Early the next morning, John showed up to pick up the girls from Protest and check them out of the hotel. A quick trip to LAX later and having Claud and Seth walk both Erie and Hope through the gates, an emotional moment with Hope, Erie, and Juliet having a teary farewell... After that, John took Juliet on a private flight to South Dakota.
With all that done, John 'rented' a pink Ferrari and started the hour roadtrip to the National Music Museum that had the Stradivarius Guitar.
Juliet sat in the backseat of the Ferrari and gazed out at the passing scenery. "Wow. It really is just farmland over here, huh?"
"Yep." John nodded. "Never been out of the cities, huh?"
Juliet shook her head and said, "I've been to the more rural parts of New York, but it's nothing like this." She stared at the passing farmland with her olive-green eyes and said, "It's all wheat for miles."
"Probably some soybeans too. And corn, of course. That's the midwest staples if I remember right."
It had been a while since John took roadtrips, so he didn't know for sure. But it was probably something like that.
Juliet shifted her gaze back to John and said, "Are you sure it's fine for you to be here, Johnny?"
"...It's going to take a while for me to get used to that name... But yeah. Why?" John glanced in the rearview mirror back at Juliet and said, "Worried for me?"
"Well, yeah. You said your wife was possessive... is she fine?"
John laughed. "It's fine. She's been a bit stressed from work, so she's taken her entire year's worth of PTO to just babysit our infant daughter."
Juliet blinked. "...Huh. What happened?"
John sighed. "Rich idiots trying to run up red tape because of an incident at school involving my second youngest daughter and the daughter of the music teacher there. Honestly, I had to convince my wife to not run hits on them all."
Juliet nodded. "I getcha. Gramps used to talk about that too. Sometimes, you gotta teach those idiots a personal lesson."
John chuckled. "You get me. ...Though I'm mildly concerned at how you don't care about that."
Juliet shrugged. "I like being optimistic, but I'm not naive. It's all the same at that level of money. It's cheaper sometimes to pay for a funeral and stuff than dealing with the bullshit lawsuits."
John was quiet. Then he said, "...Huh. I guess it has to be a staple that every Project MirAIs generation has a girl from that side of things too, huh?"
Juliet blinked. "Wait, what? You're telling me that there's at least one senpai in each generation that-" She paused. "Oooh, right. The handbook."
"Handbook? Oh, did Erie show you guys the book that LoreOwl made?"
"Yeah! It was awesome. But also concerning." Juliet stared at John and said, "...Just how much of it is true?"
"More than you know, less than you think. And if anyone ever probes into it, then it's just an ARG."
"...Right." Juliet nodded. "I'll just say it's a fancy lorebook then."
"That's probably the best way to think about it."
Juliet looked amused and said, "So... Are you really a time traveler? An isekai returnee, like Erie says? Or are you just a modern day Bruce Vayne, Johnny?"
"Bruce Vayne? Oh right. Forget that's what he's called..."
John would probably never get used to the random copyright friendly names of everything. It really was that meme of the timetraveler moving a chair and everything changed...
"...But no. I'm just me. These days, I'm either a stay at home dad, Hana's manager, or flying around the world working on making Project MirAIs bigger." He paused and said, "Which reminds me that the Project MirAIs Tokyo Takeover is soon."
Juliet's eyes widened and she leaned forward, an excited smile on her face. "Oh my god, are you going to buy ad space all over Shibuya and stuff? For all the girls?"
"That's the plan." John nodded and said, "Considering that Hana's stream the other day hit a million concurrent viewers... which is crazy to think about. But since that's the case, we might as well try to make it mainstream, right?"
Juliet was practically vibrating in her seat as she said, "Oh my god, that means that at this rate- Wait." She gasped and said, "THE 2028 OLYMPICS ARE IN LOS ANGELES!"
"Yep~" John chuckled. "So if we make Project MirAIs big enough, we can start hitting that too. And since Rin is DEFINITELY going to compete, it'll be up to you girls in Protest to set the stage to welcome her and Hana in a few years."
Juliet froze, the implications hitting her all at once. And then she let out a happy scream and said, "WE GET TO DO THE OPENING ACT FOR RIIIIIN?!?!?!?!!"
John laughed. "Careful now. You'll make yourself deaf."
"Sorry! But oh my GOD!" Juliet looked like she wanted to jump out of the car and start practicing already, but she restrained herself. Instead, she said, "...I'm going to need SO much practice- Wait." She froze and said, "DOES THAT MEAN WE GET TO COLLAB WITH REAL CELEBRITIES TOO?! LIKE TAYLOR SWEET?"
