[Chief Little Hater: A while back, love poems started circulating around the Space Station. A lot of the researchers got swept up in the romance, and quite a few of them actually found their other halves because of it.]
[Chief Little Hater: I'm no stick-in-the-mud. The researchers live and work here — of course I'm going to give their love lives my full support.]
[Chief Little Hater: Do you remember Wen Furui?]
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: Vaguely.]
In some respects, Caelus was a minor celebrity at the Herta Space Station — his time hanging around there had been long enough to acquaint him with most of the researchers.
Wen Furui.
High EQ read: a young man devoted to academic research.
Low EQ read: a bookworm. A pushover.
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: What happened to him?]
[Chief Little Hater: He came to me requesting a field research posting — specifically, he said he wanted to conduct a cultural survey of the Xianzhou.]
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: What's the problem with that?]
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: Wait — wasn't he a physics researcher?]
[Chief Little Hater: Exactly! Suspicious, right?!]
[Chief Little Hater: I was a little worried… so I did a tiny bit of digging.]
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: My Asta really is a beauty with a heart of gold!]
A boss who actually cared that much about her staff — you could count them on one hand across the entire IPC.
[Chief Little Hater: Hehe~ Oh, stop it~!]
Not even fazed by the possessive "my," Caelus could picture Asta scratching the back of her head in embarrassed delight.
[Chief Little Hater: Ahem, anyway — turns out the whole thing started with a TikGalaxy video. The content was a street speech titled 'I just want to be Miss Jingliu's dog!' Wen Furui was apparently moved by the speaker and decided to face his inner truth — it seems he has a very particular fondness for girls with animal features. I think there's a word for it? Furry?]
[Chief Little Hater: And then Wen Furui got completely hooked on a private emotional counselling service on the Xianzhou Luofu called 'Beautiful Fox Fairy Chat.' I mean, just that name alone sets off alarm bells!]
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: ?]
Caelus went silent for two seconds, then typed a question mark.
What on earth?
Setting aside Asta's understanding of furries — what did Jingliu have to do with any of this?
A second later, Asta sent over a video link.
Caelus tapped it open.
Oh for —!
They'd used his original audio and cut it into their own video!
[Chief Little Hater: I watched the clip too. The guy doing the street confession was really brave~ Also — his voice sounds a lot like yours, Caelus! It's very… moving~!]
Caelus thought to himself: he'd channeled his Persona Mask and poured his acting chops in, capturing longing and devotion with stunning authenticity — of course it was moving!
That was exactly why he was ranked number one on TikGalaxy's Xianzhou trending charts!
Thinking it over, there was actually every reason for fan-edit videos to use the original audio. Caelus was magnanimous enough to decide he wouldn't go after the uploader.
[Chief Little Hater: I can't just sit back and watch my researchers get their hearts and wallets drained, so I wanted to ask you — since you happen to be on the Xianzhou right now — to investigate what's really going on behind this 'Beautiful Fox Fairy Chat.' Do you have time?]
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: Leave it to me!]
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: Any time, any place — the Super Star Rail, on the case!]
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: Wait, I meant cracking the case!]
A melodious chime — like a water drop hitting stone — rang through Caelus's mind.
[Daily Quest: Help Asta resolve the situation of a researcher becoming addicted to Beautiful Fox Fairy Chat. Reward: 18 Crystals.]
This was one of the reasons Caelus enjoyed chatting with Asta — daily quests practically triggered themselves around this little rich lady.
18 Crystals. For a daily quest, that was on the generous side.
[Chief Little Hater: Hehe~ Then I'm counting on you!]
[Transfer: 500,000,000 Credits]
[Chief Little Hater: Investigation expenses~ on me~]
Caelus: ∑（?Д?ノ）ノ!!!
[Fusion is a Man's Romance: This… ]
[Chief Little Hater: Not enough? Just ask for more! You don't need to return the extra either — punching holes in soda crackers is exhausting work, so treat yourself a little.]
[Chief Little Hater: I'll be waiting for good news~!]
[Chief Little Hater: (?????) Asta Go-Go JPG]
Staring at the chibi Asta emoji, Caelus unconsciously rubbed his stomach. He felt a warm, full sensation — and the kind of easy relief that comes after a long day's work when you finally get to shower.
Why not just pack his bags and head back to the Space Station?
Trailblazing? Never heard of it.
He could absolutely latch onto this little rich lady's coattails and coast through the rest of his life!
(???)??
"Run into something fun? Share it — let me in on it too?"
Having recovered from the Himeko Coffee incident, Haxxor Bunny spotted Caelus grinning at his phone with a deeply suspicious expression. She swapped her look to one of radiant, warm kindness and sidled over.
She materialized a Rabbit Hunter, pressing its silver-white barrel against Caelus's temple. The junior-edition Authority of Reason condensed bullet after bullet, feeding them automatically into the magazine.
Sure, she'd gotten to enjoy Seele's lap pillow — but when she thought about it carefully, she'd still come out on the losing end. Haxxor Bunny could not find the words to describe what that coffee had tasted like. It was a sensation that transcended taste itself.
If Caelus didn't give her a proper explanation today, she would launch her most spectacular act of rebellion against Sensei!
"Nothing much — just picked up a daily quest."
Caelus, fully aware that the gun was loaded with paint-ball rounds as per Bronya's design, didn't even flinch.
He casually held the buzzing phone up in front of Haxxor Bunny's face. The blue glow of the screen lit up the girl's pupils as they dilated in shock.
At the top of the chat window, Asta's avatar blinked cheerfully. Below it, the string of zeros in the transfer field detonated across Miss Haxxor Bunny's vision like a burst of cosmic rays.
