<b><Tokyo, Japan, from the perspective of Ryuujiro Kurio></b>
It''s been less than 2 weeks, and people are already getting
accustomed to their powers. While my other body was getting used to
itself, I realized I had been getting less sleep as each day passed.
People all around the world were getting accustomed to their powers,
I didn''t understand how they could have accomplished these feats with
haste. After I asked Mom and Kazu, they both gave me a similar
answer, "It feels like a muscle in my body that I can control."
Was it really that simple for them? For a whole week, I''ve been
merging my brains, and we haven''t achieved any real progress.
I have full knowledge of everything that has happened after we merge
our brains. So I have full experience of being Ryuuka and Ryuujiro.
The bad part about it is when we disagree, if I believe something to
be false, while the other body believes it to be true, merging our
brains will give two sides of the story and while in theory it should
make it easier to choose, it only makes it harder to make the logical
choice.
A very detailed article studied by authentic scientists came atop the
hill. It explained the fundamental parts of powers. They operate
through the use of their energy. Currently, it is unknown how people
can regenerate their energy after a while. They also guarantee that
these powers are artificially made. It is most definitely not a
natural phenomenon.
The article was very short, but in the end, it stated that some
powers operate completely differently than most powers. They have a
whole different league of complexity. Lastly, they began to talk
about the infinite numbers of powers that could exist, "There''s
no way all of these powers were programmed individually. The core of
these powers that reside in us have a way of deciding how they
operate. There is a carefully designed program inside it! It must
have a formula! If only we had access to it, then we could replicate
its initial form and learn about all of its complexity."
The door opens slightly, causing a beam of light to illuminate the
room. "Is everything fine? I haven''t heard from you much these
days." Kazu speaks out. I turn around to face him, "I''m
fine, what have you been up to."
"I think I got the hang of my ability now. My friends have been
texting me about their abilities. We agree next week I''ll meet them
if life isn''t gonna get in my way, I''ll be driving Mom to her
friend''s house." Kazu informs me. It must be nice having
friends, I wonder if that would''ve been a bigger advantage if I had
made some acquaintances before the Awakening. That''s what everyone
refers to now.
"I''ll just be exploring more of power. It seems like it''s much
more complex than I thought it would be."
"Alright, but tell me if something happens." He says,
closing the door back up. My family and their friends have been
leveling up their game, I hope it''s my turn soon.
Ryuuka has gone off to the outside and explored for 4 hours now, I
found out something interesting that is related to our power. I''ve
been testing it only just recently. It''s also the reason why I found
out that both our bodies can use the power. However, I still don''t
understand how the original body can not choose to merge with the
replicated mind. How does it prioritize it? That, to me, is still a
mystery.
Regardless, when she comes back, I believe my questions will only get
closer to being answered, for the ability I gained is very
intriguing. Let''s just say we need lots of garbage bags and a strong
stomach.
<b><Tokyo, Japan, from the perspective of Ryuuka></b>
"Hey, dumb ass! Catch my truck!" A fat man yells after
lifting and throwing a gas tank semi-truck at what seems to be a
gang-related member, judging by the tattoos I spotted on his face and
arms. The gang member raises his fist like an uppercut punch and
causes fire to come out of his arms and make the truck explode where
he stands. I huge explosion arose from where the man was. He was sure
to be dead.
''Is that guy stupid? He just took a semi-truck explosion to the face!
He didn''t even try to dodge it!'' I thought to myself before watching
a burning human body walk out of the explosion like the Terminator.
The fire on his body dissipated, and now he was laughing maniacally,
"HAHAHA! You fucking ass hat! Fire and explosions don''t do shit
to me!" The gang man says while being naked, looks like his
clothes can still be affected by fire and explosion.
''No way! That guy just took a whole gas explosion to the face and
still survived?!'' I think to myself, suddenly realizing I might be
too close to the battleground. ''I just want to get to the store
dammit! Just kill each other elsewhere!'' I have been waiting for a
whole hour for these two morons to finish their fight and leave,
they''re blocking my way to the hardware store and I definitely can''t
handle a semi-truck being thrown at me!
This body of mine is too weak, even compared to an average person. I
haven''t done any physical workouts or training whatsoever. Seeing a
man just casually throw an entire truck at another man like it was a
toy truck, and the other man just eat it up like it was nothing made
me completely break down mentally. ''They''ve already got this strong?''
Meanwhile, all I can do is switch between two bodies, and the other
is inferior. I feel like just dropping to the floor and start crying.
After waiting for a while, the gang dude flung the fat man into a
building farther away and they started fighting on the other side of
the street.
I checked one more time for any other trouble before slowly making my
way to the store. I can''t believe there are idiots like that fighting
in broad daylight.
At the entrance, the door automatically slides open when it detects
my presence.
"Hold it! Don''t move!" A man behind the cashier counter
yells out.
The sudden appearance of a gun frightened me, I almost jolted out of
the way as my senses told me to, but I had to stop myself in case he
might''ve thought I''d been dangerous.
