"Suspicious. Way, way too suspicious."
Belle stood off to one side stroking her chin, deeply suspicious of what Yanagi Tsukishiro had said.
It wasn't that she suspected Yanagi Tsukishiro of lying — it was that she was suspicious of what the hidden hand behind all this was really trying to do.
First the Oboros Squad gets put on leave, and then Anti-Hollow Section 6 gets put on standby.
With all this elite combat power being shelved off to the side, it was practically a flat-out declaration of "I'm about to pull something big."
And right on the heels of that, the most absurd thing of all came up.
With so many unreasonable things being done, not a single person across every faction system in all of New Eridu had actually raised so much as a question!?
Either these politicians were all idiots, or all of New Eridu had been infiltrated to the point of being more porous than a sieve!
"Whichever possibility it is, it's terrible. And at this point, the intel we've got is just way too far behind what the other side's got."
Geno folded his arms with a furrowed brow. Looking at things now, this whole affair was far, far more serious than they had imagined.
Just as the group was at their wits' end, the buzzing of a phone suddenly broke into everyone's ears.
"Hm? Mine? Who'd be getting in touch with me at a time like this?"
Geno pulled out his phone and took a look — it was a text from an unknown number.
"Anonymous? Who's this? Meet me tomorrow at the usual place — I hope your performance this time will be just as satisfying as before~~"
Th— this?! What the heck is this?!
Geno stared at the strange message on his phone, baffled — and that was when he felt several sharp gazes swing in his direction.
"Geeeno~ and just which friend would this one be~? How come I've never heard you or Twiggy bring them up before~ hmm?"
Looking at the smile-but-not-quite-smile expression on Belle's face, she had clearly pegged the sender of this message as some side-piece Geno had on the outside.
Twiggy, off to the side, wasn't as obvious as Belle, but Geno could still pick out a hint of displeasure in her gaze.
Geno hurriedly tried to explain — but he didn't even know who this person was himself, so how was he supposed to explain anything?
Thankfully, he finally found a life-saving straw he could grab onto.
"Wait! This profile picture! I've got it — it's Miss Jane Doe!"
Looking at the little mouse in the avatar, Geno had it figured out: the only person during this whole period who'd had a chance to get her hands on his phone was that undercover lady.
Still — couldn't this gal have given him a heads-up in advance...
"Is that really so? You're not just making this up, are you?"
"Of course not! Heaven and earth can vouch for my loyalty to Twiggy!"
Geno raised a finger to attest to his loyalty — yet everyone present who knew about that Alice business didn't believe a single word of his oath.
In the end it was Twiggy who made her stance clear, and only then did everyone let the matter slide.
"If that's how it is, then first thing tomorrow morning, Geno, you go meet up with this undercover lady and see what exactly she's plotting. The rest of us will take Miss Yanagi back down into the Hollow to keep searching — see if we can turn up any more clues. Make sure to stay in contact at all times."
Geno nodded. He, too, wanted to know exactly what kind of medicine Jane Doe was selling out of that gourd of hers.
And so the group set off into action once again — except little did they know that the situation around this whole business was vastly more serious than they imagined.
————————————————————————
First thing the next morning, after leaving Random Play, Geno made his way toward Lumina Square.
As for the "usual place" Jane Doe had mentioned, Geno couldn't think of anywhere besides that pharmacy.
Sure enough, the moment he caught sight of the pharmacy's signboard, Geno saw Jane Doe — dressed up in yet another get-up — being intercepted by some young lady handing out flyers.
"Miss, miss, won't you really give it some thought? Just for taking a few photos you can earn nearly a month's salary! What an amazing opportunity!"
The moment he stepped close he heard those wolfish lines, and Geno at first thought she'd run into some weird documentary director — only to see Jane Doe immediately link her arm right through his.
"Sorry, I'm just not really used to being in the public eye, and besides, my boyfriend probably wouldn't want me doing modeling work either. Isn't that right, hon~ey~?"
Hon— honey? Who? Me??
Seeing the blank look on Geno's face, Jane Doe didn't show the slightest bit of awkwardness; she just silently stepped on his toes, and only then did Geno snap out of it and play along with what Jane Doe had said.
"Ssss~ Ah, yes, yes, yes — there's no way I'd want my baby showing up on the cover of some weird magazine! She belongs to me and me alone!"
Seeing Geno pick up the cue, Jane Doe at last gave a satisfied little upward curve of her lips.
"Ah, what a real shame. It's a pity, but I totally understand where the young man's coming from. If I had a girlfriend this pretty, I wouldn't be able to share her either."
That solicitor lady wore a regretful expression — but very quickly, she noticed something a bit off.
"? This young man's face looks kind of familiar — like I've seen it somewhere..."
Hearing that, Geno got a strong sense of "uh-oh," and he quickly grabbed Jane Doe by the arm and walked off into the distance.
"You've probably got the wrong person. I've got a real generic face. Anyhow — we've still got things to do, so we'll be heading off!"
The two of them moved fast — before that young lady had even reacted, the two had already vanished from her line of sight.
"? They left? Generic face... someone that handsome calling himself a generic face, how weird... where on earth have I seen him before?"
The young lady, flyers tucked in her arms, walked along racking her memory.
It wasn't until several days later, when she once again saw a news segment about Timefield, that she finally remembered where she'd seen Geno's face.
After that, she realized she had stumbled onto a major piece of celebrity gossip, and she hurriedly made a post online.
Unfortunately, it was pressed down by the merciless hand of capital, and the story quickly fizzled out without any follow-up.
Meanwhile on the other side, after Geno and Jane Doe made their getaway, they bolted at full tilt toward the Hollow.
It was only when they got close to the entrance that the two of them came to a stop.
"There shouldn't be anyone around here, right? Whew~ really now, people fear fame the way pigs fear getting plump — and a dead pig doesn't fear boiling water. Being too famous isn't all that great either."
Truth be told, while Geno did want to be famous, it wasn't this kind of fame he was looking for.
"Oh my~ what are you so scared of~? Don't tell me you've been up to something guilty? Hon~ey~?"
Seeing Geno in such a state of panic, Jane Doe laughed happily from her spot beside him and even started teasing him.
"Quit fooling around with me. Did you call me out here because you've got some news?"
Geno didn't want to keep idly chatting with Jane Doe; he had more important things to take care of.
"So direct~ At this rate, no girl is going to like you, you know~"
Jane Doe gave a faintly playful little smile, then at last got back to the main topic.
"The reason I called you out, actually, is because — I've already made contact. With the mastermind behind that batch of arms. And what's more, I'm about to have a meeting with them very soon. That's the real reason I asked you here."
Hearing Jane Doe say she'd tracked down the hidden hand behind it all, Geno was taken aback for a moment — he hadn't expected her efficiency to be quite this high, and it genuinely caught him off guard.
But — why was it that whenever Jane Doe said she was going to meet with the other side, her tone felt so strange?
It was almost like... the look of someone settling in to watch a show?
____
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