"Thanks again for the help, Takashi." John let out a sigh and took a look around the booth. "This would have been a hassle without you."
The Project MirAIs booth. After spending the morning unloading the boxes upon boxes of rch, promotional fliers, and brochures, they were finally finished. And just as the gates opened for the guests, too.
Takashi shook his head. "It's not a problem, John." He laughed and said, "After all, I'm on payroll at Myth Incorporated now. I might as well do so work to earn my paycheck. Though." The forr officer frowned and took a look around the booth. "You're really going to manage this booth all by yourself?"
John sighed again. "Apparently."
John wasn't sure whose idea it was, but soone had reserved one of the main booths in the exhibition hall for Project MirAIs right across from the other big groups like Alienable, this world's counterpart to Ufotable.
Which ant that the booth was the size ant to be run by such a big group and manned by over a dozen people.
Instead, it was just John, life-sized acrylic statues of Alfi, Hana, and Aoko, his Project MirAIs thed DeLorean parked around the back of the booth, cardboard cut-out sillouettes of Generation 1: Prodigy, and tons of rch.
Well, that and a self-checkout area on the side of the booth with so laptops, card readers, and free canvas bags with Project MirAIs prints to carry the rch. Also so monitors setup with the Prototype girls to greet and send off custors as they bought things.
Takashi looked towards that self-checkout area and then frowned. "Are you sure this is fine? Even soone as sharp as you might miss a few people sneaking off with goods in this crowd."
John waved his hand and said, "It's fine. This entire day is already written off as a loss anyway. We're just out here to promote the girls and let their fans have fun. The real big event is at the Electronics Expo next week."
Takashi blinked and then muttered, "The super rich really think differently, huh?"
"Hey. I'm just an ordinary guy."
Takashi laughed. "Keep telling yourself that, John." He stretched and then glanced back towards Chihiro's stall in the distance.
There weren't many people yet, but she was already making so sales to a few custors.
Takashi frowned and then glanced back at John.
John waved him off. "Go ahead and help your daughter out, Takashi."
"Are you sure?" Takashi's frown deepened and he said, "I haven't done much for Myth Incorporated yet even after being employed. My boys have been around looking for people that could help fill middle-managent, but I haven't actually done much..."
"Don't worry about it. Family cos first."
Takashi stared at John and then nodded. "Thank you. I'll treat you to a drink after all of this."
"And I'll look forward to it. Now go help your daughter sell her hen- I an, her cultured works of art."
"...You saw, huh?"
"Don't worry. I don't judge. Besides, with Betty's tastes and collection, I'd be a hypocrite if I did."
Takashi blinked and then slowly nodded. "I see... Well. I'll leave you for now then, John. Best of luck."
"Thanks." John sighed. "I'll definitely need it."
Takashi smiled and then headed back towards Chihiro's booth.
And then John was alone. He sighed and then checked the self-checkout area one more ti.
Alfi blushing and giving heart-attack inducing thanks for people buying her rch. Hana cheerfully thanking people buying hers. And then Aoko being tsundere and reprimanding people for spending money on sothing like her rch when they could be supporting themselves...
John humd and said, "Not sure how Titor set this up, but it looks fine. And you girls can handle things here, right?"
It was a rhetorical question. Just sothing he said out loud to reassure himself that things would be fine. But...
*Leave it to us, Papa!*
*Yes! We'll keep an eye on things, Mister John!*
*Obviously. Though people here really have too much ti and money on their hands, huh...?*
John blinked. "Wait a minute..." He stared at the monitors and frowned.
There were caras setup. Mics too. And so speakers so the girls could talk... But John knew for a fact that the real girls were out in Comiket right now. So there was no way they were the ones talking to him. So...
"...Who are you three?"
Silence. The girls went back to idle animations, quietly waiting for custors to show up.
...Did Titor program that in to troll him? Knowing that guy, it was possible. But-
"E-E-Excuse !" A shaky male voice called out from the front of the booth.
John paused and then plastered a bright smile on his face. After that, he turned around and walked back to the front. "Sorry about the wait. I wasn't expecting people just... yet." He trailed off at the end when he saw the person standing there.
He was Japanese. That was pretty much expected. After all, it was more likely to have Japanese visitors considering Comiket was in Japan. So that wasn't odd.
Instead, it was the fact that the guy was a hulking figure of perfectly chiseled muscles. A bodybuilder... who was wearing a white t-shirt saying "Alfi-sama is my goddess!" with a picture of Alfi's blushing face plastered in the middle, and gray sweatpants with "Devotion" and "Faith" running down the sides.
John blinked and then rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Since he had been up for so long, he might be hallucinating... Right? Right. Even people who transcended the bounds of existence could get affected by normal things every now and then. Like stress-induced delusions.
...And nope. That guy was still there.
The buff Japanese guy- No, the buff fan of Alfi cleared his throat and said, "I-It's fine. I've been waiting at the front of the line since midnight, so I managed to get in early."
John started to sweat.
...It seed like his daughter's fans were... certainly built different.
Waiting in line since midnight dressed like that... and in winter as well...
