45 Volume 2 Chapter 6

With a new day arouse, I started off the early morning eating breakfast; which supposedly supposed to be my dinner.

"You sure slept well..." Evee said as we made our way in the somewhat busy street. "I'm sure was surprised that you were able to sleep in the whole afternoon to night."

"Right... sorry." Due to me sleeping the entire night, yesterday. I once again miss a lot of things that happened, including dinner. Observing my unnatural sleeping behavior and fast exhaustion, I can't help but skeptical at my current condition. That odd woman surely did something to me. Were my thoughts at that moment.

"No need to blame, Bruce here. Evee." Miss Katherine spoke. "Afterall his still recovering."

"I guess that's understandable." Evee replied. "Anyhow, why are joining us miss Katherine? We're just buying breakfast."

"Nothing much, really." Miss Katherine answered. "I've been doing nothing but go to meetings and staying in my room for the past few days, so I can't help but feel like walking for a bit."

"I see..." Evee muttered. "Just please stay close to us, miss Katherine. Danger is still a probability that we can't overlook."

"You sure are a very anxious girl, Evee." Miss Katherine spoke. "But I'll keep your words in mind."

"Thank you, miss Katherine." Evee said. Seeing how I'm keeping quiet and deep in my thoughts, Evee sighs and quickly tried reminding me. "That also includes you, Bruce."

"Huh?" I muttered.

"You're still recovering so be very careful."

"R-right... I'll keep that in mind."

With Evee's words now said, we then continued to make our way to the city street.

I didn't really get a proper view of the city last time, but as I gazes my eyes at the various buildings and neon lights, I can't help but be amazed at the surrounding. Such environments that I only see in cyberpunk movies and games, is currently present and real in my eyes. The fact that it's also underground somewhat enhances its aesthetics.

"You seem to be enjoying yourself there, Bruce." Miss Katherine spoke with a calm smile.

"U-umm... yeah. I've never been here before, so such sight is a first time for me."

"I see..." Miss Katherine muttered. "I heard that you came from the slums of East Terracore, so such sight is probably a rarity for you."

"Y-yeah... I never really travelled much, so I haven't seen many places." Hearing miss Katherine mention such place, I can't help but get worried. I never really experienced nor know much about the place, so I fear any questions in regards about it. "I'm surprise that you know about it, miss Katherine. Did you perhaps read my documents?"

"I'm just a teacher and the head of the education sector of the settlement." Miss Katherine explained. "So, reading such papers is a rarity for me. I only know about it due to little Claire."

"Ah... that makes sense."

"Wait..." Hearing what miss Katherine just mentioned, Evee suddenly looked at me with wide eyes. "You come from the Eastern Slums, Bruce?"

"U-umm.. That's right." I answered. "Speaking of which I never really told you about it."

"Y-yeah... you never did." Evee uttered.

"Quite a surprise isn't it, Evee?" Miss Katherine said.

Seeing Evee's odd reaction about what I've said, I can't help but wonder what's wrong about it. "What's with that reaction?" I asked. "Is there something wrong with what I said?"

"Not really, my dear boy." Miss Katherine replied. "It's just that your demeanor is quite surprising to see, for someone who comes from that place."

"Eh?" Still not understanding why such a thing is worth said reaction, I can only utter those words.

"With your personality I seriously find it hard to believe that you came from that place, Bruce." Evee spoke. "Are you sure that you weren't dreaming and just forgot where you were born?"

"W-what... How could I even forget such a thing?" I replied. "Are my words really not that trustworthy?"

Seeing our little commotion, miss Katherine can't help but release a small chuckle. We remind her of her little students she said. Feeling somewhat embarrassed about it, we quickly stopped our bickering and continued our walk.

As we made our way into the city street, various bright neon signs shine through my eyes. Seeing the various shops that associates said signs, I can't help but be curious to see what's in store in said shops.

"Stop daydreaming Bruce." Evee said. "We're almost there."

"R-right!" Keeping said curiosity inside of me for now, I again followed both Evee and miss Katherine's path. Not long after our walk, we eventually arrived at rusty looking building, filled with metallic pipes and other metallic parts. Seeing the place for the first time, I had high doubts about it being a restaurant. But as my eyes gaze at the sign, my doubts were eventually lifted.

