chapter 6 "who are you?"

"...i..."

"try saying that you don't know what i'm talking about....i'll kill you"

Wen said it with his serious expression on his face.

"-glup- he is serious....."

Halym didn't know what's kind of lie that he must told to Wen.

"ho....how do you know?"

"let's see... the way you walk, stand, gesture....and most obvious is your aura. Ar is the only human and living thing who get my respect. There's no way i won't recognize that"

"aura?"

Halym was totally lost at what was Wen saying.

"just tell me who are y..."

-niiiin-

"young master, i want to remind you to prepare leaving to the party"

Nanika's voice interrupted their conversation.

"i...i got it Nanika"

Halym replied and looked towards Wen direction

"-sigh- I guess we must continue this later"

Wen approached Halym and looked directly into his eyes.

"don't try something dumb, ok? -smile-"

"-glup- o..ok"

"ok Ar! let's we go to the party!" Wen left the room

Halym tried to calm his mind while made sure he already decent enough to attend the party.

He walked to the front door and went to the elevator and Nanika was following him from the back.

"-sigh- i'll focus on the party first, Kerly's problem can wait after that"

Halym mumbled and got into the elevator.

-----++-----

it's almost 7:00 AM when Arva reached his house. He washed his face and went to his mother's room to check on her condition. He was seeing his mother putting her blanket and finished making up her bed.

"ah, good morning my son" Tyan's smiled

"good morning mother. Hm, your condition is stable now"

"yes, i can feel that i'm getting better now. Ah, there's no delivery today, so you can rest my son"

"don't worry mother. Let me handle our shop, you can rest for today"

Tyan kinda suprised for a second.

She couldn't believe what she had heard. Not only her son was not complaining, he was even offering his help to their shop.

"I'm sorry. My condition must be really worst because you worried about me that much"

"hm, your condition is getting better mother, don't worry about that."

"-smile- I see. I'm sorry for my negative thought my son. Don't worry, I'll help with the store later"

"ah, there are some tannas in the C-box mother. They are from miss Ara. She's also saying hi to you" Arva remembered about it

(*C-box = cooling box = ACE like fridge)

"Ara? ah, I haven't see her for like....six? seven years now? how's she doing?"

"she is selling tanna in the public market with her son, mother"

"heee, at least she's okay. I and your father kinda worried because her husband was working for Bhoren.."

"hm, who is her husband mother?"

"her husband? ..... if I remembered it correctly.. it's a big guy named Banri? he's a fighter or something like that. Why do you asked that my son?"

Arva thought for a while. Banri? if he recalled this morning insident, then this person was the one who made him flying with his gear. Such an interesting coincidence.

"hm, it's nothing mother. Just curious, that's all"

"hmmm, it's bring some memories when I heard her name"

A sad face could be seen on Tyan's face.

"ok then mother. I'll prepare the shop"

"thank you my son"

"hm, no problem"

Tyan went back to her room.

Arva walked to the front, to their shop, and looked to all of the shop tools and its layout.

"the breads and the fillings are already prepared. Just need to put and mix them in this steam baked ACE. Hm, no problem at the preparation phase."

Arva sat in his stall and waited for the customers.

It's already 7:15 AM, and there's no sign that someone's gonna stop at his shop. People were just passing by.

This condition was lasted for another thirty minutes, some people were gazing to his direction in the meantime.

"hm, this is concern me. I wonder if something is wrong?"

Arva got up from his chair and started to walk around to figure this situation.

When he was in the front of the stall, He found out that a board with "open" word on it was leaning on it. That's definitely the source of this problem.

"what a mistake at the basic preparation here. Hm, i should realize it sooner"

Arva took the board and looking for place for hanging it.

He found a pair of little hanger above the stall, and tried to put the board there. It made a -clack- sound and fitted well. Not so long after he put the board, some people started to walk towards the shop.

"hm, this should solve it" Arva nodded

Arva went back to his stall to serve his costumers.

"good morning madam, can i help you?"

"madam?! waah... i think i've never called like that in my whole life"

The woman's expression showed a little suprise reaction.

"hm, seems "madam" is not a common calling here"

Arva tried to behave as normal as people in the lower city would be.

