Because Hope was completely tuckered out and at a social battery level of zero, Erie and Juliet left the apartment to give Hope time to recover.
And since it was still earlyish on Friday afternoon, Erie dragged Juliet with her to go explore Akihabara together.
For the trip, Erie decided to actually dress up a bit and wore a black lacy lolita outfit. Then, to troll people a bit, she put on the golden contacts she let Hope use last time, making her look almost completely like Niko.
Juliet, on the other hand, went out wearing her usual comfy pink hoodie and jeans.
Erie thought that she'd be able to stand out and have some fun conversations as someone cosplaying Niko.
But, the moment that they left the train and started walking into Akihabara...
"What the hell?!" Erie pointed into the crowd and said, "JULIE! They're more me than me!"
Juliet laughed. "I guess Niko's pretty popular, huh?"
Erie had just debuted a few days ago. Literally two.
But there were already cosplayers walking around in full Niko Manser cosplay. Some of them were even dragging around a plushed Meryl Kodomo... and others were dragging people cosplaying Meryl.
Erie couldn't help but respect it. Still... "Ugh. I thought I'd be standing out, but this just makes me blend in..."
Juliet shrugged and said, "It's probably safer this way, right?"
"I guess..." Erie grumbled. "Whatever. Let's go play at some arcades or something. I saw a UTuber do a bunch of claw machines and I wanna one up him."
Juliet walked beside Erie and said, "Which one? Sea Dog?"
"You watch Sea Dog VA?!" Erie gasped. "Wait, no... WERE YOU ONE OF HIS OG FANS?!"
Juliet blushed. "D-Definitely not. I absolute did not have a thing for him in his Black Butler days..."
"OH MY GOD WERE YOU A CALL IN?!" Erie pulled out her phone and started scrolling. "If I open one of his old videos, I bet I'll hear your voice..."
"H-Hey!" Juliet reached for Erie's phone. "Th-There's no need to do that!"
Erie stuck her tongue out and kept scrolling. "Denied~ This is deep lore! I've gotta make sure!"
"Eriiiie!"
Erie laughed and dashed around a bit before she accidentally bumped into a woman. "W-Whoa!" She felt her face burn with embarrassment and immediately bowed her head. "S-Sorry! I mean, sumimasen-"
"Oh? You're my Sweetie's new kouhai, right?"
Erie blinked and looked up. When she did, she saw that the woman had light brown hair, a slightly teasing smile, an orange blouse and blue jeans...
And overall, like a mature version of Rin.
Wait.
Juliet caught up and said, "Sorry for my friend- OH MY GOD ARE YOU HANA- MMPH!?"
Erie quickly covered Juliet's mouth before she could slip into fangirl mode. "Sorry about her."
Sakura laughed and said, "It's fine. I'm just happy my Sweetie has such an energetic fan as a kouhai."
Juliet quickly nodded her head, practically vibrating with excitement. She was even patting her pockets, as if looking for a pen to get an autograph.
Seeing that, Erie rolled her eyes and said, "Julie, chill. She's just Rin's mom."
Juliet finally squirmed free and said, "She's not just Rin-senpai's mom! She's a really good light novel author too! She wrote The Househusband's Way at Home! The one about the yakuza dad!"
Erie paused. Then she gasped. "OH MY GOD THAT'S YOU?!"
Sakura chuckled. "Well." Her light brown eyes sparkled and she said, "I didn't expect to run into fans... I was just about to get lunch with a friend. Do you want to join us?"
Erie quickly nodded. "YES!"
Juliet nodded too and said, "DEFINITELY!"
"Alright, alright." Sakura smiled. "Follow me then."
===
Sakura led them to a fancy yakiniku restaurant that grilled wagyu beef. As they entered, she said, "I'm just out to relax today, so don't feel pressure about anything."
Erie fidgeted with her dress, feeling out of place when she saw all the normal attire that other customers wore. "Is it fine for me to be dressed like this...?"
Sakura snorted and said, "I'm paying enough to where it doesn't matter. If anyone asks questions, we can just throw money at them. Or call John."
Juliet gasped. "You have Johnny on speed dial?!"
"Of course I do." Sakura looked amused. "You'll see why in a bit."
After they rounded the corner and to the booth that Sakura had reserved...
"Hm? I didn't think you would bring friends, Sakura."
Erie froze when she saw the woman sitting at the booth.
She was petite. That was the first impression that Erie had.
But even though the woman was petite, she gave off the air that she owned the world. Like she could walk anywhere and have her way.
And the reason for that was how just otherworldly beautiful she was.
Delicate skin that looked like polished marble. Shimmering emerald eyes that seemed to almost glow. Long green hair that HAD to be dyed. Except, her eyelashes were green too, along with her eyebrows, so it had to be natural.
Wearing a black kimono with golden lotuses, as well as the edge of a golden dragon tattoo peeking over her left shoulder, she looked every bit a powerful criminal underworld mob boss.
But all that Erie could think was...
"Oh my god you're SO hot."
Yue paused. Then she laughed, looking amused. "Well. This is a first." She poured a cup of tea from the nearby tea kettle and said, "Usually it's my dear husband getting affection from young women. Should I be flattered or offended, I wonder?"
Juliet coughed and whispered to Erie. "Erie! That's Miss Yue!"
Erie froze.
Yue smirked and gave a small wave. "Hello there. I've met Miss Juliet, but I don't believe I have properly met you yet. Erie, yes? A pleasure."
