Eous couldn't help the twitch in his eye under Belle's mischievous gaze from behind the counter.

Ellen hummed into the lollipop in her mouth, not oblivious to the stares from the other customers in the video store. Eous looked down at the tail coiling around his waist and frowned.

"Ellen—"

"Don't be a wuss. With how much trouble you get into, it's either this or a collar." Ellen looked between two tapes, now discovered to be ignoring the odd stares they got.

"At least hurry it up, you can get both..."

"Ms. Rina only gave me enough for one." Ellen smirked and tugged him closer, making him stumble into her. "Which one do you think someone like a ghost would watch?"

"L-Like a ghost? Don't you mean likes ghosts?" Eous asked in confusion.

"Yeah, sure."

"Well, this one is far more supernatural and has actual story. This one is just a gag reel to be honest." He pointed to the left and right tapes respectively.

"Cool. Wait here, got it?" She walked away with both tapes, making Eous glare in annoyance.

As Ellen rented both tapes through Belle, Eous checked his phone and saw a message from Anby and Nekomata.

Both reached out to ask what he was up to, and it was far more clear that Anby wanted to hang out.

'This isn't a date, I think, and the two have very similar vibes. Would they be cool...?' Eous shook his head very quickly. 'I wouldn't want someone to do that to me, so I'll just play it safe.'

He texted her that he could hang in a few days, and she was quick to reply that she was down. He smiled and slipped his phone away before seeing Ellen leering at him skeptically.

"Ye-Yes...?"

Ellen eyed him up and down, holding out the bagged tapes to him with a thin smile. "Hold these for me. Let's go."

Eous did as asked swiftly and followed her out of the video store.

•

"W-Woah. This place is humongous!"

"You've never been to Lumina Square?" Ellen asked with a smirk.

"Nope. There's not much here for me business-wise. Well, I guess that VR club thing could be of interest..." Eous eyed the H.I.A. building with a hum.

"Hollow Rider is crazy fun. They've almost got new monsters to fight every week. Which reminds me, they're struggling to get data on that Ethereal you killed."

Ellen seemed almost proud of him doing it, so he chuckled and smiled at her snobby look.

"Let's hit the cafe, cause I've gotta know how you did it."

•

Eous jerked his head back seeing Ellen begin to open sugar packet after sugar packet. One, two, three, five, eight, twelve...

"Corin was right—"

"Not a word."

"Yes, ma'am." He closed his eyes and took a sip of his iced Frappuccino.

"So, how'd you do it? I mean, Corin didn't really go into detail about how strong you were, she just said you were some goodie-two-shoes."

"What? My work is literally illegal. I'm not a goodie-two-shoes..." Eous took another sip before looking at his drink in confusion.

"I asked for Mocha..." He mumbled after tasting caramel.

"You want to go fix it?" Ellen asked with concern.

"Nah, caramel is cool too. Everyone makes mistakes, no need to press them about such a harmless one." He replied with a smile.

Ellen gave a satisfied leer. "Yup. Goodie-two-shoes. Same one who took out the big bad of the Dead End Hollow. How'd you do it?"

Eous took a second to think on how to explain it, taking a bite of his panini with a hum. Before he could create a summary, Fairy appeared and slid a video playback over to Ellen.

Looking between it and the holographic pixie in shock, her jaw hung loose. "That... that's the thing that told us where to take you out of the Hollow?"

"Uh, this is—"

"Fairy. His AI companion and assistant."

"That..." He gave a nervous smile before peering over at the video screen Fairy displayed. "You recorded that?"

"I record all battles for proper data analysis of your powers and Ethereals to add to our database for future reference." Fairy explained.

Ellen began the video and immediately winced seeing him get snuck from behind. Eous grimaced and looked away in embarrassment knowing she would see him get his ass kicked.

Ellen subconsciously ate her croissant and drank her coffee, completely enamored by the footage— finding it far more entertaining than any movie she'd seen so far. Even the H.I.A.'s VR club didn't have content like this.

Seeing Eous get Ionized like the Dead End Butcher made her lightly gasp and pause the video.

"Can you zoom in?" Ellen asked Fairy.

The picture closed in on Eous' portrait, showing off his radiant eyes and blazing hair. The claws on his hands made her blink in confusion before looking at his hands.

