Sitting across me was LA. And around us, the demikins. We're currently in a family restaurant. And waiting right next to me was...
"Is that all?"
"Wait, I'll take a Sizzling Chicken Marbas with egg on top and a strawberry juice," I ordered for my dinner of the day. "And no chilly sauce, okay?"
"Points taken!"
I looked towards LA. She already placed an order. A jumbo-sized parfait. Double in fact.
Done taking our orders, the waitress scooted off.
"My, look at her go! And with such splendid posterior to boot!"
I arched my eyebrows. LA was giving me her usual condescending grin.
"Hey, don't go off mind-reading people's thoughts... it's bad manners. On another note, her backside couldn't put a candle over yours." I firmly stated, correcting her misconceptions.
"True, after all, mine is crafted in real flesh, hers in artificial skin." She asserted, seemingly enjoying the fun banter we had been exchanging. The waitress in interest seemed to sport a great time with the patrons, smiling face and all that.
Judging by her looks and actions, she must be a personia. A term for androids that exhibit phenomenal human qualities and also on an emotional level. At least, that's what I could tell with how progressive technology of human-android look-alike had become. Hell, she could even be more human in ways I couldn't imagine. I'm not sure what to expect living here, as this much seemed to be the norm these days.
"Speaking of flesh, aren't you an undead?" Suddenly, I realized something. "I mean, think about it. You're a living corpse. Normally you would have no reasons to consume food with how self-sustaining your body is." I gave her a scrutinizing look, cupping my chin deep in thought. "I always wondered where did all those waste went to if you do eat, since well, you're dead."
LA just looked on with her smiling eyes and mischievous grin. As usual, she's playing hard to read. Her lips moved, "Darling, you aren't being very tactful you know that?"
For some reason, she sounded upset.
"What do you mean?" I asked confused. "Did I say something offensive?" That's strange, I didn't remember LA being that sensitive.
She sighed, "I'm hurt. Do you really think I'm all that corpse-like? That I'm an ugly, rancid-smelling woman?" She said with a mild, apparent distaste. I couldn't tell since the fringe of her hair was making it hard to see, but her eyes were definitely downcast.
"You aren't? I thought that's pretty obvious" I just scratched my head. Didn't expect her to throw a curveball there. "Then what are you if you're not, I don't know, a walking corpse?"
With her face beyond peeved, she said, "Darling, I am a living corpse yes, but would you be kindly think and treat me as a girl first and foremost?" She was displeased with how I acted. Confirming my suspicion that she would rather be treated like a normal living person instead of identifying herself as a full-fledged undead.
I folded my arms, recalling our times together as I felt my brow furrowed. "I'm pretty sure I've treated you with all due respect you deserve, unless I'm mistaken by comparing our standards." I paused for a moment, realizing what kind of society I was living in. "Or, is there more to this discussion than meets the eye that I'm not privy of?" I gave her an inquisitive look.
With her elbows resting on the dining table and her hands joined together in front of her comely face, she said while heaving a sigh, "In all honesty, your lack of delicacy is quite aggravating! I fear for how your future convos with other people will proceed if you continually act in this way. No matter with time, I'll be sure to beat some common sense into your thinking. Mark my words, darling, I'll thoroughly shape you up so that you'll be a functioning member of society!"
From out of nowhere, she promptly made a declaration upon thin air, and I was like, wait what the fuck?
"Wait, hold on! Why am I getting lectured here, if all I ever asked was a simple question of why an undead like you would consume food in the first place? Talk about being roundabout." I sent while tilting my head to the other side.
"You still haven't got it into your head yet? Darling, what am I going to do with you." She said while shaking her head in a patronizing way. As always, I couldn't understand her.
"Spill it, woman. The only thing I want to get something straight here is how you treat your waste products whenever nature's calling. Understanding such matters might let me gain profound insights on the inner workings of this deformed world." I pressed her further without a second thought.
"You do realize you're being extremely rude there, but no matter. I'll drill some sense into that dense head of yours." With her usual condescending grin, she rested her chin on one hand while saying, "The answer is, I'm not a mere undead. To begin with, the term undead itself is very broad, referring to mindless creatures that walk around without a heartbeat or a soul. This applies to all species, in fact, even yours."
LA was trying to gauge my reaction. I just shrugged her off. Dead humans coming to life meant they had already lost their humanity. At least that's what they say anyway.
"And what about you? Are you gonna tell me you're one of those special ones who do retain their soul or sense of self upon death?"
"Yes, yes I am." LA probably expected me to answer that as she continued on with, "As you might have guessed, some of us were born under special circumstances. Think of bloodsucking vampires, sorcerous lich or even possessed corpse. We refer to this type of undead as revenants. Unlike from our mindless cousins such as zombies and ghouls, we continue to display some aspects of life after death such that we're able to socialize much like any other living person." She pointed to herself and then to me to drive the point home. "Still, being a revenant we still have our own limitations. That's where food intake comes in."