"hm, i mean, good morning miss, can i help you today?"

"miss? if this a new marketing strategy for your shop, then it's really working Halym! hoho" the woman was in a good mood

"hm, it's still unnatural. I don't have any alternative calling"

Arva didn't have any other option.

"give me two tanna fillings and three fruit fillings"

"understood"

Arva wrote the order and started to make it.

He knew how the steam baked ACE works, so he did it without problem.

First, put the bread in the left side slot, then the filling in the right slot. Then, the ACE will start to stick the bread and made a hole for the filling.

The ACE used some sort of small drill that could spread at its tip to create the hole in the bread. After that, the filling will be inserted by a small pipe to the bread hole. The last process, the filled bread will be take either to the steam or the baked slot.

For tanna filling, it will go to the steam one, and for fruit filling will go to the baked one. the whole process took time about 7 minutes, and it could make ten breads in one go.

-piip-

A sound that indicated the breads were ready to serve.

Arva took out them from the the steam baked ACE, and laid them in the baking sheet to wrap them.

"hmmm, as usual, the smell is really nice"

The woman tried to appreciate the pleasant fragrance.

On the baking sheet, the tanna filling breads were letting out a hot smoke from its hole in the middle. It was like a volcane before the eruption.

The tanna filling with the spicy flavour has a bright red colour, and combined with white steamy bread were making a delicious look.

In the other hand, the baked fruit filling had a brown crispy bread at the outside and a colorful soft creamy filling in the inside. It's like the shop's name, "smile bread", it's making people who ate it smilling.

"here's your order miss"

"hoho, thank you Halym. How much? 50 en like usual?"

(*En = currency in the story)

"hm, please wait a minute"

Arva was looking for the price list. There was no SAI or any digital indicator that could be seen around him.

After a few minutes, he found a thin board with a price list on it. That board was put inside the stall's small locker below the counter table.

"yes, it's 50 en for five breads" Arva confirmed it

"here you go Halym. By the way, where's your mother? usually, something happen when you take care of the shop"

"my mother got heart attack yesterday. The doctor said she need to take a rest for a while"

"mother of origin! i'm glad she's okay now. Hoho, keep the good work Halym"

The woman left the shop.

"two tanna fillings please" the next customers said they order

"understood"

Arva was starting to busy with the shop. He's not having a hard time with operating the steam baked ACE, but having a hard time to interact with the customers instead.

For examples, there was a little child who wanted to have her bread larger and had more filling in the inside.

Arva gave a suggestion to double the size, so he could count that equal as two breads (so he didn't confuse to give the price).

The child's mother suprised and kept telling Arva to not doing that. The child's crying, but Arva still gave her a normal size bread anyway.

Or when a customer said he didn't want his tanna filling bread too spicy, so he wanted Arva to find the solution. Arva's struggling to find the solution, caused he couldn't change the composition of the filling or the bread.

So many problems that Arva didn't have solution for them.

This situation was kinda triggering Arva's motivation.

In his whole life, he never found a problem that can't be solved. Yet, now he couldn't make any of his customers feeling satisfied with his solution.

Arva had failed many times in his life, but that was only for a very short moment. He always could find the solution right away. That's why people thought that Arva was a perfect fighter.

But this time he was still clueless even after he was thinking about it for a long time.

"hm.....how is it possible to make the bread larger and more filling..without adding the price?" Arva thought so hard

"son.....my son..."

"how about the filling? do i need to create a separate fillings? but mother didn't do that..which mean there's a solution without need to separate the fillings. Hm.."

"my son?" Tyan touched Arva's shoulder

"hm?. Mother, forgive...i'm sorry i didn't realize you're there" Arva stood from his chair

"my son. you look like worried about something?"

"hm, there are some problems when i served our customers"

"ah, what is it? your mother's experince will help you for sure"

"thank you mother. hm, the customer wanted their bread larger and more filling without change the price. I simply don't have a solution for that problem"

"ah, that's must be Lonphi and her daughter"

"hm, so you know them. Is this a regular demand from the customer?"

"you can say that. So, what do you do? to solve their demand my son?"

