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She wasn’t sure. Yet, seeing how Rolf was calmly pulling at his shoestring and playing along with the pup, she figured... he might be asking out of sheer curiosity. It didn’t sound or seem like he was fishing for information. He hadn’t asked a thing about Ghost, and moreover, they really had no business with her master either. Plus, even Eden didn’t know enough. She couldn’t even find a clue about her master herself; how would the Italians find him before she did?
“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “Master always said it was too dangerous... no matter how many times I asked.”
Eden had never stopped asking, though. Somehow, she wanted to know the real Pan. The master whom she was so close with; she wanted to feel him for real, see the human behind the screen, the man behind the SIN. She had those strange feelings toward him, like a child looking for a parent or a sibling. She had felt as close as one could be to another human, and yet she had never even seen him in real life...
“I’m sure Master is the one who left this for me,” she said, staring at the star. “He knew I was there, and he felt me...”
What was her master doing so deep in the Core? Did he really follow her, or did he have another objective? It was like back in the day. He was never afraid to Dive so deep, and he appeared in the most unexpected places... even the Ether. Or had he done this on purpose so Eden wouldn’t be able to find him? There was absolutely no way to find someone she had barely seen in the Ether. Even Loir had no trace of him. It was like trying to find someone stuck inside a time and space portal; it made no sense.
She finished her slice, licked her fingers quickly, and after wiping them, Eden manipulated the star, annoyed. There ought to be a solution.
“Loir! You still haven’t found anything?” she asked.
His mouth full, the hacker appeared to be rolling his black eyeballs.
“So pushy! Leave me and my pepperoni alone! Your master is a nasty one, there are no clues in that code...”
Eden glared back, making Loir shrink in his seat, although he stayed resolutely away from his keyboard. For him to not try and solve that code again, his dignity as a hacker must have been hurt, thought Eden.
What had her master planned...?
Eden heard the doors opening again as Dante walked back in, followed by George. This one glared at Eden, clearly still bitter about last time... but she just ignored him.
“We are not the only ones who noticed the black Overcraft and the lack of customers from the Core,” said Dante. “Three other Zodiacs suggested a meeting.”
“Three?” repeated Eden and Rolf at the same time, baffled.
It was rare for even two of the Zodiacs to meet, so for three of them to suggest they all gather was... unprecedented.
However, this situation might call for it. Regardless of everything else, the people from the Core were the ones with money, and that could spend it in the Suburbs. This was the one and only way to make the Suburbs survive: finding ways for people from the Core to spend as much money as possible so that money would transfer to the people in the Suburbs. That was why almost all the territories were principally trying to attract their attention with entertainment, leisure, illicit pleasures, and other things they couldn’t find in the Core. As soon as they stepped out into the Suburbs, the Core citizens were like small fish in a big pond, with people from all sides ready to prey on them. There was no way for the Suburbs to produce money; they didn’t produce any resources they could sell themselves. All the money came from trade and patrons from the Core.
If the Core citizens stopped coming every night, the Suburbs would soon turn into a large, chaotic mess. Those like Eden who worked to entertain others would lose their income. The restaurants, the bars, the nightclubs, the shows, everything would suffer from the lack of customers. Aside from a handful of wealthy people like the Zodiacs, everyone else was barely surviving...
“Who was it?” asked Eden, getting up.
“The Hare, the Dog, and the Rat.”
Eden nodded. It made sense... Those three usually relied a lot on the trade. No, it was fair to say all of the Zodiacs should be alerted about this. However, next to them, Loir made a sudden strange noise with his throat, and began to cough loudly, getting their attention.
“Loir...?” called Eden.
“N-nothing!”
If it was nothing, why was he literally trying to crawl under his desk...? They all hesitated for a second, but seeing how he wasn’t coming out of his strange hideout and he wasn’t making a sound either, they silently decided to ignore his crazy behavior, once again. Dante too had an eyebrow raised, but he didn’t seem to care much, his hands in his pockets. Beer and Bullet, however, must have thought this was some funny game, because both pups ran to go and try to find Loir under his desk. Eden sighed.
“Are you going to go...?” she asked Dante.
He chuckled.
“Block party. How could I miss that...”
In other words, he knew perfectly well how dangerous this little meeting would be and didn’t care...
“Has your toy given you anything yet?”
Eden glared at him, a bit pissed. How dare he call something made by her master a toy... If it was a mere toy, she wouldn’t have been so obsessed with opening that thing in the first place!
“It’s not a toy,” she couldn’t help but growl. “It’s...”
