There were several places to sleep in the basement. At the very least, two people could fit down there without trouble.
But Van had not slept all night.
Ekko had his own place. Zeri had been settled into Van's old little home, after Van gave her a very serious warning not to touch his things. He knew, of course, that it probably wouldn't help much.
Once everyone had left, Van had only meant to smoke for a while before going to bed. Somehow, he ended up sitting there all night. Only when the sky began to pale did the exhaustion finally catch up with him, and his head started to droop.
Click.
"Huh?! The Last Drop welcomes—"
Van had been slowly nodding off, but the sudden sound made him lift his head on instinct. Then he realized it had come from behind him.
"Opening this early?"
"Hah... It's almost opening time anyway."
"Don't pretend. I know you didn't sleep at all."
Powder sat down on the chair beside him and leaned her head against his shoulder.
"Ah. I just happened to have trouble sleeping."
"Really? Then why were you sitting there like an ostrich?"
"Well..."
"Was it because of... Vi?"
"No."
Van denied it at once.
Then he looked down at Powder, who was resting against his shoulder, and saw that she looked far better than last night. At the very least, she could bring up Vi without falling apart.
"All right, maybe a little. But it was mostly because of you."
"Me?"
"Let's not talk about that first. I'll show you something."
Van smiled mysteriously, stood up from the chair, and stretched long and hard.
...
...
"Wake up, you lazy thing."
Van kicked the bed that had once belonged to him and now belonged to the little green-haired troublemaker Zeri.
"Huh? Is it morning?"
Zeri opened her sleepy eyes and sniffed back the drool that had nearly reached her neck.
"Boss? And... Powder? That's your name, right? Why are you here?"
"Hm-hm. Looks like someone careless forgot to lock the door last night."
"Ah, locked or not, it's the same. There's nothing valuable here anyway."
"Heh. You'd probably sleep through getting kidnapped in the middle of the night. And who said there's nothing valuable?"
Van took out a key and unlocked the door to his workshop.
After several warnings to Zeri had failed, he had simply put a lock on the workshop door. The only thing he hadn't done was put a chain around Zeri's neck.
"Something valuable... that big toy?"
"Big toy?"
The workshop door opened, and the smell of metal rushed out.
Taking up most of the cramped room was a huge robot with a round, bulky belly.
"Blitz! It looks way more polished than last time!"
"Of course it does. I put a lot of work into improving it, and now it's finally showing some results."
Van stepped forward, opened the iron plate on Blitz's chest, and started fiddling with the tangle of machinery and wires inside.
At last, when he closed Blitz's chest again, scorching steam burst from the gaps in the big metal body and filled the whole room in seconds.
A roar like factory machinery rumbled to life, deafening in the tiny space.
"It only does this when starting up. It won't be this loud once it's running normally."
Van waved away the steam around him and looked at Powder.
"Do you still have the little toy I gave you?"
"Oh!"
Powder eagerly dug through her shoulder bag, pulled out the little Blitz, and handed it to Van.
Van opened Blitz's back, revealing a narrow compartment. He placed the little Blitz inside and connected the wiring between the large robot and the small one.
Of course, a robot this big couldn't possibly be powered by that little thing. It only worked as a switch.
A genius inventor needed a sense of ritual.
The moment Van closed the iron panel, under Powder and Zeri's expectant stares, the two large bulbs on Blitz's big head slowly began to glow.
"Engine! Activated! Ready! To! Depart!"
As the stiff mechanical voice rang out, Blitz's enormous body rose from its crouched position with the turning of gears and machinery.
And then...
Bang!
Blitz was far too tall. Its head inevitably struck the ceiling, making the entire house tremble.
Blitz looked up blankly, as if trying to figure out what had just attacked it.
"Uh... I may have made it a little too big."
"Can I hug it?!"
Powder bounced on her toes in excitement, clearly ready to try.
"Wait. I need to test whether its 'brain' is working properly first."
Van held out a hand in front of Blitz.
"Hello, Blitz."
Blitz looked at Van's hand and tilted its head in an oddly human way. A puff of steam rose from its metal skull, and only after a long pause did it finally stretch its huge iron hand toward Van.
"Hello, meat person!"
"Mm. Still kind of dumb. Looks like it needs more work."
Van nodded to Powder.
Powder immediately rushed over and wrapped her arms around Blitz's warm, round belly.
Blitz lowered its head in confusion, apparently trying to analyze this strange behavior from the meat person.
"Is it for me?"
"Uh... It wasn't originally. But now that you've asked, how could I say no?"
Van smiled. The first round of testing was done anyway. He could keep improving it slowly later.
First he needed to solve the power issue, then tuck away all those exposed wires on the outside.
"Then how am I supposed to get it out?"
"Huh?"
Van froze.
He looked at Blitz's huge metal head, which was almost punching through the ceiling, then looked at the narrow doorframe and fell into thought.
Seeing that, Powder gave him a teasing smile.
"Looks like even geniuses miss things sometimes, huh?"
...
...
Van temporarily shut Blitz down. Now he had to think about how to take it apart, rebuild it, and move it out of the tiny workshop.
"I want one so bad..."
Zeri stared at the dormant Blitz, then looked pitifully at Van.
Van turned his head away without the slightest shame and pretended not to see it.
Van and Powder sat together on the bed. As he watched her playing with the little Blitz, he suddenly asked,
"Come to think of it, what do you really think of Silco? Why didn't you say anything last night?"
"Oh..."
Powder sat up straight. Her face was still pale and tired after all the crying yesterday, but a faint, playful look crept into it.
"Ekko's a big dummy. I'm not telling him. I'll only tell you."
"Oh?"
Van didn't know whether to laugh or sigh. He leaned down, making a show of listening carefully.
And since Powder had put it that way, Zeri could only pout. She took one last reluctant look at Blitz, then sensibly headed outside.
"Tch... Fine. I'll go play with the big dummy!"
Only then did Zeri remember that Ekko had mentioned some kind of plan last night. She had been too sleepy at the time to listen.
Whatever. She could just ask him now.
[End of chapter]