"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 merch, 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 some work to earn my paycheck. Though." The former 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 someone 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 meant that the booth was the size meant 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 themed DeLorean parked around the back of the booth, cardboard cut-out sillouettes of Generation 1: Prodigy, and tons of merch.
Well, that and a self-checkout area on the side of the booth with some laptops, card readers, and free canvas bags with Project MirAIs prints to carry the merch. Also some monitors setup with the Prototype girls to greet and send off customers as they bought things.
Takashi looked towards that self-checkout area and then frowned. "Are you sure this is fine? Even someone 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 some sales to a few customers.
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-management, but I haven't actually done much..."
"Don't worry about it. Family comes 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 mean, 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 time.
Alfi blushing and giving heart-attack inducing thanks for people buying her merch. Hana cheerfully thanking people buying hers. And then Aoko being tsundere and reprimanding people for spending money on something like her merch when they could be supporting themselves...
John hummed 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 something 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 time and money on their hands, huh...?*
John blinked. "Wait a minute..." He stared at the monitors and frowned.
There were cameras setup. Mics too. And some 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 customers to show up.
...Did Titor program that in to troll him? Knowing that guy, it was possible. But-
"E-E-Excuse me!" 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 seemed 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 merchandise." He raised his head and said, "If you, as Alfi's Papa, could direct me 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 name...
"Right. Well..." John pointed towards the self-checkout area. "If you go there, you can buy some merch 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 immediately 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 merch 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 formed under her name...
"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 games 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 met."
"And you're the first pretty girl I've met who likes pretending to be guy online. Though I guess Americans 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 met them. But from their costumes and their conversation, he immediately 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 costume. One with giant diamonds for eyes and also gold leaf to make up the gold on the costume.
The last was an Asian young woman wearing a brown furry fox costume. And furry in the kink meaning, not the texture meaning.
A trio of misfits. A group who showed up in the concert and now had a nickname 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, remember?"
"Oh. Right." FailureFox stepped back and said, "We've gotta let 'Big Sis' deal with her NEET brother after he heads back home with more merch."
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 mean 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 some 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 some of Queen's merchandise."
John nodded. "I can see that."
GoldenOrca held out his hand and smiled. "In any case... It is a pleasure to meet the esteemed John Smith in person. You've created something wonderful here."
John shook hands with GoldenOrca. "I wouldn't put the credit on me. 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 some 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 merch 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 mess with Aoko.
After that, some 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 merch! They've even got figurines already!"
"Hey! It's Mister Smith! Can I have an autograph! I just loved that meme compilation for your concert last time!"
"Wait, me too! I wanna selfie!"
"Whoa! That replica of The Black Emperor's nightmare frame 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?
[author] Just realized I forgot to clear up what all the cosplays were from a few chapters back. Since we're here, I'll just list all the cosplays for the characters so far.
John - Zero/Lelouch Lamperouge from Code Geass.
Chihiro - I'm not sure if I mentioned it yet, but she's cosplaying as Homura Akemi from Madoka.
Rin - Kayo Hinazuki from ERASED
Alphy - Kurome from Akame Ga Kill!
Asako - Tifa from Final Fantasy VII Remake
Zhaojun - Akame from Akame Ga Kill!
Yue - CC from Code Geass
Xuannu - Sesshōin Kiara from Fate/EXTRA CCC and Fate/Grand Order
Daji - I intended for her to be Tamamo no Mae/Amaterasu from Fate/EXTRA and Fate/Grand Order. But then I realized after the fact that neither has white hair and that I was mixing her up with Shinano from Azur Lane. So... Both work?
Xuan - Umbreon from Pokemon
Wu - Glaceon from Pokemon
Meggie and Tsuki - The female trainer from Pokemon Platinum
Maji - The fisherman trainer class from Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
Kiri - The monsieur trainer class from Pokemon X/Y
Saji - The Black Belt trainer class from Pokemon Red/Blue
[/author]