I thought I was safe.

The sensation of my chest tightening, and the urge to cough.

An asthma attack.

“And I didn’t bring my medicine, great.”

So deplorable.

“Allergy?”

“Allergies to mango, maybe..”

“Since when?!”

“What should we do now?”

“Take him to the hospital, or clinic!”

“Does anyone have Cetirizine?”

I should’ve restrained myself.

===

If an allergy ever happens, I’d normally swallow two tablets of Cetrizine or Loratidine. Antihistamines, basically. After all, allergic reactions are caused by uncontrolled inflammation.

With modern medicine, improved versions of this medication have been pushed out to the market. And though Centrizine and Loratidine could be said as old, they’re still in use today.

I took a puff of the inhaler and observed myself.

Asthma is a pain. I had to rush home after realizing I was allergic to mangoes. What if this was a placebo and not that Avner actually has an allergy?

Whatever. I’m just glad the reaction isn’t as severe as Shin’s. I ate a lot of those yellow things after all.

I’m feeling better now.

“Thank you.”

“Who would’ve thought you’d be allergic to mangoes. Why, though? You were fine eating it before this weren’t you?”

“I don’t know either.”

“That scared me.”

My mother was the one who brought me home. The rest stayed behind.

“There’s nothing to do now.”

“It’s just us at home.”

“Nate, thank you.”

Nate is my mother’s AI. The avatar is none. Which basically means it’s an AI limited to voice recognition.

“Cases are up a hundred again today.”

“Yeah.”

Since it’s come to this, I pulled up materials for the exam and began studying. The adrenaline rush is still there after a small panic. I’m sure it’ll subside soon enough.

===

I was going to have lunch with my mother. Father, aether and Lia were still with grandma and grandoa.

Deciding the place was a bummer.

“Avner, where do you want to go eat lunch later?”

“Would the place over at the grocery store be good?”

“Are you sure you want to eat the teriyaki noodles again?”

“I’m fine with that. How about you?”

“I don’t know what to eat there.”

“Then how about Prings?”

“That place is quite expensive, don’t you think?”

“Fast food?”

“We just ate pizza last week.”

And so on.

In the end we decided on the first option. I had practically made a loop.

The restaurant waiters are machines. First you order using the menu which you get by scanning the QR code on the table. Chefs in the kitchen will cook the meal, drinks will be made by the barista. Wheeled robots would then come and bring the ordered items to our table.

Teriyaki noodles for me with cold barley.

My mother ordered pancakes and carrot juice.

“Why carrot juice all of a sudden?”

“I just felt like trying.”

“Sure thing then.”

“The exam is coming up. How’s your preparation?”

“I should be alright.”

My mother nodded.

The place was becoming quite busy. We’re lucky we secured a spot before it became packed.

Hm? It’s that guy again.

[Should we report him? He tried to contact you through a direct link.]

I shook my head.

I manually operated the AR and brought up my SMS.

[“You may not know who I am, but you’re making a big mistake by siding with the angels. You should quit immediately. If you need assistance with the procedures to join the demon association, I’m here to help. You’re a fledgling, right? Maybe the angels took pity on you.

[“My name is Radingo. I’m a Corvette. Can you tell me your name and class operative?”]

[“P.S. unless you’re registered, you won’t be able to use any class abilities or hexes. You won’t even be able to differentiate between a normal person and a mortalborn demon or angel. You better get registered. ASAP.”]

Three messages in one go. There's no need to guess which faction this was from.

What’s up with his profile picture? A seal. The fat ones out at sea.

No. No. The more pressing question here is who is this guy and what should I do?

I could feel his stare from the table a few meters away. I closed my eyes and pondered.

Decide.

No. I can’t. I don’t have enough information.

Should I just ignore him? He’s a demon, and I’ve already made up my mind to lean slightly into the angel’s faction.

“Oh my god, people with NtBM become aggressive. Avner, are you seeing this?”

“They alter one’s personality, don’t they?”

“You see, this family member infected another person by using a needle and xe’s own blood. How could someone even do that? These people are really..”

I suppose that’s how the news works, showing you the most ludicrous, scandalous, and scary things in this world. It would’ve been nice if my mother talked about how there’s now a treatment method for people with stage one and stage two NtBM.

“That friend with NtBM, how is she now?”

“She just asked me if I wanted to become her donor.”

I still don’t know if Lynda was joking when she asked me to become her recipient. Is she aware of what that word even means in that context? I’m not going to become a vampire just so we can feed off each other.

“Tell her no. It’s too dangerous, Avner.”

“I haven’t replied.”

“Say no.”

I intend to.

[Avner, what is your decision? Should we report him?]

[“I get it. You’re confused, you can’t decide. I’ll come back again once a arrange a rescue team.”]

[“No need. I’m fine where I am.”]

[“You’re not fine, you’re being tricked. You don’t know it. Trust me, I’m your ally, not those angels. If The Seraph finds you, it doesn’t matter if you’re part of the angel faction, IT WILL KILL YOU.”]

Sounds scary, on one hand.

On the other, even if I join the demon faction, it’s not like I get to move to a different, safer location. Alska is angel territory. And if I narrow it further down, the places that I frequent are where angels can often be found. If I turn to the demon association now, I’ll only create trouble for myself.

[“Here’s my contact: {/LINK}. The biggest problem is that I’m in no situation where I can convert to the demon’s side. I’m surrounded by angel companions.”]

