Watching the empty restaurant at night was a great job. It might be a little creepy, but it required no effort and was well-paid. In fact, it was so easy that he had fallen asleep on the job several times without issue! That was not to say that no one would ever want to try and break in to steal something, but the nighttime guard patrols were not to be messed with, especially in the area.

  They took care of watching over the restaurant in the watcher’s stead… Tonight, though, he was more on edge than usual. The owner had vanished, and a cleaner had also gone missing on his shift despite his colleagues seeing him doing his work as usual.

  Not to mention that two automatons were gone as well. The only evidence left being unstocked barrels of salt and portions of the floor in the main dining hall, which had been destroyed… He knew that it was unlikely, but he feared that whoever or whatever was responsible was still lurking in the restaurant.

  So, for once, he was actually paying very close attention to the ES, or ‘Eye System’. Although seeing things remotely had been a concept for a very long time, this particular iteration was a creation of none other than Leton Nebulo.

  Thus, it was a mechanical creation, meaning that anyone could easily operate it. This was the main selling point of many of the man’s creations. They did not require any strength or background in any way of power to be used to their full potential, as was often the case elsewhere.

  The magical variation of an ES would require an energy of some kind to operate. Someone with no knowledge of magic might find themselves struggling to use it properly, even if it was designed to allow usage by anyone…

  Actually, many things in this place were made by Leton Nebulo. The so-called VS, or ‘Ventilation System’, which could do a number of things, was also one of his creations. The night watcher actually had control over the VS from his office. Although he had never had to do so before, he was supposed to watch out for ambient energy levels and activate the VS’s function to expel a certain energy type in or out of the restaurant.

  The functions he was more familiar with were the refresh and temperature functions. He was tasked with always activating the former as his shift ended, to ensure the air was as fresh as possible inside the whole restaurant, and the latter needed to be activated when it was especially warm or cold, to maintain optimal temperature inside the restaurant.

  There was even an anti-pest function, to deal with critters or rats in the vents–A function he had never used at all. The restaurant had not encountered such problems at all.

  It was rather advanced stuff, and it all ran on two generators tucked directly behind him in a locked closet. One main generator and a backup one, just in case.

  The best part about this job, though. Was that everything could be done from his office. He was comfortably seated, and the reinforced door was locked. The only things linking him to the outside were wide, reinforced, one-way glass panes, which allowed him to have sight of the children's area. There was someone working here during the day as well, whose job was to pay close attention to the kids. To make sure no one got hurt or wandered off.

  As such, he had direct line of sight with the third, and only remaining automaton of this establishment, which was a parrot lady.

  He found that thing freaky, especially since she would just walk around at night. Apparently, it was so that their joints and other parts wouldn’t get stuck or lock up due to being inactive for a while. He felt like it was overkill as a single night of not moving around wouldn’t do much, but the owner had always been a cautious man.

  No one would want a heavy piece of machinery to tilt over and squash someone under its weight.

  As creepy as he had always found the automatons, they had never been a problem. Anyway, the parrot was never one to wander the restaurant that much anyway. It mostly patrolled the children's area before returning to its usual spot in the morning.

  The man made himself comfortable in his chair and looked closely at the piece of glass that projected what the eyes were seeing… Apparently, Leton Nebulo called it a ‘screen’, which was a strange name. The night watcher was fairly certain that the word was used for the grates that covered fireplaces, or to just mean something akin to ‘shield’. So, to use it to describe something that showed an image was certainly odd.

  Regardless, the so-called screen could display what one eye was seeing at a time.

  “...Huh… What the hell is happening with this thing…?”

  He muttered to himself. The images, which were usually so pristine that it felt like he was directly looking into the room shown to him, were not so clear at the moment. There was some sort of grey haze covering the image, shifting positions like a mass of insects.

  He could still see, but the problem was undeniable.

  “Hold on…”

  There should be a booklet detailing how this thing functioned in a drawer of his desk–It was still in good condition, if not dusty from having hardly ever been opened.

  “That’s what I thought…”

  He had been told about a way to know what was causing a problem. Leton Nebulo was a real genius, by pressing a button on the side of the big box that was his screen invention, a sort of analysis could be run to identify which component was being affected, allowing the person using it to then press another button that would allow them to select the component and ‘restart’ it, which was apparently supposed to fix most problems.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  Thus, the night watcher did just that and had the screen analyse itself.

  “This is really some good stuff…”

  His expression dropped.

  Nebulo’s creation had identified the issue and was very clearly telling him that the machine itself couldn’t do anything about it. Dealing with just some grey haze was one thing. However…

  The CS is being affected by a powerful, corrupting ghostly presence. No component can be restarted to overcome this issue. Unless an exit is close by, it is recommended to sit still, not make any noise, and wait until the presence goes away.

