John stared out the window from his office, sweeping his spiritual sense throughout the city again.
Nothing. The only supernatural beings he detected were himself, Bai, Qing, Alphy, Betty, and Titor.
Not a single trace of either Yue or Meg.
"Where are you two...?" John muttered.
He would have thought that they would arrive nearby if they came to Earth. That they would be somewhere in Tokyo, or Japan at the least. But they weren't. And neither were they anywhere in the world... nor anywhere else in the nearby cosmos.
And then there was the fact that tracking down the devices that sent those messages in the stream led to a dead end with nothing more than garbled data...
A cold chill in his heart. And as if in response to John's mood, snowflakes drifted past his window, covering everything in a pure white.
Like the moon.
Like Yue.
John let out a deep sigh and shook his head, walking back to sit at his desk.
It was noon.
Right now, Rin should be streaming upstairs and doing a karaoke stream for the Ohana. Alphy should be relaxing in her room playing some games. Betty was having a girl's day out with Asako. Meanwhile, Bai and Qing were setting things up for the stream, finalizing business negotiations and the other preparations required for John's stream later that evening.
John placed his elbows on his desk and then covered his face. "Did I upset you that much...? Or are you hurt?"
He couldn't detect them anywhere nearby. Neither Yue nor Meg. But if they were coming after him, then they should have arrived somewhere close. After all, it wasn't like he was hiding his powers.
Well, he was, but not to the extent that someone like them couldn't notice it.
So he was worried. Still worried.
Logically, he knew that they were probably fine. Meg wouldn't let anything happen to her dear mother, and Yue was too meticulous to have run into harm.
But what if? What if they did?
He couldn't sense them, but there was no mistaking those messages. Furthermore, his instincts were telling him that they were here. That Yue and Meg were somewhere on Earth.
But he couldn't sense them. His 'eyes' covered the whole world, but they were hidden from his gaze. As if some invisible force were blocking them from his view... Or was he just so worried that his senses were being distorted?
What if-
"Hah. Get a hold of yourself, John." He shook his head and then got out of his chair.
There wasn't any point to worrying. He just had to believe. Believe that the two were out there safe and sound. That they were just upset and hiding from him.
Staring out the window again, John found himself fiddling with his wedding ring. The golden dragon, holding the jade moon...
"You never really learn to appreciate something til it's missing, huh?"
John had gotten so used to Yue's presence that he didn't realize just how much he missed her until now.
And then there was Meg too.
Did she finish mastering the 64 hexagrams from the book of changes? Was she eating properly? Did she encounter any problems in her cultivation while he was gone? Did she cry after he broke his promise with her to take her along with him to explore the void?
John blinked and then let out a wry laugh. "Damn. My age is catching up with me, huh? Acting like my parents..." He shook his head and then pulled out his phone.
The stream was already scheduled, and it looked like there were already around a thousand people waiting.
John glanced at the chat, scrolling through the messages in the hopes that he could catch a glimpse of Yue or Meg. That either of them were in the chat with a message for him. But...
"Not that easy, huh?"
...There wasn't any sign of them. Not any real sign, that is.
John noted a few people pretending to be Yue and confessing their love.
To those, he immediately destroyed their routers and deleted their accounts.
Giving him false hope like that-!
A sudden notification and a ringtone.
[Play The Eye of the Tiger].
John glanced at the caller id and then swiped his phone, answering the call. "Yeah, Bai?"
"Alright Boss. I got it sorted out."
John walked back to his desk and sat on it. "Calling me, Boss now, huh? Well, I guess that's better than 'Master.' Fits your character better."
"And bas- Ahem. The copyrights are all sorted out. All the negotiations about streaming privileges and broadcast rights are sorted too. We're marketing this as a virtuoso performance so we managed to get on some television networks too."
"Oh?" John crossed his arms and said, "You did pretty good."
"Damned straight I did. I'm not about to have a pissed off Timeless Savant after me when I just got out of that damned cage."
"...Sorry about that."
Silence on the other side of the line. And then a sigh. "Damn. You really love her."
"I do."
Her smile, her laugh, her words. The way she scolded him for getting out of line. The exasperated but accepting expression when he came back after causing some trouble. How she waited on his words even though she could have found anyone else...
"...Tch. I can't talk with you when you're like this. Gives me the creeps."
