"The company has recovered all of its money," ProtoMan reports.
It's been a few days since that weirdness with Gauss screwing around with the money and making people go bankrupt for no reason (fear and confusion is not a reason, it's an excuse, and Mimic is honestly sick of that being the only 'reason' for people in this reality to be criminals). The guy hadn't been lying when he'd said he was gonna put everything back to how it was; businesses who found themselves rapidly losing money have mysteriously gotten it all back, and the one business that benefitted from all of it has gone back to being bankrupt again.
At the very least, this has taught Higsby something about money - you need to have money if you want to spend it. Lan sent an email a couple of days ago saying that he's got a new shop near a train station, and that he's actually selling chips now, instead of hoarding them. Apparently he's hoping to make enough money to buy his old shop back.
And, of course, IPC has recovered as well. Chaud had suggested sending ProtoMan to check that all their finances have actually gone back to how they should be, and that's what ProtoMan has just finished doing.
"That's good, right?" Arcadia asks, from where he's sitting on some files. He's not doing any harm on them, since they're just drafts for documents that've already been completed (which took Mimic hours, by the way, because she's still terrible at being a business person), so no one protests him sitting on the things.
"Very good," ProtoMan agrees. "It means IPC is no longer in danger of going completely bankrupt. We lasted longer than most businesses in the city mainly because we are, possibly, one of the richest companies in the entire country. But when I left the finance team, they were making plans and preparations in case something like this ever happens again. This way, being one of the richest companies will not be our only defence in the future."
This kind of thing won't really happen again - that she knows of - so they're probably safe. But it is good to know that there's gonna be a backstop in place, as a precaution. IPC is nothing if not prepared, even if their president is an asshole.
"Now that the money drama is finally out of the way," ProtoMan begins, "we should probably get back to-"
He freezes, suddenly.
"Hide," he hisses to Arcadia urgently.
"W-wha-" Arcadia stammers, wide-eyed.
"Hide, quickly!" ProtoMan insists, turning his head frantically like he's searching for something. "Proxy is coming, I can sense his data signature, hurry!"
Arcadia vanishes in a swirl of pixels with a squeak, and not a moment too soon. Proxy appears on the computer screen a split second later - had Arcadia not left when he did, Proxy would've seen him, or he would've seen the swirl of pixels as he left, and he definitely would've told Shuseki about the white Navi apparently hanging out with ProtoMan.
Luckily he doesn't see Arcadia, nor does he see their friend leave, and all he does is stare at Mimic with that same indifferent look he'd had when she'd first seen him.
ProtoMan backs away until he's pressed up against the edge of the screen, as far away from Proxy as he can get when he's inside the computer. He's shaking, but he's not making a sound, like he's trying to avoid being noticed. He can't really hide, and Mimic wishes he could have followed Arcadia, if only to spare him from having to be so close to Proxy. But it'd be too suspicious if ProtoMan's not here, so he can't leave.
"Master Blaze has instructed me to inform you that you are to have the rest of the day to yourself," Proxy says, ignoring ProtoMan - for now. "A reward for your part in fixing the recent finance issue. You may leave IPC and go wherever you please, as long as you are back in the mansion before eight o'clock in the evening. That is all."
He turns to leave, and catches sight of ProtoMan cowering away from him. Proxy's mouth twists upwards a little, almost like a smile but too dark to be considered one, and he takes a step toward ProtoMan.
ProtoMan flinches.
"Leave him alone," Mimic says.
Proxy stops, and slowly turns his head to look at her. Mimic meets his gaze unflinchingly, holding it. She's not letting Proxy torment ProtoMan if she can help it.
She's not sure what Proxy sees in her expression, but whatever it is, it makes him back off. He vanishes without another word, and ProtoMan lets out a loud gasp, like he was holding his breath the entire time. Maybe he was.
Mimic watches ProtoMan curl up, trying to take deep breaths to calm himself down, and she traces her fingertips over the screen where he is. It's the best she can do, but he seems to appreciate it, and it looks like he's leaning toward the contact even though he can't feel it.
She glances at the black window on the screen. Chaud's eyes are blazing with fury, and he raises his hands to sign.
[hate him] he tells her. [mean cruel bully]
Mimic had gotten that impression when she'd first seen Proxy. Good to know she's not the only one who thinks that.
