after you were unknowingly given to kafka by elio, you've gotten to know more about this strange girl that likes playing video games who's also a part of the stellaron hunters. however, the good times would not last for long.
Times flew by as you accomplished much more feats as the Astral Express. The most recent thing that you did was saved another planet from their own Stellaron problems, which was the Xianzhou Luofu. And... yeah. That's pretty much it. However, from the time passed on the Luofu, it gave the people of Jarilo-IV time to start their rebuilding of their planet, which in turn was brought to the attention of the IPC again. Apparently, Belolog has millions of credits in debt to the IPC, but luckily, the issue was solved thanks to the recommendations of the Astral Express crew navigator, Himeko, and the amazing and charitable executive of the IPC, Ms. Topaz. After the issue was settled, an event called the Aetherium Wars was held on the old grounds of Belolog, as a way to bring Jarilo-IV and the citizens of Belolog into a wider spread across the cosmos.
Aetherium Wars was a type of game, where each player that has an Aetherium coin can store monsters in it and use their monsters to play against other people's monsters. A tournament was held, and after you and March 7th stumbled upon the Aetherium coin of a trotter, one of the most rarest Aetherium monster out there, you've been unknowingly and unwillingly thrown into this tournament as well, and the two of you have been training your monster with others ever since, while also collecting more monsters along the way. You've beaten a couple of people already during the tournament, and you were taking a break until the next match began. So, with nothing left to do, you went on a stroll around the underground.
As you were walking along the streets of the underground, you saw a familiar face, sitting by one of the chairs of an eatery. The person had her feet placed on the table, with something on her hands. It seems to be a device that allows the user to play games, as you could hear tons of sound effects that leads towards that conclusion. So, you walked towards her, trying to confirm your suspicions.
Lo and behold, it was the genius hacker girl, Silver Wolf. Ever since her first visit to the Astral Express to check up on you, she has been interacting with you whenever there was the perfect time to catch you alone in the main halls, or even when you're alone in your bed, doing nothing.
"Nice match. They almost got you, but I knew you would hold out in the end."
Even though this was the Silver Wolf, no doubt about it, but there was something different about this time. She wasn't blue, and there wasn't any humming sounds or glitching visuals this time. You tried poking your finger onto her cheek. It was squishy and quite fleshy.
"......What are you doing...?" Silver Wolf asked, still playing her games.
"Just making sure if you're a hologram."
"Uh... duh? Do you not see me physically sitting on this chair or something?"
"Well, you were physically laying on my bed a couple times, so..."
Silver Wolf was silent for a little while. "...That's in a different context, but fair enough."
Then, she turned off her phone, and stood back up while blowing on some bubble gum.
"So? Are you gonna show me around or what?"
You were confused. "...Huh? Since when did I say I was gonna do that?"
"Do you have anything better to do?"
You moved your eyes to the top left side of your brain.
"Well, I gotta go train our Aetherium Monster with March again, so..."
"Isn't she back on the train to tell your other friend about the match you just had?"
You let out a surprised face. "Wait... How does she know? Wait... of course she does." you thought to yourself.
You sighed. "Okay, fine. You got me. Where do you wanna go?"
"Well, for starters, that fighting bar seems quite interesting." Her eyes pointed to the direction of the fight club.
After visiting around various parts of the underground such as the fight club, the mines, and the old underground orphanage, you took Silver Wolf on a tram ride to the surface world of Belolog.
Before you brought her up, you warned her about the cold and noted that she was wearing some quite revealing clothing, but luckily, she came prepared and brought out her own custom-made jacket.
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You thought it looked quite good on her, but you kept that information to yourself for now.
As you brought her to explore around the city of Belolog, you introduced her to the Belolog preservation museum, the statue of Qlipoth, and also paid a visit to Serval's workshop, even though Serval wasn't present at that time.
"Whew, all that walking around has made me hungry." Silver Wolf said, rubbing her tummy. Then, she pointed at the food stall nearby.
"Let's see what they have, I wanna try some local delicacies." You unwillingly followed her along to the food stall.
When you reached the food stall, you took a look at its menu, and you checked to see what they were selling. It was mostly hot food, which would make sense in such a cold winter like this. As Silver Wolf's food arrived, she turned her head towards you, food already in hand.
"...Well? Aren't you gonna pay for it?"
This time, you were stun locked.
"Wh-...... Since when did I say I was gonna pay for your food?!"
"You're the tour guide, so naturally you're gonna be responsible for my well-being for the day, correct?"
Silver Wolf then looked to the side, with a kind of guilty look on her face.
"Besides, I kinda forgot to bring my wallet..."
You let out a heavy sigh, and paid for the food. Not sure why you're complaining though, you have, like, a gazillion credits to your name.
The tour ended after you and Silver Wolf reached the place where you both met in the first place, which was in the underground.
"That was quite the date we had, huh?" Silver Wolf teased as she walked in front of you.
"Date? ...Huh. I guess you could call it that." you thought to yourself, while remaining silent on the outside.
"Wait, you still haven't told me what you're doing here. Are the rest of the Stellaron Hunters here too? What are you after this time?"
Silver Wolf chuckled. "I thought that it would've been quite obvious now, but since I know you're quite the doofus, I'll spell it out for you."
There was a change in tone in Silver Wolf's voice, where it went from playful to serious.
"I'm here for the Aetherium Wars, of course."
"And your next opponent..."
Silver Wolf turned back to face you, with her face harboring a smug look.
