Chapter 491: Doko-Mii – The World is Mine |
Asako idly brushed a strand of her pastel pink hair behind her ear, checking on her phone with her left hand while hugging Alphy with her right. "Huh. Hana streamed with 'Friend E' recently."
Alphy glanced at the phone and gasped. "Friend E looks so cute like that! And she looks like she's having so much fun!"
"Maybe if you call being anxious having fun... I think she needs to get used to streaming a bit more first. Though, I guess they ARE using that ridiculous studio."
Lore stood in front of the two, close enough to stop anyone from getting close, but also distant enough to give them privacy. While leading the way through the packed crowds, he glanced back and said, "Hana is a menace. Do you know how much lore I have to rewrite now because of her casual introduction of 'Friend E'? Especially when it's not just a letter, but short for Elpis?"
Asako laughed. "Of course. She WOULD do that..."
Alphy gave Lore an apologetic smile and said, "I hope it wasn't too much trouble..."
"Not at all." Lore reached up to adjust his glasses... then paused when he remembered again that he wasn't wearing any. Instead, he aborted the act and adjusted his scarf instead, saying, "I've just decided to make them all different worldlines. I'm having fun appending random numbers onto the lorebooks and annotating the revision dates."
Alphy gasped. "That's perfect! Just like Titor and his MADDO SCIENTISTO~"
Asako tilted her head. "Hm... speaking of Titor, how IS that guy doing? We haven't checked in on him in a while, right, 'Miku'?"
Lore nodded. "Understandable... I recall the days babysitting an infant cousin of mine. The slightest noise would set her off."
Alphy nodded. "Right? I hope my baby isn't like that..."
Asako stumbled and said, "Y-YOUR baby? What baby?"
"E-Eh?" Alphy tilted her head. "D-D-Don't you want one?"
"I-I do! But how?! When?!"
"Hm? When we get married, silly. And for how..." Alphy blushed and shifted her gaze to Lore before looking back at Asako. "D-Do you really want to talk about that here...?"
Lore's eyes flashed. "A biological daughter. Between a combat android and a dragon... I suppose if we consider the fact that certain reptiles may be hermaphrodites and-"
"STOP!" Asako pointed at Lore. "No! Denied!"
Lore paused. Then he said, "...For the record, there are 131 results on danbooru with a certain tag regarding Aoko and Alfi. 75 of those involve... alternative fornification schemes-"
"NOPE!" Asako immediately held out her left hand. "STOPPU. No more! Different topic, now! Like merch!"
Lore blinked. Then his eyes lit up and he said, "Right. Merchandise..." He pulled out his phone and said, "According to a search I did earlier, there are a record breaking 2140 vendors this year at Doko-Mii. Of those, 1420 are independent artists while the rest are corporate sponsors. And of those independent artists, 479 are dedicated Project MirAIs fanartists while 1000 exactly have merchandise for Project MirAIs, ranging from prints to physical goods."
Asako paused. "...Wait, what? Did you seriously map it out?"
Lore nodded. "Of course. Hottie and Orca placed me in charge of logistics for the both of you for a reason." He let out a smug grin and said, "As a loremaster, something of this nature is trivial."
Alphy smiled and said, "That's great! Then... how about we start with physical goods? I want some cute merch like a wallet or a purse! Or maybe a body pillow of Aoko~"
Asako blushed. "A-Alphy!"
"What? Papa always said culture is important! And booba!"
"B-B-BOOBA?!"
"Mmhm! Well, he doesn't say it THESE days. But when I was still small, he said it a lot!"
Lore's eyes flashed and he quickly pulled out his phone to make a voice memo. "Note to self. In his younger age, John was a degenerate who even instructed a toddler Alfi that culture and booba were important..."
Asako laughed and nudged Alphy's shoulder. "You're going to ruin John's reputation!"
"It's okay!" Alphy giggled and said, "Papa accepted having his reputation ruined YEARS ago when he kidnapped Mama from the imperial palace after breaking in at night~"
"What? Wait, is THAT how they met?"
"Nope! But that's how they eloped~"
Lore started trembling in excitement and quickly summarized the lore in his voice notes.
Asako shook her head. "Geez... whatever. Come on, Lore. We're holding up the place."
