After a few minutes, the man returned with what he assumed was the manager and another plump man who wore some very old-looking glasses.

  They asked him to perform the same ritual as he had a few minutes before but with the same outcome.

  "Somethin's supposed to happen when I put my hand on the plate right?"

  "You are quite right, sir."

  "Why isn't something happening?"

  "This man is here to help us find out." Sir Zephyr pointed and motioned for the man in glasses to step forward.

  "To make the long story short young man, something is blocking your arclight flow. I can search your body to discover that blockage if it is alright with you."

  -Ah. I get it. It's one of those ‘can’t get a reading because his numbers are off-the-charts' situations.

  "Please sir, let me take your hand."

  "Little bit of a strange gesture, but not super uncomfortable. Just letting you know, I for one do not swing that way."

  "No one said you did."

  "I know, I just thought I'd let you know."

  The man took his hand, placed a yellow stone over top of it and mumbled some words that Touji failed to catch with eyes closed.

  "Sir, is it normal to do these magic tests on people my age?"

  "No. We start a lot younger. The younger you know your attributes, the more time you have to study and perfect them." Zephyr replied.

  "Huh, interesting." Touji sat back in thought.

  "What on earth?' The man with glasses exclaimed.

  -Here it comes!

  He took the stone off from Touji's hand and placed it over the boys chest. The man's eyebrows began to sink violently.

  "This boy should be dead!"

  Touji’s growing sense of pride had abruptly been cut short.

  "Eh?! Excuse me." He was just a little bit confused by this unfortunate diagnosis.

  "Sir, what do you mean? Have you tried the other attributes?" Zephyr inquired.

  The plump man wiped his brow as he pulled out multiple other stones from his gown and tested them in the same manner as the first.

  "I don't understand... This boy doesn't have a blockage. He doesn't have arclight, to begin with. Absolutely none. He's a walking corpse."

  "Now listen here, manager. I don’t mean to be a Karen. I know I look like a nut job, but please explain to me in layman's terms how I can be sitting here talking to you and you have concluded that I'm dead. It’s not like it’s my life force or anything."

  "Sir, arclight is the sign that you have a soul. That you are living, without any traces you simply cannot be alive. It’s about as crucial as the air you breath. But you have none. Which means you’re dead. You can't live without arclight flow. Unless..."

  "Oh! Hence it's called life force in simple terms. Well, maybe you should change it to life insurance because I am still very much alive and kicking as you might have noticed."

  "There must be a mistake," Zephyr interjected. "Try again."

  "I will. I don't believe it myself."

  The doctor took him by the hand once more and prepared to cast another spell. They all waited in silence, anxious for a response.

  "Yes, sir." The man said with his eyes still closed. "My initial assessment is not untrue. You are not currently producing any arclight."

  "Can you find any other clues?" The Zephyr asked.

  "I'll try. Let me dig deeper." The man's eyebrows twitched together in concentration.

  There was a loud bang. The doctor lay on the floor with a look of utter terror.

  "What the hell are you?"

  "Human. You've got a problem?" Touji quickly responded, a little shocked.

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  "Boy, please leave. You're-no it can't be. Get out! Inspector, escort him out and make a report."

  The doctor fell over and coughed violently. He tried to stand up but his legs wouldn't hold his weight. Touji was quickly removed from the room and was hurriedly checked out of the building's entrance.

  "That was scary. Don't know what those people’s problems were but man, they were kinda rude."

  He put his hands into his hoodie pockets. The money was still there.

  -I guess it's a little late to give it to them. Besides, they didn’t do anything but tell me I was dead. Classic healthcare system. Some things don’t change even in a different world. What should I do?

  The candy shop he had passed on the way there caught his eye. He decided that he would stop in for something sweet. As he stepped inside, a girl standing at the counter beckoned him over to the wooden counter. Her hair was a dark purple and was quite long, reaching down, passed her waist. She wore the customary sleeveless maid dress and her hair was clipped with two red hairpins above each ear.

  "Welcome sir-I mean-master. How may I help you?"

  "Do you guys sell any-you probably don't, but is there. . .?” His eyes searched the stalls of sweets.

  -Wow, those look like Wagashi. Damn. Imma get me some of those.

  "Please, my beautiful maid. May I get some of those handsome treats over there?"

  -Holy shit, now that I get a better look, this girl is actually pretty as hell. Flipping well endowed if I should say so myself. Damn you another world. Taking all the good stuff and keeping it to yourself.

  "Um-sure. What Flavor would you prefer.”

  He lowered his head to below the counter where the sweets sat on display and slipped his eyes across the many different colored delectables.

