AN: I am a hard procrastinator (still true-2/9/26 and I use DD/MM/YY) if you look at my upload schedule, but my new year's resolution of 2026 is(was) to upload at least thrice a week. So I hope- no I want to believe in myself that I will stay true to myself (...what do you want me to say?), I mean I just have to work every day for 30 days by that time it will become a habit to follow a stable upload schedule. (Spoiler alert: I failed)
AN: The old ch "9" was posted on 26/12/2025. Just so you guys know the old ch 9 is 3800 words long (and it is not the longest ch I have.) so I broke it in half. (Why? Because the current meta demands 1500 to 2500 words ch.)
This novel is also officially uploaded on Scribblehub and Webnovels.
---
Three of us sat silently, well except for kid Brian, who pointed directions to his house. Which was barely a 5 minutes' walk from the playground, leaving no time for small talk.
An old decrepit building, which looked even worse than the building I lived—no survived in. He shuffled out of the car, walking towards the entrance, turning around, he bowed slightly before heading inside.
We also started to head back. As minutes go by in silence, Brian asked in measured tone, "He's a nice kid, ain't he?"
I dwelt on kid Brian's reaction, but nodded in agreement.
"Arwin, you do understand that I already knew why you wanted me to escort the kid right?"
"Yes, so he could go home safely."
Brian turned towards me with a raised eyebrow.
Sigh
"Yeah, its cause I wanted to go home early."
"And?"
"And, to not deal with those... barfbags."
"Barfbags? Kiddo you really have a colorful way to portray others. I want you to understand that its not about the number, but rather how close you are with each of them."
"You want me to have comrades."
"Brothers—I want you to have friends who are like brothers, shitty and annoying but would pull you out of any shithole you might find yourself in." he winced at his slip of tongue.
I nodded understandingly, and gazed at the passing by buildings.
"You do understand what I am talking about, yeah?"
"Hm.", I nodded again agreement, staring off in the distance.
"Then tell me what do you understand? And how would you go around making brother not of blood but bond."
Annoyance bubbled inside me, I had only nodded along but now I had to give a proper answer. Pushing my emotions down, I contemplated on the question before responding.
"I... uh... hah. Before becoming friends with anyone you spend time getting to know them better, and help them whenever you can. If they are going through bad time in their life and you stick around and be there for them.", I continued feeling more confident, "Then they would feel indebted to you and help you in your worst time. That's how you make brothers." I said, with a smug smile at figuring out the perfect answer.
"That's a good answer.", he replied, he slowed down the car as he parked it and he turned towards me, his eyes boring into mine.
"But that's the most textbook-style answer I have ever heard. There is no one correct answer to that question. You are a smart kid trust me on that, scarily smart for someone your age, but you think with your brain too much."
"Brian, I gave you the most logical answer and you said that this question doesn't have just one right answer."
"No, Arwin you are correct, but also incorrect—at least to me."
"There is no three-step plan to forming a brotherly bond or how to make friends in two minutes or any other guide. Kid, they are not rules that you have to follow, they are just Tips! Tips on making friends, Tips on being a good person and so on and so forth.", he continued.
"It has always been simple, be there for them."
"Be there for them?" I repeated with confusion.
"Yes, be there for them for all the highs and lows of life. Then you won't need to guess with your mind because by that time, you will be surrounded by them. You are logically smart for kid, but you rely on it too much and not enough on your heart."
I solemnly nod, "I understand."
He replied with a smirk, "No, you don't understand Arwin. You have to feel it, feel with your heart." as he makes a grasping hand movement over his chest.
And just like that, the moment evaporated, I gave him a flat look for his comedic hand gesture and face expressions. "Okay." I opened the door to get away from the vehicle and its weird owner, as I heard a laughter coming from inside.
My lips curled into a small smirk before fading, as he walked up to me with a chuckle.
As waited in the elevator together, "So what do you say? Wanna visit the playground next time as well?"
I nodded in agreement.
"4 days a week."
"Twice a week." came my rapid reply.
"Twice it is then."
Walking towards the door, we heard the muffled sound of news anchor coming from inside. Both of us looked each other in the eye, as I gestured for him to ring the newly fixed door bell.
***
I looked at my tablet, learning A- programming language, one of the programming languages this world has created to work more efficiently with A.I. Though it would be too complex for an average tenth grader to grasp, I found it considerably less difficult not easy, but manageable. I just needed to understand each concept without forgetting it while learning the next one.
I felt a presence sit beside me, but I ignored it in favor for finding the issues in the given source code. Which was how this programming puzzle worked. It presented A.I.-generated source code filled with errors ranging from syntax and logic error to semantic errors. My task was to find them and determine which ones were actual errors and which were false positives, all within a given time limit.
Some issues wouldn't affect the code and could be left as it is, while others required immediate attention and had to be prioritized. This exercise hammered in the theoretical concepts and also taught me the importance of prioritization.
"So what game is that?", the presence asked.
I finished examining the current function, searching for any error or mistype in the code before replying, "It's program solving puzzle."
Brian nodded before asking, "So how much time will you take? Its evening now."
"What? evening?!" I asked with surprise, "Axel, what time is it?"
"It is currently 4:24pm. 36 minutes to 5 pm." came his monotonous reply.
I gazed angrily at Brian for breaking my flow, but then I simply sighed tiredly. 'Hah, this level was harder than I thought. There are so many lines to go through, that it's giving me migraines. Welp, I guess I could just complete it when I come back.'
"So, what are you working? I've been seeing you play that game for months now," he asked, unfazed by my outburst.
"Programming puzzle." I replied insistently, "And I am not playing a game, I am learning. Currently I'm learning how to modify a better and less monotonous voice language model for Axel. He sounds too dull."
