His face lit up completely, like something inside him had just ignited.
"I got an order," he said, stepping toward her, his voice rising with uncontrollable energy. "A big one."
He laughed lightly, almost breathless.
"That's a hundred thousand credits."
Celia blinked.
Then—
Her expression broke into a smile just as bright.
"Seriously?"
She stepped forward without thinking, her hand reaching out, grabbing his.
"That's amazing!"
Arceus didn't even realize when their hands met.
Didn't notice the warmth.
The contact.
Not until his fingers tightened instinctively around hers, holding on as if grounding himself in the reality of what had just happened.
"Celia!"
The word burst out of Arceus before he could soften it, his voice rising with a raw excitement that carried no restraint, his grip tightening unconsciously as if he needed something solid to hold onto while everything else shifted beneath him. His chest rose and fell quickly, breath uneven, eyes bright in a way that hadn't been seen in him for years.
"Your idea… your idea about going online…" he said, the words tumbling over each other, struggling to keep pace with his thoughts. "It worked. It just clicked. It's all because of you…"
His voice climbed at the end, almost breaking into a shout.
"I'm not trapped anymore."
The sentence lingered in the air.
Not loud.
But heavy.
Celia looked at him, her lips curving into a soft smile at first, something warm and genuine flickering across her expression as she took in the way he stood there, almost glowing with relief. For a brief moment, she simply watched him, her eyes reflecting that spark back at him.
"Haha… I'm really happy for you…" she said gently.
But as Arceus kept speaking, her smile began to still.
"I've been struggling for years," he continued, his gaze dropping to his phone, his voice lowering slightly as if the past had reached up to brush against him again. "Couldn't even make a few thousand a month consistently… taking loans just to survive… paying one debt with another…"
His fingers tightened faintly around the device.
"And now look at this…" he said, almost in disbelief. "One week. Just one week… and everything's changed."
His words carried a quiet tremor now, not from fear, but from the weight of contrast, from the suddenness of the shift, from the realization that he had stepped out of something that once felt endless.
Celia didn't interrupt.
She didn't respond.
She simply stood there, watching him.
Listening.
And somewhere in that silence, her expression changed.
It didn't harden.
It didn't soften.
It became… unreadable.
Because while Arceus was lost in the momentum of his thoughts, in the surge of relief and hope, there was something else happening, something quieter, something that didn't need words.
He was still holding her hand.
And he didn't realize it.
Not yet.
Not until—
Ahem.
The sound cut through the moment like a small stone breaking the surface of still water.
Celia flinched slightly, her head turning toward the doorway.
Emelia stood there, leaning against the frame, arms crossed, her posture relaxed but her expression sharp with amusement. Her lips curved into a smug smile, her gaze flicking between them with open curiosity.
"Celia," she said slowly, her tone dripping with playful accusation, "you told me he was your old classmate…"
A small pause.
"But you didn't tell me you were this close."
"Huh?" Arceus blinked, pulled out of his thoughts.
Celia frowned slightly. "What do you mean?"
Emelia didn't answer directly.
She simply lifted her hand and pointed downward, twirling her index finger lazily.
Arceus followed the gesture.
And froze.
His hand.
Still wrapped around Celia's.
Warm.
Firm.
Too natural.
For a split second, his mind went completely blank.
Then—
Everything rushed back at once.
Celia noticed too.
Her eyes dropped.
Then widened slightly.
She pulled her hand away almost immediately, the motion quick but not abrupt, as if she didn't want to make it seem like something it wasn't, even though it clearly was.
"I should… uh…" she cleared her throat, her fingers brushing against the back of her neck as she stepped back. "I should head back to the kitchen."
The air shifted.
Tightened.
"Y-Yeah," Arceus stammered, suddenly aware of everything at once, his voice losing its earlier confidence. "I should… check the packaging for the order…"
Celia moved past Emelia quickly, her steps a little faster than before, but not rushed enough to seem obvious.
Emelia didn't move.
She simply raised a finger, wagging it slowly in the air, her grin widening as if she had just witnessed something she would not forget anytime soon.
Celia squeezed her eyes shut for a brief second in playful annoyance, then grabbed Emelia's arm and pulled her along, ignoring the low whispering giggles that followed.
The room quieted again.
Arceus stood there.
Still.
Scratching the back of his head slowly, his fingers brushing through damp strands of hair as his thoughts tried to reorganize themselves.
"It's not like that…" he muttered under his breath, his voice quieter now, almost defensive, though there was no one there to argue. "I mean… it's not…"
A pause.
"Right?"
A soft sound answered him.
A small, curious chuff.
Black looked up at him, its round eyes wide, its head tilted slightly as if trying to understand the strange shift in its master's tone.
