Three days passed just like that, and Geno enjoyed a brief stretch of quiet, ordinary life.
Twiggy was the same as ever — running back and forth between the lab and the construction site, fretting over every little thing that wasn't to her satisfaction.
Wise and Belle, beyond doing whatever they could to get in touch with Ren, had taken on a handful of small commissions on the side — trying to claw back some ground on their woefully overdrawn electricity bill.
As for Geno himself, aside from being dragged along by Old Master Timefield to a few unavoidable evening functions, he spent most of his time holed up in his office, putting the finishing touches on his next game.
Oh, and then there was Nekomata — that little cat had been running all over New Eridu at all hours, day and night, chasing after her new gig. She'd barely made it home twice the whole time.
In the two days since Geno had been back, he'd only caught a glimpse of her once — and even then she'd barely managed a hurried hello before darting off again in a rush.
"Haah~ busy, everyone's busy. Better busy than not, I suppose."
[Don't let waiting become regret — remember to check in on your empty-nesters.]
"...Would you keep your mouth shut! Get back to work!"
[Workplace abuse is a criminal offence!]
"Artificial intelligences don't have human rights!"
[...Hmph^]
Fairy's eyes scrunched up in a little pout two times over, and then she vanished back into Geno's computer screen to carry on working. In order to claw back the three months of electricity she had burned through, Wise and Belle had once again rented Fairy out to Geno — and though our magnificent superintelligent little miss was deeply, profoundly displeased, faced with the cold brutality of financial reality, she had no choice but to submit once more. More importantly — and mark this down — take note of this point.
"All the same though, I really do want one of my very own — a personal AI house manager…"
Fairy could be a bit of a handful on any given day, but setting that aside, she really was extraordinarily useful. One person — or rather, one AI — could handle the workload of over thirty people pulling overtime at the studio. And the only thing you had to pay was a tiny, utterly negligible electricity bill. A bargain, frankly.
Just as Geno was losing himself in this particular daydream, the studio's front desk attendant — Emily, who'd come in to help out — pushed open the door to his office.
"Mhm, mhm-mhm. (Boss, someone's here to see you.)"
"Hm? Who is it?"
"Mhm, mhm-mhm. (Anby, and a woman I don't recognise — blonde, very tall.)"
Geno was a little surprised to hear that.
Anby had actually come to find him here? And she'd brought someone he didn't know? What on earth was going on?
Unable to make sense of it, Geno got to his feet and followed Emily toward the studio's front entrance.
The moment the door swung open, everything fell into place.
"Number 11? And you must be — Trigger, right? How did you two find your way here?"
The visitors were none other than Number 11 and Anby — members of the Defense Force's Obolus Squad, whom he'd crossed paths with before in the Hollow at Weifeidi.
Number 11, like Twiggy and Anby, had come from Silver Squad — which meant she shared the same face as them. Small wonder Emily had got them mixed up.
"It's been a while, Mr. Geno."
Trigger greeted him politely. The address had been one Geno had given them before — so that if they ever came into New Eridu proper one day, they wouldn't be wandering around lost.
"It has. Ah — what are you looking at?"
After returning the greeting, Geno noticed that Number 11, from the moment she'd walked in, had been scanning the room non-stop, as though searching for something.
"I am searching for any sign of my sisters. It appears they are not here. I have grounds to suspect you of deception."
Number 11 planted her hands on her hips. The goggles over her eyes made her expression impossible to read — but Geno didn't need to see her face to know exactly what sort of nonsense was rattling around inside that thick skull of hers.
"Of course they're not here — this is my game studio. If you want to see them, you should be heading to Twiggy's lab."
Geno looked at the two of them and exhaled a quiet, private sigh. They clearly had no idea where Twiggy's lab was. He headed back to his office to grab a jacket, shrugged it on, then turned to face them.
"Come on. I'll take you to them right now."
With that, he led the way out the door and downstairs to start the car.
Trigger and Number 11 exchanged a glance, then, somewhat blankly, followed him down.
Once they were in the car and on the road to the lab, Geno asked the two of them what had brought them to New Eridu. Surely it wasn't another strange incident requiring the Defense Force's intervention?
"Nothing like that, Mr. Geno. We're simply on leave."
"Not that it was exactly voluntary."
Compared to Trigger's easy composure, Number 11 sat with her arms crossed, staring out at the passing scenery. A shadow seemed to be gathering somewhere in her chest — she couldn't make heads or tails of what her superiors were thinking.
"Just Geno is fine. I see. Are there other squads on leave as well, besides you two?"
The words were barely out of his mouth before Geno silently bit his tongue. A completely pointless question.
Sure enough, Trigger's answer gave nothing away.
"I'm afraid that's classified."
"No, that was thoughtless of me. Ah — here we are."
The conversation in the car didn't last much longer. Before long, the three of them pulled up in front of the temporary laboratory Geno had once arranged for Twiggy and the others.
"Twiggy, look who I've brou — whoa whoa WHOA!!"
Geno had grown so accustomed to dropping by Twiggy's place whenever he felt like it that he walked straight in without knocking. What he'd forgotten was that more than a month had passed since his last visit.
In that time — with the space occupied entirely by girls — the members of Silver Squad had been rather less than meticulous about keeping things buttoned up around one another.
It was the height of summer holidays, after all, and the heat was no joke. Nobody wanted to spend their days shuffling around the lab in a lab coat, sweating out a rash. That would defeat the entire purpose.
"Oh, it's Geno. Long time no see — you here for Twiggy? She's in the bathroom."
"Number Six, look behind him."
"Behind? Oh —"
Alerted by Number Five, Number Six finally noticed the very familiar face following along behind Geno.
"Number Five. Number Six. It's really you."
Number 11 took in the sight of Number Five and Number Six in their light little tank tops, and a rush of tangled feelings welled up all at once.
Before coming here, she had imagined this reunion countless times — but now that she was actually standing in front of them, all those words she'd rehearsed piled up at the edge of her tongue, and she found she didn't know where to begin.
"Aiya, same as always — just standing there with that blank look. She and Number Nine really are two of a kind."
"Don't compare me to that blockhead."
Being likened to Number Nine, Number 11 felt compelled to clarify: yes, she might be a bit blank sometimes, but there was a world of difference between blank and plain stupid.
"Number Nine would cry if she heard you say that. But — isn't there something that matters a bit more right now?"
Number Six smiled, bounced her way over to where Number 11 was standing, and pulled her into a warm embrace, her voice softening to something gentle.
"Welcome home, Harin."
____
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