"Ah, yes." Lore closed his voice notes and opened up a navigation app. After tapping a few different filtered lists, he nodded and said, "I've mapped the ideal path to save time. This way."
After that, he started walking off at a measured pace, leaving Asako and Alphy to follow after him.
They did.
But as they did, Alphy nudged Asako's arm and said, "Lore looks like he's having a lot of fun, isn't he?"
"Mm, it looks like it."
Asako couldn't help but agree.
While yesterday had been a mess since Hottie's plane got delayed, forcing them to take a private jet instead and arriving a few hours later today instead of this morning in Germany, today was going super well.
Most of that had been due to LoreOwl getting used to handling logistics on his own. But once he got into the flow of it... and once he went out of his way to cram enough German into his head over an 8 hour timeframe to be able to translate for everyone, everything went buttery smooth.
'Although, considering that go picked up German from scratch in just 8 hours...' Asako side-eyed LoreOwl and couldn't help but realize, yet again, that John had a habit for picking up ridiculous people.
LoreOwl had SEEMED normal. But the fact that he went from completely not understanding German to being fluent enough in it to guide them around, ask for directions, AND tell people off for getting too close...
It was pretty wild.
'Then again, that guy DID already speak Japanese, Mandarin, and English...'
LoreOwl said it was so he could look at the lore in its source material.
Asako called it insane and maaaaaybe a bit 'extra.' But hey, at least he was competent?
It also helped that he DEFINITELY wasn't into either Asako or Alphy. Apparently, he was DEEP into the 2D over 3D camp... which was why he fell into the rabbithole to begin with.
Or so that guy said.
Alphy hummed and then looked at LoreOwl as they moved through the crowd together. As she did, she said, "Lore?"
Lore glanced back and said, "Yes, Miku-hime?"
Alphy blinked, surprised at the lack of hesitation in his voice. But then she giggled and said, "Wow! You really commit to the role... but I wanted to ask you. Are you really okay being here with us? I know that Papa hired you, but flying across the ocean is pretty big, isn't it?"
Asako nodded. "Yeah... and didn't you say it was your first time overseas?"
Lore tilted his head. "Why would it be a problem?" He smiled and said, "I am enjoying life. I no longer have to worry about entering the corporate field and suffering a soul-crushing job or accidentally entering a black company. And although I am technically performing duties outside of my job-description, it is for two people I respect a great deal."
Alphy's eyes widened. Then she let out a soft smile. "...You're precious." She reached out and patted his head before saying, "Good boy. If I have a younger brother, I hope he's just like you."
Lore's eyes widened. Then the tip of his ears turned red as he cleared his throat. "Ahem. That is... W-Well, I appreciate the praise...?"
Asako laughed and said, "Alright, Miku~ Enough of that." She glanced around at the people taking pictures of them. "We're DEFINITELY getting trending again with these photos..."
Alphy had forgotten, but right now, due to their cosplay, it DEFINITELY looked like a Hatsune Miku patting a younger Kaito before she walked off with her new wife on their honeymoon.
Which...
"Mein gott! That Miku is perfect! And the Luka too!"
"It's Magnet IRL aaaaaahhhhhhhh!"
"How are they so pretty?!"
"That Kaito is so lucky, dammit!"
"Argh! Not fair!"
"Do you think if we ask, I can get a picture with them...?"
...People the crowd were DEFINITELY thinking.
But hearing that last comment, Lore immediately reached into his bag and whipped out two cardboard signs with the following sentences written in English, Japanese, Mandarin, and German:
===
[Yes, they're beautiful.]
[No, they're not single.]
[Yes, you can look.]
[No, they are NOT taking photo requests.]
[P.S. They are DEFINITELY not rich daughters of a criminal syndicate mastermind. Definitely not.]
===
Alphy stepped back and read the signs. Then she giggled. "Lore! You really made those?"
Holding one sign in either hand, Lore nodded and said, "Never hurts to be overprepared. And to take advantage of reverse psychology."
As Asako wrapped Alphy under her right arm again, she read the last line and laughed. "Now you're going to get people wondering if we're some yakuza heiresses out for fun while you're our minder."
Lore raised an eyebrow and said, "...Is that not what we are?"
Alphy giggled again.
Lore chuckled and said, "Come. The first artist is in booth A-42. She's over here and called The Infathomable Yellow Depths..."