A night of tears, apologies, and promises to do better.
But then it was morning and the second day of the Expo began.
Now with lighter hearts, the father and daughter duo headed out back into the convention center hand in hand.
And inside...
"Whoa! Mintendo's doing their showcase today?!"
...ggie imdiately ran off and left John behind.
He chuckled and walked after her.
Before she got too far though, ggie paused and walked back, embarrassed. "...Sorry, Dad."
John patted ggie's head and said, "Don't worry. I'm just glad you're enjoying things. Now, let's go see what's new."
ggie smiled and then walked beside John.
People stared at them, but John didn't mind. And it seed like ggie had gotten over her cringe... Ah, no. She just didn't care since she was with John.
That realization ward John's heart and he stood up a bit more.
ggie noticed though and laughed. "What are you showing off for, Dad? Don't you think you get enough attention already?"
"I can't help it, ggie." He let out a soft smile and said, "I'm the happiest Dad alive right now."
ggie's eyes widened and then she looked away, her face red. "...Weirdo."
"And proud of it."
ggie rolled her eyes, but she still smiled in response to John's words.
John walked ggie over towards the Mintendo exhibit. As he did, he took a quick look around.
The convention hall was packed today. But that was to be expected. Unlike yesterday where the main attractions were ga studios and thed exhibits like the Creature Hunter cafe, today was where the heavy hitters showed up. Companies like the ones behind the big three gaming consoles.
It also seed to be the year that the prototypes of the newest consoles were revealed before a full demo was released to the public in the sumr electronics entertainnt expo in the United States later on.
Because of that, there were a ton of people around. Not just businessn, but a lot of foreigners and strears.
And also a lot of people who stared at them. No, at ggie.
While John was objectively handso and gave off a natural celebrity aura by just walking around, ggie completely stood out.
First of all, she was definitely dressed like a gar. Because it was cold, she was wearing her CapsuMon beanie. And because she didn't want to end up like yesterday where she couldn't take anything back, she grabbed her CapsuMon bag with her. Paired with her casual black hoodie, boots, and thigh-high tights, she looked like the gar girl every guy wanted to et.
But then there was the fact that her hair was a light green with golden streaks, making it looked dyed. And the fact that her irises were gold...
She looked like a super pretty and really bigti gar girl. Maybe even a strear or cosplayer. Not to ntion she was objectively more beautiful than every girl in the room...
"Dad! Dad!" ggie tugged John's arm and said, "Look! They're demoing the new CapsuMon on the Mintendo Switch!"
John looked away from the crowd and smiled at ggie. "Really now?"
"Yeah!" ggie pointed towards a long line at the Mintendo stand and said, "It says you can play the ga and keep your save file for the full release if you log in with your Mintendo account! Can I go try it out?"
"Sure. Let's go take a look." Saying that, John pointedly placed his hand on ggie's shoulder and walked her forward.
It was definitely the appearance of an overbearing father. But ggie didn't notice, too excited at the thought of being one of the first to play the new ga.
Other people did though. Especially when John decided to play the part just a bit by letting out so spiritual pressure.
It wasn't anything serious like killing intent. If anything, it would just be as if there was a high EMF field in the area making people uncomfortable and queasy.
Sothing that would increase exponentially if they stared at ggie too long.
...Hm. Maybe it was a good thing that John ca back to Earth before ggie grew up. Considering that she was definitely more wild than her sisters, he had a feeling things would get ssy.
He didn't think he'd be that type of father, but now that he was here...
An awkward silence. ggie idly humming various CapsuMon tunes to herself while waiting in line. People nervously looking at John and ggie before looking away.
And then eventually it was ti for ggie to play.
"Finally!" ggie ran forward and picked up the console. "Let's see... just have to log in with my ID and password..."
John glanced at ggie while keeping an eye out for any guys that decided they wanted to be bold before saying, "Don't forget to log out after you're done."
ggie rolled her eyes. "I'm not dumb, Dad. I'll make sure."
"Just reminding you."
"I know. And thanks."
John smiled.
ggie peeked at John and smiled back before turning her attention to the ga console.
Which ant John was on Dad duty to make sure she had a good ti.
Fortunately, that didn't take much. The mont that John folded his arms and straightened to look out at the crowd, a giant space opened up around him and ggie.
Even the few other people trying out the consoles nearby cleared out.
Because of that, so Mintendo staff looked over... but they quickly backed off too.
Huh.
John couldn't be like Akira and make people instinctively back off just by going about his business, but it looked like all those years reigning as one of the strongest in the Three Realms paid off.
