Saturday morning.
Juliet didn't return to the apartment last night since she was apparently having a sleepover with Rin and absolutely having the fangirl experience of her life.
But because of that, Hope and Erie were free to do brainstorm all through the night about all the ways Erie could turn Freddy's back into a major brand... or to rebrand it herself and just keep the infrastructure and assets.
Erie eventually decided to split it down the middle with keeping half of the franchises up and running again as the classic Freddy's experience, but to turn the other half into a new franchise called Nikopia, featuring of course Niko Manser and Meryl Kodomo merch and events.
But before any of that, Erie needed to do research on how to run things. Especially since she planned to do spooky funhouse experiences.
And since that was the case, when morning rolled around...
===
"...And that's why we need you to reserve a few abandoned hospitals and jails for us, Mister John!" Hope finished the explanation with a bright smile.
John's office in Myth Inc. HQ.
After having entirely too much caffeine, sugar, and adrenaline in their systems, as well as hopes and dreams of the greatest spooky fun times ever, Hope and Erie had immediately rushed to John to get the funding and permission for field research.
As for John's reaction...
He took one look at Hope, her hair a light pink from the fading crimson hair dye and her clothes splattered with said hair dye that was still sitting around in her shower.
Then John took a look at Erie, who was absolutely in zombie mode and very reminiscent of Meryl's corpse on stream with her pale face and sunken eyes dressed in a black gown.
After that, he laughed and said, "You two really went at it on the brainstorming last night, huh?"
Hope rapidly nodded and said, "Yes! We got sooo many merch ideas! And rides! And games! Oh, and then we're thinking to start an ARG with QR codes and geocaches and-"
"Okay, okay." John chuckled. "No need to tell me everything. I'm kind of curious what you guys will come up with too. It's been a while since I've gone to a proper funhouse. And Little Xuan and Little Wu have been asking me about taking them out somewhere fun."
Hope gasped. "So we get to explore a haunted hospital?!"
John hummed. "I'll call around... but if you want to do that, I think Rin's the expert."
Hearing that finally snapped Erie out of her zombie mode, sparking a bit of energy in her. "Wait. Rin-senpai knows about haunted places like that?"
John sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Yeah... Your senpai has weird habits. Since she's training for the Olympics, she usually takes long runs and ends up in abandoned places. Then since she's bored, she runs around inside and dares people to fight her."
Erie slowly blinked. "...What?"
Hope gasped. "Isn't that dangerous?!"
John laughed. Genuinely, sincerely, and with a full belly. Wiping a tear out of his blue eyes, he said, "Rin? In danger? Of what? She IS the danger. Maybe I would have thought differently when I first met her... But puberty is hitting her hard, and she has genuine superhuman level genetics. Like, fight a grizzly bear unarmed and win levels of genetics."
Erie slowly blinked again. "...Oh my god. You mean that Juliet's text late last night of her freaking out about how Rin has a literal stuffed bear head in her room wasn't a hallucination?"
"Oh, did she turn it back into a stuffed head? I thought she turned the bear into a onesie. Maybe she got bored and hunted another one... I wouldn't put it past her." John chuckled. "Rin has been getting into survival stuff recently, especially since she's gotten Hana along as a travel buddy."
"Wait!" Hope giggled. "Are you saying that when Rin's not at school... she and Hana are just... out there in Japan? In the wild?"
"When she's not streaming, yeah." John nodded. "It's kind of funny. I was worried at first, but literally no one believes Hana is really Hana. Or that Rin is Hana. The Ohana took the bit and ran with it, so there's always some people roleplaying either of them in public."
Erie facepalmed. "Of course Rin-senpai would just... break the fourth wall like it didn't exist."
"Yep." John nodded. "Chi-chan wants to do it too, but she's learning the hard way that controlling an IDOL body at the same time as your regular body is ridiculously difficult to do."
Hope paused. "How DOES Rin-senpai control Hana, Mister John?"
"She doesn't. Hana is Rin's split personality. She used to be in Rin's head, but after she synced with the IDOL body, Hana just possessed it."
Erie froze. Then she slammed her hands on John's desk and said, "ARE YOU TELLING ME HANA IS A LITERAL GHOST IN THE MACHINE?!"
John chuckled. "Mmhm. It surprised me too. I mean, the signs were there when I first met Rin since she seemed to be talking to Hana. But I thought that was like just a trauma response... turns out it was more in-depth than I thought. We had a long counseling session together to fight her inner demons and she sorted it out, but it was pretty spooky for a while. And also why Rin isn't allowed access to knives unsupervised."
