"Sephirot!"
Beside him, Patty, who was lying in the truck bed with him, let out a startled cry.
Sephirot turned his head; she was staring intently at him. "What is it?"
She reached out and felt his forehead. "Are you... are you feeling okay? Is anything wrong with your body? Dizziness? Weakness?"
"?"
Utterly confused by the questions, Sephirot batted her hand away. "Relax, I feel fantastic right now. I could eat three extra-large Italian sausage pizzas and ten strawberry sundaes in one sitting."
"Is that so..."
Patty pointed to a lock of hair hanging over Sephirot's forehead. "Then explain this to me! Look at your hair, there's a lock here that's completely white!"
Sephirot froze, then pulled out his phone to take a look.
It was true.
Among his messy black hair, there was now a single strand of silver-white.
"Uh..."
Sephirot touched the white hair. It was likely a manifested trait of his bloodline awakening?
After all, both Dante and Vergil had full heads of white hair.
Now that his bloodline awakening degree had increased, it was only natural for his hair to start showing ancestral traits.
"It's nothing."
Sephirot waved his hand dismissively, looking unconcerned. "Maybe I just pushed too hard earlier and got a bit malnourished. Just buy me a couple more pizzas when we get back to make up for it."
Patty wasn't convinced. Her brain, poisoned by all sorts of romance and fantasy anime, immediately conjured up a tragic drama.
"Do you think I'm an idiot? That insanely fast movement from earlier was definitely you trying to deplete life force."
The more she thought about it, the more terrified she became. "On TV, whenever people deplete life force, their hair turns white! I'm warning you, Sephirot! You are absolutely not allowed to die on me without my signed approval!"
Sephirot's lip twitched.
How could a perfectly normal person watch so much anime and end up like this?
"Stop worrying over nothing. Doesn't Dante know that move too? Not only is he living better than anyone, but he even pat his own ass and pulled a disappearing act, leaving a whole mess for me to deal with."
As Sephirot spoke, he thought of something amusing and leaned in closer.
"What? Afraid I'll die? Scared no one will be around to keep you company and you'll grow old and lonely?"
The sudden closing of the distance made Patty freeze for a moment as she felt his warm breath on her face.
Her face flushed bright red, and she slammed a fist directly onto Sephirot's head. "You smell disgusting!"
"Stop flattering yourself, okay? If you dare to die, I swear I'll spend a fortune to hire a top-tier DJ and throw a massive Champagne party right on top of your grave!"
Sephirot laughed at that. "Then you'd better buy some Super Supreme pizzas and sundaes, because halfway through the party, there's a good chance I'll kick the lid off my coffin and join in."
Just then, the conversation between Jack and the police up ahead caught Sephirot's attention.
Jack looked completely bewildered. "What fire?" A reply came through the walkie-talkie: "We just received an emergency call. The Weather Bureau's satellite thermal imaging also shows a sudden, massive fire in the mountains not far from your location."
"What's going on out there? Does this fire have anything to do with you?"
In the back seat, Sephirot's expression stiffened.
How could he have forgotten about that?
He quickly checked the mission information for [The Debt-Ridden Sparda].
[Current Progress: -$120,000 / $100,000,000]
*Another 120,000 in debt?!*
Sephirot felt a sudden ache in his teeth.
"How is it even possible to go into the negatives?"
He stood up and looked at the firelight in the distance, remembering the movement he'd made to speed up their journey just moments ago.
That single step had been very expensive, worth 120,000 US dollars.
Now he finally understood why his dear uncle Dante, despite spending so many years in the demon hunting world, was still buried in debt.
If this was how he fought, then no matter how high the commission, he could never earn enough to cover the damages!
Was poverty a curse of the Sparda bloodline?
—--
By the time they reached Poho County, dawn was beginning to break.
As a typical Midwestern agricultural county, the area was covered in vast stretches of farmland and low-slung barns.
The morning breeze blew across their faces, carrying a sharp chill.
The temperature difference between day and night in early spring was extreme.
The air was filled with the scent of damp earth and freshness.
Of course, if you could ignore the faint, drifting smell of cow manure, it was quite a beautiful rural landscape.
Jack pulled the truck over to the side of the road and pulled out what little cash remained in his thin wallet. "Son, thank you for saving our lives. If it weren't for you..."
"It was no trouble, Mr. Taggart."
Sephirot cut off the sentimental speech and accepted the cash.
After the two briefly exchanged contact information, Sephirot declined the man's invitation once more, and Jack finally drove away in his battle-damaged pickup truck.
The streets of Poho County were exceptionally desolate in the early morning.
Perhaps due to the massacre at the police station by the Ogre, not a soul could be seen on the streets at this hour.
However, it was a blessing in disguise, as it spared Sephirot from giving a statement or being interrogated.
