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Aaron Wei needed money badly.
The red-haired swordsman dearly loved visiting the cabaret clubs in the Chardin District and flirting with the ladies. But such pleasurable experiences required lots and lots of mira. And, unfortunately, working as a part-time spriggan was not the most lucrative occupation. And so, Aaron had devised an ingenious scheme to quickly make some cold-hard cash.
Staring up at the white-colored ceiling of the apartment he currently found himself in, Aaron felt himself growing anxious. If only getting this scheme ready wasn’t taking so damn long.
Lifting his head up from the pillow, he glanced over at the silver haired boy working at the desk nearby. “You almost done, Quatre? It’s getting pretty late, you know?”
Quatre Salision’s eyes briefly flickered over towards Aaron before the boy's gaze turned back towards the screen of his orbal computer. With how fast he was typing, Quatre's trained fingers were nearly flying across the computer keyboard. “Aaron, you’ve just been sleeping on the couch for the past half-hour while I got this all ready. I’m sure you can be patient for a little longer.”
XEROS, currently lying on the floor just by Quatre’s chair, let out an affirmative gruff. Moving his right hand off the keyboard, Quatre gently pet XEROS’ head, eliciting quiet purrs from the mechanical dog. Then, Quatre sighed. “I still don’t think this is a good idea, Aaron. Van will be really mad if he finds out about this…”
Aaron snickered as he laid his head back on the pillow. “Eh, what Van doesn’t know isn’t gonna kill ‘em.” Aaron felt a grin cross his face. “Just think about how much mira we’re gonna rake in with this!”
Quatre groaned. “How much mira you’re gonna rake in, Aaron. I told you already that I was only helping tonight as a favor and then I’m done. You can keep whatever dirty money you get out of this to yourself.”
Aaron snorted. Getting Quatre’s help with this little venture was simple. FIO had accidentally broken one of the red-haired man’s ornamental swords while the orbal drone was trying to clean Aaron’s apartment with a feather duster the other day. Aaron didn’t care too much about the sword itself; replacing it would be easy. But he certainly wouldn’t pass up a chance to extract a favor for his benefit. Especially when Aaron needed a bit of technical support at the moment.
After a few minutes of focused typing and clicking, Quatre spoke again. “Okay, it’s all done. The first batch should be printing shortly.” As Quatre pushed his chair back from the desk, Aaron heard the orbal printer on the desk boot up with a quiet groan.
With a loud yawn, Aaron got up from the couch. Shoving his hands in his pockets, the swordsman walked over to the printer running its first of many jobs. Once the printer had finished, Aaron picked up the photo print and grinned. The picture had come out great. The picture, of course, being of a shirtless Van Arkride, sweat dripping down his body as he lifted a rather heavy set of weights.
The idea of working out at the gym had been Aaron’s idea. It’d be a good way for the two of them to stay in shape before the next big crisis happened, Aaron had said to Van. Of course, this also happened to give Aaron a prime opportunity to secretly take lots and lots of photos of Van without the man’s knowledge. Aaron’s close connection to Heiyue over the years had bestowed him with plenty of practice on how to go undetected.
And so, Aaron took some candid photos of Van preparing to work out. He took steamy pictures of Van mid-workout. He took quite explicit pics of Van in the locker room shower afterwards. He knew certain parties would be quite pleased by those last shots in particular.
Aaron ruffled the top of Quatre’s head with his left hand, eliciting a flustered squawk from the tech prodigy. “Nice job, kid! They’ll definitely go crazy for this stuff!”
Brushing Aaron’s hand away from his head, Quatre frowned. “Putting aside you taking these…um…revealing photos without Van’s permission, I still don’t understand why you wanted to print these all out in the first place, Aaron. Wouldn’t sending these all out via orbal mail be a better option?”
Gently patting Quatre’s right shoulder, Aaron laughed. “You’ve got quite a lot to learn about the world, Quatre! You just don’t yet understand the satisfaction of physically buying and opening a magazine to see pictures rather than just seeing them through the small screen of a Xipha,” Aaron said with a grin. “Especially the adult kind!”
Quatre blushed. “A-Adult kind?!”
“Yep!” Chuckling, Aaron turned towards the printer. “Now then, let’s keep printing these bad boys out! We’re gonna need a damn good supply for our demanding customers!”
(When a still-blushing Quatre secretly set aside a few photos of a shirtless Van for himself, Aaron smiled, but said nothing.)