"i gave them a regular bread. I didn't know what to do"

"ahaha, that's needed some tricks for it"

Tyan walked towards the bread and filling location.

Arva followed his mother and observed what his mother was doing. He saw his mother was softly pressing the bread, and she's looking towards his direction.

"listen my son, by pressing the bread before put it in the steam baked ACE, the bread will expand when it get steam or baked. That's how the dough will respond"

"hm, i see. That surely will make the bread larger.. but how about its quality mother? won't it decrease the quality?"

"-smile- yes you're right. It will make the texture less chewy or too crispy, but overall it's still okay"

"hm, the demand is getting fulfilled, and the quality only decrease for a little bit" Arva nodded

"and about the filling, just fill the bread before you put it in the steam baked ACE. So you don't have to set the ACE again"

"hm, so that's how it works"

"so, do you get how to handle our customers's demand?"

"more or less mother. So we approach the customer's demand by doing some customization instead directly fulfilled it?"

"yes my son. We are doing business here, so we must look for a win-win solution"

"understood. I will remember this" Arva nodded

"ah, i called you for lunch break my son. It's already the time"

"hm, it's already 1:00 PM. I didn't realize it"

"i've never see you're so dedicated with our shop till you forgot the lunch break"

"yes mother, i'm trying to solve those problem, and i forgot to check the time"

"go then, i'm already prepared your lunch in the kitchen"

"hm, thank you mother. I'll do it"

Arva left the stall and walked towards the kitchen.

He was seeing a plate with several oval slim breads on it. He was also seeing a bowl full of tannas with a fresh red spicy sauce on top of it.

There's also a plate with mixed vegetables with mayonnaise and honey as its dressing.

Arva sat and stared at the foods on the table.

"hm, Nanika. Is this main section? or still at the appetizer section?"

There's no reply from Nanika. But of course, she even wasn't there with him.

"hm, Nanika isn't here. Look likes i still need some time to make adjustment with my current condition"

Arva decided to eat the foods without thinking about which section, or other manners that usually he did in his mansion.

When he ate the tannas with the oval bread, they gave a soft and spicy sensation in his mouth. The mixed vegetables also gave fresh and sweet taste when he ate it.

"hm, this lunch is felt so fresh. The way they served are far simplier than foods in the mansion, yet the taste is equally great." Arva enjoyed his lunch

-diiinn-

A calling sound could be heard from his SAI.

"hm, that must be from Abhin" Arva answered the call

"hey Arva!! how's your condition? sorry, i'm not calling you earlier, i need to.... wait? what're you doing right now?"

"hm, i'm still eating my lunch Abhin. No problem, my condition is okay now"

"...that's....good to hear.... Arva, it's just my feeling or you super enjoyed your lunch in Halym's body and house right now?"

"yes Abhin. This lunch is giving me a great taste combination. It gaves a spicy and fresh taste at the same time. Hm, i'm kinda confused tho because i don't know how the lunch section in this house works"

"section?! mother of origin, there's no such a thing like section in the lower city Arva. In fact, only the seven great family and several rich people who have something like that"

"hm, got it. I'll remember that"

"that's not what i want to comment right now, but whatever. Arva i want to tell you something"

"hm, i'm listening"

"when i'm taking care of my master's preparation to the Vishuddha family party tonight, i'm seeing your name in the guest list. That must be Halym's doing"

"..."

"Arva? are you listening to me?"

"hm, sorry Abhin, I need to drink after finished my lunch"

"seriously Arva..... why are you looked more relaxed than in your own mansion?"

"maybe because this is Halym's body? hm, i don't think i need to find the reason"

"you need to Arva! geezz.... Mr super simple Arva sahasrara..."

"so, you said my name is in the guest list? hm, i don't think that will be a problem"

"really? i thought this is kinda a big deal for you. I mean, you've never come to the party like this right?"

"you're right Abhin, but i did that for my principle. So if Halym want to do it, i don't mind it"

"that's it? that's your body Arva. Don't you think you're breaking your own principle when Halym go to the party using your body?"

