Chapter 258:: Prototype Hangout Session: I
Chapter 258:: Prototype Hangout Session: I
Monday, December 16th, 2024. Early morning, around 6 AM. The day after the expo and the internet breaking reveals dropped on the final day.
Back in Myth Inc. HQ, Rin stifled a yawn and walked downstairs from the breakroom where she, Alphy, and Asako had a watch party stream for the presentations. As she did, she took a look around.
The three of them had converted the upper floor into a nap area by dragging a bunch of blankets and pillows over, but the lower floor was still the same as always.
Colorful bean bag chairs and sofas with each of their color schemes. Vending machines on one side, along with a bunch of mini fridges for direct access after Asako’s last incident. Arcade machines, TVs with game consoles hooked up…
And then there was a mini kitchen area with supplies for cooking. Coffee makers, cartons of various teas, hot chocolate packets… basically, a fully stocked hot beverage area with the packets and stuff to make them.
Rin walked down the last steps, idly tracing her hand on the stairway’s railing and said, “It’s still unbelievable even now, huh?”
It was like a dream. Even though she knew it wasn’t, Rin couldn’t help but think like that.
The entire floor of this building was one half of their break room. The other half was upstairs and had giant beds and hot tubs and walk in showers and just so much other stuff!
Rin had never even seen a place like this in magazines. And she still hadn’t.
And she was here. Not only was she here, but she could come here any time she wanted. And not only that, but she could come here and hang out with her Aneue and Onee-chan too.
But that wasn’t all. Since Project MirAIs was welcoming a new generation of idols, that meant that soon she’d have some cute kouhais running around here too. More friends that she could hand out with.
Rin smiled and then headed over to the kitchen to make some coffee. As she did, she glanced outside.
The windows were tinted, making it impossible to see through them from the outside. But she could still look out at the city.
It was dark, the sun still hidden below the horizon. But the faint glow of the city lights illuminated the surrounding cityscape, showing a peaceful and snow-covered scenery.
Rin placed a coffee pod in the coffee maker and then turned it on, waiting for the coffee to brew. After that, she smiled and leaned on the counter, humming to herself as she waited.
A yawn echoed from the top of the staircase. Shortly after, Asako walked down, covering her mouth with her left hand. She shook her head and then noticed Rin in the kitchen and smiled. “You’re up early, Sis.”
Rin laughed and said, “I can’t help it, Aneue. I’m just too excited after yesterday.”
It was a whole new world. So many exciting things were coming out soon.
Not only just the debut of their new kouhais with Generation 1, but also all the other VTubers that could show up now that Mister John was going to release an app similar to the one they used… And then there was Mister Titor’s VR game with the alternate versions of Hana, Alfi, and Aoko…
Asako stretched her arms over her head and then walked over to Rin. She looked around the room and then smiled. “Yeah. Yesterday was a blast. And this place might be getting pretty lively soon too with our new kouhais.”
The coffee maker clicked, finishing the coffee. Rin took out the pot and grabbed a cup from the stack next to the coffee maker. As she did, she looked at Asako and said, “You want some too, Aneue?”
“Yeah. I’d appreciate that, Sis.”
“Mmhm!” Rin poured herself a cup and then poured one for Asako. She slid it over and said, “There’s some sugar and creamer in the drawer over there.”
Asako took the cup and then frowned. “I thought you liked caramel coffee, Rin?”
“Hm?” Rin paused in the middle of taking a sip from her coffee. “Oh! I like sweet coffee, but that’s if I’m having it as a drink. I don’t mind black coffee.” She took a sip and then smiled at the nostalgic bitterness. “…It was pretty much all we had to drink in the mornings in the past anyway.”
Asako paused in the middle of ripping over a sugar packet, hesitating.
Rin laughed and waved her hand. “You don’t have to try and show off or anything, Aneue. I know you like sweet things.”
“I-I don’t.” Asako quickly put the packet down and took a sip from her coffee. As she did, she winced.
