4: "It's blood," she announced. "Very nutritious."

“Arsenyx. What are you doing here?” Atlas asked with some trepidation in his voice.
“Well,” the man said as he straightened his posture, “there was a rumor that a strange Tarot would be in Geminus today. And by sheer coincidence, someone had told me that a mysterious Tarot was pulled at the shop in Luxiem. I knew it wasn’t in Nox because I had already sent Celeste there to check. And when that same person told me that they saw you with the one who pulled it, I figured you’d know who it was. And I knew that if I waited here you’d show up eventually. Kept me waiting a while, though. But at least you did me the courtesy of bringing him to me.”
“Arsenyx, do you actually think that Tarot has anything to do with the bounty? There’s no name or description. It’s probably just a glitched card that needs to be patched.”
“There was a rumor that it could help locate the hidden dungeon. I’m simply investigating if it's true. There’s been no other leads so far since the contest started.”
Arsenyx turned to face Tanuki. “So, what do you say, will you let me have it? I’ll trade you for it. I’ll give you a million atomints. If it turns out to be nothing, I’ll even give it back to you. Sound fair?”

Tanuki was almost salivating at the thought of a million atomints, but Atlas shot Tanuki a stern look and shook his head slightly.
“I don’t know why you think any of us would trust you after you took over our old guild and kicked a ton of good people out. We can get into details later, Tanuki, but long story short, I wouldn’t trust this guy within an inch of my life.”

“Atlas, you were one of the few competent people in it. I even offered to make you a Captain.”
“I wouldn’t turn my back on all the friends I made there that you got rid of. People I thought you also considered to be your friend. But you just used everyone.”
Arsenyx sighed and put his hand to face.
“You take that way too seriously. It’s a game and I just kicked out a bunch of people who weren’t even good. Some of those people didn’t even log in more than once a week.”
Atlas raised his voice slightly, “And thanks to you, after you took their stuff and kicked them out, some of them never logged in again. It was an $#%&*#$ move and you know it.”
Arsenyx’s brow furrowed a bit.
“You can call me what you want, but the only thing that matters is that our guild is one of the most popular guilds now. We have a thousand applications weekly. From users and sponsors. But whatever, Atlas, keep clinging onto things that don’t even matter.”
He turned back to Tanuki.
“Alright, what about a 1v1 match? If I win you give me the Tarot. If you win, I’ll give you my entire inventory.”

Atlas and NV looked at each other in pure shock.
Arsenyx continued, “I’ve got the rarest loadouts in the game. Things no other player has. Obviously you’re severely underleveled, you still have leather armor and a basic short sword. You couldn’t even scrape the dust off my shoes. I’ll make a deal with you, I’ll let you get to Level 50, and I’ll handicap my level to 50 in a private lobby, and we’ll do best of 3. I won’t use my highest statted weapons or armor, either.”
“Tanuki… don’t do it.” Atlas whispered.
Tanuki ignored Atlas as he spoke up, “All right, but I want a different deal.” This made Arsenyx raise an eyebrow curiously. “Oh?”
“Rather than taking all of your stuff, if I win, I want you to give the guild back to Atlas.”
Atlas and NV’s jaws dropped to the floor. Even Celeste brought her gaze up from the floor to look at Tanuki in surprise.
“What!?” Atlas shouted, “Tanuki, are you crazy!? He’d never agree to tha-”
“Deal,” Arsenyx said, smiling coldly and outstretching his hand. “What’s a guild compared to 10 million dollars? $%^& ‘em.”
Atlas gave Tanuki a concerned look, “Wait, Tanuki, before you shake on it, let me expla-”
But Tanuki had already reached out his own hand to shake on it, and from within the handshake, a seal appeared, encapsulating their hands. It contained both of their zodiac symbols, Gemini and Aries, and it shone with a splendid burst of light blue, before it extinguished and the seal faded away. Tanuki pulled away and noticed a small brand on the top of his hand. It was faint, but you could tell up close that it was there, and it was in the shape of the Aries symbol. Atlas hung his head in mild disappointment as Arsenyx, seeming satisfied, began to exit the cafe, calling back to Celeste to follow him. Obediently, rose and began to follow him. As she passed Tanuki, she tapped him quickly on the hand, and without saying another word, her and Arsenyx left.

