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nExactly one hour from the time Kuromi’s debut started, it ended. After striking a cool pose amidst all the fallen enemies, Shu waved goodbye as Kuromi and then ended the stream.

n“Phew!” Shu wiped the sweat off her brow and looked around the room. “That was a great work out!”

nFeatureless silver mannequins covered the floor all around her, bent and twisted just like real bodies. A few of them were even twitching a bit.

nShu laughed and said, “Mister John is really incredible to have all of this set up.” She bend over and picked up the arm of one silver mannequin before dropping it.

nThe silver mannequin flinched and pulled its arms close.

nShu smiled and then stood up to stretch. “Man! If this is all I have to do for streaming, I can’t wait to get started!”

nIt was so much better than having to do all of those odd jobs. Not to mention that Mister John arranged for her to have an apartment nearby so she could walk to the studio whenever she wanted. And then there was the salary, free food, high speed internet…

nBut now Shu realized that there were even crazy sci-fi level training equipment for her to use like those mannequins…

nIt was great!

nAnd here Grandfather said that she would be squandering her talents mingling among the city folk… Psh.

nYuri stared at Shu and then at the mannequins lying on the floor. “…Right. So… Is no one going to question how those mannequins suddenly appeared from thin air? Or how they can actually *fight*? Seriously! What the hell?!”

nChihiro stopped in the middle of scrolling through comments on her phone and then gave Yuri a blank stare. “After everything you’ve seen, *that’s* what crosses the line?”

nJenny giggled and said, “Don’t worry about it too much, Riri. It’s just some nanobot technology.”

n“Nano-” Yuri blinked and then let out a deep sigh. “Right. Nanobots. Of course. That… makes perfect sense…”

nA begrudging admission. Yuri definitely didn’t want to accept it. But she seemed like she decided to let it slide to avoid future headaches.

nShu shrugged and then walked over towards the other girls still sitting in the middle. As she did, she said, “Suzu-chan’s up next, right?” She looked over at Suzume and said, “You ready to go?”

nSuzume smiled. “Of course. Though, I doubt that I will be able to replicate your level of excitement and energy, Shu…”

nShu laughed and rubbed the back of her neck. “Yeah. I was really nervous, so I think I over did it a bit… But everyone had fun, right?” She looked over at Chihiro and said, “What are people saying?”

n“That they didn’t think Myth Incorporated was a film studio either. And some people are joking that it might actually be an adult film studio.”

nJenny giggled.

nShu blinked and then pretended she didn’t hear anything. “W-Well… I’m going to take a shower.” She turned towards Suzume and said, “Good luck, Suzu-chan! I’ll come back to watch in a bit!”

n“Thank you, Shu!”

nShu smiled and then headed towards the shower.

n—–AI|IA—–

nIn another part of Myth Inc. HQ, absolute chaos unfolded.

nOnce more, John’s gaming area downstairs was repurposed. This time, it was turned into a makeshift infirmary, with Yue resting in a room while still undergoing labor.

nIt would be fine.

nEri was a professional doctor who was also a licensed OB

/GYN. Betty was in there to help if worst came to worst. And then Zhaojun, Daji, and Xuannu were all there for moral support.

nStill…

n“It really isn’t helping to calm my nerves at all waiting out here.”

nJohn sighed and leaned against the wall, shaking his head.

nHe was in the waiting room adjacent to where Yue was. Close enough to go in if needed, but far enough and out of sight so that he didn’t disturb anyone.

nOf course, that meant that he could still hear the muffled cries and whimpers from Yue.

n…Maybe he should just-

n“Oi!” A voice called out to John. Bai’s.

nJohn blinked and looked over.

n…Right. He wasn’t alone in the waiting room.

nSince Bai was with Eri at the time, John grabbed him. And then there was Emily, Betty’s… Friend? Acquaintance? Lover?

nVery important person.

nShe was there too.

nAnd some other people were coming later for moral support.

nWhich reminded John. He really should be in there with Yue instead of out here, so-

n“Boss! No.” Bai shook his head and said, “Do you want Yue to go into hysterics again?”

nAh. Right.

nAfter grabbing Eri and Betty, John initially stood by Yue for moral support. And he did his best to calm her down, but…

n‘This is all your fault!’

n‘It hurts! Why does it hurt so much?!’

n‘I’ll kill you! Husband! You did this to me!’

n…Wildly fluctuating hormones, emotions, and pain weren’t a good combination.

nJohn sighed and then walked over to the couch where Bai was sitting. Taking a seat, he said, “I forgot how stressful childbirth could be…”

nBai nodded, grimacing as he looked at the door to the other room. “I don’t think it was ever this bad… Is your blood really that powerful?”

nJohn let out an awkward laugh and rubbed the back of his neck, feeling guilty. “It… looks like it?”

nHe thought that the delivery would be simple. And also a bit further out.

nBut it seemed like their child was a bit impatient.

n…And it seemed like their child was a strange one.

nYue wasn’t a normal human or a mortal, but her pregnancy turned out to be like any other woman would have on Earth. Which meant that it wouldn’t be the easy ‘baby appears in arms’ that Yue imagined and that her father told her about.

nWhich reminded John that he really needed to go smack that old man around the head for at least not bringing it up to Yue as a possibility.