Rin laughed again and then reached over to grab the packet of sugar. After that, she took the cup from Asako and poured the sugar in before stirring it with a wooden mixing stick. After that, she handed it back to Asako and said, “Don’t push yourself for my sake, Aneue.”
Asako sipped on the coffee and frowned. “I still don’t know how you’re so optimistic and cheerful all the time, Sis.”
Rin smiled and said, “Well. I’m living the best life with family that I never knew I had along with the best friends in the world. How could I be anything but happy?”
Asako shook her head and said, “Sakura nee-chan definitely raised you up right.”
“Mmhm! Mom did a great job! But anyway, what are you most excited for, Aneue?” Rin leaned against the counter and held up her coffee cup in both hands. After taking a sip, she lowered it and said, “I’m personally looking forward to all the new VTuber people!”
Asako leaned against the counter as well and said, “Mm… That’s pretty cool, but I want to see how Ilgarde goes.” She sipped her coffee and said, “Four heroes as VTubers and an interactable Anime… Shield Corporation seems to have some cool tech too, so I want to see how it plays out. Especially if it’s anything like the old RPGs I used to play.”
“Eh?” Rin tilted her head and said, “You like playing RPGs, Aneue?”
“I used to.” Asako sighed and said, “No time for it these days.” She paused and said, “Well, I suppose I do *now.* But up until recently I was super busy planning on taking out-” She cut herself off.
“Hm?” Rin tilted her head. “Taking out what, Aneue? Ooh, did some rival gangs get on your turf when you were in the yakuza?”
Asako let out a nervous laugh and said, “Something like that. But anyway… that’s what I’m excited about. Especially if we do some collabs.”
“Ooh!” Rin nodded and said, “That’ll be fun! The people playing the four heroes seemed really interesting! I want to know what they’re like in person.”
“Yeah. I’m curious about that martial arts guy too… but it might be hard.” Asako frowned. “They’re a different company, but if they’re anything like how we operate here, they might have privacy policies that make it difficult.”
“Aw…”
“Well.” Asako sipped her coffee and said, “Considering John and Titor though, I don’t think that’d be too hard to negotiate.” She laughed. “And after that crazy MIRAIZ app drops, I’m pretty sure everyone will be clamoring to get a hold of them.”
At that time, a sleepy female voice drifted down from upstairs. “…Love you too, Papa. Enjoy your day with Little Xuan and Little Wu.” Alphy let out a small yawn and then walked down the stairs, slipping her phone into her pocket.
Asako looked over and laughed. She let out a sly smile and said, “Daddy’s little girl checking in on her Papa again?”
Alphy giggled and nodded. “That’s right. I can’t let Papa embarrass me in public by missing my morning wake up call. Though recently Meggie’s been the ‘Daddy’s little girl’ instead of me.”
Rin waved and said, “Morning, Onee-chan? Coffee?”
“Um, some orange juice please.”
“Got it!” Rin grabbed a cup and walked over to the fridge to pour some orange juice.
Alphy yawned again and shook her head. “Maybe I shouldn’t have streamed so late…”
Asako took a sip from her coffee and said, “I keep telling you, Alphy. You shouldn’t do your Superchat reading right after your stream finishes.”
Alphy walked over to sit beside Asako and frowned. “But that’s not fair to keep them waiting like that.”
Rin walked back with the orange juice and handed it to Alphy.
“Ah, thanks, Rin.”
“No problem, Onee-chan!” Rin took her spot back at the counter and said, “But Aneue’s right, you know? The Alfis have a life too. Even if you want to be grateful, it’ll trouble them more by reading the Superchats since they won’t want to leave you alone.”
Alphy bit her lips. “That’s a good point… But I feel bad devoting a whole stream just to Superchat reading. Isn’t it boring?”
Asako laughed. “Hah. Boring? Those guys will find a way to make it interesting.” She shook her head and said, “I swear… All I want to do is get the reading over with, but those guys purposefully do things to try and crack me up.”
