Chapter 3: Offer
"Ema!"
Ema jumped, surprised at the loud voice. "What?" She asked, turning from Fantasia Dawning.
Her father shook his head. "I've been trying to get your attention for a minute now, Ema. You pay too much attention to those games of yours."
Ema didn't point out that they had just moved to a brand new country last week. She'd already explored the area outside their temporary condo and she'd finished all her homework. That left gaming. Ema did plenty of exploring with her dad, but her schooling didn't take a full eight hours and she rarely made friends when they traveled. It was too hard when they were only in one place for two or three months maximum and she didn't attend school. Or speak the language. That left a lot of time for gaming.
The only times Ema interacted with live people other than the TV crew was when Arisa and her dad were visiting or the rare times Hikaru visited. There had also been Erik for a while…but that was over now. At least she sometimes played MMORPGs and interacted with people that way. Couldn't her dad be happy about that?
"Sorry," she apologized. "I'm working with another guy to get through the crystal ice caves. It's really treacherous, so it needs a lot of attention. And I'm looking out for this guy's character as well as my own."
"Guy?" Rintaro said, his eyebrowed climbing his forehead.
"It's just a game, Dad," Ema reassured him. "It's a guy who's sometimes my rival and sometimes my ally on Fantasia Dawning. He's really good, so it's fun to compete with him, but you don't have to worry about anything happening because he lives in Japan. It's not like I'll ever meet him."
"Right," Rintaro said, a frown pulling at the corners of his mouth. "Japan. I wanted to talk to you about that."
"About Japan?" Ema asked, confused. She typed a quick message to 2CatPresident to let him know she had to go offline for a moment, then turned all her attention on her dad. "What about Japan?" They had spoken some about college since it was a little over two years away, but her dad had never pressured her to choose any school in particular. Had he decided she should attend a college in Japan?
"Well," Rintaro rubbed his palms over his khakis as though nervous. "I had a long conversation with Miwa over what we feel is best for you. And this is part of it." He waved vaguely at the computer.
"MMORPGs?" Ema asked, still confused.
"I mean the gaming," Rintaro said. "I know you do a lot outside with me, but you also spend a lot of time playing video games instead of interacting with kids your age. I mean real kids your age, not people over a computer screen in some fantasy world."
Ema pushed down the resentment that tried to rear its head. How was she supposed to make friends or socialize when she didn't go to school? It wasn't as though her father did much socializing outside of his work either. And she talked to Juli all the time, even while she was playing video games, though she had the feeling her dad wouldn't count him as social interaction. Was he going to try to take her games away? She'd go insane. Then she ran the first thing he'd said through her mind again.
"Wait, what does Miss Miwa have to do with this? Why were you talking about what's best for me with her?"
"It was all her idea. Well, she came up with the idea, but I agree with it. At least, if you're interested I agree with it."
"Dad," she said, half laughing. "What is the idea?" Her father's nerves were almost comical, though they were making her nervous.
Rintaro took a deep breath and let it out. "Miwa let me know that after talking with you through email she's concerned you're missing out on vital life experiences. She pointed out that while you've gotten to live a life few ever get to experience, you're also missing out on a lot of important moments most people take for granted. She—I mean we, are also concerned you might be at a disadvantage when you start college since you haven't been in a structured school setting since you were in elementary. You get good grades, but it's still a different experience."
"Okay," Ema said, rolling her hand to encourage her father to continue his story. "And all this talking led to the idea that…?"
"That it would be good for you to attend a regular high school," Rintaro finally said. "You know the contract for the show was renewed for another few years, so I couldn't be with you and you're too young to live on your own. I know you can take care of yourself, but I'm not comfortable with you living in an apartment by yourself, not being a young lady like you are." Did that mean if she was a boy he would be comfortable with her living on her own? "So, Miwa thinks you should move in with the Asahinas while you complete high school in Japan."
Ema's jaw dropped.
~.~
"Mom, what's this big announcement about?" Tsubaki asked, leaning against the back of the couch. "Azusa and I have voice overs in a little over half an hour. We'll have to leave soon."
"I know," Miwa said, patting the air in a gesture meant to tell Tsubaki to be patient. "I'm grateful you all came here on such short notice. Well, everyone except Hikaru since he's still in Italy and Fuuto since he's on tour. I know you all have busy schedules, but this is important. I think this is a really great idea, but I won't do it without your permission."
