Another morning. With the Virtual Homicide incident at HIA finally wrapped up, Geno had also welcomed a new member into the family: the Bangboo, Little Geno.
It may look like a Bangboo, but its intellect far surpasses that of an ordinary person... ahem. Wrong show.
It may look like a Bangboo, but it is in fact an Ethereal that came into being because of Geno.
For a whole tangle of reasons, though, Little Geno had ended up adopted by Geno, promoted to family member (household pet). And because of that, the electricity bill had gone up right along with it.
"I used to think Fairy's appetite was unbeatable. Turns out there's always a bigger eater out there."
Geno looked over this month's power bill and slapped it down on his desk.
"Can somebody explain to me why this month's electricity bill has literally doubled? Even if you eat as much as Fairy does, it shouldn't jump this high, should it?"
For the record, Fairy might nominally belong to the Proxy siblings' camp, but the electricity she lived on came out of Geno's household budget. Geno was Fairy's actual meal ticket.
And even so, Fairy's bills had never gotten anywhere near this ridiculous.
But in the handful of days since Little Geno moved in, the meter had started spinning so fast that the power company sent this month's bill over ahead of schedule.
"I don't get it. How can one Bangboo eat this much power? Is your battery nuclear?"
"You misspeak. As the sages said, one never tires of finely milled rice, nor of finely sliced meat. There are differences between one current and another, you know."
Little Geno's tone had gone stiff and scholarly out of nowhere, as if it intended to talk its way out of this.
"In plain words."
"Fairy and I held an electricity tasting gala, and we invited every Overtime Bangboo in the office to come eat power with us."
Geno's eyelid twitched. Then the doubt set in.
"Nonsense! There's no way the Overtime Bangboo would gang up with you two! They're good kids!"
Tireless workers, helpers who came the moment you called, model employees who never once made excuses when overtime rolled around (provided the overtime pay rolled around too) - in Geno's book, the Overtime Bangboo had a far better reputation than these two power-stealing bandits.
"I told them you were treating."
"Well, that explained everything. That explained... like hell it did!"
"You two dragged my name out and used it as a banner!"
"Isn't that building up your authority as the boss? Carrot and stick, ever heard of it?"
Thanks so much for that.
"Forget it. Just don't do it again. It's not that I won't let you eat - this house can still afford the two of you - but tell me first, at the very least."
Mostly, Little Geno had already put the word out, so scolding it any further wouldn't accomplish a thing. He might as well chalk it up to buying a little goodwill.
"Then can I apply to do it again sometime?"
"Get lost! (ノ`)ノ"
Little Geno scampered off in high spirits, looking exactly like a miniature copy of Geno himself.
"Ugh, my head hurts. How did I never notice I was this annoying?"
"Now you know how much I used to put up with from you."
Little Geno hadn't been gone long when the office door swung open again. It was Twiggy.
"You actually have time to come see me today? No experiments?"
On any normal day Twiggy was buried in the lab, fussing over one thing or another. If Geno didn't go to her, she never came looking for him.
"The latest project is finished. Further optimization of the wristband and the preliminary testing have already begun, so there's nothing for me to do at the moment."
Twiggy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and settled casually onto Geno's lap.
Geno knew the drill. His arm went around her slender waist without a thought, and the two of them melted into each other.
"By the way, where's Alice?"
After that brief bout of tenderness, Geno remembered that he didn't have only one companion at the lab. Why hadn't Alice shown up?
"Alice's school term started. She won't have time to come to the lab for a while."
"Ah, I see..."
That one was on him. He was too busy most days, and every trip to the lab was spent chatting with the two of them about daily life and warming up the relationship, so he'd genuinely forgotten Alice was still in school.
"When you get down to it, she's still just a kid."
"True enough."
The two of them, whose ages combined might not even match Alice's on their own, sighed over it together.
"There's one more thing. Number Four's side sent new word."
With the moment of closeness over, Twiggy turned to business.
"Oh? Xiaoren has fresh intel?"
Geno knew Xiaoren had been sent to work undercover. He'd run into her once inside a Hollow, but afterward she'd gone straight back out on assignment, and this was the first he'd heard of her since.
"Mm. The intel on the Rebel Soldiers' camp was handed over to the Mayor and the others a while back, and the Defense Force is preparing to wipe the camp out."
When they'd cleared the previous Rebel Soldiers camp, the Defense Force had spent all that time drilling tactics and stockpiling supplies, determined to avoid tipping their hand and to end things in a single strike.
Along the way they'd also rooted out quite a few spies and moles hiding in New Eridu.
"Xiaoren did send word back, but the intel is vague. The gist is that the Rebel Soldiers are preparing something big. She's still digging into exactly what."
The window had been short, after all. Getting a clear picture that fast was never easy.
"Still, I have a feeling. Like something serious is coming. We need to get our defenses up in advance."
Twiggy's brow furrowed as she said it. Ever since the Section Six incident, a bad premonition had been sitting in her chest and refusing to leave.
She'd passed the intel to Number Eleven and the others first, then come to Geno looking for a little peace of mind.
Geno didn't have any brilliant answers either, but he offered comfort all the same. "Don't worry. You've got me. Whatever happens, I'll be right beside you."
His arms tightened around her. Their fates had been wound together long ago, and no matter what ugliness the future dragged in, neither of them would ever leave the other behind.
Right now, though, Geno had something else he wanted to deal with far more urgently.
"Say, hasn't it been a long time since we did that?"
"Did what?"
That.
At first Twiggy didn't follow what he was talking about. Then she felt a certain heat coming off her boyfriend, and her face went scarlet.
"Honestly, what am I going to do with you."
She brushed at her hair again. Her words feigned exasperation, but the curve at the corner of her mouth gave away what she really felt.
The next moment the world spun. When it steadied, Twiggy found herself scooped up in Geno's arms.
"Come on, my little lamb!"
Geno carried her out and pulled the office door shut behind him. What went on past that door is not for outsiders to hear - those who know, know.
____
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