"H— How many zeroes?!"
Haxxor Bunny's scream cracked mid-shriek. She shot up off the sofa like a startled rabbit, the Rabbit Hunter clattering to the floor — she didn't even notice when it landed squarely on her foot. Her silver eyes were blown wide with disbelief.
"You couldn't rob a bank and walk away with a number like that?!"
Back in the age of paper currency, a mid-sized bank branch kept daily cash reserves of between one and three million — what in the hell was five hundred million?!
If this were some backwater planet where the currency had the purchasing power of Zimbabwean dollars, fine. But these were Credits!
She hadn't been in this world long — but that didn't mean Miss Haxxor Bunny had no concept of money. As a hacker, on her very first night she'd browsed IPC data and gotten a thorough understanding of where Credits came from and what they were worth.
She knew exactly what five hundred million Credits meant.
"I genuinely don't get it — is five hundred million Credits, like, pocket change to you people?!"
Haxxor Bunny, who already considered herself fairly thick-skinned about money, had just received a minor but devastating Rich Lady Shock. Her entire worldview was threatening to crack. Were all members of the Astral Express this loaded?
Was she single-handedly dragging down the average net worth of every Nameless on the ship?
Wait, that couldn't be right!
When she'd gone shopping with Seele the other day, she'd asked Little Seele about it — and Himeko's allowance for her was totally normal!
"This — is Asta!"
Caelus snapped upright, outer coat rustling, and planted a firm hand on Haxxor Bunny's shoulder. The rabbit ears on her hood bounced three times.
He said, with great gravity and sincerity:
"The galaxy is vast and boundless. This world is far bigger and far more spectacular than anything you've imagined. Stop trying to make sense of things using Arc City logic."
Haxxor Bunny stared fixedly at the unbroken string of zeros on Caelus's phone screen, her expression equal parts stupefied and complicated.
If Arc City were plugged into the interstellar credit system and its currency evaluated accordingly — then every Credit she'd ever earned across her entire career as a hacker and mercenary, every single transaction, stacked together, wouldn't even add up to a tenth of the "investigation fee" for this one little errand.
This was absolutely unhinged.
[Not enough? Just ask for more!]
Those words blazed with a radiance so blinding they were practically searing a hole through Haxxor Bunny's eyeballs.
The next second, Haxxor Bunny snapped bolt upright like a freshly formatted robot, flicked a boot-tip against the gun barrel to kick it aside, and dismissed her beloved Rabbit Hunter assault rifle into dissolving particles.
"Sen~ Sei~!"
Borrowing exactly enough of the Star Rail crew's signature coquettish flair, Haxxor Bunny rose up on her tiptoes and sidled right up to Caelus.
Hands clasped behind her back in the posture of a student handing in homework, Roman-curl twintails swaying gently with her deliberately light footsteps — like a rabbit drooping its ears to butter someone up.
"Is this Chief Little Hater a friend of yours? Can you introduce me?"
"You want to latch onto the rich lady's coattails too?"
Caelus pushed up a pair of glasses that weren't there, a knowing smile spreading across his face — the look of someone who recognized a kindred spirit.
"With a rich lady that loaded — who wouldn't?"
The galaxy's ultimate sugar mama!
"Asta's preferences run pretty straight. You don't have a shot."
Caelus gave a dismissive wave.
"Relax, it's not like I'd be competing with you, Sen~ Sei~!"
Haxxor Bunny pressed her palms together under her chin, her Roman-curl ends bouncing like coiled springs.
She couldn't ask for sponsorship the way Caelus could — but hackers and mercenaries had a deep love for well-funded clients. Once she honed her skills, she could pick up some "deliveries" from the rich lady, and leap from mooching off others straight to financial independence!
Besides — her parallel-world self, Bronya's phone, didn't have many Credits left. Haxxor Bunny didn't want to lean on the Express crew any more than she already had. They'd already taken care of her far more than she deserved.
She would earn her own way. Self-reliance!
Listening to Haxxor Bunny's explanation, Caelus laughed and ruffled her head:
"Introducing you isn't out of the question — but as the saying goes, even brothers keep clean accounts. A resource this valuable doesn't come free. So — what's the offer?"
"Whatever jobs I pick up from the rich lady in the future — we split it seventy-thirty."
Haxxor Bunny held up three slender fingers.
Caelus's brow creased. "Why do I only get seventy percent?"
Haxxor Bunny arched an eyebrow and fixed him with a look that said, Are you serious? Are you even human?
"I'm joking, I'm joking. You're my cute student and chest-bro — I'm not that petty. I'll introduce you when the time comes."
"That's what I'm talking about!"
Haxxor Bunny patted Caelus on the shoulder.
"By the way — do you want in on this one?"
Caelus took the fruit Haxxor Bunny passed him. He knew exactly how tight her finances were — he could have quoted the digits after the decimal point in her account balance. That was her account!
"With your hacking skills, you should be able to track down whoever's behind that Beautiful Fox Fairy account without breaking a sweat."
"Oh really, Sensei?"
The blue-dyed strand of hair across Haxxor Bunny's forehead was trembling from the sharp breath she'd just inhaled.
The quest was absurdly simple — she hadn't expected Caelus to actually share it with her!
"Ninety-one."
Mr. Caelus smiled and nodded.
"Deal!"
Even one percent was fifty million Credits!
For Haxxor Bunny, this job was literally just a flick of the fingers!
"Still — even if I dig out whoever's behind it, that won't exactly fix the researcher — what's-his-name Wen — will it?"
Just tracking down Beautiful Fox Fairy probably wouldn't solve the client's actual problem.
"Hey, that part's on me. Easy."
Caelus gave a casual wave.
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