Eric attended class the next morning, to Jade's relief. He had a bandage on his forehead, but looked okay otherwise, however he wouldn't respond to Jade at all. He stoically ignored all of Jade's whispers, movements, and notes until the class ended.

"Eric?" Jade asked again more hesitantly as everyone else began to exit the room.

Eric finally looked at him, but then he looked away again before saying roughly, "I knew that everything might not go like I hoped when I came here, but you're not even human! Leave me alone, I can't deal with it yet!"

Eric gathered his things and stomped toward the door, while Jade stood frozen behind him. He passed through the doorway before he finally stopped. Jade didn't know whether to run to him or call out.

After drawing a deep breath Eric spun, stuck his head back into the room, and yelled angrily, "But I am glad that you are still alive!"

Jade had only taken one step forward, and he didn't know how to react to the positive words shouted with anger. As he struggled, Eric turned back and literally ran away. Jade dashed to the door and saw his friend racing down the hall, faster than he could ever hope to catch up.

Jade glanced at his quest list, hoping for some kind of guidance, but it seemed like the System was as clueless as he felt. There was nothing listed there now except for his main quest: to see the world through a human perspective.

He left the classroom under the weight of curious gazes from those who had lingered for a moment.

--

As soon as he got home, Jade did what almost every kid does when everything goes wrong suddenly. He called his mother.

"Mom," Jade said abruptly as soon as she connected, "I think I might not be human."

There was a long silence, and then his mother laughed. "How human of you, to be worried about whether or not you're human," she replied.

"I'm serious," Jade said.

"Why suddenly?" his mother asked curiously.

Jade hesitated. He felt certain that Eric had told the truth, but he didn't have any other reason to provide.

She asked suddenly, as though she already knew everything, "Is it because you failed to survive long enough to complete your main quest again?"

He asked suspiciously, "Mom, are you human?"

She laughed again, and then declared, "I am a hundred percent human Jade!"

"Am I human?" Jade asked directly.

The moment of silence that seemed to indicate that his mother didn't want to answer echoed between them for a moment. Jade found it much harder to assure her that she didn't have to answer, the way he had with Harmony. He almost desperately needed to hear her answer.

She finally admitted, "Yes, though I wasn't certain of your humanity when you were younger, and everything you did was on the quest list in your head. But you really seem to have outgrown that, you are not some kind of strange organic robot, you are definitely a person."

Jade froze and thought about how the system had been listing every little thing as a quest lately.

"Jade?" his mother asked.

Somehow he couldn't bring himself to tell her. If she believed he was human, he really didn't want her to change her mind. "Um yeah," he said instead, "I got hit by a car…"

Before he could tell her that Eric had seen it, she demanded worriedly, "How come you are getting into so many traffic accidents all of a sudden?"

Somehow protesting that he didn't know, that they really were accidents, and listening to her complain that he needed to be more wary… was relaxing. Normal. His mother's fretting soothed away some of the fretting he had been doing.

--

At work, Emily greeted Jade with a sour expression. "You're not sick?" she asked.

"No?" Jade replied questioningly.

"I figured since you were so spacy yesterday that you'd have relapsed and been out again today," she explained gloomily. "Since you're here, you can do the cleaning."

"Okay," Jade agreed without complaint.

The system popped up each of the small quests as he accepted, but instead of a feeling of accomplishment as he cleared each one, he felt a bit worried. It was almost as though he had reminded it to be more active by worrying about it.

--

Harmony did not drop by for her usual snacks at the convenience store that evening, but when Jade logged in to 'Living Jade Empire' that night, Skyheart Snowsong was already waiting outside his smithy.

"Hey," she greeted him casually with a smile. "Want to help me with a cat quest?"

Jade smiled back. "Sure," he replied simply.

Here in the game everyone could revive with Karma earned from quests, and everyone had a quest list. Everyone interacted with a system. Here, Jade was just another ordinary human player.

"Eric came to school today," he informed her.

"So everything's okay?" she asked neutrally, as though she could see that it wasn't.

He shrugged without explaining. After a moment she nodded.

They collected rare cheeses and then entrapped the feline shapeshifters, who were plaguing a mountain village with their banditry. At the end of the quest, the King of Cats appeared and rewarded them for dealing with the false cats.

He gave them each a small silver bell and told them, "With this, a cat can become human for one day, or a human may become a cat."

Jade asked, "Why would a cat want to become human?"

The King of Cats looked at Jade and replied, "How curious, you don't remember who you were, do you?"

Harmony laughed and asked, "Was Hisui a cat once?"

The King of Cats blinked his eyes lazily and said enigmatically, "Not a cat."

Jade asked, "Who was I?"

"A giver of quests who gave himself a quest. One who followed a path told of in a thousand human tales," he replied with amusement. A moment later he stretched and slipped into a shadow, and was gone.

Jade stared after the cat and asked Harmony, "What makes someone human?"

Harmony laughed and asked, "Are you serious?"

Jade looked Skyheart Snowsong in the eye and replied, "Yes."

Harmony looked around, and then targeted one of the human villagers with a deadly attack. Jade gasped in shock. The other villagers scattered.

Jade asked with bewilderment, "Why did you do that?!"

"Wait," she instructed.

After a few endlessly long minutes with no further interaction, the body dissipated and the villagers returned and resumed their tasks.

"They don't really care," she explained. "If you ask one, they'll remember that that villager was here before, for a while, but they don't miss him. They aren't human. Humans care. Humans love, and hate, and experience thousands of different emotions during their lifespans."

"What is love then?" he asked. "Everyone says hate is the opposite, but I think hate is just great dislike."

Harmony gave him a long look, before sighing and muttering, "I suppose you must be at that age where you doubt everything."

Jade insisted, "I'm asking seriously!"

She shrugged. "Ask a thousand people and you'll probably get a thousand different answers," she replied seriously. "But to me… love is, I guess it is wanting someone to be in your life always, and if they can't, still wanting them to live well and happily until long after you are gone. Love is greedy."

He thought about that for a while and then told her, "I love you."

Harmony laughed and replied lightly, "I love you too."

Jade recalled the way Eric had shouted angrily, 'But I am glad that you are still alive!' He said suddenly, with mild amazement, "Eric must love me too."

She glanced at him and then suggested, "I'm sure there are many people who love you Jade. Your parents, your family, and your friends."

"My mother probably loves me," he agreed. "She says so pretty often."

She laughed. "I'm sure she does," she agreed with amusement.

He considered it for a long moment and then added, "I love her too."

Harmony flicked a sharp look at him. "Aren't there quite a few people you love? How about your friend Appella?"

Jade thought for a while before answering, "I would like her to remain in my life, so yes, I think so."

Skyheart Snowsong raised her face to the sky, as though her elven eyes could see the dragons that were rumored to fly above the clouds that they could sometimes be seen dancing in. "I hope you get a chance to tell her so."

Jade looked up and realized what she was actually looking at. "There's no guarantee I can contact her, even if I ask the Jade Emperor," he pointed out.

She smiled and asked lightly, "Would it be worth the attempt?"

He didn't have to weigh it, the answer was obvious. "Yes."