“That’s because Aneue is an easy woman.”
“Oh?” Asako nodded and said, “Alright. I’ll let Sakura nee-chan know that you think so then, Sis.”
Rin started to panic. “U-Um… I was just kidding? Haha…”
Alphy sipped on her juice and then looked at Asako. “Be nice, Asako-chan. It’s not her fault that Rin is mean without her coffee.”
Rin huffed and said, “I don’t drink that much coffee!”
Asako blinked and said, “You drink coffee casually? Wait.” She paused and said, “…You said you only have caramel with coffee when you’re having it as a drink. Just how often do you have caramel as a drink?”
“Heehee…”
“Rin!”
“I-It’s not that bad!” Rin huffed and said, “I just drink… three cups a day!”
Alphy nodded. “It really isn’t. Betty drinks a couple gallons of sugary coffee every day.”
“What Onee-chan said! If Eldest Sister does it, I’m fine, right?”
Asako pinched her nose. “That’s not- You know what? I’ll just let Sakura nee-chan sort this out. Though.” She lowered her hand and looked at Rin. “You do know that caffeine stunts your growth, right?”
“Nuh-uh! I did research into that! Caffeine is perfectly healthy! And it’s good for you too!”
“Maybe. But not when you have that much sugar, Sis.” Asako frowned and looked at Rin’s thighs. “Aren’t you afraid of getting fat?”
“No problem!” Rin puffed out her chest and said, “I measured! It all goes up here!”
“…Tch.” Asako looked away and sipped on her coffee. After that, she looked at Alphy and said, “Anyway, get more sleep. It isn’t healthy to stay up so late. And if not for you, then for your fans who stay up with you.”
“Ah.” Alphy gave a meek nod. “Okay, Asako.”
Asako smiled at her and then said, “Right. You mentioned that Meggie’s been Daddy’s little girl recently… you’re talking about how she was with John the entire time at the expo, right?”
“Ooh!” Rin leaned over and said, “Did you guys see all the memes about her?”
Asako chuckled. “Oh yeah. They’re all over Readit. But forget about the memes, did you see the crazies making up some wacky theories about Meggie being Alfi?”
Alphy giggled. “I saw those!” She smiled and said, “I like them. They’re pretty funny… Though I think Meggie might be embarrassed.”
Rin laughed and said, “Have you seen the one where they made a checklist to try and prove Meggie is Alfi?”
Asako frowned. “Hm? A checklist?”
“Yeah! Let me see if I can pull it up…” Rin pulled out her phone and swiped for a bit. “Got it! See here?” She held out her phone for Alphy and Asako to look.
—–AI|IA—–
[Reasons why Meggie is secretly Alfi]
1. Meggie is adorkable. Alfi is adorkable. Adorkable=adorkable. Meggie=Alfi
2. Meggie is super tsun in public. Alfi is super dere on stream. tsun+dere=tsundere=Meggie=Alfi
3. Meggie is John’s daughter. Alfi calls John ‘Papa.’ Therefore, Meggie is Alfi.
4. Meggie went with John to the expo. John is presenting new Project MirAIs stuff at the expo. Meggie is important enough to bring along, so she’s a member of the group.
5. Meggie tried hiding her face from the second day onwards.
6. Meggie never spoke up while with John.
7. We only know Meggie is called Meggie because John cleared it up in the post-interview with Poppy Gloria.
8. John keeps denying Meggie is Alfi.
—–AI|IA—–
“See?” Rin smiled and said, “Pretty funny, right? “
Asako sighed. “Well. I guess that’s one way to divert attention from Alphy here.”
Alphy giggled and said, “That’s cute.” She smiled and said, “I’m happy to hear that people think Meggie is cute enough to be me though! She’s probably happy to hear that too.”
Rin slipped her phone away and nodded. “Yep! Tsuki tells me that Meggie’s been texting her non-stop with emojis after finding all those theories.”
Alphy giggled again.