Web Fic
Chapter 456
Heather didn’t bother with Leo and Mirabella anymore, quickly teaming up with her cousin to tackle the tasks assigned by the show’s producers.
Ten minutes later, Mirabella pocketed her phone. Still basking in the joy of his little sister carrying him to victory in the game, Leo looked up at her and said, “When we get back, you gotta coach me some more. I wanna hit that Champion rank.”
Mirabella’s temples throbbed, and she rejected him without any hint of emotion, “I don’t have the time.*
Leo touched his nose, a look of dejection on his face. “Are you tired of me?”
Mirabella gave him a sidelong glance. It seemed he had successfully tossed his agent’s reminders to the back of his mind. There went his persona.
Mirabella scanned the now significantly less crowded marketplace and said, “Let’s get to business.”
At her words, Leo immediately straightened up and took the lead. “I got this!” After coasting through two episodes, he was determined to nail this simple task of grocery shopping!
Watching him stride ahead, Mirabella thought, “Well, if the little princess is happy, that’s all that matters.”
Leo meandered around before stopping in front of a stall run by an elderly man who appeared to be in his sixties. The old man didn’t have much produce left, and what was there looked a bit wilted, clearly the leftovers after a day of picky customers.
Having been under Donald’s thumb recently, Mirabella felt a twinge of empathy at the sight of the elderly vendor.
Leo, oblivious to his sister’s mood, pointed to a pile of tomatoes and asked, “Hey, sir, how much for these tomatoes?”
The old man took in the young customers, especially Leo, who looked vaguely familiar. He paused before responding, “Two bucks a pound.”
Ready to haggle, Leo countered, “How about three bucks for two pounds?”
Mirabella raised an eyebrow, surprised. She hadn’t pegged the little prince as a haggler.
The old man shook his head.
“Then four bucks for two pounds?” Leo suggested.
There was a moment’s silence as the old man seemed taken aback. Did this young man not attend elementary school?
Mirabella, already covering her face, resigned herself to the inevitable.
The livestream audience was in stitches. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
[Buddy, wake up, you’re showing off your IQ.]
[Old man: Two bucks a pound. Buddy: How about four bucks for two pounds? Old man: …he must be a bit slow!]
[I can’t. I’m dying of laughter here.]
[Ah, this… this… truly a festival of joy for the simple–minded.]
Hans, who had been quietly following the siblings, suddenly patted Mirabella’s shoulder and said with empathy, “Hey, you’ve really got your work cut out for you.”
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Mirabella spread her hands in a gesture of helplessness.
As Hans and his partner walked away to fulfill their own tasks for the show, Leo was still trying to negotiate with the vendor. To prevent any more of her little princess’s intellectual prowess from being revealed, Mirabella pulled him away.
A confused Leo, still without his groceries, looked at his sister and asked, “What’s up now?”
“Your new mission, should you choose to accept it,” Mirabella said with a clear gaze and a solemn voice, “is to check the livestream comments on your phone.” With that, she walked away, leaving Leo with a puzzled expression.
After a solid moment of confusion, Leo took out his phone and entered the livestream. Seeing the screen filled with ‘persona shattered‘ comments, he sank into deep introspection. The intemet crowd sure was hard to please.
Meanwhile, at the Davis family mansion.
Delilah and Shawn, who had been watching the livestream, simultaneously covered their eyes when they saw their youngest son’s clueless close-up on screen.