Chapter 410: – Flex and Get Flexed |
Meggie glanced over and then did a double take when she saw her Dad.
John raised his hand and walked over to give her a head pat. "Yo, Meggie. Sorry I'm late."
Meggie crossed her arms and said, "About time you got here, Dad. Ugh." She shook her head and said, "It's been terrible."
"It looks like it." John looked over at the black-haired kid and red-haired kid.
They both didn't look bothered by John and Gray's appearance at all.
...Well. This place *was* a school for the gifted and elite on paper. It was bound to get a few of the 'young master' type kids around.
John was going to have a blast giving dragging them back down to earth though.
If we talked about power levels and flexing, there was no one who could do it better than John, after all.
Like, 'flexing' and bluffing about power levels with elaborate shows was how he survived. Not to mention all the 'faceslapping' that he did too, along with example setting...
Gray's kid, Al, noticed Gray and then ran over. "Dad!"
Gray hugged Al and said, "Calm down, Al. What's going on here?"
Al pointed to the black-haired kid and the red-haired kid and said, "Those two were trying to drag Cousin Meggie and her friends away!"
John raised an eyebrow and looked at Meggie.
Meggie sighed and whispered, "Long story."
"Seems like it..."
It must have been a pretty convoluted series of events for Al to recognize Meggie as her cousin. That, or the kid was pretty insightful.
...Hm. Come to think of it, Gray was isekai'd to a standard fantasy world it looked like. Maybe his kid had a status screen that cheated and read data from the world?
More things to ask Gray about later. But for now...
The red-haired kid shook his head at Al's words. "Nuh-uh!" He crossed his arms and said, "We just wanted to play basketball!"
The black-haired kid tilted his head. "I thought that we were going to go swimming, Ares? Was that not the plan-"
The red-haired kid, Ares, turned red and he said, "S-Shut up, Rei!"
The black-haired kid, Rei, frowned and said, "We may be friends, Ares. But if you keep treating me like this, I may have to find a replacement."
Listening to that, John chuckled and ruffled Meggie's hair. "So that's what you've been dealing with, huh, Cookie Monster?"
Meggie flinched and brushed her father's hand away. Blushing, she said, "I-I thought we agreed to not talk about that again! And when are you going to stop embarrassing me in public?"
"We agreed to not talk about it in *detail*. Can't let you just brush it under the rug and forget, after all. And never."
"I hate you." Meggie pouted and then pulled up her hood, trying to hide her face.
John laughed and then said, "So what exactly happened to get you in this mess anyway?"
Meggie rolled her eyes and said, "It's stupid." She pointed at the blonde girl and said, "Emma asked to hang out at her place after school." She pointed at Perry and said, "Then her onii-chan and Al showed up saying they would come too." She pointed at Tsuki next and said, "Tsuki fangirled hard, and then those blockheads." She finally pointed at Rei and Ares and said, "They overheard and kept trying to convince us girls it'd be more fun to play something else with them. They also wouldn't take no for an answer."
"I see..."
If this was the Three Realms, John would be upset. And if the kids were a bit older, he’d be pissed. But this looked just like childish kid drama, so John just found it funny.
"Well." John shrugged and glanced at Gray. "Should we just get going?"
Gray tidied up his son's clothes and hair and then said, "Probably for the best."
John looked at Tsuki, Meggie's new friend Emma, and Emma's older brother. "Do you guys want to hang out with Meggie? She's a shut-in degenerate gamer girl-"
"Am not!"
"Love you, Meggie, but stop lying to yourself. Anyway." John smiled and said, "I'd appreciate if you could drag her out of her room for once-"
At that time, Ares pointed at John and said, "Hey! We aren't done talking!"
John paused and then chuckled. "Wow. It's been a while since I heard that line."
Meggie let out a deep and suffering sigh. "Are you SURE you don't have a sadistic streak, Dad?"
"Ask your mother, Meggie-" John paused and then said, "Actually don't- Hm. No, I think it's about time for the talk anyway..."
"Talk?" Meggie blinked. "What talk?"
"Anyway." John smiled at Ares and said, "I think you should apologize. It's going to be REALLY embarrassing in a bit if you don't."
Ares crossed his arms and said, "Says you! Mars oji-san is going to send you all to jail!"
John chuckled. "Sure, Kid." After that, John purposefully turned his back on Ares, blocking the red-head's view of the other kids. After that, John smiled at Meggie's new friends and said, "I almost forgot to introduce myself. I'm Meggie's Dad, John. Nice to meet you, and thanks for putting up with her."
