It’s probably needless to say this, but after we bath and dress this morning, we collect Honoka and Sofi so we can video chat with our parents to wish them a Merry Christmas and watch them open the presents we got for them. Opening ours will have to wait until we get back on the 30th.

After they open their presents, we get the usual questions of are we enjoying ourselves and such, which of course we are. Honoka and Sofi say their goodbyes and drift off to rejoin their boyfriends when I begin telling Dad about the conversation Kazuto and I had last night. One I found to be rather enlightening and thought provoking.

This may sound a bit odd, but it appears that I’m kind of a two dimensional girl. What I mean by that is our conversation pointed out that I lacked taking into account what’s in space. I’m always thinking about what’s good for Earth, it’s people, and best use of its available resources. When he pointed out that we have no lack of resources available to us if we want them badly enough, I couldn’t puzzle out where he was coming from, although you probably already know what he meant.

I felt like such a moron when he waved his arms toward space and said, “Sora, the asteroid belt has all the resources we’ll ever need. Energy is a different story, but they’re working on that and you might consider working on it as well.”

His comments left me in a dazed state as the neurons began firing and making all sorts of connections. It’s simply something I never considered before. I’ve been so focused on making people's lives better here on Earth that I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. See what I mean when I said two dimensional?

The thing is that seeing that we can have everything we will ever need and being able to get to them are two different things. Mankind, as a whole, backed off from space when the virus hit and pretty much stopped developing new technologies for space. We’ve been stuck in a rut, as they say, for more than a decade and that isn’t a good thing. Well past time for humanity to pull our collective heads out of our ass and start up a new umbrella corporation for developing bleeding edge space travel technology.

Dad snaps me out my reverie when he calls out, “Sora?”

Focusing on him and Mama, I reply, “Hmm?”

He grins for a moment. “I thought we lost you there.”

I grin and shake my head. “Ha. No, just thinking a bit about all this.” I lean forward on my elbows and stare into the camera with a serious expression. “Daddy, I believe Kazuto is right. More right than he even knows, although probably not exactly in the same way he was talking about last night.”

Dad gestures for me to continue as he says, “Go on.”

I shrug. “The resources are there. He is right about that part, but the thing mostly that comes to mind for me is that scientists have been saying forever that one large comet or asteroid strike and we’re basically done as a species. Looking at what the virus did to us as a species proves it isn’t merely cosmic events that can nearly end us. A decade later and our population numbers have barely budged from what they were.” He nods. “Daddy, we need not only the resources that are out there, but we need to stop keeping all our eggs in one basket. Colonizing Mars, amongst other planets and moons is merely a step in the right direction, but we’ve basically abandoned space. We have no ability to even reach the moon right now. Sure, we have low and mid-orbit stations and can reach them at great expense, but we’ve stopped reaching farther.”

“And you want to do something about that?”

I slowly nod. “I do, but it will take far more resources than Japan has to do what I am thinking about. We can lay the groundwork and take the first step, but it’s going to take all of us, every nation, working together to do this and even then I’m not completely sure we’ll be able to do it. There’s simply too much animosity in the world.”

Mama cuts in and says, “Baby, that’s a fact of life and there’s no getting around it. Humans work against their own best interests all the time. That’s okay though, you start by gathering together the people who are willing to work with others. Then, you slowly show the others that working together makes sense because if they don’t they get left behind. You get us where you want us to go one small step at a time.”

Grimacing, I state, "That sounds like it's much easier said than done." She suddenly begins laughing, which makes me look at her curiously and ask, “What’s so funny?”

She stops laughing and smiles. “The usual. Nothing more than the juxtaposition of holding, yet another, conversation about saving the world with our 14 year old daughter.” She sighs and continues, “I suppose that I should be used to this already.”

I grin even as I roll my eyes while Dad says, “Alright. First things first. What do you want to name this corporation?”

I don’t even get a chance to think of anything before Chinatsu wraps her arms around my neck and quietly says in my ear, “Dream Technologies, Inc.”

I turn enough to look at her wide-eyed as she smiles at me. “Why that?”

She shrugs and replies, “Because we’ve all dreamed of walking on another planet, haven’t we?”

I nod, acknowledging her point. “Sounds good to me.” Turning back to the camera I say, “Then, Dream Technologies, Inc. it is.”

“Sounds like a wonderful name… Alright, enough talking business for the moment. What do you say we table this discussion until later?”

With that, we all agree and say our goodbyes, then turn our attention to each other. We exchange a couple of gifts that we brought for each other and, other than the time we spend eating with everyone else, simply enjoy each other's company.

　◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

I won’t go into any detail about the remainder of our trip other than to say it was tons of fun. I did try and quickly came to love snowboarding. We also went sledding, hiking, cross country skiing, and snowshoeing, which is much harder than you might think. We also went ice climbing, which while fun was also a bit scary when we would slip. At night, we even went to several light shows that were held. All in all, we had a great time, but all too soon, it was time to pack up and head home for New Years.

I should probably mention that Mayumi and Kazuto pulled the three of us off to the side for a discussion about my nanites. I’m sure you remember that Mayumi was very interested in them when she saw what they did for Honoka. Personally, I don’t mind giving them to her, but that also means informing Kazuto about them and what they can and will do, which of course, means extracting a solemn promise from him never to speak about them to anyone for any reason and explaining why he could never do so. It isn’t as if we could hide her taking them from him because they are quite likely to do the same thing they did to Honoka to her.

