"Hey, Manager's Twin!" Billy exclaims as he sees Caelus walking with Anby and Nicole. Billy pauses upon noticing Mem. "...um, what is that?"
"Billy, Mem," Caelus introduces Billy to the memosprite. "Mem, Billy."
"Mi!" Mem floats around Billy with a look of amazement before patting every part of his head.
"Aww, she's so cute..." Billy gushes as he tries to touch her, but Mem simply giggles before dodging Billy's touch. "And she's playful."
"She is," Caelus nods before glancing at everyone. "So, I never got to ask, but what are you guys doing here? I was honestly expecting you guys to accept commissions and all."
'Which I hope not, because I would rather not want you guys to get arrested by my PubSec friends.' Caelus thought.
"Oh, we tried," Nicole admits before glancing at multiple officers around Sixth Street, whom Caelus had just noticed. "As you can see, we can't exactly do whatever we can with them around. It seems your officer friends had sent officers to patrol around the area a few days ago."
"Huh..." Caelus blinks as he wasn't expecting this kind of change.
"Some officers had mentioned how they were tasked to keep an eye on us under this 'lady Qingyi's' order, saying to keep an eye on us while also making sure no one has attempted to kill us for having dirt on Vision, especially with Perlman's mysterious accomplices still on the loose," Anby says nonchalantly as Nicole looks horrified.
"W-why did you never mention this before!?!" Nicole asks incredulously.
"You never asked," Anby says as Nicole's left eye twitches in annoyance.
"O-oh, dear..." Billy mutters nervously before glancing at Caelus. "...Manager's Twin, please protect us with that impenetrable shield."
"...that was the idea," Caelus says, causing the Cunning Hares brighten up. "Then, you just had to keep calling me with that nickname."
"...Billy!" Nicole exclaims as she kicks the robot on his shin, but it ended up only hurting her leg as she yells in pain. "Damn it, Billy!"
"I'm sorry, boss!" Billy exclaims before he runs away, as Nicole miraculously recovers and starts chasing after Billy.
"...they do realize I was joking, right?" Caelus asks in amusement before Mem floats right next to his head and lightly bonks him. "Anyways, where's Nekomiya? I thought she had joined your group."
Anby didn't say a word as she took a huge bite of her burger and pointed at Caelus's back. Caelus blinks in confusion before turning around. He was taken aback by the sight of Nekomata glaring holes at him while hiding in the alley, her hand gently petting a cat that was attempting to escape her grasp.
"...okay, I was pretty sure I hadn't met you guys for a few days, and I haven't done anything to Nekomiya...." Caelus sweatdrops before looking at Anby. "...what happened to her?"
"It seems whatever power you had, the one that made her adopted cats adore you so much that they casually abandoned her, had traumatized our newest member," Anby explains. "Every night, she keeps the cat close and always gently petting the cat, muttering about 'Mama always loves you' and 'never let that cat-napper take them away from you'. I fear she had slowly lost her sanity."
"..." Caelus places his palm over his face before pulling it down; his face displays a look that screams 'I'm so done with everything' before letting out a sigh. "I swear to all gods, it was not my intention."
"I know," Anby nods before taking another bite. "But, Nekomiya seems like she doesn't care."
"...great. I have someone hating my guts over something I don't have control over, that's just fantastic." Caelus groans as Mem gently pats his head.
"Woof!" Caelus blinks before he glances at Anby's back and sees a dog rushing towards him. Caelus panics as he gently pushes Anby away before the K9 crashes onto him. Thankfully, with the Path of Preservation, Caelus can stand firm and catch the dog without falling on his back.
"W-what-!?" Caelus was cut off by the K9 licking him non-stop, much to his shock. "A-ah, s-stop boy!"
To his surprise, the K9 stops as it looks at Caelus with the happiest look he ever seen on a dog's face. The K9's eye shines like a star in a night sky, and its tail wags like a helicopter's rotor blade. Upon taking a proper look at the K9, Caelus's eyes widen in realization.
"Eugene?!" Caelus exclaims as the dog looks even happier and licks his cheek, causing Caelus to laugh as he gently places the dog down. "Okay, boy. That's enough."
"You know this K9?" Anby asks curiously while Nekomiya tilts her head in confusion, not expecting such a scene.
"Yeah, this is Eugene. One of the dogs that was tasked to guard NEPS' Office in Lumina Square." Caelus says before looking at the K9. "What are you doing here, boy? Aren't you supposed to be with your handler?"
"Ruff!" The dog simply huffs and looks away upon mentioning his handler. Both Caelus and Anby look at each other in confusion.
