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nThe evening of December 15th. After the expo was finished, John bid everyone farewell, closed out the night for the event, thanked Kai and Tsuki for keeping an eye on Meggie, and then headed home with his youngest daughter to fulfill a promise he made.

nAnd so, a particular room down in the basement of Myth Inc. HQ had regained its former status as a gaming center.

nThere, shown on a giant monitor mounted against the wall, a fierce fight unfolded.

nTwo fighters, facing each other on a single platform stage suspended in the air.

nOne was a young man in a green tunic with faint smoke drifting around him. He carried a sword and shield and stood at the ready. Lonk.

nThe other was also a sworduser, but instead of green clothes, she had light green hair. Not only that, but her sword was yellow and aged, split apart at certain areas as if it was cracked. Berith.

nSilence, and then Berith dashed forward. As she closed the distance, the sword vanished, suddenly replaced with a spear slashing the air in front of her. A crimson wave of energy traced its arc as the spear moved to cut Lonk down.

nBut he didn’t try to avoid it. Instead, he swung his sword out to meet the lance.

nA white spark flashed and then the two were sent back.

nBerith immediately jumped back and swapped over to a bow, shooting a beam of light at Lonk.

nAgain, he didn’t move. And as a result, the beam of light hit him, but it glanced off his shield instead of doing any damage.

n“ARGH!” Meggie growled and said, “How are you still alive, Dad?!” She narrowed her eyes and then dashed forward with Berith again, reaching out with a grab.

nJohn laughed and immediately side stepped with Lonk before responding with a forward tilt attack, making Lonk swing his sword down at Berith.

nThe green-haired swordswoman was sent flying back, the percent bar beneath the character’s icon jumping up 15% from zero. A trio of dots next to that icon showed the three stocks that Meggie had left before she lost.

nIn contrast, the percent beneath Lonk’s icon was at 530%. There was also only one dot next to that icon… meaning this was John’s last life before he lost the match.

nMeggie’s eye twitched as she saw Berith fly back.

nJohn chuckled and said, “I’m used to living by the skin of my teeth, Meggie.”

n“But *HOW*? You’re not even using half of that character’s move set! No, you didn’t even use up B to recover!”

n“Because using Lonk as anything but a swordsman is cheating.”

n“You’re the freaking cheat, Dad! Stop turtling!”

n“Make me. This isn’t Street- I mean, Road Fighter or Iron Fist. …Well, maybe if you used those DLC characters though. Still weird that they eventually added those guys though. And that guy from Kingdom Stars. And the ultimate Anime swordsman Sephi-“

n“Shut up and fight me!” Meggie growled and then dashed forward with Berith again. A quick attack, slashing out with the sword.

nJohn made Lonk respond with a slash of his own. But it was too slow. Before Lonk’s sword even started its arc, he was already hit by Berith and sent flying off the stage.

nMeggie grinned. “I’ve got you now!”

nBerith jumped after Lonk, swinging her sword up. If it was a normal sword, it would have missed. But the blade suddenly broke apart, turning into a whip.

nBut a couple frames before that hit, Lonk suddenly jumped, causing the attack to miss. And then in the next second, he drew his sword and fell through the air like a comet, stabbing Berith.

nA loud collision. The animation for a meteor effect activated, sending sparks through the air. At the same time, it sent Berith plummeting into the depths below the stage.

nLonk jumped one more time, landing back on the ledge of the stage as if nothing happened- No, something did happen. His percent meter ticked up 10%. But compared to how high it was already, that amount didn’t matter. A single good hit should be enough to knock him out.

nYes, a single hit.

nThat Meggie had been trying and failing to get since she took off two stocks in the first two minutes.

nJohn looked over at his daughter and smiled. “What’s the matter?”

nMeggie glanced at the timer in the top right of the screen. After that, she let out a deep sigh and then glared at her dad. “I should have punched you harder.”

nJohn laughed.

n*TIME!*

nThe announcer called the end of the match.

nAfter that, the results screen popped up, showing Berith in the front with a victory pose while Lonk stood in the back, politely clapping his hands.

nWinner – OMEGA

nMeggie slumped over letting out a deep sigh. “I hate you. You know that?”

nJohn set down his controller and handed Meggie a can of Dk Pep- No. It was a special edition of Dk Pep that had a gray can and different name. Instead of plain cola, it was a tropical mix with coconut and other exotic flavors.

nThe special edition name?

nDr. Salt.

nAnyway, John handed Meggie a can of Dr. Salt from the mini-fridge by his feet.

nMeggie grabbed the can and sighed. But then she saw the label.

nJohn grinned.

nMeggie’s eye twitched. But she didn’t say anything and just quietly opened the soda can, sipping on the drink.

nSeeing that, John laughed and said, “Well, at least I’m not as bad as the Green Hexagon person when you were playing online earlier.”

nMeggie shook her head and said, “That’s different. At least that person played like a normal person. What kind of crazy guy uses Lonk as a full-melee character.”

n“The guy who grew up on using Lonk in Melee?”

nMeggie blinked. “What game is that?”

nJohn paused. “…Right. Doesn’t exist here.” He sighed.

n“O-Oh.” Meggie lowered her head. “…Sorry, Dad.”

nJohn ruffled Meggie’s hair and said, “It’s fine. I already made peace with that. Besides… I would totally beat you if we had that game. You’re lucky Li- Lonk doesn’t use a hook shot in this version of the game.”

