The Next Day
Coff Cafe
"..." Caelus is silently sitting in a cafe while reading Medical Knowledge for Dummies, using a bag of ice on his bruised head. He still remembers how everyone crowded him and hit his head repeatedly after learning he's the one selling the book to Meilian.
Thankfully, Meilian didn't seem to mind, and after reading the book, she simply smiled sadly before deciding to keep the book. Everyone was practically in shock at how she didn't bawl her eyes out after reading 'As I've Written' compared to the rest of the readers.
Nicole had quietly dragged the old lady for questioning, and Caelus was concerned that she might drag the old lady into a scam, but Anby and Billy reassured him that it wouldn't happen since even Nicole has a standard.
So, imagine his surprise when the Cunning Hares are spotted at Meilain's cafeteria. Caelus could guess they must've moved there since they had heard about the cheap rent and the free breakfast every day. At least they have some decency to help the old lady with breakfast.
Well, for Anby and Billy at least. Also, it seems that even the additional workers aren't enough to keep up with Meilian's fast cooking skills. He's glad that it wasn't a skill issue, and more like Meilian is a secret warrior in disguise.
"Hey-, Oh god! What happened to you!?!" Caelus blinks before lifting his head and sees Astra of all people being in Coff Cafe, looking very concerned.
"Ast-a? What are you doing here?" Caelus manages to catch himself from spilling out Astra's real name as she starts looking at the bruise on his head in concern.
"Did you get into fights? Is this the result of dealing with the Legwork Family?" Astra asks as Caelus blinks. How did she know about him being involved in the Legwork Family case?
"Um, it wasn't because of that," Caelus says as he gently places her hands away from his head. "It's because I tried to do something stupid and my friends made sure I learned a lesson."
"What kind of thing did you do? There's no way it's so bad that you deserve that?" Astra asks while pointing at the bruise. It is the size of a chicken egg.
"I sell 'As I've Written' to my landlord, who is an old lady," Caelus explains as Astra's concerned expression turns deadpan.
"Yeah, you deserve that," Astra switches up immediately, causing Caelus to wince.
"...you read that?" Caelus asks as Astra nods, her eyes turn glassy.
"It was a tragedy after tragedy! Like, why do Cyrene and Phainon have to go through so much for millions of cycles!?!? Why does every Chrysos Heir get killed off so tragically!?! Is the author allergic to happy endings?! Why does the writer want the reader to feel extremely devastated!?" Astra exclaims as Caelus breaks into a cold sweat and looks away.
"If I ever get my hands on that writer, I'll ask Evelyn to kidnap him so I could beat him up!" Astra adds darkly before looking at Caelus, who refuses to make eye contact. "Why are you looking nervous? I won't do anything to you since your friends already did that."
"...I doubt you could hit me hard enough to injure me," Caelus admits, causing a slight twitch on Astra's left eye.
"...do you want to test that?" Astra asks challengingly.
"When are you so aggressive?" Caelus asks incredulously. He never remembers her being like this in-game.
"Since I opened the first page of As I've Written," Caelus sweatdrops at her explanation; that explains so much.
"So, are you here for your daily dose of caffeine?" Caelus asks as Astra simply nods.
"Of course. The job is quite demanding, and I have yet to get a good amount of rest in these few days." Astra says in a concerned tone. "Also, should I really get her more coffee? She looks like she's about to collapse, but already drank 10 sachets of instant coffee earlier."
Caelus could only spit take upon hearing how much coffee Evelyn drinks before looking at Astra incredulously. How is that woman still able to stay alive with that amount of coffee!?!
"Does she drink that much every day?" Caelus asks in disbelief.
"No," Astra responds, causing Caelus to sigh before sipping his coffee. "She drinks less than usual."
PFFFT!!
"...you did that on purpose, didn't you?" Caelus deadpans as Astra simply blinks innocently. "... never mind. My advice as a future medical student: keep her away from caffeine for at least two weeks."
"...I didn't know you planned on going to medical school," Astra admits in surprise.
"Just trying to find something to pass the time," Caelus shrugs. "Still waiting for a response from my last job interview."
"Huh..." Astra muses before the robot with a head resembling a coffee machine approaches them while holding a cup of coffee.
"Here's your coffee. I hope you both enjoy your date." Both of them froze as the Intelligent Construct left them alone, while everyone started whispering to each other.
"O-oh, dear. This is quite a misunderstanding," Astra says awkwardly as she looks at Caelus sheepishly, before she blinks upon noticing how red Caelus' face is. "Well, someone's excited."
"..." Caelus responds by simply covering his face with his book, causing Astra to giggle. She had to admit, Caelus does look cute acting like that.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Later
"...don't you have work to do?" Caelus glances at his side as Astra stands next to him, looking at the drones flying in the sky. Caelus adds some modifications to the drone and decides to do some flight tests, trying to find any errors.
"Nah, I think I'm just gonna spend my day doing nothing," Astra admits while winking mischievously. "Think of this as me going on a silent protest against my boss."
"You're gonna get in trouble for doing that," Caelus points out.