Anyway, TL;DR version of the talk is she wants my nanites and I agreed to give them to her after New Years.

　◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

[Monday, December 30th]

This morning is spent cleaning and putting up everything we took with us on our trip and in the down time in between doing so, spending time with Eri and Kaede. I know, you don’t have to say it, we’ll probably end up spoiling the two of them to death, but how can we not? They are just too damn cute not to spoil.

Then came opening the presents that Mama and Daddy got us for Christmas. For me, one of my presents was a solid gold choker with a single 3 carat pink diamond on it. Mama told me that was to be worn with my dress for New Years. I also got some bracelets, bangles and my very first pair of dangle earrings. Those are also pink diamonds and gold to wear with my dress. My sisters received similar presents from our parents.

Afterward, I sat down with Dad in his office and we had a long talk about Dream Technologies. While talking Katsuo Yoshimori came to mind and I mentioned him to Dad as a possible person to run the corporation for us. Listen, I simply have too many things on my plate to even think of running it in addition to TGR, school, and all the other things I have to deal with. Dad got back with me later that day to say he thought that he would make a great addition to our not so little business family. Apparently, he has a good reputation for leading by example. Rare I know, but as few and far between as they are, I believe it would be best to have a conversation with him about coming onboard. With that in mind, I sent him an invite to our party so I can do just that. It didn’t take long for him to send a note that he would be happy to attend.

Other than that, we finish up what little homework we have left and relax for the day since Ryu is at home with Maki.

[Tuesday, December 31st]

Today, as you can guess, is going to be a somewhat busy day for us girls. We have morning to ourselves and then a salon appointment for hair and makeup at noon. The caterers and serving staff show up shortly before noon to start getting everything set up.

Soon, we head out for our appointment. Afterward, we make our way back to the house and have a light, quick meal. Thankfully, we have plenty of time before we have to begin getting ready, so we relax and watch some TV, until, finally, we have to go change.

As we change into our gowns, I’m thinking about all the people that will be here. Of course, there will be the family and our friends, but also a lot of business and finance people.

Once we’re dressed, we head down and join the greeting line as people begin to arrive. This entails several short conversations with people I know rather well. Finally, Mr. Yoshimori, his wife and who I assume to be his daughter arrive.

After greeting them, he asks that I call him Katsuo, then introduces his wife, Nami and daughter, Saya.

I ask, “Would you mind giving me a few minutes of your time a little later?”

He smiles as he replies, “Of course not. I was hoping that was why you invited me.”

He and his family move on and it takes another hour for everyone to arrive. A short rest, a drink and a couple of dances later, I see him coming my way and gesture for him to meet me over by the doorway. Telling Chinatsu and Ryu that I would return soon, I make my way to him through the crowd and then lead him to Dad’s office for a private conversation.

Gesturing for him to enter first I say, “Take a seat,” and close the door. Taking the seat opposite of him, I cross my legs and get as comfortable I can considering what I am wearing. “Thank you for coming.”

He nods. “Honestly, I was surprised by the invite after our last interaction.”

“I apologize if I offended you, but I consider the time I get with my family very dear and I refuse to give it up for business.”

“Understandable, all the good ones work hard at keeping them separate.”

I shrug. “We each have our priorities. Now, as to why I asked to speak to you…”

He cuts me off when he laughs and says, “Straight to the heart of the matter! I knew that I was going to like you.”

Smiling tentatively, I say, “Thank you, I think,” as I’m not sure if that was a joke or he was being serious.

He waves it off. “Don’t mind me. I hate the ones that believe you have to have an hour of small talk before you can get down to the business at hand. I find it refreshing to see one so young that thinks the same way.”

“Thanks, but I have neither the time, temperament, nor inclination for that. Anyway, I have a question for you. How happy are you at Mitsui?”

“Quite happy. The board, not so much. Sora, I’m 69 years old and they believe I should retire, no matter what I bring to the table.”

“Would you consider leaving if you had another opportunity?”

He grins. “Are you offering me one?”

“I might be. My father had you checked out for me. You spend the majority of your time at work, but family means a lot to you. When your daughter was injured in a car accident 2 years ago you didn’t go in until they had her stabilized. Same thing when your brother was diagnosed with cancer. You spent massive amounts of money and time with him until he was cancer free.”

He shrugs. “It would be a poor life to only live for work. I love my family and I love work. Your point?”

“Did you realize you treat work like you do your family?”

“A corporation is a family. Loosely knit, but family nonetheless. Again, your point?”

I smile. “There’s no point, it’s merely an observation and it’s something I agree with 100%. Katsuo, how would you like to run a startup for me?”

He leans forward with an interested expression. “What kind of startup?”

“One that should be right up your alley. How would you like to help me take the human race back to the moon and to the farthest reaches of our system?”

Breathlessly, he replies, “You have no idea!”

“Believe me when I say that I do. This isn’t going to be easy. We have to develop the technologies we need and we have to be forward looking enough to see the technologies we’re going to need when we get there to sustain us when we do. So, do you have the drive and vision to help me take us there?”

“I believe so. Who would I answer to?”

“Me and my father. No one else.”

He extends his hand to me and I shake it as he says, “Then we have a deal.”

He tries to get more of the plans out of me, which I don’t truly have at the moment since it’s more of a general outline than plan, until I finally tell him we should get back to the party.

We separate as we walk back in and I head back to Ryu and Chinatsu.