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Nicole walked out of the Coff Cafe drinking her coffee. She much preferred getting coffee in other places, because that machine guy was way too sharp–every time she tried to pull one of her tricks. He always saw right through her. However, she was too lazy to walk further than Sixth Street.
But as she sat across from the giant Mr. Panda Plush, she saw two familiar figures walk by. She’d recognize the blue-haired girl in the jacket and the black-haired girl with fox ears any day. “Huh?”
The fox's ears turned in her direction about a moment before the thiren herself did. “Hm?”
“Miyabi, what is it?” asked the girl next to her.
“Belle? What are you doing with Miss Star Student here?”
Nicole was pretty sure she already knew the answer herself. Belle was no stranger to hanging out with everyone she met, including many important people such as the Overlord of the Outer Ring, the president of Belobog Heavy Industries, or even a PubSec captain. At first glance, this seemed to be little more than a mere step up from those figures–although there was something a bit off about how that fox looked at her.
“Oh, Miyabi and I? We were just going to go to the sushi place to pick up something to eat.:
“Miss Nicole of the Cunning Hares,” Miyabi said, “It’s good to see you’re doing alright after- um…”
Nicole noticed that Miyabi stopped herself mid-sentence. Either she wasn’t supposed to mention the incident with that Bringer freak in public, or she wasn’t sure but decided to not take any chances.
“Anyways, want to come with?” Belle asked.
“No thanks, I’m not hungry.”
It was still on the earlier side for her to eat something. But Nicole couldn’t shake the idea that there was something weird going on here. It almost definitely had something to do with the fact that Miyabi couldn’t take her eyes off Belle.
“Alright, Just don’t forget to-”
“Saturday,” Nicole interrupted, “I’ll have the twenty-thousand dennies for you by Saturday.”
Belle shot an unamused look at Nicole. Miyabi grabbed Belle’s hand.
“Let’s go,” the fox thiren said.
Nicole finally sat down and took a sip of her coffee. She watched Belle and Miyabi take a seat at General Chop’s noodle place next door. Nicole had nothing else to do, so she decided she might as well see what these two were up to. She couldn’t gaze at them for too long–Miyabi was probably keen enough to notice her if she did.
Belle looked happy, but… she looked unusually happy. Nicole hadn’t seen her smile like that so often since… Hold on, had she ever looked this happy before?
Also, Miyabi still couldn’t stop looking at Belle. Had Belle even noticed?
Oh my god.
Nicole finally realized what was going on.
These two are DATING!?!?
Every time Nicole glanced over at them, it was something new. First, Belle was yapping at Miyabi to her heart’s content. Then, it was Miyabi watching Belle scarf down her food while leaving her own dish practically untouched. Then, it was Belle’s cheeks getting red as Miyabi rubbed a bit of sauce off the sides of Belle’s mouth.
Oh no. They’re completely clueless.
Nicole was forced to watch the seemingly endless tension between the two. Miyabi’s longing gaze. Belle’s bright smile. The fact that the two were just so close , but neither seemed to be making moves.
“Oh my god, just kiss already!” She blurted to herself.
When she saw Miyabi’s ears briefly flick in her direction, Nicole felt as though she had mere seconds left to live. Her heart felt like it stopped for a moment. She quickly tried to go back to looking like she was focused on drinking from the now-empty cup of coffee.
Luckily for her, it seemed that neither of them had noticed her remark. Eventually, the two got up, and thankfully, neither of them walked past her after they both said their goodbyes. Belle went straight back into Random Play, and Miyabi walked past Enzo’s to the bus stop.
Nicole breathed a sigh of relief, as she got to live another day. She got up and walked away from the coffee store.
“Hmph,” she mumbled to herself, “Just for that, I’m delaying your payment until Sunday.”
There were clunks and grunting noises coming from the alleyway.
Officer Zhu Yuan knew this could only mean one thing: a fight had broken out. Acting almost on instinct, she pulled out her weapon and dashed into the alley.
“Halt! Drop your-”
Zhu Yuan ran into the alleyway, but by the time she reached the source of the noises, the fight was already over.
There was a pile of four gangsters unconscious on the floor, plus a malfunctioning bangboo. But standing over the gangsters were two people she recognized all too well: Belle, the blue-haired proxy she was friends with, and an old comrade, the Void Hunter Hoshimi Miyabi.
Zhu Yuan quickly examined the gangsters again. Thankfully, there were no clear cuts from a blade, nor was there any lingering frost. There were some bruises on their heads. They had likely been knocked out from blunt force trauma. Miyabi had not unsheathed her blade.
“Officer Zhu Yuan!” Belle greeted. “It’s nice seeing you here!”