Arcadia comes back after another minute or two, apparently deciding it's safe, and sees ProtoMan curled up on the floor. He lets out a worried sound and immediately rushes over, settling next to ProtoMan and wrapping his wings around him.
He rests his cheek against ProtoMan's head, but he looks up at Mimic with something like admiration in his eyes.
"That was really cool," he says to her.
Mimic frowns at him.
"I-I hid in the security cameras," Arcadia admits. "And I was watching, but out of sight, don't worry. I saw you when- when you told Proxy to leave ProtoMan alone. You were- you looked so cool. Or, that's what I think, anyway."
Mimic still doesn't really get what he means, so Arcadia reaches out and opens a video file. Apparently he'd recorded it.
The video shows her, from mere moments ago. There's not much change in her expression, she looks mostly calm, but her cybernetic eye flashes red in the video - eye shine, right, ProtoMan had said something about that when he'd told them about the tapetum lucidum thing. She's talking, telling Proxy to leave ProtoMan alone, and she hadn't even noticed her tone when she'd spoken, but now that she's hearing it for herself, it's surprising how steady her voice is. That steady tone, combined with her calm expression and the eye flash, does actually make her look kind of cool. She wonders if her eye flashed like that in the actual moment, not just in the video.
Arcadia gets rid of the video, and ProtoMan raises his head a little to look at her.
"Th- . . . thank you," ProtoMan says, with a little bit of difficulty. "F-for . . ."
[sign if it's easier] Mimic tells him. Fuck knows he's told her that often enough, and he deserves the same courtesy.
[thank you for making him leave] ProtoMan signs, looking relieved.
[you're welcome] Mimic replies. She gives him a little smile. [now we can all leave apparently]
"The entire day to ourselves," Arcadia says, hugging ProtoMan. "Can- can we explore DenTech?"
Arcadia hasn't seen much of the city, she realises. Neither has she, to be honest, unless you count running around looking for viruses to delete (it probably doesn't count). Just wandering around to explore is . . . something they've only done in Internet City, now that she thinks about it.
Well, at least it's something to do.
She nods, and Arcadia cheers.
DenTech's shopping district is weird, Mimic decides. There are shops for almost anything she can think of that isn't also illegal, though of course there's an empty one where Higsby's Chip Shop used to be. It doesn't look like anyone's bought it yet, so Higsby obviously still has a chance to get it back.
"I wonder what it looked like, before he went bankrupt," Arcadia says, when they pass by. Mimic has her PET out so they can see the city too, because it had been Arcadia's idea to explore and it wouldn't be fair if she didn't let them see.
ProtoMan, who's been pretty quiet since his encounter with Proxy, hums quietly. Mimic glances down at the screen and sees that they're- they're cuddling.
Holy shit, that's adorable. She pauses and quickly activates the screenshot feature on the PET - ProtoMan is gonna regret teaching her how to do this. Both Navis stare at her when they realise what just happened.
"Did you just-" Arcadia begins, shocked.
Mimic nods, smirking.
[delete it] ProtoMan tells her. [delete it right now]
Mimic shakes her head and saves it to the PET. ProtoMan could easily delete it himself, but he doesn't, instead opting to just sigh and leave it be. Oh, he's gonna regret that, too. She is so sending this to Lan and MegaMan later.
As she passes a random shop, she gives the window a cursory glance, and then stops walking.
"Mimic?" Arcadia asks, tilting his head.
Mimic turns the PET so they can see what she'd spotted.
Arcadia's flustered spluttering is adorable, and so is the startled noise that ProtoMan lets out. It's to be expected, considering there's a small display in the window featuring two plush dolls that look exactly like them.
The ProtoMan and Arcadia plushies aren't the only ones in the shop, either. It seems to be one of those shops that sells basically nothing but plushies, and she can see some of other NetNavis too, not to mention a bunch of other different kinds of plushies. There's a few Pokemon ones she can see (which instantly gets her interest, because she hadn't known if Pokemon was a thing in this reality, and apparently it is which is awesome), some of those pillow-looking ones that she thinks are called mochi, along with characters from other video games and animes and . . . There's a lot of plushies in there, basically, and this is the kind of shop she would have loved to visit back in her own world.
She glances at the ProtoMan and Arcadia plushies again. She's tempted, but . . .
