Chapter 352: T-minus one day until disaster

Rin flopped on her bed with a content sigh. “It’s good to finally be back home.”

Asako dropped her bag off on the floor next to the door and nodded. “Tell me about it. Messing with our Kouhai was fun for a little while, but things got a bit too crazy there near the end.”

Alphy walked in the room after Asako and smiled. “But it was nice being around them, wasn’t it Asa-chan?”

“Yeah. But…” Asako clicked her tongue. “They’re taking things a bit too seriously, aren’t they? Talking about going to practice more karaoke when they got back… Like, haven’t they had enough with the lessons John puts us through?”

Rin sat up on her bed and laughed. “That’s because you’re a bit too good at being an idol, Aneue.”

Asako blinked and pointed at herself. “Me?” She laughed. “That’s a good joke, Sis.”

Rin just smiled back for a bit. But then she pulled out her phone to scroll through her social media accounts.

They were finally back in Tokyo after a long car ride back. Mostly with Alphy driving since Asako kept almost falling asleep at the wheel.

Rin didn’t blame her though. After all, Aoko’s streams were the earliest. And while Asako was naturally a night owl, it seemed like her body had adjusted to the new schedule these days.

Well, that or Alphy was keeping Asako up late at night.

Rin wasn’t sure, but she also liked not knowing, so…

Anyway, the Prototype girls were all staying the night at Rin’s house today. They chatted a bit about staying at the lounge in the Myth Inc. HQ, but before they left, the Prodigy girls declared that they were going to use it.

That, plus the fact that it would be a bit more private in the more suburban area that Rin lived made the Prototype girls head there instead.

“Ooh.” Rin stopped in the middle of scrolling through Prototype’s fanart hashtag on Tweeter and held up her phone. “It looks like people are getting ready for your calendar, Aneue.”

Spoiler [collapse]

Asako glanced at Rin’s phone and then groaned. “Dammit. I still can’t believe I lost that bet…”

Rin smiled and said, “You underestimate the Ki-sama, Aneue. They’ll do anything to receive such divine depictions of their Queen.”

Asako walked over and reached out to flick Rin’s forehead. “You’ve been reading too much manga again.”

Rin casually moved her head to the side, dodging Asako’s flick. After that, she said, “It’s fun! Well, not as fun as getting loot in real life though.” With that said, Rin looked at the stuffed bear head in the corner of her room placed on top of her folded bear hoodie.

Asako followed Rin’s gaze and then frowned. “I still can’t believe you killed a freaking bear with your bare hands.”

Rin rolled her eyes and said, “It was with knives, Aneue. I’m not dumb enough to try and kill a bear unarmed.” She set her phone to the side and then held up her hands. “You think these noodle arms can do anything to something that big?”

Alphy looked thoughtful and said, “If you trained your internal strength, you should be able to?”

Asako snorted and said, “Don’t get her started on that cultivation stuff, Alphy. Next thing you know she’ll be a martial arts otaku trying to defy the heavens like the old man.”

Rin gasped. “You’re already calling Mister John ‘Old Man’, Aneue?! Should I start getting ready for a wedding?!”

Asako blushed and said, “T-That’s not who I’m talking about!”

Alphy giggled and then pulled over the chair by Rin’s desk to sit down. After that, she said, “Did you two prepare everything to stream tomorrow?”

Rin nodded. “Mmhm!” She pointed at her bear trophies and said, “I’m going to show off my loot!”

Asako sighed and covered her face. “I’m going to have to start working on that calendar… Titor texted us that we can open our memberships whenver now, right?”

Rin flopped back down on her bed and opened up UTube on her phone. “Let’s see… yep! Says that membership was approved!” She looked over at Asako and said, “Do you two want to do a relay to celebrate?”

Alphy hummed and looked at Asako. “I think we should take those photos first. Right, Asa-chan?”

Asako stared at Alphy and then said, “Why do you make it sound like you’re going to help with that?”

Alphy tilted her head. “Am I not? I can get Betty to help, but it will be more comfortable with me since I’ve seen everything, right?”