The next morning, Aaron made his way down to Montmart for an early breakfast. He was way too excited about his plans for the day to get anything close to a decent sleep last night. After grabbing a very-much needed coffee from Paulette, Aaron sat down in the booth in the far back corner of the restaurant, giving him an excellent view of anyone that wandered into Old Town’s most popular attraction.
Smiling to himself, Aaron opened up the small black bag that he had brought downstairs with him. Within the bag were several manila envelopes, each one full of steamy pictures of Van Arkride.
Over the past few months of working as one of Van’s many assistants, Aaron had gotten a very good idea of how Van operated. Although Van tried to put up a tough front, the guy was a total softie. The man would always try his best to support those around him, no matter who they were. Furthermore, he was charming and sweet enough that the topic of him struggling with his personal demons would naturally cause those around him to go weak in the knees and think ‘Surely I can fix him’.
All in all, there were a number of people very much interested in Van Arkride. So, if Aaron knew there existed a demand, he’d more than happily provide the supply.
With a determined smile, Aaron pulled his Xipha out of his jacket’s left pocket and flipped the screen open. A few moments later, he had created a new private group chat. After going through his contacts and adding to the group chat several names that comprised his target market, Aaron sent the group a short message.
Got a bit of a special gift for you all.
He followed up that message with an image. It was a picture of Van pulling up the bottom hem of his tight-fitting red shirt to wipe beads of sweat from his neck. The picture gave onlookers a glimpse of Van’s toned abs. Not too overwhelming of a sight, but tantalizing enough to make one intrigued in the message that Aaron sent next.
Want more pics like that one? Or perhaps a spicier view of our dear spriggan? Swing by Montmart for the low, low price of 10,000 mira! Only while supplies last!
Then, ignoring the torrent of orbal messages that quickly flooded the group chat, Aaron closed his Xipha and placed the orbment on the table. Taking a sip of his black coffee, Aaron leaned against the back wall of the booth and sighed as his Xipha continued to repeatedly buzz with notifications.
All he had to do was wait.
In hindsight, his first customer should have been obvious.
After quietly opening Montmart’s front doors and warmly greeting an ever-jubilant Yumè, Elaine Auclair hastily strode towards Aaron’s booth in the back corner of the restaurant, her heels clicking on the wooden floor with each determined step she took. Wordlessly, the woman sat down on the bench across from Aaron. The platinum blonde’s face was flushed as though the bracer had just finished running a marathon.
For a moment, the pair was silent as a scowling Elaine stared at a smug Aaron. Aaron watched a storm of emotions flash in the woman’s turquoise eyes as she tightly crossed her arms under her chest. Still reclining against the back wall of the booth, Aaron simply raised his right eyebrow and waited.
With a reluctant sigh, Elaine opened her wallet and pulled out a thick stack of mira. The woman placed the bills on the table and gently pushed the money towards Aaron.
Grinning, Aaron picked up the mira and, after checking the bundle of bills was indeed the correct amount, pulled one of the manila envelopes out of his bag and placed it on the table. “Pleasure doing business with ya, Beauty’s Blade.”
Elaine’s right hand moved faster than light. Before Aaron could get another word in, Elaine had popped open the envelope and pulled out the pictures. Smirking, Aaron watched Elaine gently bite her lower lip as she flipped through the photos, making sure to give each one a sufficient amount of her attention. At one point, the bracer’s eyes flew wide open in alarm as she let out an embarrassed squeak, likely when she discovered the more explicit photos of Van.
After tucking the photos back in the envelope, a flustered Elaine nervously stared down at the wooden table. “You...you can get more of these, right?”
Nodding, Aaron placed his hands behind his head. “Absolutely!” Then, he felt a teasing smile cross his face. “Still, a lady at your age buying photos of your ex-boyfriend from high school is a bit silly, don’t you thi-
Aaron paused when Elaine swiftly pointed her long and lethal steel sword at his neck. The platinum blonde’s bright smile didn’t quite reach her closed eyes. “Why, Aaron, I surely must have misheard you just now. Would you care to repeat that remark?”
Shifting his neck away from the sharp tip of her sword, Aaron winced. “Sorry…”
Putting her sword away, Elaine kept smiling. “Then, I’ll expect quite a nice discount next time, Aaron. Perhaps you could even give the pictures to me for free? Oh, and me being the first to know when the pictures are ready would be simply wonderful, don’t you think?”
Slumping his shoulders, Aaron groaned. “…Yes ma’am.”
At least she let him keep the money.
