05:12 - Black Cat Cafe
It was five in the morning. Ender stretched her arms and yawned a little. She smiled a little in satisfaction after noticing the time. Eight hours of sleep is a luxury for someone like her and it’s all thanks to her nocturnal partner that it’s possible.
Ender walked out of the room and straight to the bathroom near the stairs. It’s slightly open and she walked right into it. It’s simple bathroom, there is no bathtub, only a shower and a toilet. There’s a towel nearby and a place to hang her clothes.
After taking ten minutes shower, she put her clothing back on. It’s still clean, it cannot get dirty actually, that’s what she loves about Foundation Standard clothes. She doesn’t need to bring a change in any of her mission.
With that, the girl walked out of the bathroom. It’s still early in the morning so the cafe isn’t open yet. She walked down the stairs an empty cafe. All the chairs are upturned on top of the table, except for the one in the corner where a certain demon boy sat.
The demon was reading a large brown book. The leather cover reads ‘Cracking the Circle Incarnate’. He looks very observed in his reading and almost didn’t notice Ender walking towards him.
“Ah, ma’am, I mean, Ender,” Marshall put down his book. “Good morning,”
Ender sat down next to him. “Good morning Marshall,” she took out her pen and her notes. “Let’s get down to it, what did you find?”
“I didn’t get to talk much with Charles, but I did talk with Christopher. Charles is apparently Elliot’s in laws. Her daughter’s name was Alicia Charles,” he explained. “Then there’s the thing about the door… I didn’t find any door but I did saw Emilia walking out of her room. She told me she was just going to the bathroom. She wasn’t lying.”
“Any rumour about the city?”
Marshall nodded a little. “Almost all customers who went here are simply letting out their stress from working and everyday life. The only one who isn’t there to relax is a guy complaining about some restaurant nearby,”
“Restaurant?”
“Yes, he said that he used to eat some sort of a secret menu from the restaurant. But it seems that it doesn’t sell it anymore,”
If the situation was any different, Ender wouldn’t give it a second thought. But this town is one heck of weird utopia and any sort of weirdness piqued her interest. “What’s the restaurant called?”
“Secret Garden, are you going there Ender?”
“For lunch today, yes,”
The two of them spend the rest of the morning talking about their next move. Ender would ask him some questions while making up some narrative hypothesis. Marshall then make up some ridiculous scenarios.
“The cats were once humans,” Marshall said. “I mean, that does sound likely isn’t it?”
Ender looked at the notes in front of her. It is Ender and Marshall’s experience when entering the town written like a novel summary. Now they’re just predicting the most likely scenario that would happen to make the ‘story’ more interesting.
This is one of the method the department of pataphysics came up to investigate anomalous scenarios. Almost all agents use this method to make investigations faster and to prepare for all sorts of situations.
“So you’re saying that these cats were the bad humans?” Ender asked.
“Yes and there’s probably an Anti meme that made people forgot that those who were turned into cats once existed in the first place,”
“Well… That kinda explains the restaurant thing. Maybe there’s a cook there who knows how to make this ‘secret menu’ but her recipe is erased along with her existence.”
Marshall grinned a little. “Right? That sounds likely isn’t it?”
Ender rolled her eyes. “I have my own hypothesis. What if the cats in this city are anomalously calming and soothing? Like, these cats acts as sponge and or repellent to all negative energy?” she asked.
“That doesn’t explain the secret menu thing.”
“Well, what if the secret menu is just a red herring? And this scenario explains why the cats are scared of you, you’re dripping with negative energy.”
Marshall nodded a little. “I see… But what about the room 3.5?”
Ender clicked her tongue. “I have no idea, but Emilia is somehow connected to it,” she looked at the story summary. “What sort of twist would make this much more interesting?”
“The obvious one is that Emilia is the one behind everything?”
“But Elliot doesn’t have that sort of power,”
“Then it’s Emilia’s mother’s power,”
Ender looked down in deep thought. She thought about Elliot’s power, complete molecular fabrication, he’s basically a living, breathing, 3D printer. However he cannot make a human being, even if he were to make a perfect copy of a human being, all he get is a hyper realistic corpse.
Now, what would her mother’s power be to be able to create a living creature like cats?
