Miyabi seemed to genuinely like the movie, so she decided to rent it for a while longer.
“Miss Hoshimi, would you like to sign up for a membership?”
Belle approached Miyabi with a cheerful smile and launched straight into her sales pitch.
“We have three membership tiers.
Silver membership costs 20,000 Dennies and gives you a permanent 20% discount on all rentals.
“Gold membership costs 50,000 Dennies and gives you a permanent 40% discount.
“And Diamond membership costs 100,000 Dennies, gives you a permanent 50% discount, and waives all rental deposits!”
Miyabi didn’t really understand the differences, but the most expensive option was probably the best.
After a moment of thought, she pulled a black card from her pocket.
“Then sign me up for Diamond membership.”
“Diamond membership!”
Belle exclaimed before happily taking the card.
“As expected of Miss Hoshimi!
You really don’t hold back.
I’ll get your membership card ready right away!”
Belle swiped the card, registered the account, and completed the paperwork in no time.
Soon, she handed Miyabi an exquisitely made Diamond membership card decorated with sparkling accents.
“Miss Hoshimi, make sure you take good care of this card.
You’re our very first Diamond member since the store opened!”
Miyabi put it away and nodded.
“I will.”
“Goodbye, both of you.
Goodbye, Cael.”
“You’re leaving already, Miss Hoshimi?”
Belle almost wanted to stop her and recommend a few more movies.
“Mm.
The viewing experience was excellent, but I need to leave now.
Time is…
precious.”
Miyabi’s gaze was firm, as though she’d finally made up her mind about something.
“I still have training to complete if I want to reach the perfect ending.”
The reason she’d seemingly traveled into the past?
That no longer mattered.
What mattered wasn’t returning to the past.
What mattered was changing the future.
She hated being protected by someone while being powerless to do anything herself.
Just like when she was young, when her mother had tried to sacrifice herself to the cursed blade so Miyabi could survive.
Back then, Miyabi had been unable to do anything.
In the end, it all came down to the same thing.
She wasn’t strong enough yet.
Not strong enough to protect everyone in this dangerous world.
Not strong enough to protect the people she cared about.
Or the people who cared about her.
Her father.
Her mother.
And…
…
“As expected of you, Belle.
You’ve got some nerve, pitching a membership to an Executive Officer!”
After Miyabi left, Wise couldn’t help looking at his sister.
Still, he had to admit the sales pitch had worked remarkably well.
One Diamond membership alone had brought in almost as much as the store usually earned in an entire week.
“Hehe!”
Belle planted her hands on her hips, looking immensely proud of herself.
“Of course it worked.
Look who was doing the selling!
But still, Miss Hoshimi looks so cold at first glance, yet she’s surprisingly easy to talk to.
And I never expected her to be interested in romance movies.”
Was Miyabi really interested in romance films?
Cael wasn’t sure.
He suspected there was something else about The Last Flight that had caught her attention.
But as for what exactly that was…
He wasn’t Miyabi, so how would he know?
Trying to guess the thoughts of a future Void Hunter was asking a little too much of him.
“Cael, do you know Executive Officer Hoshimi?”
Belle suddenly moved closer and poked Cael’s shoulder.
“Sort of.
You remember the Hollow disaster near Fifty-Sixth Street, right?
I got swallowed by the Hollow during that incident and ran into a Tyrfing.
It chased me down, and Miss Hoshimi saved me at the last moment.
“After that, I traveled with her for a while.”
Cael smiled as he recalled it.
“Later…
I followed her until we encountered the high-risk Ethereal Dullahan.
Watching her cut it down so cleanly and suppress the Hollow was incredible.”
“Wow.
I’d love to see Miss Hoshimi fight up close too!”
Belle looked genuinely envious.
“Oh, right.
Speaking of Ethereals…
are individual Ethereals different from one another?”
Cael asked casually, as though the question had only just occurred to him.
“Well…”
Belle and Wise exchanged a glance before Wise answered.
“That’s true.
