“He seems a bit out of it.” Urulu poked a clawed finger at the liquid fur of the cat.

“Did you forget? That’s normal. I’m happy he isn’t fainting.”

“What should we do in this situation again?” Visible worry appeared in the beady black eyes of the plague-doctor mask. He - it? they? - looked genuinely concerned. 

“Wait, leave it to me.” Areus cleared his throat. Then he laughed loudly. “Sike! … I think that was what it was… Humans change their commonly used words so often...”

“Eh?” Fel snapped out of it, looking at the cat.

“Welcome to the game!”, Areus shouted. “Can you survive with spirits and monsters? Can you fulfil all the conditions and do your work correctly? I’m your host, Areus, the robot cat! Did I surprise you?”

Somewhere inside his head, Fel knew that the cat was talking nonsense. However, the greater part of his mind that desperately wanted to hold onto some kind of reasonable explanation jumped on it. Anything that did not involve monster cats and walking costumes. Relief flooded through his body.

“A… game show?”

“Yes! And you passed the initial test! You did your work without breaking the rules! With that, you are now officially invited to play this game and win… win… this mansion! As well as… money! A lot!” There were two suspicious pauses in the speech. Along with Areus wildly looking around and his whiskers twitching uncertainly, it was clear he was making things up on the spot.

Fel looked over to Urulu, who awkwardly pointed at himself. At least it looked awkward. There wasn't too much expression to be seen on a beak and a pair of eyes. “Oh, this is… a mask made with the newest technology…?”

Fel could have tried to pull on the beak. He didn’t. He nodded, feeling the tension fall of his shoulders. Sometimes, it was easier to believe an unlikely but normal lie than a shocking truth. He was very willing to accept another explanation for now. “Oh. So that’s how it is. How did I land in this mess?”

“Ahaha, your grandfather was the last owner of the building. You see, uhm, it can only be passed on to you but it can’t be directly inherited so you need to win it again. Like, a test to make sure you are worthy of owning it...?”

It had been his grandfather’s. That was reason enough why Fel wanted it. No matter what, he wanted the only thing his grandfather had left him behind.

“So what’s my task? How do I win?”, Fel asked, his brain fully focusing on the explanation of it being a gameshow. Hey, they had a talking robot cat. He wasn't going to wonder where the cameras were or that this concept would be completely illegal and stopped the moment he fainted.

“You have to be here every Friday and Saturday night to welcome the guests. Your most important thing is acting as the host of this place. The rest of the week, you can do whatever you want.”

“How long do I have to do that?”, Fel asked with a frown. It was over the weekend, sure, but he also had a job. It would tire him out a lot. He needed to drive here and work over night, despite him already being drained from his usual job. This was acceptable once or twice, but not on the long run.

“Uh…” Areus averted his eyes. “... Anyway, there is a way to stop the game and get the house.”

Why did he feel like the answer would have been ‘forever’?

… Ah, no no no. It was a gameshow. Maybe they simply didn’t know how many episodes they wanted. Yes. That was what it was.

“Areus, really?”, Urulu whispered, his beak looking troubled. “Do you think it would work out?”

“Shh.”

“... What way?” The only human in the room felt a chill run down his spine. He warily pulled up his shoulders and stared at the cat-thing.

“You simply have to convince the Gatekeeper to take over the job for you! It’s… like a mystery, finding the correct way to get him to do what you want.” Areus’ tail flicked around wildly.

“Convince the Gatekeeper?” Why did it sound like an endboss?

“All this play aside, Areus. You really want him to try and get the Gatekeeper back? Really? You know that guy’s temper!” Ignoring Fel, Urulu turned to Areus.

Gods, it was an endboss.

The cat’s tail moved to curl around his paws. “I’ve got a good feeling about it, don’t worry! He might be able to convince him, seriously.”

“I can’t imagine that grumpy guy doing that”, Urulu tried to press him. “He isn't willing to do the work. He's not even willing to converse. If this young man here bothers him, won’t it be dangerous?”

“...Naaah.”

“It is, isn’t it?”

“Naaaah.”

“Am I actually in danger here?”, Fel flared up nervously, the tiny part of him that acknowledged this whole absurdity becoming tense. Somehow he acknowledged these inhuman beings and hearing them talk so cautiously made him feel unwell. He didn't want to meet a person-slash-thing-slash-creature where the first thing you were warned about was his temper.