[get them] Chaud signs. She can see her reflection in the glass, and he's giving her an amused look. [go on I can tell you want them]
Mimic blinks at him. She doesn't sign back, in case the people inside the shop think she's crazy for making weird gestures to herself, but he knows her well enough to guess what she's thinking even if their weird mind-reading thing only goes one way.
[he won't care] Chaud tells her. [as long as you behave he won't care]
She looks at the plushies again.
[get them it's okay] Chaud signs.
Alright, fine.
The door's already wide open, probably because of the lingering summer heat. The shop itself is small, not many customers inside, and what few there are don't even look up as she walks in. There's a couple with their daughter, looking at the mochi animals, and a trio of older teenagers arguing quietly over some of the Pokemon plushies.
Mimic can't see either of the plushies in the window anywhere in the shop, and she's not sure if this is one of those shops where you can pick up what's in the window display, so she makes her way over to the counter. There's a man sitting there, reading something on his PET, but he glances up when she taps the counter.
"Hello," the man says, putting down his PET. He's got a friendly smile on his face, which makes her feel a little bit more relaxed.
Mimic waves, and holds up her PET. The man looks surprised to see ProtoMan and Arcadia - and she can kind of understand that, because he's got two plushies of the exact same Navis in his window.
She sets the PET down, making sure Arcadia can see her - they're not forcing ProtoMan to speak if he doesn't want to, that'd be hypocritical since she's not talking for the exact same reason - and moves her hands.
"Hello," Arcadia says for her. "Can- can I buy those plushies in the window? The, um, the ones of the Navis in my PET?" He sounds extremely embarrassed, even as he translates.
The man blinks, clearly more than a little startled at the request. Mimic is hit with a mild wave of anxiety, wondering if he thinks it's weird to want to buy the plushies when she already has the real things in her PET.
But, to her relief, the friendly smile comes back and he nods.
"Sure," he says. "I didn't expect to be selling them to the operator of ProtoMan and Arcadia, but, hey, a customer's a customer."
She briefly wonders if she should correct him on that. He's not part of Gospel, and the only reason she hadn't corrected Gauss was because she hadn't wanted them to target Arcadia, but . . . well, whatever. Arcadia hasn't left since he'd come to them, and she's not even sure if he wants to leave. Maybe it'll just be easier to say that they're both her NetNavis.
"They're really popular," the man says, as he stands up. "Everyone who watched the N1 knows that ProtoMan and Arcadia go together, so we actually sell them as a set because everyone always buys them both anyway. There's also one of MegaMan, too, but we're almost always sold out of him because he's the NetNavi of the N1 Champion."
Mimic perks up at that. The man doesn't miss her interest, and he laughs good-naturedly.
"I'll see if I've got a MegaMan one, too," he says, still chuckling. "Give me a minute, I need to check the back - I sell so many of those three that I've had to take them off the shop floor, in case anyone gets into a fight over them."
He heads off to the back of the shop, and Mimic turns to ProtoMan and Arcadia with a highly-amused grin.
[why MEGA too] ProtoMan asks her, before she can make a teasing comment.
Mimic pauses, and her grin turns a bit softer.
[thought LAN might like it] she replies.
Arcadia makes an 'oooh' of realisation. "I get it," he says, nodding. "That's really nice of you!"
Mimic shrugs. Lan's always being nice to her, so, why not? And seeing him again hadn't been as terrible as she thought it'd be, so maybe she should try it again. If nothing else, a MegaMan plushie might steer the conversation away from any questions she doesn't want him asking. And it might embarrass MegaMan, too, and she knows Lan's always looking for an excuse to tease his NetNavi. It's all in good fun.
The man comes back, and he's actually got all three of the Navi plushies.
"This is the only MegaMan one I have left," the man says, setting them down on the counter and scanning the tags. "I get deliveries once a week, and my last one was yesterday."
Mimic's surprise must show on her face, because he nods sagely as he starts ringing up the total zennys for the three plushies.
"Yeah, that's how popular the MegaMan plushie is," he laughs. "Guess luck is on your side! Alright, that'll be ten thousand zennys, please. I'll bag them for you while you pay."
The high price would've startled her at one point, but she's figured out the money system of this reality by now. It's like Japanese Yen from her reality, but they just call them zennys here. Ten thousand is probably a lot, but considering how much money she has, it doesn't really matter.