Just as she finished saying all that, the waitress finally appeared with a tray in hand. "Thanks for waiting!" She said, being very attentive not to spill the food and drinks on the table as she put them.
What a diligent and cute personia.
With that done, the waitress was about to leave but then gave us another hard look, "You two look great with each other!" She said with a radiant smile while motioning a handclap.
That sudden remark of hers had thrown me off.
"Especially you miss, I really like the stitch-work done on your body! It's very beautifully made. And this sweet smelling fragrance of yours, I love it! Any other undead that comes to the restaurant never really cared about presenting themselves properly as you did! So please, do enjoy yourself and come by again! Have a nice day!!" She scooted off after giving a bunch of praise to LA. What an energetic personia.
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"I didn't expect for a mere android to have an eye for beauty. And being really considerate that, unlike a certain someone here..." LA placed her cold eyes on me. And then, a smug smile sat on her lips as she readied to scoop a spoonful of her jumbo-sized parfaits up to her mouth.
I was stumped beyond belief. "Well I'm sorry to say if I wasn't the best person for social etiquette," I shrugged my shoulders in a somewhat exaggerated manners, "if I could perceive you like the rest of the people here do, I probably won't act the same way I do now."
Hearing those words coming out of my blabbering mouth, LA momentarily stopped downing her parfaits as she sent worried looks my way. "Darling, do you still..."
"It's not that big of a deal, but the fact that I'm not allowed to see your true, pristine form just rubs me the wrong way." I said, unfiltered and probably shouldn't have never left my mouth, "I've been together with you for three months and a half now, shouldn't that calls for a relationship upgrade? You'd think by now there would be genuine trust between us at this point, not just merely a broken facade..."
Now if what that waitress said was to be believed in, that would mean LA was not your average, rot-infested undead. My perception of LA was skewed due to the spell she placed on me mind you, so in my own terms I couldn't very much verify the waitress's words in truth.
Shaking those thoughts away, I looked up.
LA, on the other hand, was having this surprised look, her mouth mouth agape with incredulity. "I'm rather shocked. To think you of all people would be earthly worried by such trifle matters, I guess you can't judge a book by its covers." She sounded oddly ecstatic, her eyes smiling over the edges and all that. Yeah, not exactly the reaction I was hoping for.
"Now, what do you think will happen if I show you my true form darling?" She calmly sent.
"That's easy, I would be disgusted." I replied back.
"Exactly." She firmly stated as a matter of fact.
I knitted my eyebrows, "While true, you have to take into account that it takes time to warm up to appearances. Besides, I've seen my fair shares of ugly mugs over the years, and believe me I can very well stomach a few scary faces around, even you!"
"Darling, that's a very brave supposition coming from you but I digress. Whatever you say, I would not cave in." Said LA as she casually scooped some more desserts.
"Why not?"
"Why? Because I want to show you my best self of course!" LA happily exclaimed with her cheeks flushed red. "And to answer your primary question," she downed another spoonful of tarts, "we turn the food we eat into magical energies which are then used to replenish ourselves. In turn, any bodily waste made inside us will be burned out by the magical excess. I must say, it's a very efficient thing to have as a living dead." Just as she said that her head fell off and face-landed into the mushy texture of her jumbo-sized parfait.
At once, the illusion broke off and I saw LA's true form.
It was just like the waitress described; LA had beautiful stitches on her body with some of her skin having varying colors from fleshy red to powdery snow and velvety purple, resembling a lot like a mismatch but cute patchwork of flesh doll. Her forearms though were barely covered in fleshy tissues, revealing a skeletal of pearly whiteness underneath. My nose could be wrong, but somehow she smells really nice. Almost flowery. That's weird, I had this picture of her being a detestable walking corpse, and yet she looked kind of pleasant.
Hmm....
And she's not moving. Guess I'll have to help her out then. As I tried to get her head, LA's arms suddenly jolted alive surprising me as she picked up her head fast and screwing it tightly into her neck, joining them together. The illusion once more settled into effect.
I didn't get to see her face.
She gave me a dagger to the eye, "D-Did you saw...?!" She sounded nervous.
I'll just come clean, "I did."
"No... you saw— you saw my true form..." Her voice was weak and wobbly. She was covering her face, trembling and quivering from head to toe. And likely because of that, the dining table, the windows, and the hanging lamps of the restaurant all started to follow suit. People around us noticed the sudden tremor, letting out a collective scared gasp.
Hot damn, this could be bad. Gotta say something nice to cool her down quick!