"hm, i think not" Arva replied it immediately

"i.....don't wanna waste my time to argument with you, so i can make a conclusion that this is not a problem for you. Ok then"

"hm, thank you for the information Abhin"

"-sigh- no problem Arva. I'll call Halym after this then. Need to check that kid's condition too right?"

"hm, about that.."

"what? what's wrong Arva?"

"this morning i had a fight with some thugs at the clinic. Turns out one of them is a fighter. He made me flying by his gear's attack"

"you what?!

"hm, several men are harassing doctor and Raninta, so i thought i must help them"

"what?! do you know who they are?! i'll give them a lesson! to think they harass sist.... i mean doctor and Raninta!"

"from what i had heard they are Bhoren's men"

"...Bhoren? you sure about that Arva?"

"hm, doctor told me" Arva nodded

"-kggghh- this is gonna be complicated.. I'll come to your place tomorrow Arva. Let's talk about it later"

"hm, got it. I need to discuss something with you too Abhin"

"ok then, take care" Abhin ended his call

Arva took care of the plates and went back to the shop to check his mother's condition.

He's seeing his mother sat there and looking to the street with not so focused eyes.

"mother, are you okay?"

"ah, it's nothing my son. Are you already done with your lunch break?"

"yes mother. Is there any problem?"

"-sigh- i'm just glad that your late grandmother's recipe can help us to run this shop"

"hm, based on the customer's quantity, our shop is quite famous"

"ahaha, don't you remember when the first time you try our filling bread? you said it was really good and you can eat it all day" Tyan made a small laugh sound

"hm, then there's no wonder a lot of customers come to our shop"

"....are you okay my son?"

"hm? why are you asking that mother? i'm fine"

"Raninta told me that you've get hurt because you're protecting them at the clinic. I wanted to stop you when you're saying that you want to take care our shop today... but i've never saw you really want to do it, just like earlier"

Tyan showed a worried expression.

"it's okay mother. Doctor already checked me and there's no problem"

"-fiuhh- i'm always saying to avoid any dangerous situation"

"hm, i'm sorry mo..."

-grab- Tyan hugged Arva.

He could feel his mother body is trembling a little. With a weak voice, Tyan said something to him.

"ple..ase take care my son...you are the only one i have now.." her voice was almost like crying

".....hm, i'll remember that mother"

Arva got a strange feeling, In his old body, no one needed to worry about his safety, but now he must took extra attention to his condition. Or, his mother would worry again like this time.

He slightly remembered this kind of feeling when he was a child, back when his mother was still alive.

Tyan was taking one step back and looking Arva.

"but...i don't know that my son is a brave man like that. -smile- i think i don't know my son really well"

"hm, i'm just doing something that must be done mother. That's it"

"ahaha, is that so?" Tyan sat near the stall

"i'm happy though. We rarely speak like this right?"

"...."

"-cough- you can closed our shop today my son. I think that enough for today"

"yes mother. You should go back to your room and take rest"

"yes, i think i will do that. Thank you for taking care me and our shop my son"

"no need for that mother"

Arva helped Tyan to go back to her room, and closed their shop.

The street was quite calm, only few of people that were crossing it.

Arva sat and looked around his surrounding. In his old body, he will never have time to sit and relax like this.

Every hour was counted. Training, sparring, handling his family business, and many activity were on his list. So this kind of situation was totally strange for him.

"hm, there's not much that i can do. Why Halym's voice in my head always mumble about his life then? he got this much of spare time. Doesn't he?"

Starting from 8 y.o, Arva already did training and dedicated himself in energy and fighter's thing.

He was natural born fighter and having perfect energy's control too. So he just did what he was good at.

The problem now, what did he must do when he didn't need to pratice or fight?. Arva never had a spare time, and he never did something outside the energy and fighting business.

That meant he didn't have a hobby, and this spare time was confusing him.

"hm. only sitting here would be wasting time. Maybe take a walk will help me to know better about this city's layout"

Arva realized that he almost knew nothing about his house and its surrounding. So using his time by walking around would be really helpful to his current condition.

But when he was about to get ready to walk, he heard some noises from the cross small road near his house.

-hosh hosh- "crap, how the hell he knows i'm stealing this ACE" a girl's mumbling voice could be heard

"whoop, turn left here.."

