3.1

Hello world

Everything was covered in deep darkness, impossible to make out anything at all. In that void, Hiro kept on wandering aimlessly, searching for something. Suddenly, he could feel warmth, which soon turned into a burning heat. The young man screamed out in pain but he could hear nothing. Hiro collapsed as his body melted away.

“What the!”

The young man sat up to find himself back in Owain’s place. It was just a strange nightmare. He looked around the room which was still empty except for Suiren sitting there next to him.

Hiro could remember the battle, after that, he just fainted until now.

Just as he managed to clear his mind, a man entered the room. It was the doctor who arrived in the middle of that fight, Victor the Heretic. For some reason, the young man felt like the timing for this entrance was no coincident.

“I see that you are awake”

“Yes, just right now”

The doctor brought another chair in with him.

“Do you mind if I sit here for a bit?”

“No, not at all”

“Alright then” Victor did just that, sat down next to the bed.

Hiro continued to observe the doctor. He seemed to be a normal person, and yet there was this uneasy feeling. Perhaps because of Willow’s scathing description of the old man. That or Hiro was just being paranoid about ‘doctors’.

Victor looked straight into the young man eyes with concern.

“How are you feeling now?”

“I’m fine, thanks for asking and for patching me and Suiren up as well”

“Well, aren’t you a polite young man” Victor smiled with no hint of malice “No problem, it is my job after all. I am glad to see you back up and about.

Victor looked over him one more time, searching for anything out of the ordinary. There seemed to be nothing outwardly worrying. The doctor was satisfied with that.

“Anyway, I want to talk to you about something. If it makes you uncomfortable, I will stop. Is that alright with you?”

“Well, if anything is disturbing, I will make sure you know of it”

“It’s just one question really. When I was trying to fix your headache, I found something. Signs of abnormal activities, another brain wave, tapping into your memory bank but different. Another personality, if that make sense?”

Momo-chan: [Wait, is he talking about me?]

Hiro: {I believe so}

Momo-chan: [But how could he now, I mean, would a brain scan show something like that?]

Hiro: {No, it wouldn’t but we don’t know what the people here are capable of. What if he actually found out about you}

Momo-chan: [That, or maybe you have a brain tumour]

Hiro: {I certainly hope it is the former… So?}

Momo-chan: [So what?]

Hiro: {So, do you mind me telling him about you or not?}

The question warranted some thinking. On one hand, this was such a strange situation that any explanation would be welcomed. On the other hand, Hiro was not sure he wanted to divulge about Momo-chan to someone whose titled ‘the Heretic’.

Momo-chan: [Well, I don’t mind. I mean, he doesn’t seem to be a bad guy… For someone who is called ‘the Heretic’ at least]

So that was a yes then. Now for the explanation.

“Yes, it does. I do have someone currently sharing this body with me. A six year younger version of me whom I call, Momo-chan”

Momo-chan: [Is that final part necessary…]

Hiro: {It sure is, Momo-chan}

“I see. Is the -chan honorific or is it part of his name, Momochan?”

“It is an honorific yes, so he is Momo… But I like to call him Momo-chan”

“Would it be alright if I call him that as well?”

“No problem”

This went a bit different from what Hiro had expected. He dumped a whole lot of crazy sounding things, but Victor seemed to take it quite well. That or maybe he was a good actor.

The doctor noticed his concern of course.

“To clarify, having another person in your mind is unprecedented here”

“… You seemed to accept that awfully quick though”

“Well, while there is no recorded case of that. There is always a possibility” Victor leaned at his chair “You see, you were summoned here to be our saviour, you and many others. But something went wrong. I believe the princess had told you about that?”

The ‘princess’ here was probably referring to Willow, he decided to ask her about that directly later on.

“Willow did told me yes. Is this somehow related?”

“I believe so. You see, when a person is summoned here, the god crafts him a new body once. He then transfers, not copy, transfers your mind here to inhabit that new body. Something went wrong this time, however, so you from two points in time were called upon. This is all a hypothesis of course”

“Wait, you are saying my mind is transferred, then what happened to the old me?”

“Don’t worry, you can return there and no time would have passed at all since your departure. That works both way”

Such a revelation delivered so casually. So there was a way to return after all! Hiro didn’t feel particularly enthusiastic about that though.

“Does that mean I can go… back?”

“Yes, there is a way to return anytime. But unfortunately, due to the troubled summoning, the way back is closed for now. Worry not, I will fix that soon enough”

“I see”

Hiro had no other enquiry about that at all, a part of him didn’t want to know, and so was Momo-chan who remains quiet. The young man suddenly remembered something, however.

“Wait, can I ask you about something, about the other person inside my head, Momo-chan”

“I am all ears. How can I help you?”

“No, I am just wondering… If there is a way for him to, you know, take control of this body? Well, I mean could you make it so?”

Momo-chan: [Wait, what is this about!]

Questioned Momo-chan who received no answer.

“Yes of course, I can make that happen”

“Then can you do that if possible, let him takes control of this body. Well, not all the time of course, just occasionally. I would be very grateful if you could”

Momo-chan: [What are you talking about!]

“I can make it so that you still have the final say. So you could still decide who get take a ride if you know what I mean”

“That would be perfect”

Momo-chan: [I said wait!]

Victor looked at him, amused by the young man decision. Nevertheless, he complied to his patient request. The doctor removed his right glove and put his hand in front of the young man’s face.

Hiro was once again greeted by the smiley face made out of nail. A ghastly sight.