...But was he really that much of a pushover when he relaxed? Did people seriously think they could just do whatever?
Hm. Maybe he should start displaying his tattoos- Ah, wait. That'd be bad press for the girls. Dang.
Well, it seed like he could still pull off that intimidation factor when push ca to shove.
"Holy crap! A shiny starter!" ggie tugged John's arm and said, "Look Dad! I'm so lucky!"
John looked at the screen and then blinked. "...Huh."
He didn't recognize the CapsuMon. Well, he barely recognized any of them considering that they were really different from the pocket sized monsters he grew up with. But the pok- CapsuMon ggie showed was really different.
Mostly because it looked like it was a dragon/grass hybrid starter.
Tiny branches for wings. A cute spiky head and stubby round paws.
And then there was the signature star on the status screen showing it was shiny... which would explain why it was pink.
"Good job ggie?"
ggie grinned and said, "I knew bringing you along would help! Dad has super good luck! So of it's bound to rub off on if you're here!"
John laughed. "Well, glad to be of help."
ggie nodded and went back to playing the ga.
John stood guard, making sure no one bothered his precious baby girl.
But eventually their ti was over.
"Aw." ggie sighed. "The demo cut off. And I *just* got to the first gym too..."
John blinked and said, "They're still doing tid demos in this day and age?"
ggie saved her ga and then logged out of her account. "Looks like it. I'm not complaining though. That just ans I get to keep my save file later, right? And my shiny starter!" She adjusted her bag around her shoulder and walked beside John.
John smiled and said, "That is good. It's annoying to lose sothing like that."
"Hm?" ggie looked at John and said, "What, don't tell you've reset on a shiny starter before, Dad."
"I haven't."
"Then what are-"
"It was a shiny legendary."
"...Oof."
"Yes. Oof."
Shiny Rayq**za. You were the dream...
...Though since John actually caught a few legendary dragons over in the Three Realms, maybe he shouldn't complain too much.
"W-Well..." ggie spun around and said, "What should we do next...? Ooh!" She pointed to one of the exhibition rooms and said, "I saw a sign saying they were doing a cool AR thing over there! Let's go take a look! Maybe it'll be sothing we can play together!" Saying that, ggie tugged John's arm and started walking over.
John chuckled and said, "Planning to humiliate your old man in public now, huh?"
ggie rolled her eyes. "You're not that old dad... But maybe?"
John smiled.
As always, there was a crowd of people in the way. And they turned to look at John and ggie as the pair passed by.
ggie huffed and shouted. "Coming through! Stop standing around blocking up the aisle!"
John looked at the people scrambling to get out of the way and laughed. "That's pretty rude, ggie."
"Hmph." ggie's ears turned red and she said, "They're in the way. Besides, we don't have much ti to spend together, right? Tomorrow Dad's going to be busy. ...I want to at least do sothing fun together before you have to work again."
ggie's last words ca out in a soft mumble.
John smiled and patted ggie's head.
"Hey! Stop that! You're embarrassing !"
John laughed. "Fine, fine... Now let's see."
They arrived at the door to the exhibition room. A fancy stand with a placard by the room listed out the na of the company doing demonstrations inside. And as to the company there...
"Hm?" John frowned and said, "Mirror Corporation?"
Wasn't that the na of Titor's company?
ggie nodded and pulled John along as she walked towards the door. "Mmhm! It's supposed to be a super promising start up company for VR and AR. People online are super excited about it after their demonstration on the first day."
John took the lead and pushed the door open. As he did, he said, "You do realize that it's run by Titor, right?"
"Wait, really?"
A sudden blast of music and cheers. A roaring crowd pumping their fists in the air as they surrounded a stage set up in the center of the room.
ggie flinched and moved close to John. But then she huffed and then said, "Well, if that guy's in charge... Let's cut in line! Coming through!" Without any sense of sha, ggie started shoving people aside while pulling John with her.
He sighed and wanted to reprimand her for that.
But then he rembered that both him and Yue did the sa sort of thing when it ca to crowds, so he really wasn't in a position to talk.
"Ow!"
"Hey!"
"You...!"
People grumbled as they passed by, but as always, they stopped complaining when they saw ggie.
The privilege of being beautiful.
But anyway, the father and daughter pair eventually broke through the crowd to reach the center. And once there, another father and daughter pair were on the stage.
"P-Princess, I think that this is a bit too-"
"Take that!"
"Whoa!"
ggie blinked. "Is that...?"
"Kai and Tsuki?" John nodded. "Looks like it."