"Not when all of them are sleeping like logs," Astra says, causing Caelus to blink.
"...I didn't know you had it in you," Caelus admits, causing Astra to blink in confusion before she realizes what he's implying.
"I didn't drug them, Caelus. They were all just as tired as me," Astra says as Caelus stares at her.
"...then clearly, it can't be considered a silent protest when everyone agrees to take a day off," Caelus argues before looking at Astra in concern. "Also, shouldn't you go and get some rest as well?"
"This is me getting some rest," Astra says with a bright smile, causing Caelus to shake his head in disbelief before glancing up. "So, what are the reasons behind building the drones?"
"It'll help me detect any anomalies, threats, and even survivors when exploring Hollows," Caelus says as Astra blinks.
"I thought normal technologies can't enter Hollow," Astra points out as Caelus grins.
"Not this one," Caelus responds confidently.
"...how?" Astra asks curiously. She may not be a technology expert, but she can't help but be interested in ground-breaking technology.
"Trade secrets," Caelus says as Astra pouts.
"Come on, am I not trustworthy enough?" Astra asks.
"You are, but not the people around you. Except for your bodyguard; she seems to be taking her job seriously," Caelus says as Astra sighs, but she can't exactly argue with him.
"So, you're doing some test drives with this?" Astra asks as Caelus nods.
"Yup, can't have it falling like a meteor in the middle of exploration," Caelus says before he pulls out his phone, acting as his controller, and controls the drone to spread out while activating its camouflage. Astra can't help but stare at it with starry eyes; the drones remind her of some sci-fi movies she watches.
"Hey, hey, can I control it, please?" Astra asks 'kindly', earning a chuckle from Caelus.
"Nope." Without another word, Caelus continues to control the drone, ignoring the indignant look that Astra gave him.
"Come on, let me control it," Astra begs.
"Sorry, but since this is a test drive, it's better if you don't touch it till I deem it safe to use," Caelus responds, earning another pout from Astra. Caelus simply shakes his head in amusement before noticing one of the drones has flown off-course. He tries to call it back, but it doesn't respond.
"...I'm glad that I put on a tracker," Caelus mutters before he turns on his phone, showing a GPS tracker on it as Astra takes a peek.
"What's wrong?" Astra asks.
"One of the drones has gone off-course, and I can't recall it," Caelus grumbles before commanding the rest of the drones back and storing it in his inventory. Of course, to keep suspicion from Astra, he made it look like he put it underneath his jacket. "I'm getting my drone back."
"I'm coming with you," Astra exclaims.
"...sure, why not?" Caelus shrugs before they rush off, following the GPS track on Caelus' phone, which leads to Belobog Heavy Industry.
"Huh...why in the world did my drone fly off course to Belobog of all places?" Caelus muses, pondering a bit as Astra glances around.
"This is my first time visiting a construction site..." Astra comments off-handedly.
"Hello, there," The duo glances at the source of the voice and sees a huge Bear Thiren with a huge scar on his left eye approaching them. "This is a construction site. Please don't enter to prevent any accidents."
"Hello, sorry for bothering you," Caelus greets. "But my experimental drone seems to have flown off into the site."
"Ah, I could help get it back for you. May I know how it looks?" Caelus simply shows an image of his drone as the Bear Thiren nods. "Alright, please stay here while I get it back for you."
"Thank you, and sorry for the trouble," Caelus bows as the bear Thiren waves it off and goes inside the site.
"...I notice when he talks to you, it sounds like he's talking with a child," Astra mutters as Caelus sweatdrops. Now that she mentioned it, he can't help but feel that way.
It took a while as the duo sat next to each other at the bench near the site while discussing something animatedly, mostly about music and all. Then, out of nowhere, they heard an argument from afar as they turned to see the same Bear Thiren arguing with a young black-haired woman. The duo blinked owlishly as they watched the Thiren and the woman arguing.
"For the last time, Grace, you can't just pick up a random drone and decide 'yeah, let me study this for a bit'." The Bear Thiren argues. "This belongs to someone, and if you messed it up, you could be sued."
"Come on, Ben. Let me take a look! This drone is running on an unknown source of energy that has twice the efficiency of a low-quality Ether Energy! I need to know how it works for the sake of my babies!!!" The woman, Grace, begs pitifully.
"..." Caelus stares at them blankly before trying to connect the drone back, which works as he immediately commands the drone mentally to return to him. Both of them were startled by the drone activating all of a sudden as it returned to Caelus' hands, causing Ben and Grace to go silent.
"Thank you for trying to keep my drone from being torn apart," Caelus said to Ben before staring at Grace. "You, stay away from my drone."
Before Caelus could turn around and leave with Astra, Grace already latched onto Caelus's feet.
"You! Let's make babies together!" Grace exclaims shamelessly, causing Ben to jawdrop as his entire body petrified, Astra to widen her eyes comically, and Caelus to have the upper half of his face covered in shadows. Only one thought crossed into their minds.
'WHAT THE FUCK!?!?'
To be Continued