Hopeless Romantic

It was a calm and sunny day in the Elmwood city. Roads bustled. The traffic was lively. And people crawled over the city like ants.

Nothing out of the ordinary happened. The shops raised their electronic shutters on time, the office workers rushed to their workplaces in a hurry using hoverboards, hoverbikes, hovercars, or simply two legs. And the planet revolved like normal.

But, on the seemingly normal day, there was a mind-boggling sighting that even the Nat-Geo cameramen would never want to miss. A rare and highly anti-social creature known as Axle had actually left his room!!! For the first time in several months, Axle had left his room out of his own accord.

Not under the pressure of school. Not under the pressure of 'friends'. Not under the pressure of tasks. Axle had left his room by his own choice.

Such a phenomenon should be recorded in history files to be shown to several more generations to wonder at.

'Sun hurts my eyes…' of course, being a shut-in he was, Axle was suffering the consequences of stepping out of his comfort zone. Still, his determination must be applauded.

Finally, after walking for 10 minutes, Axle reached a wide building named 'Zudio'. It was a widely known clothing brand that was known for its reasonable prices and decent quality apparel. 

Although it wasn't famous for its luxury clothing, Zudio was a brand that every youngster across the whole continent had at least heard of. 

Today Axle had left his room with only two objectives in mind, The first was to get a good haircut as his current hair resembled a bird's nest. And second, was to get an at least 'presentable' outfit to wear to Rex's party.

Even if Axle knew his meager savings couldn't afford him those lofty suits like Rex and others wear, Axle hoped to buy at least a decent denim jacket or a leather jacket that could go with his clothes. Not the classiest choice, but better than showing up in pajamas.

'Or wait… I can rent a suit maybe?' Axle hummed at the idea, it wasn't that bad of an idea after all. 

He knew he would earn a lot of money tonight, and his figure was also going to change significantly over time as he expends his MP to better himself. What was the point of investing in clothes he knew would only serve as scrap cloth to clean his table?

'I am so smart!' Axle scoffed and turned around to leave, walking to a good-quality clothing rental store he heard of from his friend.

***

In the Zudio store.

A young girl approximately 17-year-old, coincidentally looked out of the one-way glass of the store and spotted a messy, young, fat man standing on the store's stairs with a frown.

The girl was confused and intrigued by his contemplating look as he stared at the huge showroom. Dressed in plain and shabby clothes with unkempt hair, he looked out of the place in front of the clean and sparkling store.

Maybe that was the reason this poor guy was having low self-esteem issues?

Maria chuckled at her guess and looked at Axle in amusement, she recognized him to be a quiet kid who sat in the middle benches of their class. He was quiet and kind of invisible, with no certain presence. If it wasn't for him sticking with Rex's group occasionally, Maria wouldn't even have noticed him.

'Poor guy, he doesn't even have enough confidence to buy clothes. Rex has been too harsh on this little boy.' Maria shook her head in shame, 'But oh well, that's what I love about him~ He gives the proper CEO vibes~' Maria soon giggled softly, ignoring Axle who had already turned around to walk away by now.

"Stop daydreaming girl, move your hands faster!" A middle-aged store helper chided Maria when he saw her lost in her wild fantasies surrounding Rex and her, enjoying their time together. Of course, none of them were to come true as she was a simple girl from a normal background while Rex was heir to a big conglomerate. 

"Y-Yes boss!" Maria shook her head with a blush and went back to her work, assisting the customers in choosing clothes and arranging the clothes back to their place.

***

Having no clue about the innocent hopelessly romantic girl in the store, Axle was casually picking a nice blazer that would go well with his fat stature. 

In the end, after considering for 10-20 minutes, Axle picked a black colored blazer and a black pair of trousers to rent. Since he already had a decent white shirt, he didn't need to rent that.

"One day, right?" A lazy cashier asked resting his cheeks on the palm of his hand. 

Axle nodded in response.

"It will be 20 Styr for the day, and 480 Styr will serve as the deposit money. So a total of 500 Styr, but you can have the deposit back when you return the clothes. Clear?" the lazy cashier snorted and explained the drill that Axle already knew of.

Axle fished out five 100 Styr bills from his pocket. This was supposed to be his room's rent but here he was, putting it as the deposit for the expensive blazer.

But Axle knew that this was worth the investment. If his gamble pays off tonight, he would become rich enough that he could buy tens of such pairs and never look at them again.

"Wow, he actually had the money." The lazy cashier mumbled to himself when he received the notes and then packed the clothes in the cover and then kept them neatly in a bag.

Axle heard him but didn't bother to reply, he was used to being looked down upon so this wasn't really a big deal. Instead, what's the bigger deal was that he was running a little late to the appointment he made with his barber. 

Axle dropped off his new clothes to his room on the way and then ran to the saloon.

It was a normal, small, and third-rate saloon with no real significant review or rating. It was run by a chubby middle-aged man who once bought a decent AI robot with skills in haircutting. Since then, the man opened a small saloon for the lower-middle class and normal people to use.

It wasn't the best, but this was the only realistic choice that Axle could afford at the moment. Not to mention that he was familiar with the AI, and he knew that although the AI wasn't perfect, it wasn't that bad at its job.

Axle simply had to choose a hairstyle from available options and then the AI will show its wonders.

***

Just like that, time went by and a day went by in a blur.

Axle had spent most of it playing games like usual and surfing the news, just when he came across some interesting news.

He found out that across the town in a huge skyscraper, a maid-type robot malfunctioned and exploded, spreading fire throughout the building that even the best fire-protection system couldn't fight against.

Soon, two floors of the skyscraper were caught in the fire by the time the firefighting squad came.

A total of 3 deaths and many serious injuries were caused on this unlucky day.

But, that wasn't the thing Axle was focused on. What caught his attention was that…