A few hours had passed since Illya had gotten back home from Hollow Zero, and after taking a quick shower, he hopped into bed and opened up his phone.
Noticing a new message from Belle, he opened up their chat to see what she said.
'Whatcha doin rn?'
Turning slightly in his prone position, Illya typed out a quick response.
'Nothin of note, wbu?'
Not expecting a response, Illya closed out the chat app, but not even a second after, his phone vibrated.
"Huh. That was fast..."
'Rlly? I thought u would've been grinding ranked rn~ I just let Heddy clock out and ima bout to go close up shop for the day'
'T-T Oh fr? It's only 5:30 tho?'
'Business wasn't too great tdy cuz of the Hollow, so it'd just be a waste of time to stay open~'
'Sucks. Btw, are we hoppin on tdy? (▀̿Ĺ̯▀̿ ̿) '
'Yah, just gimme like 30 min and I can get on~ Sit tight till then, ykyk :]'
'Send me a text when ur done, then. I'm gonna grab dinner rq'
'Kk ^_^'
Closing the app again, Illya opened up DoorBoo, a food delivery service, and ordered himself a combo meal from a fast food joint.
Unfortunately for his empty stomach, before he could finish filling out his payment information, Illya got a call from an unknown number.
Letting out a sigh, Illya picked up.
"I just had Lycaon wire 500 Million Dennies to your account."
A deep voice carried over the line, one Illya was quite familiar with.
"Huh? That's a lot less than last time. Are your funds running low or something?"
"The rest of your paycheck went to Hoshimi Miyabi's medical bills."
"... I thought Void Hunter's got all of their medical bills waived by the city?"
"That's only if they get injured on the job. If they sustain an injury from training, which Hoshimi Miyabi insisted she did, the city isn't obligated to step in and cover a Void Hunter's expenses. You would know that if you actually read your old contract."
"Hah~ Even still, her bills couldn't have been more than 100,000 Dennies. What'd you do with the rest of my reward?"
"The rest of what I took was used to cover up your little training session from Souichirou and Swordmaster. I don't think either of us would've liked it if they found out you choke-slammed Hoshimi Miyabi."
"Bullshit."
Illya scoffed.
"You're like a quasi-gazillionaire and the mayor of New Eridu, yet you're still too stingy to fork over a billion dennies. C'mon, man~"
"Stingy? Don't get me started, Illya. Do you know how many people I had to pay off or silence in order to keep your recent reckless spending spree under wraps? Seriously, what did you think was going to happen if some random 23-year-old bought a 3 billion dennie apartment complex, huh? You're lucky that I'm still paying you half of your commission, considering the massive headache you've caused me."
Sucking in a pained breath, Illya scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"... Ahem~ Y'know, now that I'm thinking about it, 500 million Dennies is a lot..."
The mayor let out a sigh, the faintest trace of annoyance leaking past his composed facade.
"If you have no further issues with the reward, I'll be hanging up. I've got too much on my plate to deal with a reckless young adult."
"Gocha, boss!"
Thinking that the call was over, Illya motioned for the red hangup button, but before he could, the Mayor spoke once more.
"Wait, Illya, one last thing."
"Huh? What's up?"
The line went silent for a second.
"... The owners of Random Play are not as simple as they seem."
Illya blinked.
"Wait, you're stalking me, too?"
"You are one of the Hunters of Calamity, Illya. If anybody begins to get close to you, running a background check is the absolute barest precaution I can take to ensure nothing bad happens."
Illya frowned.
"Fair enough, I guess. What did you want to tell me about Belle and Wise?"
"I commissioned Victoria Housekeeping to gather information on the siblings, and from what Lycaon and the others have gathered, the siblings are among the only survivors to have escaped the fall of Helios Academy during the destruction of the Old Capital."
Illya frowned.
"... And what does that have to do with anything? I don't see why that alone would be cause for concern."
A hint of an indescribable emotion colored the Mayor's voice.
"... Illya, do you remember 12 years ago, when Carole mentioned that she was fostering a pair of children?"
Hearing that name made Illya flinch.
"Miss Arna... You- You're not saying that-"
A rush of painful memories flashed before his eyes, an old scar marring his heart throbbing with a dull ache.
"Yes. Belle and Wise are deeply connected to Carole; in fact, they might've even witnessed her disappearance on that faithful day."
Illya's pupils trembled, his grip on his phone tightening unconsciously.
"While I won't stop you from meeting them, I'd still like you to refrain from revealing too much about the fall of the Old-Capital. They do not yet possess the capabilities to handle the truth."
With that, the Mayor hung up.
Illya stood in silence for a few moments, his expression filled with an indescribable emotion that bore a vague resemblance to self-loathing.
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Wise had just gotten back to the video store after spending some time with Billy at the arcade.
It had been quite a long day for the Proxy, and he was thoroughly exhausted.
