The Alterra Project

Yurika looked at Gray with a confused expression. She saw that he was glancing down as he picked up his pant legs slightly. Yurika followed his looks and saw the Super Mario socks Gray had worn.

"…" Yurika's silence scared Gray as he watched her anger build, but instead of yelling at him, she slowly calmed herself down.

"I should've expected this… this is just who he is… they won't know we're together yet. Yes, it'll be ok." Yurika chanted to herself.

"Um… sorry?" Gray said sheepishly.

"If this was the real world I'd burn them as punishment. Now put the slippers on and let's go, follow behind me, try not to stare at my butt or anything."

"It'll be hard not to…" Gray said with a grin.

"I know" Yurika smiled then glanced around to see that nobody was looking and gave Gray a quick kiss.

Yurika and Gray moved to what Gray figured was a reception room of sorts. Once inside, Gray looked around at the tatami room with amazement. The simple 10 tile room came with a black coffee table and several pillows for kneeling around it. The paper thin walls managed to prevent light from passing through them and had solid wood borders around each wall 'tile' adding a very pleasing accent the tatami tiles.

"Yurika! Welcome home!" a loud man's voice boomed as Yurika walked through the open panel door.

"Dad! I'm home!" Yurika ran up and gave the large man a hug.

Yurika's dad stood a little taller than Gray, but he was much wider than Gray and you could tell just from looking at him that he has had a lot of martial training. He wore a simple suit without a tie that one would probably wear to work on a casual day.

"Yurika, it is good to see you home again!" a soft spoken female was standing next to Yurika's father and greeted Yurika with a sweet smile but didn't open her arms like Yurika's father did.

"Mom, I see you are well, how has it been taking caring of Dad?" Yurika said with a grin to her mother.

Her mother smiled and Gray felt a little uncomfortable as he could see where Yurika got her looks. She wore a traditional Yukata with a pink flowery design and a thick waist band that made her look innocent and pure. As Yurika said earlier, her mother was of Japanese origin so she had jet black hair, which she kept tied up neatly behind her head.

Yurika seemed to be a little more reserved around her mother. This surprised Gray a little bit, as normally the best word to describe Yurika would be loud. Still, Yurika didn't appear to look at her mother badly, just without her usual energy.

"Your Father is a handful as always, but that's part of what I love about him." Yurika's mother smiled affectionately at her husband and Gray could feel them getting lost in their own little world as they looked at each other.

"Same as always I see… Mom, Dad, this is Gray Wilhelm, a friend and captain of our team, I pointed him out from the promotional video if you can still remember that." Yurika introduced Gray politely.

"A pleasure to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Winchester!" Gray said politely, he bowed slightly as he felt like he should try and mimic Japanese culture.

"Good to meet you as well!" Yurika's Dad gave Gray a warm greeting and offered him a firm handshake that made Gray think he was shaking hands with a bear. "We've heard a bit about you and your team from our little Yurika here, I'd recommend her to you since you sound like a good man but she already has a fiancé."

"Against my will…" Yurika muttered.

"Now now sweetie, we all needed to make sacrifices for the family." Yurika's mother said softly, and then glanced at her husband.

"Come now my love, it turned out quite well you have to admit!" Yurika's father said happily then gave Yurika's mother a hug.

"True, it didn't happen right away, but I do admit we fell deeply in love over time. So it's not going to be the end of the world for you, Yurika" Yurika's mother said softly as she moved closer to her husband squeezed his arm.

Yurika pouted and crossed her arms then said, "I'd still rather have it be my own choice."

Both Yurika's mom and dad sighed, as if they've had this discussion before. Yurika's Dad apologized to Gray and said, "Sorry about that Gray-san, the Winchester family had nearly been destroyed during the last great war so they imported men with desirable traits to try and restore the family."

"Dear, don't tell him that! That makes it sound like my family discriminated to create designer offspring!" Yurika's mom squeezed Yurika's father's hand firmly to gently reprimand him.

"Ah, sorry my love, don't take what I said at face value Gray-san, the intention was to try and restore the family to its former glory. I guess you could say I lucked out since I would normally never get such a perfect woman!" Yurika's father said with a big smile as he looked affectionately at Yurika's mother.

"And don't you forget it…" Yurika's mom said with a soft smile as she patted her husband's hand.

"Well, regardless of the circ.u.mstances, you two seem very happy together so I see nothing wrong with it." Gray said diplomatically.