"Eugene!" They turn to see an officer in a full bodysuit covering his entire body, who rushes towards them as Mem turns invisible. "What-!? Oh, it's you..."
'...great, another one pissed off by my weird ability to attract animals.' Caelus sweatdrops as he hears the man's displeased tone when seeing him. Caelus didn't know the K9 was also affected by his powers as he believed it was simply friendly, but when cats started swarming him like he was their supposed owner, he started having suspicion and Eugene's actions had proven it right.
"Hey...you must be his handler," Caelus sweatdrops as the man nods curtly. He doesn't even need an X-Ray vision to know the man is glaring at the dog, who simply huffs and refuses to look at the officer.
"I'll...just be on my way," Caelus says before he gently pulls Anby and walks away as Eugene lets out a whine and tries to follow him, but the officer stops him.
"Buddy, we got a job to do," The officer let out a groan as the K9 growled at him.
"So, you are a victim as well." The officer did not shriek like a girl when Nekomiya sneaks up on him as she appears behind him. "To think that cat-napper is a much more horrifying entity than I expected. He could charm not only felines, but canines as well, without any effort."
"...you too?" The officer asks as he notices the cat on Nekomiya's arms tries to escape while its paws point at where Caelus runs off.
"Indeed..." Nekomiya glances at the officer. "Shall we join forces to vanquish this entity from taking away from our family?"
"..." The officer blankly stares at the cat before dragging away the K9, who's still whimpering and tries to chase after Caelus.
"...one day, you shall return to me, and pledge alliance with me..." Nekomiya mutters as she gently pets the cat's head.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile
"So..." Billy starts as he and Caelus play on an arcade machine. "Where did you find that pink mammal?"
"Will you believe me if I told you she's a data entity that turns sentient, that's made of memories, data, and artificial intelligence?" Caelus says, thinking the Cunning Hares can be trusted with this information after everything they went through together in a short amount of time. They didn't need to risk their life when Caelus mentioned the possibility of rescuing civilians in Canvas Street, but they did.
"...I would say you're trying to shock me to throw me off my game, which ain't happening since I am the greatest player in this street," Billy says as he continues to play the game. "But my scanners had detected unknown codes that could only exist inside a computer, so I believe in you. The question is how!?"
"...I'll tell you more once we're in a more private area," Caelus says before ending the game as the 'Player 2 Wins' flashes on the screen.
"...good game," Billy says as he extends his fist, which Caelus bumps with his own. "So, wanna go a few more rounds?"
"I was honestly expecting you to drag me away from the arcade and go to a private place to ask more," Caelus says with a raised eyebrow.
"That's how the boss rolls, not me," Billy shrugs. "Besides, I'd rather not lose a gaming friend because I demand you to spill the secret."
"Hey," Caelus gently bumps his fist on Billy's chest. "You're not losing a friend anytime soon, not after we both fought together against the Dead-End Butcher."
"...you sound like one of my friends from outside the New Eridu," Billy admits as Caelus blinks. He wasn't expecting Billy to subtly reference the Son of Calydons.
"Well, whoever your friend was, I bet they're amazing people," Caelus says as Billy brightens up.
"Oh, you have no idea!" Billy exclaims before glancing at the arcade machine, causing Caelus to chuckle.
"Alright, a few more rounds," Billy excitedly pumps his fists upward before they play a few more rounds.
As they walked out of the arcade, they were greeted with the sight of Nicole sweating profusely while taking several steps back as she was trying to avoid Belle, who looked like she had gone through a mental breakdown, and was holding her infamous pliers.
"N-now, now, Belle. Let's talk about this." Nicole stammers nervously as Belle gives her a sickly sweet smile.
"Oh, sure...let us talk," Belle says sweetly as she raises her pliers, causing Nicole to gulp and run away before Belle chases after her. "Come back here! Let me rip your mouths off so you won't go around spilling people's secrets!"
"I'm sorry!!! I'll pay 30%, no 40% extra for all the debts!" Nicole begs.
"No deal!" Belle exclaims as Billy stares at the scene in disbelief, while Caelus, hiding behind Billy, nervously glances at Belle.
"...what happened?" Billy asks as Anby slowly approaches them.
"Nicole had revealed Wise's and Belle's secret identity to the Belobog without anyone's prior knowledge for the sake of money. Thankfully, they simply requested the Phaethon a commission, but it was still a breach of trust." Anby muses before rubbing her chin. "Although I wasn't expecting Belle to lose her sanity like Nekomiya as well. I haven't figure out what caused her to act like that..."
"I know why..." Caelus mutters with a sweatdrop as Mem reveals herself, lying on top of Caelus's head.
To be continued