Once he dressed up he looked into the mirror and frowned a little.

The suit was fitting him as much as it could making it probably the best piece of clothing that he ever wore.

It felt comfortable, looked cool and he still felt that it wasn’t constraining his movement.

However, his uncared face and hair showed his true nature.

His disheveled hair and beard were ruining his image.

So he cast a quick glance around and found the brush which he then took and started brushing his hair with it.

He normally didn't do something burdensome like this but when looking at himself in this mirror he suddenly had the urge to do something with himself.

This sudden urge was so urgent that he wanted to start to work out to get his physique to the point where he could be proud of it.

When he brushed his hair he looked at that mirror again and saw himself. Not the same.

It was him how he could look like. The erudite gentleman with the presence of someone wise.

He felt he was drawing himself closer to the mirror while watching in the daze.

Until the brush he was holding in his hand didn’t fall on the ground.

The noise it made woke him up from that daze and his face turned into one of horror.

“What the fuck!”

He made distance from the mirror and with a scared look he sighed in relief.

“For the fuck’s sake… What was that?”

He realized that the mirror wasn’t something safe so he stopped looking into it.

But the image of himself looking like how he saw it remained in his mind.

‘Should I start to work out a little?’

His belly was really a little flabby but he didn’t care.

But now when that image of himself showed up he felt he could try to do something with it.

He didn’t know if it was because of that mirror or his own initiative but it didn’t matter to him.

And so with strode he went out of the dressing room and entered the bathroom with the kitty looking at him in confusion wondering why he was going from one place to another all the time.

When he entered the front room of the bathroom he started to look for shaving foam and something to shave himself with.

He already noticed it before but ignored it. But now he has changed his mind.

Before he made an excuse for himself that shaving isn't a priority at this moment and that it was better to focus on other things.

However, this incident gave him a little wake-up call. While still fearful of the mirror he was actually a little grateful.

Soon he found the right foam to use but when he found the razor he once again realized that this place wasn’t as developed.

In his hand was a simple folding razor that was in one sight extremely sharp.

*Gulp*

He never used it before so it would be difficult to use it.

Especially because of its folding nature which makes the holding more unstable.

‘Whatever, it is not like I will bleed to death if I really cut myself.’

And so he put the foam on his face and started to shave himself.

……..

Some time later he finally came out of the bathroom.

He had a few cuts on his face which had already stopped bleeding but when the kitty saw that it started meowing loudly as if it was panicking.

“What’s up little one?”

So he came to it and took it into his arms.

But this time the kitty didn’t lie down but instead started to crawl up his chest towards his face.

“Whoa?!”

He was surprised at this and wondered what she wanted.

That was until she started to lick those wounds on his face.

When he realized that this was the reason for that he smiled.

“Oh, you are trying to help me? How cute…”

He started to pat it as it licked his wounds.

With her still on his face he saw on his bed and took one of the fruits that were on the tray.

He started to peel the skin off and saw the purple flesh inside.

The smell that came out of it was mesmerizing and even the kitty in his arms stopped for a moment to look at it.

Now that he thought about it he was sure that he heard somewhere that cats do not feel the sweet taste…

“Hmmm…”

It was said they like the texture of fruits. Or something like that.

That made him wonder if the kitty in front of him was the same or different.

After all, she was the spirit of the cat. That’s different.

But in the end, he dropped this thought as he feasted on the food and fed the little angel in his arms.

“Little one, I still didn’t name you, right? Since I now have a little reprieve I should find some good one for you, shouldn’t I? Let me think…”

Since he was going to give her some name he wanted it to have some meaning at least.

He looked at the innocent creature in his hands and thought.

‘White fur, innocent and adorable.. Hmm..’

Firstly he thought about the word ‘white’ in different languages. It was kind of the basic meaning of the name.

‘Albus? Haha, no way. Shiro? I think I would die if I used such an overused name for a white creature… Bianca, Blanco, Blanc, Bely, Weiss… No, this won’t work.’

But in the end, he didn’t like any of those. Maybe there would be some different languages but he has limited knowledge about those…

‘Luna? No, despite its correlation to purity it is more known for the moon part.

Viridis? Pure or untouched. The meaning is good but it doesn’t suit a female.

Maybe Angelica since she is a little angel… Nooo… I don’t know…’

His expression grew complicated. So much for the name with meaning…

“Ahh... It is quite a hard little one.”

So he just let it go for now. He could name her whenever-

*Coo-coo! Coo-coo!*

Suddenly a loud noise resounded in the room and the sound of some kind of mechanism resounded.

