Chapter 482: Omega Hope – END |
Hope was not used to arcade games at all. In fact, she wasn't used to games, period.
But it seemed like she had beginner's luck at least?
"Um..." Hope looked at the claw machine pulling up a giant roll of tickets. "I-Is that a good thing, Meggie?"
Meggie gave Hope a blank stare. Then she said, "I've heard of beginner's luck. I've seen it. But this is pretty crazy..."
"I-Is it?" Hope pulled out the giant roll of tickets, hugging it to her chest.
Meggie kept giving Hope a blank stare. But then she shook her head and said, "Alright. If you're having beginner's luck... let's try some more things." She walked over to a stacking machine. One where the goal was to press the button as a row of blocks moved left to right. And where if you reached the top level, you won the prizes there.
Usually, there were things like game consoles, phones, the super expensive stuff.
But like with the claw machine, the prizes for the stacking machine was a bundle of tickets.
Meggie swiped her card in to load up some attempts and said, "Alright, Hope. Let's see how good your luck is here."
"Yep, But eventually, you lose blocks until you only have one block. Then you have to-"
The loud sound of button mashing.
The result of Hope panicking a bit when she pressed the button the first time and noticing it was kind of sticky.
And then...
*Winner! Please claim your prize below!*
...She... uh, won?
Meggie slowly blinked. "...Hope."
Hope awkwardly picked up the roll of tickets from the prize drawer. "Y-Yes, Meggie?"
"Are you ALWAYS this lucky?"
"No! I mean, I don't think so? I've never played at an arcade before..."
Because Hope was always busy or lacked money, she never got the opportunity to try games like this.
"Hm... I see." Meggie let out a solemn nod and said, "Then that means that the world hates me in particular today."
"Wh-What?"
Meggie waved her hand. "Don't worry about it. Might as well take advantage of this. Come on, let's play the games with jackpots."
"O-Okay...?"
===
A machine where LED lights flashed in a circular ring, and you had to press a button to stop it on a red LED to win the jackpot.
A plinko machine where the jackpot was in the dead center, nearly impossible to get.
A machine where you pulled a lever to spin a wheel, winning the jackpot if the arrow pointed at the sliver of a line saying 'Grand Prize...'
Meggie led Hope to each one and watched with awe and mild concern as she won jackpot after jackpot. "...Okay, this is kiiinda freaky at this point."
Hope held an armful of tickets, letting out a nervous laugh. "U-U-Um... I-I-I won't get run over by a car or something as soon as we walk out of here, right? Th-They say that people who win the lottery should be careful..." Her sky blue eyes spun as she nervously glanced at the door and her winnings.
Meggie laughed and said, "What, do you think you're a main character in that horror movie series? What is it... Final Stop? Last Destination?"
Hope swallowed and said, "W-Well... Mister John DID stop me from being killed the other day with that home invader. S-So maybe...?"
Meggie rolled her eyes and took the tickets from Hope. "Relax. That sort of stuff is impossible to happen when you're around me."
Despite all the ridiculous things going on around Meggie, she WAS aware of one thing. Although Meggie could get pulled into romcom, drama, comedy, and slice-of-life shenanigans, horror was off the table.
And the reason for that was simple.
Compared to the ridiculous eldritch monsters and completely morally bankrupt things in the Three Realms, anything Earth could throw her way was nothing.
Zombies? Jiangshi were scarier since they could still use martial arts and daoist techniques.
Monsters and cryptids? Please, Yaoguai were even more terrifying. Creatures that stole souls, devoured memories, and wiped your mind if your will and soul wasn't firm enough... yeah.
And then things like those chainsaw massacre, death trap masterminds, or slasher films... compared to a cultivator who completely fell to murderous intent or cultivated the path of slaughter, it was nothing.
'Come to think about it...'
Maybe Meggie should drag some of the girls to a horror film marathon.
'Ah, but I can't bring Rin nee-chan...'
Considering that she definitely loved running bits and was on her yandere fixation, she might actually go a bit too far...
But anyway.
Meggie smiled and said, "Don't worry, Hope. Even if you're overdrafting your luck right now, we'll clear the debt later."
"...That's not helping me calm down!"
Meggie laughed and said, "Come on. We've got enough, so let's go change it out."
Hope was still nervous, but she nodded and followed after Meggie to the prize counter.
