After the events at Titor's demonstration, Meggie clung to John the rest of the day.
It was cute. And seeing Meggie's reaction reminded John a lot of when saved spiritual transmissions of his early fights were passed around.
That had been... an experience.
But Meggie would get over it. Besides, she was cute and pretty, so embarrassing stuff like that only made her more popular.
Of course, she didn't see it that way and hid her face with her hoodie the rest of the day. That didn't stop her from dragging John around to get her free stuff though.
But after the fiasco at Titor's demo, the rest of the day went by without any trouble.
Well, other than Meggie cringing at the fact that she became a meme as well as the source of a new emote trend on Twotch.
And then it was Sunday. The last day of the expo.
Most of the exhibits were finished and only a few displays were set up in the convention hall. No more demos, booths, or other interactive activities.
The reason for that was simple.
Today's focus would be on the closing presentations in the main auditorium.
And Myth Inc. was included in the few companies presenting... which meant that it was finally time for John to put in some work.
John glanced back at Meggie as the pair walked through the main entrance to the expo. "Are you sure you're fine just watching, Meggie?"
"It's fine, Dad." Meggie smiled at John and said, "I dragged you around enough, right?"
John laughed and said, "You can drag your Dad around as much as you want, Meggie. But I think that you should get used to cringe a bit more before you do that again."
"Ugh." Meggie winced and said, "Don't remind me. And can we sue those guys using my face? It's weird."
"Probably. But we won't."
"Why not?!" Meggie pouted. "It's weird! And it's annoying! And cringey! Why do people even like seeing me like that?"
"Well, three reasons." John came to a stop and held up three fingers. "One: You're super cute so anything awkward is instantly adorable instead. Two: The internet instantly latches on to beautiful and cute things. And three: The internet is weird and obsessive."
Meggie blushed. "S-So what if I am? I want them to stop! Why can't we stop them? You can stop them, right? Right?"
A hint of desperation. Sheer agony from unending cringe.
Ah... that was a familiar expression.
John laughed and said, "Like I said, I can. But it's a good lesson for you to learn. Besides." John frowned and said, "The internet doesn't like being told to stop. And I really don't want to commit a cyber genocide anytime soon."
Even though John could track down and scrub every single instance of those emotes from the face of the Earth and make it so that it never happened, the fallout would be annoying.
Plus, Meggie needed to eat a bit of humble pie every now and then and think more carefully about the consequences of her actions.
Just like John did. And better it happen with something relatively harmless like this.
"Uu..." Meggie pulled her hood tighter and then said, "Why did I have to do that... Now I'll never live it down..."
"Eh, they'll get over it. People here have a short attention span. As long as you leave them be, they'll find something more interesting. Besides, you might get some cool things out of it too."
"...If you say so, Dad."
"I do say so."
Meggie sighed.
John smiled and then wrapped Meggie in a one-armed hug. "Now come on. I'll show you to your seat in the auditorium. It's still a bit early since we have to set up and stuff, but a few other people should be there already. Especially some people we know."
The father-daughter duo walked across the main entrance before stopping in front of the doors to the auditorium. Once there, Meggie looked up at John and said, "Are you sure I can't just sit by myself in a crowd of strangers? I really don't want to look at anyone we know right now."
"Yes I'm sure."
Because knowing Meggie's temper and her current state of being fed up with the entire world and practically dying of cringe, she'd blow her lid and probably half the building.
John pushed the doors open and then said, "But are you sure you don't want to sit with anyone we know? Not even Tsuki?"
Meggie's eyes instantly brightened and she pulled down her hood. "Tsuki's here?!"
John chuckled and walked through the doors. "Well, after yesterday, I thought you could use some moral support, so..." John took a right and walked up some stairs to an enclosed booth at the back of the hall and then opened the door. The moment he did-
"Meggie!" A light brown and pink blur dashed out to hug Meggie. Tsuki, wearing a fluffy pink sweater.