John laughed. "Sorry."
"Stop that. Hearing an uncompromising and troublesome guy like you apologizing makes me think existence is going to turn upside down."
"Heh." John smiled. And then his face became somber and he stood up. "Have you found any signs of them?"
"Not yet. But I've gathered up some forces around the world already... And damn that was weird. How do you live in a place like this where just a single spatial jump turns night to day and day to night? And with everything so different in each country too?"
"You get used to it. Now, call me the moment that something else comes up."
"Yeah, yeah. Talk to you later." With that, Bai hung up.
John put his phone away and then frowned. Glancing back out the window at the snowy day, he shook his head and said, "I might as well keep practicing."
At least then he could keep his worries out of his head...
-----AI|IA-----
"...I still don't get why you're hanging out with me, Beta." Asako rubbed her hands together and glanced to the side. "Don't you have better things to do?"
Beta adjusted her scarf and nodded. "I do. But I rarely get the opportunity to get out, so better to take it while I can, right?"
"I mean, you're paying so I can't complain. Still weird though..." Saying that, Asako took a look around.
After grabbing breakfast, Beta had grabbed Asako and taken her on a whirlwind tour around Tokyo.
An aquarium, a manga museum, even a maid cafe. Though that last one ended quick when the owner started giving Beta some weird looks and she got a dangerous glint in her eyes looking at Asako.
At the moment, the two were wandering around the mall in Roppongi Hills, looking around for a place to grab some lunch before going out on a shopping spree.
Asako stuck her hands into her pants pockets and then glanced at Beta walking beside her.
As always, Beta was dressed like a model. Her crimson hair trailed behind her like red flames while her bright orange eyes... or were they red too? Anyway, they were covered by leopard print shades. With a cream-colored long coat and fluffy white scarf, she gave off the appearance of a nouveau riche foreigner out to see the sights... Which wasn't completely wrong.
As for Asako... After seeing Beta's outfit, she subconsciously examined her own.
A Nikeys sweatshirt. Nikeys sweatpants. Nikeys sneakers... Even though she bought some more clothes last time, Asako's outfit still primarily consisted of just sportswear.
Beta glanced over and said, "Worried about your clothes?"
"N-No!" Asako huffed and said, "I'm just a bit cold."
"Oh. Then here." Without hesitation, Beta took off her coat and handed it to Asako. "I was getting a bit too warm anyway."
Asako blinked, staring at the offered coat. At the same time, she noticed people looking at them, and more than a few older folks whispering to each other. Realizing that, Asako flushed and pushed the coat back. "Keep it to yourself! Let's just hurry and find a place to eat already." Saying that, she marched forward without looking back.
Beta laughed and quickly caught up, once again wearing her coat. "My. I did not realize that you were so reserved, Asako-chan."
"Shut it, Betsy."
Beta smiled. "Well, if you are so eager to eat..." She looked around and then pointed to an udon store off to the side. "How about there?"
"Hm?" Asako blinked and then read the sign. "Maji Toraki Udon?"
The name was written out in English letters, but the Japanese characters over the letters read 'Really Tiger Breath Udon'.
Asako frowned. "You think a place like that'll be any good?"
"I am certain it will be a pleasant surprise. Now." Beta took Asako's hand and said, "Let us be off."
"O-Oi! I told ya to stop pulling me along like that!"
"Your dialect is slipping again. And I will stop when you stop being cute."
"T-T-The hell are you saying?!"
Beta smiled and tapped Asako's nose. "Got you." The moment she did that, she let go and started dashing off ahead.
Asako blinked, shocked at the sudden turn of events. But then she cursed and ran after Beta. "Dammit! Betty! I told you to stop harassing me!"
-----AI|IA-----
Rin waved at the wall monitor and smiled. "Sorry everyone! Alfi was helping me out with some technical difficulties... Thanks for waiting!"
From her place at the stream control center, Alpha let out a sigh of relief. "Finally got it working..."
Rin glanced back and gave Alpha a thumbs up.
Alpha gave one back and then turned her attention to the monitor. "It's a good thing I asked Betty to show me how all of this worked the other day..."
The chat flowed by on one side of the screen and there was a panel open to moderate it. A portion of the screen displayed a bunch of numbers that Alpha didn't understand, but it seemed to be just data about the stream status. The numbers were green though, so it was... probably fine?