After a quick meal prepared by Victor and Paulette, Elaine departed the restaurant to begin her bracer work for the morning. Shortly after that, the other members of Arkride Solutions slowly trickled into Montmart for breakfast. Of course, this also included Aaron’s next customer for the day.
Sitting across the table, Judith Lanster nervously adjusted her black sunglasses. “So, uh, you got the goods?” Judith muttered while cautiously looking over her left shoulder.
Crossing his arms, Aaron narrowed his eyes at her. “Sure, but why the hell are you wearing those sunglasses, Judith? This isn't a mob movie. Besides, you do know that everyone here already knows who you are, right?” It wasn’t like the actress ever did a very good job to hide her identity. Or either of her identities, really.
Judith winced. “W-Well…this is super embarrassing! And uh, I don’t want to cause a scene, y-yeah that’s it!” Then, she glared at him. “B-besides, this is just revenge for Van seeing me naked in Longlai!”
Aaron rolled his eyes. “Why do you care that Van saw you nude? You do realize a shit ton of people have seen your tits and then some in your movies, right?” He felt himself grin. “Certainly nothing to be ashamed of, if you ask me!”
When a furiously blushing Judith gave him the middle finger, Aaron laughed. Then, as the red-haired man turned towards his bag to pull out an envelope, an idea flashed in his mind. “Y’know, you could probably take your own photos of Van, what with your love of sneaking around at night in your skimpy-ass costume.” Aaron shot Judith a bright grin. “Wanna be business partners?”
“W-WHAT?!” Judith slammed her right hand on the table, attracting the attention of the customers at the tables nearby. While Paulette gave them a concerned look from across the restaurant, Judith looked like she was about to pass out with how red in the face the actress had become. “How dare you besmirch the name of the heroic Phantom Thief Grimcat!” She hissed at Aaron. “I would – I mean, she would never do such a horrible thing!”
Despite Judith’s fervent protests, Aaron could tell by the look in her eyes that the actress was seriously considering the idea. Placing the envelope on the table, he sighed. “Fine, whatever. You got the money or not?”
Judith quietly nodded as she pulled out her wallet and took out several bills of mira. But then, after placing a few bills on the table, her eyes went wide in horror.
Aaron’s eyebrows rose up in confusion. “Uh, you good?”
A very nervous expression flashed onto Judith’s face as she turned towards Aaron. “Um…” With an awkward smile, she gently scratched the left side of her face with her left index finger. “…Can I pay you in installments?”
Groaning, Aaron facepalmed. “Seriously!? How the hell does a famous actress like you not have a ton of money on her?”
Judith looked like she wanted to crawl in a hole and hide forever. “I-I’m sorry!” She brought her hands together and bowed her head at him. “My Mom and Grammy make me save my money from my movies and sponsorships, okay? I only get a small allowance each month!”
Pinching his brow, Aaron sighed. “Honestly, Judith, you need to grow a damn backbone.” When he looked over at her, Judith appeared as though she was about to start bawling. “But you gotta pay up if you want these pics. Sorry, but that’s the-“
Then, a new voice cut in. “Oh, I can handle things for her, Aaron!”
Startled, Aaron and Judith both whipped their heads towards the source of the voice. Standing just next to their table was a woman with dark blue hair. She was wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses to hide her identity, but Aaron knew exactly who this woman was.
Judith nearly leapt out of her seat. “N-N-Nina!? W-what are you doing here?”
Smiling, Nina Fenly placed her hands on her hips. “Well, I got the same message you did, Judith. Honestly, you really need to do a better job with your finances!” As Judith stared down at her lap in shame, Nina turned towards Aaron and set down two separate stacks of mira on the table. “Is this sufficient payment, Aaron?”
After quickly counting the bills, Aaron nodded. “Sure is!” He pushed the envelope on the table towards Nina, who quickly opened the envelope and pulled out the photos inside. As a small blush formed on Nina’s face, Aaron grabbed another envelope and tossed it over to Judith, nearly hitting the startled pink-haired woman in the face. “Look at that, Judith. You get to keep your allowance!”
Ignoring Aaron’s teasing as she ripped open the envelope and started pulling out the photos herself, Judith gave Nina a big smile. “Nina, you’re the best! Thanks so much for bailing me out!” Then, Judith looked puzzled. “But why do you…?”
Still blushing, Nina brought her left index finger up to her lips and gave Judith a coy wink. “Oh, I have my reasons, Judith!” Then, turning back towards Aaron, Nina bowed at him. “Thank you very much for this, Aaron. I look forward to seeing the next batch.”
