"Hey! Manager Belle, Little Griseo, Lucy, and Kasha!"
They said a day apart felt like three autumns.
And sure enough, Billy, who had been missing for a whole eternity (actually most of the day), called out before he even came through the door.
Belle's eyes lit up. "Billy, you're done?"
"Of course!" Billy puffed out his chest. "Lighter and I tore down the road and brought back every piece of equipment you needed!"
"Thanks for all your hard work! Phaethon without her HDD has no soul, after all." Belle smiled and gave Billy a few more words of praise.
"Oh?"
Lucy's curiosity stirred at the sight of Belle raring to go.
Phaethon was said to be New Eridu's best Proxy. Lucy had once dreamed of becoming a Hollow investigator, so the chance to see her skills firsthand was naturally exciting.
"Proxy, go all out! Whatever you need, the Sons of Calydon will give you our full support!"
Lucy didn't know that Fairy had heard every word of "go all out" through Belle's phone.
In the days that followed, enormous expenses began appearing on the Sons of Calydon's books for no apparent reason.
Even Blazewood's generators started needing repairs every few days from being overloaded.
Caesar, the boss, didn't mind. But Lucy, her second-in-command, ended up chewing her toothpick and grinding her teeth over the bills.
"Hey, Billy! You're back too!"
Before she had finished speaking, another figure burst into the restaurant. Caesar pressed several Carrot Data Recorders into Belle's hands.
"Proxy, all the Hollow data you asked for is right here!"
"Thank you so much, Caesar! Now I can finally show you what I can do!"
An HDD without Carrot Data had no soul. Now she had everything she needed.
Belle accepted the recorders with a smile, then turned to