The owner of the arcade, an Asian man in his thirties wearing a black t-shirt, fedora, and a lanyard with keys around his neck, glanced over when they approached. Reaching up to adjust his hat, he said, "Cashing out already, Ladies?"
Meggie nodded and put the tickets on the counter. "This enough for those booster boxes?"
The owner laughed and said, "Honestly, no. But it's been a while since I've seen someone with such ridiculous luck, so here." He took the tickets and put them in a container behind the counter. Then he got a step stool and grabbed all three of the booster boxes to set on the counter. Looking at Meggie and Hope, he chuckled and said, "You and your sister have fun opening them, alright? If you pull anything nice, tell a friend that you got it from here."
"Deal." Meggie grabbed the booster boxes and handed two to Hope.
Hope took them, her eyes wide. "U-Um, she's not my-"
"Let's go, Sis."
Before Hope could say anything that might make the owner change his mind, Meggie dragged Hope out.
===
"You know, you're definitely like a good luck charm, Hope." Meggie looked over at Hope and said, "I've never had as many good things happen around me as I have when I'm with you."
Hope giggled and said, "I'm glad! I've had a great time." She let out a soft smile and looked at Meggie. "It's like I had a real baby sister. It's nice."
The two of them were walking around the streets of Akihabara, just relaxing.
Hope was a bit paranoid still about something ridiculous happening... but it looked like Meggie was right. At least, since she was with her nothing ridiculous seemed to be happening. Instead, only good things were happening to her.
Meggie smiled back at Hope and said, "Well, I wouldn't call you my big sister. Mm... I don't know what it is, but you don't have the 'big sister' vibes to me. It's more like a friend?"
"...I-Isn't that an insult?"
Meggie blinked. Then she laughed and said, "Nope! It just means you're young at heart despite everything. I think it's a compliment. I mean, even that old guy thought we were sisters, right? I guess we must look pretty close in age?"
Hope reached up to touch her face. "...I guess I do look young...?"
It was something Hope had never really thought about...
Because of everything she had gone through, people had always called her 'mature' for her age. Older than she was.
To be told she looked younger than her age now was a bit...
'Strange. But... not bad?'
Hope laughed. Genuinely free, relaxed, and happy.
Meggie smiled. "Come on. Let's head back to your apartment and open up these cards. I've got sleeves there so we can have fun. The others are probably streaming too, so we can watch a stream or something together."
Hope gasped. "That's right! I'm in Japan, so I can ACTUALLY watch them at a reasonable time!"
"...Wait. Don't tell me you've been staying up late to catch streams?"
"...I won't tell you?"
"Hoooope."
"But it's how I destress!"
"And now you don't need to destress, so get a proper sleep schedule, silly."
"Hypocrite! I heard Mister John complaining about you staying up too late on the plane!"
"What? DAAAAAAD! Why are you talking about me behind my back!"
'Ah. So this is what it's like having family.'
Hope giggled and kept bantering with Meggie as the two headed back to the station together.
===
A small studio apartment in Roppongi Hills by the shopping mall. A place that Betty paid for and lived whenever she wanted to spend time with her family.
She and Alphy were sitting together, catching up a bit and talking about wedding plans for Alphy and Asako.
But at that time, both of them suddenly paused.
Alphy looked at her younger sister. "Betty..."
Betty nodded. "Yes, Eldest Sister." She sipped on a caramel mocha latte. "...I do believe someone is attempting to steal our younger sister."
Alphy puffed her cheeks out. "That's not fair! Meggie is OUR baby sister!"
"Indeed... Maybe we should spoil her a bit when she gets back? It HAS been a while since it has been us three together, has it not?"
"That's right! ...Oh, but Meggie's probably tired after spending time with Hope all day..."
"Not a problem. Tomorrow works as well. She was suspended for a week, was she not?"
Alphy gasped. "YES! We'll take her anywhere she wants and chat!"
"Perfect. I will ensure she cannot run away."
===
Meggie paused just as she reached the gates to swipe into the train station.
"Meggie?" Hope tilted her head. "Something wrong?"
Meggie swiped them both in. As she passed the gates, Meggie said, "No. But I feel like tomorrow is going to be... something..."
"Huh?"
===
Next time: Project MirAIs Support Staff Get Together