Beaming, Aaron gave Nina a thumbs up. “And this is exactly why you’re my favorite actress, Nina!”
As Nina giggled, Judith let out an indignant squawk.
Staring down at the manila envelope on the table, Risette Twinings frowned. “I do not believe this is a good idea, Mr. Wei.” Her gold-colored eyes flickered up towards him. “Mr. Arkride will be most upset with you when he finds out what you are up to.”
Aaron shrugged. “Eh, we’ll cross that bridge when it happens.” Then, Aaron smiled at her. “But you wouldn’t want to let this opportunity slip away, would you, Miss Maid? Isn’t that why you’re here?”
A deep blush surfaced on Risette’s face. “I-I…” She pursed her lips. “I do not think this would be proper of me…”
Still smiling, Aaron crossed his arms. “Who cares what’s proper or not, Risette? What matters is what you want deep down.” He felt his grin widen. “I’ve seen how you stare at Van sometimes!”
Risette flinched. “I-I-I don’t-!” Then, the security concierge lowered her head, causing her light blue tresses to gently sway. “I apologize for my unseemly behavior, Mr. Wei…”
Aaron winced at Risette’s downcast expression. “Seriously Risette, it’s okay! Sorry for teasing you.”
When Risette nervously averted her eyes from him, Aaron sighed. “Listen, we all know your situation’s a bit complicated, but that doesn’t mean you need to hold yourself back, okay? Just think of all this as a chance for you to be, well, you, I guess. I’m sure Van wouldn’t disapprove of that one bit.”
Even if this was all technically at Van’s expense, Aaron bemusedly thought.
After a moment, Risette turned her gaze back towards Aaron and nodded. “I understand. Then, I shall pursue these feelings of mine to the best of my ability.” She placed several bills of mira on the table. “I believe this should be enough for my purchase, yes?”
Collecting the money from the table, Aaron nodded. “Yep. Have at it, Risette.”
With a soft smile, Risette gently opened up the manila envelope. Then, as she went through the photos, the blush on Risette's face got more and more vivid. When her eyes registered the last picture, a snapshot of Van’s toned backside mid-shower, Risette swiftly appeared as though she was about to spontaneously combust. “O-Oh my…!”
Then, after taking a deep breath, Risette tucked the photos back in the envelope before nodding at Aaron. “Thank you for this, Mr. Wei. I shall eagerly await the next set of photos.” Then, Risette blushed once more. "I do hope to see other angles of Mr. Arkride next time..."
Aaron grinned. “No problem. Hope you look forward to it!”
This was going great.
And then the next person stopped by Aaron’s table.
Renne Bright took a careful sip of her tea before placing her cup on the ceramic saucer. Then, the purple haired girl delicately folded her hands together and placed them on the table. “My apologies, but I have no intention of purchasing your photos this morning, Aaron.”
Flummoxed, Aaron narrowed his eyes at her. “Then, why the hell are you even here? Just felt like throwing a tea party?”
Renne winked at him. “Oh, I just thought it’d be best to speak with you face-to-face this morning, Aaron. I very much appreciate the message you sent us all, but I must apologize. I already have all of your photos.”
Aaron froze. “Wha-? How do you-“ Then, realization dawning over him, he facepalmed. “Right, I forgot who I was talking to. Damn hacker.” Aaron grumbled as he glared at Renne. “So what do you want, if not the photos I took of Van?”
Her gold-colored eyes twinkling in delight, Renne tittered. “You seem to misunderstand, Aaron. I have all of your photos.”
Aaron felt a chill run down his spine. “You what?”
Resting her chin atop her right palm, Renne smirked at him. “I must say, I don’t think that childhood friend of yours would be very pleased if a few of your…private photos of your evening affairs in Edith were to suddenly make their way into her inbox, do you?”
Aaron blanched. Ashen would castrate him if she knew what he got up to these days. “W-what do you want?” He nervously repeated. He tried to not think about what this girl had discovered in his photo library. Knowing her, Renne had probably already saved tons of copies as insurance.
Still smiling like a cat that caught the canary, Renne closed her eyes. “Oh, nothing at all. Just…keep it mind, won’t you?” She then gave him a half-lidded stare. “It would be such a shame if you didn’t take more pictures of Van for me, don’t you think?”
Aaron silently nodded.
After swiftly finishing her tea, Renne got up from her seat and, with a sinister smile, curtsied. “Now then, if you’ll excuse me, Aaron.”