Footsteps came from the stairs and Emilia walked down from it. “Good Morning Miss Light,” she said.
“Good Morning Emilia,” Ender replied.
Emilia looked at Marshall in interest for a moment. She was about to step closer towards him only to froze in her tracks. The long cat around her neck opened its eyes and seemingly glared at the demon. “M-Miss Light, who is this?”
“This is my friend Marshall, say hi Marshall,”
“Hi Marshall,” the boy joked. He then held out his hand. “You must be Emilia right? It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said.
The girl took a step forward and hastily shook his hand. “Th-the pleasure is mine…” she muttered before jerking her hand away from him like touching boiling water. “I-I should go… Prepare for the cafe,” she said.
Ender watched as the girl walked towards the bar table and started preparing it. The cat around her neck was glaring at Marshall the whole time. Emilia on the other hand, seems to be desperately avoiding Marshall’s presence.
Ender took out her flip phone and started typing:
“You think Emilia knows if you’re a demon?”
She sent it to Marshall and he replied:
“What if she does and what if she doesn’t?”
Ender text back at him:
“If she does, then it means that Emilia definitely has some sort of power. If she doesn’t, then it means that she has the same sensitivity as the cats in this town or that she can somehow share feelings and or communicate with her cat. Or… her cat is special and is capable of communicating with her.”
Ender ignored the amazed look on Marshall’s face and looked back at Emilia. The girl is sweeping the floor. “Emilia,”
“Yes, Miss Light?”
“Why are you preparing the cafe alone? Shouldn’t Rena help you?”
The girl looked up with a flat look on her face. “Now that you mention it,” she held up her broomstick like weapon and started walking upstairs.
Ender can hear some faint screaming and yelling sound coming from upstairs. A few minutes later, Emilia returned back to the cafe with a satisfied look on her face. “She’s in the bathroom and will go down here shortly,” she said before continue cleaning up the cafe.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“Well, I should probably explore the town,” Ender said.
“Hold on, Ender,” Marshall took out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Ender. “I tried to make it as detailed as possible, I hope you like it.”
Ender unfolded the paper and found a very detailed hand-drawn map of the Mercat Town complete with important landmark. At the corner of the map is Marshall’s insignia in the middle of a magic circle resembling a compass. Not only that, but there’s a blinking dot near the logo of Black Cat Cafe.
“It’s perfect…” Ender said in amazement. “So it tracks my position?”
“That’s impossible, believe me, I’ve tried,” Marshall replied. “It tracks the position of the map itself.”
Ender folded the paper and pocketed it. “Alright, thanks Marshall, I’m going out now. In the mean time, see what you can find from Rena,” she stood up from her seat and stretched her back. “Ahh… Now what should I get for breakfast…”
With that, Ender bid Marshall and Emilia farewell before walking out of the cafe. A cool breeze and warm sunlight welcomed her the moment she stepped outside. She looked at the fountain in the middle of the intersection and saw some people jogging around it.
Ender took out the magic map and observed it for a few minutes. She then pocketed it and start walking down the cobblestone path. She thought about having a breakfast in the Secret Garden restaurant. But she decided against it.
Instead, Ender followed the map towards a spot called ‘Fleeting Sorrow Park’. It’s a pretty dramatic name for a park, Ender noted, but it gives her an idea to learn more about the origin of these names.
----------------------------------------
07:12 - Fleeting Sorrow Park
After walking and sightseeing for almost half an hour, Ender found herself in the middle of a beautiful park. She noticed a very familiar person setting up a Crepes stand near the park bench. She jogged towards him and waved at him kindly.
“Good Morning, Christopher,” she said.
The boy’s eyes widened after hearing that. “I’m sorry, I think you got the wrong person,” he said nervously. “Is there anything I can get you?”
Ender smiled sheepishly after hearing that. “Oh, sorry, I just know someone who looked exactly like you,” she said while taking a closer look at the teenager. He’s using the Crepes uniform and nothing else, so Ender is pretty sure he isn’t wearing a disguise. “I’ll have strawberry and chocolate ice cream crepe,”
The Christopher look alike started making the Crepes. He’s very skilled at it, like he’s been doing it for years now. After a few minutes, he made a crepes with strawberry chocolate ice cream with all sorts of sweets. “That would be twenty Vrells.”
