Notice: Edited on June 29th, 2025
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I remain outside a bit further to confirm if even my stamina is superhuman before deciding that it's time to head back. The problem with that is that I seriously don't want a panicking Sora early in the morning.
Looking down at myself, I wince at the sheer amount of damage done to the poor fabric.
Initially, I was considering just telling her about the fact that I am practically superhuman and all of this is a result of me being unable to control my powers. But... that comes with its own set of problems. Problems that I hope to avoid for the time being.
So, as I make my way back to the residential area, I keep my perception on full throttle to make sure there is no one around.
Once I'm in front of the house, I use my enhanced perception to check inside.
Oh! She's asleep!
I thank my lucky cards as I quietly make my way inside. Then, I quickly make my way to my room - not Sora's. There, I quickly undress before stuffing everything into a plastic bag I had lying around. Following that, I grabbed my bath robe before making my way to the bath.
A while later, after I'm done cleaning myself and have gotten dressed, I walk to Sora's room. The moment I enter, as if sensing me, she begins to stir. Releasing a sigh, I don a small smile as I slowly approach the bed and embrace her as soon as she lifts herself from the bed, "Good morning once again, sleepyhead."
She flinches a little, probably not expecting me to suddenly hug her like so - especially after how shocked she was with the peck from earlier. She doesn't back away though, and just replies in a low voice, "Good morning, Haru."
She hugs me back, quite tightly at that. After a short while, we break the hug, and I step out of the room.
I head to the kitchen and take a seat on the table as I begin contemplating some things. For starters, how the hell had I not crushed Sora despite my immensely increased strength. Even earlier, as I was about to hug her, for a brief moment I panicked internally about the possibility of hurting her. But then I immediately felt like everything would be fine.
Hm... Perhaps how I feel plays into it? Like, for instance, me not wanting to juice out my sister's insides limits my strength to much more... human levels?
All I know is that I've got to be more careful with how I handle my strength from now on. It's a miracle I haven't broken anything yet. Huh... perhaps it's related to my intent after all? But then what happened outside wouldn't make sense. Or... would it? Ugh, this is annoying to think about.
I'll... look into it later.
For now... I should consider what to do: How to prepare for my journey to another Platform. Specifically, Project Charlotte, as Juno named it.
The glaring problem with is how that I'll be leaving Sora here for who knows how long. That simply didn't sit well with me. Especially after the way she cried yesterday and words she uttered while doing so.
Heaving a heavy sigh, I rock the chair backwards as I stare at the wooden ceiling.
"Hey, Juno..."
[Yes?]
"Can I take Sora with me to that other Platform."
[I'm afraid that would be impossible for you at the moment.]
"Damn it..."
[Why? She would only be a hindrance.]
The way she said it annoys me. "Don't call her that."
[It's the truth.]
"For fuck's sake... I can't just leave her here all by herself!"
[You are fretting over nothing. While in a Platform, time in the Rift enter a form of stasis.]
"Really now?" Isn't that awfully convenient.
[Yes.]
Well... as suspicious as I find this, I'm not complaining if it's the truth. There is the possibility of her simply lying to me. Heck, I'm not even sure if I can trust her.
Yes, she's helping me understand what's going on and all that, but there is no guarantee that everything she's telling me is the truth. Especially with the whole "authorization" thing she mentioned earlier. That screamed suspicious.
For now, I can only go along with the flow and figure things out on the way.
Heaving a sigh, I close my eyes.
Through my perception, I can sense that Sora is preparing to take a bath. That gets me thinking about how we will be spending the time today.
And then I remember something crucial - school.
I ask in a low voice, "Do I seriously need to attend school?"
[No. It is recommended that you move to another location once you have returned from Project Charlotte.]
Oh, right... That's not exactly what I was asking, but sure. Still, why?
"Is there a reason for moving?"
[Yes.] Juno affirms. [As your body is intertwined with the aura of fate and time, once you leave the Rift, it destabilizes the laws here. Janus has already taken actions to deal with this, but some effects still remain.]