"Who else is out there?"
The man shouts.
"It''s just me," I say putting my arms up.
The man takes a peek around the window to attempt to spot any other
people then proceeds to slowly shuffle around the counter and move
towards me while pointing his gun at me.
"Please stop pointing that at me," I say quietly in fear
with my hands up. Having a gun pointed a me is truly horrifying. If
something were to scare him, he could accidentally shoot his gun. I
don''t even know what would happen if I died as the other body. Would
my consciousness merge back with Split Body or would I die and lose
my consciousness? If I were to attempt to find that out I would have
to be prepared to die, and currently, I''m not.
The man gets behind the closest shelf, which seems to be stocked with
drills, his arm pointing a gun at me, "No can do missy! Now tell
me what freaky power do you have? I have to see it so you aren''t
lying." The man answers with a demand.
"Look I''m just here to buy some stuff and I''ll get out, I''m not
here to steal stuff," I answer, pulling cash from my pocket to
show.
"Yeah? You couldn''t wait a while? You see what theys been doing
on my street? I''m not letting no one take over my store. Now tell me
what your power is!" He demanded.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.
I was going to ask him what his power is, but I''m not really in the
position to say that. I can''t risk telling him my power, I don''t want
to know what he would do if I told him my power is controlling two
people. Would he consider me not as important since I have another
body? I don''t want to find out.
"I haven''t got used to my
power yet. So I don''t fully understand it." What I said isn''t
false.
"What does it do!"
Trying to come up with a useless power, I say, "My power lets me
freeze things, but right now it''s very weak." I lie to him.
"Oh yeah? Prove it." He
says.
"Well, I need something to use it on," I say.
He rummages around his fanny pack and throws me a water bottle,
"Freeze that." He demands.
I hold the bottle up to my waist and make a pose that shows I''m
attempting to concentrate on the bottle. His finger is still on the
trigger, I wanted to throw the bottle at him and run behind the
shelf, but I was too scared.
"What are you waiting for!" He says impatiently.
"I was only able to make it very cold, here check it." I
throw the bottle at him as hard as I can after I see his arm lose
concentration on me. I dash behind the shelf into a prone position
and start quickly crawling.
"You fucking bitch!" Loud bullet shots go off, creating
holes in the shelves. ''Holy shit!''
He was shooting from two shelves ahead of me. I move quickly between
shelves, so he doesn''t spot me. I peek my eye between a bunch of
wrenches to see him looking in the opposite direction.
I quickly run up the shelf and push it as hard as I can to make it
fall on his head.
The shelf full of drills falls but only grazes him before hitting the
floor with a bunch of loud metallic clanging sounds bursting my ear
drums.
"Shit!" He screams out as he pushes the shelf off and puts
his hand on his head.
I run at him to attempt to knock him out, but suddenly, as I punch
him, he shoots his gun at me. I hear a loud bang before I punch him
down and grab the gun.
I point the gun at him and pull the trigger, the gun clicks without
going off.
I need to reload it, I try to move my left arm to lock in the barrel,
but my hand isn''t there. I turn my head to look at my left shoulder
and see it bleeding.
"You stupid fuck! You shot my arm!" I scream in rage. I
immediately started kicking him and stomping his face with my shoe
until his face bled and he stopped moving.
The pain on my arm escalated
quickly and I felt the agony immediately.
Holding my bleeding arm, I look for something to ease the pain. I
took a pack of ice and I found an emergency kit with supplies and
bandages in the store''s bathroom.
It looks like the bullet only went through my flesh and went right
out the other side. But I was barely able to move my arm, It felt
like it got a big portion of my muscles.
The gun had no ammo so I decided to throw it away.
I ate a couple of snacks I found hidden behind the checkout counter
and then slowly went around the store looting the place for anything
of worth. It wasn''t my original intention, but certain circumstances
have led me here.
This was a hardware store but it barely had anything useful. The best
thing I could find was a nail gun. There was a chainsaw and a
tactical hunting axe, but they were too heavy to handle for me so I
decided to leave them behind. I also take with me a hunting knife and
a utility knife for backup, also because I like knives.
After I roamed for around 20 minutes, I decided to walk out of the
store and explore someplace else. The man was still unconscious. He
might be dead, but I didn''t bother to check. I wonder what his
ability was.
The doors slide out to welcome the warm air outside. I step out,
scouting around for any troubles.
All clear. Sadly, the clothing
shop I wanted to go to was destroyed. It was too risky for me to
enter it and die from falling debris.
I suddenly remembered that there was a small thrift shop nearby, it
was originally owned by a retired veteran, the new owner was the
veteran''s grandson after he passed away. The last I had been there
must''ve been a couple of months. I went to buy retro video game discs
that I resold online for a profit almost four times the amount I
bought them for after I realized how rare they were.
I remember the store had a good amount of military equipment and
such, which probably belonged to the veteran.
