Chapter 501: Once more, simply repeat |
After assuring Erie that he would be back to get her when she was discharged, and after making sure she had enough to keep her busy until then, John left the hospital.
Los Angeles, around noon. The talk with Erie had taken a few hours.
Seth and Claud were on standby in the hospital to keep an eye on Erie as well as help get her whatever she needed.
Mostly because John wasn't naive to think that a single moment was enough to pull Erie out of her depression.
He had definitely given her hope and something to look forward to, but it wasn't simply mental when it came to depressive episodes or depression in general.
There was definitely a physical component to it too... and the fact that Erie was still healing up meant that she had to endure it a bit longer.
But John was optimistic.
Tucking his hand in his pockets, John murmured, "She's a strong one. It'll be fine."
Erie might stumble a bit while she found her way back to herself. But as long as John put up the guardrails, she'd find a way to stand again soon enough.
For now though...
John pulled out his phone to check on the last member of Project MirAIs EN that he planned to meet.
Although there had been a lot of talented applicants, the first generation always had to be special.
Like for Prototype. Rin, Alphy, Asako... all of them had definitely been standouts in different ways.
Rin was a girl who thought her world would fall apart before being granted a lifeline and slowly coming into her own.
Alphy had been recovering from the violent and rule of the jungle place that had been the Three Realms and cherished being able to relax and just support others instead of destroying things.
And Asako had been a young woman who finally got away from the criminal underworld that she had been in her whole life, finally able to pursue her hobbies and not worry about how it could affect her ability to survive the next day.
In short...
Although it was a bit hypocritical to say, John was looking for girls on the brink who would be lost if he didn't reach out.
Both to save them since whatever entities they prayed to CLEARLY wouldn't.
But also because it would make a powerful and sincere story.
And in doing so, it would spread hope into the world. Give strength that anyone could make it if they were given a chance.
While Project MirAIs wouldn't be able to accept EVERYBODY... John was also working on other ventures that would allow people to monetize their hobbies and pursue VTubing or even normal streaming.
Especially since he had already bought out Googol... a fact that people surprisingly kept forgetting.
But that was good.
At this point, being the man behind the curtain like the Wizard of Oz suited him more these days anyway.
But as for what he was planning to do in regards to the last member of 'Protest...'
"It was around here, right?" John pulled out his phone and checked the video again.
A teenaged girl standing at a street corner in the fading California day. Her curly black hair billowing behind her as she played her heart out on a guitar, her olive-green eyes half-lidded with emotion.
Spoiler
Her clothes were washed out. Her jeans tattered, and not from fashion choice. Her hoodie looked fairly new, but John was sure that whatever shirt she was wearing beneath was probably washed out like her jeans.
Then there was her guitar that seemed fine on a first glance... but the frets were warped and distorted, not to mention the strings.
Still...
Standing there backlit by the golden sun, her soft voice singing along to her guitar...
[Play: Laufey - From The Start]
*Don't you notice how... I get quiet when there's no one else around...*
Was it because it was a familiar sight? The fact that her clothes were washed out?
Or was the world just that callous these days?
It was a beautiful song cover, soft and gentle with a voice like honey.
Something that caught John's attention despite having heard countless peerless beauties sing with voices that were literally divine.
Not the execution or the technique, but the sincerity in the song as well as the faint loneliness underneath it all.
And John knew why.
"Even in this world, beauty cuts both ways, huh?" John murmured and put his phone away.
The bystander effect, paired with the halo effect.
Because she was so beautiful, people thought that she surely wasn't in trouble. Because she was so skilled, people thought that surely someone else would help her.
But it ended up this way.
And now...
John reached the same street corner in the video. And when he did, he paused.
She was there, the same girl in the video. The one who sent that as an audition reel to the website portal.
But she was definitely not the same.
How long ago did she take the video?
John didn't know, but it seemed like she'd been through it.
Bandaged fingers, tattered clothes. Grime and dirt on her and clothes, as well as stains on her guitar.
Spoiler
Even so, she was still singing.
[Play: Itte (English Cover) Acoustic Ver【JubyPhonic】言って。]
"Tell me..."
A tired voice. Different from the video. Like she'd reached the end of her rope.
"Hey it's me... So you see, I noticed it really in the end. You know, what you had told to me then..."
John turned to watch.
"Didn't think anything about it, pushing it from my mind... Forgetting but realizing I’m..."
No one was stopping by. The girl had her guitar case open for tips, but no one had given any.
"Running blindly, reckless, finally... dreams that lied seem so true..."
The girl continued playing her guitar, her expression tired and lost in the music, making her words even more sincere.
"Once more, simply repeat. Simply, clearly... tell me..."
John took a look around.
You would think that people would stop by to listen. That someone would give her SOMETHING.
The girl's voice echoed, soft and yearning.
But silence from the crowd and people walking past. As if she was just another part of the scenery.
John sighed and walked over. "Man. I really do have a knack of finding young women on the brink of despair, don't I?"
The girl paused and looked up at John. She blinked, staring at him in disbelief. As if surprised someone stopped.
But then her eyes widened and she gasped. "N-No way...? M-Mister Smith?"
John laughed. "That's a new one. No, I'm not Mister Smith. After all, I'm not here to offer you a blue or red pill, and I'm not part of the matrix either. Buuut." He let out a soft smile and held out his left hand. "You have been chosen. Juliet Moretti, right?"
The girl- No.
Juliet's olive-green eyes trembled. She stared at the hand that John held out as if it wasn't real. An illusion.
John smiled softly. "You're not dreaming, you know?"
"Really?" Juliet took John's hand with her right and slowly stood up, bracing her body against the side of the building. "...You aren't another hallucination?"
Spoiler
"Nope. I'm here to bring you in." John gently brushed a bit of the dust from her hoodie and said, "Why don't we get you somewhere proper to talk?"
Juliet blinked and suddenly realized her current state of appearance. Then her ears turned red and she lowered her gaze. "S-Sorry... I don't... have anywhere to go..."
"I know." John patted Juliet's hand and said, "It's okay. You aren't alone anymore."
He didn't know her story. Not yet.
But her smile, tired eyes, and tattered clothes told enough. That, paired with the song she had been singing earlier...
Giving her a reassuring smile, John said, "Let me tell you. Sometimes, dreams do come true. You know?"
Juliet's face scrunched up and she covered her eyes with her free hand. "That's..."
John stood there and kept patting her hand, reassuring her. "Everything will be fine from now on. I promise."
With that, Juliet finally broke. She stepped forward and pulled John into a tight hug, sobbing against his chest. "Thank you, thank you, thank you...!"
John laughed and patted her back. "...Yeah. Seems like this is going to be a recurring thing, huh?"