"A-Anyway..." The man bowed his head and said, "I'm Alfi's Knight. So far, I've managed to show my devotion to Alfi-sama by handcrafting clothing and items, but I was hoping to show my devotion with official rchandise." He raised his head and said, "If you, as Alfi's Papa, could direct to what I can purchase, I would be eternally grateful."
An intense and feverish gaze of blind devotion. Then there was the fact that he introduced himself as Alfi's Knight instead of by na...
"Right. Well..." John pointed towards the self-checkout area. "If you go there, you can buy so rch to support her. There's a monitor setup so that you can ask Alfi directly if you have any-"
"ALFI-SAMAAAA!" The man- No, Alfi's Knight roared and imdiately ran around the booth to the self-checkout area, brandishing a silver credit card with Alfi's blushing face on it.
Seeing that guy quickly stack a tower of rch and walk over to the scanners, John muttered, "Maybe it wasn't a good idea to let Alphy be a part of the group..."
At this point, there might really be a church ford under her na...
"Yoooo! They've got a life-sized figure of Queen!"
"Hahaha. Looks like we're not the only superfans here, huh?"
"I dunno, man. People talk about whaling in gacha gas and being super simps, but I'm pretty sure you're the first guy I've seen fly into Japan overnight for a convention and pay for a pair of guys he's never t."
"And you're the first pretty girl I've t who likes pretending to be guy online. Though I guess Aricans are a different breed, huh?"
"Says the literal oil baron from the Middle East."
A trio of voices. Two male and one female.
John had never t them. But from their costus and their conversation, he imdiately knew who they were.
The first person was a Japanese guy that looked around university age. He was also wearing a foam garbage bin around his body with a trash lid as a hat.
The second person was a young man with light brown skin, curled dark hair, olive-colored eyes... And a giant golden orca costu. One with giant diamonds for eyes and also gold leaf to make up the gold on the costu.
The last was an Asian young woman wearing a brown furry fox costu. And furry in the kink aning, not the texture aning.
A trio of misfits. A group who showed up in the concert and now had a nickna of the Dragon Queen's Three Musketeers...
John looked at the trio and said, "I take it you three are StraightGarbage, GoldenOrca, and FailureFox?"
"Whoa!" The Japanese guy- StraightGarbage turned towards John and said, "You're real!"
FailureFox smacked StraightGarbage's lid and said, "Of course he's real! Didn't you watch his interview with Poppy Gloria?"
GoldenOrca chuckled and said, "Don't be too hard on him. His big sister already did a number on him when we picked him up, rember?"
"Oh. Right." FailureFox stepped back and said, "We've gotta let 'Big Sis' deal with her NEET brother after he heads back ho with more rch."
StraightGarbage rubbed his head and said, "You guys are freaking trolls. And I'm not a NEET! I make good money off crypto and NFTs! ...And at the konbini!"
FailureFox rolled her eyes. "Making money doesn't an you're not a NEET idiot. And stop being so proud about your konbini job. With how often you take leave, you're lucky that your manager's also a fan of Project MirAIs."
John chuckled.
It was a nostalgic sight. Seeing the trio reminded him of so of his friends back in high school. The good old days where you could just say whatever and do whatever... Man. That was a while ago...
StraightGarbage turned towards John and said, "What are you laughing at, huh? I'm making an honest living over here!"
FailureFox gave StraightGarbage a blank look and said, "Most people who do that don't emphasize it, you know?"
"Grk..."
GoldenOrca walked forward and waved his hand. "Ignore my friends. They're a bit excited about being here in person to get so of Queen's rchandise."
John nodded. "I can see that."
GoldenOrca held out his hand and smiled. "In any case... It is a pleasure to et the esteed John Smith in person. You've created sothing wonderful here."
John shook hands with GoldenOrca. "I wouldn't put the credit on . It's the girls who've worked the hardest in bringing this to what it is today."
"Maybe. But it also takes a lot of courage and guts to invest so much revenue into an unknown field like this. At least, that's what my father said."
John laughed. "Well, that's true of business. But if you want to grant so wishes, you don't worry about the cost, you know?"
GoldenOrca smiled.
"Argh! Enough chatting, dude!" StraightGarbage grabbed GoldenOrca's arm and said, "They've got Queen over there selling her rch in person! Let's go go go!"
FailureFox sighed. "I don't think a monitor counts as in-person... But you're right. It looks like she's actually there..." A glint flashed in her eyes and she said, "Let's see how she reacts when we're up close and personal."
With that, the group cleared out, heading to the self-checkout area as well to browse the goods and ss with Aoko.
After that, so more people walked over. But unlike the first visitors, the next group were normal high schoolers.
"Wow! They've got a life-sized Hana!"
"Look at all the rch! They've even got figurines already!"
"Hey! It's Mister Smith! Can I have an autograph! I just loved that compilation for your concert last ti!"
"Wait, too! I wanna selfie!"
"Whoa! That replica of The Black Emperor's nightmare fra is so cool! Is that real steel?"
Oh. Right. Normal high schoolers were worse than otakus.
...This was going to be a long day, wasn't it?
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