Yurika glared at Gray and was probably saying, "Whose side are you on?" in her head.

"Speaking of happiness, my team and I quickly discovered Yurika's martial prowess and were wondering about where she received that training." Gray asked sincerely.

Yurika's father replied, "Gray-san, you are Diamond-tier as well, yes?"

Gray nodded.

Yurika's father then looked up and said "Shiro, please secure this room."

A male voice resounded throughout the room, "Affirmative sir."

"That's the AI that runs the daily operations of the estate. I was originally against that sort of thing, but it honestly makes things so much easier around here." Yurika's dad said.

Gray nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I didn't like the idea of a computer managing any part of me, but now I feel like I can't live without it."

"Anyways, the Winchester family volunteered for The Alterra Project, our youngest generation would be brought up as pilots and as such we were given preferential treatment in this virtual world. The youngest generation still believes this is the real world though hence the need for secrecy. Our family randomly selected Yurika to be a Diamond-Tier among our family since we received one Diamond-Tier pass for free."

"Just one seems a little light for what you gave up." Gray said analytically.

"Indeed, but also considering we were given this estate in this virtual world, I think one is plenty."

"Good point, so where did Yurika get her training from and go to school?"

"We pull most children from school at around 7 or 8 years old and begin privately educating them. Yurika showed a lot of promise so we pulled her a little earlier and focused on martial training. My family used to belong to a long line of soldiers for the Russian Confederation before the last Great War. My family almost always has superior physical traits and thus I was paired with my wife who also has extreme martial talent." Yurika's father said slightly nostalgically. Gray figured he probably was wishing he was around before or during the Great War from 70 years ago.

"Wow, so Mrs. Winchester here is also a martial artist?"

Yurika's Dad laughed aloud and said proudly, "Yes! She can kick my ass! Don't be fooled by her appearance and demeanor, she could kill you in an instant!"

Gray opened his mouth and was about to say that he didn't believe it, but he suddenly saw a pink flash and then the floor up close. After a pinch in his arm, he then felt his legs get twisted over his head and then his back slam on the table as he looked up at the ceiling. Yurika's mom was standing in front of him with his wrist in her hand and one foot extended out slightly from her yukata.

"She looks at it as a challenge when you question her abilities based on her appearance, I probably should've warned you first." Yurika's dad said apologetically.

Yurika's mom looked like it was perfectly natural for her to flip Gray over on his back faster than he could comprehend and Yurika herself looked envious of her mom's speed.

Gray suddenly understood why Yurika called him the wife and imagined that Yurika's mom might have done the same thing to her husband at one time. From Gray's viewpoint of lying on his back on the table, he could see how Yurika and her mother looked similar, but at the same time noticed that Yurika was much more 'abundant' in certain areas than her mother.

"Do you want to die?" Yurika said to Gray when she noticed where he was looking at on her.

"Sorry, I thought I had died and was at heaven already with 2 angels in front of me." Gray said with a smile.

"He's good with words at least." Yurika's mom said softly then she helped Gray back up.

Gray was amazed at her arm strength since she seemed even stronger than her husband who is built like a bear. "Thank you ma'am, did you personally teach Yurika?"

Yurika's mother shook her head and added, "No, she's not ready for me yet, soon though. We have several instructors that taught her previously. We also provide private tutoring and monitor the children's diet so we can develop every bit of their talent. Once they are old enough, we arrange for them to meet marriage candidates and let them pick from one of them."

"Not to sound ignorant, but what if they want to marry outside of that?" Gray asked.

"They can plead their case and if their desired mate is shown to be genetically acceptable we can sometimes approve of it, but so far we've only had a handful of children succeed with that process. I myself failed, but I am glad since I consider my husband here the love of my life."

"It's not that we don't get what you, and many others, have brought up in the past, but the council of elders will be overturning this rule at the end of this year as it will no longer be necessary as long as their marriage candidate meets certain requirements." Yurika's father said as he somewhat understood what Gray was getting at.

Gray thought about it for a second and then said, "I can understand that somewhat, while I think that giving a person full control over their own life is for the best, I also understand that some people might have all of the talent in the world and yet still lack common sense when deciding on a life partner and fall for someone that won't let them grow."

Yurika's mom and Dad both smiled at this and her Mom said, "I am glad you understand the logic, so at least now you understand why we can't let you be with Yurika."