Eous looked at the woman behind the front counter with a confused leer. He received a far more judgmental one back until he finally spoke up.

"Uh, morning..." He greeted, deciding to roll with whatever was going on.

"Morning." They quickly replied, crossing their arms.

Belle swiftly flew out from the back office with a grin. "You're back! Eous, meet Eliza! She's our newest hire for the store, and our... side hustle, too."

Eous glanced back over to Eliza, getting a much more appropriate look at someone he'd be associating with from here on out.

Shoulder length, uneven-wavy, platinum blonde hair, oddly soft pink eyes, and rosy cheeks with fair skin. Her height was a bit under Belle's, but her confident demeanor made up for it, he assumed.

Eous gave a brief wave, making the girl's brow raise at the clear contrast of his attitude before.

"You're surprisingly more than I thought you'd be, Nova." The woman held out her hand.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eous asked out of curiosity, shaking her hand with respect while he was at it.

"Any guy willing to run around in that outfit has to be a loon, but you seem to have a good head on your shoulders." She gave a thin smirk as their hands parted.

Belle giggled and pat his shoulder. "While that's debatable, he always gets the job done. Before we open, I wanted you two to get a bit acquainted in the back office while we get the TV ready to record."

Belle waved them to follow after her into the back office as Bangboo six opened the door for them.

"What's the tv got to do with us being buddies?"

"You seriously forgot already?" Belle glared at Eous.

"The Vision Demolition Case proceeds in a few days." Eliza explained, taking the seat furthest right on the couch.

"And our old buddy Nicole is gonna be on TV representing the Canvas Street residents in court! And of course since we've got some credit in exposing Vision, I think it's worth putting the trial on tape." Belle elaborated.

Eous chuckled and wagged his head. "Yeah, only took getting my ass kicked."

Belle and Eliza chuckled too, before the former turned on the tv. "Ridu TV is streaming it right now."

•

"Welcome to this special preview of the Vision Demolition Case! I'm reporting to you live from the helicopter pad atop Janus Quarter's Security Bureau." The gruff reporter's voice boomed through the mic.

"In a few moments, Charles Perlman— the accused— the Cunning Hares representing the citizenry, and others involved in the case; will as typical, will travel to the New Eridu Supreme Court a day early to await trial in the special court-of-law airship.

The court proceedings will be streamed in full, and citizens are encouraged to follow the proceedings from home—"

"Nicole, the airship is almost here, and you haven't finished packing..." Anby stopped eating her burger to announce.

"And! And on that note, Nicole, do you really need to pack so many things for court?" Billy asked, heaved over a suitcase filled to the brim in other packages so much that it wouldn't ever hope to close.

"What do you know!" Nicole held up a soft pink suit jacket and short dress in the mirror. "The whole city's following this case. In other words, it's a chance for us to make a name for ourselves— so, of course, I want to make sure I'm putting my best and prettiest face forward!"

She suddenly snatched a stack of papers from the suitcase, nearly making Billy fly off from the sudden twitch it made.

"I even printed off some flyers about us to pass around to potential clients out in the gallery!" She exclaimed, showing off the custom prints with glee.

Nekomata suddenly handed Nicole her buzzing phone. "Sounds like a message~!"

Nicole was about to thank her before nearly dropping the phone in horror.

"Nicole? What's wrong?" Nekomata questioned.

Nicole took a slight breath. "N... Nothing."

"Oh! Is it another debt collection message from one of our loan sharks?!" Nekomata guess with concern.

"N-Nuh uh! Put a sock in it!" Nicole moved her face away from the phone and turned away. "We don't owe anybody any money these days...!"

The three gave doubtful stares.

"Expect Nova..."

The stares lingered.

"Okay, and five loan sharks— but that's irrelevant here!"

"Nicole, what's going on?" Anby asked.

Nicole sighed and turned the phone to her, but all that was seen was several blank messages, continuing to pop up at least every few seconds.

•

Eliza side-eyed the snoring Eous in disbelief at how fast he conked out with the news on.

Belle ignored it, far more used to it than she, and sighed at the tv.

"I never thought they would have to debate over every single detail. No wonder Nicole's been so worried about this case—"

"NOVA!"

"AGH!" He shot up, falling over the couch as he lashed out his tails, nearly smacking Belle and Nicole, who had just barged into the back room in a hurry.

