The clock ticked from 17:37 to 17:38. The front door slid open, and Hiroki went inside the house. He put the grocery bag on the table beside the front door and removed his shoes.
"I'm back," said Hiroki while grabbing the grocery bag and went directly to the kitchen. Hiroki started to unpack everything from the grocery bag into boxes and placed those into the refrigerator.
After a while, Hiroki finished unpacking and arranging. The clock showed 18:39. He grumbled between starting to make dinner or wait a bit more. Then, he decided to wait a bit more, he glanced at the robot vacuum, and it let out a beep sound and started moving. Hiroki went inside the bedroom and started to clean everything inside the bedroom.
The clock showed 19:30. Hiroki came out of the bedroom and went to the kitchen. He thought of starting to prepare for dinner. He opened the refrigerator and saw the box of meat he received today. He suddenly remembered the scene where he saw human fainting in front of the groceries' exit door and being dragged into a warehouse, met Levi, and was in front of their lower underground elevator…
---
"You shouldn't be in deep thought while being so unguarded around here," said a voice behind Hiroki. He turned around and saw Levi.
"What do you mean, unguarded?" Hiroki baffled.
"We don't know what would happen, right?" Levi grabbed a lollipop candy from one of his white-coat pockets and ate it.
"What would happen? Aren't we in the peace zone?" asked Hiroki puzzled.
"Factions are currently at war with each other," said Levi and grabbed the lollipop out from his mouth.
"Factions?"
"Yes, factions. Are Ageha-humans not knowing this kind of information?" Levi swung around his lollipop on the air and ate it again.
"I…" Hiroki tried to answer but couldn't find anything.
"Wah, Ageha-humans sure are being closed in the dark," laughed Levi. He grabbed the lollipop out from his mouth, inched closer to Hiroki.
"We have five major factions in this world, Abegunia, and Cubel. Those who fight with each other." Levi swung his lollipop on the air again.
"Then we have a Neutral Faction; your beloved owner is in here." Levi pointed his lollipop to Hiroki's grocery bag and slowly towards his face. "Lastly, your creator, Peace Faction."
Hiroki was startled a bit and said, "Why are there only four of them? How about the fifth one?"
Levi turned away from Hiroki and ate the lollipop. He glanced at Hiroki over his shoulder; he put both of his hands inside his pockets, and said, "The last one is the Unknown Factions. No one knows them."
Hiroki looked down and tried to analyze the information he just got. Suddenly a pair of white shoes approached his white shoes.
"You should be careful with your creators, Hiroki," whispered Levi.
Levi put his hand on Hiroki's shoulder and continued, "Who knows what would those one-winged doves do to your Yuu."
"What?!" Hiroki lifted his head, and Levi let go of his hand.
"This morning, my intel relies on a message. It said the Peace Factions are collecting information using their newest Ageha-humans." Levi shoved his hands inside his pockets.
Levi slowly made a turn and saw Hiroki's puzzled face.
"It means you are one of them," said Levi, pointed at Hiroki's face.
Hiroki showed a shocked face.
Levi walked to Hiroki's behind and whispered, "You need to choose a side now. Are you going to be a spy or your Yuu's guardian."
"How…" Hiroki turned around, and Levi was nowhere to be found.
---
Hiroki shook his head. 'It can't be human meat,' he grumbled inside his head and grabbed the meat box out. He opened the lid and stared at it. 'It won't hurt anyone with a little analysis.' Hiroki scanned the meat and examined it with the Ageha-human's program. The result showed as 'Human Meat.' Hiroki flustered and panickily covered the box with its lid. 'It can't be true!'
Hiroki hastily opened the refrigerator and opened every single box of meats they had and ran a scan on them. All of them showed 'Human Meat.' He flustered, and panickedly grabbed those boxes out from the refrigerator and threw the meats away.
"I should be more careful about this," said Hiroki while throwing the last meat box. "Let's have a potato salad instead." He approached the refrigerator and finally started to prepare the dinner.
The clock ticked from 19:59 to 20:00. Yuu walked out from the research room while holding an empty cup. She saw Hiroki in the kitchen and walked toward the kitchen bar.
"You are back, Hiroki," said Yuu while putting down the empty cup into the sink.
Hiroki was surprised a bit and turned around. "Yes, I was back around 5 P.M.," said Hiroki. He turned away and continued, "The dinner will be ready soon. Please take a seat."
"Okay," said Yuu and sat on one of the dining table chairs.
Hiroki hastily plated the potato salad and put it on a tray. He grabbed two empty cups and a camomile teapot and placed it on the tray. He grabbed the tray and walked towards the dining table. He put one plate and a cup in front of Yuu and another across; then he sat down to join.
Yuu grabbed the spoon and scooped the salad. "Anything happens when you are outside?" asked Yuu.
Hiroki was startled a bit and said, "Nothing happens." He grabbed the teapot and poured their cup with tea.
"Really?" Yuu lifted her head and stared at Hiroki.
"Yes, nothing happens." Hiroki looked down, grabbed his spoon, and scooped the salad.
"Really?" Yuu tried to meet Hiroki's eyes, but Hiroki kept avoiding hers.
Suddenly, the front door bells rang ding dong.
"Who is it this late at night?" grumbled Yuu and stood up. She approached the front door, and before she opened the door, Hiroki shouted, "Don't open!"