System: Challenge

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"Let's go," Settia's master stood from his seat, shoved his hands to his pockets and headed towards the exit of Cocoa Connection with Settia following behind him.

Halting all of a sudden, Settia's master changed his route to go to the counter instead of directly making an exit.

"How may I help you, sir?" The same jolly barista that welcomed Settia greeted him, a bright smile positioned on her face showing her pearly whites.

"Opera Cake, Raindrop Cake, Angel Food Cake."

Shocked, the barista could only nod her head agape. "If you ought to buy cake, buy the whole thing," is a rule in the shop. And, so is to say, their prices were sky-high.

Packaging the cakes in separate beige boxes, she tied them with a blue ribbon. Initially, she was going to hand them to Settia but Settia's master took them before she could place it in Settia's arms.

"He'll pay," Settia's master directed his head to Settia before going out the exit with all three boxes. Settia looked at his master strangely.

'I'm still using your money, though.'

Before the barista could say anything, Settia's master had already left the premises.

"Could you possibly give pa—"

"My master would like it if I were to use the scanner," cutting her sentence, Settia scrutinized her with so much intensity the barista had to release an awkward chuckle to release the tension.

"Unfortunately, the scanner broke not too long ago. If sir could just—"

"I apologize if I seem rude but for a five star rated café, it doesn't have any back-up scanners?"

"Sir, I'm sure we can com—"

"It's not that we can't, but you're acting quite suspicious. You could borrow scanners from another, could you not? See, right there—" Settia pointed towards another barista— "she's using a scanner, and I know for a fact it's wire-free. You could just borrow her scanner."

"Sir, while the scanners may not be connected with wires, it is how our managers see each our billing."

"If that's so, I might as well go to the other barista," Settia walked over to the other barista only to be held back by the barista who he was conversing with.

"No! Don't! My pay...We— I just...called my manager...yeah! He said there's an extra scanner in the back I could use! Please wait a moment!" Saying so, she ran to the staffs' room not waiting for Settia's reply.

'I'll not make more trouble by calling her out. She clearly didn't call anyone.' Thinking so, Settia waited patiently.

When she came back, she brought along another person.

"I'm sorry for the trouble Calestine caused. She's new in the business, you see. I hope this inconvenience doesn't damage how you esteem this establishment." As he said so, he smiled and placed a scanner in the counter while Settia mentally took note of the name. "You're the first and the last person to experience any bother. We've never gotten anything less than a five-star rating that way."

"Well, then, I'm honored to be your first—" Settia smiled, quickly swiping his hand on the scanner— "person who'll rate you with one star."

Settia left the enterprise with his last statement.

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"Did you let them scan you again?" Settia's master asked.

Sitting on the driver's seat in his master's car, he drove heading towards his master's house. "Yes, master."

"Good, if you didn't, I'd have commanded you to jump in a pool of lava." He placed a cigarette in his mouth he took from his pockets and rummaged his other pocket for his lighter. When he finally found it, he flicked the lighter's spark-wheel and brought the flame to the tip of his cigarette, inhaling while the flame is still touching the tip. "Don't worry, I'd be there with you, though."

"I beg your pardon, master? Why would you be there?"

"To push you, of course. I always wanted to do that to a person." Putting the lighter back in his pocket, Settia's master pushed down his window switch to roll down his side of the window. "You're the closest thing I can get to a person, for now."

"The front passenger seat really is the best ah," Settia's master murmured.

Settia wanted to ask "why" but whenever he'd open his mouth, something seemed to be blocking his voice.

'System, would it be OOC to ask why?'

>

'Why? This doesn't go against the rules of acting out of character. Former Settia would have asked "why" to know more about his master.'

>

'Is it important information?'

>

'Are you designed to bring down the host's?'

>

>

'That's okay, system. You made progress in defying the other system. I'm proud of you.'

The rest of the car ride was greeted with silence.

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Arriving at Settia's master's home, his master directly went to his workshop with Settia following behind.

"Lend me your hand; the one the barista touched." Settia did as he was told and lifted his right hand. "If you didn't notice, she placed some shit on your hand."

'System, what did she place on me?'

>

'Why would she place a tracker on me?'

>

In the short amount of time, Settia was talking with his system, his master was able to remove the tracker.

"—and...finished. They won't be able to track you, now."

"Thank you, master."

"Since we're back, bring me data on the café."

Right away, Settia went to his desk and typed out data on the café. Just like when Settia was searching for DALV's data, he could only suffice a page worth of data.

'It's like someone deleted most of their information.'

"Someone from the factory, maybe?'

'Someone trusted enough to tamper with information without being suspected.'

'The question pertains to who.'

'And while he's at it, figure out who and who Calestine works for.'

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