Ethereals of the same type usually don’t look noticeably different, but almost every individual seems to have certain unusual characteristics.
“According to official advisories, if you encounter an Ethereal, the safest option is to stay quiet and hide.”
“Characteristics?”
Cael immediately picked up on the word.
“Yes.”
Wise nodded.
“Belle and I have both been trapped inside a Hollow before, so we know a little about it.
“For example, there was one time when a combat squad encountered two Tyrfings.
One was relatively normal, and they eliminated it quickly.
“But the other one…
seemed capable of repairing its own body.
It even protected its core somehow.
In the end, they had to send in another squad before they managed to kill it.”
At the mention of Ethereals, both Belle and Wise became noticeably more serious.
Clearly, Ethereals were terrifying even by the standards of this world.
They were practically the kind of monsters parents could use to scare children into behaving.
Don’t go to sleep at night, and an Ethereal might come get you…
Cael fell into thought.
So the people of this world did have a considerable amount of knowledge about Ethereals.
Those “characteristics” Wise mentioned were probably what Cael could see as Aberration Traits.
Because his first encounter with an Ethereal had been followed almost immediately by meeting Miyabi, Cael hadn’t developed a clear sense of how dangerous they were compared to ordinary fighters.
But from what Wise had just said, taking down even a single Tyrfing normally required a trained official combat squad.
And if that Tyrfing possessed additional Aberration Traits, one squad might not even be enough.
Miyabi really was in a league of her own.
Cael had no idea how New Eridu had managed to survive this long.
Then again…
No matter how strong Ethereals became, they couldn’t leave Hollows.
That was one of their fundamental limitations.
So as long as no Ethereal emerged that could survive outside a Hollow, they wouldn’t directly interfere with normal city development.
Unless, of course, a Hollow expanded and swallowed part of the city.
But if the Ethereals inside weren’t dealt with, the Hollow’s activity would rise, which would cause the Hollow itself to expand…
And the Ethereals were absurdly strong to begin with.
…
Forget it.
Cael stopped thinking about it.
Why was he worrying about problems he couldn’t solve?
For now, living a decent life on Sixth Street was what mattered.
Once their conversation ended, Wise went upstairs to the storage room.
A few minutes later, he came back down carrying a large cardboard box.
Cael curiously leaned over and looked inside.
It was packed full of videotapes.
Unlike the ones displayed on the store shelves, none of these had proper packaging.
Some were missing titles entirely, while others had damaged plastic cases.
“What are these?”
Cael looked at Wise questioningly.
“A bunch of tapes I picked up from secondhand markets.
We haven’t sorted them yet.”
Wise set the box down.
“Do you like watching movies?”
Oh, I definitely do.
Cael answered silently in his head.
“I’ve got a simple job for you today,” Wise continued.
“Sort these tapes.
“Basically, watch enough of each one to get a general idea of what it is, then give it a preliminary category.
You can use the player in the room over there.”
“That does sound pretty simple.”
Cael casually picked up one of the tapes, looked it over, then put it back.
Wise added another warning.
“That’ll be it for now.
I’ll go get you some labels and a pen.
“Oh, and there might be some adult content in there, along with horror movies and particularly graphic stuff.
Make sure those get separated carefully.
Don’t mix them up.
“If something like that accidentally ends up on the shelves outside…
we’d have a serious problem.”
“Got it.”
So all he had to do was watch videos, categorize them, and write brief descriptions?
Now that was something Cael had experience with.
He couldn’t help remembering a certain period of his previous life.
Once, people in one of his group chats had shared a huge collection of completely unorganized torrents.
The problem was that none of the files had proper labels or descriptions.
So Cael had gone through every single video himself, documenting the main performers, the basic content, whether there was cosplay involved, and which characters were being cosplayed.
Then he’d compiled everything into a neatly organized archive.
The others in the group had practically hailed him as a saint.
The group itself was eventually shut down by forces beyond their control, but the archive Cael had created was apparently still being passed around and used to this day.
It really helps the fic grow!