Chapter 311: 299 – Gifts and and an unexpected surprise

John carefully adjusted the last of the presents and then gave it a nod of approval. "That'll do."

It was probably a bit overkill, but this had to be special. Magical.

After all, it was the first Christmas for all of his girls. There'd be a lot more to come in the future, but he wanted to make sure this was right.

And what better way to ensure Christmas went right than to give presents?

John took a step back and then examined the display he just finished.

As usual these days, he had converted his entertainment room to suit the current need. Today, that meant making a perfect Christmas scene.

In the center of the room, a Christmas tree towered over everything else, seemingly extending up through the roof via some hologram tech that Titor set up.

It was real, of course. The glittering silver tinsel, dangling candycanes, shining baubles, and framed picture Christmas ornaments were all physical objects.

Especially the last ones. John spent a lot of time printing and framing those wholesome family pictures in Christmas ornaments.

Like the family breakfast picture tucked in a gingerbread frame. *That* one actually took a while. Mostly because John rushed the gingerbread and tried framing it while it was still warm.

Bad idea. Makes things super mushy all around.

Anyway, the Christmas tree was good. The presents...

First of all, a bunch of manga and figurines for Alphy. John boxed those up and had it all packaged in silver and red wrapping, tied with a black bow.

For Betty... John honestly didn't know what to get her at first, but then he remembered that she enjoyed sweets. That, and coffee.

So, for his mature, independent, and intelligent second daughter, John whipped up a giant batch of sweets and gathered a collection of various coffee beans, along with a sleek silver coffee pot. Her presents were also the most colorful of the bunch, wrapped in candy-themed paper.

After that, there was Meggie. John's third daughter who, in his opinion, was taking to life on Earth waaay too quickly. Especially with how she took to Otaku and gaming culture.

Though, John really wasn't one to talk considering his past...

But for her... Well, Meggie's favorite things these days were video games. And chief among those games were CapsuMon and Creature Hunter.

Now, a normal parent would probably just buy her the latest game or something. That, or get her some proper merch.

But John didn't do normal.

So for his cheeky third daughter, John went out of his way to create a shiny, perfect IV, living Pok- CapsuDex in the latest generation to hand off to Meggie.

All legitimate, of course.

Took about a year of stopped time huddled in his Heavenly Realm with five generations of Mintendo consoles, but Meggie would definitely appreciate it.

Probably.

If not, he still had those Mintendo consoles and the matching games for Meggie to try it for herself. And as a fallback, John made some cute and cozy CapsuMon trainer cosplay outfits for her to wear around.

Then there was the promised collection of CapsuMon plushies for Yue stacked up in a giant plastic container, various presents for his sisters... Minus Jenny because John didn't take her into consideration when making the presents.

Note to self: remember to make one before the gift opening happened.

Anyway, there was that, various toys for Xuan and Wu, more gifts for the staff, then all the Project MirAIs girls...

Taking all the presents together, it was almost enough to look like the Christmas tree was being swallowed by a mountain of giftwrapped boxes and ribbons.

"Someone looks proud of himself."

A familiar arrogant male voice called out from behind. Titor's.

John looked back and nodded. "Of course I'm proud. The kids are gonna have a blast with all the presents."

Titor eyed the pile of gifts and said, "That, or they're going to think you went overboard again."

"Says the guy who went off cosplaying Santa last night to drop off early presents."

Titor shrugged. "It was something to do, okay?"

"Sure. Let's go with that." John looked off to the side to check on Yue and Aurora.

At the moment, Yue was seated on a rocking chair in front of the fireplace they set up to mount all the Christmas stockings. Cradling Aurora against her chest, Yue slowly rocked back and forth and smiled at Aurora. A picture perfect scene of a new mother glowing with love and affection towards her baby.

John smiled at that and then glanced back at Titor. "Speaking of something to do... Where'd Amadeus head off to?"

John didn't see her around. And come to think of it, Yudi wasn't around either.

Titor waved his hand and said, "My waifu said she wanted to help set things up, so she went on a shopping trip with the old man to pick up some Christmas cakes."

John blinked and said, "You do realize that Christmas cake is eaten on Christmas *Eve* here in Japan and not Christmas *Day*, right?"

"Yes."

"...No wonder Amadeus complains about you so much." John frowned and said, "You're really playing up being my Alter Ego or Alter version, aren't you?"

"Just be thankful that you've got a troll like me instead of a world ending Demon Lord version of yourself." Titor paused and said, "Wait. Aren't you already a Demon Lord? Then an 'Alter' of you would be... the Hero?"

John bopped Titor on the head and said, "You've been reading too many light novels."

"Tch!" Titor rubbed his head and frowned. "I've gotta get inspiration from somewhere, don't I?"

"Yes. But there's a difference from being 'inspired' and trying to recreate fiction in reality." John paused and then gave Titor a level gaze. "...You're not designing a Holy Grail War, are you?"

