Later
Caelus stares in slight awe as he and Phil walk out of the Sixth Street Metro Station. After a ride that involved being squeezed by a crowd of people, Caelus and Phil are relieved to be out of that nightmare.
"I'm so glad we're out of that nightmare..." Phil mutters while shaking his head.
"How is it so crowded? Wasn't today supposed to be Saturday?" Caelus asks as he pushes Phil's wheelchair while Slyboo sits on his shoulder.
"I think you got things mixed up a bit," Phil says while breathing heavily, wiping some sweat off his forehead. "It's on the weekend when most public transportation is crowded."
"...I thought it was during weekdays because everyone's going to work," Caelus mutters while rubbing his head.
"Nah... (Me too...)" Slyboo mutters while nodding in agreement.
"...you're like a fish out of water," Phil deadpans as they walk through the street. Caelus looks around and can't help but compare everything to the game. It didn't take long for them to find the arcade.
"What game do you want to play?" Caelus asks as Phil muses before lowering his head, not showing his expression. Caelus suspects that the brat may intend to beat his ass in the arcade.
Too bad Caelus had played the game so many times, complete all the achievements for the sake of Polychromes, and even beat people's asses in multiplayer mode. He may not be a pro at ZZZ's combat gameplay, but he is confident in his skill in ZZZ's arcade game.
"How about Soul Hound III? I've played the game before, and it's quite fun!" Phil asks.
"...I was expecting you to never play a game, given how our conversation earlier was," Caelus says.
"H-hey! In my defense, I've been focusing too much on my...side projects. I play games too, you know!" Phil exclaims, trying to hide his embarrassed face before looking away. "Besides...I got no one to play with..."
"..." Caelus feels bad before buying several game tokens, giving half of them to Phil, and pushes his wheelchair into the arcade machine.
"H-huh?" Phil blinks, trying to process what happened.
"Come on," Caelus says with a grin. "We got games to play."
"...yeah," Phil says while grinning confidently, inserting the token while his hands are on the controller. "Be warned, though, I'm very good at this game."
If Phil had taken a glance at Caelus's face now, he would have seen the ugliest psychotic grin a human had ever made in history.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Several Multiplayer Sessions Later
"..." Phil collapses into the machine, looking completely defeated as the screen displays 'Player 1 Wins!'. Slyboo feels a bit bad and pats Phil's back out of sympathy.
"Um, you okay?" Caelus rubs the back of his head sheepishly. He may have taken the game a 'bit' too seriously, and keeps beating his new friend's ass.
"...how? Is there an arcade outside New Eridu?" Phil asks in disbelief.
"Um, yes," Caelus says while shrugging.
"...that's on me. I underestimate you because you're not from here." Phil mutters while looking at the screen in dismay.
"Oh, it's you!" Caelus flinches before turning to his left and seeing Billy of all people in the arcade. Then, Caelus remembers how Billy and the rest of the Cunning Hare faction mostly found on Sixth Street because of Phaethon! Caelus wants to slap his idiotic self for forgetting that major detail!
"Hey, you're the robot from yesterday," Caelus greets him, causing the robot to beam. Can a robot even beam?
"You remember me!" Billy exclaims as he extends his hand. "The name's Billy of the Cunning Hare, nice to meet you, Manager's Twin!"
"It's Caelus, and why are you saying I'm a twin to this 'manager' I never met?" Caelus asks as he shakes his hand. He knows who the manager is and how he looks, but given the circumstances, he can't admit that out loud.
"Well, you look like him," Billy explains as if it were obvious, causing Caelus's right eye to twitch in annoyance. "Oh, you bring your friends here!"
"Yeah," Caelus lets out the sigh before looking at Phil. "Guys, you remember this guy?"
"At least call me by my name!" Billy exclaims while crossing his arms, looking like he's pouting. Caelus wonders how he did that with that kind of face.
"Hi, I'm Phil," Phil waves at the robot nervously.
"Ehn-na, na! (Hi, I'm Slyboo!)" Slyboo greets cheerfully.
"Nice to meet you both!" Billy greets before looking at everyone. "Honestly, I wasn't expecting to meet you guys again after yesterday, in an arcade of all places."
"Me neither," Caelus should've, but he forgets.
"Oh, by the way, I should introduce you to the Manager!" Bill exclaims before looking in another direction. "Oh, manager! I found someone you should meet!"
"Who is it, Billy?" A familiar voice can be heard from the other side as a young man with silver-gray hair, a blue jacket with a black shirt underneath, and black trousers shows himself.
"....yeah, I don't see it," Phil says in a deadpan manner.
"Me too," Caelus says, which confuses the young man.
"Huh? What's going on?" The man asks, visibly confused by Caelus' and Phil's out-of-context responses.
"Billy here says I resemble you, even calling me 'Manager's Twin'," Caelus says while air-quoting the last part. "Unfortunately, I fail to see how we look alike."