Between dealing with the Cunning Hares and the Red Fang gang, losing his Interknot account, and awakening some sort of super AI by the name of Fairy, saying today was a fiasco would be the understatement of the century.
Carrying some fast food he had grabbed on the way back, Wise set it down on a table by the HDD and went upstairs to grab his sister.
Knocking on her door, he called out her name.
"Hey, Belle? I brought back dinner."
"..."
Met with silence, he frowned.
'Did she not hear me?'
Wise knocked a little louder.
"Belle? Hello?"
"..."
Growing a little curious, Wise decided to check up on his quiet sister, just to make sure everything was alright.
"I'm coming in. You better not be looking at anything suspicious~"
Wise lingered for a second longer, taking the silence as permission.
Grasping the Doorknob and confirming it wasn't locked, Wise swung the door open and briefly scanned the room, noticing a rather troubled-looking Belle pacing back and forth in front of a large computer screen.
Biting her nail, with her phone to her ear, Belle didn't even notice Wise come in.
"... He's not picking up..."
Her gaze flickered to a nearby clock, the troubled look on her face deepening.
Seeing his sister like this, Wise very chalantly coughed into his fist.
The sudden noise seemed to grab her attention.
"-Huh?... Wise? When'd you get back?"
Scanning the room, the concerned brother noticed the start menu for a popular game occupying the large computer screen on Belle's desk, piecing together the source of her troubles.
"Billy got called back by Nicole a bit early, so I brought back some dinner... But, uh- are you ok?"
Thinking for a moment, Wise threw out a guess.
"Did Illya ghost you or something?"
Belle hesitated
"Yeah..."
"We were supposed to get on after I finished closing up the store, but he hasn't responded to my texts or calls in three hours."
Wise frowned.
"Couldn't he just be busy or something?"
Belle shook her head.
"The last thing he said was that he was gonna get dinner, and since then, it's been radio silence."
"That uh, doesn't seem like him."
Belle nodded, dialing Illya's number again.
"I hope I'm overthinking it, but something about this feels really weird."
Wise let out a sigh.
"Hah~ Turn off your computer and come downstairs. You can keep calling him while you eat, and who knows? Maybe Fairy can give us a bit of help."
After a moment of thought, Belle complied.
"... Ok."
With that settled, the siblings shuffled into the staff room, Belle plopping down on the couch by the TV while Wise began to unpack the combo meals he bought from a nearby fried chicken spot.
"Which one do you want? Spicy garlic or honey soy?
"I'll end up eating a bit of both anyway, you pick first~"
Shrugging, Wise plopped down on the couch next to Belle, slapping down a thick stack of napkins as he handed his sister the spicy garlic one.
The siblings ripped open their respective bags and began picking at the fries and chicken, dirtying their hands with a thick coating of sauce.
Belle was still staring at her phone screen with a complicated expression, and Wise, looking for a distraction, unconsciously reached for the TV remote.
Unfortunately, realizing that his hands were lathered in a sticky layer of glaze, he paused mid-motion.
"Hey, Fairy?"
The HDD screen flickered to life.
"Yes, master?"
"Could you turn on the TV?"
"..."
"Fairy?"
"Master, I am a sophisticated artificial intelligence program specializing in-."
"So, you can't do it?"
"Tch"
Wise let out a chuckle as the TV screen lit up, the visage of a news broadcaster coming into view.
"Thanks to the quick actions of Public Security officials, the companion hollow that spawned on 14th street was unable to take the lives of any New Eridu citizens."
Belle's gaze flickered up from her phone screen.
"The news?"
Wise shrugged.
"Too lazy to change the channel."
"Couldn't you just ask Fairy to do it-"
From behind them, Fairy's monotone voice rang in the air.
"New update detected, estimated download time: 60 minutes and 42 seconds."
Letting a small smile tug at his lips, Wise turned his attention back to the news broadcast.
The woman on the screen gestured at a few portraits behind her.
"Some notable contributors today inclu-"
Suddenly, she paused, her eyes widening.
Clearing her throat, the woman looked straight into the camera.
"One of our affiliate branches near 18th street has sent us reports of a companion Hollow Appearing on 16th street, just two streets from the Hollow earlier this morning."
Wise's eyes widened, his head snapping towards Belle.
"According to the Hollow Investigative Association, the compaion Hollow has just broken through level 4 containment, and they have dispatched a team to carry out Emergency protocols."
Belle's pupils began to tremble as the phone in her hand slipped out of her grasp.
"Evacuation of nearby blocks has commenced, but as of the moment, the HIA has not confirmed the presence of any survivors inside the Hollow."
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(A/N: Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!
My computer has been crashing a whole bunch because of some issues with my power supply again, so it took a little longer than I would've liked to write this chapter.
I'll be getting it replaced by this Thursday, so it shouldn't affect my upload schedule too much, but I hope you'll understand if I don't end up posting a chapter tomorrow night.
Again, Add this fic to your collection and drop some comments if you're enjoying the story~
See you guys soon!)