Miyabi was still silent.
“What happened?” Zhu Yuan asked, moving in closer to check Belle for wounds (she wasn’t worried about Miyabi, who could defend herself just fine). “Did they hurt you? How did the fight start?”
She moved in closer to examine what looked like a bruise on Belle’s left cheek.
Suddenly, Miyabi grabbed Belle and pulled her away from Zhu Yuan. The officer looked at Miyabi. Zhu Yuan swore she saw some sort of fire in those eyes of hers, but one blink later, it was gone.
“I’m sorry,” Miyabi apologized, letting go of Belle. “I don’t know what came over me.”
“Okay…” Zhu Yuan trailed off. “Um, what caused the fight here?”
“I saw this little bangboo malfunctioning over here, and I wanted to fix it,” Belle replied, gesturing to the still-malfunctioning bangboo.
“She insisted that we fix it,” Miyabi added. “She seems very good with bangboo repairs.”
Not surprising. That’s a necessary skill for proxies .
“Then all these bad guys jump out of nowhere and start threatening us,” Belle continues, “But before I can even react, Miyabi just starts beating them up!”
“One of them hit her in the face,” Miyabi added. “They hurt her. I couldn’t let that happen.”
Huh? She seems to be pretty protective of Belle…
“Anyways, you arrived just a few seconds after Miyabi took these guys out,” Belle finished.
“Alright,” Zhu Yuan said, “I don’t think I can drag these four back to the precinct myself. I’ll have to call some reinforcements. You two, I’m going to need you to come with me. I’m going to need to ask you a few questions, just as a formality.”
An anxious expression formed on Belle’s face.
“Don’t worry, This is just standard procedure. There won’t be any questions related to your identity as a proxy or an informant.”
“Oh, that’s a relief,” Belle replied.
Zhu Yuan called some nearby officers, and they dragged the gangsters into the precinct for questioning.
Zhu Yuan first interviewed Belle about the incident, before doing the same with Miyabi–such was standard procedure. As Miyabi acted in self-defense, no charges were filed against her.
By the time the Zhu Yuan was done with Miyabi\, the sun had set. Zhu Yuan walked with Miyabi out of the precinct. It was time for her to go home as well.
Much to Zhu Yuan’s surprise, Belle was still waiting. Miyabi had been held up for a few hours longer than Belle, so Zhu Yuan thought she would have gone home by now. And then, Zhu Yuan saw something she knew was a rare occurrence: Miyabi’s face practically lit up when she saw Belle. During all the time Zhu Yuan had spent with Miyabi, she had very, very rarely seen that happen. Maybe she had never seen that happen at all.
“Belle. You waited for me.”
“Yup! I even got you a meal to-go. I figured you’d be hungry after all that.”
Belle held up what appeared to be a wrapped sandwich. Miyabi took it from Belle’s hand.
“Thank you,” Miyabi replied.
Zhu Yuan exchanged her goodbyes with the two. Belle grabbed Miyabi’s hand, and they walked away.
Zhu Yuan considered herself good at reading emotions, as her job as an investigator demanded it. But she had trouble believing what she saw. Miyabi was that happy around Belle?
“I noticed that Miyabi’s ears perked up and her eyes dilated when she saw Belle,” said a familiar voice beside Zhu Yuan. She looked over her left shoulder to see her automaton companion Qingyi standing beside her. “Plus, I detected both of their heart rates increasing when they saw each other, as well as prolonged eye contact. You probably noticed this too, right, Officer Zhu Yuan?”
Zhu Yuan didn’t know how to respond.
Despite being a massive celebrity, Astra Yao still liked mingling with common folk in the city. Her celebrity status made it difficult, so she had to wear a disguise.
Today, Astra had drifted to the Reverb Arena. There was nothing specific she wanted to do here, she just enjoyed the place’s vibe.
She was getting a tad bit hungry. She decided a snack would be nice, so she went over to the snack bar to buy one.
Suddenly, an unexpected figure approached her. She turned to face this person–it was the chief of Section 6, Void Hunter Hoshimi Miyabi.
“Miss Yao?” Miyabi asked. “I met you at the New Year’s festival, right?”
“Um...who is this ‘Astra Yao’ you speak of?” Replied totally-not-Astra.
“I never said your first name. Besides, your ‘disguise’ isn’t very good. Six people were looking at you, compared to only three looking at me.”
Astra looked around. Indeed, A total of none people were looking in this direction, some of whom looked away after realizing they were spotted. But how was it that this fox could tell who was looking at who?
“Hey, Miyabi!” a familiar voice said from afar.
