Later
Waterfall Soup, Sixth Street
"...I take back what I said earlier, I hoped you could bring us to a fancier place," Belle mutters quietly as she eats her ramen.
"Are you implying this restaurant's ramen isn't good?" Caelus asks with a raised eyebrow. Belle started to stammer, trying to deny the accusation, but Caelus decided to troll her even further. "Hey, boss! It seems that Belle has-!"
"Ah, ah, ah!" Belle shushes him by covering his mouth, smiling sweetly as she leans close to Caelus's ear. "I suggest you stop, or else I will make Eous twist your balls. Even though Wise had the most experience possessing Eous, I am quite skilled with it too."
"...Belle, do you have some weird fetish? You remind me of the dominatrix woman my old friend used to love talking about." Caelus says, causing Belle to let go of him, and her face exploded into crimson.
"W-what the heck, Caelus!?!" Belle stammers as Wise facepalms.
"Caelus, I would appreciate it if you didn't dig deeper into the rabbit hole. Especially that side of Inter-Knot," Wise says as he slurps his noodle.
"Are you implying you read that kind of stuff as well?" Caelus asks, causing Wise to choke. "I mean, how do you even know there's such a thing in Inter-Knot? I didn't even know until you mentioned it."
"I, uh..." Wise coughs. "Let's just say...some of my clients have weird taste."
"...I'm so glad I decided to abandon my plan on becoming a Proxy," Phil mutters as he eats his noodles. "Also, if I knew HIA started to accept any undergraduate students, I would've signed up as a potential recruit from the beginning. Their commissions tend to pay a lot of money."
"That's what you get for focusing too much on getting money quickly." Caelus comments. "And before you try to make fun of me, remember I just got here not long ago. I still don't know a lot of things and how New Eridu works."
"....tch," Phil pouts.
"So, I heard you're planning to join HIA," Belle comments. "Not the club, I mean the Hollow Investigation side."
"Yeah," Caelus nods. "I want to avoid more legal trouble, remember? Especially if said legal trouble keeps getting Zhu Yuan and Qingyi even more trouble, like swarms of paperwork. They informed me details on how to join, like accepting the club membership to increase my chance of getting recruited. I overheard that I was among the top candidates."
"Gee, brag about it, will ya?" Belle mutters while slurping her noodles.
"...I don't know if I overstep myself, but can I ask why you guys choose to be a Proxy?" Caelus asks, making both siblings go silent. "...you don't have to answer me if it's your secret."
"...we have something we'd like to investigate, and getting involved with the laws will... make the investigations difficult," Wise explains. "Let's not forget the information they may keep hidden from us because we're not a high-ranking employee."
"I take this information is something personal?" Caelus asks as they nod. "...well, I wish you luck in figuring it out."
"You...won't press us for answers?" Belle asks in surprise.
"Did you guys forget how we met the first time and how I acted when we discovered your identity?" Caelus asks with a raised eyebrow, causing Belle to sheepishly rub her head.
"Touche," Belle responded.
"Besides, I also had secrets of my own." Caelus admits, earning their attentions, including Phil. "...I ain't telling you guys anytime soon, even though we're friends."
"Aww, fine," Belle pouts. She was hoping she could find out more about Caelus's powers. From what the Cunning Hares told them, Caelus seems to have some sort of weird power that could cause explosions and even cause anything he touches to explode, including the baseball bat he loves to use (Still trying to figure out what kind of alloy it's made of).
Then, they were informed how Caelus gained a new set of powers that allow him to manipulate flames and, to their disbelief, blades made of magma rocks. They would think it was impossible, but after seeing the footage itself through Amillion, it's safe to say they're starting to question reality itself.
They had worked with people entering Hollow like it's just another Tuesday, but they had yet to see anyone with such powers. W-Engines and Drive Disks are capable of resonating with their users to protect them from Ether Corruption or allowing them to perform superhuman feats.
The issue is that Caelus did it without any of those, so basically, Caelus is a literal superhuman. Now, they're wondering if Anby's speculation of Caelus being a lab experiment to create a super soldier has some merit.
It still didn't explain how he gained new powers, though. Did he gain it by sheer luck, or was it dormant until his near-death experience?
Both siblings look at each other before nodding silently. It's better if they just drop it.
"..." Phil had been silent the entire time, feeling a bit anxious about the entire situation. HIA had not been an easy organization to join, given how much demand it has, but once you joined, it's a great place to work or gain experience for other jobs like Public Security or even H.A.N.D..
But that's only if he could join. He had no idea if he would even be considered to be recruitment or not. Given how much everyone in HIA had glazed over Caelus, he had a feeling he wouldn't even be considered. A slight bitter feeling rose from his chest as he felt slightly jealous of Caelus. He's basically the guy who keeps getting jackpot after jackpot.
