[“So you’re still alive?”]

It was a rather late reply from Radingo.

[“Yes.”]

[“You’re one lucky bastard.”]

There were also other messages from my family’s group chat. I inferred that they were going to come during the afternoon as Lia needed the morning to pack hirs things.

I was currently sitting on a nice, comfy stool. A relatively olden day 90s restaurant which still uses a print menu.

It was grandma and grandoa’s recommendation. More like, this traditional-styled coffee shop located near the condominium is their usual breakfast spot.

Bread with dried coconut shavings, soft boiled eggs, barley drink, western food– to name a few of the common items.

“Do you like barley?”

“Yes.”

There was this one time when Novelle’s sister-in-law made Shin barley tea. He was hooked that day onwards.

“Do we still have the ingredients?”

“We have leftovers I think?”

Grandoa nodded.

“We’ll make you barley drink at home if you like it so much.”

“I don’t think you need to go so far to make so much just because I like it..”

“Barley is good for your health. I’ve wanted to make a pot of barley with aloe jelly for quite some time now.”

“It’ll only take a few minutes. Throw it in the pressure cooker and let everything sit. It’s not hard at all.”

The conversation was going in an odd direction.

Our food came.

I went with grandoa’s recommendation and got myself the soft boiled egg and croissant set. Since I knew the portion would fill me completely, I also ordered glass noodles with tofu.

“Eat more, grow strong and healthy.”

“Do you always eat this much? You still look so thin though.”

“I don’t think it's a matter of being thin or fat.”

“Eat more, eat more. Whatever you want, just tell us alright?”

I nodded with a troubled expression.

I cracked the two soft boiled eggs and poured them into the bowl provided. I added some soy sauce and pepper.

I noticed that my grandoa like to dip hirs sweet bread with the egg yellow. And that my grandma likes her coffee without sugar.

I made it a note to tell the waiter to add less sugar into my barley drink next time.

[“Avner, I won’t be available next week so I plan to call someone else to help you activate your system. She might not be as free as I am so make your arrangements for meeting quickly. Here’s her contact: {/LINK}”]

[Avner, beware.]

I know Randell.

Going against the warning, I accessed the link. It brought me to the account of a private chat. Is this the correct one? I went back to Randingo’s chat.

[“The link directed me to a private chat.”]

[“Just say that you’re here because I’m away. She’ll know what to do.”]

[“Thanks.”]

I mustered up the courage to text a stranger. Is this a necessary part of being a demon? Though, looking at it in another way, the part about camaraderie is true. Being thrown into a life and death situation forces you to connect with others.

[“Excuse me. I’ve been directed to you by Randingo. Are you a demon?”]

Just imagine if the other person on the line wasn’t a demon. They must be thinking of filing a lawsuit for juvenile cyberbullying.

I resumed my breakfast feeling paranoid.

===

[“This is Lucifer, yes, you’ve texted the correct person. Randingo told me about you. I heard from him you were caught up in the incident yesterday night. Are you alright?”]

[“Yes, I’m fine.”]

[“The Seraph has gone to a different zone so the mall yesterday is now free of the threat. Are you able to make it over?”]

The Seraph is gone. That’s good news.

Flashes of yesterday night’s memories caused me to shiver.

[“I’ll be going to the mall again today.”]

[“That’s good to know. I actually work at one of the fast food chains. Do you know Ducklings?”]

Ducklings is the name of a fast food franchise. And as the name suggests, duck meat is a staple ingredient for the items on the menu.

I remember eating duck as both Shin and Avner. Shin didn’t have any particular comments about the taste besides recognizing it as meat. Avner hated the odd smell.

With those two points in consideration, I still think I’m down for ducks. If I find that I can’t handle the smell, I’ll order non-duck dishes. The restaurant also serves your regular chicken burgers and nuggets.

To meet this demon, I need to persuade my family later. We have two elderly to consider too.

[“If I’m unable to make it to Ducklings, what do you suggest?”]

[“Try to drop by at least. Somewhere I can see you.”]

[“Okay? Then you’ll approach me then? Or how should I approach you?”]

[“I’ll act like your senior. You said you were from Saint High, correct?”]

Will that even work? How exactly is she going to dismiss her work and approach me? Plus, doesn’t activating the system require some chanting? Maybe it's different for demons?

[“I’ll try to drop by.”]

I don’t think we’ve ever tried eating at the Ducklings chain in Oala mall.

“Boy! Are you there?” I heard grandoa’s shout.

“Yes, I’m here, what is it?” I made my way out of my room.

Grandma was watching something using her OptAR, she directed me to the kitchen where grandoa was.

I saw xe in an egg patterned yellow apron, scoping out something from the pressure cooker.

“Try some of this barley and tell me what you think?”

“Thank you.”

“We didn’t have a lot of coarse sugar left, so we had to use rock sugar as a substitute. There’s also some red dates inside.”

Not too sweet, not too bland. Since it’s barley and not oat, it’s still got that still watery consistency.

“It’s great. Thank you.”

“Glad you like it. Want some more? We have a lot.”

“A little more I guess.”

“Take it when you’re free alright?”

I nodded.

===

I looked upon the interior of Oala shopping mall once again.

I tensed and loosened my arms. No reaction.

There’s also no message saying that I’m being watched.

I think I’m safe.

“Big bro, did you not sleep well last night?”

“I was up drawing.”

“I thought you normally sleep early,” Lia mumbled.

Sorry for ruining your every day game night schedule.

Because Lia and I share the same room, and will continue to share the same room, we’ll inevitably influence each other’s actions. Directly, or indirectly.

Lia is that kind who wants to stay up late to play games. Concurrently, xe’s aware that by doing so, it would disturb me in my sleep. And so, hirs conscience got the better of hir and xe acts in accordance with my schedule.

We went to various shops to get things like a new mattress, bed sheets, toothbrush and toothpastes. Since there was a swimming pool, mom got us new swimwear. The selection process was annoying, I must confess.

I should also mention that elves, like girls, need sanitary pads. It got me curious. What does an elf’s down there look like?

There was no detailed description of it in . Then again, it’s not like Avner doesn’t know the features. It’s just.. how does copulation work with something like that?

I’ll have to watch porn to figure out, eventually..

Never thought I’d say something like that.

“Where do you want to go for lunch?”

“Could we try Ducklings?”

“Ducklings! Where?”

“I think it’s on the ground floor.”

“We’ve never been there, have we?”

“That place? The food is not bad,” grandma said.

“We occasionally go there just for the duckling dumplings,” added grandoa.

“Ducklings, so everyone is alright with that?”

“Yes.”

My father booked a quick reservation.

That’s surprising. I didn’t think it’d go so well.

Having paid for the items, we split up. One group went back to the apartment unit to place down the mattress and toiletries. The second group roamed the shopping mall while waiting for the first group.

“Hoho, look at this,” grandma was messing around with the AR snowball.

“Can you see it too, William?” grandoa asked, looking at the snowball curiously. William is father’s name.

He nodded.

Grabbed a nearby snowflake which turned into a small snowball, he threw it to grandma.

“Ah!”

“Hahaha.”

No worries, it’s only fooling around. The snowball isn’t a physical thing. If it hits another person’s OptAR hitbox, a frosty outline would appear on their display temporarily.

Meeting up with mom, aether and Lia, we made our way to Ducklings.