  “Excuse me sir," The waitress asked in a curious manner, "Where did you get those clothes from?”

  “Hoh. You noticed, huh? Aren’t you curious about me?” He pointed to one particular stack of the otherworldly wagashi. He was met with a slight glare of disappointment as the girl perceived the colors he had chosen.

  “You don't have any shame for buying pink sweets. You are a boy am I correct?"

  "Why missus gorgeous. I'll take purple if you want."

  "Was that a first attempt at hitting on a girl?" She said in a distasteful tone.

  He ignored the insinuated that he 'got no bitches' and continued on with his ill discussion. "Hate to break it to you, but I've got a redhead- actually pink head back home. Don't have room for a purple head. But thanks for the offer though."

  "I haven't offered you any such thing." She lashed out, visibly riled up at the suggestion.

  "But you said I could pick one."

  "Okay, shut up and take your stupid pink sweets." And with that, she marched off into the back of the store, out of site from the till.

  -Maybe I went a liiiiiittle too far. Just a little. Sweet talking was never my specialty.

  Another maid approached the counter, except this time with yellow hair. Maid hat and all. The diversity in the human race of this world was quite the spectacle, a trait that could, at least to some, be considered the ultimate cosplay, although this was more of an anomaly in the eyes of Touji himself.

  "I'm sorry, sir." the replacement waitress apologized in her co-workers stead. "She can be like that sometimes. She's a new recruit here and doesn't really take to the idea of being cordial. Don't think too much of it."

  "You don't have to worry. I said some pretty out of character things."

  He handed the girl the money and she placed it in a drawer under the counter.

  "Can I ask a quick question?"

  "Go right ahead."

  He began to stare rather rudely, his eyes half closed as if he was being tricked. "How normal is this whole maid thing? Is it like nobility, type shit? Or does every cafe house this sort of service?"

  "They are indeed quite a normal occurrence though our outfits do change. Are you new here?"

  "Ye, sorta."

  "Will you be here long?"

  "Would you like me to stay?" He grinned while throwing her a double thumbs up.

  "If we can get your service..."

  "It seems quant enough. Seems like I can make enemies here within seconds so I'm supposing we can be friends just as fast."

  She continued to smile and not respond.

  "Are there like other services here? Like I'm curious is this like a part-time job?"

  "Are... are you going to buy me?" The smile persisted but her eyes suddenly turned dead as if her soul had abruptly been sucked out.

  "I can do that?!!! Oh, shit no. That's not what I meant. Great, lovely... um... I meant like, is this place just a sweet shop?"

  There was no sound but he could see her softly exhale and her shoulders soften. "No we just sell sweets." All of a sudden her smile became genuine.

  "See? That's how a smile should look. Now work hard to make that bank and I'll definitely come back for sure."

  "Thank you for your kind words." She bowed. "My name is Chelcia."

  "Touji. First name bases. I'm cool with that."

  She giggled, amused at his awfully peculiar behavior. "No disrespect, but you are a very strange person."

  "I personally thought I was pretty fine but okay. By the way, the other girl with the purple hair, give her a compliment for me will ya? She seems in need of one. Tell her I think the purple hair is superior to pink."

  -I'm not cheating. I promise.

  "I'm sure she'd be happy to hear that." She chuckled again. "By the way master, she made those items herself. They're her creations. You’re the first person to have bought them."

  Touji paused at this slip of information as it felt important for some reason, but as nothing particularly came to mind he focused more on keeping good ties with the company as future trade was now on the to-do list. "Well, tell her I'm sorry for being an ass."

  "Thank you for visiting and please come again." The waitress waved back after handing him the bag of goods he had requested.

  Touji returned the gesture and left the store. As he proceeded down the open road he slipped his hand into the paper bag and began helping himself to the days spoils. They were delicious. Not too sweet and not too bland. The flavors weren't anything extravagant and he had tasted better wagashi in Japan of course, but this was quite good taking into account the setting.

  -Damn that Odja. Not telling me this world had cat girls! Shame on you.

  He slipped a sweet into his mouth.

  I wonder. If I insulted someone’s hair color, how badly would they take it? I should probably be careful in case it's something similar to insulting their mother.

  He popped another wagashi into his mouth.

  "The thing that I find strange is the similarities of my world and this. For instance, language and writing are the same. And some of the food items seem oddly similar." He stuffed three more wagashi into his mouth. "I should probably have ordered tea with this." As he said this some kids and a dog ran by, knocking the bag of sweats from his hands and leaving them to sprawl over the muddy ground.

  “The tea god must be angry.”