"T-Tsuki?! W-Wait, I'm not-" Meggie blushed and tried to squirm away. "U-Um, you didn't see-"
"You're amazing! I didn't know you could eat that much! And you were super cool with the game too!" Tsuki stepped back and held Meggie's hands, smiling. "And did you see? You're famous now! You've got emotes, memes, and even some animations!"
"U-Um... Y-Yeah. I... guess that's pretty cool..."
John chuckled.
Meggie spun around to glare at him.
"Oh!" Tsuki looked up at John and waved. "Hi Mister John!"
John smiled and waved back. "Hey there, Tsuki." He looked past her into the booth and said, "And hey to you too Best Friend. Have some good father-daughter bonding time?"
Kai walked out from the booth and chuckled. "Not as good as you and Meggie apparently. Though..." He frowned and said, "I didn't expect you to spend the day with her as well. Aren't you busy?"
John placed his hand on Meggie's head and said, "Well, I couldn't just leave my cute daughter out of such a fun event, could I? Especially when it's all about her favorite hobbies."
Meggie huffed and squirmed away from John's hand. "It is not! I... I do other things too. Like... Um..."
Tsuki giggled and then pulled Meggie into a hug. "It's okay, Meggie! We can be gamer geeks together!"
"A-Ah. B-But... I mean..." Meggie looked to the side. "I guess."
John laughed.
Meggie huffed and then kicked his shin.
"Meggie!"
"What? Dad's being dumb."
Tsuki rolled her eyes. "Just because your dad's being dumb doesn't mean you should hit him. Mister John works really hard you know!"
"...That's true." Meggie grumbled and said, "Sorry, Dad."
John waved his hand. "Meh, it's fine. Your mom does worse in be- I mean, I've been through worse."
"Ew." Meggie wrinkled her nose and said, "Definitely too much info, Dad."
John turned towards Kai and said, "Anyway... You don't mind keeping an eye on Meggie and taking her home, do you?"
"Hm?" Meggie looked at John and said, "You're not taking me home, Dad?"
John shook his head. "I'd love to, but work... and paperwork calls."
"Aw..."
John smiled and patted Meggie's head. "Don't worry. We can hang out at home in the evening. I'll make some food and we can play games, alright?"
Meggie's eyes brightened and she said, "You promised! You... I won't forgive you if you forget!"
"I know. I won't forget this time."
Meggie stuck out her pinky and said, "Pinky swear and promise to eat a thousand needles and cut your finger off if you break it?"
"...That's a scary promise." John wrapped his pinky around Meggie's and said, "But alright. Who taught you that though?"
Meggie pulled her pinky back and said, "Well, break it and you'll find out, Dad."
John laughed. "Yeah... I think I'll pass on that. I think my heart would break first if I saw you cry again."
Meggie froze and then lowered her gaze. "...Stupid Dad. Being serious like that all of a sudden isn't fair."
In the corner of his eyes, John saw Tsuki sigh and shake her head. After that, she looked up at Kai.
Kai noticed and winced.
...It seemed like John's friend still needed to work quite a bit to build up his affection bar with his cute daughter again. Though, the fact that Tsuki was feeling like she was missing out on stuff instead of pretending everything was alright was progress.
Probably.
"Anyway." John decided to change the subject before the mood got too serious and said, "I've gotta head off now, so you guys enjoy, alright? This booth should be reserved just for you three, so if anyone else shows up just kick them out." He turned towards Kai and said, "Literally and figuratively. I'll deal with the fall out."
Kai shook his head. "Don't worry." He smiled and said, "I'll keep the girls safe."
"I'll leave it to you then, Best Friend." John waved and said, "Have fun, girls."
"Bye, Mister John!" Tsuki waved.
"Don't mess up, Dad." Meggie waved as well.
John laughed and said, "I'll try not to flub the presentation. But if I do, I'll make sure to play a few memes of you to distract everyone."
"Wha-?! W-Wait! Dad! You're just kidding, right? Dad? DAD?!"
John laughed again and then walked off.
Now... they were supposed to meet up with the tech crew back stage to set up, right? Hopefully Qing remembered to drop off the laptop. He wouldn't forget, would he?