[Do you have a reservation?]

My father chose yes and pasted the code.

[Thank you for coming. This way to your seat.]

An AR arrow directed us to a seat for eight. A digital duck appeared and wagged its tail at us.

[Thank you for coming, would you prefer to use a physical menu or a digital one?]

The service structure of a fast food restaurant has changed for better or worse. There’s no longer any need for workers to take orders manually. With AI integration, ordering could be done easier without queuing, improving overall efficiently.

The Ducklings in Oala mall is a big place. The restaurant can seat a few hundred people at least.

There’s a take away station over to my right, managed by a machine. You can place orders hours in advance and come with the food still warm.

“We’ll order using the digital menu.”

[QUACK.]

“What do you want?”

“2 sets of Ducklings Dumplings.”

“Double-duck burger.”

“This one here.”

“Wedges with a side of crispy duck skin.”

“Duck wings.”

[We have a promotion for this month. Would you like to try the..]

We were going to eat duck dishes later, yet the AI serving us was a brown duck. Was the design intentional?

[Is that all?]

“Yes.”

[Please confirm your order.]

We checked through the list.

“It’s correct.”

[Thank you for confirming. The food will arrive shortly!]

The duck jumped off the table and dawdled towards a fake duck-only door which glitched into existence.

It was then that from another door which said ‘staff-only’, a supervisor wearing a uniform came out.

My eyes widened.

It was the person who saved me last night.

She went to greet the people over at the other tables. Asking them about their experience and giving a blurb on Ducklings’ history.

She repeated that with a few other customers.

A robot came out from the kitchen with a conspicuous AR sign floating above it, telling us that this is our food.

Noticing that, the supervisor came over.

The robot stopped in between.

“Good afternoon, my name is Lucifer Saunders, is it alright if I help you with this?”

She greeted us with a smile, offering to arrange the food on our table.

“Thank you.”

“No problems.. hm? Avner? I didn’t think I’d see you here.”

???

No, how did she know my name? Randingo told her, maybe?

“Uh.. It’s been a while.”

“Sorry. Avner was my junior, it’s been a while since we last saw each other.”

“Oh, you two are friends then?”

“Very so.”

“You operate this restaurant?”

“I’m acting as the vice-supervisor. The place is owned by my boss.”

“To reach such a position at your age is quite impressive.”

“Oh no. It’s thanks to my boss. She was the one who found me and took me in,” Lucifer said, slightly embarrassed and apologetic.

Though the food came in paper packages, placed according to each person’s order, they were arranged in a way that made them look true to the menu. She gave a brief spiel on how the Ducklings franchise came to be.

“Enjoy your food. Avner, could you come see me later? It’s been a while so I want to ask about how things are going over in school. Um, is it alright if I talk to him a bit later?”

“If he doesn’t interrupt your work, then it’s alright.”

“Okay.”

“Thank you.”

She bowed with both hands placed to the front. After that she went to enlighten the other customers at the other tables.

[“Message me when you’re ready.”]

Lucifer texted. Lia eyed me suspiciously.

“Is she still studying in your school?” Aether asked.

“No, she’s graduated.”

I have no idea.

“So you met her, one year ago? Something like that?”

“I’m surprised that your friend holds a position like this.”

“I didn’t know either.”

I looked toward her direction once more.

Smiling as she talked with the customers. I recalled how she tackled the situation with The Seraph yesterday.

Now seeing her here, serving all these people, I can’t help but think that she’s a really capable woman.

I’m glad she didn’t die.

===

I was ushered past the staff-only door. My family looked at me with a weird gaze.

Behind the door were a unit of machines working in concert. A display showing the various items that needed to be prepared. A timer to the right of each item showing when the food would be completed and the time elapsed since first order.

The smell of food here was appetizing even though I’ve eaten my fill.

“Avner, correct?”

“Yes.”

“I almost mistook you for someone else. I didn't think you’d be the person from yesterday night.”

“It’s alright. I should be thanking you for saving me,” I lowered my head.

“No problems. It’s my duty as a fellow demon. Follow me.”

“You work here?

“Yes. I operate in these waters, pretty dangerous territory.”

I followed her to the back office, passing through the storage unit and freezer unit. The office had numerous displays lined up showing different metrics. From the remaining ingredient stocks to the revenue numbers today.

Lucifer waved all of it away. She sat me down.

“I won’t take too much of your time, your hand.”

My hand?

“You mean this?” I showed her the gold tattoo.

“Yes. I’ll have to break it.”

“You do know that I go to school with angels right?”

“I can’t activate the system if you have that thing on you. It hinders any interference from demons. And if you don’t know, I’m putting myself at risk just by being close to you. This thing is a tracker that marks demons. Trust me, it would be better if you got rid of this. If the angels truly trusted you, they wouldn’t be taking advantage of you like this.”

I’m being used?

I held out my hand.

“Thank you.”

Now that she’s said this much, my doubts are increasing.

Angels or demons? Why would Cain spare my life and even go all the way to provide me weapons so that I could protect myself? Which side was good, which side was bad?

She pressed her finger in the center of the tattoo.

It began to fade. I felt a weight lift off my shoulders.

“Now, to activate your system. I need you to close your eyes.”

“Before I do that, can I ask how it works for demons? For angels, they do a prayer.”

Lucifer heaved a heavy sigh.

“For angels, they need to do something holy. For demons.. anything opposite of that.”

“Which means?”

“Just close your eyes and don’t open them.”

“Okay..”

“I’ll kill you if you open your eyes before I tell you to do so.”

That’s a little scary to know.