He was so surprised that he almost let go of the kitty as his heart started to pound hurtfully in his chest.

“Give it rest will ya?”

He muttered to himself as he looked around looking for an intruder or something making the noise.

It didn’t take long to discover the culprit. When he made eye contact with it, his mouth twitched.

“Really..?”

Staring at him as if wanting to burn his soul was a really realistic Cuckoo’s head looking out of the Grandfather’s clock.

“Coo~ What're you looking at, you punk?!”

“...”

He was at a loss. This time it was a wooden cuckoo figurine that was trying to pick up a fight with him here.

No, wait…

It looked too realistic to be just a figurine…

“Don’t tell me you are a real cuckoo?”

“What kind of weird questions do you ask? Should I also ask if you are real, huh?!”

‘Oh, great.’

There was a real cuckoo in the clocks the entire time.

“Why aren’t you answering, Coo~?”

He could only roll his eyes and try to soothe the kitty that started to hiss at it.

“Well, first of all, I was surprised that someone put the real cuckoo in the clocks. Secondly, why didn’t you come out yesterday when I came here?”

Looking at the time it started to make noise at 6 o’clock.

“I wasn’t prepared, Coo~ It was like having a long vacation until you suddenly showed up. I have to put on makeup and all, you know, Coo~? Moreover, I had to learn the time measurement each Housekeeper used. Do you know how annoying that is, Coo~?”

Hearing her like this he felt it was very bizarre. Why do cuckoos even need makeup? She is a bird…

Wait. She?

“You are female?”

“What do you think, coo~?”

‘Female cuckoo?’

The uncomfortable feeling came over him. He knows a little about real cuckoos.

Their sound is loved by many and it is believed that they are harbingers of spring.

Pretty innocent, right?

Except they are parasitic creatures that cause deaths ever since they are born.

The mothers do not build the nests and instead find nests of different birds where they leave their eggs.

Once they hatch the chick will imitate its ‘siblings’ and may even start to throw them off the nest so it gets more food.

All in all, he didn’t have a good impression of this species.

However, that wouldn’t be a problem normally as he realizes that they are just living by instincts and not by morals or something as stupid as that.

But that counts only for the normal cuckoos. This one was intelligent.

Just that was enough for him to raise his awareness.

He forced a smile and introduced himself.

“I see. Well, nice to meet you. I am new here and am trying to get the position of Housekeeper.”

The cuckoo who was looking at him from her little door that was made for her in the clock got her body outside on the small bridge in front of her.

This way it showed its entire body. The color of her feathers was a mix of white, gray, and black making cuckoo one of the less beautiful birds in his opinion.

But despite that, there was something mysterious about this bird.

It felt as if those feathers were changing every second reminding someone of an overcast sky.

“Coo~, I am the cuckoo of this clock and I am here to remind you of the passage of non-existent time in this forsaken land, coo~ So if you are free now let’s decide when I will need to service you, coo~”

The cuckoo also introduced itself and wanted to get to business as soon as possible.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Coo~ Isn’t that obvious? I need to know at what time I should get and coo at you, coo~”

At these words, a realization hit him. Normally the cuckoo clocks on Earth have settings to coo every hour but it could be changed by the mechanism. But since this cuckoo is real then you just need to tell it.

“Well, every hour is not needed so I guess every three hours is fine. You already learned that 24 hours is equal to a day and other such things, right?”

“Of course, coo~ Every three hours sounds good. I do not need to work so often. What about night silence? I saw that you were already sleeping in such a short time you got here so I guess you like sleeping a lot, coo~”

“Oh, yes. I guess that in the evening you can end with the last being 9 pm and in the morning with 9 am.”

With this, it will be cooing every three hours for half a day.

“Okay, coo~ I will start at 6 am and end at 9 pm. I understand, coo~”

Cuckoo nodded as she started to turn around, intending to enter her ‘house’.

But he didn’t let it slide.

“What do you understand? I said 9 am and not 6 am!”

The cuckoo just rolled its eyes not even turning around as it said:

“I have some class too, coo~ Early bird gets to eat worms! Don’t be lazy shit.”

With that, she closed its door and the grandfather clock went into dormancy once again.

“How does it even know that saying? Is it some interword saying or what?”

He wasn’t disappointed as much as he was bewildered.

Waking early wasn’t his cup of tea but he could survive it. However, that’s only when he needed to be someone on time! It is not like he will need to keep attendance in this place so why would she be like this?

He sighed and shook his head.