"Won't do what without our permission?" Wataru asked, swinging his legs.
Miwa smiled at her sons, looking both excited and a little anxious. "Well, I know Ema has had an amazing time traveling with her father and learning all kinds of things, but I think it would be great if we could give her a normal high school experience."
"We?" Yusuke asked, eyebrows crinkling in confusion. "How could we give her a normal high school experience?"
Miwa knew she should have discussed this idea with her sons before bringing it up with Rintaro, but she was pretty certain they would agree.
"By letting her live here during her last two years of high school," Miwa explained. "She doesn't have any family in Japan she could stay with and Rintaro is still under contract for a while yet, which means he'll have to keep traveling. If Ema is going to attend school, Rintaro wants her staying with people he trusts. That means us." She looked around at her assembled sons. "Well? What do you think of this plan?"
"That's a fantastic idea!" Tsubaki cried, jumping to his feet. "Then Ema would be even more like my little sister!"
"W-wait," Yusuke stuttered. "You want Ema to live here? In this house? With us?"
"I don't want a girl living here," Subaru blurted, hoping to get his opinion in before anyone else could speak. His words were drowned out by Wataru cheering.
"Yay! Yay! Yay! Onee-chan will come live with us!" He pumped his fists in the air. "And then maybe she'll love it here and decide to go to college in Japan and stay even longer! That would be the best." He turned to Masaomi. "Wouldn't that be great Mao-nii? Don't you think Ema should come live with us?"
"I think it would be a great idea," Masaomi agreed, smiling down at Wataru. "It would be wonderful for Ema to be able to have a normal high school experience, and to have a stable home after traveling around the world so much. It wouldn't be difficult for us to feed one more mouth, would it, Ukyo?"
"Of course not," Ukyo said. "I would be happy to have Ema here." He gave Yusuke a stern look. "Ema is an excellent student from everything I've heard from her and Rintaro. You should follow her example. I think it would be good for you to have a good role model attending school with you."
"Attending my school?" Yusuke squeaked, his face turning red. "Why my school?"
"Because your high school is closest, Yusuke," Miwa said. "Is there a problem with her going to your school?"
"Well, I mean, won't that be kind of weird if we go to school together and live together?" Yusuke said desperately.
"Of course not," Tsubaki said, smacking the back of Yusuke's head. "Didn't you hear what I said? Ema will be like our sister. Of course siblings close in age live together and go to school together. It's not weird at all."
"Technically speaking, you said Ema would be like your sister, not our sister," Azusa pointed out dryly.
Tsubaki waved him off. "Close enough."
"Wait a minute," Subaru burst out. "Don't we all get a say in this? I don't want a girl living with us. It'll mess everything up."
"Now Subaru," Masaomi began, frowning at his little brother, "this is something really nice that we're able to do for Ema. She's been our friend for a long time. If we don't let her live with us, she won't be able to go to a normal high school. She'll have to keep traveling with her father. Don't you think that would be hard? She's been doing it for nearly seven years now. Do you want to deny her this opportunity just because the idea makes you a little uncomfortable?"
"She's wasn't my friend," Subaru muttered under his breath, but turned his head away so his brothers wouldn't hear.
"I think it would be great to have a feminine touch around the house," Kaname said. "There's way too much testosterone with all us boys."
"Mmhmm," Louis agreed. "I'll finally be able to show Chi what I've learned and be able to do her hair. It will be wonderful to see her again, and even better to have her so close by."
"Iori, what do you think?" Subaru asked, hoping someone else would agree with him.
"I think it would be great to help out our childhood friend. Ema's kept in contact with us all these years, so we know we're still important to her. I agree with Tsubaki in that she and her father are kind of like extended family. I don't have any problem with her coming. She can stay in Natsume's room." Iori looked to Natsume to see if he was okay with that.
Natsume shrugged. "It affects all of you a lot more than it affects me, so I don't really feel like I should have a say in this, but I do think it would be nice to see her again, and all that moving around is probably tiring."
"It's settled then," Miwa said with a pleased nod. "I'll email Rintaro and tell him to send Ema before the school year begins."
Wataru and Tsubaki cheered while Subaru sunk lower into his seat, a scowl on his face.