Sakura laughed and sat down. "You're scaring her, Yue."
"I'm aware. It's fairly amusing. This is a first for me." Yue smiled and idly traced her finger around the rim of her tea cup. "Is it my beautiful face? My alluring attire? Or is it the new tattoo that I acquired from my dearest husband showing the world just whose dragon I-"
Sakura cleared her throat.
Yue paused and her ears turned red. "A-Ahem. Carried away." She quickly sipped on her tea and murmured, "It has been a while since I have been social. Pardon."
Juliet guided Erie into the booth opposite of Yue and said, "Don't mind Erie. She gets gay panic sometimes."
Erie turned a deep red and said, "I-I do NOT get gay panic!"
"Girl, I've seen how you look at Hope."
"H-Hope's just pretty!"
"You have an album full of pictures of her."
"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT?!"
"I do now~"
"...Just kill me."
"You already tried that, remember? It didn't work."
"...Hanging out with you was a mistake."
Juliet stuck out her tongue. "You love the banter and you know it."
Erie rolled her eyes.
Sakura watched the two interact, amusement clear on her face. "It's pretty funny. You two banter just like sisters do."
Erie paused. "We do?"
Yue sipped on her tea and nodded. "Indeed. I believe that Betty acts similar around Meggie."
Juliet laughed. "You mean that both of Meggie's older sisters bully her whenever they get the chance?"
Yue hummed. "Well... you said it, not I."
Sakura flagged the waiter down and placed some orders for everyone. Then she looked at Erie and Juliet before saying, "Where's your third member? It's a group of three for the newest girls, right?"
Erie poured herself a cup of tea and said, "Hope's an introvert, so she's recharging at home by herself."
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "An introvert? She's like Elise then."
Yue nodded. "Tsuki's mother does prefer quiet time alone when she is not with her beloved."
Sakura hummed. "Actually. Now that I think about it, Kai's an introvert too. He always was drained when I dragged him around to places as a kid."
Erie raised an eyebrow. "Wait. You're saying that the manager of Prodigy... the group of extraverts if there ever were extraverts... he's an introvert?"
Sakura chuckled. "I guess that explains why he keeps procrastinating his manager duties."
Juliet stared at Yue.
Yue noticed and said, "Is something the matter?"
"No, but... If you're here, where's baby Rory?"
"Oh." Yue nodded. "Father is visiting. He insisted on babysitting both my baby daughter as well as Amadeus's baby daughter. ...I believe it's a mistake, but he insisted that he is more than fit to do so." She sipped on her tea. "We shall see in the morning."
Sakura raised an eyebrow. "I was wondering about that... Wait." She paused and said, "He's babysitting Christina too?"
"Yes."
"Oh, that poor old man."
Erie tilted her head. "Who's Christina?"
Yue set her tea cup down and said, "The daughter of Titor and Amadeus. Unlike my sweet and well-behaved daughter, little Christina is very much a tyrant. There are only three people in this world that calm her down. The first is Rin... and I believe that is because she terrifies Christina."
Sakura nodded. "My Sweetie does have a thing for cute babies and trying to take them home."
"Which is why neither I nor my dear husband allow her in the room alone with my baby daughter. But as for two, that would be my dear husband. Christina cherishes him for some strange reason."
Juliet hummed and poured herself a cup of tea too. "Johnny does have a way of calming people down."
"Oh, I'm well aware. Far, far, far too aware." Yue let out a long suffering sigh. "He's better these days. But even last November..."
Sakura chuckled. "That's right, huh? John was a bit different back then... I almost wondered if he'd have a thing with my Sweetie with how much she adored him."
Yue let out a sharp smile. "Yes. Quite fortunate that my dear husband has morals. And sense. Things would have been... quite different otherwise."
Erie felt the chill in the air and shivered. She leaned over to Juliet and whispered, "Okay, I can see the 'grind you up into sausages' vibe now."
Juliet whispered back. "Right?!"
Yue continued speaking and said, "And as for the third person that can calm Christina down... It's my dear daughter."
Erie blinked. "Wait. Rory calms Christina down?"
Yue nodded. "It's quite funny. When Christina throws a tantrum or cries, my dear daughter just smacks her."
"..."
"..."
Sakura sighed. "Yue. I don't think you should be letting Rory do that."
Yue shrugged. "Christina should fight back then."
"Christina is barely a few months old."
"So is my daughter. Your point?"
"..." Sakura shook her head, realizing it was a lost cause. Then she turned to Erie and Juliet. Smiling, Sakura said, "In any case, congratulations. Now." She shifted her gaze to Juliet, looking amused. "Just why exactly is my daughter your oshi?"
Juliet's eyes lit up.
Erie groaned. "Oh no..."
Yue raised an eyebrow.
Juliet took a deep breath and then immediately started a rant. "Did you know that Hana is the best younger sister you could ever want? She's sweet and upbeat, always bringing cheer to every stream. And she remembers everyone too! I first started watching her a few months after her debut and she remembered my old username. Then when I superchatted her saying that I changed my name, she was concerned and asked me why I did. Also, she plays a lot of my favorite games! Neighboring Malice was amazing, and she even called the guns she picked up after her viewers. She named the baretta after me, calling it Julie. It was super sweet, so I definitely kept watching. Ooh, and I have an entire album of clips where Hana called me by name or read my superchats. Also, I went to her meet and greet once..."