Instead, he decided that it was time to leave for the living room.

He promised the pinkhead that he would help her to clean that mess.

He still doesn’t know how but he will try. It’s just that it would probably take forever…

But what needed to be done had to be done and so he went to the doors preparing to be lost again as he would spend time looking for the living room.

However…

*Boom* *Aaargh*

Black lines started to appear on his forehead as his expression got distorted.

With an irked expression, he turned around.

“What now?!”

It was fucking six in the morning. How come there are so many annoying things happening already?

The noise was coming out of the wall next to the stove.

He quickly got closer and intended to listen closer to the wall.

But then he noticed the hole that he ignored yesterday.

It was a food elevator also referred to as a dumbwaiter.

The noise was coming right out of it.

Unfortunately, he noticed one thing that he didn’t acknowledge yet.

“There is nothing to close it…”

There were no doors and it was completely open. That meant that if something climbed upwards it could get inside…

“I would not get too close if it were me, coo~”

The cuckoo got out once again as he got closer to it. It didn’t give him a very pleasant gaze as it seemed to be pissed.

“Why?”

“They would smell you, coo~ Once they smell they would try to climb up, coo~”

“Who?”

“The other tenants. Those hungry ones…”

Hearing this he got goosebumps.

“I thought this place was safe?”

He didn’t want to believe that something could climb this up.

“Normally, yes. But this was kind of a hole in the barrier defending this place, coo~ That dumbwaiter is leading straight to the kitchen where those deviants are. There are actually many ways to get into this room but most of them are privy and only the Housekeeper could use them, coo~”

There are other passages that lead to this room?

‘I was deceived!’

The naive idea of safety was erased from his mind as he felt that he could be ambushed at any minute by some weirdo.

“But why is this open all the time?”

“The door is missing, you dumbass, coo~ It is part of the room but since it is missing it is as if the room wasn’t completely making the defense not perfect, coo~ Just don’t get closer to it unless you make those gluttons friends or unless you find the door for it.”

The cuckoo seemed at him with disdain as if it had to explain some basic thing.

That ticked him off a little but he was still relieved that it told him. So with a smile, he nodded as he thanked her. After all, giving a good impression was important. Who knows if it can come out at night and gouge his eyes or something if it dislikes him?

“Thanks for telling me.”

“Hmph… I told you only because you are a new candidate. I just learned about your time measuring. It would be a pain if you died right after, coo~ It would be best if you didn’t die, and because the last Housekeeper I don’t need to adapt to changes every time, coo~”

*Bang*

With that, she came back into her house and stopped talking to him.

“...”

Should he take it as a good sign? After all, his dying would be bad for her so she wouldn’t wish him any harm. If that’s true then he doesn’t need to fear her.

‘But last Housekeeper, huh? No way.’

The moment he gets the title is the moment he ditches this place for good. If he is in a good mood and didn’t get stuck here for too long he was willing to find a different one to substitute for him.

But in no way does he desire to be bonded to this place.

He was quite lucky so far but for how long will this so-called luck last?

He almost got crushed by the garbage Sera left in the room that he slept in first.

Feliria almost hunted him down.

He fell from extreme height because of Koro.

Then he was almost killed by the followers of Gardener.

And those were the friendly tenants!

Then what about those unfriendly?

Sera already told him that only three places are safe here.

Yet even in those places, he was in dangerous situations.

He fears that if he takes a step into the kitchen then he will be devoured!

‘No wonder that Sera told me to get fruits in the garden and not look for food in the kitchen…’

This place simply was not habitable for normal humans like him.

When his thoughts got firmer he decided that he would never get closer to this dumbwaiter.

To be sure, he would also be careful and be quieter so he would not disturb whatever was down there.

This time he made sure there was nothing to disturb him as he went towards the doors.

He only cast a glance at the grandfather clock to find out that half an hour had already passed since the cuckoo woke up.

Talking with cuckoo took quite a lot of time and the noises from the kitchen weren’t much better.

Thankfully, he woke up quite early today so even if he gets delayed on the way he will still be in the living room at a reasonable time.

Well, he didn’t know what time schedule Sera had. She said spirits didn’t need to sleep.

Was she spirit? She said she was Dullahan but that was just her species. Being spirit is a kind of state someone is in when he doesn’t have or is outside of the body. Or that’s how he perceived it from seeing the kitty and hearing what Sera said.

If Sera really doesn’t have to sleep, he just hoped there won’t be some bad surprise for him in the living room…

With urgency, he opened the doors and entered the corridor…