Chapter 41: The Fast and the Furious

“Thank you for watching everyone!” Rin waved at the camera on her phone and smiled. “I’ll see you tomorrow! Sayohana!”

With that said, Rin reached over and ended the stream. When that was done, she leaned back and placed her hands over her chest, letting out a sigh. “Phew.”

Sakura opened the door, walking in with a cup of warm tea. She smiled at Rin and said, “That was wonderful, Sweetie.”

Rin took the tea and let out a sigh of relief. “I’m glad it went well.” Taking a sip, she walked back over to the chair in her room and sat down, taking a look at her laptop. “I was really nervous with how many people were watching.”

Even though the stream was over, there were still ten thousand people watching. Not only that, but her subscriber count… or rather, Hana’s subscriber count had broken 150000 already.

“It’s… a bit overwhelming, honestly.” Rin stared at the screen and then looked at her phone, where Hana was staring back.

Sakura placed an arm around Rin’s shoulders and pulled her into a half hug. “Well you’ll get used to it soon.”

“I hope so.” Rin glanced at Hana again and then waved. After seeing Hana wave back, Rin smiled and then shut off the app and her laptop. After that, she took a look around.

It was her room, back in their house. After the lunch earlier, Miss Alpha had taken Rin and her mother back home and helped prepare for the stream.

Of course, Rin remembered what had happened last time and made sure that the beautiful older woman… teenager? Either way, Rin made sure that Miss Alpha stayed far away from the router, laptop, and phone before the stream. Instead, Rin asked for Alpha to help her out by posting on social media and moderating the chat.

But speaking of her…

Rin frowned and said, “Where’s Miss Alpha, Mom?”

“Hm?” Sakura blinked and then said, “Ah. She said that she had a lot to think about so she was going to head home first.”

“Oh.” Rin frowned and said, “I wanted to thank her for staying so long…”

Sakura sat down on Rin’s bed and said, “It’s fine, Sweetie. Alpha told me that you were already working hard and to just tell you to relax if you felt thankful.”

“E-Eh? Did she?” Rin blinked, astonished. Did Miss Alpha read her mind?

Sakura smiled and then reached over to poke Rin’s cheek. “Of course not. You’re just too pure and considerate, Sweetie.”

“Mooom.”

Sakura chuckled and then stood up. Glancing at the time, she said, “It’s almost nine now. I know it’s the weekend tomorrow, but don’t stay up too late, alright, Sweetie?”

“I know, I know.”

Sakura waved and then left the room.

And then it was just Rin alone again. No, that wasn’t true.

Picking up her phone, Rin flopped down onto her bed and stared at the screen. “What are we going to do tomorrow, Hana? A game? Karaoke? Or… maybe a concert?”

There wasn’t a response. But that was obvious. After all, the app wasn’t even on and Rin was just staring at Hana’s channel on UTube, scrolling through the comments.

Even so…

‘Karaoke would be fun!’

…It felt like Rin could hear Hana’s bright voice respond in her head.

Rin smiled and said, “Great! Now, what songs can we sing…?”

—–AI|IA—–

Alpha frowned, lightly tapping the steering wheel while she drove through the night streets of Tokyo. Glancing at the time, she muttered, “Rin should have finished with her stream by now.”

That girl worked far too hard for her own good. A mere mortal and yet she was practicing as diligently as a cultivator seeking immortality… Admirable, but unnecessary.

Of course, it appeared that many things were unnecessary in this world.

Crimson flashed up ahead. The traffic lights turning red.

Alpha brought the car to a stop before the intersection, lost in thought.

Earlier, her father had called her ‘Alphy.’ A name that he had not used in many planet cycles. Even after the marriage with Mistress.

Odd. Far too odd.

The lights flashed green and Alpha drove off, absently driving through Tokyo.

It was strange. Too strange.

Alpha could adapt to calling John her Father. She could also adapt to the more relaxed mannerisms and discussions… as well as simply spending time together.

In truth, it was not much different from her earliest memories.

But it was still strange.

The way her father acted in this world was too haphazard. He lowered his head and ignored slights that he would have gone to battle for in the Three Realms… And recently at that.

Alpha frowned, idly tapping her fingers on the steering wheel again. “…Is it that I am just unsuited for this world?”

Her father had told her before. Countless times at that. While her combat capabilities were absolute, as a result her other functionalities were not as developed.

Unlike Beta, who was skilled in information gathering and analysis, Alpha’s specialty lay in wanton destruction and slaughter.

Unlike Omega, who was skilled in charm and emotions, Alpha was inept at social activities and found it difficult to read the situation at times.

Her father had done his best to shore up those shortcomings in recent years by teaching her, but it was still difficult.

And now, in this fragile world filled with only mortals…

Alpha sighed. “Just what does Father expect of me here?”

She couldn’t help with the business like Beta. She couldn’t help train Rin like her father. And while she could help by moderating the chat and interacting, that didn’t amount to much.