Meggie puffed her cheeks and then looked away. She pulled out a Mintendo Switch and then started playing CapsuMon.
John noticed, but he pretended not to.
As a good dad, he should let his kid try to regain some sort of composure after this mess, after all.
Emma blushed and bowed her head. "N-Nice to meet you, Meggie's Dad! My name is Nozomi Emerald, but you can call me Emma, like Meggie does!"
John smiled. "Nice to meet you, Emma." He shifted his gaze to Perry and said, "And your Onii-chan here?"
Perry frowned when he saw John, as if trying to remember something. Then his eyes widened for a fraction of a second. Still, he regained his composure and bowed his head. "It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Nozomi Peridot, but friends and family call me Perry."
"Polite. Nice, nice." John nodded and said, "Always good to have good manners."
At that time, Gray said, "Speaking of good manners. Al." He patted his son on the back and lightly pushed him over. "Introduce yourself to your uncle."
Al stumbled a bit, but then looked up at John. His ears were red with embarrassment, but he bowed too and said, "Hello there. I'm Al Smith. Nice to meet you, Uncle..."
John blinked. "Wait. Your name is seriously just 'Al?'"
Al raised his head. He looked confused at the question, but he nodded and said, "Yes?"
John frowned and looked back at Gray. "It's seriously just Al? Not short for anything?"
Gray's ears turned red. "Eliza named him, not me."
"Sure, blame your wife."
Meggie stopped playing for a bit and then looked at John. "Don't you do that all the time with Mom, Dad?"
"Just play your game, Meggie."
At that time, a man in full tactical gear walked over. Armored vest, shin guards, arm guards, a taser, stun baton... The security here was serious.
Then again, when John saw who it was, he understood why. "Good to see you, Takashi."
"Hm?" Takashi glanced over at John and then smiled. "John. Good to see you again too."
John walked over to Takashi and then shook the man's hand. "Yue didn't tell me you'd be working here too."
Takashi smiled and said, "I didn't plan to. But since the others in LEGENDS are extraordinarily efficient at their jobs, I'm mostly free. Since I was, I figured that I would help out a bit here."
"I see, I see." John nodded and then said, "So did you already drive Chi-chan home?"
Takashi paused. "...What do you mean? Chi-chan's is still going to school downtown. She usually walks home by herself since it isn't too far."
"...Right. I forgot about that."
Okay. So it looked like Chi-chan was being her usual troublemaker self and didn't tell her dad about the transfer. Probably did some document forging too...
Well, there was a time and place to have that conversation. Now wasn't it.
Takashi sensed that there was more to what John was saying, but before he could ask, a pair of cars pulled into the parking lot.
The first was a crimson luxury sports car, and the second was a sleek black electric car. A 'Mercy-Bends' and a 'Nikola,' respectively. Both foreign imports.
From the crimson luxury sports car, a young man with crimson hair and sharp crimson eyes stepped out. Holding a black briefcase and adjusting his blue suit, he started walking over.
Ares noticed and ran towards him. "Mars oji-san!"
At that time, the driver of the black electric car stepped out, revealing a seemingly nondescript Japanese salary man. But closer look would show that the man was dressed head-to-toe in designer clothes and was wearing a watch on his left hand worth well over 20,000 U.S. dollars.
Rei saw the man and walked over. "Akira oji-san. Over here."
When John saw the two, he had to resist the urge to chuckle.
So far, the 'rule of funny' and the 'rule of dramatic effect' had been played against him. But it looked like it was working in his favor for once.
It was a nice and very welcome change of pace.
The crimson-haired young man, Mars, walked over with a sharp look and said, "Who are the people who would dare-" He noticed John and froze.
John waved.
Ares pointed at John and said, "It's him! And that other blonde guy!"
Mars gave an absent-minded nod and walked over.
Ares smirked.
And then Mars did a perfect 90 degree bow and said, "It's been a while, Boss!"
John laughed. "There's no need to do that, Mars. And nice to see you again."
Ares froze.
At that time, 'Akira oji-san' had reached Rei. Placing a hand on Rei's shoulder, the man said, "I told you to stay calm, Rei. This place has different rules and culture, so- Oh?" He noticed John and then smiled. "Is that you, John? Long time no see."
John smiled and gave a casual wave back. "Good to see you again too, Akira." After saying that, he glanced at Rei and Ares.
The two troublemakers looked shaken to their souls.
Good. Just as planned.
Meggie noticed her father's expression and then walked over. When she was close, she nudged John and said, "Hey. You didn't rig this, did you?"
John shook his head and said, "No. Pretty funny though, right?
Meggie sighed.