nMeggie sipped on her soda and said, “I thought you said using Lonk as anything but a swordsman is cheating?”

nJohn pulled out a can for himself and then cracked it open. Taking a sip, he looked at Meggie and said, “So did you have fun, Meggie?”

n“No. I hate fighting people like you in Smash.”

nJohn coughed. “Ah… fair. But I meant hanging out with me and at the expo.”

n“Oh.” Meggie looked at John and then averted her gaze, muttering, “It was alright.”

nDismissive words. But from how her face was flushed with embarrassment and her voice was soft, it was clearly a cover up for how she really felt.

nJohn poked Meggie’s forehead and said, “Being dishonest with your feelings is bad. Don’t make me tell Alphy on you.”

nMeggie flinched and said, “Please don’t.”

n“Hm?” John paused. “Wait, did something happen between you and Alphy?”

n“No, just…” Meggie shifted in her seat, her face still red with embarrassment. “…Onee-chan is too nice now. And expressive. It’s weird. When she’s happy, she makes everyone else happy. But when she’s sad, it’s like the world’s collapsing.”

n“…So you’re saying that I should get her to talk with you when you did something bad. Got it.”

n“Daaaad!”

nJohn laughed and then pulled Meggie in for a one-armed hug.

nShe clicked her tongue and squirmed out of it, looking upset. But from the faint twitch of a smile at the corner of her mouth, she was pretending again.

nJohn noticed and said, “You really are a tsun-“

n“I will punch you.”

nJohn laughed and then stood up to stretch. As he did, he looked around the room at the haul of goodies Meggie brought back with her.

nBags of various knick knacks and collectibles from random exhibitions. A fancy holographic Steem card for Betty’s new game… which John was really curious to try out considering the obvious source material.

nWell, obvious to him, Yue, and probably his sisters. Maybe Alphy, considering how much she remembered from that time.

nAnyway, there was that. The visor and gloves that Titor handed out for Mirror Corporation’s demo… Which reminded John that he needed to rant to the guy about communication before up and doing crazy collab stuff and punting the hot potato to him.

nSeriously, what a douche.

nAh, wait. Titor was basically him.

n…Point still valid.

nSome Creature Hunter gear, a bag of things from exhibitions that Meggie missed the first day from being sick but that Tsuki gave her…

nAnd seeing all of that made John remember something. “Huh.”

nMeggie looked over and frowned. “What?” She followed John’s gaze and then looked smug. “Upset you didn’t get as much cool stuff as me?”

n“If I’m being honest… Kind of.”

nThere were a few exhibits that John was really interested in but that he couldn’t check out because he was with Meggie. Like the new premier of this world’s version of GTA.

nMeggie was definitely mature enough to check it out… but he had a feeling Yue wouldn’t forgive him for that. And Xuannu would probably smack him over the head. Then Zhaojun would give him a cold stare, Daji would be super disappointed…

nYeah, bad idea.

nBut that wasn’t what he was thinking about.

nJohn shook his head and said, “But it wasn’t that. I’m just thinking about how we don’t actually have a real house yet.”

nHe had an apartment that he occassionally used with Yue to get private time away from the kids. Myth Inc. HQ had a bunch of spare rooms that could be used as apartments, and the title on it let him use each floor for whatever development he wanted.

nBut it still wasn’t a house.

n“A house?” Meggie frowned and then slowly nodded. “That’s right.” She looked around and said, “This building isn’t really a house, is it?”

n“Hm. I’ll need to have a chat with Kai later. That guy lives in the suburbs, so he should know some good places out there-“

nMeggie gasped and then ran over to John, excitement in her eyes. “Can we live next to Tsuki?! She’s starting school in the spring, so that means I can go with her if we live nearby, right? Right?”

nJohn laughed and patted Meggie’s head. “Well, if my tsundere daughter is that eager about it, I guess we will.”

nMeggie froze and then stepped back, shifting in place. “I-It’s not like I *really* want to or anything. It’s just… Tsuki will be lonely if she doesn’t have any friends with her and since she looks different, people might not want to be friends with her.”

nJohn paused. “…That’s a good point.”

nHe kept forgetting about it since he was used to all sorts of weird people in the Three Realms… and since he hadn’t actually been outside too much recently by himself, but Japan was still mostly ethnocentric. Someone like Tsuki who was clearly a ‘halfie’ by their standards would have a hard time fitting in.

nWell, until high school probably when boys would be tripping over themselves trying to date her. But that was an issue for Kai.

n…Who might go overboard in being a helicopter dad since that guy didn’t have any common sense about these sorts of things.

nAnd coming from JOHN of all people, that said a lot.

n“…Yeah. I’ll work on that. Can’t let my cute baby daughter’s best friend be sad, can I?”

nMeggie huffed. “I’m not a baby, Dad!”

n“You’ll always be my baby girl, Meggie. Even when you’re big like Betty and Alphy. …But please take a few more years for that. I don’t think I’m ready to deal with a daughter going through puberty.”

n“Puberty?”

n“…Don’t worry about it. Yet. Ah, but don’t panic if you suddenly start bleeding from weird places. Or if your body starts changing a bit.”

n“D-Dad?! What do you mean?!”

n“Anyway.” John turned off the monitor and said, “Why don’t we catch up with your mom and your aunties before getting some rest?”

n“Dad? Dad. Explain! What are you talking about! Dad? DAD!”

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