"Potter's Pork and Dishes..." I echoed. "What an odd choice of name for a restaurant."

"One might find it as such." Evee said. "But once you know more about this place, you'll find to it to be quite fitting."

"How so?"

"Well... for one, the place isn't just a restaurant. It's also a butcher shop that specializes in pork-based meat." Evee explained. "I even heard that this place is somewhat popular with the people in the upper layer."

"Upper layer?" Not understanding what that means, I can't help but echo said words.

"This City is divided into layers, my dear boy. Three to be more exact." Miss Katherine explained. "There's the Upper layer, which most wealthy and rich people reside. The middle layer, which we currently stand and the lower one where the docks, sewage and I suppose the less fortunate reside."

"I see..." I uttered. "How fascinating."

"Well if you spent a lot of time traveling the cities of Terracore, you'll find out that a lot of them are built in layers."

Hearing another intriguing information, I then catalogued it in my mind. It's quite interesting to learn more about this mysterious world, with how extremely different it is from my normal and I suppose comfortable world.

As I stand in the odd-looking restaurant, pondering about the information I just learned. The door of the place suddenly opened, revealing an old looking man inside.

"Oh?" The old man uttered. "Well isn't it Evee... you beautiful girl." Seeing Evee just outside the restaurant door, the old man quickly approached Evee with a hug.

"Good morning sir Potter." With a smile in her face as greets the old man, Evee then accepted the incoming hug with open arms.

"No need to be so formal with me, Evee. Just call me gramps like everyone else."

"Sure gramps..." Evee spoke as she hugs the old man. "Good to see that you're still fine and well."

"Hahahaha... well sickness and age aren't going to hold this old man down." The old man laughed. "Anyhow it's good to see that you still visit this place every once a while. Having only boys in here sure gets old."

"I already visited this place many times in the past few days." Evee explained. "I was quite worried to not see you."

"Oh really?" The old man muttered. "How unfortunate, I was very busy with the farm and some business in the past few days to visit this place. I would have let you taste our specialty for free if I have saw you."

"I would have loved to." Evee said with a smile.

Seeing how both seems to be close, I quickly assume that they both know each other.

"So what are you doing here, Evee?" The old man asked

"I just came here to buy breakfast with miss Katherine and a fellow agent."

"Oh?" Finally seeing both me and miss Katherine, I quickly greeted the old man with a wave of my hand which miss Katherine also copied.

"So you're miss Katherine, eh?" The old man approached miss Katherine with a hand. "I heard many stories of you from Evee."

"The pleasures all mine." Miss Katherine replied as she receives the old man's hands. "So, you're the esteemed owner of this famous restaurant."

"Well... I only inherited this place from my father and same goes for his, but I suppose you say that."

After finishing their handshake, the old man then happily invites all of us inside the place. Agreeing to said invitation, we then slowly enter the restaurant.

How warm... I thought in mind. It's quite strange how very different the inside place is from the outside exteriors. Wooden tables and chairs filled with people eating and warm lights were the first thing I saw as I gazed my eyes at the place. "Huh?" As I step inside, I quickly noticed that the floors are also wooden. Quite the opposite from the metallic aesthetics that I was assuming from first impressions.

"So you all came here for breakfast?" The old man asked once more.

"We only want to order a takeout." Evee answered. "We still have a few others waiting at the hotel."

"I see... I was hoping that you would stay for much longer."

"Come one now Evee..." Miss Katherine spoke. "No need to be shy. Can't you see that his inviting us."

"B-but what about the others?" Evee asked.

"I'm pretty sure that both Null and Pebble are doing fine. They can wait for a few minutes or two."

"I-if you say so..."

Seeing how Evee accepted taking breakfast at the place, the old man's face grew a warm smile.

"That's great then!" The old man said. "I have you all taste my specialty. So please sit and wait comfortably at the special seats."

"E-ehh... there's no need for such thing, sir Potter." Evee worriedly said. "We can just wait at the normal seats."

