They climbed into the familiar family car belonging to the Wise-and-Belle siblings, and Geno settled naturally into the back seat.
Not that it needed saying, but Wise's car was considerably more comfortable than Nicole's ancient rattletrap.
"So where are we headed, anyway?"
Geno had charged in to help without so much as asking where they were actually going.
"You know, it's really something — you volunteer to help us out without asking a single question first. Such a little charmer~~"
Belle twisted around from the front passenger seat to look at him.
But Geno was long past letting that get to him. Every single person who knew him made teasing about this particular subject their opening move. He'd grown numb to it.
"ε=(o`*))) Ahhh, what can I say — when you're as big-hearted as I am, this is just how it goes."
"Love you~ o(=ω<=)ρ>☆"
Belle answered his shameless declaration with an equally shameless wink, then finally got around to explaining where their commission was actually taking them.
"Our destination is a place called the Black Goose Construction Site. It belongs to a construction firm — Bai Zhi Heavy Industries.
"Bai Zhi Heavy Industries? That name sounds really familiar."
Geno had the nagging sense he'd heard that name somewhere before, but before he could chase the memory down, Belle's explanation swept it clean away.
"Probably from a newspaper at some point. Bai Zhi Heavy Industries is the company that took over the Old Capital railway project after we brought down Vision Corporation — and the reason they came to us legendary Proxies at Phaethon is because Nicole referred them."
That clicked everything into place for Geno. No wonder Nicole had seemed a little put out about the two of them being busy, but not particularly surprised.
"So their worksite is inside a Hollow, then?"
"More or less — though before we go in, we need to sit down and go over the plan first. So we're not heading straight into the Hollow just yet." Wise spoke up from behind the wheel, seizing a red light as his opening.
"Right… even so, I still feel like I've heard the name Bai Zhi Heavy Industries somewhere before."
Geno crossed his arms and tilted his head, sifting through his memory again.
It definitely wasn't from a newspaper. This was something he'd heard — actually heard, with his own ears.
"Everyone start getting ready — we're here."
After a little more road, Wise spotted the signage above the gate up ahead and called out to the other two.
In the end, Geno couldn't pin down where he'd heard that name, so he shelved it for later and let it go.
Once they arrived at the Black Goose Construction Site, the three of them headed toward the office area with Eous in tow.
Geno spent the walk looking around at the workers on-site, and was genuinely taken aback — this company had an astonishing number of Thirren.
And every single one of them was a Bear Thirren standing over two meters tall!
Don't tell me the boss of this company is a Bear Thirren too?
Just as that thought crossed his mind, Wise and Belle seemed to spot someone they knew. Geno quickened his pace to catch up — and found, to his surprise, that it was a human.
"Hm? Proxies — and who's this?"
Anton turned to the side, noticed Geno trailing behind Wise and Belle, and gave him a puzzled look. Nobody had mentioned a third party coming along.
"Ah, this is someone we brought in to help — his name's Geno. He's a game designer."
Hearing Belle introduce him that way, Geno instinctively reached up and straightened his collar.
It had been a long time since anyone had introduced him simply like that. He'd grown so accustomed to being prefaced with son-in-law of the Timefield family that hearing his actual profession out loud made him sit up a little straighter.
"Geno… oh, I remember now — yesterday I was wrapping a fried dough stick in a newspaper and I saw that name! The Timefield family's son-in-law! Goes by Geno, doesn't he?!"
The moment he heard that, Geno's expression collapsed completely.
So there really is no escaping it… This is just my fate.
He was already bracing himself for another round of being sized up and judged — but then Anton lunged forward, seized Geno's hand, and pumped it enthusiastically up and down.
"Great to meet you, great to meet you! I'm Anton Ivanov — just call me Anton. Seriously, thank you so much for coming to help out."
Against all expectation, Anton didn't dwell on the Timefield connection for even a moment. He just came in warm, genuine, and completely uncomplicated.
"You… wait, really?"
"A friend of the Proxies is a friend of Anton's! Come on, I'll take you all to meet the President!"
Anton's logic was simple: if they were people the Proxies knew, they were people worth trusting. Whatever Geno's background happened to be — completely beside the point.
And if someone was willing to come out and help, the least he could do was make them feel welcome.
Anton was the kind of hotblooded young man whose body moved before his brain did — not the sharpest tool in the shed, maybe, but far from stupid either.
A good first impression never hurt anyone.
Geno's face right now was proof enough of that.
"This Mr. Anton is really something — what hospitality."
"Ahaha, yeah, Anton's just… like that."
Belle scratched her cheek with a small smile. She hadn't known Anton for very long herself, but that didn't stop her from concluding he was easy to get along with.
They walked a little further, and soon arrived at the base of an office building.
"President! I brought them!"
Anton threw his arm up in a wide wave and called out to the group standing ahead with easy confidence.
Following his gaze, Geno quickly picked out — surrounded by a ring of towering Bear Thirren — one particular Bear Thirren who was dressed in the white company uniform of Bai Zhi Heavy Industries and carried herself with a completely different air from everyone around her.
That must be the President of Bai Zhi Heavy Industries.
Geno was just moving to go introduce himself when he saw Anton step forward, exchange a few words with that 'President' — and then turn back around to make the introductions.
"Allow me to introduce her — this is the President of our Bai Zhi Heavy Industries, Koleda Belobog!"
And then Anton and the Bear Thirren Geno had mistaken for the President stepped aside — and out stepped a tiny girl with a full head of bright red hair, bear-ear hair clips, and a demolition hammer and engineering wrench in hand.
"Anton told me what's going on. A friend of the Proxies is a friend of mine."
Koleda set down her hammer and wrench, planted her little fists on her hips, and tilted her head back to look up at Geno.
She didn't have much choice — she was simply that short. By Geno's rough estimate, she barely cleared one-fifty, which meant even Alice, who was still in high school, had her beat.
And in certain other respects… well. Also considerably.
Which had Geno wondering, at this point, whether this tiny little person had even hit adulthood yet.
"I get the feeling you're thinking something very rude right now."
Meeting Geno's gaze, Koleda seemed to catch a flicker of something in his expression — something that looked disturbingly like pity.
A sudden and very pronounced irritation welled up inside her. The warmth in her eyes cooled a few degrees as she looked back at him.
"Anyway — come inside. Let's talk through the plan from here."
With that, Koleda picked her tools back up and walked into the office building behind her.
Geno and the siblings exchanged a glance, then followed her in.
____
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🔥 New history: Samsara Game: Starting in The Long Dark with My Waifus
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