"Taylor Sweet?" John blinked and realized that it was probably this world's Taylor Swift. Then he nodded and said, "I mean, probably? I know that Hope caught M+N's attention and that his daughters watch Hana too, so-"
"HALEY, LANEY, AND STEPHANY ARE OHANA?!" Juliet jumped up and down in her seat and said, "THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!"
John burst out laughing and said, "Wow. Okay, I can see why Hana's your oshi. You two definitely have similar vibes."
"That's because Hana is the best little sister anyone could ever have and I will DIE on that hill!"
John chuckled. "You say that, but you haven't met Meggie yet." He hummed. "I think you two would probably get along. Though, more like fire and gasoline than two peas in a pod..."
His second youngest daughter had definitely leaned into the rebellious young socialite role... aka villianess.
Juliet... well, she was practically a modern day Juliet, so she could understand Meggie a lot.
Probably.
John wasn't 100% sure... but he did have the vibe that they would definitely geek out together over something they find in common-
Wait.
John looked at Juliet through the rearview mirror and said, "Hey, Juliet."
"Yeah, Johnny? Do you have even more worldbreaking news to drop on me?"
"I mean, maybe? Do you collect Poke- I mean, CapsuMon cards or anything like that?"
Juliet gasped. "DO I COLLECT CAPSUMON CARDS?! OF COURSE I COLLECT CAPSUMON CARDS-" She paused, suddenly realizing that she had been shouting for a while. Then she cleared her throat and said, "I-I mean, yes, Johnny. I collect CapsuMon cards."
John laughed and said, "You don't have to hold back around me. Besides, you've been through rough times. It's fine to be outlandishly happy."
"Then... YES!" Juliet leaned forward in the seat and said, "I have SO many first editions hidden away! Mom and Dad tried convincing me to sell them, but I bought a secret storage container and a plot of land in country-side New York to stash them all! There's an entire steel vault that's air-tight and temperature controlled!"
John paused. "...Weren't you having money issues? You could have just sold a card, couldn't you?"
Juliet gasped. "JOHNNY! How could I sell a piece of my soul like that?! I would rather die!"
"...You know what? Fair."
John could understand the mentality. He was definitely like that in his younger years before the Three Realms. The thought of selling his consoles back then to pay rent would be unthinkable...
'Huh. Is this what they mean about getting older?'
It was kind of blasphemous to say as a former diehard otaku, but he didn't really care about collectibles anymore...
'Although, I guess the fact that I used to care explains why the girls love collecting things.'
Alphy had gotten into the habit of collecting mecha figurines and painting them.
Betty was into fashion and had a closet and wardrobe that was so costly it could probably fund the GDP of a small country.
And Meggie... well, she was a diehard gamer and trading card fan.
...John was sliiightly concerned about what Rory might be into when she got older, but that was a problem for the future, not now.
Juliet paused and said, "Wait. If I move to Japan, can I bring my things with me, Johnny?"
"Oh, don't worry about that. I'll personally move it over for you, no problem. And we can even buy a house to install it in the basement or something."
"You GET me, Johnny." Juliet leaned back in her chair and sighed. "...Best big brother figure ever."
John looked amused and said, "Big brother figure, not dad?"
Juliet blinked. "You're too young to be a dad figure- Wait." She paused. "How old ARE you, Johnny?"
"Hm? Ah. Officially..." John wracked his brain, trying to remember what his legal age was. "...I think fifty?"
Alphy was legally in her twenties, if he remembered right, and he basically just doubled her age and rounded up...
"FIFTY?!" Juliet gasped and said, "How old is Miss Yue then?!"
"Forty something?"
"FORTY?!" Juliet leaned forward in her chair and said, "What's her skincare routine?! That's crazy!"
John thought about what Yue would say about that. Mostly the fact that she enjoyed a lot of intimacy...
And then John decided to NOT open up that can of worms and said, "...Good genetics?"
Juliet leaned back and groaned. "Of course..."
John laughed and said, "You don't have to worry about it, Juliet. You're Italian, aren't you? I'm sure you'll age fine."
Juliet sighed. "That's true... I AM Sicilian..." She stared out the window of the car again and said, "...By the way, how much do we have left to go, Johnny?"
"An hour. It's just a straight shot there."
"...A straight shot of just highway and farmland?"
"Mmhm. You should take some pictures for Erie. This is the sort of place horror movies are filmed in, you know?"
"...You're absolutely right." Juliet pulled out her phone and said, "I'm going to brag to her a bit. She might get to go to Japan first, but I get to see her favorite things~"
"Oh yeah, I think there's even an old Freddy's there too. We can check it out after we get your guitar."
Juliet laughed. "Erie is going to be soooo jealous~"