Arva was seeing a a girl wearing hat and wore simple yellow shirt with a black short pant. That girl had bright yellow hair and looks like she brought something with her.

Just in a few seconds, she was already gone form Arva's sight.

"hm, her energy's flow kinda fast. She must be panic or in trouble"

"YOU LITTLE BRAT!! just wait till i catch you!!"

A loud man's voice was coming from the cross road too.

"-kgghh- i've lost her... where's she running..."

The man was looking his surrounding, and getting his eyes on Arva. Arva also looked towards him.

"you....."

"hm, you're from this morning. Forgive me for giving you pain at that time"

Arva's expression didn't match with his words.

"hahahaha, PAIN you say?! hah!" He walked closer to Arva's direction

"KID, so you really don't know who you're dealing with huh?" Jaron stood in front of Arva

"hm, it's true that i don't know your name sir" Arva nodded

"heh, tough kid. It's Jaron, you better remember it"

"hm, understood sir Jaron"

"sir.... what the.... ARRGH! i've just remembered something more important!! do you see a little brat running through here?! you're better not lying kid"

Jaron was trying to intimidate Arva.

"hm, if you mean a girl with hat and yellow shirt while bringing ACE with her, she is running to the north from here"

"yes! that's her!! mother of origin.....i must get her -kggh-"

Jaron quickly ran towards north, but he stopped for a while and looked to Arva's direction.

"oi kid! remember to run when you see us on the street"

Jaron smirked and ran to chase the girl.

Arva's just standing there until Jaron's lost from his sight. A few seconds later, he realized that he maybe knew something about Bhoren.

"hm, he's my only lead for now. Mother of origin give me this chance, i won't fail her"

Arva strecthed a little.

He was focusing his solar plexus, sacral, and root energy sources and flowing his body's energy flow to his lower body. Blue light was starting to glow in his feet, but..

-dzeet-

A spark pain in his left leg indicates that it was contradicting with his energy.

"hm, i forgot about this left leg's problem. Looks like the only option is just using my right leg"

Arva's changing his energy flow, and focusing it to his right leg. He's taking a stance and...

-buum-

He blasted the ground, and flew really fast to the front. This was the same method that he used when he carried Halym to the clinic back then.

One blast, two blast, three blast, Arva's really fast, and even catching up with Jaron.

Jaron didn't see that coming and he was really confused.

"what the....the hell are you doing kid?!!"

"hm, i want to ask you something sir Jaron"

Arva approached him with high speed.

"HAH! i don't have time for that! i must catch that little brat!!"

"hm, feel free to do that sir. I'll follow you from behind"

"-kggh- whatever kid" Jaron was accelerating his pace

Jaron suddenly got an idea, and he shouted to Arva.

"hei kid!! if you can catch that little brat, i'll answer all of your question! how's about that huh?!"

"hm, no problem sir. That's a very rational suggestion, i agree"

-buum-

Arva was adding his energy output and passing Jaron easily. One blast, two blast, Arva's leaving Jaron far behind him, yet he didn't see any sign from that girl.

He arrived at the cross junction. Arva stopped, and looked around. With his ability to see energy, He could track that girl's energy by seeing all the energy around him.

The energy would make some reactions when it made contact with its surrounding.

"hm, there's no significant changing in this street.. neither this one. That girl is running straight to this direction then"

Arva was focusing his energy flow again and

-buum-

He was chasing the girl with incredible speed.

"-fiuuh- I think that old face is losing my track. This should be far enou..."

-buum-

A quite loud voice was coming from behind her.

"what the..... huh? a boy? that's not a rocket?!"

Arva was constantly getting closer to the girl, while she was running faster.

"hooi! why are you coming this way! wuaaa" The girl kept running

"hm, please stop. Sir Jaron want to catch you"

"haah?! sir Jaron?! sir?!! buahahaha -cough-. Crap, I shouldn't laugh while running"

"would you stop miss?"

Arva already right behind her and he stretched his right hand to reach her.

"crap, he will get me..."

The girl was still running at her best and...

-brugh-

A loud impact voice was coming from behind her. She stopped and turned around to find out.