“No!” Asako blushed and quickly said, “I mean… yes. But it’s still awkward!”

“Ooh!” Rin sat up and raised her hand. “Can I help then, Aneue? I’ve been practicing photography and know lots of stuff! Like the rule of thirds!”

Asako immediately crossed her arms. “Nope. Not letting a minor anywhere near that stuff.”

Rin blinked and said, “Aren’t you just taking ecchi pictures? Nothing’s going to be showing, right?”

“…R-Right. Ahaha…” Asako shifted her gaze.

Rin gasped.

Alphy giggled and said, “This is why you shouldn’t make bets you aren’t prepared to keep, Asa-chan.” She paused and said, “Or win. I think Papa would have a lot to say about that considering Mama. And Auntie Xuannu. And Auntie Daji. And especially Auntie Zhaojun.”

Asako rolled her eyes. “Sure. Like I should be learning from someone like John.”

“Papa’s been through a lot of weird things, so… yes?”

“…Anyway, we should probably get some rest.” Asako reached up to stretch and said, “I’ve gotta stream early tomorrow… and I think John said there’s going to be a meeting right after, right? Wonder what that’s going to be about…”

Rin shrugged. “Maybe how we can stream World Line?”

Asako paused and then let out a deep sigh. “…I’m not looking forward to getting mobbed by the Ki-sama in that game.”

Rin laughed and said, “They won’t be that bad, Aneue. Although…” She paused and tilted her head. “How weird do you think it’s going to be if we can recruit ourselves as party members?”

Asako stopped to think about that. And then she sighed again and said, “I’m going to sleep. Night, Sis. Night, Alphy.”

“Ah.” Alphy spoke up and said, “I’ll take a shower first and then be right there, Asa-chan.”

“…” Asako paused and then sent a pointed look to Rin. “Stop shipping us, Sis.”

“I’m not shipping anything, Aneue! Other than the special edition chibi Hana figurine next week.”

Asako rolled her eyes and said, “You’re getting too cheeky, Sis… But whatever.” She waved her hand and walked out. “Sleeping.”

Alphy laughed and then walked out after Asako. She stopped at the door to wave at Rin as well, but then she shut the door behind her, leaving Rin alone.

And now that Rin was by herself…

“Finally!” Rin flopped back on her bed and then grabbed her phone. “Now I can read my manga in peace- Mm?”

A random text message- Wait. Not random since it was from Rin’s Mom. But why was she texting right now?

[Mommy]

I saw that you girls just got back home. No staying up late reading manga, Sweetie. Don’t make me tell Mister John on you.

Rin puffed her cheeks and then let out a deep sigh. “Fiiine. I guess I’ll just sleep…” After sending a quick reply to her mom, Rin set her phone down and turned off the lights. That done, she flopped back down on her bed and stared at the ceiling.

But then she remembered something.

“Wait.” She grabbed her phone again and said, “Betty nee-chan’s game officially released today, right? And she said it should run on anything…” Rin snuck a glance at her door. Then she snuck a glance at her window. “…It’s not a manga, so it’ll be fine, right? But just in case…” Rin snuggled in beneath her blanket and then opened up the Googol app store.

“Glassy Jade Moon… Ooh, topped ranked in games. Sasuga, Betty nee-chan. Now…” Rin tapped on the app to buy it and then waited for it to install. A wait which ended up being just a few seconds since the app wasn’t that big.

After that, Rin tapped on the app icon.

A black screen. But soon after that, the melancholic sounds of a zither started playing.

[Play: Beautiful Chinese music_Instrument- Endless love <zither>]

Snow gradually blew across the black screen, followed by gentle moonlight. And then a figure came into view, walking across a field of snow with a determined look.

Spoiler [collapse]

Shortly after, glowing text appeared across the screen, followed by a gentle narration spoken in Chinese.

*Old memories are like windows difficult to close when opened. At that time, at that place… if I had chosen differently… would you still be here? I…*

“…Looks like I’m not getting any sleep tonight…” Rin stared at the screen with wide eyes and then tapped the [begin story] button that appeared on the bottom right side of the screen.

_________