[“Your biggest problem should be that you haven’t even activated your system functions.”]

That’s right, my system functions still remain locked because I hadn’t joined the demon's association. How could I have forgotten?

Hold on, did Cain not tell me anything about this? Was he not aware or is he tricking me?

“Avner, who are you chatting with?”

“A friend.”

[Nate knows you’re lying. Should I shut him up?]

The food came to intrude.

[“We’ll continue the discussion later.”]

[“I’ll still arrange a team to meet you so that you can access your system functions.”]

Pu’er’s can already plant mines. So I assume hirs system function must have already come online.

Then the most logical explanation would be that Cain hid the information from me on purpose.

Why?

And if that’s the case, what should I do?

What is his motive?

2.14.

“Mango pudding.”

This has to be the worst joke ever.

“How many.. Avner, you can’t eat this right?”

Evening. Mother and I went back to grandma and grandoa’s place because they wanted to have a proper dinner together. My mother, surprisingly, didn’t fret about it.

After that we went to the grocery store.

In this grocery store, grandma was spoiling me and Lia by allowing us to buy snacks. Lia went to the snacks aisle and chose something xe knows I can’t eat. Was it so xe can have it all for hirself?

What a cheeky bastard.

“It’s alright grandma.”

“Lia, choose something that can be shared, can’t you?”

“But, but.”

“Grandma, I don’t mean it that way. If Lia wants the pudding, it’s alright to get it for hir. We normally buy pudding whenever we come here.”

Just that Lia is extra happy now that she can have the 8 pack to herself.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Do you really want the mango one? How about other flavors?”

“Fine, this one then.”

Lia decided to choose the mixed pack instead.

One would think that supermarkets should’ve stopped existing now that online shopping has become a standard. However, Novelle’s thought process was slightly different in that it’s the experience of browsing the market which keeps the people coming. It’s like going to a theme park. There are just things that can’t be replaced by technology.

You can’t get that experience of choosing, browings, and actually seeing an item upfront unless you’re physically present.

Otherwise, you could just say that it was a blunder on her end. Self-driving cars should’ve been a thing in this era, but I don’t see it anywhere.

“Avner, would you like this?”

“It’s alright.”

“No?”

Grandpa placed the box back on the shelf. It’s a cookie roll snack which Avner would’ve said yes to if not for Shin’s interference.

The supermarket is fairly large, though not the size of a hypermarket, there’s a fair chunk to explore. The aisles were labeled using holograms. There were search functions in place to direct you to the item you want. Promotional products are also being highlighted.

The storefront is operated by no one, everything is self service. There were security guards though.

We came to the cold produce section. Aether was picking out dairy items.

“Big bro, there’s this yogurt here! We should get some.”

This avocado and cashew flavored yogurt mix. It’s all the craze. A unique item.

“Drop it in,” aether said, swinging the basket over.

“Yahoo!” Lia grabbed two tubs and tossed them in.

If it's yogurt I suppose I don’t have any issue with it.

“Oh look at these fresh mealworms. They're on sale.”

“Do you eat them often?”

“I do.”

My grandao took a few packets and tossed them in the basket.

I hath witnessed the abomination of this new insect produce section. I never thought I’d see such a day in my life.

The little shopping excursion ended with me buying a few bars of dark chocolate. Apparently, the nutritional benefits of chocolate outweigh most vegetables, and so I opted for this snack. Of course, it’s dark chocolate, not the kind which contains high sugar.

Shin is one to worry about health, so I thought I should try to take care of this body too. You never know.

I have this hypothesis that Avner and Shin’s influence will alternate depending on the time. It must be that Shin is making a bigger ruckus these past few weeks.

The entire checkout process was done simply. Baskets with the items are placed on a scanner scale. The items are listed on the screen, and paid.

We returned to grandma’s apartment to sort through the items.

“See you again.”

“Next time, don’t come with mangoes yea?”

“See you, take care.”

“Bye bye, grandma, grandoa.”

We left the condominium. Lia fretted over how we should’ve brought our swim suit so that we could swim in the pool. Xe was planning to freeze to death.

Snow was falling, the sky was painted purple with streaks of red and black. The city was coloured in various flashing lights, the AR blimp in the sky continued to display the ever increasing number of infected.

I rubbed my nose and pulled my jacket around myself.

I sneezed.

We arrived at the zebra crossing.

Past this we would head up the escalator and make our way to the ELRT station. There we would take the train home.

A warning sign which didn’t appear the last time came on. We were notified to beware of the slippery roads.

A floating AR marker above began flashing green. Vehicles came to a stop, pedestrians from both sides began to cross.

This all too familiar feeling.

The asimilar mood.

This temperature, the warmth of my body under the jacket, the chill of winter–

The discomfort.

Everyone was walking, I stood there, silently.

Two steps down the crosswalk, Lia turned around.

“Big bro?”

Shutting off my mind, I forced my legs to take the painful steps forward.

Novelle was killed here.

I should have ran to her.

I should have stopped her.

I should have done something.

It felt so far away before. Why did it become so real?

Shin’s memories.

The green light went away. A caution logo flashed a few times before it turned red. Cars went whizzing by once more.

I turned around to look at the zebra crossing.

Would something happen again here?

A chill crawled on my skin.

{WARNING: YOU ARE BEING WATCHED}

===

dotturndot: Oh man– the mystery deepens.