Ender took out some money before taking the crepes from his hand. “Thank you Christopher look alike,” she joked before taking a bite out of it. It’s cold and sweet, he also added a chocolate bar to make it even more delicious. “You should come to the Black Cat Cafe, there’s your twin there.”
Christopher meanwhile is currently looking at both of his hands. He even tried to look at his reflection from his shiny cooking utensils. Then he looked back at Ender in disbelief.
“Excuse me…” he said. “Can I ask you something?”
Ender looked up from her crepes. “Hmm?”
“How do you know it’s me?”
“What are you…” Ender blinked a little in realization. “Oh… Now that’s a twist…” she took out a pair of glasses and wear it. Just like that, the boy was replaced by someone else entirely. “This is… D-Ranked illusion charm. I almost didn’t notice it there.”
Christopher looked at Ender with fear written all over his face. “Are you… are you going to take me away?”
Ender blinked a little. Sure using illusion spell for work is illegal, but it’s mostly overlooked on something petty like this. But of course, Ender isn’t an agent for nothing. “Of course I will take you away,” she said. “Fooling someone with magical charm is illegal you know?”
The boy looked down nervously. “I’m sorry, please, I’m doing this because…”
“Because?”
“Because I don’t want Rena to see me like this!”
‘Ah… You are threatening to arrest a lovestruck guy trying to safe his face from his crush. How far have you fallen Ender?’ the agent thought to herself.
“Alright then, if you tell me where you learn or get that charm, I will let you go with a warning,” Ender replied simply.
Christopher bit his lip and looked down.
“It’s… Emilia…”
“She gave it to you?”
The boy looked like he’s about to cry when he shook his head.
“You stole it?”
“I’m sorry!”
Ender narrowed her eyes. She put her Crepe on the stall and folded her arms. “Show me the charm,” she said.
Christopher held out his right arm, showing her a white ring with a very familiar logo on it. It’s a logo that Ender has seen her entire life. The logo of the Universal Peace Foundation and a number etched below it, Elliot’s designation number. “Where did you get this? Emilia’s room?”
The boy shook his head.
“Is it room three and a half?”
The boy nodded a little.
‘Goddammit you idiot! Of course! That room is his armory, what else could it be!?’ Ender thought to herself.
“So how did you enter that room?”
“I sneaked in when Emilia entered that room. It just appears whenever she wills it.”
“What’s in that room?”
Christopher looked down. “I can’t tell you,”
Ender sneakily took out an analog stopwatch from her pocket. It is cased in pure gold with numbers counting from one to sixty. It has two silver arrows pointing at the number sixty. She clicked it and one of the arrows start moving with every second.
Then she looked at Christopher’s fearful face. “Because something scary in there threatens you not to?” Ender asked.
The boy nodded hastily.
“Is it…” Ender wracked her brains, trying to find the best question to narrow it down. “Does it have something to do with the cats and or Emilia?”
“Yes...”
The moment he said that, Ender felt like being transported into a different world. The very air around them stood still and everything went silent. It’s like the entire world just stopped breathing. Ender can’t even feel any signs of life.
“Miss Light…” Christopher whispered, his eyes wide in terror. “Wh-what’s happening?”
“The scary thing in room 3.5 being mad at you,” Ender replied calmly.
Then, the ground near them started to ripple like water and a certain figure ascended from within. It looks like Emilia, only older. She has long snow white hair and glowing blue cat-like eyes. She has cat-like ears on her head and a long white cat tail.
“I’m starting to think that Elliot didn’t marry a human…” Ender muttered to herself. She then moved between the Crepe stall and the woman. “Let me guess, Alicia?”
The woman hissed at her. “Silence demon worshipper,” she snapped.
“I think you have that backwards,” Ender commented. “But whatever, you don’t seem to be the type who listens to reason,” she crackled her knuckles threateningly. “Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way, which do you prefer?”
There was a flash of light, but Ender didn’t flinch. Her hand caught an arm that was about to scratch her and she twisted it. “AAIIIEEE!!!” the woman yelled in agony. She dropped to the ground and looked at Ender in disbelief. “Wh-what… are you?”