As Renne walked away with a pep in her step, Aaron nervously sipped on his cup of coffee.
Van was involved with too many dangerous people these days.
The next person that wandered over to Aaron's table was even more dangerous, if also very much unanticipated.
Staring in confusion at the woman now sitting across from him, Aaron frowned. “I definitely didn’t add you to the group chat. I don’t even think I have your number.” He blinked. “How the hell did you even find out about this?”
Her hands resting behind her head, Shizuna Rem Misurugi grinned. “Aww, did our little dance together at Aramis a while back mean nothing to ya, Aaron? Aren’t we like family?”
Crossing his arms over his chest, Aaron narrowed his eyes at Shizuna. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Shizuna shrugged. “Well, I was in the area and my Van radar was tingling, so I thought it’d be fun to stop by!” Trembling in excitement, she pushed the hefty stack of mira on the table towards Aaron. “Now then, my photos please!”
The visit from the Divine Blade had been unexpected, but Aaron wasn’t going to punch a gift horse in the mouth. Especially when that horse could kick his ass or probably worse. He quickly pulled an envelope out of his bag and tossed it over to Shizuna. “Sure. Knock yourself out, lady.”
With a wide grin, Shizuna tore open the envelope and went through the photos. “I see, I see…” Nodding, she checked another photo in the collection. “Oooh, nice angle!” When Shizuna got to the last few photos, Aaron could see hunger in her bright blue eyes. “My, my, Van~”
Once she finished looking through the photos, Shizuna nodded towards him. “Well, these pictures are actually pretty good, Aaron. Thanks for printing ‘em!” Before Aaron could reply, Shizuna got up from the table and stretched her arms above her head. “But if I wanna get a better view, I might as well go see the real thing for myself, right?”
Aaron frowned. “What the hell do you mean by that?”
When Shizuna smirked and started walking away from him, Aaron shot up out of his seat and slammed his hands on the table. “What the hell do you mean by that, you crazy woman!?” He yelled at Shizuna’s back.
As a laughing Shizuna left the restaurant, Aaron internally apologized to Van for whatever hell he just unleashed.
Eventually, Aaron finally saw the person he’d been most excited to see. Cause this person was absolutely loaded. As well as absolutely head over heels for Van.
Grinning, Aaron brought his hands behind his head. “Damn, I was wondering when you were gonna show up here! Would’ve thought you’d be here bright and early!”
From across the table, Agnès Claudel frowned at him. “Aaron, you do know that my dorm is across the city, don’t you?” She crossed her arms under her chest. “Besides, I had to help with some student council work this morning before I could make my way over to the office.
Aaron sniggered. “Look at you, being all goody two-shoes to start the day!” He shot the blonde girl a teasing smile. “And now you’re gonna balance that out with buying some lewd photos of your boss? You really have changed, haven’t you, Agnès?”
With an enormous blush on her face, Agnès scowled at him as she pulled out a thick stack of mira and placed it on the table. “Just give me the photos, Aaron.”
But, when Aaron then made to reach his right hand across the table and grab the bills, Agnès suddenly slapped her hand atop the money. Aaron felt his eyebrows rise. “Uh, is something the matter?”
Now tightly gripping the money, Agnès narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you really giving out all of the photos you took of Van, Aaron? You aren’t holding anything back, are you?”
Aaron innocently smiled at her. “Hmmm? I don’t know in the slightest what you’re talking abo-
Suddenly, Agnès dropped another stack of bills onto the table. The mira made an audible thud as it hit the surface of the wooden table. The money was more than double the height of the first stack that Agnès had placed on the table just moments ago.
Stupefied, Aaron silently stared down at the new pile of mira. When he heard Agnès clear her throat, Aaron glanced up at the smug blonde teenager sitting across him. “I trust that this will be sufficient for everything, Aaron?”
Aaron wordlessly nodded and turned towards his bag. After pulling out the normal manila envelope and setting it on the table, Aaron pulled out a small black envelope. Staring down at the envelope, he sighed. He had been hoping to save these photos for next time, but there just wasn’t a chance he was going to be able to pull a fast one on Agnès. The girl had picked up way too much from Van these past few months.
“Here you go,” Aaron muttered as he gently placed the black envelope on the table. “I wouldn’t open that envelope now though. Best to do it in private.”