One good thing about accidentally possessing Chaud's body is that she doesn't need to worry about starving on the streets, at least. And she can make random purchases like this and not have to worry about how much it costs. Besides, she really wants these plushies, and Chaud had said it was okay to get them.
So she walks out of the plushie shop, light-hearted, holding onto a bag full of plushies.
It doesn't take long to get to the Hikari household. She still doesn't know her way around DenTech City, and she's only been here once, but ProtoMan and Arcadia don't have the unreliable memories of humans, so they direct her to the house easily.
The fact that the shopping district is close by also helps.
Mimic knocks on the front door, and steps back to wait. There's no crisis this time, so hopefully whoever opens the door won't be as frazzled as Haruka had been during the PharaohMan thing.
Turns out it's Lan who opens the door. He looks surprised to see her.
"Um," Lan says. "Hi!"
His tone is bright and friendly, but she can see him checking her over like he did when they were at Higsby's skyscraper a few days ago. Mimic decides to ignore it, pretend he isn't doing that, because that's not why she's here and she doesn't want to talk about . . . that.
She holds up the bag in her hand, forcing him to break off his check.
"Oooh, what's that?" Lan's interest is immediately piqued.
Mimic is already anticipating the look on his face as she pulls out the MegaMan plushie, and she's not disappointed.
He expression lights up like a kid on Christmas, and he lets out a delighted sound and takes the plushie from her when she offers it to him.
"Oh, wow!" Lan exclaims, with the biggest grin she's ever seen on his face. "I think- I've seen these, in some shops, but I never got one 'cus they were either sold out or way too expensive . . . And you found one? That's so cool!"
He makes it to give it back to her, but she pushes it back into his hands. Somehow, his grin gets even bigger.
"Y-you mean I can have this?" he almost squeals. "Really!? You're just- you're giving it to me, just like that?"
This is almost as adorable as ProtoMan and Arcadia cuddling earlier.
She nods, and Lan surprises her by leaping forward and throwing his arms around her. He's babbling his gratitude, way too excited to get his words out properly. It's almost infectious and she finds herself smiling along as well.
"Wait, are those what I think they are?" Lan asks, when he finally pulls back and notices the bag again.
Mimic can practically feel ProtoMan and Arcadia's embarrassment as she opens the bag and shows Lan the two remaining plushies. He lets out a loud laugh at the sight of them, absolutely thrilled.
"Hey, tell you what," Lan says, looking up at her suddenly. "Why don't you come inside? I did invite you to, a while ago, so . . . um . . ."
Mimic blinks, and looks up at the sky apprehensively, at the sun's position. She doesn't know what time it is, and she doesn't want to risk pissing off Shuseki after today's been . . . more or less okay, for once.
"Ah," Lan says, seeing her look. "Do you . . . need to go home?" He says it cautiously, like he's trying to ask if she'll get in trouble if she doesn't.
"Chaud needs to be home before eight o'clock," Arcadia speaks up, from her PET. "Um, Ch-Chaud, it's okay - it's only two in the afternoon. You've got plenty of time!"
Lan spares her PET a glance, for all that he can't really see it because its in the holder, and then looks at her questioningly.
Well, Mimic supposes, she can always ask ProtoMan to call a car for her later. She's not sure how long it'll take to get back to the Blaze mansion by car, but it definitely wouldn't be as long as it would be if she walked it back.
She pulls out her PET and signs a short few words.
"I'll leave by half past five," Arcadia says for her. That should give her enough time to get back.
Lan looks at ProtoMan, blinking, and opens his mouth - but then he shuts it quickly, after glancing at her. He's obviously wondering why ProtoMan isn't translating like usual, but he's showing some self-control and isn't asking. Mimic is grateful for that. She doesn't think ProtoMan wants anyone to know about Proxy tormenting him.
She follows Lan inside, and then gets dragged into spending the rest of her free time re-enacting the final battle of the N1 with the ProtoMan and MegaMan plushies. Mimic cheats at one point, bringing in the Arcadia plushie to fight at the ProtoMan plushie's side, and Lan complains through his laughter.
She even gets to eat some more of Haruka's cakes, which is awesome, because Haruka's cakes actually taste pretty damn good. She'd had them before, but hadn't really tasted them because she'd been too hungry to care. Now she can taste them, and they're the second-best food she's had - the first-best being, of course, noodles.