Hope covered her mouth, her eyes wide. "...You mean the rumors about Rin-senpai are true?!"
"You'll have to ask Rin about that... but anyway." John looked at both Hope and Erie and said, "If you want to explore abandoned hospitals and haunted locations, take Rin and Hana with you. Trust me, if there really are ghosts there, they'll go running. At least, if they're smart. If they AREN'T smart, Hana will murder them."
Erie stared at John.
John stared back with a straight face.
Erie slowly said, "I can't tell if this is a bit, if you're serious, or if you're trolling me. And I'm not sure I've decided on which option is the worst."
"You'll have to find out for yourself~" John chuckled. "But seriously." He smiled and said, "You don't need to come to me for permission like this. You're all adults, you know? I'm here as a resource, not as a checklist. Although I would worry a bit less if you inform me ahead of time for anything dangerous or that could blow up on social media, you don't have to. It's your life and career to do with what you want."
Hope's eyes softened and she said, "...You're amazing, Mister John."
Erie let out a soft smile and said, "Yeah. I really appreciate hearing that, you know?"
"Oh, I know. I've seen the crowds lynch your ex-CEO at Variant Hue. Did you know he's unironically in prison now? Apparently, he was involved in those files that came out."
Erie slammed her hands on the table again, a vicious smile on her face. "I KNEW IT! I KNEW THAT GUY WAS A CREEP!"
"Yeah... But it's all settled. Thankfully, none of the girls at Variant Hue were ever involved with the island, but the CEO himself was a frequent visitor. So... life sentence prison in America while they're grilling him for intel. At least, that's what I heard through the grapevine."
Erie gave John a blank stare. "...Mister John. Phrasing..."
"I know what I said and I stand by it."
Hope gasped when she got what Erie was pointing out. "Mister John! No!"
John shrugged. "Anyway... was that all? I was just finishing up the paperwork to move Juliet's vaults over here to Japan."
Erie's eyes sparkled.
Hope noticed and quickly grabbed Erie's arm. "Eriiie. No! You promised!"
John frowned. "Promised what?"
Erie grinned. "Mister John~ Did you know?"
"Eriiiiie!"
Erie giggled and pointed at Hope. "Hope has a certain 1 of 1 Magik the Gathering card."
Hope averted her gaze.
John gave Erie a blank stare. Then he slowly turned to look at Hope. "...Hope. Sweetheart..."
Hope's ears turned red and she said, "...Yes?"
"...You were living in a literal crack den. Alone. And almost got stabbed. And this entire time you had a card worth ten million dollars?"
"THE ONE RING IS MINE AND WILL FOREVER BE MIIIIINE!"
Erie laughed. "It's funny, isn't it? Lore accurate, right?"
John sighed. "...It truly is the One Ring. Bewitches the owner even at their own expense..."
Hope turned a bright red and murmured, "...It looks cool."
John chuckled. "Well, let me know if you want me to secure it. I can have it plated in real gold and put a tracker on it, so-"
"YOU CAN?!" Hope immediately jumped over the table and hugged John. "I'LL LOVE YOU FOREVER! YOU'RE THE BEST DAD!"
John blinked. "...Dad?"
Hope blushed and quickly scrambled back. "I-I mean...!"
John laughed. "No, no. It's fine. I'll take being called Dad. It'll make Yue laugh." He smiled and said, "It means I've finally graduated from 'desirable lover' to 'overprotective father figure.'"
Erie gave John a serious look and then said, "...Huh. You know, I guess you do give off those vibes. I didn't think about it, but that's true..."
Hope fidgeted, tugging at her sleeve. She looked up at John through her bangs and said, "...Then I can call you Dad, Mister John?"
"Sure." John smiled. "I'll even walk you down the aisle when you get married if you want."
Hope's breath hitched and she let out a teary but bright smile. "You promised! No takebacks!"
Erie let out a soft smile. "Man. You're really spoiling us here, Mister John..."
"Well, I AM your CEO. I'm responsible for taking the flak when things go wrong, giving you money, cleaning up your troubles... that's basically your dad anyway, right?"
Erie laughed, but her emerald eyes were soft. "...Yeah. Thanks. Not calling you Dad though."
"Don't stress about it. Anyway, is that it?"
Hope wiped her tears away and nodded. "Yeah! Thanks, Dad!"
Erie rolled her eyes. "You were just *waiting* for the excuse to call Mister John that, huh?"
Hope started walking out of the office and blushed. "N-No I wasn't! It's not like Mister John made me feel safe like a Dad would or anything...!"
"The lady doth protest too much..."
"Eriiie!"