Arceus exhaled, the tension easing just a little as he crouched down and picked up the pup, its small body warm and light in his hands.
"Yeah… you're right," he said with a faint grin, more to himself than to the creature. "Focus."
His fingers brushed gently over its fur.
"My priorities…"
His expression steadied.
"Sales. Growth. Reputation."
Each word landed more firmly than the last.
"Everything else… comes later."
A small pause followed.
Then—
Another thought slipped in.
Uninvited.
But not unexpected.
"…And if I ever do think about that stuff…"
His gaze shifted slightly.
Toward the living room.
Toward the space where she had been sitting earlier.
"I'd rather…"
He stopped.
Corrected himself almost immediately.
"Well… not 'get back' with her," he muttered, shaking his head lightly. "We're not even… anything in this timeline."
His grip on Black tightened just a little.
"We weren't supposed to meet for another year…"
His heartbeat picked up.
Faster.
Unsteady.
"But now…"
He swallowed.
"…we're under the same roof."
His thoughts deepened.
Sharpened.
"I know her," he whispered. "I know what she likes… what she hates…"
Fragments of memory surfaced.
Familiar.
Intimate.
Dangerous.
"If nothing changes…" he continued, his voice dropping slightly, almost as if afraid of being overheard by the future itself, "then I still have a chance."
A long breath left him.
"And this time…"
His eyes hardened just a fraction.
"I won't let her go."
A quiet defiance settled in his chest.
"Straight… bi… whatever she is…"
His jaw tightened.
"If she loves me…"
A faint pause.
"That's enough."
He looked down at Black again, forcing a small smile back onto his face.
"Forget what people think."
The words lingered.
Heavy.
Resolved.
***
Dinner wound down slowly, the earlier tension dissolving into the warmth of shared space and casual conversation. Plates were cleared, the faint clatter of dishes fading into the background as voices softened, stretching into comfortable silence between small bursts of chatter.
Arceus leaned back slightly, stretching his arms above his head, feeling the pull in his muscles before letting them fall loosely to his sides. His gaze wandered across the room, drifting without direction—
Until it stopped.
On the fridge.
"Hey," he said casually, his tone lighter now, almost deliberately so. "Is there any ice cream?"
Neal didn't even look up from his phone, a toothpick balanced between his fingers as he leaned back lazily.
"Nope," he replied instantly.
Arceus nodded, as if he had expected nothing else.
"Alright," he said, already shifting his weight forward. "I'll go grab some."
He hesitated for a fraction of a second.
Then added, "Anyone want anything?"
Neal finally glanced up slightly.
At the same time, Arceus's eyes flicked—briefly, almost imperceptibly—toward Serestia.
"I've got this habit," he continued, trying to keep his tone natural. "Ice cream after dinner."
A small shrug.
"Kind of weird, I know."
He smiled faintly.
"Except when I'm drinking."
A pause settled over the room.
Then—
"Wait, what?" Celia let out a soft laugh, her eyes flicking between them. "You have the same habit as Serestia."
A beat.
"She does the exact same thing."
Arceus froze.
Or rather—
He made it look like he did.
"Eh?" he said, turning his head slowly toward Serestia, as if hearing it for the first time.
She had already lowered her head, her fingers fidgeting with the edge of her sleeve, her cheeks faintly flushed with color.
"Really?" he asked.
His tone carried just enough curiosity.
Just enough surprise.
But beneath it—
He already knew.
This wasn't coincidence.
This was intention.
A small bridge.
A connection.
Serestia nodded slightly, still avoiding his gaze.
Arceus smiled.
A little wider than before.
"Quite the coincidence…"
His voice softened.
"What flavor do you like?"
She opened her mouth, clearly about to refuse.
But—
Celia stepped in.
"Sera," she said casually, though there was something deliberate beneath it, "why don't you go with him?"
A small pause.
"He's new to the area. Might get lost."
The suggestion landed gently.
But firmly.
Arceus felt it.
A subtle push.
His chest tightened slightly.
His heartbeat picked up.
Serestia looked caught off guard.
But she didn't protest.
"…Okay," she said softly.
Arceus nodded.
"Yeah… that works."
They stood.
Almost at the same time.
The door clicked open.
Then closed.
***
Outside—
The night air wrapped around them, cooler now, carrying the faint hum of the city and the distant glow of streetlights stretching into the horizon.
For a brief moment—
Neither spoke.
The silence wasn't empty.
It was… waiting.
Behind them, inside the apartment, Celia stood with her arms crossed, watching the closed door, a slow, knowing smirk forming on her lips as if she had just nudged something into motion and was content to let it unfold on its own.