"Pft!" Titor placed his hand on his chest and said, "Holy Grail War? Me? As if. One death game is more than enough for me."

John raised an eyebrow.

Titor let out a nervous laugh and said, "A-Anyway... Oh look! Guests!" He pointed over John's shoulder.

"Like I'd fall for-"

*Ding*

A soft chime. The sound of the elevator arriving in the distance.

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John paused.

Titor blinked. "Huh." He looked at his hands and said, "I was just bluffing, but... Can it be? Have I finally gained Protagonist Status?! Yes!" He pumped a fist in the air and pointed at John. "In your face! I'm getting all the screen time from now on!"

"...You need to sleep more." John sighed and decided to ignore Titor for now.

Best not to encourage him when he was like this.

Instead, John turned towards the elevator and started walking over to greet the new arrivals, which were...

"Mister John!" Rin ran out, raising up a colorful gift bag. "Merry Christmas! And congrats on the cute baby!"

John smiled and said, "Merry Christmas to you too, Rin. And you should be congratulating Yue. She did all the hard work."

"Right!" Rin's eyes scanned the room before locking onto Yue. To be exact, locking onto Aurora, who Yue was holding. And when Rin saw Aurora-

"OH MY GOD SHE'S ADORABLE!"

...She dropped her gift bag and broke off into a sprint towards Yue.

"O-Oi! Sis!" Asako sprinted out of the elevator and lunged at Rin, pinning her on the floor.

"Gah! Aneue! Let me go! I wanna hug her!"

"Stop! Bad! We went over this!"

John blinked and slowly looked over at the other guests, Sakura and Alphy.

Sakura let out a nervous laugh and walked out of the elevator. She picked up the bag that Rin dropped, holding it with her own, and stopped in front of John. "Sorry about that. Sweetie's a bit excited about seeing a baby for the first time." After saying that, she held out the gift bags to John.

John took them and tilted his head. "First time?"

"Mmhm." Sakura nodded and said, "Though..." She stared at Rin still trying to squirm away from Asako. "...I didn't think she'd be this excited. It looks like she might have inherited a few weird things from that man."

John glanced at Rin. And then he remembered the weird way Rin acted when she found out that Yue was pregnant. And also the weird and vague sense of dodging a bullet when he asked her not to steal the baby away.

"...Um." John looked at Sakura and said, "Has Rin ever brought home any cute animals in the past?"

Sakura blinked. "No. We couldn't afford to take care of any. Why?"

"...No reason."

At that time, Alphy walked over, holding a pair of bags in her hands. She watched Rin and Asako wrestling and then shook her head, giggling. After that, she looked up at John and said, "Good morning, Papa!"

John smiled. "Morning, Alphy. And Merry Christmas! I've got you lots of presents, so- Wait." He paused, suddenly realizing something was off.

"H-Huh?" Alphy stammered and said, "W-What is it, P-Papa?"

John frowned and carefully looked at his oldest daughter.

It wasn't with the way that Alphy looked. The comfy black hoodie and jeans was her usual go-to outfit.

The fact that they were Nikey's was a bit weird, but Alphy had money of her own now so she could spend it on what she wanted.

Anyway, it wasn't her clothes.

Instead...

"Alphy." John's frown deepened and he said, "Is there a reason why you-"

Alphy suddenly rushed forward and hugged John, burying her face into his chest. "I'm sorry I accidentally slept with Asako and we drank too much and we were having too much fun and then it was so nice and warm and then I thought that we should just keep talking and then I hugged her and she was so nice and-"

"...Didn't hug me."

John blinked, finishing his sentence before parsing what Alphy just said.

"E-Eh?" Alphy leaned back, confused. And then her eyes widened, realizing what she just did. "T-That... P-Papa..."

"Wait. Hold on." John blinked again and then said, "What was that about Asako?"

"I-I-I... Uuuuu..." Alphy collapsed on the ground and dropped her bags. After that, she covered her face with her hands and lowered her head.

John looked over at Sakura. "Care to explain?"

Sakura coughed. "W-Well..."

"YES!" Titor's voice boomed in the distance. "The Aruko ship set sail!"

Ship?

Set sail?

Aruko... Alphy and Asako? A-ru-ko?

...

John looked back at Alphy.

Alphy peeked at John and then her entire face turned a deep red from embarrassment.

...Huh.

Okay.

Well then. It looked like Alphy inherited a lot more from him than he thought.

In hindsight, he should have seen this coming considering the clear tension between her and Asako since the first time they met. That, plus the fact that their interactions until now read like a slice-of-life rom com.

...Aaand he could think about this later. For now...

John picked up the giftbags that Alphy dropped and said, "Come take a look at the Christmas tree. It's pretty nifty, you know? And do you want some cookies and milk? It's something we do over in America. Tradition, you know? Well, it's mostly for Santa, but any excuse to bake fresh cookies is a good one."

...Yeah. Let's just spread the Christmas cheer around a bit instead of thinking about the very steamy early Christmas present Alphy apparently had last night.

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