Not to mention the fact that she couldn’t even defeat that mortal child in such a simple game. Being able to see the moves occur and having the reflexes to react, and yet not knowing how it was implemented or *how* to react…

It was humiliating. Degrading.

And unlike before, where it was Alpha who directly accompanied and aided her father in his exploits, now Beta took that role.

So then-

A car horn.

Alpha blinked and realized that it was coming from a car to her left. Glancing in that direction, she saw a young woman with long black hair staring at her. At the same time, the woman started revving up her car engine.

This… was the woman challenging her?

Alpha narrowed her eyes, glaring back.

Seeing that the young woman smiled, cocking her head forward.

Alpha hadn’t noticed, but it seemed that she had driven out of the city limits while lost in thought. Not only that, but a few others cars were joining from the distance as well.

The young woman glanced at Alpha and then grinned before revving her car, speeding off.

Alpha didn’t know the customs in the world yet, but she recognized a race when she saw one. And for a cocky mortal, especially one so young, to challenge her…

As if to vent the frustration in her heart, Alpha floored the gas pedal and sped after the woman.

—–AI|IA—–

John stopped typing.

Beta looked over from her desk and frowned. “Father? Is something wrong?”

John blinked, frowning. “…I’m not sure. But I think something troublesome is about to occur…” He set his laptop aside and then pulled out his phone. Glancing at Beta, he said, “Have you seen your sister yet?”

“Eldest Sister has not returned nor called since she left with you this morning.”

“…That’s not good.” A faint worry. Alarm bells ringing in his head, like the time he told Alpha to entertain herself in the sect for a day while he worked on upgrading Beta.

John glanced at his phone. 9:30 PM. Rin had finished streaming a half hour ago now, but she shouldn’t be asleep quite yet… he hoped. No, he prayed.

Quickly dialing her number, John waited with bated breath… And then realized that he could just head over there himself.

While the phone was ringing, John glanced over at Beta and said, “I’ll be right back.”

Beta looked a bit concerned, but she nodded. “As you say, Father. Be careful.”

John let out a wry chuckle. “I’ll do my best… but careful apparently only gets me so far these days.” With that, he warped over to Rin’s house, concealing himself with his powers.

A dark night, light only with streetlamps. But even amidst that illumination, John was invisible. He stood just outside of the house, scanning it with his spiritual sense while waiting for Rin to answer.

And in that scan, he knew the results of what he wanted to find out. But just to be sure…

“Mister John?” Rin’s puzzled voice. “Is something wrong?”

“Sorry to wake you, Rin.” John carefully rescanned the house, making sure Alpha wasn’t simply concealing her presence. “But is Alpha there?”

“No. Miss Alpha left a half hour ago… Did she not head home?”

John noticed Rin sit up on her bed, worry on her face. Seeing that, he kept his voice level and said, “She didn’t, but- Ah. Never mind. It seems like she went to grab something before heading home.”

A lie. Of course, it was said by John, so it was flawless and indistinguishable from the truth.

Even so…

“Are you sure she’s alright, Mister John? Miss Alpha seemed absent-minded all day… What if something happened to her?”

…It seemed that he underestimated a woman’s intuition.

Rin bit her lip and said, “Someone as beautiful as Miss Alpha alone at night-“

John let out a light chuckle and said, “It’ll be fine. My oldest daughter has quite the extensive self-defense training.”

“But-“

“Don’t worry about it, Rin. We’ll show up tomorrow morning at the usual time to pick you up, alright?”

“…Okay, Mister John. Good night.”

“‘Night.”

He hung up the phone.

Rin was sitting on the bed, clearly worried and not completely believing John.

But that wasn’t his concern at the moment. Instead…

“…Where the hell did you go, Alphy?”

John muttered and then spread out his spiritual sense, tracking down his wayward daughter. And when he saw her, as well as what she was doing…

“…Of course.” He sighed and facepalmed. “Why am I not surprised?”

Cars, racing through the countryside, headed towards the infamous drifting race track.

His daughter, driving his black Ferrari, spearheaded the group alongside another car, a black BMW that was modified for extra acceleration and speed. And as for the driver of that car-

“Eh?” John blinked.

It wasn’t due to the fact that the driver was a beautiful young woman, although that did come at a slight surprise. Instead, John was surprised because he recognized her.

And then he realized the reason why his beloved eldest daughter was driving off to a race track alongside a group of underground racers.

“God freaking dammit.”

That reason?

…The beautiful young woman driving the BMW was the same young woman he first saw when arriving in the world. The one that had been distracted enough by him nodding at her that she ran into the side of a building before running off.

John let out a long sigh and then waved his hand. Making sure no sorts of surveillance could observe his actions, he conjured a certain white Toyota car and hopped in. Turning the ignition on, John put his foot on the gas pedal and then warped closer to the group, trailing from a distance.

As he did…

“Yue, Wifey. I’m sorry. Please, stop cursing me and let me have a calm and uneventful week for once.”

…He made a small plea.

Of course, whether that would have any effect, only the future could tell.