"wh...hey, are you okay?"

She was seeing the boy who chased her a few second ago was lying on the ground, and his face was facing the ground.

"hmmmm, that's must be really hurt"

-shruug-

Arva stood and found that his nose was bleeding and he brushed it.

"hm, no problem, i miscalculated this body's energy capacity"

"is that so... ok then, bye!"

The girl continued to run away again. Arva tried to focus his energy again, but there's no response.

"hm, i forgot. Already using all my energy output"

Arva tried to chase the girl, but his body felt so heavy due to the exhausted condition.

His left leg also giving him a spark pain every 10-15 steps. He would never catch up with her in this state, so he tried to think what would stop that girl.

"wait miss. You will get nothing by stealing that ACE"

"like I will wait for you..... wait, what?" She stopped

"-hosh- hm, you won't get any en by selling that ACE"

"really? this look expensive. How do i know you didn't try to deceive me?"

The girl was looking at him with a doubt expression.

"hm, that ACE is having a special circuit that only recognize the registered energy in the circuit"

"errrr, circuit, what?"

"you want to sell it to the runner, don't you?"

(*runner = a group of people that selling a stolen or illegal ACE by modifying them)

"yeah.....like there's another option other than the runner"

"hm, that's why you won't get any en by selling that ACE. That special circuit is really hard to be modified, and before it does, you will get caught by the Shield or Sword officer"

(*Shield is lower city guard and Sword is upper city guard)

"seriously?! hah! i've never see that runner has some problem in modifiyng all that stolen ACE"

"hm, that's because this is special ACE from the seven great family"

"wow, if that's true then this gonna give me a lot of en!! bye then! i must sell this ACE!!"

The girl turned back and started to run again.

"seems she doesn't listen to my explanation. Hm, i can't chase her with my current condition"

Arva stood there and saw the girl starting to get far away from him. But Jaron voice could be heard from behind, and he's running with all of his might.

"WAIT FOR ME YOU LITTLE BRAT!!"

Jaron enchanced his body with his energy, so his speed was increasing significantly. He was passing Arva and in a few second the girl voice could be heard.

"let me go you old face!!!! -kggh- this is none of your business!!"

Arva walked slowly to their direction, His body was not recovered yet from the accident and Banri's punch, and now he used all his energy.

Anyone except Arva would be faint right now, but his mental was really strong. That's what actually makes him superior. It's because the strong and simplicity of Arva's mind and mental.

"oi Mahra, seriously. That's my client ACE, i'll definitely get killed if i don't bring that ACE back"

"yeah, whatever. Just... let go.. uggh"

Mahra struggled to get out from Jaron's grasp.

"kid!! you're really helping by buying time back there. Hahaha"

"hm, so you will answer my question sir Jaron?"

"yeah, don't worry. But not now kid. I must bring this back first"

Jaron took the stolen ACE from Mahra, and he was walking to the south, to go back to where his client was.

Mahra was really angry, but she couldn't take that ACE by force from Jaron.

"gaaah!!! this is your fault!! if you not stop me, i would have been arrived in the runner place!" Mahra was mumbling

"hm, like i said. You won't get any en from that ACE. No one want to take risk to do that"

"geez, you won't know if you're not tried it"

"tried something that is already done by someone? hm, that's futile"

"-kgggh- whatever!..... well, i'm kinda dropped it on my way here, so maybe that's gonna be useless after all. -sigh- what a day"

"what did you say miss?"

"miss?!!! call me Mahra, you, rocket boy! don't ever call me miss again. Uwaaa, my whole body is shivering because of that"

"got it then Mahra. What did you say?"

"wait, you're not telling me your name"

"hm, i'm Halym"

"Halym? ok then. Errrrr, i said i've dropped that ACE on my way here"

Arva was silent for a while. Mahra just stood there and looked at him.

"what? what's wrong?"

"if that's true, then sir Jaron most likely will be killed by his client"

"WHAAT? really? then we must tell that old face!!"

Mahra ran immediately towards Jaron's direction, while Arva stood there.

"hm, she is really remind me about Kerly"

Arva nodded and followed Mahra.

-----(chapter 6 "who are you?")-----