“Agent Ender, UPF, and you are going to answer some of my question,” Ender replied.
“As if-AAAH!” the woman yelled in agony when the girl broke one of her finger. “Im-impossible…” she waved her hand around but Ender doesn’t budge. “Kill me!” she spat at her.
‘Goddamn she’s persistent,’ Ender thought. ‘Let’s see what she think of her own daughter.’
“I will kill you, after I torture Emilia to death, in front of your face, how about that?” she asked her.
Alicia paled and her body shook. “N-no!” she struggled desperately under Ender’s grip. The ground shook and reality was torn asunder. But Ender stood strong, as if the world itself isn’t collapsing around her. “No, please!” she said desperately.
“Then I want you to answer all my questions, can you do that?”
Alicia gritted her teeth before slowly nodding in defeat.
With that, Ender started interrogating the possibly godlike entity in front of her. She didn’t stop until she can find everything about her and more.
Apparently this was Alicia, Emilia’s mother. Her soul was transferred into the cat upon her death and she has been protecting her for a long time. She doesn’t know how she gets this power, just that she got this power after her death.
Ender tried asking her about Emilia’s power, but the cat woman looked like she’s ready to call her bluff. So she decided that it’s as much as she can get from her.
“Huh… Interesting,” Ender said before letting go of the cat.
Alicia glared at the girl. “Leave this town… You are not welcome here…” she said.
“Yeah, why do you hate demon so much anyway?”
“A demon killed my mother…” Alicia hissed, her voice dripping with malice.
“Yeah, a human killed both of my parents, do I have anything against them? No, because I’m not a racist idiot,” Ender retorted.
Alicia narrowed her eyes. “Not all humans…”
“Not all demons are evil,” Ender replied. “Sure they are naturally cruel creatures who enjoy suffering in other creatures, but… sometimes there are demons who are a necessary evil for everything in this world.”
“This changes nothing…” Alicia said. “I will make sure you leave this town if it’s the last thing I do…”
Ender sneakily took out an analog stopwatch from her pocket. It is cased in pure gold with numbers counting from one to sixty. It has two silver arrows pointing at the numbers around it. She clicked the button on top of it and the arrows resets itself.
Ender looked at Christopher’s fearful face. “It’s okay Christopher, you don’t have to tell me,” she told him. “I’ll go check out that room myself.”
“Thank you…”
The girl grabbed her Crepe ice cream she put on the stall. She took a big bite out of it, noticing that even the crepe wrap itself taste really good. “You know, I think you should come clean with Rena,” she said after enjoying the cold and sweet sensation of it.
“Wh-what?”
“Come on, Rena is a nice girl, I’m sure she will understand,” Ender replied.
Christopher looked down. “But I… I lied to her…”
“Everybody lies, big deal,” Ender held out her hand. “Now give me that ring, I will return it to Emilia,” she told him.
The boy sighed and took off the ring. Ender grabbed the ring and took a closer look at it. It looks brand new, like it’s the first time being worn.
“Well, good luck on your work Christopher,” Ender said. “Have some confidence, relationship built on lies is a very bad idea.”
“I will, thank you Ender…”
“Your welcome!”
With that, Ender walked away from the stall and continued her trek through the beautiful park. She sat down on the nearest bench and a gray cat sat down next to her. She smiled at the cat and start petting it a little with her free hand.
“Relationship built on lies huh?” Ender ate the last bit of chocolate from her crepes. “Should I tell Emilia the truth about her father?” she ate some of the wrap before looking at the cat. “What do you think, possibly intelligent cat?”
The cat simply meowed at her. Ender who couldn’t speak to animals like Alan can only guess that it’s asking for her crepe. She then leaned on the bench and finished her sweet, sweet breakfast.
Then, funky tune came from her flip phone. Ender quickly answered it.
“Ender! I noticed a temporal disturbance!”
“Yeah, that was me, chill,”
“Really? Oh, thank goodness… Are you alright? It’s unusual for you to use that thing,”
“I’m fine, just feeling a bit lazy… Where are you now?”
“I was just going to sleep,”
“Well, go to sleep Marshall, I’ll take it from here,” Ender hangs up and pocketed her flip phone. She looked at the gray cat from earlier and found it sleeping beside her.