Eous flinched and hid his hands under the table with a frown. "What...?"

"Uh, no offense but... what exactly are you?" Ellen bluntly questioned.

"An unknown entity with human, Ethereal, and Technological components. The peak of biological evolution." Fairy answered for him, volume dropped as to not alarm anyone in the vicinity.

Ellen saw the shame on Eous' face and rubbed her arm. "Sorry. Didn't mean to be so rude. I... didn't wanna beat around the bush."

"It's fine. I understand being curious about... this." Eous awkwardly leaned down and took a sip of his Frappuccino.

Ellen pouted and lightly kicked his shin. "Your claws are cute, stop hiding them."

"What's cute about looking like an Ethereal?" Eous squinted his eyes and placed a single hand back on the table.

"Because it's you." Ellen said with a shrug.

Eous stared forward, unable to respond except using the same hand to continue eating his panini with a blush.

"She is very impressive at flirting." Fairy whispered rather loudly, making Ellen smirk.

"What do you wanna do after this? I've still got a few hours before I have to check in at headquarters." Ellen nodded to the rest of Lumina Square, but pressed play on the video again to see him demolish the Dead End Butcher.

Eous looked around and tried to find some place of interest, but he was pretty overwhelmed by such a big city. The mall had to have more to it than the eye could see.

"Woah! You're actually crazy strong! You destroyed this thing like it was nothing..." Ellen awed at the final blow and the near erasure of the massive creature in a single attack. "You might be stronger than the H.I.A.'s forces..."

"I doubt that. They've been doing this far longer than I have." Eous finished his panini with a lax smile.

Ellen followed his lead and swiftly finished her croissant. "Well, you sure are the strongest Proxy I've ever seen. So, arcade cool?" Ellen asked with a smirk.

"Sure!"

•

For someone super sharp on the battlefield, Eous was surprisingly clumsy when it came to table hockey.

"I am detecting a second lapse in judgement with each strike. It is slowing your reaction time drastically." Fairy explained.

"I keep thinking she's gonna do something else! This is so confusing!" Eous struck the puck, but before he knew it, it was already back within his reach.

Ellen lazily swat the puck with a constant grin, her tail swishing like a metronome in delight that she was beating him four to nothing.

Eous slightly overshot his strike and sent the puck into his goal at an off angle, making him groan.

"Man, fighting games are way easier..."

"I doubt you'd have a better time there, bud." Ellen seemed rather confident in her skills after his rather lackluster display at table hockey.

Fairy shook her head and flew over to Ellen. "Negative. You don't understand what you're signing up for."

Ellen scoffed, spinning the 'stick' on its handle with a smirk. "That so? If he and his little AI can't see a feint when it's right in front of them, I doubt they can block my mix ups in Krazy Impact."

Fairy shook her head and turned to Eous. "I recommended using all of your skill to ensure she doesn't speak ill of your capabilities again. Warning: this may affect her impression of you as this is a date."

Eous scratched his cheek and pulled Fairy back to his shoulder. "Don't be mad at what I'm about to do."

"You talk a big game for someone who went O'n four in—"

•

Ellen clenched the arcade cabinet in frustration. If she had all day, she'd have kept herself glued to the stool spending every last moment until she collapsed rematching him.

She looked to her right and saw Fairy shaking her head in disappointment, having full well known the outcome of her fruitless endeavor.

"You can't be serious..." Ellen mumbled.

Eous was nearly hungry again after the hour and a half he spent going through the 30-character roster to teach her that he wasn't to be messed with.

He playfully yawned before being smacked upside the head by her tail. As he eased his head, he turned to see Ellen loading up the next round with puffed cheeks, swishing around a lollipop in her quiet tantrum.

"Don't you have to clock in? We can't have you losing all day—"

He was cut off by the same lollipop being shoved in his mouth.

"Fine, fine. Hopefully today's just training. I could use a nap after this." She stood up and ruffled his hair. He swat her hand away and stood up too, waiting for her to lead the way.

"You want this back?" He asked holding the lollipop out.

Ellen shrugged. "Nah. You hold on to it. Suitable prize for the try-hard." She began walking away with a satisfied smile on her face seeing him flustered.