“It won’t be as long as you don’t piss him off”, Areus tried to calm him. “Anyway, why don’t we concentrate on something else right now?”

That's not calming at all! The young man tried to swallow the lump in his throat and rubbed his face with his hands. He was tired.

“A few more guests will be coming”, Urulu agreed. “All kind people, but it would be good to be prepared.”

... People? Really, though?

Fel blankly stared into nothing before he was able to snap out of it while lightly slapping his cheeks. He often helped out in his uncle’s restaurant, he knew how to cater to guests. That was a normal thing he was used to. The thought was so familiar, it was calming.

Game or not, it went against his pride to do this badly.

“Please advise me.”

“Sure!”

Areus proved to be helpful once Fel got over the fact that he was a talking cat and Urulu, despite looking incredibly creepy, was a pretty kind guy. Thing.

As he was told, the yellow talisman he had hung up was like a sign for a private circle. The only ones who could visit today were regulars who did not mind everything taking a bit longer. They were used to newbies and had a high tolerance for mistakes. Basically, the beginner level of this task.

Fel nearly cried when the first ones appeared. Some looked humanoid and even similar to mythological beings like dwarves or goblins, but then there were ones that looked like walking outfits like Urulu did. Some were plain disgusting to look at. All of them, however, were kind. They used human mannerism to greet him, shaking hands and smiling. They all made sure to speak one by one and whenever Fel got stuck, Areus jumped in to help him out.

About half of them wanted a room to stay for the night, so Fel set them up accordingly. Each one had a specific type of room they wanted but it was not hard to memorize and they did not mind helping him find them. Since each used room got a sign at the door, he also knew which ones to avoid during daytime.

Beverages and food, which was prepared by someone else, only had to be brought out.

Fel served them with the practised ease of someone used to customers. He did not need the mysterious drink to keep himself awake, either. As long as he ignored the absurdity of their forms, everything was pretty normal.

When morning came, half of them left through the mercury door and the other half went to sleep. Fel took half an hour to watch the sunrise with an empty head before he reread the lalst instruction.

“I don’t have new instructions, though…”

“Be patient for another few moments”, Areus meowed, looking out of the window.

When the sun hit the paper, the instructions changed.

They were considerably shorter and a lot like locking things up for the night… only that it was for the morning. It also mentioned not disturbing the guests by knocking on their doors, though they wouldn't react to him being loud in the hallway or anything like that.

“There are different preparations for opening up on Friday, Saturday morning, the following night and then the closing on Sunday morning”, Areus explained kindly, his tail swishing around. “You can keep the paper in the office and reread it until you memorized it. There's no problem if you want to carry it around, either.”

“Could I leave now?”

“You can leave or go take a nap. The only thing I strongly advise is returning in the evening.”

“What would happen if I don’t?”

“Hmm… You know, not opening the mansion at all is annoying, but a closed shop is just that; closed. However, opening and then ignoring your guests is troublesome. They are all nice guys but let’s say we won’t want to rattle their tempers.”

Fel nodded and rubbed his face. He'd have to accept that. “I think I’ll take a nap after I call my sister.”

“Go ahead. I’ll be here.”

Fel hummed a reply and quickly went through the few instructions. Back in his comfortable clothes, he walked outside.

From up here, the world looked smaller. Peaceful.

The young man sighed and took out his phone.

Beep… Beep…

…

Click.

“What’s up, Fell?”

“It’s Fel.” He pulled a face, though she couldn’t see it.

His half-sister had lived a long time with her mother in another country before coming over and moving in with him and the rest of the guys.

One father and four sons almost cried at the welcome female addition in their house. Not to say they were needed for anything in particular, but it was simply different compared to an all-male household.

Whenever Nina found a word that was like her mother language, she liked saying it that way. Thus ‘Fel’ turned to ‘Fell’, meaning ‘Fur’. She kept it up mostly to tease him and although he corrected her every time, he knew she wouldn't stop. It didn't bother him that much anyway.

Owl

Fel's name and Nina's joke are actually a callback to something that happened to me when I was little.
There was this wolf book where one main character was called Fel. I bought the second part, titled Fell, believing it meant "fur". Nope. It was the English variant, in which Fel was originally written as Fell - meaning the second book was named after this character.
Yeaaaah. There I was, barely able to read simple English, with this English book I REALLY wanted to read.