Artificial Fantasy

Chapter 3: Invitation

I don't know if whether to call it luck or a close call, but thankfully for Kazuki and me, we were able to reach our home in Arthur Avenue just before 7 o'clock. For a second there, I thought I would face our mom's tirade of me focusing on my friends and not Kazuki. Still, I was thankful for the lack of traffic today. That helped us a lot.

After I left my backpack in my bedroom, I headed straight to the kitchen to help my Mom out with dinner. From what she told me when I ask how was her day was, she had actually finished with tomorrow's article and got to leave work early as a reward. Sure, I know her boss let her go home just to see us, but if I know my Mom, she has more ideas for a new article every day. Though she wasn't too much of a workaholic, as she did spend time with us for a family game night.

Once the food was ready, we sat down in our usual seats with Kazuki joining us. But, I was confused when I saw an empty seat near Mom's. "Huh? Shouldn't Dad be home from work already?" It was weird, Dad usually is supposed to get home before dinner on Thursdays. It wasn't like him to just skip out on dinner like that.

"He did, but he texted me he had to come home a little minutes late. He said something that he needs to pick something up."

That didn't answer my question. But as I shifted my glance from my mom to my brother, I was even more confused when I saw Kazuki smiling oddly while jumping up and down in his seat. I knew something was off because he wasn't the type to smile like that, especially while Dad was very late. "Did Dad say anything about when will he come home?"

"He said he will be here in about half an hour. Until then, we should try to eat without him."

I would've complained about this, but whatever kind of work he was working on right now, I couldn't do it because I knew it had to be important. Compared to Mom, Dad is the biggest workaholic of all. Even to the point that I've gotten worried that he might start completely ignoring me and Kazuki someday. But I had no choice. We decided to eat without him while Kazuki and I told Mom about our day and studies.

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Even though I managed to finish my chicken soup, Dad still hadn't come back. It had been almost 30 minutes by now, and Mom and Kazuki were almost finished with their meals. Ugh... This is what I hated about his job. Instead of helping us study and spending time with us, he was probably stuck with building some kind of a new AI or something. It was official, he was completely focused on his work instead of u-

"I'm home everyone! Sorry, it took so long."

I broke out of my depressed mood just in time to hear Dad's voice. To be honest, I was almost worried there. "Dad! You're here!" Kazuki shouted as he rushed in just to hug him before I approached him in a proper manner.

"Well, I don't want you all just to finish up without me. Besides, I do have some special news for you two."

"Really, what kind?" Special news, huh? Was that why he was somehow late? Still, I did know he had something in store for me and Kazuki. Though I hope it's not too work-related. The last times he made an announcement like this it was just a 'Bring Your Son or Daughter to Work' day. Besides, I'm already too old to go something like that anymore.

"Well, it's something that the officials just give me for the project." Just then, he then left the house. I was confused about it, but for some reason, Kazuki was strangely restless and excited about it. But when Dad came back a few seconds later, my eyes widen as I saw him carry two huge boxes into the house. "You could say it can make anyone's wish come true."

Anyone's wish? I was confused at what he meant. That is, until I took a closer look at the boxes, and gasped in shock at seeing the writing and logo on it. "'V-Veil Console'?! You managed to get two consoles?! B-B-But how?!" That's what I really want to know. These VR consoles are very expensive and I know buying two of them would be way out of our family's budget.