Chapter 6

Chance waited for almost 5 minutes before Roderick called him down through the speaker. "Damn, he installed a freaking intercom in his house?" He commented on his cousin over-preparation before coming downstairs.

Surprisingly, or not really that surprising from his cousin, he wasn't there. Instead, Elise was there to greet him. At this point, Chance was not kidding that he wants to stab his cousin with a fork. Roderick keeps throwing him in very unpredicted situation and it's getting worse each day. Wanna enjoy the first day in town? Heck no, go deal with administration and papers. Want to have a rest after a long day? Well, enjoy being lost and get attacked by a monster!

"Good morning," Elise greeted the confused boy. "There's no monster lurking around now. So lower your fork," she added as she pointed at his clenching hand.

Chance looked down and he was still holding tight on his fork from earlier. With an awkward laugh, he put the utensil on the counter before looking back at the girl. She was wearing a white shirt, which looked like some sort of uniform, with a pretty big dark turquoise hoodie. Her light cream skirt shifted as she moved around behind the counter to prepare coffee beans and the grinder.

"About yesterday..." Chance took the initiation to ask. "How do you... Do that?" Chance did some hand gestures as like he want to shoot strings from his hand. Wasn't the most usual way to start morning talk, but he can't clear his mind except he got some explanation.

She stood silent as she poured coffee beans into the grinder. The smell of fresh beans radiated around the counter and gave them a pleasant atmosphere. "I guess Roderick already filled you some details about the spirits? I don't know to what point he explained but I'll try to answer some," she said as he closed the lid of the grinder.

"Okay, before I explain how I did that. You must understand that these spirits that we fought won't stop at causing physical damage like what you experienced last night. The purpose of the spirit is to spread its own bad thought to people around it. They can manipulate people to have those bad thoughts in their minds, causing further emotional and psychological damage while the spirit gets stronger from those thoughts. It's like a virus if we want to put it simply," she explained while her hand still skillfully working around the counter to prepare for the opening hour.

She continued, "That's why sometimes you've seen an area really crowded in criminal activity, or maybe there's a lot of domestic violence in one particular neighborhood or some spot that guarantees break up if you have a date in that place. All of that caused by spirits that are resides in those locations." Her eyes finally meet the boy's face as she finished the preparations and then goes silent as she waited for any questions from Chance.

"So.. uh... you fight those spirits so it doesn't go wild and powerful?" Chance assumed which answered with a short nod from Elise.

"However, to fight these spirits we can't use conventional way. Yes, firearms could still damage the spirits but it's ineffective. We need a special weapon or method to deal actual damage to the spirits, for example, magic," Elise explained. "Unfortunately, I can't explain to you more about it, let alone giving you a demonstration. You're still an outsider even if you could see and interact with spirits," she added which not very satisfying for Chance but he couldn't complain.

"Wow... Just... Okay, a whole new world opened for me," Chance took a deep breath, hold it for a couple second before inhaled it all out. He got too much revelation in such a short period of time. It was like he first being told Santa isn't real, but in this case, something that isn't real actually real. "So... Magic, spells, wizards," he named a couple of things that he thought were just a fantasy yesterday.

Looking at the dumbfounded rabbit, Elise took a broom from the closet and threw it towards Chance. "Clear your mind while you clean the floor," she said while she cleaned the counter with a napkin.

There was still a lot of unanswered questions in Chance's mind but he decided to take things slowly. Perhaps, he can spend the rest of the day without any more surprises.

"By the way," Elise called from behind the counter, she already finished her preparation and now she just waits for the café to open. "I haven't caught your name yet. I'm pretty sure you already know me."

"I'm Chance, Chance North. Roderick's cousin from her mother's side." The brown rabbit introduced himself.

"Huh... Must be a pain having a relative who can't catch a break huh?"

"We haven't really get in touch a lot yet. I met him before, but who knows that he actually very... Impatient. Speaking of which, where is he anyway?"

"Oh... He just ran to the market one block from here. Grabbing fresh groceries for today's breakfast menu," She said as she pointed to the south. Chance looked outside the window and the street started to come alive. "People usually come around 7 AM to have some quick bites. Roderick is unexpectedly a really good cook," Elise added.

"Huh. So what time you open? You guys still a student right?"

"7 AM to 9 AM for regular customers, then we open again at five or six in the evening till night. We want to open longer but we're understaffed. Fortunately, you're here now. So... Welcome to the team," Elise smiled before her face changed as she realizing something. "Oh wait, he hasn't told you yet?"

Chance nodded vigorously with a deep intention to slap his cousin.