Patty wrapped the coat Sephirot had given her tighter around herself and looked up at him. "Where are we going now?"
Sephirot gave his phone a little shake; the screen displayed a map of the area. "After working all night, we're obviously going to get a steaming hot pizza loaded with double cheese!"
"And as a side note, I can't believe there's actually a Freddy Fazbear's Pizza franchise here!"
—--
Pushing open the greasy glass doors of the restaurant, the sound of a low-quality nursery rhyme filled their ears.
"The big bear is dancing, the bunny plays the drum, hiding in a tin belly, no one feels glum~"
After ordering an extra-large pizza at the counter, the two picked a red leather booth by the window and sat down.
Only then did Sephirot begin to examine the interior of the shop. On the stage in the center of the hall stood several mechanical dolls over two meters tall: a brown bear wearing a black top hat, a purple rabbit holding an electric guitar, and a one-eyed fox.
Unlike in his previous life, where Freddy Fazbear's Pizza was merely a hit game, horrific tragedies involving people being stuffed into animatronic suits had actually occurred in this land.
But now, those bloody cases had long since become historical files in police archives.
The franchise theme restaurants now spreading across every state were nothing more than trend-chasing imitations, deliberately cooked up by capitalists to cater to the increasingly macabre tastes of young people.
That a brand associated with such gruesome crimes could actually be used as a gimmick to brazenly open a chain of stores was the kind of absurdity that could only happen in a place as bizarre as America.
As he was thinking, Patty suddenly stood up and squeezed into the booth right next to Sephirot.
The look on her face was mysterious, her beautiful blue eyes fixed intently on Sephirot. "Be honest, what does the rest of your work schedule look like?"
Sephirot scooted over and gave her a strange look. "I don't have one."
Patty's eyes instantly lit up. "Listen, I still have plenty of days left for my spring break! Since you're free, why don't you come travel around with me?"
"Look, I've been through such a terrifying and dangerous ordeal. As my personal bodyguard, shouldn't you be responsible for protecting this young lady's personal safety?"
Sephirot rolled his eyes. "..."
She truly was someone who had faced demons since childhood; she had just taken a walk through death's door and was already thinking about playing.
On second thought, he realized that hunkering down in that dilapidated Agency forever wasn't an option while he was carrying such massive debt.
He might as well take this opportunity to seek out some wealthy elites and try his luck with some freelance work.
Those rich people who clung so desperately to their lives would surely be much more generous with their pay, or rather, their "donations", than ordinary people. Plus, it would cut out the middleman.
The most important thing was to complete this damn debt mission as soon as possible to get the rewards.
He looked at the expectant Patty and said, "I'll go with you, but I get to decide the locations and the itinerary."
"And another thing: you cover all the expenses on the road. After all, I'm broke."
"Deal!"
(Translated by yourtl.app)
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TL NOTES — CROSSOVER GUIDE
Some references in this chapter come from source universes that may be unfamiliar to some readers. The notes below are here to help readers unfamiliar with these universes follow along more easily.
SOURCE UNIVERSES
Five Nights at Freddy's — A horror video game franchise set in a fictional family pizzeria called Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. The player takes the role of a night security guard who must survive shifts from midnight to 6 AM while the animatronic mascots, normally performers for children's parties come to life and hunt intruders. The franchise became a massive cultural phenomenon and spawned sequels, books, and a film. In this story's world, the events of the games are treated as real historical crimes that actually occurred.
PLACES
Freddy Fazbear's Pizza — The fictional chain restaurant at the center of the FNAF franchise. In the games' lore, the original location was the site of a series of child murders known as the Missing Children Incident, after which the restaurant closed. The brand later reopened as a chain. Sephirot's narration reflects this: in this world, the murders genuinely happened, and the current franchise locations are cynical imitations capitalizing on the notoriety.
CHARACTERS
Freddy Fazbear — The brown bear animatronic wearing a black top hat, the franchise mascot. In the games' lore, he is possessed by the soul of a murdered child.
Bonnie — The purple-tinted rabbit animatronic holding an electric guitar. Like the others, possessed by a child's soul in the games' lore.
Foxy — The one-eyed fox animatronic (identifiable by his eye patch and hook hand). He is typically found hidden behind a curtain in the game, and is faster and more aggressive than the other animatronics.
EVENTS
The Missing Children Incident — The central crime of the FNAF lore. Five children were lured into a back room of the original Freddy Fazbear's Pizza by a killer disguised as one of the restaurant's mascots, murdered, and their bodies hidden inside the animatronic suits. Their souls are implied to possess the animatronics, driving the machines' hostile behavior at night. The chapter's reference to "people being stuffed into animatronic suits" is a direct allusion to this event.
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Thank you Apolonchene06 for the images and the review