinked at her and then looked after the Director and whispered laughingly, "Our production company, I mean the one that Underneath is contracted with."

Danika couldn't help gulping. She was kind of glad that she hadn't known that while they'd been talking. She would have been afraid to say something to offend him, but at least he had seemed to enjoy the conversation.

Shinichi straightened and met the next person who approached them with a grin, instead of his usual warm professional smile. To Danika's relief, he was also careful to introduce everyone that he was familiar with more clearly for the rest of the night.

A startling number of stars wandered by before they were allowed to make their long choreographed exit.

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