"Hey uh... Alize, listen to me." I cleared my throat. "I get that you hate your awful appearance, but really, I'm not that bothered by it. And unlike most demikins, you were one of the first few to accept me. At first, it was kind of unnerving yeah, but as time went on, I realized that you've become a part of my life. That's why, no matter how ridiculous your real appearance might be, I'll likely wouldn't be bothered by it. Alize, I guess you could say that you're—"
My mouth stopped working.
"I'm... what?" The entire trembling stopped and LA slowly removed her hands away from her face, gingerly peeking her teary eyes from the fringe of her hair.
"You're my first... friend? Kinda like that? Ha ha ha..."I let out a small laughter in an embarrassed manner.
I guess, I couldn't really say it huh...
That Alize was just someone there for me to survive in this world.
Glancing towards LA, she was still quivering. Hands full covering her face.
But that reaction....
"Pftt..."
Hmm?
Without warning she suddenly burst out laughing. "Hah!!"
I sat there with a dumbfounded look. I must have looked like a total idiot.
"That was a good one! A friend!? Really?"
At that moment I was facepalming myself, hearing the sounds of my teeth gritting against each other. T-This girl...!!
"Haah... what fun! Thanks darling, you just made my day!" She flashed the most radiant smile I had ever seen.
"I-I see. Good for you, ha ha..." My smile must have appeared forced. Because right now, my fists were begging to fly over to that pretty face!
"But you know darling..." LA then looked down, face beet red. Fidgeting over her hands as if she didn't know what to say. "When you say 'I was your friend', it made me a bit... happy I guess."
Ah... I forgot.
She's the same as me.
"Oh shush. Say whatever you want, I'm still gonna unearth your true form one way or the other anyway."
"That sounds promising, I'll be sure to remember those words." She said gleefully.
I shrugged back. But a revenant huh? That would mean, she was reanimated to life by some unholy magic. But who? For what reason?
As I was deep in thought, LA suddenly nudged me back to reality by saying, "Darling, you said you wanted to know what Lady Cheryll and I had been doing this afternoon yes?" She said that while stuffing her mouth with the parfait.
"Yeah, what about it?" I sent her a confused look.
She wiped the cream on her mouth with a single lick before proceeding to cast a holographic pink screen in front of her.
Wait, that's...
[Invitation to Otherworldly Trials:
Mortals seek you glory? Or is it lofty spoils you desire?
Very well. Should you, fellow hunters of all things strange, wish to prove your mettle then survive our quest.
For great power awaits.
Begin the Trials: Yes/No?]
An awkward silence blanketed between us. I couldn't process what just happened.
"Hey, uh..." I must've looked skeptical, because honestly I am. Folding my arms, I said, "you sure this ain't some elaborate prank LA?"
"LA?" She tilted her head to one side, "Does my name is too much an effort for you to say?" Oof, she seemed unhappy about it.
"Well I figured you want a nickname, so there's that. What you don't like it?"
She just looked me on as if she had given up on something. "Darling, I preferred a more cute form of endearment, but you never fails to disappoint me. But enough with that; we're here to talk business. Seeing that you can read the contents, I guess that means you're eligible to participate." She puts away the screen.
"Huh? What do you mean?" I asked.
"How do I say this, this challenge you see before you is magically hard-coded. It only responds to those worthy enough to participate. And honestly speaking, I didn't expect you to have it in you. Now, I wonder why that is..." LA had a face that screamed of deep fascination as if she had just discovered a noteworthy object.
It kind of creeped me out though...
"Worthy participants you say?" I asked back, worried. "Man this whole thing sounds fishy..."
"Oh believe me, it is as you suggest. In fact, your very role as of this moment is to be my assistant in investigating the matter. I am plenty sure the noble Graelims will be delighted in hearing your confirmation in the trials." She smoothly talked it out, like it was natural I would be lending them a helping hand.
Yeah, just great. More troubles down the road.
"So this is what you guys were up to? Investigating some weird message? Count me out." I answered tersely. Checking my watch, there was still time before the next train came up. Eh, let's finish eating first.
LA sighed. "It seems like I have no choice. Darling, this is your chance to rise up in ranks. I'll give you three seconds to think—"
"Alright, I'm in baby!!" Without waiting for her to finish her sentence, my mouth worked itself before my brain did.
"What a simple man you are." LA shook her head. "Well then, now you're in the team, let's get this over with. Begin the trials, darling."
She presented the challenge again.
[Invitation to Otherworldly Trials:
Mortals seek you glory? Or is it lofty spoils you desire?
Very well. Should you, fellow hunters of all things strange, wish to prove your mettle then survive our quest.
For great power awaits.
Begin the Trials: Yes/No?]
I slowly breathed in. I'm used to this anyway, nothing to be afraid of. Gotta man up as they say.
Thinking that in mind, I proceeded to select [Yes].
[Very well, let the feast of the hunt begins!]