"Ah...yeah, I can agree with that," The man says while looking at Caelus from top to bottom. "Sorry about that, Billy is very...eccentric."
"Aww, thank you, Manager," Billy says, looking oblivious.
"....anyways, the name's Wise. Nice to meet you," Wise says as he extends his hand.
"Nice to meet you too, I'm Caelus," Caelus introduces himself. "This is my friend, Phil. And that's my Bangboo partner, Slyboo."
"Hi,"/"Na! (Hi!)" They both greet the manager.
"Hi," Caelus says as he glances at the Bangboo. "You seem close with that Bangboo."
"I suppose," Caelus says while rubbing the back of his head. "So, Billy keeps calling you Manager, but what Manager are you?"
"I'm the owner of the Random Play Video Store, Billy loves calling me that whenever he visits," Wise says calmly. If not for Caelus' knowledge of the ZZZ universe, he would believe Caelus' lies.
"I see..." Caelus merely nods.
"So," Billy decided to join the conversation, putting his arms around both of the man's shoulders. "What kind of games do you play, Caelus? Wanna have a few rounds with me?"
"I play a bunch, and sure," Caelus says before grinning slightly. "Wanna put on a bet?"
"...oh, you're on." If Billy had a mouth, he would try to match Caelus' grin.
"...why do I feel a shiver in my spine?" Phil asks meekly, trembling slightly while hugging Slyboo.
"I think the arcade has turned into a warzone," Wise says while sweatdropping. This ends up attracting other players as both Billy and Caelus compete with each other.
It was an intense battle between two pro players, each constantly upping the other in a round of arcade games. In the end, Billy wins at the Snake Duel and Bizarre Brigade, while Caelus wins at Soul Hounds III and Mach 25.
"W-wow, you're really good..." Billy says as Caelus grins back at him.
"Same to you," Caelus says before they both fist-bump, and everyone who's been watching claps at them. Then, Caelus, along with Phil, Billy, Wise, and Slyboo, all go to the Waterfall Soup for a meal.
"You know, I wasn't expecting any of this when you asked me to hang out..." Phil says to Caelus, who's slurping down his noodle faster than a vacuum cleaner.
"Life always consists of unexpected turns," Caelus says, trying to sound like a wise sage.
"I can't take you seriously when you talk like that," Phil snorts as they both watch Billy keep pestering Wise for discounts while Wise desperately tries to stop Billy.
"...Caelus," Phil says, getting Caelus's attention. "...are you okay? I mean, after what happened this morning..."
"...I try to be," Caelus says with a sad smile. "My parents definitely don't want me to stay moping around, so I will. For their sake...."
"Will you be fine?" Phil asks in concern.
"...I'll try," Caelus says while patting Phil's head. Before he could take another bite of his ramen, he flinched upon hearing another familiar voice.
"Hey, manager! I'm here!" Nicole approaches Wise before leaning closely to him. "Can we discuss more about our...discounts?"
"Nicole, I am pretty sure you already asked for one," Wise says in a dry tone.
"Come on now, manager. Cut me and my faction some slack." Nicole says, pouting cutely at the young man. "It's not easy to earn Dennies these days."
"Then, maybe if you don't fail more commissions than complete them, you wouldn't be in this dilemma," Wise says calmly. "Besides, I'm pretty sure I have to keep tabs on all the debts you owe to us."
"Um..." Nicole instantly moves back, raising both of her hands in surrender. "Never mind then, manager....hehe..."
"Commission...?" Phil mutters with a frown before glancing at Caelus. "Is it possible Wise might be a Proxy?"
"Not sure," Caelus shrugs. The siblings being Proxy would have stayed a secret if not for Nicole intentionally and unintentionally exposing the siblings' identities to Belobog Industry and Section 6, respectively.
"Hmm?" Nicole turns to face Caelus and Phil before she brightens up. "Oh! This must be my lucky day! To think I would encounter you again!"
"....hi, Ms Nicole," Caelus says with a forced smile. He's not ready to deal with Nicole again.
"So, I hope you would reconsider my offer," Nicole says coyly before leaning closer to Caelus, giving the man a sly smile. "Trust me, you won't regret it."
'Hearing Wise's earlier words already fully convinced me not to join your faction,' Caelus deadpanned before looking down at his ramen and blanching.
"....Ms. Nicole?" Caelus says blankly.
"Yes?" Nicole asks, not noticing Caelus' shift of tone.
"....you got your meat sacks soaked by my ramen," Caelus says, causing everyone to blink at his choice of words. Nicole looks down and panics before getting up, trying to wipe off the stains on her chest. Billy laughs at the scene while Wise covers his mouth, pretending to cough when in reality he's holding his laughter.
"My ramen..." Caelus mutters miserably while Phil and Slyboo sympathize. Meanwhile, Anby is walking towards the ramen stand while eating her burger before seeing her boss trying to wipe something off her chest. This makes Anby confuses as she tilts her head.
"What comedic scene had I missed?"
To be Continued