nIt also reminded John that he was stupid for not making preparations sooner considering what he noticed happening with Alphy, Betty, and Meggie in how they were being a bit more ‘human’ now that they were on Earth.

nAt the least he should have checked to see if anesthetics worked on Yue so that she wouldn’t have to suffer so much pain…

nJohn sighed.

nEmily sidled over on John’s side and smiled. “Don’t worry, Betty’s Dad! I’m sure your wife will be fine. Just relax and wait.”

nJohn smiled. “Thank you, Emily.” He paused, suddenly remembering something. “By the way…”

n“Yes?” Emily tilted her head.

n“How did you meet Betty in the first place? And how much has she told you?”

nWhen John grabbed Emily, she hadn’t been surprised at all. While she was a bit confused, she easily accepted the teleportation and reshuffling of the room.

nEri, in contrast, had been fairly startled. And had a lot of questions she wanted answered, but those would come later.

n“Oh. Um…” Emily blushed and poked her fingers together. “W-Well… One day, I was searching the web and saw this fun mystery game by someone called HVG. When I beat it, the reward was a picture of Betty, and then afterwards… Um, I was suddenly in her room?”

nJohn blinked. And then he narrowed his eyes and said, “This might seem like an odd question, but do you know the name of the famous red plumber?”

n“Hm?” Emily tilted her head. “You mean Mario?”

n“…And the pink blob that can eat other monsters and steal their abilities?”

n“Ooh! Kirby!” Emily smiled and said, “I haven’t played that game for a while, but it’s a lot of fun!” She paused and said, “But um… Why do you ask?”

nJohn rubbed his face. “…You’re from Earth, aren’t you?”

n“Well, obviously.” Emily paused and then tilted her head. “Aren’t you, Mister John? Weren’t you trying to get back home before you got here?”

nSilence.

nJohn felt a giant headache starting. There was definitely a big problem around Emily that he needed to sort out at some point. He could feel it.

nBut for now…

nA chime echoed from nearby. The elevator doors opening.

n“I hope you haven’t done anything reckless, John.” Qing walked in, carrying a small grocery bag stacked with bentos.

n“What Qingqing said!” Sitri walked in after Qing, carrying some KFT deep-fried turkey buckets. “You don’t want to make your wife more stressed than she already is. My mom always said that she felt even more stressed when she was giving birth when she saw how stressed Dad was.”

nQing sighed and said, “How many times do I have to repeat myself, Sitri? Just Qing is fine.”

n“I’ll call you Qing when you call me Sisi.”

n“And I keep telling you, that name sounds like ‘thank you.'”

n“You’re welcome!”

n“…Hah.” Qing sighed and then walked over to set his bag down on a nearby table.

nSitri followed after her, happily humming as she put the buckets of KFT down on the table as well.

nAnother chime echoed. The other elevator that was rarely used. The doors opened and a familiar face appeared. A certain middle-aged ex-yakuza and businessman whose life had been in a downward spiral.

nJohn’s best friend, Kai. Except, unlike his recent stressed and dour demeanor, he looked relaxed. No, not just relaxed. The happiest man on Earth. And the reason for that…

n“So you’re my Mister Yakuza’s best friend?”

nA beautiful young woman with soft blonde hair and clear blue eyes waved from behind Kai.

nElise Rothschild. Tsuki’s mother, and the source of one of Kai’s major regrets.

nShe laughed and then walked forward, tugging Kai after her. “Come on. It’s your turn to support your friend, Mister Yakuza.”

nKai smiled and said, “Fine, fine.” He looked over to John and said, “How are you holding up, Friend?”

nSeeing Kai so happy, John smiled and said, “Better than you have until yesterday.”

nKai coughed.

nElise frowned and then rounded on Kai. “Mister Yakuza…?”

nJohn laughed.

n…Yeah. It would be fine.

nThere wasn’t anything John could do right now anyway. So for now, he just had to keep his spirits high, not stress, and just keep sending positive vibes towards Yue.

nAnd get ready to apologize a lot afterwards. Maybe with a homecooked meal again…

n—–AI|IA—–

nSuzume adjusted her shrine maiden outfit and checked her reflection. Everything was in place. Her hair was done up properly, and her clothes were pristine. Not only that, but…

n“Wow.” Suzume twirled back and forth, watching as the white and red shrine robes swayed and formed beautiful swirls of color in the mirror.

nJenny waved from the table in the middle of the room and said, “We’re just waiting on you, Suzu-chan! Just start whenever you’re ready!”

nSuzume placed her hands over her chest, calming her racing heart.

n…She was nervous. Suzume was accepted as an idol, but she wasn’t like her friends. Unlike them, she was just a boring and polite girl from the mountains. But…

n“If everyone believes in me, I will meet their expectations.”

nSuzume glanced in the mirror one more time. And as she did, her reflection shimmered a bit, showing a different girl. One that looked similar to her, but with soft light-brown hair instead of her vibrant crimson hair.

nTsubame.

nSeeing that, Suzume nodded and then looked up at the floating camera drone.

n*beep?*

nSuzume took a deep breath and then smiled. “I am ready, Droni. Please, take care of me.”

n*beep!*

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