The only problem was that there
were a couple of power users jumping around the area. I would need to
be extra cautious if I wanted to get there safely.
I snatched a tactical fanny pack when I was in the hardware store to
be used as a holster for the nail gun. I made sure to keep it open so
I could easily take it out if I needed to.
I gripped my hunting knife tightly before I started to sneak toward
the thrift shop. The street clears out for a while so I start slowly
walking, when I reach the big separation between the two sidewalks
and make it all the way to the other side. It felt uncanny when I
crossed the big street, I even instinctively looked on both sides
while sprinting to the other side. Tokyo is always full of people and
cars, so it felt wrong to see it as empty as it was. ''It feels like
it''s the aftermath of an apocalypse.'' Is what I thought to myself.
After I safely crossed to the other side, looks like it was closed. I
peek inside to spot any person. I started going around the building
to look for a way inside. There were two entrances, the front glass
door, and the back door. I tried budging the back door but it was
locked. That means my only option is to break into the front doors.
After I peek once again for safety, I smash my heavy-duty nail gun at
the glass, and with only one hit, the glass broke down. Carefully
watching my steps, I enter the shop. I feel bad for breaking into
their shop, but I need it to survive.
Taking one look around, everything seems to be just junk lying
around. However, I was able to find some items that paid off for the
cost of getting here. I found 2 combat military helmets, tactical
combat boots, and cargo pants. There were other military clothes but
they were going to be too heavy for me. I snatched a stack of long
socks and black women''s underwear to accustom the boots and I was
able to find myself a black sports tank top, which was better for
movement. I felt my luck hit the top of the ceiling when I found a
large forest green duffel bag to carry all the items I''d be taking. I
decided to change my clothes to the military set I chose in the store
and put all my original clothes in the duffel bag and the extra socks
and underwear, along with the second helmet. I wore the
sturdier-looking helmet with the head straps it came with.
I looked at a dusty mirror and saw myself looking like a bad ass,
although I could use more muscles. As I was about to leave, I spotted
a sunglasses display stand. I tested out different sunglasses, and
most of them seemed to be older-generation glasses, however, from the
start I already had my eyes on the cooler, visor wraparound
sunglasses. They were a little big and bulky but it looked way too
good to pass up the opportunity. I felt like a trained assassin who
would always keep a serious tone when wearing them and hitting a cool
pose in the mirror.
I try to hit an athletic pose until I feel a rush of pain when the
wound on my arm opens up again. ''Are you kidding me?'' I breathe a
deep sigh before lifting the strap of the duffel bag onto my right
shoulder so the bag hangs on my left hip and I have more
maneuverability on my right and begin trudging along. Looks like it
was starting to get dark outside now, I looked around my environment
to see more people outside, they seemed to be carefully looking
around their area to watch for any dangers.
I should probably get going in the unfortunate case that the owner of
the shop might decide to check up on his store. Wearing this new tank
top allows me to feel the breeze of the air. It was surprisingly
cleaner than I expected. Honestly, I expected more people to be going
outside and looting everything, was I the only one who had this
mindset? I''ve always felt like I was ready for war. I''m not sure why,
but I feel like I would enjoy it. If I do ever go to war, I hope that
isn''t the case.
As I continued walking down the block, I heard someone shouting, I
tried to ignore it until I heard it again louder, but I couldn''t
quite make it out so I continued walking. I turn back to my path and
continue until a man shouts at me, "Hey you! Stop ignoring me!"
I take a look at him, he appeared to be a blond college freshman like
I was, but as I''ve seen before, looks can deceive. I prepared myself
to run at full speed, even contemplating if I should throw away my
bag to make myself light. Unless it''s a Gucci bag, my life isn''t
worth a duffel bag. "Wait don''t run! Look my power lets me make
things fly!" He says before opening his palm and showing a candy
bar. The bar starts to levitate and gradually flies at me while
gaining speed.
''Wait is that gonna explode?!'' Is the only thing I can think of while
in this situation. I try to dodge it when the snack bar hits my
forehead and drops to my hands. "See? I wasn''t lying! Hey,
what''s your name!" He shouts from afar. I decided to stay
silent, I wasn''t sure what to do, but the last thing I wanted to do
was give my identity to strangers, especially in the devastating
state the world is in.
"You don''t talk much, do you? Well, my name is Haruto! If you
want we can be friends!" He yells out.
I look at him briefly before turning the corner and running away. ''Is
he a dumb ass? Who goes outside and yells out their power to the
first stranger they see?'' After I ran away he didn''t seem to be
following me and wasn''t shouting anymore. I break my run into a jog,
then to a walk again to avoid opening my wound again. I look at the
snack bar he threw at me. "Jolly Jar''s Nutritional Almond
Protein Bar," a cheap snack bar that I even remember my school
giving out in elementary school.
Eventually, I reach the front
porch of my house and start knocking on the door. The first person to
open should be Split Body, as he should be expecting me, so when Kazu
opened the door, we both surprised each other.