Video Battle! A Super Lazy Day in Zenless Zone Zero
A silly kind of peace has arrived in New Eridu. It all started with a single poster brought in by Billy. "First Annual Pair Video Grand Prix! Grand Prize: 5,000,000 Dennies!" With stars in his eyes, Billy is promptly dismissed by Nicole, who sighs, "Yeah, right, you're thinking of something stupid again." But when she hears the prize money could clear their debts, Anby silently presses the 'enter' button. Thus begins the laziest, most chaotic video battle in history, starring the oddballs of the
Video Battle! A Super Lazy Day in Zenless Zone Zero - Explosive Birth!? The Poster and the Silent Participation Button
My fingers are numb.
The morning shopping district was still sparse with foot traffic, and a pale, whitish light filtered down through the arcade roof.
"...Damn it. The rag's frozen solid."
Billy slapped the cloth in his hand against the signboard with a wet *thwack*. Random Phone Shop—on Torino Street in New Eridu's shopping district, sandwiched between a greengrocer and a taiyaki shop, on the first floor of a thirty-year-old tenant building. The signboard, the face of the store, had mud splattered on it from yesterday's rain.
His worn-out red hoodie made a frayed, scraping sound every time he twisted his body. His brown hair, a little longer than shoulder-length, was a mess of bedhead as usual today. The old scar on his left cheek glinted faintly white in the morning sun.
"Hup."
With one last wipe, the letters on the signboard stood out crisp and clear. The store logo, shaped like a spinning gear. Beneath it, the calligraphy reading "Random Phone Shop" was apparently scrawled by the first owner on a drunken whim.
Billy put his hands on his hips and admired his work with satisfaction.
"[excited]Alright! Perfect!"
He liked polishing the signboard. Every time the store got shiny and clean, he felt like he, too, became just a little bit more of a decent human being.
It was when he crouched down to put away the bucket.
A gaudy piece of paper flitted across the edge of his vision.
It danced on the wind, fluttering at the corner of the bulletin board. A spot usually reserved for shopping district sales flyers or lost cat posters.
Billy approached it casually.
"...What's this?"
It was a poster.
Fluorescent pink and yellow—a color scheme that was just painful to look at. Right in the center, in letters that looked like splattered ink, it read:
*"1st Annual Pair Video Grand Prix — Participants Wanted!"*
"Video Grand Prix..."
His eyes slid downward.
*"Form a team of two and create the ultimate viral video! Grand Prize—"*
*Gulp.*
He swallowed.
Because right there, it said:
*"5,000,000 Dennies!"*
"[excited]WHOOOOOOOOA!?!?"
His voice cracked.
Pigeons took off in alarm. The taiyaki shop's curtain fluttered.
Billy practically tore the poster off the board, brought it right up to his nose, and counted the digits again.
"Fi-ve, mil-lion..."
5,000,000 Dennies.
He could eat 1,600 bowls of ramen. No—he could buy 160 brand-new phones.
"This is it!"
The next instant, Billy was running.
The sound of his footsteps kicking off the arcade's cobblestones echoed through the dry air.
From the curtain of the taiyaki shop next door, the owner, Tae, poked her head out.
"Oh my, Billy. Off to mess something up again?"
Billy shouted without looking back.
"[laughing]This time it's gonna be huge! Earth-shattering huge!"
"You said the exact same thing during last week's raffle, y'know."
Tae's voice was laughing.
But Billy didn't stop.
He threw his whole body against the shop door and burst inside.
*Jingle-jangle*, the bell rang violently.
—This is our place.
Random Phone Shop.
Inside the roughly twenty-tatami-mat space, every shelf was piled high with junk phones. Broken old-model handsets, tablets with cracked screens, mountains of parts scavenged from who-knows-where. The air was dusty, and the faint smell of machine oil always hung around.
The counter right by the entrance was half-buried under repair tools and mugs.
"Nico! Listen to this!"
Beyond the counter.
A guy with neatly trimmed short black hair was working with his hands, not even looking up. He was deftly maneuvering a thin screwdriver, in the middle of removing a tiny component from a circuit board. Only his bangs were a little long, hanging over his left eye—he irritably swept them aside.
That was Nico.
"...You're loud. What is it this early in the morning?"
Nico's voice was low and calm. His fingertips holding the screwdriver were delicate—for some reason, this guy loved fiddly work like phone repair.
Billy slammed the poster down on the counter.
"[excited]Look at this! It's a Pair Video Grand Prix!"
"Huh? What are you talking about?"
Nico finally looked up. His narrowed, sharp eyes slowly scanned the text on the poster.
"...Hah."
An enormous sigh.
"Again?"
"What do you mean, 'again'?!"
"Last week's shopping district raffle."
"...Urk."
"You tried to give away the store's merchandise as prizes without asking and got chewed out by the association."
Nico's voice was flat.
"Last month's social media project."
"W-Wait—"
"You said, 'I came up with a viral project!' and got bored of it in three days."
"That was... well..."
Nico set down his screwdriver, clasped his hands together, and placed them on the counter.
"[sarcastic]You'll just give up in three days like always. Drop it."
"[angry]This time's different! I'm serious! It's 5,000,000 Dennies!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Nico dropped his gaze back to the phone. The palm-sized device apparently just wouldn't power on.
Billy leaned forward, hands on the counter.
"Believe me! I'm serious! Nico, you're doing this too!"
"I'm not doing it."
"We'll split the prize money!"
"It's not about the money."
"We'll make the ultimate viral video together! One that'll make all of New Eridu roar with laughter!"
"...The only one laughing right now is me."