Phil shakes his head and slaps both of his cheeks, stopping his train of thought. What was he thinking? He shouldn't be thinking like that! Caelus had lost his parents, or even worse, experienced an endless torture as a lab experiment to get those powers, and possibly been treated as a living weapon instead of a human. Perhaps, all the luck he's been experiencing is just karma paying back for enduring such hardship.
Meanwhile, Caelus is wondering what's on his friends' minds as they keep staring at him with strange expressions. Phil even gives him a sympathetic look. Caelus tries to ignore it as General Chop gives him the bowl of hellishly spicy noodles.
"...by the way, how are you eating that thing?" Belle can't help but ask as she points at Caelus' spicy noodle. "I once ate that, and I still feel my tongue burning just by smelling it."
"No idea, I still feel some flames flickering on my tongue," Phil shivers as he looks at the noodle.
"It's not that spicy," Caelus mutters as he takes a bite. "Mhm, still as good as before."
"Of course," General Chop exclaims while puffing his chest. "I had to make sure to maintain its quality. My pride as a chef wouldn't allow it! By the way, here's your gyoza." He added before giving the plate to Phil.
"Thanks," Phil nods.
"...how are you even eating that much?" Belle asks in disbelief.
"I need my calories, besides, this ain't much," Phil tries to defend himself.
"...I'm pretty sure you ordered a plate of karaage earlier as well," Belle says in an accusing manner, causing Phil to stammer. "Oh, also, General Chop, one bowl of hellishly spicy noodles for Wise."
"H-hey! Don't order as you like if you didn't plan to eat it!" Wise exclaims in horror.
"You never tried it before, and I still remember how you laughed at my face when I tried the noodle," Belle says as she crosses her arms.
"You still remember that?" Wise asks weakly.
"I forgot that I never got back at you for that, and now, I remember," Belle says with a smirk.
"...can you eat that bowl for me?" Wise asks Caelus in a pleading tone.
"Nope, Belle will just order another bowl and let you eat it," Caelus retorts, earning a sigh from Wise. "Besides, I am also curious how good your spice tolerance is."
"...traitor," Wise grumbles before General Chop places down the spicy noodle right in front of Wise. "...fine."
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Later
"...I would never eat this ever again..." Wise mutters as his face is red, sweat falling from his head, and steam escaping from his nose and ears. Next to him is an empty bowl of noodles.
"...that's actually impressive, continuing eating that despite how spicy it was," Caelus comments.
"I would rather not hear it from you," Wise deadpans before sipping down a cup of water. "Another..."
"...you guys are monsters," Phil comments while shivering. He still remembers the burning taste of the noodle, and yet these two somehow finish it.
"I'm just glad my stomach isn't upset from the excessive amount of capsaicin the chef puts into the noodles," Wise says before drinking another cup of water.
"Geez, I was hoping I'd see you breathing fire from your mouth," Belle pouts.
"Please stop teasing everyone you meet," Wise begs, but he didn't get any answer from his sister, which made him groan.
"Hm, it's only afternoon despite how long it feels...." Caelus mutters as he looks at the time on his phone. "...wanna go into the arcade?"
"Maybe not, we still have a video store to manage," Wise says while waving his hand. "Still, thanks for the offer."
"Ah, got it," Caelus nods before looking at Phil. "Do you have anything in mind or arcade?"
"It's a bit boring, but sure," Phil shrugs before pausing. "...oh, you should have brought something for Slyboo."
"It's a bit surprising how he didn't choose to join us and decided to stay to help Meilian," Caelus mutters, a bit disheartened. "I was hoping I could spend more time with him as well."
"Well, maybe he would rather not do any activities, especially after yesterday," Phil suggests.
"...maybe," Caelus mutters before they notice Soldier 11 walking across the street once again, causing the duo to blink. They both glance at each other before deciding to follow the woman, wondering why she is on Sixth Street.
Both decided to follow her quietly, making sure to keep their distance and not make any sound. As Soldier 11 turns at the corner, they slowly follow her before taking a sneak on her. What they saw caused Phil to blink owlishly.
Soldier 11 is currently petting a stray cat with a faint smile on her face.
'...oh, wow. I didn't see that coming,' Phil admits mentally.
"What'cha guys doing?" Phil and Caelus yelp as they collapse to the ground, catching Soldier 11's attention before she froze upon noticing the boys. The duo froze as they were like a deer caught in the headlights before a chuckle came from their back. They both turn around and see Trigger covering her mouth while failing to hide her chuckle.
"You two are really amusing," Trigger says before looking at Soldier 11 and freezing when she grabs the hilt of her sword.
"H-hey, Soldier 11, perhaps you might need to put away your weapon? These are just civilians...." Trigger says as the boys look a bit terrified. Soldier 11 didn't say a word before slowly approaching the boys.
All the boys could do was hug each other and scream. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.
And as for those who are wondering why even Caelus is scared despite with all of his powers? He had experience with an angry woman, and he still had nightmares from time to time.
To be Continued