Was this supposed to answer my question or make me even more confused? I try to ask for a clearer response, especially about what fate and time exactly are, but she refuses to elaborate. Whatever; I will just leave it at supernatural shenanigans that require us to move - for now, that is. There is plenty of time to find out what she exactly means in the future.
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I notice that Sora is in the bath. This is as good of a time as ever to do my thing. So, I get up from the seat and make my way to my room. If what Juno said is true, Sora won't even know I'd been gone. Following that, I head to my room and lie down on the bed.
αφήνω - chant in my mind.
The next moment I find myself in The Mete, with Juno waiting for me. Upon noticing my arrival, she approaches and says, "As I've told you before, The Mete could provide you a physical body when you transport to a Platform. There are three ways it goes about it."
She then proceeds to tell me about the methods.
The first method is transcription. It's basically creating a carbon copy of my body in the Rift for a Platform.
The second method is arrogation. I get to take over the body of an already existing character, at the cost of being affected by their emotions and thoughts. It can be extremely dangerous if done on certain entities that Juno didn't go into too much detail about. Stick to humans is all she said.
The third and last method, Juno refused to tell me about no matter what. She claims that it's useless if I know about it and will do more harm and good if she did tell me.
Juno suggested that I use arrogation for this transport and take over the body of some guy that goes by the name, Yu Otosaka.
According to Juno, arrogation alters reality to the point that my appearance and existence will combine with that of Yu, to the point that everyone that knows him wouldn't suspect a thing unless I do something very drastic to make them suspicious.
Once I'm done preparing, my vision blips as I feel like I'm propelled into space in a random direction.
After what seems like an eternity, I feel an uncomfortable chill pass through me as I find myself in my new body, lying on the ground in an alleyway.
My memories immediately begin to merge with that of Yu Otosaka's.
From what I can tell, his life's a fairly ordinary one... Well aside from the fact that he lives alone with his sister. In a sense, anyways.
Relatively recently though, he suddenly realized that he had a supernatural power that allowed him to possess someone's body for around five seconds. During this process his body lost consciousness. He wasn't shy of using his power. Heck, he used it on a daily basis to his advantage. Possessing girls to check their bodies out, possessing guys to start group fights, possessing the smartest students in his class to copy their answers during examinations, and other such... not so good uses.
His best usage of the ability was at school, which he took advantage of as much as he could. As a result, he became the top student in his school and was recommended to go to a prestigious high school. Before the day of the entrance exams, he scouted for smart students that were going to be taking the entrance exam, and once the day arrived, he successfully managed to attain the top score by recognizing the ones that had crammed, possessing them, and copying their answers. Thus, he ended up achieving the top score and being chosen as the representative of the freshmen.
He didn't stop there but aimed for a strong romantic life as well - doing so by targeting the most beautiful girl in the school. The first time he made contact with her was after he had "saved" her from a truck that had lost control. The reality of the situation was that he had possessed the driver of said truck and steered the wheel in the girl's direction, before rushing in by himself to push her out of harm's way at the last moment like the white knight he was.
This effectively left deep impression on the girl, as she invited him out to eat with a female friend of hers.
Though, after this, things began to go downhill for him. It all began with him being called in by the student council the very next day. He was accused of cheating in the entrance exams and that he must take the exam again in front of a student council member and must get a score of at least 90. He refused at first, but then he was threatened with expulsion, thus sat down to take the exam reluctantly.
During the event, he possessed the body of the student council member and attempted to find anything that could help him in the exam, but it was to no avail. Once he returned to his body, he noticed that there was a white-haired girl beside him, pointing a camera at his face.
He panicked when the girl began explaining how she has been observing him for a while now and quickly runs out of the room. Soon, he realized that he was being chased by something extremely fast.
And that's where the memories cut off.
What a great start. Couldn't have I have arrived before he pulled all this shit off?
I quickly realize that it's bad for me to continue lying on the ground, so I hastily get up and begin running.
Ah... My speed has decreased.