Tanuki, Atlas, and NV all sat down in a booth, with Atlas yawning exhaustedly.
“I swear, that guy could make a room of sleeping babies cry. He tries too hard to be menacing, when all he really is—”
“—is a coward,” NV inserted.
“But I’ve got to admit,” Atlas continued, “as bat$#%^ insane as that was, that was pretty ballsy of you. I’m really liking this guy! But why’d you change the deal to make him give me the guild if you won?”
“I just thought he was an @$$#*%,” Tanuki said nonchalantly. Atlas chuckled, then a soft, gentle voice sheepishly came from behind two saloon style doors next to the drink counter.
“Um, is he gone?”
Atlas shouted back, “He’s gone, Lyrica. You’re fine to come out now.” A young woman walked out from behind the saloon style doors. She had purple hair that was tied up; she wore a short purple blouse with purple shorts that came down to her mid thighs, and a green overcoat with various gold patterns on it. In the middle of her chest was a jade crystal.
“I’m not allowed to refuse service to people who come here, so instead I figured if I’d hide in the back. That guy that came in… he scares me.”
“Yeah,” Atlas said, “I was definitely not expecting him to ever come here. Sorry about that, Lorica. You did good by hiding though.”
“It’s no trouble,” she said, “What can I get you for you two? The regular? And a new face! Hello and salutations, Mr. Tanuki, I’m Lorica and I run the Chalon de Trois.”
Tanuki nodded in acknowledgment, with a short “Hello,” but didn’t feel very talkative, as he was going over what had just happened in his head.
“Would you like anything, Mr. Tanuki? Our menu is available just by scanning the code on the table.”

Tanuki scanned the code and briefly perused the menu, though nothing really sounded good, so he just ordered something called a ‘Drippy Soda’. Lyrica bowed and went to the drink counter and started on their orders.
“I wonder who the rat was,” NV muttered.
“Hard to tell,” replied Atlas, “Arsenyx has so many people willing to do whatever he wants. But we’d better be extra careful from now on.”
“That girl,” Tanuki said, “The one with Arsenyx. I don’t recognize that zodiac symbol on her cheek. Do you know what it is?”
“That’s Solarian,” replied Atlas, “It’s extremely rare to find that class. I’ve only seen a couple of people who’ve had it. When you sign up and enter your birth date, it assigns you the corresponding zodiac sign. No one’s been able to figure out how to get the Solarian class. Even the developers keep any answers about it vague.”
“I think it’s a fake class,” NV said. She leaned in closer to Tanuki and Atlas, as if she was about to whisper a secret, even though there was no one else in the cafe besides them.
“Solarians can buy and use any Tarot from any zodiac sign. That’s super greased. I think they're developers in disguise, trying to play their own game with an unfair advantage.”
Atlas facepalmed. “You have no basis for this, NV. If they wanted to cheat at their own game, why would they be so obvious about it as to make a special class, why not just boost a regular account?”

“If you want to hide something for real, hide it in plain sight,” she said confidently. Atlas shut her down promptly, “Just no.”
“Here you are.” Lyrica came over to serve Tanuki his Drippy Soda, Atlas a plate of holographic meat loaf with sparkling water, and NV a drink that was a deep crimson color.
“It’s blood,” NV announced, “very nutritious and boosts my combat abilities.”
“It’s tomato juice,” Atlas said flatly. NV muttered to herself as they all clanked their drinks together in a toast and began to drink. Tanuki could feel the sensation of the Drippy Soda in his mouth, his taste buds tingling from the carbonation.

