Chapter 462: yet another generic Chapter title |
Meggie felt her phone vibrate. When she saw that it was from her dad, she quickly pulled it out, hoping she had some useful advice for this mess. But when she read the message...
[Okayish Dad]
> lmao. gl Meggie. Having two girls in love with you is hell, but I believe in you. Try not to break any hearts. Your mom will kill you. K bye.
'DAD, YOU SON OF A-'
No.
Calm.
Dad was just trolling because he'd been in this sort of mess before and was enjoying being on the other side.
Also, if he was trolling, it meant that he believed she could sort it out.
'So it's not that bad.'
This wasn't that bad.
If Meggie just thought about it a bit more, then-
"Here, Meggie!" Emma ran up, carrying a stuffed Peckachu, the electric bird CapsuMon. "I won this for you!"
Tsuki ran up too, holding a limited edition CapsuMon sweater with the original 151 CapsuMon. "Well, I won THIS for Meggie." She side-eyed Emma and said, "This is better."
Emma puffed her cheeks, looking irritated.
Meggie screamed.
Internally, of course.
But on the outside, Meggie calmly took both and said, "They're amazing. Thank you, Em. Tsuki."
Emma let out a bright smile, stepping forward to give Meggie a hug.
Tsuki let out a shy smile and then fidgeted in place, giggling.
'...Is this the suspension bridge effect that Big Sis Betty mentioned last time? It must be.'
They were in a huge claw machine arcade building, filled to the brim with various prizes and machines.
Meggie had pivoted the conversation away from whether it was a date and just dragged Emma and Tsuki to play some games.
...But somehow, it had turned into a sort of competition between Emma and Tsuki on who could win more or better prizes. And prizes for Meggie.
'...I just wanted to play some games...'
Meggie just wanted to take them out to play games and relax because both Emma AND Tsuki had been stressed with the incident at school.
But somehow, it turned into this...
'...Oh. I suddenly get Dad now.'
No wonder he just dipped from the Three Realms the moment he could. And no wonder he left the place while hollering about going home to use the internet and play games.
Meggie vividly remembered that Dad had been dealing with exactly this sort of situation between her mom, aunties, and other beauties in the Three Realms...
'Focus Meggie! It's not about Dad right now!'
Dad's life was Dad's life.
Right now, Meggie had to deal with HER life.
And the fact that her first best friend and her newest friend were absolutely jealous of each other.
Plus the fact that, while they probably didn't realize it, they, uh... were also definitely crushing on Meggie.
...No, did Tsuki even have a crush on Meggie? Or was she just acting up because of the lack of attention since Emma was stealing the limelight in Meggie's life?
'Does it matter?'
Nope. Absolutely did not.
Because at the end of the day, Meggie STILL had to deal with it.
So.
First step.
Uh...
"Oh look! They added Project MirAIs merch!" Meggie pointed in a random direction, blindly hoping it was true.
And, thankfully, it was.
Right where she pointed, a claw machine with a limited edition Prototypes three-member figurine prize stood.
The figurine showed off Hana, Aoko, and Alfi posing together on a stage, with Hana as the center while Aoko and Alfi flanked her.
Emma glanced over and then her eyes lit up. "Oh! Mom's a big fan! She'd be so happy if she got this!" She ran over and immediately put some yen into the machine to try it out.
Tsuki walked over and frowned, analyzing the mechanics of the machine. "...Isn't this an impossible prize? If that box has a figurine like that, it's too heavy for the claw."
'Okay good. Distraction worked. Thank whoever is listening for small miracles... And screw you, Dad.'
Clearly, it wasn't Meggie's father intervening. But it looked like SOMEONE was looking out for Meggie at least.
That, or she was finally getting a run of good luck for helping Emma out of her situation.
But anyway...
Meggie walked over just as Emma failed to get the statue. She watched as the claw slipped out of the thin loop attached to the box of the prize.
Emma furrowed her brow and said, "I can do this! Mom deserves a nice gift!"
Tsuki crossed her arms, watching as Emma failed again before immediately shoving a 1000 yen bill into the machine.
Seeing that, Tsuki said, "Why are you so determined to win this anyway?"
Emma moved the claw around and said, "Mom works too hard! She's a teacher at the school now, but until then... because she couldn't be an idol anymore, she had to do a lot of hard jobs to support us." Emma's voice got softer as the claw missed again. "...I just want to give her something back since it's just us. Me, Mom, and Peri."
"...Oh." Tsuki was quiet for a bit. Then she said, "Just you guys and your mom, huh?"
Meggie noticed the atmosphere had gone a bit weird.
Emma was still determined to try, spending attempt after attempt to win the figurine.
Tsuki just watched her, not saying a word, but with a contemplative expression on her face.
As for Meggie...
'...Did. Did they forget that I could just... get them merch...?'
...She was wondering why her random distraction tactic had turned into a mcguffin for some traumabonding between her friends.
Not that she minded. But...
'Wait.'
Meggie just realized something in common between herself and her two friends.
A young girl, an absent father, a mother raising her daughter alone and doing the best she could...
'...ARE WE THE DADDY ISSUES GROUP?! AAAAAHHHHH-'
===
John sneezed and then looked off towards Akiba. "Well, I guess Meggie fixed that situation. Though it seems like she just opened another can of worms..."
Although he wasn't sure EXACTLY what Meggie had just realized, John had a feeling Meggie just figured something out about herself and her friends that recontextualized everything about them.
Just a gut feeling.
But anyway...
It was noon. Rory was taking her afternoon nap in her crib. Yue was off on a girldate with Sakura. Rin was off doing a retribution stream with her kouhais after the onsen incident...
"Which means that I have some free time to get more work done. Perfect."
John checked on Rory one more time. Seeing that his youngest daughter was happily asleep and hugging a plushy of Alfi, he nodded and stepped back into the living room.
Once there, he turned on the baby monitor to listen to Rory before pulling out his tablet. "Okay Mira-chan. What's in queue?"
A bubbly and slightly synthetic voice echoed from the tablet. "Taking over the world?"
"No."
"Aw..."
The tablet display flickered and then a girl with iridescent hair and wearing a light blue dress appeared, pouting her cheeks.
Mira-chan, Project MirAI's official unofficial mascot.
Merch pending, of course.
Mira-chan pulled out her clipboard and said, "Well... Miss Jenny has more details so you should be really asking her, Mister John. But if you're THAT lazy... the EN members first generation should be debuting soon. And the BRAVE project is set to launch soon too."
John blinked. "BRAVE project?"
"Duh! The male version of Project MirAIs? You know, the ones you personally scouted?" Mira-chan pouted. "Are you that forgetful? Sheesh!"
John chuckled. "Oh, right. I changed the name to English... But to be fair, I AM raising an infant between being CEO."
Mira-chan rolled her eyes and floated up on the screen, sitting on top of an app. "You say that as if you're suddenly incompetent when a baby's involved."
John gave a serious nod. "It's true. Fathers suddenly forget everything else but their baby girl when they're an infant. Can't miss a thing, you know? It only comes by once."
Mira-chan pouted. "...Rory-chan is going to sooo hate you when she grows up." After saying that, she smacked an app, opening up John's calendar.
"Highly doubt it. Now..." John looked at the calendar and said, "Mm... I suppose I should check in on Hope and see what the synergy is with her genmates."
Hopefully, pun VERY much intended, the 'Prologue' of the EN branch would do well...