The three video store employees turned to see Anby and Nicole file into the room after he fell.

"Hello there, Proxies." Anby greeted, sparing Eliza a curious glance.

"Morning, Nicole, Anby. What are you two doing here— Wait, shouldn't you be on the way to the airship right now?" Belle leered at Nicole skeptically.

"That was the plan, but I think there's something I need to discuss with you first or else I'll be distracted in court!" She was surprisingly honest.

Wise slipped into the room too, patting Bangboo Six as he did. "What's going on?"

"It's about the hacker Rain, the one you wanted to decrypt the Belobog Memory Unit." Nicole grew serious, deciding not to question the newbie on the couch.

"Nicole, for the love of all that is holy, if you are just now waiting to tell us that you're not actually close with Rain, so help me—" Belle's furious rant was stopped by Eous covering her mouth.

"What?! Of course not! You can doubt anything about me but not my connections!" Nicole fired back. "Even if Rain is the hottest new thing on Inter-knot, she will still back me up."

"Nicole, we trust you. Just let us know how we can help." Eous responded.

"Well, some weird stuff has been happening to her recently. Those close to Rain, including me, get weird blank messages from her every now and then. At first, we didn't think much of it, but then it went on for a few weeks, and now, it's like she's disappeared into thin air!" She explained.

"Allow me to assess whether these messages are truly blank." Fairy appeared from Eous in front of Nicole.

Nicole handed Eous the phone, and Fairy's eye emit a scan over the messages he scrolled down.

"Partner, my analysis confirms that these messages contain absolutely no additional content." Fairy announced. "However, the sender's location is not encrypted. Coordinates to the Ballet Twins buildings acquired."

"D-Did you say... the B-Ballet Twins?" Nicole stammered, her face going pale.

"Ballet makes you scared?" Belle mused.

"You must not care much for urban legends, Belle." Anby replied. "Lately, there have been popular rumors of paranormal events happening there. People say that there's—"

"Quit it, Anby! Enough!" Nicole lightly jabbed her arm in a hush tone.

However, that was all Eous needed.

Nicole felt a tap on her shoulder before seeing Eous' white claw looming over her.

She squealed and flung herself forward, stumbling around into him with a grunt. "Boo." He joked.

With a growl, she elbowed his stomach and put him in a headlock. "Now's not the time, damnit! Ordinary people can't transmit data in and out of Hollows like you guys, so how could she be sending messages from there?"

"Well, I'm almost certain Fairy isn't mistaken. And since you've got places to be, we'll take to investigating the matter. Mind if Anby and the others tag with Eous?" Wise requested.

"Well, since I won't have them in court, sure." Nicole gave a thumbs up, releasing Eous from her hold. "And, I guess you'll need this."

She leant Belle a picture of Rain's appearance. Awfully young lass for her line of work, but who were they kidding, huh.

"Wait, that's Rain?!" Belle questioned in disbelief.

Wise leaned over and hummed. "Didn't expect her to be a regular."

"Never seen her before." Eous shrugged, making his siblings unamused at his lack of awareness.

"Well, I'll leave Rain to you since I've got a blimp to catch. See ya!" She took off in a rush, likely behind on schedule.

"It's great to be working with you all again, Nova. I see you've brought on a new addition." Anby gave a small nod to Eliza. "I'm Anby Demara. That was Nicole Demara."

"Eliza Caden." She nodded back.

"Well, never a dull moment. Small vacay, eh?" Eous nudged Belle with a grin.

"You're still on 'forced-leave' after this." She replied with sass.

"Yeah, sure, sure. You ready to scoop up Billy and Nekomata?" He asked Anby, pacing to the door.

"Eous, Eliza is driving." Wise exclaimed.

"What?! Why?—"

"You don't have a license. And it's difficult to get you one, sure, but you all look far less suspicious with someone who's not an agent with you." He explained.

Eous rolled his eyes, but wouldn't complain when the new hire hadn't done him any wrong.

"Well, won't turn down a chauffeur." Eous dropped his shoulders and let Bangboo Six open the door for them.

"Don't call me that." Eliza muttered as she passed him.

"Hey, Eous." Anby made sure to greet him specifically, patting his shoulder as she walked by.

"Later." Eous waved at his siblings as he left.