  The unit is not a GCS. Nothing can be done.

  If you have any means to scare off or protect yourself from spectral entities, use them immediately.

  The screen was not done, as more things were happening.

  Caution! Levels of NEGATIVE ENERGY are rising at an abnormal rate. Activate VS to evacuate it before it causes you harm.

  Caution! Ghostly activities are skyrocketing.

  Caution! Extreme malice detected.

  Caution! Levels of BLOODLUST are rising at an abnormal rate. Activate VS to evacuate it before it causes you harm.

  Caution! Levels of KILLING INTENT are rising at an abnormal rate. Activate VS to evacuate it before it causes you harm.

  Caution! Levels of various energies are rising at an abnormal rate. Activate VS to evacuate them before it causes you harm.

  Caution! The temperature of the building is dropping rapidly. Activate VS to heat the building before it causes you harm.

  A barrage of nearly identical messages rapidly appeared on the screen, and exclamation marks were all over the place. The night watcher hadn’t even known that this thing could detect all of this.

  He rapidly did as he was told, activating the various capabilities of the VS. Heaving a sigh of relief before skimming through the eyes, the grey haze was still present. He pressed a button to illuminate the rooms until he got to the backstage area.

  The man paused, his entire body growing colder as he found himself staring directly at the creepy, old costume… That thing was still slouched in the corner, utterly immobile, but its head had undeniably moved.

  It was supposed to be staring downward, slumped over… But it was currently looking directly into the mechanical eye.

  He entered a staring contest.

  “Surely… That thing will stay still if I stare at it, right…?”

  He whispered to himself. He was convinced that the ‘ghostly activity’ was right before his eyes, and that–Somehow–A stray spectre had decided to come and possess this thing. There was no telling what this entity wanted… But considering the various warnings he had received, it wasn’t coming in peace or to have a little chat.

  Alas, the watcher soon found out that things were not so simple. Something appeared between the eye and the possessed automaton. He suddenly found himself staring into soulless blue eyes.

  He was so shocked that he didn’t do anything until they disappeared–Revealing that the possessed costume was now standing straight up, still staring at the eye, but its body was angled toward the door.

  “Wait, wait, wait…! Do not move!”

  He pressed the button for the lights repeatedly, almost hoping that it would blind the entity, but nothing happened visibly.

  Should he make a run for it? Could he even make it to an exit in time? It hadn’t seemed like the thing staring into the eye had been the same as the one possessing the suit… If there were several entities in the restaurant, then the odds of him actually reaching an exit were probably low.

  Something loudly knocked on the door to his office. He checked through one of the one-way windows, but saw absolutely nothing at the door.

  “Shit…”

  While he was distracted, the possessed automaton had left the backstage area.

  It took him way too long to find it on another camera, but he ended up seeing it standing in the middle of the main dining hall, once again looking directly at the eye.

  He needed to keep it still for as long as possible. The fact that this other ghost had helped cover its movements had to mean something, right? Surely, only through possessing something could they hurt him. Thus, the only real danger should be the one in the costume.

  Everything else could be ignored…

  The man spotted something rising from behind the other side of his desk. A blue-haired, pale blue-skinned girl with one broken horn and a damaged face staring at him with wide open, red eyes.

  He had heard a few times that ghostly entities could actually be mostly dealt with by ignoring them. He had no clue how valid that belief was, but he tried it regardless, doing his very best to act like he couldn’t see her.

  However, the blue demon girl just kept rising more and more, soon putting her hands up against the desk, and the more she stared, the more unnerved the beastfolk felt.

  Involuntarily, he eventually made eye contact with her. The ghost retreated out of view, giggling in a manner that left the watcher strangely dazed and distracted. He couldn’t help but stand to make sure she still wasn’t hiding behind the desk…

  “Did she mess with my mind? Damnit!”

  The possessed automaton had moved whilst not being looked at again. It was like it knew exactly when the man was actually looking at the screen, and when he wasn’t… It shouldn’t be able to tell the difference as long as the eye was active, yet it clearly could.

  “Gods, help me…”

  He prayed to the beast deities, soon finding the possessed one once more, it had gone to the kitchen, moving closer and closer to the office the man was in.

  “Did it…”

  It was holding something in its oversized hand. Namely, an oversized cleaver, which the watcher frankly had no idea what it was supposed to be normally used for. Right now, it looked like it was nothing more than a tool intended to slaughter people and hack them to pieces–He believed this was called a Hog Splitter…? Were they even any hogs to split in the kitchens of a restaurant?

  “I won’t look away this time…”

  Just then, he began hearing terrible sounds coming from directly behind him.

  “May the gods have pity on my soul…”