A giant screen was set up on the stage. Standing in front of that were Kai and Tsuki, each in front of one half of the screen. Both of them wore a thin visor over their eyes and held a controller in each hand.
Tsuki giggled and said, "You've gotta be faster, Daddy!"
Kai flailed his controllers around and said, "I-I'm trying, Princess!"
It was a rhythm ga. Each half of the screen showed what each person was seeing.
On Tsuki's side, a pair of glowing swords rapidly swung across the screen, cutting down glittering diamonds in a continuous flow and racking up an insane four digit combo.
And on Kai's side, a pair of glowing swords rapidly flailed about... completely missing every diamond in his path and filling the screen with a bunch of red X's.
"...Wow." ggie muttered and said, "Tsuki's dad sucks."
"...Yeah. Can't really deny that statent."
ggie looked to John and said, "You won't be that bad, right?"
"Of course not. Unlike him, I was a gar when I was younger, you know?"
"Mm..."
*WINNER! TSUKI_HI!*
The ga ca to an end, flashing the results screen for Kai and Tsuki.
Kai lost by a huge margin, finishing with an F rank and a longest combo streak of 5.
anwhile, Tsuki finished with an SSS rank and a full combo perfect clear.
"Yay!" Tsuki pumped a fist in the air and said, "I win, Daddy!"
Kai chuckled and pulled off his visor. "You certainly did. ...And you certainly have a flair for blades..."
Tsuki took off her visor as well and said, "That's because I learned it from you!"
"...I'm not sure I should be proud of that statent all things considered..."
The crowd laughed, enjoying the small back and forth.
ggie laughed as well and then cupped her mouth to cheer.
But before that could happen, the lights dimd and a figure appeared from the screen in a shimr of lights. A familiar man with a white lab coat and slicked back black hair.
Titor stepped onto the stage. As he did, he looked to the side and said, "Our volunteers did a wonderful job, did they not, my better half?"
Another shimr of light appeared beside Titor before resolving into Amadeus. She stuck her hands in her white lab coat and then shook her head, causing her crimson hair to scatter. "I still think we should have done the VR demo today."
Titor laughed. "It would be a wonderful sight... but we have to save the best for last. Now, please give our volunteers a round of applause, everyone!" After saying that, he turned to Kai and Tsuki and started clapping his hands.
With that as the cue, the crowd burst out into applause and cheers.
"Whoo! Go Tsuki!"
ggie cheered as well, but it got drowned out by the rest of the crowd.
On the stage, Tsuki blushed and then let out a happy smile before bowing.
Kai rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed.
After that, Titor grinned and said, "Sir Kai, our cute Moon Princess... Thank you for your help. Ah, you may keep the visors and controllers. However, I'm afraid I must ask you to exit right while we bring up our next volunteers."
"Aw..." Tsuki sighed.
Kai smiled and pulled Tsuki into a hug. "Co on, Princess. There's plenty of other things to do."
With that, Kai and Tsuki left.
ggie sighed and said, "Darn. I wanted to play with Tsuki..."
John patted her head and said, "You can play together so other ti, ggie. Besides, Tsuki's dad has to make up ti spent away from Tsuki. We don't want to intrude on their precious father-daughter bonding ti."
"Oh yeah." ggie frowned. "I forgot that Tsuki's dad is a worse father than you were."
John cleared his throat and said, "Kai isn't *that* bad. He just... wasn't prepared to be a father."
ggie huffed and crossed her arms. "Then he shouldn't have beco a father in the first place. Didn't you ntally prepare yourself before having Big Sister Betty and Alphy nee-chan? And too, right?"
"Well, yes. But my situation is a bit different from his..."
ggie frowned. "I don't think so, but if that's what Dad says..."
Titor swept his arms out, causing his white lab coat to flutter. "Now then! Moving onto our next demonstration... We have a battle royale! And for our lucky volunteers..."
A floodlight kicked on before scanning the crowd. But before it got too far, it stopped on John and ggie.
"What's this?" Titor walked forward and said, "Why, if it isn't my other half and his cute baby girl!"
John facepald. "This shaless-"
ggie jumped up and waved. "Hi Uncle Titor! Can we play?"
Titor laughed. "Of course! But only if your father agrees." He looked to John and said, "What do you say, Mister Smith?"
ggie turned to John and clasped her hands together. "Dad! Please?"
John sighed. "...I've got a feeling this is going to be a trainwreck... but if that's what you want, ggie."
"Yes!" ggie grabbed John's hand and then pulled him towards the stage. "Let's go!"
Well... Let's hope he at least embarrassed himself less than Kai did...
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