After what felt like half an hour, the seven of us soon made it out of the hollow, but not without some mysteries.
Belle, or someone else, had led us outside the hollow, and something about the blue eyes disturbed us.
The cunning hares on the other hand, didn't show much of a concern, not until we had made it outside.
"Is-Is Belle okay?" Billy asked me, I was kneeling in front of the bangboo, staring at it, only for the blue to turn back into green.
"Ehna? Na-na ehna!" Its body language showed that it was happy, but it didn't lower my concern.
"Seems it's something else, Nicole, take us to the video shop." I stood up and dusted my pants, and turned to face her.
"Now hold on, who made you in cha-." She was cut off when Hella coughed, tapping her pipe against the palm of her hand.
Hecate on the other hand, was gripping the sketchbook in her hands tighter, slowly creasing the cover.
"Alrighty then, everyone, let's go!" She said with a pale look on her face, I then turned around, only to see Hella smiling innocently, while Hecate remained neutral.
I then shrugged and was about to enter the car, only to realize that none of us could fit.
"Welp, seems all of us can fit, but that's okay, you guys can take the subway, that good? Great, see you at sixth street!" She said quickly, pushing both Billy and Anby, Eous was in her arm and Solon started the car.
After she sped away, the three of us looked at one another, Hella was growling and gripped her water pipe tight.
"That little shit stain left us, chief-!" I raised my hand to stop her and shook my head.
"Don't call me that, no one knows about mania, sinners, or the MBCC. That means we are unprepared, we lack funds, and have no way to communicate back home." I explained, Hearing this, Hecate stood closer to me, holding my sleeve.
"It doesn't matter, I will always protect you, ch- I mean, Eros." When she tried to say my name, her face showed uncertainty, not knowing how to feel after saying my name.
"Sure, but look on the bright side, we have a clean slate, let's go!" Hella said excitedly, jumping up and down.
Only for me to place my hand on top of her head, stopping her from jumping.
"Just because you have no records here, doesn't mean you can cause any trouble." I said, hearing this, her mood dropped and she clicked her tongue.
"Such a kill joy." She muttered, Hecate on the other hand spoke once again.
"Still, it's best if we meet them at the location, do you know where to go, Chi- Eros?" I was about to say something only for the three of us to hide behind a wall.
"Are you sure you heard voices over there? It's awfully close to the hollow." The sound of a woman was close by, the three of us peaked around the corner, to see PubSec officers close by.
"I swore I did, besides that, I thought I heard the sound of a car." Said another voice, the three of us could only stay hidden.
"Hecate, can you have nightmare distract them?" I asked her, she only nodded her head, sending nightmare to where the two people are at.
Once it got close enough, it began to fly past them, looking for something to use, it then found a small pile of metal barrels stacked on top of one another.
Seeing this, nightmare swung its arm, knocking the barrels over, catching the two peoples attention.
As soon as the two of them left, the three of us took the chance to run back to the city.
After asking for directions, we soon arrived back to sixth street. As we arrived, the first place we went to was the video store.
As the sound of a bell signaled our arrival, Wise was the one who exited the staff room.
"Eros, I'm glad that you're here, and it seems that you were able to get your companions." He said with a smiled.
"Yeah yeah, nice to meet you too plain boy, got any snacks lying around?" Hella asked, peaking under the couch for any spare crumbs.
"Um, no, but I can treat you to some ramen if that's fine." Hearing this, Hella speed up to him and wore an innocent look.
"Oh thank you, I'm starving after sleeping for so long." She said, her eyes began to fill with fake tears.
"No worries, but first we have someone who has something to say." He then led us to the back, and once we had entered, we saw the cunning glares all on the floor.
The three of them were kneeling, and Nicole had a sign around her neck that said: I'm being punished for leaving an important figure behind.
As soon as NIcole saw me, she smiled and jumped at me, hugging me with a smile on her face.
"Oh Eros, I knew you would make it out!" She rubbed her face against my chest and hugged me too tight.