Or so I say, but it's still well beyond what human should be capable of. Still, it's nowhere my speed back in the Rift.
I eventually leave the alleyway and reach a flight of stairs surrounded by patches of grass. Despite my senses being dulled, I can sense something behind me. I quickly look back behind me, only to see a blue-haired guy with glasses and a black school uniform just standing there. Upon a closer look, I notice several bruises and scratches all over his body. His clothes are also pretty torn up. It kind of reminds me what happened to my clothes in the Rift when I was still not used to my speed. Well, minus the injuries.
The guy suddenly shifts his body in a way that very clearly shows he is planning to sprint towards me. The next thing I know is that he's running at an astonishing speed that should be marginally beyond what I'm currently capable of in this world. Once close enough, he wraps his arms around me and somehow launches the two of us high into the air.
I look down and notice that there is a body of water right below us. A frown mars my face as I feel the guy's body against me.
With little force, I break free from his hold, following it with a punch which I make sure to limit the strength of in order to not blow his head up like a goddamned watermelon. He somehow manages to remain conscious.
No matter.
I look down and see that I'm heading straight into the water, as should the guy.
The next moment, I drop into the water and under.
For a short while I sink until my feet make contact with solid ground. Perfect.
I pour as much force into my feet as I can before leaping out of the water, directly over to the other side of the water canal.
Looking back, I see the glasses guy slowly swimming over.
For a moment, I contemplate simply escaping the area and going all rogue in this Platform. But then an image flashes in my mind - Yu Otosaka's little sister... No... My little sister.
Besides that, a few questions are swirling in my mind. For instance, why did Yu Otosaka have the power to possess others. From his memories, I could tell that having a supernatural power was completely abnormal. No one he knew had one.
This has me wondering about this glasses guy that's still swimming over. That speed of his is definitely superhuman. Though... did he obtain it recently? Considering how he's not used to it, that could be the case.
Once he finally reaches the land, I question him. "Who are you, and what's with that speed?"
"Teleportation," he replies, "An ability that allows me to cross great distances at a great speed, although I am unable to determine my stopping point. Who knows how many times I've been to the hospital because of it." His tone is a pitiful one towards the end.
The heck? Did he not attempt to master it, or is it that he simply can't?
"All right. And about who you are? What do you want with me?"
"I'm Jojiro Takajo," he says as he takes off his glasses to adjust them. How did that thing stay on anyways...?
"Lovely name. Doesn't exactly tell me anything about you or what you want with me."
At this moment, I sense someone approaching from the distance. Looking over, I see it's that girl with the camera from Yu's memories.
Joijiro doesn't say anything, so assuming that he's with her, I suppose he plans to either leave the talking to her or only start once we're all present.
We both wait for the girl to arrive. Once she does, she takes a moment to catch her breathe before looking me in the eyes.
"So, ready to tell me who you guys are and what you want with me?" I voice with crossed arms. Water drips down onto the ground. Being wet sucks.
"As I've told you before, I'm Nao Tomori, student council president of Hoshinoumi Academy. We are here to get you to transfer to our school."
I examine the girl from head to toe. She has medium-length greyish-white hair tied into short twin tails with dark hair ties. Her eyes are a beautiful sapphire blue. She wears what seems to be a school uniform which consists of a red blazer with a yellow bow tie, and a reddish-brown pleated skirt.
Their objective is sure an odd one. Transfer to their school? Thinking about the reason they want me there, it must be because of my ability, no? In that case, was the school a hotpot of students with powers? As amusing as that would be, I don't see any benefits in going along with their demand.
"And what if I were to refuse?" I question her with a squint of my eyes.
The next moment, she practically vanishes from my sight. While I am not able to see her, I sure can sense her properly. She throws a punch at my face, to which I casually tilt my head and avoid.
So, that's her ability. Joijiro can 'teleport' (pfft) in a shitty manner while she turns invisible.
A look of surprise covers the girl's face from what I can sense. She probably didn't expect me to dodge her attack. I grin as I expectantly wait for her next move.