"Hehehe... no need to be shy, Evee. Hoy! Please guide this three at the special seats, they're my guest so take them somewhere comfortable."

"N-no really... sir Potter. We're fine with the normal seats."

Patting Evee's head and ignoring her words, the old man then heads off to the restaurant's kitchen. With us left alone with the person whom he called to guide us; we were left with no choice but to follow quietly, despite Evee's dismay.

.

.

Arriving at some neat looking room, we were told to take our seats and wait for our food to arrive.

"[Sigh...] Why is he always like this..." Evee sighs.

"You both seem pretty close." I spoke. "Is he your grandpa or something."

"Shut up... will you."

"I wasn't insulting you. I was just curious." Taking a seat from one of the chairs, I then relaxed myself in the warm heat of the place. How truly relaxing... I spoke in my mind.

"I don't have any family." Evee explained. "Sir Potter is just one of the people I helped when I was in this city."

"Helped?" I echoed.

"Sir Potter was suffering from some disease not long before and I just so happen to be in this city at that time. Having nothing better to do, I decided to helped sir Potter by calling sir Isaac to check his condition... Let's just say that in the end he was cured of said disease and his now pretty grateful of what I did."

"I see..." I muttered. "How very typical of you."

"Shut up, will you." Evee said while somewhat embarrassed. "Sir Potter was in trouble so of course I would help him."

"I wasn't making fun of you." I explained. "I just find the act of you helping someone as something very typical of you."

"Yeah, yeah..." Evee said while still blushing from embarrassment.

.

.

"With that said... That man sure is odd." Miss Katherine spoke.

"How so?" I asked.

"I can understand the being grateful to the one that saved him, but I can't help but notice the odd way he looks at Evee."

"Odd way of looking?"

"His gaze when talking to Evee reminds me of a fatherly gaze." Miss Katherine explained. "It's quite charming to see if I'm being honest."

"Ehhh...." Hearing Miss Katherine's words, the feeling that I was feeling was quite the opposite. Pondering a scene of a stranger giving you some fatherly gaze just feels weird to me.

But as I was somewhat deep in my thoughts, Evee quickly said some words that caught my attention.

"Ah... that." Evee muttered. "I don't know if it's rude to say or not, but let's just say that I kind of remind sir Potter of her daughter... Her only daughter to be precise."

.

.

"I see... That's quite sad to hear." Miss Katherine spoke.

"What?" Not understanding what Evee mean by her words, I can't help but ask a question. "Did her daughter die or something?"

"[Sigh...] You sure are quite dense, Bruce." Evee said.

"A-ahhh... I understand now." Feeling quite embarrassed about it, I then tried sitting straight at my chair, while trying to forget about said moment.

"So how did you about such a thing, Evee?" Miss Katherine asked.

"Umm... I just had a talk with the workers at this shop and they revealed it to me." Evee explained. "Then even said that they were quite shocked to see me, when I first visited this place because they thought that I was the ghost of sir Potter's daughter"

"Hmmm... how intriguing." Miss Katherine muttered.

As I hear more information from Evee, I grew to understand the situation a bit more. Supposedly the old man lost his wife and daughter in some incident caused by some gang wars in the city. Due to said incident, the old man grew weaker and weaker and eventually contracted some disease. Feeling their boss's life withering away, the people whom worked at the restaurant worked hard to take care and find a cure for the dying old man. But still feeling despair from his lose, the old man refused to take his meds and in no time was in critical condition. And in that moment Evee eventually came and contacted Doc. Isaac. That's pretty much the summarization of what I learned and in the end after being cured to said disease the old man eventually became energetic again. Quite an interesting story with a somewhat happy ending. I thought. But as I think more about it, I can't help but wonder what the gang wars that caused the old man's lost was about.

Deep in my thoughts once more, I was caught off guard when the room door suddenly opened with the old man just outside carrying a plate of bowls.

"I hope you all didn't get bored waiting cause the food's here!" The old man said with a smile.

-End of Volume 2 Chapter 6 

Author Note: I'm still alive and I'll try updating my other work this week. That is all and enjoy your reading.