Three weeks later, with Yuki beside him, Shiko looked at the city from the open air deck atop the Mori Tower. They had made several shorter outings, but this was the first full-day tour she had taken him on. He turned to face her and saw that her hand was trying to hold her short skirt from flying up with the breeze, with little success. He noticed, however, that she was wearing dance shorts underneath, so she must have expected it to happen.

"Do you feel any great pull towards your native land now?" she asked with a smile.

"Not really." He waved at the view. "I was born here, but I've been raised as an American."

"You still speak Japanese like a native, Slick," she noted.

Having decided that she just used the nickname to get a rise out of him, his only response to it now was an eyeroll. "That's because Mother spoke it all the time at home. Father would use English with us kids, and, of course, we went to American schools, so we're equally comfortable speaking both languages."

"So, do you have any kind of accent?"

"Not that I've been told." Shiko grinned back at her. "Americans have quite a variety to choose from, and let's not even get into the other English-speaking countries."

"Just try Hokkaidan or Osakan," she jested in return. "Oh! We could go to Uncle Kin's place for dinner."


"Uncle Kin's place" turned out to be a lively traditional Japanese restaurant, with the lanky head chef loudly ordering about a number of young servers, several of whom bore him a striking resemblance albeit with lighter hair color. Shiko squinted at the attractive blonde woman who had waved a greeting before wiping down the bar area. "She looks somewhat familiar, but I can't quite…" He waved his hand to indicate mental cloudiness.

"You're probably thinking about her mother," Yuki said, taking a bite of squid. "Marie Robbins," she added.

"Ah! The sex symbol from several decades ago." Shiko stared as he chewed. "How did her daughter end up in Japan, of all places?"

"She ran away from an arranged marriage and somehow ended up falling hard for Uncle Kin. At the time, he was still crazy over Aunt Kotoko, who wouldn't look his way, so she suffered for a long time. But," she grinned, "Chris wore him down eventually."

"Everyone's so connected," he complained. "I feel like I'm in the middle of a videogame where I know only half the rules. Believe me," he groaned, "I've become well familiar with that."

"Uncle Yuuki put you in beta testing last week, didn't he?" she hazarded.

He nodded. "I'm checking out the electronic side of Pandai from top to bottom, since we don't have one of those departments in our location. There's a large demand in the States for traditional toys these days, so we've concentrated on that specialty niche market and left the whiz-bang, up-to-the-minute stuff to the big names."

"Is there a possibility that the two Pandais will be combined again in the future?" she asked as she raised her glass for a refill.

"How did you know that?" he asked, then shook his head. "You are wasted as a part-timer."

"Yo, Yuki-chan!" The owner made his noisy way to the table with a pitcher. "Bringing a new boy for me to check over, eh? Ack!" He backed away like a vampire sighting a crucifix made of silver and adorned with garlic. "Are my eyes deceiving me? Another Irie?!"

Shiko stood and bowed, extending his hand. "You have me at a disadvantage. Irie Shiko."

Kinnosuke shot a look in Yuki's direction. She confirmed his suspicion. "Uncle Naoki's son."

The chef wiped his hands on the dishcloth around his waist. "You're not a snooty, double-dealin', low-down heartbreaker, too, are ya?"

Shiko blinked. "Uh, no, sir."

"Okay!" A large hand shook Shiko's firmly. "I'll let it slide for now, but doncha go actin' like yer father with this one!" He pointed at Yuki, who turned her head to snort to the side. "Hey!" he protested, "I'm just lookin' out for ya with yer folks gone!" At a call from the kitchen, he hollered, "Holdjer horses, I'll be there in a sec!"

After his departure, Shiko pushed the admittedly delicious food around on the plate. "It's things like that," he indicated the swaying curtain that led to the employee area of the restaurant, "that make me feel like everyone else knows secrets about me and my family."

"Bothers you, does it?" Yuki was staring at the bottom of her glass.

"Yes," he tersely replied.

She twirled her chopsticks absently before asking, "What if I could answer your questions?"

He turned to her. "Can you?"

"If you're absolutely sure you want to know the answers."

"I do." He reached across the table and took her hand. "Tell me."

"Not here." She pointed to his plate. "Once you've finished playing with your food, why don't I show you a manga café?"


Shiko looked around the private room. "This isn't like one of those infamous 'Love Hotels', is it?"

Yuki snickered. "I won't say that it never happens, but that's not its intent."

"There's quite the collection out there. Do you read them?"

She shook her head. "I don't have time any more. Mom still has her collection stashed in a closet, as I expect does Aunt Kotoko. Classic shoujo, of course."

"Of course." He nodded then checked out the comfort of the couch, raising an eyebrow at her.

"No," she answered the unspoken question. "I'd rather stand for the time being, but you should sit."

"That bad?" he asked, butterflies in his stomach as he followed her advice.

"It depends on what you already know," she temporized. "Describe your immediate family to me."

He looked surprised then turned thoughtful. "Mother and Father married young, after falling in love when Great-Grandfather's company invested in Pandai. We lived with Obaasan and Ojiisan until I was about one, then moved to New York with the expansion. Nami was born there, and we both grew up with an appreciation of our heritage while basically being American." He paused. "Mother is more determinedly Japanese than Dad and really enjoys the more formal manners."

"Okay," Yuki said when it was apparent that he was through talking, "what do you know about the Japanese Iries?"

"Well," he gave her a crooked smile, "my first real memory is at Aunt and Uncle's wedding. I remember it as being crazy and fun, and I suppose that's why I acted so out of character then."

She nodded at him. "About their 'love story', for lack of a better description, what have you heard?"

"Not much. I know they're wild about each other." Shiko chuckled, remembering various antics which he now took pretty much in stride. "I think she's a little older than him, but the families have been friends for decades. Am I right?" he added when Yuki frowned.

"To a certain extent." She let out a long sigh and sank onto the floor in front of the couch. "Okay, ask away."

He bent down. "Don't you want to sit up here with me?"

"No," she gave him a quick glance, "I have a feeling that you're not going to want me to see your face if you ask certain questions."

"Oh." He straightened. "All right. Let's start with the most recent occurrence. Why did 'Uncle Kin' call my father those names?"

She rested her head back on the sofa cushion and sighed loudly. "You really went for the heart of the matter, didn't you?"

"Did I? How does that relate to the other things? You knew that Mother was a gourmet cook. My father has never said anything about being interested in medicine. And sometimes there is this awkward silence after someone says something that makes no sense to me. What is it that everyone is trying not to say?"

Hearing confusion, frustration, and even banked anger in his voice, Yuki turned and laid a hand on one of his knees. "Let me start off by saying that I don't know any of this first hand. Mother and Aunt Jinko had a little too much to drink a couple years ago and spilled the beans. Of course," she smiled, "I asked a few leading questions while they were under the influence."

"You're stalling," he reminded her.

"Yes." She faced the opposite wall again. "Back when Mom, Jinko and Aunt Kotoko were in high school, there was this boy, the so-called 'Genius of Tonan'..."