"It's a robot, what do you think it is supposed to sound like?" he said while looking at Axel making lunch in the kitchen.
"Android.", I corrected him, "But either way, he is my android and he sounds too dull."
"He?", Brian asked.
I ignored him in favor of looking at the code. I eventually closed the puzzle, but not before saving the current progress.
sigh
"Well, let me eat something before we go."
He nodded, "You do know that making any personal modification to a robot will bring the company employees to this house."
"What?", I asked incredulously.
He looked at Axel with interest, before turning to me, "Oh yeah, you didn't know?"
"How would I kn—no, I should have known."
"Oh, and why is that?" he asked, genuinely interested in my reasoning.
"If anyone could modify their androids without repercussion, then terrorists would have been the first ones to do it. Making suicide bombers, except the part where the 'suicider' is an unfeeling robot." came my reply with tone growing increasingly tired. Not only had I spent few months learning how to modify Axel, but the very thought of was I allowed to do it? had escaped my mind.
'If I knew, no if only had I checked before committing to this. I could have saved myself a lot of time.'
"Well I do know a guy who could change the language model for Axel. If you want I could ask him, and it would only take few minutes of work."
I glanced at Brian, then back at Axel, "No, it's a useless expense. I was just working on it as a side project."
"Why are you worried about the expense? Kiddo." he responded while smacking my back. "And that guy owes me a favor or two. And it's not all that bad you know, you work-"
"Yes, I know. I learned something new, even if I couldn't put it to use. I will still have the knowledge."
He smirked at my interruption but said nothing. I began eating my lunch which consisted of boiled chicken with salted veggies. I had finally decided to start working out, which was very young for my age but it only involved walking, doing few stretches for flexibility and hanging from a pull up bar for children. But most of my time was spent getting to know kid Brian and being friends with him.
It had been four months since we first met, and while he currently didn't stutter as much as he used to, it still took him time to get used to my presence. On the other hand, he pretty much knew every path from the playground to his home, from different alleyways, to places one could hide in. On surface level, it could have been because of bullies, but after getting to know him, I suspected that he just loved exploring new places and was curious by nature.
I got up after finishing my lunch and saw Brian checking something on his phone with a steely expression, his face tensed up many times before relaxing. As I waited for him.
I checked the window for any signs of snowfall. My first time experiencing snowfall gave me a weird feeling, although it didn't felt any different from a normal snowfall.
I knew for a fact that this was a magical world, as I had seen magic either in the hospital or that magical contract, and that I was an outsider. But it still felt like everything about my past life was a lie, like it was something I had cooked up as a baby to deal with boredom. People went on their lives, children with well-off parents going to school.
But I only needed to turn on the TV and watch the news for the proof that my previous life was not something I had daydreamed up as a young baby.
My pondering was interrupted as Brian shook me, "Excited to meet your little buddy?"
"Brian is a friend, Brian." I quipped at his attempts to tease me.
Shaking his head, he said, "Brian is your friend, not a friend. Wording Arwin."
I ignored him and went for the door. As we got out and went down the building in elevator before getting into his car. "Let's go get your friend, and I will take both of you to meet my friend."
I looked at him with an eyebrow raised, "You have a friend?"
With a mock expression of hurt, he replied "Ah kid, you are bullying this old man."
"You are not an old man; you are barely in your 40s. Early 50s? Nah, don't change the topic. You never speak about what you do in detail and I have never seen you with a friend, not even 'friends' with an 's'."
Brian's expression hardened at the mention of him looking older than he actually was.
"I told you about the guy who owes me favor, right? Well, we are going to meet him."
"Wait, we are going to meet him today? How would he know which language model will work for Axel. Wh-"
"You were working on modifying Axel's language model. I'm pretty sure you know the specs Axel has, don't you?" he asked, with an assuredness in his voice.
"Yeah," I admitted in defeat.
He parked his car outside the playground and gestured me to bring kid Brian who was sitting on the metal swing waiting for me. Getting out, I walked towards kid Brian. Halfway there, I just gestured for him to get up and walk towards me, which he promptly did.
"Hi! Arwin, how ar-"
"Brian you free right now, right?"
He nodded at my question.
"Great, my uncle is taking me to meet his friend. He invited you as well."
Like a deer in front of a headlight he froze up before turning to Brian's car and then back at me, "I-I can't g-go you kno-know. If m-my mother k-knew s-she would kill m-"
"Aw come on, it's not like she is here. We will be back in a jiffy, we are just going to visit not stay for a night you know."
A loud voice came from Brian, "Come on kids, we gotta go. Time waits for no one."
I gestured for him to come, "It's okay if you don't wanna go, we can just give you a ride home back."
He seriously contemplated it before shaking his head, "No-o, I will come wi-with you."
We both walked up to the car, as I made a mental note of kid Brian's expression whenever I mention his home. At first, I did try to dig up about his family. But his mouth was shut sealed like flex tape, he never mentioned anything bad about his home; rather he mentioned absolutely nothing. From that, I could make a simple guess that his situation was also as bad as mine, but it was a useful rope to pull on whenever he disagreed.
As we travelled, I saw new neighborhoods. Whenever Brian took me out, we would travel though the same common route, with shops and restaurants open, vehicles travelling on the road.
I had gotten used to seeing streets filled with people. Now, it felt alien seeing so few people walking the streets.
But this street felt different, people walking didn't look like office workers. While it was normal to see graffiti on at least one in five buildings. But here? Every building was covered in graffiti art. As we travelled deeper, buildings started becoming mismatched in height.
'Man, Brian's friend lives in a difficult area to buy groceries from.', was the only thing I could think of.