Chapter 467: Flashback – The Date(?) |
[Play: Who′s Dumber? · Muwen · LEVEL NINE]
"So how do you know Meggie, Tsuki?" Emma tilted her head and looked at the other blonde girl.
Tsuki shifted in place and said, "It's... complicated? Uncle John and Daddy know each other, and then there was an incident with Miss Yue because of a misunderstanding..."
Meggie sat in between the two, sipping on a white chocolate milkshake. 'This is my life now.'
They were still in Akiba, of course. Meggie had been determined to not go home until they were all relaxed after the incident earlier that morning.
But after spending an hour in the claw machine arcade and clearing out a lot of machines, they were eventually kicked out.
After the small bonding session Tsuki and Emma had, the initial tension had died down too.
But that was the problem.
Now that there wasn't tension, the two were getting to know each other. And they were getting to know how they knew Meggie.
Or in other words...
'A catfight waiting to happen... This was EXACTLY what Dad warned me about!'
Meggie had heard it countless times before. Hell, she had SEEN it happen in the Three Realms between her mother and uppity beauties who thought they had a chance with her father.
But she thought it was just a thing that girls did when they fought over guys.
'Why are they fighting over me?!'
Meggie glanced between Emma and Tsuki.
Emma was hugging a bundle of Project MirAIs merch that she won for her mom, happily humming to herself. Even so, she kept sending sidelong glances at Meggie.
Tsuki, meanwhile, was lugging around a pair of bags, all filled with CapsuMon plushies that she had won for Meggie. And although pretending not to look, she was definitely glancing at Meggie and sneaking jealous looks at Emma too.
All-in-all...
'I feel like I'm the lead of a romcom. What even is this...?'
Meggie had always laughed at her father for getting into ridiculous situations here on Earth. And she had always been annoyed with him back in the Three Realms because she thought he did it on purpose to make her mom jealous.
'...I get it now, Dad.'
Life really WAS just like that, sometimes.
Emma walked closer to Meggie's right side and lightly tugged Meggie's sleeve. "Hey, Meggie. Do you think we could have a sleepover? Perry is probably going to be busy, and Mom needs some alonetime anyway."
Tsuki immediately got between them and said, "If it's a sleepover, I want to join too. The more people, the more fun, right? We can even play games." She shifted her gaze over to Meggie, her cheeks a bit red. Then she shifted them away and said, "I mean, if you want to."
Emma puffed her cheeks, clearly annoyed at being interrupted. But she quickly put a smile on her face and said, "That's fine. Maybe we can go do karaoke instead? Didn't Mister Maji and the others have a karaoke room we could borrow? I still have a little money we can use!"
Tsuki plastered a smile on her face too and said, "If you want to sing karaoke, I could ask Papa if we can borrow his studio. We can do a real recording booth then."
Emma's eye twitched. But she kept smiling and said, "No, no. That's fine. If we want to record something, we can go to my place! Mom still has a lot of things from when she was an idol! And she produced a few of her own songs too, so she can help teach us!"
'...Heavens above. Save me.'
The tension in the air was awkward as hell.
Meggie wanted to say something about it. But her intuition was telling her that saying ANYTHING right now was ripping open a can of worms she was NOT prepared for.
So.
Instead of contributing to the conversation, Meggie pointed randomly in the distance and said, "That place looks cool. Let's check it out."
It was an appliance store with a fake satellite prop attached to the second floor. Meanwhile, a scribbled sign that had 'Future Devices Research Facility' written in English was taped onto the door.
Meggie felt that it was vaguely familiar, but she brushed it off. She needed something, ANYTHING to break this awkward atmosphere. "Come on."
Grabbing both Tsuki's arm and Emma's arm, she dragged them both inside the store(?).
The moment she entered, a masculine and maniacal laugh echoed.
"Fwahahaha! Welcome to the future, where the very fabric of reality breaks as- Eh?"
Titor blinked, stopping in the middle of his monologue with his white labcoat still fluttering mid-pose. "...Meggie?"
"...Uncle Titor?" Meggie blinked. "What are you-?"
"MY NIECE HAS TWO GIRLFRIENDS?!"
"@#%@#%$@#$!"
Meggie immediately dragged Emma and Tsuki out of the lab and dashed off, carrying them both over her shoulders again.
"MEGGIE!"
"KYAAAAAAAA!"
"Shut up, shut up, shut up! We never saw anything! I don't know that guy!"
===
[Play: Here Comes Trouble by ASHANOVA]
After a quick retreat, Meggie dragged Emma and Tsuki into another random store.
Or so she thought.
But the moment she entered...
"Oh! Welcome!"
A bubbly petite woman with light-orange hair and green eyes. One who was somewhat similar to Hana, but definitely a different person.
Emily Nova smiled and said, "Welcome to Ars Nova Productions! How can we help you? Are you here for merch? If so, we have a lot!"
Meggie froze.
She didn't recognize the place or the woman. But she recognized the name. And she DEFINITELY recognized the familiar presence somewhere deeper in the building.
Knowing that, she started to sweat. Internally, of course.
But she played it off and said, "That's right. We're just looking around for cool things."
Emily's eyes lit up. "In that case, come in! We just released a new game! It's experimental, but it's pretty interesting!" She led the way deeper into the building.
As she did, Meggie took a glance back at Emma and Tsuki.
Thankfully, Emma looked distracted by the fancy merchandise on display. The pin-up posters of a Xianxia heroine with silver hair, jade talismans, and other merchandise for Alteris: Oath Under Snow.
Tsuki was distracted too, but for different reasons. Taking a look around, she frowned and said, "Isn't this where Sakura nee-san-"
"We wanted to play games, right? Let's check out their game demo, Tsuki." Meggie quickly interrupted Tsuki and dragged her to follow Emily. "You too, Emma."
Emma quickly caught up, hugging her Project MirAIs merch with her. "Coming!"
Emily glanced back. "Emma? Oh! Is your name Emily too?"
"A-Ah? No, it's Emerald. I like Emma though..."
"Oh! That's pretty!" Emily smiled. "I was surprised! Betty calls me Emma sometimes!"
"...Betty?" Emma tilted her head. "Like, Beatrice?"
Before Emily could elaborate, an ethereal beauty walked down from the stairs leading to the upper levels of the studio.
Silky crimson hair, skin as pristine as carved white jade, a face too perfect to be human, and yet undoubtedly was. Eyes that seemed to shiver every hue imaginable... And then a flowing silver robe that trailed behind her like a cloud.
"No." The crimson-haired beauty stepped down from the stairs and stared at Meggie with mischief clear in her eyes. "Like Beta. The Greek Alphabet. Similar to how Meggie is short for Omega. Speaking of which... Hello, younger sister."
'Fuck. My. Life.'
===
"...And that's how I was caught. And why I'm here with Big Sis Betty." Meggie grumbled.