"So what are you going to do now Cale?"
Catrina asked Cale(?) his plans after school
"I will go back to my house"
"Really?"
Gabriel chimed in and asked
"Well yeah, today my sister is returning from her business trip, so I kind of have to be there"
Essentially, to 'accommodate' her at 'her' request
"Ah that makes sense"
Cale's eldest sister is a businesswoman, apart of a very prestigious and meritocratic company and was and still is very capable in that regard, so much so that people begun to call her the 'undisputed workaholic genius of the company' whatever that meant
"Your sister is so nice~"
Catrina's words slightly unsettled the doppelganger
"Yeah she really cares for you Cale"
The doppelganger narrowed its eyes
"Why wouldn't she care about me?"
"True..."
"Ehem"
Gabriel cleared his throat, chuckled slightly awkwardly and swiftly changed the subject
"Well anyway we should go on our way, your sister is coming back really soon right?"
"Yeah she is..."
After the bell rang, the doppelganger walked outside the school building and waited for a little while, waiting until Catrina and Gabriel went their separate ways before moving
The coast finally cleared, it still didn't feel enough, so the doppelganger then headed to a secluded spot where no one could see it and then double checking the surroundings, it vanished in the cool breeze, like mist
***
Rustle
Someone came out of a dumpster, they softly landed on their feet and patted themselves of any dust that may have stuck to their clothes, they fixed their hair slightly but still left it as a mess
It was the doppelganger
In detention, you cannot 'die'. In other words, Cale's body had to stay in detention no matter what may have occurred, the doppelganger knew this rule well and he knew that if Cale did manage to die despite being under the supervision of a teacher, he would very well be screwed
When dying in detention, you are not put in some sort of 'suspended death', you just die
But the reason that made death in detention essentially impossible to achieve was because the student would be constantly under the supervision of a teacher to make sure they never took their own lives
This is done by 'artificially influencing' their instinct to survive, though to many tweaks to their mental state can, though rarely leave some terminally brain-dead, or at best left in a vegetative state
But the teacher was a bit of a problem, though the doppelganger had genuine no clue who it was, the chances that the teacher was lazy could not be thrown out of the window
Not like it currently mattered, what really mattered was the current job he was ushered in
If Cale left and stayed stuck in Gardenia for more than a month, then this also meant that there was a void in the real world due to being sent to detention
A void the doppelganger had to fill no matter what because that was the sole reason it existed
The doppelganger trudged forward, towards Cale's house
It was relatively close so it didn't take long to enter the apartment
The door opened and the soles of shoes zoomed to the elevator, pressing on the [4] button, the elevator tightly shut its door and whirred upwards
"..."
The doppelganger didn't have any particular thoughts, while it didn't like working overtime, it wasn't like it had any choice
Recently it had been capable of holding cohesive and comprehensible thoughts outside its assigned job, steadily growing and understanding how to act more like Cale with each day that passed
The doppelganger pushed the mint scented elevator door and in a instant appeared before a door as if it had always stood before it
"...?"
Its head eerily tilted to the side, threatening to snap it neck cleanly, confused of the unexpected presence behind the door
Its eyes narrowed, for a few moments hesitation of opening the door surfaced
But it was only for a few moments. Its hands moved to insert the key in the keyhole, then twisted it open
Click!
The door clacked and opened wide, wide enough for the doppelganger to see someone's reflection on the mirror bolted to the wall
The mirror reflected the scene of a living room, someone stayed seated on the sofa, drinking something, the scent of coffee wafted in the air, it wasn't really a strong scent, it was a scent that could be ignored with no relative problem
"..."
The doppelganger stopped for a few moments, realizing who it was that was drinking so leisurely in the living room
Walking inside, it closed the door, locking it and then taking off its shoes. It moved to the living room, pretending it hadn't noticed the being
A sip was stolen from her cup, steam came out of the cup. It hadn't been long before she made the coffee
"Didn't you say you were coming back around 5 pm?"
The doppelganger questioned her with a slight bewildered expression, putting Cale's backpack on the sofa opposite to the woman, It stared at her with a questioning gaze
"Nephyl?"
Nephyl Dice, this was Cale's sister and the so called workaholic genius, capable of flawlessly handling up to 30 people's work all alone on a good day, though that was in the past where she desperately tried to make herself useful to the company she worked at, all in hopes of receiving many bonuses in her paycheck, and bonuses she did receive! One cup of Greek coffee, one bag of chips and a 250 dollar bonus! That became 25 dollars in a single week
"I just happened to come earlier than what I expected"
Nephyl took a sip of her coffee
"Anyway enough about me, tell me more about yourself, how was school?"
"..It was fine..."
"I bet it was"
Nephyl took another sip of her coffee
"What time did you come?"
The doppelganger, kept subtly and naturally asking away to make some small talk
"I've been here for about... half an hour maybe?"
Soon enough, the doppelganger sat on the sofa
"..."
"..."
Both Nephyl and the doppelganger stayed silent, it stayed that way for a few minutes before Nephyl broke the deafening silence
"Did you know that the school you go to now used to be a college?"
"Why are you forcing conversation?"
"I'm your sister, now answer my question"
The doppelganger wanted to retort her reasoning which made no sense
"I didn't know"
It answered her, and Nephyl seemed satisfied, her expression also lightened slightly at the doppelganger's words
"Do you know when mom is coming?"
Nephyl asked her brother
"She might come back in the evening"
Nephyl was going to take another sip but was stopped by her brother's words
"Really?"