They sat and drank for a while, talking about nothing, laughing at their own jokes, with Atlas swearing up and down that he could taste the juiciness of the holographic meat loaf in real life.
“By the way, what’s behind the name Tanuki? I’ve heard all kinds of weird names, but usually everyone has a story behind it.”
Tanuki was silent for a few seconds.
“It’s… what my sister used to call me growing up. She said I was always finding shiny things and taking them home. Coins, jewelry, pieces of scrap, sometimes even silverware. She said I was like a little raccoon.”
“That’s quite the wholesome story actually. I was expecting something goofier. Does your sister play Constellarium, by any chance?”
“I’d be very, very shocked if she did.”
Something about the nature of this line of questioning shifted the mood of the conversation, so Tanuki recovered it by asking, “So how long have you and NV known each other?”
“We grew up together. I’ve probably known her longer than anyone else I know, besides my family.”

“Are you guys dating?”
NV, who was sipping on her tomato juice, suddenly spat it out, making a bit of a mess. Atlas just laughed as she began wiping it up with her cloak.
“No, we’re not. I’m not her type. But we are close, and I trust her probably more than anyone else. I’d take a bullet for her. And you’d do the same for me, right?”
Atlas, while smiling, motioned at NV, who just turned her head away.
“But yeah, we hang out all the time. Maybe you could join us one day. It’s always nice to know the people you meet online are real.”
Tanuki looked away, over at a different table in the cafe.
“Maybe.”

“No pressure of course. Well, NV and I are going out for something to eat after she gets off of school tomorrow. Would you care to join us? You’re a pretty interesting fellow! And…” Atlas trailed off a bit and stared into his cup, almost somberly. “What you said to Arsenyx about giving me the guild if you won. For you to offer that when we didn’t even know each other before today… Well, that meant a lot to me. I’d like to treat you to something that’s less holographic than this meat loaf, if that’s fine with you.”
NV looked over to Tanuki.
“For the record,” she said, “what you did was insanely stupid. But…” She paused for a moment. “Also kind of cool.”
Tanuki smiled, probably one of the few times he did so out of genuine appreciation for a compliment.
“You guys don’t seem so bad after all.”
Atlas slammed his fist on the table.
“Great! Then it’s settled. Come join us tomorrow. We live in District 9. Her school is… in… the general area.” It seemed Atlas finally learned about divulging details about NV publicly.
“I’ll message you with the details later. Here, I’ll send you a friend request now. You should send him one too, NV.”
“Fine,” she said then turned to Tanuki, “But don’t expect prompt responses, I’m a VERY busy girl.”

Tanuki checked his inbox and noticed something odd, but he ignored it and opened Atlas’s and NV’s request and accepted.
“Awesome!” Atlas clapped and stood up, and stretched his arms wide while making a half-groan/half-sigh noise. “Now that all that’s done, I think it’s time we called it a night. Right, NV? Wouldn’t want you to oversleep again.”
“Whatever.” NV bumped Atlas aside as she got out of the booth and started to walk outside. She turned around only to tell Lyrica goodnight.
Atlas waved, “Goodnight Lyrica. Great grub as always!”
Lyrica waved back with a cheerful smile on her face. “Thank you Atlas. Oh! It was nice to meet you Mr. Tanuki. You three are always welcome here, anytime.”
Tanuki smiled and waved as all three exited Chalon de Trois. Outside, the marble city was still as bright and vibrant as ever, though in the real world he knew it must have already gotten dark.

“So,” Atlas said, turning to him, “We’ll see you tomorrow then?”
“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”
“I’ll message you the details later. If you link F-Diver with your phone, you can see the messages on your phone, even when you’re offline! Did you know that? I thought it was a pretty cool feature.”
“And a little invasive,” NV chimed in.
“All right, I’ll do that after getting off. Thanks.”
“No problem. Have a goodnight Tanuki.”
“‘Night,” NV said to Tanuki, before she and Atlas both logged out, vanished in a beam of light, which left a small trail of particles behind before completely vanishing.
Tanuki opened his HUD again to check what he found odd earlier. Even though he added Atlas and NV, there was still an active friend request. He opened his inbox again and examined the third pending request. It was from Celeste. When had she sent him one? He didn’t remember seeing one at the Tarot shop, after he first bumped into her. It had to have been when she was at Chalon de Trois with Arsenyx. But why? He let these thoughts slither around in his head for a moment.
“Well, she is kind of cute,” he said aloud to himself, then hit Accept, and logged out.