Astra, pleased with the answer, smiled happily. At the same time, a cool sea breeze swept past them.
"...The wind is indeed a bit strong. Let's head down! To Reverb Arena, the last stop of today's journey!" she said as she took the lead and stepped forward.
This time, however, Astra actually took Wise's hand.
Already accustomed to her behavior, Wise instinctively tightened his grip. A soft warmth settled in his palm, and Astra didn't seem to mind at all.
Soon, the two arrived at Reverb Arena.
As soon as she entered, Astra's attention was drawn to several Bangboo gathered together nearby, and she curiously walked over.
"Look! These Bangboo seem to be doing something really interesting. You brought your translation device, right?"
As Astra spoke, she looked at Wise with expectant eyes, and he naturally didn't refuse.
Once the translation device was turned on, the two finally understood what the Bangboo were discussing.
It seemed they were holding an Astra Yao Impersonation Contest.
"Imitating who?"
Wise was slow to react for a moment.
'There's really a contest like this?' he thought, slightly surprised.
Meanwhile, Astra, standing beside him, seemed thoroughly amused.
"Hahaha, there really is! I wanted to come when I saw this post on Inter-Knot, but I didn't expect all the contestants to be Bangboo."
Hearing her words, a Bangboo acting as a judge beside them explained the reason.
Originally, all the contestants had been humans, but all of them were absent today. Apparently, they had gone to Lumina Square to participate in a support event, so they sent their Bangboo to represent them in the contest instead.
"Enhe-nu! (Contestants, fight hard for your master's glory!)"
After the Judge Bangboo delivered its passionate speech, the first two Bangboo contestants each showed off their unique skills.
Unfortunately, the second contestant was eliminated because it couldn't complete the imitation pose due to not having knees.
As for the third contestant, who was Astra herself, she earned a high score of 98 from the judges.
It was a pity that she still ended up in second place. Even Astra herself looked surprised, to the point of suspecting foul play.
However, the final explanation was surprisingly simple.
The Astra on the poster wasn't wearing sunglasses.
As absurd as the explanation sounded, it seemed to ignite Astra's competitive spirit. Honestly, it even made sense.
After all, getting second place while imitating yourself would leave anyone unconvinced.
"So according to you, if I just take off my sunglasses, I can win, right?!"
As she spoke, Astra removed her sunglasses with absolute confidence, clearly determined to win.
"Well? What's my score now?" she asked playfully.
"Now all of New Eridu knows you ran away."
A feminine yet slightly cold voice echoed from behind her.
"Ah, that voice..."
"You said you'd keep a low profile and stay disguised, yet you even got rid of the last bit of your disguise. Though honestly, it never really worked anyway."
The blonde woman in the black coat muttered the last part quietly under her breath.
The moment Astra saw her, surprise flashed across her face.
"Eve! What are you doing here?!"
"I should be asking you that. The entire company is looking for you, and the gossip online is already blowing up. All I got from you was, 'I'm heading to Reverb Arena with my online friend,' and then you disappeared."
The woman Astra called Eve turned her gaze toward Wise, her eyes carrying a faint trace of scrutiny.
"...I presume you're the online friend."
"Yup, that's me. Currently ranked number one on Chaotic Fried Rice's list of best online buddies. Nice to meet you."
Wise tried to ease the awkward atmosphere with humor, but the woman merely gave a small nod.
"Hello. My name is Evelyn. I'm Astra's manager and bodyguard. We need to standardize today's story. Astra's outing was part of a prearranged work schedule..."
-|Evelyn|-[1]
"No work. I skipped work and ran away. I already told him."
Before Evelyn could finish, Astra interrupted her without hesitation.
Seeing this, Evelyn could only adjust her explanation.
"...Alright. Then remember, Astra had a personal emergency..."
"I already told him that too. I ran away because I didn't want to perform for the big shots at TOPS," Astra interrupted again.
"You..." Evelyn let out a helpless sigh. "You really don't hide anything, do you?"
After being interrupted once again by Astra, who didn't even bother to hide it, Evelyn looked utterly helpless.
"Alright, let's head back first. The car is parked over there. I'll handle the follow-up matters..."
"I don't want to go back, not today, Eve."
Astra interrupted her again, but this time her voice sounded unusually delicate, as if she already knew her wish was unlikely to come true.
"I know what you're thinking. It's my fault for realizing something was wrong and still not staying by your side... But you need to go back as soon as possible and give everyone an explanation. Not just the company, but also the fans who love you. They're still waiting outside Lumina Square. Are they people you want to avoid too?"
"I... understand. Let's go back first."
After thinking it over for a moment, Astra finally chose to compromise. Then she turned to look at Wise beside her once more.
"I have to go now, Wise. Thank you for indulging my capriciousness for the entire day. I'll keep today's memories in my heart. Goodbye."
"Mhm, goodbye... and happy birthday."
After those words, the two were about to part ways temporarily when Evelyn suddenly stopped him.
"Please wait. There are still a few things I need to explain."
"It's about confidentiality, right? Don't worry, you don't need to tell me. For Astra's sake, I know what to do," Wise said seriously.
"Mhm, confidentiality is necessary, but there's something else as well... Thank you. I also want to express my gratitude to you."
Evelyn clearly wasn't very good at saying thank you. Even while speaking, her gaze unconsciously drifted elsewhere.
"Actually, this morning, I noticed that her mood wasn't right. But because I had some important work to handle, I dropped her off at the cinema and left temporarily."
Evelyn spoke this with a trace of self-reproach in her voice.
"I originally planned to make it up to her after the performance, but the moment I checked my phone, I saw her message about going to Reverb Arena..."
At this point, Evelyn looked somewhat guilty, but when she looked at Wise again, a faint smile gradually appeared on her face.
"Fortunately, you were there for her. Judging from her condition afterward, she had a truly happy day today, completely different from this morning. You did something for her that I couldn't. Thank you very much."
[Ding! New favorability target detected.]
[Name: Evelyn]
[Gender: Female]
[Charm: 95]
[Unique Traits: Extremely skilled at controlling hot strings. (Does that even count as a trait?)]
[Hobbies: Occasional drinking]
[Current Status: Calm, grateful]
[Current Favorability toward Host: 60]
[Evaluation: Appears aloof on the surface, but is actually an intelligent and gentle older sister.]
[Inner Thoughts: So meeting online friends isn't always a bad thing... or maybe the young lady is simply very lucky?]
[Ding! Target Evelyn: has increased her favorability toward the host by 10. Her current favorability is now 60. Additionally, 1000 Emotional Value has been obtained.]
[Current Emotional Value: 3750]
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Zenless Zone Zero: The Almighty Incubus of Sixth Street
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