"When the three of us came back, they thought we abandoned you, but that's not true, tell them that's not true!" I didn't know what she said to them, I turned to both Wise and Belle.
"Nicole told us that you volunteered to stay behind, giving them the chance to run away. Is that true?" I looked at Nicole, who was silently begging me to lie.
Meanwhile, Belle and Wise waited for my answer. Seeing the two choices in font of me, I began to think of the pros and cons.
If I told the truth, not only will I loose valuable connection, I could receive the help of a famous proxy, giving me access to multiple jobs that can help us gain money quickly.
But if I lied, not only will I have a place to work, but I could have a roof for the three of us, and have connections to multiple people.
I was about to answer everyone but something was happening to the monitors.
{Chief…. Respon… chief Er… please re… need… stronger connection!}
[Alert, unknown signal detected. Master, may I terminate the signal?] I was taken black by the strange voice, soon, all of us saw what looked like an eye.
"This may sound rude, but, when did this happen?" I asked both Wise and Belle.
"Oh, uh, it happened a few hours ago." Belle said with a nervous chuckle.
{Chief Eros… nightingale… please respond!} The voice was then heard once again, and it was slowly becoming cleare.
"That's adjutant Nightingale, how is this possible?" I muttered, listening to the voice that was calling out to me.
[Master, it seems the one called Eros, recognizes the voice, shall I strengthen the signal?]
"Uhhh. Yes, do that." Belle replied, soon one of the monitors began to change, glitching until I could see the command center, with Nightingale in front.
"Chief is that you?" She asked me, seeing me through the monitor on her side, I sighed and chuckled.
"Yes, good to see you again, Nightingale" I replied, she then sighed, rubbing her hand through her hair.
"I would say the same if it weren't for the situation on our end." She replied, she then turned her head behind her, calling out to someone.
"Bring it up!" She shouted, soon, a small picture frame showing every sinner that I had ever captured, all of them were marked with a missing sign.
"After you had been sucked away into what ever that thing was, all the sinners had disappeared, and the mania has lowered by ninety percent." Hearing this, my concerns began to grow.
"What about the B rank sinners?" Asking this, I saw her shaking her head, I could only sigh at the problem.
"I see, for now, maintain a look out for any new sinners that appeared, I don't want the people in Dis City to panic." I ordered, Nightingale nodded and soon began to relay my orders.
After the transmission had ended, I sighed and sat down on the couch. While both siblings and cunning hares looked at me with concern.
"Uh, Eros, are you okay?" Wise asked me, I only nodded my head and closed my eyes.
"Sorry, it's just… I'm already exhausted just by giving orders." I replied.
"You must have had it rough when you were working over there." He commented, I only nodded my head.
"The amount of paper work I had to deal with, is enough to make a politician to look at me with pity." I stated, remembering the stacks of paper.
"Now, back to the favor I am owed." I changed the topic, staring at Nicole, who rolled her eyes and held up her hand.
"Yeah, yeah, I find a place for you and those sinners, no need to rub it in." She huffed.
"Let's go you too, we got a job to do." Nicole said, leaving with Billy and Anby in tow. As soon as they left, Hella was the first to speak.
"Thank fuck, that girl was annoying, she's reminds me of Golan, always wearing the newest fashion trend." Hella complained.
"Uh, are you sure this kid is allowed to swear? She seems a bit to young." Hearing Belle say this, Hella snapped and began to shout.
"Who you calling a kid?! I'll make you eat those words, I'll shove this metal pipe down your throat and make you- Mmhp mmmhp!" I jumped up and placed my hand on her mouth, preventing her from go on a rant.
"S-sorry, Hella doesn't take kindly to those who call her short, or a Kid." I explained, holding her down to stop her from hitting anyone.
"I see, sorry about that." Belle apologized, but Hella continued to struggle in my arms, Wise on the other hand approached Hecate.
"Do you want anything to drink, to eat maybe?" Hecate only stared at Wise, causing him to feel uncomfortable.
"I-I'll just ask later." He said and soon approached me and Hella.
