Meggie was on her way to Hope's apartment. It had been a while since they hung out, and since Meggie had recently obtained a booster box of vintage CapsuMon cards from someone, she wanted to see if her older friend would open some packs with her.
Because of that, after finishing her homework (and dodging Tsuki and Emma), Meggie left her house in Kichijoji and made her way towards the Myth Inc. HQ.
Like usual, Meggie was wearing a black limited-edition CapsuMon hoodie over a plain t-shirt and jeans, along with sneakers.
...Considering her mom had gotten into the habit of ordering expensive things and was also refilling Meggie's wardrobe, her 100K yen limited edition hoodie might actually be the cheapest part of her outfit.
But she tried not to think about it.
Instead, she just adjusted the CapsuMon backpack slung over her shoulder filled with booster boxes as she moved.
A short train ride later, along with subtly breaking the shins of some creeps eyeing her, Meggie stepped out onto Roppongi Station.
It was Tuesday evening, just as salarymen were getting out for the day along with some students, so it was pretty packed. But Meggie managed to get by without any trouble.
Mostly because her green hair with blonde highlights gave off juvenile delinquent vibes...
Meggie wasn't one, but since it meant people left her alone, she didn't bother correcting people.
Instead, she just took a look around.
'Huh. Project MirAIs is getting pretty popular.'
There was a giant advertisement of Hana holding an orange soda along the wall of the station.
Mixed in among the capsule gacha machines were two exclusing Project MirAIs machines, one with different versions of Alfi, and another with different versions of all the girls.
Then among the crowds, a lot of students had key chains of the girls too.
Meggie saw a group of girls with Aoko keychains. Then there was a group of guys that looked like they just came back from a sports match, all with Alfi merch. And then she saw a primary school student with her mother, hugging a Hana plushy.
More than just the prevalence of the merch though was the atmosphere.
'It's pretty cheerful these days.'
As Meggie made her way through the crowd and towards the stairs leading to the main street level, she couldn't help but note that.
People were still busy and moving about, but there were a lot of people smiling.
When Meggie had first arrived with her mom back in winter, everyone had seemed gloomy and kept to themselves.
But now, people were definitely opening up more and smiling too.
"...Guess Dad's doing some good in the world this time by saving girls instead of just making them fall for him."
It was still a bit strange to think about. Especially the fact that Dad was like, ACTUALLY being a Dad now. And responsible, complete with a day job and dropping by to spend time with Rory too.
"...Ugh." Meggie quickly made her way upstairs, looking away from the crowd. "I've been too free recently. Too much time to think..."
Maybe Meggie should double down on actually teaching Tsuki and Emma martial arts. She'd been getting restless recently, and maybe if those two sparred with each other they could stop dragging Meggie into arguments...
===
"Hm?" Lore's voice echoed as the doors to Myth Inc. HQ slid open. "Meggie? What are you doing here?"
Meggie gave a casual wave to Lore as she walked into the lobby. "Hey, Lore. Just hanging out with Hope. Might hang out with Onee-chan too."
Lore rolled out of his office in a gaming chair. After giving Meggie a quick once over, he nodded and said, "I see. Dodging the romcom flags, huh?"
Meggie felt her face burn and said, "I am NOT. I mean, technically, but no! Cards!" She held up her bag. "I'm here to open cards! I'm not running from anything!"
Lore nodded. "Understood. Also, I will take any energy cards that you do not want."
Meggie blinked. "...Sure? I'm not collecting those, so I don't mind. But like, why-"
Lore wheeled back into his room and flicked a switch, causing a panel to slide out from the floor. And on that panel, there were rows upon rows of sleeved energy cards. "It's a reminder that even when I lack energy, it continues to exist somewhere."
"...You like, seriously need to sleep."
Lore jabbed a pen in Meggie's direction. "SLEEP IS FOR THE WEAK AND THE DEAD AND I AM NEITHER!"
"...Sure, bro. Do you want me to sleeve the energy cards too, or..."
"Ah." Lore reached up to adjust his smartglasses and said, "If you would. I have some boosters of the latest Ultra Evolution sets left, so I'll trade you."
"Deal."
Lore gave Meggie a thumbs up and then wheeled back into his office before shutting the door with a click.
Meggie just stared at his door for a bit. But then she paused. "...Wait. Did Lore just become the night guard here?"
It used to be that Mister Takashi stayed overnight to keep watch in the lobby. And after that, it was a few members of the LEGENDS Security Company.
But now the only one in the lobby was Lore and Mira-chan, technically.
"...Huh." Meggie adjusted her bag as she walked towards the elevator and said, "I guess he's a good enough deterrant?"
Lore DID give off the energy of a guy one bad day away from snapping... as well as the energy of a guy who would commit to the bit for fun if it meant he could get more information to add to his web of lore and hyperfixations...
Most people who came by, assuming they even managed to get past the general security measures that Dad put in...
They'd probably just run at the sight of Lore.
Meggie pressed the button to call the elevator and said, "Definitely a weirdo. But at least he's chill? And happy?"
Uncle Titor played up the role of a mad scientist for fun.
But Lore was like... unironically that way-
Meggie paused. "...We should probably never get them in the same room together..."