Miyabi’s ears flicked toward the direction of the greeting, and suddenly, Astra saw a face that was all too familiar to her: Miyabi’s eyes widened, and a small smile appeared on her mouth.
Oh my.
She had seen this face so many times before–it was practically the same face Evelyn made whenever she saw Astra.
“Belle,” Miyabi spoke softly, “You’re here.”
The sudden softness of Miyabi’s voice, compared to how it was a few seconds ago, was all too obvious to Astra.
Miyabi put her hands on Belle’s sides, one step away from a hug. A huge smile spread across Belle’s face.
Belle then noticed Astra standing next to them.
“Astra!” Belle exclaimed, “You’re here too!”
Astra hesitated to respond, trying to come up with some witty response to deny that she was indeed the famous singer Astra Yao. But at this point, it was a futile effort. She had to concede.
“Yeah, I just like to hang out here sometimes. I’m not here for any reason in particular.”
Miyabi’s ears twitched again.
“A group of my fans is approaching,” she said. “I will dismiss them. Wait here.”
Miyabi strode towards the entrance.
Astra watched Miyabi walk away until she was certain Miyabi was out of earshot–or at least, far enough away to not hear exactly what she was saying. Those ears of hers seemed to be pretty good if they could detect a flock of fans she couldn’t even see (for a brief moment, Astra allowed herself to wish she was a thiren, so she could have similar hearing capabilities).
“Psst, Belle,” Astra said quietly.
“What is it?” Belle replied.
“Did you see that face when she looked at you?”
“Huh?”
“That face… Belle, she practically melted just from seeing you.”
Belle raised an eyebrow.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, that’s the same exact face Eve makes whenever she sees me.”
Belle’s eyes widened. Astra’s relationship with Evelyn wasn’t exactly public, but there was no way Belle wasn’t in the know. Judging by her reaction, she made the same connection Astra had made.
“A-Are you saying… Are you saying that she… she’s into me!?”
Miyabi approached, the fans had been dealt with. Astra shot a wink at a dumbfounded Belle.
“I’ve dealt with the fans,” Miyabi said. “I distracted them by running away from here. I managed to escape their view and then sneak back in. I doubt they will think I’ve come back here.”
Both Astra and Belle were analyzing Miyabi’s expression. The fox thiren seemed to be ever so slightly more emotive than she was during her public appearances.
“Hmm?” Miyabi asked them both. “Why are you two looking at me like that?”
Astra tried her hardest to hold in a giggle, and Belle tried to stop her cheeks from becoming red. Only the former succeeded.
“Well, it was a pleasure meeting you again, Miss Yao,” Miyabi said to Astra, dropping the previous topic (much to Belle’s relief, Astra imagined). “Belle, let’s go.” There was no add-on from the stunned proxy.
The two walked away, and Astra smiled to herself.
Her stomach rumbled. She remembered she had neglected to buy herself the snack.
It was another uneventful day at the HAND headquarters. There had been another meeting today. One which Chief Hoshimi Miyabi did not attend, as usual.
Deputy Chief Tsukushiro Yanagi sat at her desk. After the Chief failed to show up yet again, she relegated herself to dealing with the task of sorting through the endless pile of forms, files, and folders that were piling up on her desk.
Yanagi heard footsteps approaching. She looked up to see a pair of red fox eyes looking back at her.
“You’re late, Chief.”, Yanagi said with a concerned expression on her face. “The meeting was three hours ago. Just what were you doing this time?”
“I went to lunch with Belle,” Miyabi responded without missing a beat.
“Lunch?” Yanagi questioned. “Miyabi, the sun is down.”
“I know. I just… enjoy spending time with her.”
Yanagi looked at the Void Hunter. Usually, the Chief’s face was expressionless, if not very close to it. However, ever since the fight against Bringer, Miyabi’s behavior has slowly changed., especially when Belle is present. Sometimes, Belle would bump into the Section 6 crew at Scott Outpost, and Yanagi saw the difference for herself: The cold, unexpressive Chief faded away into someone who seemed genuinely… happy.
Yanagi had once considered herself the person closest to her Chief. But then, she saw Miyabi open up in a way she never had. Perhaps, she had thought, it was because of Belle’s cheery personality. But it quickly evolved into something else. First, Miyabi’s originally poor non-excuses for missing meetings simply became, “I was with Belle.” Then, she began to talk extensively about her excursions with Belle, and then about Belle herself.
There was only one conclusion to make: Miyabi had fallen for Belle, and she had fallen hard .
“Miyabi, you seem to have been spending a lot of time with the Proxy lately,” Yanagi said. “I’m starting to worry it might impact your work.”