"So, now that things have calmed down, what are you guys going to do next?" He asked me, once Hella had calmed down, I began to think.
"For now, I have no clue. With the lack of funds and resources, there's not much we can do." Hearing the situation for the three of us, both Wise and Belle looked at one another.
"Well, if you three don't have a place, why not stay with us?" Wise suggested, Belle nodded right behind him with a smile.
"Are you sure, we don't want to cause problems for the both of you." Wise only smirked, while Belle crossed her arms in an c in front of her.
"It's the least we could do, after all, you did help us save Eous." Belle said and hugged her bangboo.
"Well, it's only fair if we do our fair share of work." I stated, Belle then grabbed both Hella and Hecate, rushing out the staff room.
"Is she…" Wise nodded his head and then turned to where the three of them were, with a look of pity on his face.
"Yeah, she's more social than me, and more energetic." He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.
"No worries, I've dealt with my fair share of enrgetic people." I smiled and patted his shoulder.
"Really? You seem the kind of guy who wants to sleep all day." I could only smile at his statement.
"I can't blame you for thinking that way, but when you stay up late and deal with paperwork, you somehow stay awake with only two to three hours of sleep." This caused Wise to look at me with concern.
"Don't bother, I've tried to ask for a break, but if I do, there's ten stacks of paperwork for me to deal with." Wise could only look at me with pity, and patted my shoulder.
[This is not a joke, he deals with multiple paperwork everyday, even I can't do anything about it, believe me, I tried.]
"Still, the only thing you need to do, is help around in the video store, maybe help promote the place." Wise said.
POV BELLE
I had to admit, talking to the two girls in front of me, was a bit more difficult than I expected.
Talking to the both of them was like talking to Nicole and Anby, however, instead of wanting dennies, Hella was asking for sweets or any kind of snack.
Hecate herself, well, I already stated that it was like talking to Anby, so no need to dwell on it too much.
"So, that's it? Just say, hey come on down to Random play, where you can find every movie or show, you can find!" I nodded my head at her words.
"Exactly, that way, you can have money to buy a new home." Hecate only clutched her sketchbook and nodded her head.
Soon, the door chimed, and in came a customer. Seeing them, Hella approached the customer with a bright smile.
"Hello mister welcome to Random play." She said with a childish voice, the customer themselves was taken aback, but smiled at Hellas attitude.
Hella was able to speak to them with ease, slowly showing off the selections that we had, luckily, we had assigned a section for each movie.
One for romance, one for horror, one for comedy, and one for documentaries. Soon, the customer made there way to the cash register, where I proceeded to help them rent a movie.
Once they had left, I was impressed at how easily she was able to convince the customer to rent a movie.
"Oh, uh, thanks, it's not that hard when you gotta talk to those kinds of people." She said in her normal attitude.
"Oh, really?" Hecate then appeared next to me, scaring me. I didn't even notice her moving from her previous spot.
"She has always used a mask, pretending to be an adorable girl." Hella only rolled her eyes, not surprised on what she said.
"Of course I have to act like that, ya think anyone's gonna to want to listen to an asshole?" I was about to answer her, but I had nothing to counter her words.
Fair enough, also, good job on your first sale." Hella only smirked and puffed her chest in pride.
"Of course it was, you think I'm just gonna freeload off you guys?" She said with pride, only for Hecate to stare at her.
"Yes, you ask chief for extra money when you wish to buy sweets." Hecate said, causing Hella to stiffen and look away.
"Whaaaat? You don't know what you're talking about, besides, doesn't the chief buy you new sketchbooks when you finish using one?" She asked, Hecate nodded.
"Yes, because I like drawing, maybe you should lay off the sweets to not gain weight." Hella wanted to refute her words, but with what she said, she couldn't say anything.
"Wow, I didn't know you could do that." Was all I said.
[Wow, who knew Hecate had claws, besides that, they are finally settling down into their temporary new home, who knows what place they'll live in, hope it's nice, hope it has a pool. Anyways, send those power stones to sho support, yes, I'm saying it right. Bye Bye!]