Puzzled, Agnès picked up the black envelope and, ignoring Aaron’s warning, opened it. When the blonde pulled out the photos, Agnès squeaked in alarm and quickly shoved the photos back into the envelope. “W-W-W-WHAT THE!?” The blonde’s face looked like it had been engulfed by an inferno. “T-t-t-t-t-that was-!”
Aaron grimaced. He had figured full-frontal shots of Van would cause an extreme reaction. At least he now knew he could charge extra for those types of pics next time.
Incredibly flustered, Agnès glared at him. “T-t-t-this is highly inappropriate, Aaron! How could you do this to Van without his permission!?”
Frowning, Aaron crossed his arms. “…Do you want me to take the envelope back?”
He watched a mix of frustration, anxiousness and horror cross the blonde’s face. Then, blushing as brightly as an orbal streetlight, Agnès nervously stared down at the table. “N-No! I’ll keep it…”
Aaron snickered. “It’s been a pleasure doing business with ya, Agnès.”
As a still-blushing Agnès made her way out of the restaurant and up to the office, both envelopes clutched tightly against her chest, Aaron felt quite pleased with himself.
“Man, I came out with a nice haul today!” Aaron said as he stared down at the pile of mira stuffed in his bag. He certainly wouldn’t need to worry about running low on funds for a while. After zipping up the bag, Aaron closed his eyes and smiled to himself. “Now, then, which place should I hit up first?”
Then, a new voice cut in. One that Aaron knew extremely well. “Oh, I’ve got a few ideas in mind, jackass.”
As his eyes flew open in surprise, Aaron felt an immense pressure on his right shoulder. Yelping in alarm at the sudden pain in his shoulder joint, Aaron nervously turned his gaze towards the source of this sharp pain.
With a firm hand tightly gripping Aaron’s shoulder, Van Arkride was smiling down at the red-haired swordsman. “How’s it going, Aaron? I’ve heard you’ve been quite busy this morning.” Van said. Although there was a bright smile on his face, the spriggan’s tone indicated that he was anything but pleased at the moment.
Aaron weakly chuckled. “H-hey, Van. What’s the big idea?” He tried wiggling his shoulder out from Van’s grip, but to no avail. “You’re up a little early, aren’t you?”
Van kept smiling at him. “Oh, I was sleeping until just a short while ago, Aaron.” The strength of his grip on Aaron’s shoulder intensified, causing Aaron to grimace in pain. “Did you know that Shizuna broke into my room and climbed into my bed earlier? Without any of her clothes on?” Van whispered as he leaned toward Aaron. “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you?”
His eyes wide in terror, Aaron rapidly shook his head. “O-of course not! You and I both know that chick just does whatever she wants, Van!”
Van hummed. “Really? Cause Shizuna, when she wasn’t trying to take my damn clothes off, seemed to be pretty insistent that you had given her the idea, Aaron.” As Aaron felt a deep pit form in his stomach, Van glared at him. “She also showed me the pictures you took of me, you bastard!”
Aaron knew he was likely dead in the water, but he still had to try and wiggle his way out of this mess. “I-I mean, Shizuna could have taken those pictures herself, Van! You remember when she snuck into our bath in Langport, right?”
Van pursed his lips in thought. “Maybe.” Then, just as Aaron thought he might possibly be in the clear, Van pulled out his Xipha. “But I happened to get messages from several other people this morning. They said the same thing Shizuna did.” Van smirked. “Also, I just talked with Agnès a moment ago. She said she saw you give Shizuna those pictures just before Shizuna visited me. Interesting how that works with your story, huh?”
Aaron’s eyes grew wide in horror. The girls had all sold him out to earn brownie points with Van. Even worse, Agnès had sneakily passed the buck like she was totally innocent in this matter and definitely not carrying around nude photos of Van.
Aaron sighed in complete defeat. “Fuck.”
Van chuckled. “It’s what you deserve, Aaron.” Then, releasing his grip on Aaron’s shoulder, Van shoved his hands into the pockets of his blue coat. “I’ll deal with the photos later, but for now, let’s go.”
Aaron felt a confused expression cross his face as he looked up at Van. “…Go where, Van?”
Van grinned. “Well, you’ve got some extra funds, don’t you? I figured the two of us could go try out all of the limited time dessert specials around Edith! It’ll be your treat, Aaron. How about we start with right here in Old Town? Oh, and then we could go over to Trion Mall and Centre Marché and-!”
As Van closed his eyes and rattled off the very expensive sweet and sugary delicacies he wanted to taste that day, Aaron wept for the loss of his short-lived revenue stream.