Those two... Lore and Titor. They would definitely feed off each other's energy until they were full-sending complete chuuni delusions and radiating full cringe energy.
As the elevator doors slid open, Meggie sighed and adjusted her bag again. "...At least it'll be a relaxing evening."
Hope should be free, so it would be good to just unwind and open some cards together...
===
Meggie paused after Hope opened the door.
Behind Hope, there was a young woman with curly black hair passed out on the couch and another young woman with bloody red hair tearing up as she clutched her ribs and laughed, clearly stuck in a painful laughing fit.
Hope let out a strained smile and said, "...Hi, Meggie?"
"So..." Meggie stepped inside and said, "When was anyone going to tell me that Dad found the next members of Project MirAIs?"
Hope closed the door behind Meggie and said, "Well... Erie and Julie just got here... Oh! Let me do a proper introduction! This here is Meggie, Mister John's second youngest daughter!"
Meggie waved and said, "Yo."
Hope nodded and said, "The girl with the red hair is Erie, and... um, the one unconscious is Julie... I mean, Juliet. Together, we're the newest members of Project MirAIs and the latest generation, Protest!"
"Protest, huh? Well." Meggie looked amused and said, "I protest your confidentiality. Aren't you like, supposed to not tell anyone?"
Hope's eyes widened and she covered her mouth.
Erie burst out into another laughing fit. "God... dammit Hope... Owowow... dying... help...!"
Meggie walked over and jabbed a spot on Erie's back.
Erie wheezed, but then her laughter stopped. "...Huh." She blinked and then looked at Meggie. "I don't know what you did, but I owe you. I've been laughing for ten minutes straight now." She massaged her sides. "Ugh... my sides..."
Meggie set her bag down on the coffee table in the middle of the room and said, "You're welcome. Mom used to have laughing fits at Dad's antics too. She taught me how to make them stop just in case. But anyway." She looked at Hope and smiled. "I got them."
Hope blinked. "Them...? OH!" She clapped her hands together and said, "Did you get the Fossilized set?"
Juliet immediately sat up straight, waking up from her dead faint. "What about the Fossilized CapsuMon set?"
Erie flinched and said, "Jesus, Mary, and Christ! What are you, a vampire feeding off of vintage cardboard?"
Juliet looked at Erie and said, "It's Jesus, Mary and Joseph. But also." She looked at Meggie and honed in on the bundles of booster boxes in the middle of the coffee table. "...Are you opening those?"
"Well, yeah." Meggie pulled out six booster boxes. "I wanna get the Dragon Knight and GinGar."
Erie's eyes widened as she saw Meggie pull out each box. "Uh... aren't each of those like... 10K each?"
Meggie pulled out some toploaders and sleeves before saying, "Yeah, and? If we get a first edition Dragon Knight, it's 20K, you know?"
Erie let out a strangle gasp. Then she whispered, "What?"
Hope's eyes widened and her hands, half reaching for a booster box, started to shake. "H-H-How expensive, Meggie...?"
"Hm? 20K. Twenty thousand American dollars." Meggie pulled out an razor and expertly slit the plastic wrap off a booster box. "It's not that bad. Base set is worse. I think the unlimited ones are 40K, and the first editions ones... well, good luck finding one."
Hope's sky blue eyes started to tremble.
Juliet, however, focused on Meggie, an understanding smile on her face. "You get it. No matter the price, as long as you get to pull your favorite, it doesn't matter."
Meggie nodded. "Well, yeah. It's like shiny hunting, but in real life."
Erie slowly blinked and said, "That is NOT the same... but you know what? At this point, I don't care." She quickly slid forward and said, "So like... do we get to keep anything we pull, or..."
Meggie shrugged and said, "A family friend gave these to me to pull, so I don't really care. I just want the Dragon Knight and GinGar... Oh, but Lore wants the energy cards, so make sure to sleeve those."
"Bet." Erie immediately grabbed a booster pack and ripped it open.
"Oh." Meggie pulled out a stack of card sleeves and said, "The card trick is-"
Erie immediately flipped the stack over and spread it to see what she pulled.
Juliet's eye twitched.
Meggie cringed.
But Hope gasped and pointed at the cards. "It's the Dragon Knight!"
"..." Meggie let out a long suffering sigh. "...I protest your existence."
Erie sleeved the Dragon Knight and did finger guns at Meggie. "Too bad~ I protested my existence too and life said I was stuck here."
Hope let out a scandalized gasp. "Erie!"
"My way of coping, don't at me, don't care. Also..." Erie stared at the remaining five booster boxes and 31 booster packs. "Uh. Are we really opening the rest of these, or..."
"We're opening them." Meggie grabbed a booster pack too and said, "This is for fun and collecting, not for money."
Juliet grabbed a pack too and said, "You get me... When Johnny brings my collection over, let's open a few boxes together."
"Deal-"
*RIP*
Hope froze, accidentally ripping into the cards themselves in the booster pack she grabbed. "O-Oops?"
Juliet took a deep breath.
Meggie sighed.
As for Erie...
"Hope." Erie looked at Hope and said, "...You are not allowed to handle anything important or expensive if we get it. Like sample merch."
Hope let out an awkward laugh.