Most importantly though was the set list at the bottom part of the screen. Fortunately, it was the same as the one in her room, so she knew how to use it.
"Okay!" Rin smiled and said, "Now, for the first song today... I'll sing *A Thousand Words* It's from an old game, but I think it's pretty!" She glanced back. "Ready. Alfi?"
"One second... There!"
[Play A Thousand Words, FFX-2]
Rin nodded and then turned back forward, closing her eyes to get ready to sing.
After hearing the instrumental start, Alpha sighed and then huffed. "Those two... they could have at least told me they'd be busy today..."
Alpha shook her head and then went back to carefully monitoring the stream... and desperately praying that nothing broke.
-----AI|IA-----
Around 7 PM PST, California. A certain famous theme park with a mouse logo.
Tsuki ran ahead, pulling Omega along with her. "Come on, Meggie! Let's go through Galaxy Wars again!"
"H-Hmph. Such a trifling attraction could not-"
"I'll let you pilot the Millennium Raptor this time!"
"Really?" Omega's eyes widened and she quickly said, "You can't take back your word!"
"Promise!"
"Then what are waiting for! Let's go, go, go!" That time, Omega took the lead and started dashing off, pulling Tsuki behind her. But it seemed that Omega was conscious of the other girl, since Omega didn't run in a full sprint towards the attraction.
From a table nearby, shaded by a big mouse umbrella, Yue watched the two girls duck into the line for the Galaxy Wars Star Fighters attraction and let out a faint smile.
Kai walked over, carrying a tray of food, four wrapped burgers and boxes of fries, as well as a bag of soda bottles. His gaze followed Tsuki and Omega before he said, "Seems like the girls are having a good time."
Yue glanced back at Kai and nodded. "It would appear so. But I'm surprised. My daughter can be a bit... well, difficult to handle." She shifted her gaze back towards her daughter before saying, "I'm glad that she found a proper friend."
Kai sat down across from Yue and placed down the food. "I'm glad too. It's been hard for Tsuki to make some friends that she can play with." He paused. "Well, I suppose there's Rin, but she's a bit too old to play with Tsuki like Meggie."
"Mm." Yue gave a noncommittal response and then glanced towards the food. "That... may I?"
"Of course." Kai waved his hand and said, "Help yourself."
Yue nodded and then grabbed one of the burgers and a bottle of orange soda. After carefully unwrapping the burger, she glanced at it and said, "So this is the food of my husband's homeland..."
Kai glanced at her and frowned. "Did John never take you out to eat burgers?"
"No. My dear husband has served me this fare before. However, he mentioned that there was a certain flavor he couldn't replicate, and I'm fairly curious on what that may be."
What was it again? Something about trash food...? No, junk food. Yes, it was that he couldn't replicate junk food because his cooking skills were too high...
Yue took a bite... and then instantly grimaced, placing the rest of the burger to the side. She didn't spit out the bite, considering that it'd be rude. But still, she felt an instant repulsion towards the taste and had to force it down. "Urgh..." She took a napkin from the tray and wiped her mouth. "Disgusting."
Kai laughed and said, "That's American food for you."
Yue opened the bottle of soda and took a sip from that next. When she did, she winced and quickly closed that as well. "Such acrid taste and sweetness..."
Kai frowned and said, "Should I get something else?"
Yue wiped her mouth again and shook her head. "No. I suppose I can simply wait until afterwards to have a proper meal. More importantly..." She tilted her head and said, "You were telling me more about my dear husband's recent affairs?"
"John, huh?" Kai mumbled and then grabbed a soda from the bag. Mount Dew. Cracking it open, he took a swig and said, "Well. To start off with, I met your dear husband when-"
A soft pitter patter.
"Hm?" Kai paused and then looked off to the side. "Rain?"
Yue frowned. "...Were the skies not just clear?"
"They were. Huh." Kai shook his head. "Guess California's weather really is volatile. Must be all of that pollution."
The soft patter of rain slowly grew in frequency and intensity, turning into a steady shower.
Seeing that, Kai glanced at the line where Tsuki and Omega were standing. "...Maybe we should head get the kids and head back for the day. It'd be bad for them to catch a cold, and I've heard that this place is infamous for spreading germs."