She put her coffee on the glass table and took off the tightly knotted red ribbon that was knitted on her right temple
"Well she told there were a lot of customers at work, so many that it could fill the Café completely.. or so I heard from mom"
The doppelganger was speaking the words Cale's mother had told him word for word
"Really? that's strange..."
The doppelganger asked Nephyl who was in deep thought
"Is it really surprising for a Café to be full?"
It wasn't the doppelganger's curiosity that spoke but Cale's copy and pasted curiosity
"You don't know much do you"
The doppelganger grew a tint irritated by those words, not trying to imitate Cale this time
"Instead of insulting me, you should be answering my question, don't you think so?"
Tsk
To the side her head twisted, very much annoyed by what she heard
"Did you just-"
"Think of it like this"
Nephyl cut her brother's words, making him even more irritated than before but still intently listened, keeping patience in check
"Imagine the Café our mom works at, you following me?"
"Yes..."
"That Café has a lot of customers every day, but it is not nearly enough to fill the whole Café"
Nephyl rested her ribbon on the table, picking up her coffee again
"So ask yourself this, 'Why does the Café suddenly have so many customers that it is completely full? When the other day it wasn't anywhere near full?'"
"I see..."
The doppelganger understood but then asked Nephyl another question
"But isn't that a good thing? I mean more customers means more money rolls in, doesn't it?"
"You are right"
Nephyl agreed with what her brother said
"Under normal circumstances that is"
Several issues arise when there is a sudden influx of customers, one of them being the establishment not being capable of keeping up with never-ending demand, basically resources running dry, but such a thing isn't really a problem since it never really is an issue since resources do eventually dry up, and restocking is inevitable
But what if there is constant restocking and orders never ending a single beat? Restocking might still be miraculously keeping up but the workers? The workers would be under constant never ending pressure, having to make perfect drinks every time with no fail of getting it wrong even once, and they have to move hastily to meet the demands of customers, all without a single bonus to their paycheck, most of the time anyway
But that was not what Nephyl referred to, it wasn't much of a serious issue anyway to the company anyway. I mean, the problem was basically '...too much work? Why is that serious?', it would go something like that
"..?"
"Isn't it disturbing not knowing why there is a sudden spike in customers?"
This was what she was really getting at
"I don't know..."
Nephyl downed her cup in one single gulp and laid it on the table
"Well I guess I'm the only one then"
The doppelganger brows twitched and a vein popped, having had enough of her, it sat up from the sofa, taking Cale's backpack as well
"Oh? where are you going?"
Nephyl asked Cale, but then she quickly remembered something
"Ah now that I think about it, I have a gift for you"
"?"
Nephyl took something out from the purse next to her
"Here"
"What's this?"
The doppelganger looked perplexed looking at the gift
"It's a pen"
"No I can see that"
What he was referring to wasn't the pen itself, but the packaging itself
[DISCOUNT 25% GET THE NEW SPY PEN INSTALLED WITH A 1080p CAMERA FOR ONLY 23 DOLLARS]
"...."
The doppelganger stood there flabbergasted, eyes wide open. If it hadn't been for the packaging, the doppelganger wouldn't have found out
It may have seemed trivial at first, but if Nephyl checked the camera after a few days of the doppelganger not noticing, it would have been a disastrous incident
Worst case scenario, she would have found out that 'Cale' was teleporting from school to his house
'Dangerous...'
That was the only way for the doppelganger to describe Cale's sister
'She already suspects I am not Cale but a mere Imitation'
It was impressive instincts on Nephyl's part, however that was further from the truth
'I wonder how my cute little teddy bear's school life is going, does he maybe have a crush on someone already? he is at that ripe age after all'
Nephyl was melting at the fantasies she was having, she could only imagine how spicy Cale's school life story really was, she did like drama shows, along with comedy
However that was not entirely the whole reason why she attempted to spy on Cale
It was because Cale had a tendency to not tell her what exactly happened at school, he would always avoid them skillfully, so she was doing it to see if Cale really was having fun at school and if no one was bullying her little brother
She felt responsible for him as her Big Sister after, plus she could get a good laugh or too watching how Cale's school life unfolded
"Make sure you put the pen in your breast pocket Cale"
"Here"
"..?"
Cale gave her the gift back
'Ah he wants me to open it for him'
She wanted to puff out her chest in excitement hearing Cale needing her help for something as simple as this
'Leave it to your sister Cale, I got thi-'
She took the packaged pen and started to tear the it apart, but as she was ready to tear it down at lightning speed, she glimpsed at it, the writing on the packaging
"...."
Tearrrr
She tore it slowly and took the pen, carefully giving it to Cale, as if nothing happened
Her hand trembled, beads of sweat starting to form on her forehead
"Thanks"
The doppelganger took the pen and went into his room
'He didn't realize, did he?'
She hoped he hadn't, but she knew it was delusional to think that way
"C-Crap..."
That is the only word her voice could let out
Her face reddened like a ripen apple
She felt ashamed of herself for letting something like this happen, if she just wasn't so excited and actually removed the packaging beforehand she could have succeeded...
"What a lost opportunity..."
Her head drooped in sadness, she knew that next time she gave Cale something, he'd be suspicious of her
'In that case'
Nephyl took something out of her pocket and cleared her throat
"Cale when you're done, come get the Ice cream I bought for you on my way back home!"
If Cale had his guard up. Nephyl simply had to wait and make Cale forget about her blunder and there was nothing more effective for that goal than Ice cream, or was there perhaps another?
'Well...Ice cream worked once, so wouldn't it work again?'
No argument could be made to those words of wisdom