“Quite the contrary,” Miyabi replied, “Meeting with Belle helps with keeping me motivated.”
A slight, rosy tint appeared on the fox’s cheeks as she thought about Belle.
“I see,” Yanagi responded. “And what reason do you have for going to see her so often?”
“I just like being with her. Her smile, her voice, her touch… everything about her reminds me about why I fight to eradicate the Hollows.”
Her touch ? Are they already that close?
“I see,” Yanagi responded. “And how would you describe your relationship with Miss Belle?”
“She’s a very good friend and a great ally. Also, I think a lot about her. It makes me feel… good.”
Oh. It seems like she’s entirely clueless.
Silence. Awkward silence.
Yanagi spoke up.
“Miyabi… How often do you think of her?”
Miyabi stopped to think.
“If we aren’t including dreams, I’d say I’m usually thinking about her for around… fifteen to seventeen hours a day, perhaps.”
“Miyabi, that’s…” Yanagi paused mid-sentence, re-adjusting her glasses. “That’s every waking hour.”
“Yes, I know.”
There was another awkward silence.
“Miyabi, Have you considered that maybe…”
She trailed off. She had to consider her next words carefully.
“...Maybe, she means a lot to you, because… Because you like her.”
“Yes, I like her very much,” Miyabi replied.
Yanagi sighed.
“Miyabi, you have feelings for her,” Yanagi said bluntly.
Miyabi thinks for a few seconds. Her ears twitch
“Oh,” Miyabi muttered.
Yanagi noticed that Miyabi’s breathing grew heavy, and her eyes widened. Yanagi was certain Belle was the only thing on her mind right now.
“Belle…” she muttered to herself. “I… I want Belle.”
Wise was used to important people showing up at the Random Play store. Both he and his sister have made lots of friends in the past few months as a result of their work as proxies. Sometimes, he or Belle would even bring some of these people to hang out.
But whenever Chief Hoshimi Miyabi of Section 6 arrived at the store, it was never to rent a tape. She would always head up to Belle’s room. As time went on, this became a much more common occurrence. Eventually, Belle would spend a large portion of her free time just to go out to see the Chief. It didn’t take long for “Chief Hoshimi” to simply become “Miyabi” for Belle.
Wise was woefully unprepared for it to evolve further than that.
One day, Belle went out to do some promotion for the video store. At about noon, Wise got a message from Belle saying she wanted to grab something to eat for lunch. Wise continued to run the store as the afternoon turned into the evening, and then into the night. But as Wise began to close down the store, Wise noticed that Belle still had yet to return. He nervously checked his phone–still no new messages.
Usually, Wise would have just assumed she would be staying the night at the HIA’s VR place, but if he remembered Belle’s plans correctly, she probably wouldn’t be anywhere near Lumina Square.
Wise had no other option but to turn to the machine overlord in the back room of their shop.
Wise put the “Closed” sign outside and went into the “Staff Only” back room. He hopped into the chair of the HDD system, and Fairy’s “face” appeared on one of the monitors.
“Fairy, do you know anything about where Belle is?” Wise asked, wasting no time.
“Negative,” replied the AI. “It is unlikely she faces significant danger, given that there have been no new Hollow warnings since her last message. I have determined that the most likely scenario is that she has simply forgotten to tell you what she’s doing tonight.”
Suddenly, Wise felt his phone buzz in his pocket. It took him less than a second to pull it out. Just as he was hoping, there was a message from Belle:
“Sorry I didn’t tell you earlier, but I’m staying the night at Mimi’s place.”
“Staying the night at… Mimi’s place?” Wise read over the message with confusion. “Fairy, we don’t know a ‘Mimi’, do we?”
“Clarification: While we do indeed not know anyone named ‘Mimi,’ Master is referring to Chief Hoshimi Miyabi.”
“Huh? She gave Miyabi a silly nickname?”
“Oh no, it would appear that Second Assistant is completely clueless.”
Wise blinked.
“I… What?”
“Master and Chief Hoshimi have been in a romantic relationship for over a week.”
If Fairy had a mouth, she would be wearing an impressive grin.
“She’s… what!?” Wise asked.
“Restatement: Master and Chief Hoshimi have been in a romantic relationship for over a week.”
Wise sat in silence. He put his hand to his head.
“My sister… is dating Chief Hoshimi Miyabi?”
“Affirmative,” Fairy replied, “Additionally, Master and Chief Hoshimi have been showing affection for each other for about a month. Conclusion: Second Assistant is awful at reading human emotions. As a result, his romantic chances are likely much slimmer.”
“I… uh…”
He couldn’t think of a response. That was one point for the machine overlords, zero for humanity.