Yue paused and stared at the sky.
Stormy gray clouds with the occasional flash of lightning.
Yue subconsciously brushed her abdomen and said, "...Yes. I believe that may be for the best."
How can't John find Yue? I mean his Divine Sense can cover the entire planet.
Also, Kai NTRing Yue. Yup, I predicted it.
If that happens I'm giving up on all faith in both love and humanity
Yes, it really doesn't make sense. Even if John is so talentless that he is not capable of scanning the entire planet with his own powers, what prevents him from tracking his wife's location via internet connection. Sometimes it seems to me that our hero has a too low level of intelligence for transcendental being.
No! No ntr in this novel! Bad thoughts!
John can't find Yue because reasons. Seems like I didn't put down enough hints as to why though. Thought I might have done enough to guess, but it looks like it was too subtle. :noted:
I'll say it has to do with Yue's pregnancy and the fact that John helped Yue cheat to become an immortal though.
@Equinox 100% John Alter would be bad too
@razendan Hm... :noted: Looks like this is one of those times where the author knows too much and thought he put down enough of a trail for the reader to follow along, as well as implied knowledge. I'll need to remember to be more careful of this in the future and put down more hints and double check the earlier chapters to make sure it wasn't something I just thought about and forgot to lay out. :noted: Thanks for reading and the feedback!
He did scan the whole planet with his powers. The thing is that he didn't pick anything or anyone up other than those already there. And the first thing he did was try tracking the internet connection, but it led to a dead end because it was from one of Kai's burner phones.
I will admit that John definitely isn't the smartest among transcendental beings though... Then again, he is one that's stubbornly trying to act like a mortal despite his nature, so that tends to happen a lot.
From what I could gather and remember, it had something to do with Yue being better than John at it as well as something blocking his search, which with the recent hint must have something to do with...
Anyway, I do believe part of those was explained in response to a comment, which might be why there's confusion. Looking at it again though, I'm more upset with Kai now. He knows John didn't really do anything to the girls around him other than help, something he knows he has also been on the receiving end of. After calling him a 'miracle worker', saving his childhood sweetheart and her daughter, solving the yakuza problem, and even helping him be a better father for Tsuki with the gift, he still lets this escalate so much for his 'friend'. I get him seeing John's wife alone must have triggered something for him with how he missed Tsuki's mother, but shouldn't he, as a 'friend', help him avoid making the same mistakes instead? Even after all he's done, it feels like Kai doesn't have much trust on John.
At least he's trying to help John's family, but I wish he'd put some more effort in..
Sorry for the rant, I'm really invested in the story!
@HappyVainGlory It's a really terrible irony that John can detect Yue when she's in another plane of existence, but not when she's a step away.
@liera Kai is a bad friend. Decent guy, but remember that the only real 'friend' the guy's had is John, so he doesn't have much of a framework to go by. And like John, the guy has his bottom line too. Even if John's done all of that, he can't help projecting from how he apparently ditched his family behind and never mentioned them. Not only that, but he brought along his other daughters who obviously had to come from at least one different mother since they look so different from Yue. That implies that he loves those two more and consider them real family while he just toyed around with Yue and left her behind along with that young daughter.
And all of this is good to say, but I really should have a chapter with his thoughts on this all, huh? :noted: Gotta remember to squeeze at least a scene in about his thoughts on this all sometime soon...
@BoostedKnees Nice catch!
@HappyVainGlory So it really did come back to trust, if he relied on his assumptions rather than just straight up asking John who is one call away...
But yeah, seeing his thoughts would be nice! I like Kai, and like how I mentioned in a comment before, while I wish things were done differently, these actions really help bring out their character and make them seem all the more human. But it still won't stop me from being upset at him!
Hate that I love him? Or love that I hate him??
Everybody disliked that....
@MasterHiatus
@HappyVainGlory from what I can tell, John overly cleared karma connections and with a muddled Aura from the pregnancy as well as local suppression of immortal power at play.... with possible side effects from literal weather manipulation by fetal smith..... well, the Dao of the current Universe is against him.....
@Dreslief :applause:
@HappyVainGlory does alphy and betty look like john? We all know they are beautiful girls but it was never really mentioned if the girls really look like him...but since john was their creator I've been thinking both look like him but with different hair color and eyes so I wanted to confirm...also does meggie look like yue? The hair is like a mixed with yue's green hair with john's gold hair at the end...