"Huh?! If that's the case, I insist. The widdle baby might need her pacifier for later." Eous teased, but kept the lollipop with a grin.

Ellen pulled his ear and led him to the escalators. "Shut it. I don't wanna hear it from the guy who can't hit a puck straight. Thanks for the likes on Inter-knot by the way."

"Ow— wait, what?! You posted that?! That's low hanging fruit and you know it, I've never played before!"

"Partner, I believe this is what they call provoking. Should I pull up her IP addre—" Fairy was silenced by Eous stuffing her into his jacket.

"Hell no, we save that for people who piss off Belle in League."

"No way your sis stoops that low—"

•

"Hey, they say the wrong things and karma catches up. Not my fault I'm said karma." Eous shrugged as the two left the mall.

"Fair. I suppose I've done worse to people after our clients." Ellen nodded her head in understanding.

Eous flinched and gave her a side-eye. "Wait, we don't actually do anything with the address, it's just a scare..."

"Oh. Yeah. Us too." Ellen continued to nod, but he wasn't buying it.

A sudden shrill caught the two's attention. They turned around in time to see someone's car speeding down the sidewalk in their exact direction.

Many pedestrians had luckily evaded the speeding vehicle's rampage, but it was far too late for the two to dodge the incoming two ton bullet headed their way.

Eous' eyes sharpened as he turned on his heel and lowered his claws with a wave of Ether.

Unbeknownst to the two, others were ready to take action, but weren't as quick as he was.

Eous braced for impact before being reeled back by the full force of the near 70mph sedan ramming into his body just after a blue blur tackled Ellen out of the way.

Eous slid on his heels and stifled a scream as his arms fought against the weight of the car, but his body's cries were alleviated when an electro-charged staff slammed into the ground and stopped the sedan.

Eous slid back and fell on his ass with a wince, looking up to see there was a decent Eous-sized dent in the driver's grill and hood, far more apparent than the linear staff-shaped one...

"Agh! Damn, I'm gonna feel that one in the morning..." Eous slowly got to a knee, his arms and chest feeling exactly how someone who got hit by a car would feel.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?!" A woman frantically asked, running over with Ellen jogging behind her.

"Me? I'm fine." Eous replied with a grin, earning an unamused leer from the smaller woman who helped him stop the car.

The taller officer didn't look convinced either, kneeling down to check his arms. "Um... Are you sure? You took the full force of that car? And you're okay?"

Eous glanced at his claws before waving his arms in denial. "Yeah, I'm fine. Promise. I think you guys should probably check on the... you know, the driver?"

Zhu Yuan, the taller officer, flinched and turned to the unconscious driver in the sedan. Qingyi barely spared the man a glance and kept her eyes on Eous.

Eous took the time to gesture Ellen to get to work, jerking his head ever so slightly. Ellen caught the look and slowly paced away as the crowd started to build around them.

Successfully getting out of dodge, Ellen would make sure to pay him back for taking the rather tedious fall for her. Painful fall too.

Eous stood up and rubbed his arms as Zhu Yuan retrieved the man from behind the wheel.

As an ambulance began to round the corner and arrive at the scene, Eous wondered if he could make his great escape too. He took a single step before feeling a hand clamp down on his shoulder.

"We'll need you to stay back for a statement, kid. Sit tight, will you?" Qingyi continued to leer skeptically.

"Well, I don't know exactly what happened here. It kinda just... hit me... and, uh, it's getting late—"

"W-Well, if it's no issue, we can escort you home afterwards!" Zhu Yuan strut over with a warm smile. "It would really help having all accounts of the accident."

Eous scratched his head and looked away. He couldn't bear to look someone so earnest in the eye and inconvenience them. "Well, I mean... I guess if it'd help."

Qingyi jerked her head to Zhu Yuan in disbelief that her asking had a greater effect. 'This little brat...'

"Thank you so much. We'll also be sure to accommodate you for your time and any injuries." Zhu Yuan pat his shoulder with a grin.

"Thank you, but that won't be nec—"

"No, we insist. If we had acted quicker you wouldn't have been hit." She began guiding him towards the station with an apologetic nod.

Qingyi shook her head and followed after with a frown. 'Well, guess her looks got the job done. What's this kid so scared of...?'