I opened my menu and examined Kevin's mom. Most of her information was blank, but her name and home address were visible.

“Hi, Mrs. Smith,” I said with a wave.

Her first name was Alexandria. It would be rude to call an adult by their first name without a formal introduction.

My friend Darryl once demanded that a teacher address him by his last name. They didn't get along and it was some sort of mind game he decided to play on her. I didn’t think it was a good idea, but he did it for the entire school year.

Kevin’s mom looked like most of the people living there. Ageless. Adults appeared somewhere between twenty and thirty years old. It was a side-effect from the nanobots ingested when getting their specs. The only way to tell their actual age was by checking their profiles. The fact that Mrs. Smith didn’t have hers filled out meant that she recently had the operation.

She wore a simple dress with a flower pattern that hugged the curves of her body. Clothes were printed on a per-person basis, so each set fit perfectly.

Her shiny brown hair flowed over her shoulders. Light blue eyes stared back at me. There was sadness underneath her smile.

“M-mom?” Kevin asked, clearly confused.

Mrs. Smith touched her cheek. “It's me, honey.”

I glanced between the two of them.

Kevin squinted, dropped the suitcase handles, and rushed to her. He wrapped his arms around her, and they shared a long hug.

“It's finally over,” Mrs. Smith said as tears inched down her face.

I felt awkward and took a step back. “Uhm…”

Mrs. Smith wiped her eyes and pulled away, getting a better look at Kevin.

They shared a sentimental stare and then embraced each other again.

Something deeper was obviously going on. I turned and put some distance between us.

“Azerail,” Kevin's mom said.

I spun. “Yes?”

“Thank you for walking my son home,” she said.

Kevin put his back to me as he quietly sobbed into his mother's shoulder.

The situation was getting way too emotional for me. “Happy to help,” I said as I waved and walked away.

My parents were expecting me, and I had enough to deal with. It wasn't that their situation didn't intrigue me. Heck, the fact that Kevin had a Q.U.B.E. was enough for me to befriend him. Though I felt a little selfish thinking about it.

I quickened my place, making it to the elevators and then home in only a few minutes.

Just like its name implied, my home was ball-shaped. Directly to my right was a wall with a door that led to my room. On my left was an open living room kitchen combo. The fridge was right next to the portal leading in. It was connected to the outside so bots could refill it with our desired trays.

My mom Jennifer had her hands on the kitchen counter as she leaned against it. She had that same twenty to thirty-something look to her. Her skin was pale, and her hair was cropped short, which wasn’t typical. For years she wore it long, and I was still getting used to it. She had on what she called her “lazy” clothes. An oversized t-shirt and boxers. Her bright blue eyes watched me as I entered.

On the other side of the kitchen was a wall leading to my parents' bedroom. I didn’t see Autumn, which meant that she was probably doing something in there.

“That was really nice of you,” Jennifer said.

My heart skipped a beat. “Thanks?”

Of course, she was watching. Anyone could see through my eyes live. However, my parents could do it undetected. At least by me.

Being late was starting to become a common occurrence which made my moms unhappy. Jennifer’s voice seemed genuine, which made me relax a little.

“You know what you did, right?” she asked.

I rolled my eyes and flopped down on the couch. “I just helped him to his sphere. You don’t need to make a big deal out of it.” She always did this.

“Azerail,” she said. “I know you saw how Marie Henderson reacted to Kevin being here.”

I closed my eyes as I thought back to the couple sitting down while Kevin and I waited for the elevator. It was Marie that had stormed out of the lobby. She was what we called a ‘lifer,’ which meant that she’d lived her whole life in smart cities and preferred to never explore beyond them. This generally came along with prejudice against people who lived in old-world cities. A lot of people who lived here were lifers, making what I had done unique.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

The fact that Kevin didn’t have specs yet was even rarer and probably pretty concerning to most residents. They were used to knowing what someone was doing at any moment of the day.

It shouldn’t have been a problem. There were more than enough cameras in the city to monitor him. Seeing through his eyes shouldn’t have made that much of a difference. The facial recognition A.I. had probably made a profile for him by now.

When I didn’t respond, she continued, “He’s lucky that you were there.”

“He had a phone and said his mom was going to come to get him,” I said with a shrug. “I just saved her a small walk.”

Jennifer pushed herself away from the counter. “It was still a good deed.”

“A good enough deed that you’ll forget about how late I am?” I asked.

Her eyebrows rose. “You were late? I didn’t notice,” she said as she opened the fridge and took out a drink. “Autumn might take a little more convincing, though.”