Will there be a time where betty and mostly alphy dye their hair similar to their parents? Daddy's girl alphy would probably want it gold similar to her papa...dyeing hair would just grow and go back to their normal color, so maybe ask john to change it by magic since he is the creator and let people think that that is the real hair color and the current on was actually dyed?
Although that is only an If...I feel kinda bad for john since people think he had different women bear he's children even though its clear as day that he's madly in love with yue...
Thanks for the chappie!
@Hoouuujae_60 I think you can see their illustrations in the glossary :D
@Hoouuujae_60 But in my opinion only Omega looks like the child of both Yue and John
@Equinox no that's not what I meant...like I already know what they look like from the digital art but what I meant if the girls look like john in rl, look or should I say the facial features not just in terms of hair and eye color like how childrens resemble their parents or atleast from the author's imagination
Sorry for not being clear...
@Equinox me too while reading this novel...I've been imagining alphy and betty lookng like john but with different hair and eye while meggie being a mini yue with gold at the tips of her hair
@Hoouuujae_60 Oh, thanks for bringing that up! I should make a note somewhere that the art is concept art. In-universe, they clearly do look like John. While their hair color and eyes seem to come from their 'mother' and by themselves they're beautiful young women, if John was standing with them you could see a clear resemblance.
It's another of those things I have in my head and thought was implied well enough but might not have been. I'll remember to address this in story at some point... probably at the reunion of the Smith family. :noted:
I also need to remember to get proper art for the Smith family at some point too... Need to save up for that.
Alpha shares John's smile and her eyes light up the same way his do when he's happy, but her features are more Oriental and she looks like a 'half' like Tsuki's supposed to.
Beta has similar features to John overall, but they're a bit sharper. Think a bit more Western supermodel-esque... whatever that means this day. Her eyes also have the same shape as John's.
Meggie looks a lot more like Yue than John. There's a faint resemblance, enough you could tell that she's his daughter too, but she inherited much more of her looks from Yue. Though when she gets upset, her eyes narrow and she gets the same sort of dangerous air that John does.
They could dye their hair similar to their parents, but I think both Alphy and Betty appreciate the fact that John gave them those features for a reason and wouldn't change them. Well, Alphy might after the baby is born and all. That'll be a fun scene of Rin and everyone thinking she's gone delinquent... :noted:
Yeah, that is kind of bad. Especially since his history seems to imply that... and people are going to get even more confused when some of the other women from John's life walk back in who share some hair colors with his oldest two daughters. I'll remember to make it not as dramatic as this time though. :noted:
Thanks for reading and your thoughts!
@Equinox I need to remember a clear note that all of those pictures are mostly concept art... I could have sworn I did, but it must have been in an author's note and not the glossary itself...
John's daughters are supposed to look a lot like him, with Omega looking a bit more like Yue than John. Let me make a note of this again to address it and also to remember to eventually commission proper art to make that clear. :noted:
@HappyVainGlory equinox probably can recognize the faces like how I think of how handsome my husbandos are even if it's just a drawing lol
@HappyVainGlory also will john ever make it clear that he only has yue and yue basically treats alphy and betty as her own child even though the only creator is john while both john and yue created meggie, so will they make it clear that yue is the biological mother of not only meggie both also the other two and that john didn't have a child with other women to people? And maybe make people think that they're just wearing colored contacts and dyed their hair?
@Hoouuujae_60 The first part is definitely going to be cleared up when the crew gets together for a clearing of all misunderstandings.
The second part... Well, if that's true, then Yue would have apparently had to conceive Alphy and Betty when she was twelve or thirteen according to their ages. I... don't think that'd be a good idea for anyone involved.
Thanks for bringing the point up though. I'll remember to address it in more detail later on when the inevitable media slander starts to come in. :noted:
@HappyVainGlory now that you said that, that's true...though now that I think about it, it reminded me rin's father is really a jerk...how could he forcefully do that to a 10-13(?) Year old sakura..?!
@Hoouuujae_60 Well. If you know anything about wuxia novels and cultivators, you'd know that morals tend to be at rock bottom when it comes to trying things to get stronger.
It's Kai. No way in hell he'd even attempt, nor would it even work on Yue