Nico's retort was way too on point.
But Billy didn't back down.
"Listen, Nico. Don't you ever think about it? That our everyday lives could become something more?"
"I don't."
"Think it!"
"Don't be ridiculous!"
Nico raised his voice—a rare occurrence—and put down his screwdriver. A frown creased his brow.
"Don't think you can solve everything with sheer momentum and enthusiasm."
"It can be solved!"
"It wasn't solved, which is why you failed last week and last month, right?"
He had no comeback.
Billy's mouth twisted into a slight pout. He was self-aware. He really was. But still, this time, it felt like the poster was calling out to him.
A reset.
Billy sucked in the biggest breath he could and yelled.
"[angry]IT'S 5,000,000 DENNIES!!!!!"
The window glass rattled.
That's when it happened.
—*Clack.*
A small sound came from the back of the shop.
The sound of someone setting down a pen.
—*Sss.*
Beyond the counter, from the shadow of the shelf stacked with account books, the air shifted smoothly.
A figure.
Before anyone knew it, she was standing there.
Amby.
"...Whoa."
Billy instinctively stepped back.
Her dark gray hair, reaching down to her waist, flowed silkily with every movement. Her bangs were cut perfectly straight, as tight and precise as a stretched thread. From beneath them, large, deep purple eyes stared fixedly up at Billy.
Her tiny 152-centimeter frame was wrapped in an oversized black cardigan.
"A-Amby...?"
No answer.
She barely blinked.
She just stared, expressionless, at Billy's hands.
In Billy's hands: his phone.
What happened next was as smooth as magic.
Amby's pale hand slipped out and plucked Billy's phone away with her fingertips.
"Huh?"
"Hey, what are you—"
On the other side of the counter, Nico was frozen too.
Amby was silent.
Her slender fingers tapped the phone's screen.
The Milvy app launched.
The most popular video streaming site in New Eridu. A massive platform where anyone could shoot videos, edit them, and broadcast them to the whole world—with over 850,000 registered users.
Amby's finger, without a moment's hesitation, pressed the Pair Video Grand Prix entry button.
"Wha—"
Nico's voice cracked.
A warning appeared on the screen.
*"This cannot be undone. Are you sure?"*
Amby,
pressed the confirm button.
*Pop.* A light sound effect.
*"Registration complete!"*
The shop fell dead silent.
Only the second hand of the wall clock ticked, *tick, tock*.
Amby slowly held the phone out to Billy.
"[whispers]...Registration complete."
Her voice was as thin and small as a whisper brushing against paper.
A moment of silence.
And then,
"[excited]ALL RIIIIIIGHT!!!!"
Billy threw both hands toward the ceiling and jumped.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'ALL RIGHT'!!!!"
Nico slammed the counter like he was trying to beat it down.
"Read the terms, read 'em! It says 'cannot be undone' right there!"
Nico was frantically scrolling through the screen on his own phone.
"Ah, it's true. 'Cancellations after entry will not be accepted under any circumstances.'"
"See?! Hey, Amby, what did you just do?!"
Amby wasn't facing them anymore.
She had returned to her seat and flipped open an account book with a rustle.
"[cold]Until the debt is repaid: 4,000,000 Dennies remaining."
"Huh?"
Billy and Nico's voices overlapped.
Amby counted off on her fingers with a soft rustle.
"From the 5,000,000 Dennies prize, after taxes..."
"Hold on."
"Wait, debt?"
"The remainder will cover it exactly."
Nico clutched his head.
"[scared]Wait, wait, wait! What debt?! Amby, why do you owe that kind of money?!"
Amby didn't answer.
She just kept counting on her fingers, calculating difficult numbers entirely in her head.
At the edge of the counter sat a stack of perfectly organized account books. The store's bookkeeping, which she secretly handled. Despite being better with numbers than anyone, she had never once talked about the reason for her own debt.
Billy was still bouncing.
"[excited]Alright! If we're doing this, we're winning! Nico, you're in on this too!"
"I told you, I never said I was doing it!"
Billy circled around the counter and threw a firm arm around Nico's shoulders.
"Listen, partner! If we team up, any video we make will go viral!"
"There's zero basis for that confidence."
"It's fine! It'll work out somehow!"
"How many times have I suffered because of your 'it'll work out'..."
Nico sighed and looked up at the ceiling.
But he didn't shake off the arm.
Amby had already closed the account book.
She murmured quietly.
"[whispers]...You just have to make a video."
"Exactly! Amby's right!"
"Don't make it sound so simple!"
Outside the window.
The Torino Street shopping district was, before anyone noticed, buzzing with late-morning energy. The greengrocer's booming voice, the sound of croquettes frying, children laughing somewhere.
Only inside Random Phone Shop did the air swirl around like the aftermath of a storm.
Carried by his momentum, Billy slapped Nico on the back.
"Alright! Strategy meeting!"
"I keep telling you, I haven't agreed to anyth—"
"Details don't matter! Let's do this!"
"LISTEN TO WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYIIIIING!!!"
Nico's scream echoed through the shop.
Amby just listened to that voice in silence.
Her quiet, deep purple eyes narrowed just the tiniest bit.
—Maybe, just maybe, she smiled.
A day at a phone shop you could find anywhere in New Eridu.
But today, without a doubt, some kind of weird switch had been flipped.
The 5,000,000 Dennies Pair Video Grand Prix.
Right now, three challengers, each with a completely different level of enthusiasm, had just lined up at the same starting line.
A single notification chimed on Billy's phone.
*"Pair Video Grand Prix — Entry Period: 10 Days Remaining"*
There's no undoing it.
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