She glanced at her room and then back at me. The message was loud and clear.

I got up, scurried over to their room, and knocked on the door. Autumn was usually much easier to deal with than Jennifer. I had this in the bag.

A muffled “Come!” sounded from inside.

As I walked in, I said, “Nṳ̄ hō̤, Mama.” Using Fuzhounese always softened her up.

Their room was a mirror of my own, except there were physical decorations everywhere. I preferred digital, but Autumn was old-fashioned. She even had a mirror with actual makeup. When I was in middle school, she taught me how to use it, but when one of the other girls at school discovered that it wasn’t a filter, they made fun of me.

They used to taunt me by pinching their fingers together and making a squiggly line in the air as if they were erasing my face. No matter how advanced technology had gotten, it seemed that kids still found ways to be mean to each other.

Autumn was at her desk, swiping her hand through the air, probably working on one of her projects. Her hair was long, straight, and black, which made her pale face stand out. She wore long pink nails, around eight millimeters each. Her eyes were wider than most Chinese women's and were a spectacular crystal grey.

“Fuzhounese won't save you this time, Yuè,” she said.

Using a serious tone and my Mandarin middle name meant I was in trouble.

“I helped that boy get home,” I said. Even I didn't believe the excuse.

She double-tapped her thumb and forefinger, which paused her session in the program she was using. “Why did you walk him home?”

A flashing red light appeared in the corner of my vision; someone was monitoring us through my eyes.

The light would pop on periodically during the day. It would happen during school a lot. I was the top student in Narrative Design, so I tended to get many watchers. Most of them were other students and sometimes teachers. When I came up with the idea for prompt packaging and implemented it, I was highly praised.

I didn't want fame or anything like that. I just loved creating.

Anyone near me would get a yellow light, which let them know that someone near them was being observed. It wasn’t a good or a bad thing.

Instead of answering, I waited a moment as Autumn flicked through the air and then tapped. The light disappeared as a soft pink outline filled the edges of my vision, indicating my privacy mode was enabled. It could be triggered manually or when the AI recognized that a private situation was unfolding. Such as getting ready for a shower or if a partner and I started kissing.

When I was about to be scolded, my moms would jump into privacy mode pulling all three of us into it.

Our small pause gave me time to think about her question. I grinned. She saw the encounter too. “Yes, I like him.”

Jennifer popped into the room seconds later. “I knew it!”

“He is cute,” Autumn said.

Autumn was originally from China and learned English from Jennifer. She was one of Jennifer's students. Jennifer's lectures were pre-recorded, and Autumn sought her out.

Because English wasn’t Autumn’s first language, her accent showed through pretty strongly.

I pulled my hoodie over my head as I leaned against the wall and slid down it. “Please don’t embarrass me.”

“No one is here. Why would you be embarrassed?” Autumn said.

A sigh escaped my lips. “I mean, if he comes over.”

“In what world would we ever do that?” Jennifer said. It took her all of two seconds before her serious face crumbled, and she burst out laughing.

Autumn stifled a chuckle.

They wouldn’t make any promises, so I stood back up and removed my hood.

Jennifer moved out of the way as I opened the door.

“Wait, young lady,” Autumn said.

I turned and leaned against the opening.

“We need to talk about why you were really late,” Autumn said.

“Kevin—”

“No,” Jennifer cut me off.

Autumn crossed her legs. “You play that game too much.”

“Do you want to know what I did today?” I asked.

Video games were different from real life. I would have to run a stream for them to see what happened in-game. They could still check in on me and hear everything I said, but they would see a blurred-out image of the person I spoke to.

“Ewww! No zombie stuff for me,” Jennifer said as she pushed past me and exited the room.

I rolled my eyes. “Shamblers, Mom! They’re called shamblers,” I reminded her for the millionth time.

Jennifer hated anything to do with horror. She said it gave her nightmares. Autumn on the other hand, loved to hear about my excursions.

“Get a tray and tell me while you eat,” Autumn said.

I grinned, ran into the kitchen, grabbed my tray, and sat on her bed.

We chatted for hours about my day, and by the end, Autumn was just as clueless as me about the whole evolution of my character.

She didn't know why my control undead skill wouldn't work anymore, but she, just like me, suspected that it probably worked differently now.

While talking about school, she got a call, so I decided to lie down for a moment.

I watched as she furiously swiped at the air with her fingers and spoke to her boss. It was the last thing I remembered before I closed my eyes.

***