Black smoke emitted from the doctor hand into Hiro’s brain. The young man didn’t feel anything but a strange feeling of uneasiness. The whole process only took a moment.

“HEY, I TOLD YOU TO WAIT!... Wait”

Hiro, or more like his body, suddenly busted out loud. Victor looked at him and smiles.

“You must be Momo-chan”

“Ugh… yes”

“Nice to meet you then, I am Victor”

The doctor reached out his hand and Momo-chan shook it. He could feel the coldness of the metal nails blended in the warmth of the old man palm. Victor suddenly realised something.

“Oh dear, I forgot to formally introduce myself to the other you. And I even prepared a whole scene, dialogues and all”

“You did…”

“Well, I am not really good with introduction so if unscripted, I tended to get nervous and ramble too much about unrelated things. I kind of fumbled that when I met with Conrad. It was kind of a surprise to see him, I was actually wandering in that area for another reason entirely. So when I suddenly met him, I had to improve quite a bit, like how it was all planned or something… I am rambling, right?”

“It’s all right… At least this doesn’t seem too out of nowhere…”

“Still, sorry for that” Victor looked away “Anyway, you should rest a bit to see if there is any side effect to this procedure. When it’s meal time, Mrs. Pryce would fetch you”

“Ah, thanks for that”

Momo-chan fumbled as he tried to get up but Victor had already reached the door. The doctor remembered something again though.

“Oh I nearly forgot. Nice to meet you, Mr. Hiro, I am Victor”

“Uh, nice to meet you too…”

“You are still Momo-chan right?”

“Yes”

“Then I guess I will introduce myself later”

With that, the doctor excused himself, leaving Momo-chan with a less able body than one he was used to. Anyway, now was the time for answer.

Momo-chan: [Why did you even do all of this for!]

Hiro: {Well, I thought you would like it to be able to move around?}

Momo-chan: [I can’t deny that but still… what if I am some sort of evil being that is raring to take control of you to do… bad stuffs]

Hiro: {Are you an evil being that is raring to take control of me to do bad stuffs then?}

Momo-chan: [Of course not, but if I am one, that would still be my answer anyway]

Hiro: {Well, you can’t even say any bad deeds but just bad stuffs. I think I will be fine}

Momo-chan: [You seem rather fine with this arrangement]

Hiro: {You tell me, aren’t you the one most familiar with what it is like to be in here?}

Momo-chan: [I guess…]

To be honest, there wasn’t any difference than normal that Hiro could feel, other than not being able to move his body of course. But strangely enough, that didn’t seem to be a problem.

Hiro: {So, what it’s like to be able to move around}

Momo-chan: [I… I don’t know, there is suddenly so many things that I am trying to decipher. Well, one thing I know for sure is that you have certainly ruined our body]

Hiro: {Anything other than that?} Back in the day, Hiro was rather athletic, was.

Momo-chan: [Hmmm, I feel so compelled. I mean compelled to do something. This is something I have felt before but now there is this urge to act upon it. This is too weird…]

Momo-chan sighed both outside and inside. He lied back down and pulled up the blanket, it was rather cold here. Before, everything he felt would be acted upon but now, to do them himself feels so foreign… Not too foreign of course, he did have a body before after all.

Hiro: {What do you feel then, what is the most prominent I mean?}

Momo-chan: [That, it’s… nothing]

Hiro: {It’s fine to be something mundane, I just want to know}

Momo-chan: [Well I told you it’s nothing!]

That’s reaction was different from what Hiro had expected. Was the boy trying to hide something, the young man could smell blood.

Hiro: {What’s is it? Oh, Is it a girl?}

“Pfft!” Momo-chan needed to learn to control what to contain his reaction to the inside, Hiro thought to himself.

Momo-chan: [Yes, so what]

Now that was easier than he had expected, Hiro felt rather deflated.

Hiro: {Is it about Class Rep?}

Momo-chan: [No… I actually haven’t thought of her for a long time now. She just vanished from my mind somehow]

Hiro: {I see}

Momo-chan: […]

Hiro {Is it Caron?} Momo-chan: [It’s Suiren]

Hiro: {…} Momo-chan: […]

Momo-chan: [What the heck was that! Why did you think I would have a crush on Caron!]

Hiro: {Well, during our time here, we interacted with her and Owain the most after all. Besides, she is young, pretty, intelligence and nice?}

Momo-chan: [She has a lover!]

Hiro: {Well, that didn’t stop you… us before}

Momo-chan: [But back then we didn’t know Class Rep already had a boyfriend! Or did you try to do something?]

Hiro: {No, of course not. I… gave up}

Just saying that sound rather pathetic. Even though Momo-chan would full well understand that. He was from that period after all, well right before that.

Momo-chan: [Anyway, that was different. We didn’t even know she had a boyfriend then. But Owain is right here, staring us in the face everyday! How did you even come up with that!]

Hiro: {I told you, she was the female we interacted the most during the past week so that’s why!}

Momo-chan: [Well… there is Suiren]

Hiro: {… To be honest, that thought never cross my mind}

And it was not because she was like a mindless aide. No, Hiro and Momo-chan had never thought of her that way. To them, she was always a human being and her brutality and actions, while disturbing, had shown that the woman had agency, that she had an identity. A faded identity but it still existed.

The two remained silent, not knowing what to say. While Suiren to them was a person, the fact that she would follow their order didn’t help.

Hiro: {Well, do you want to do something about it then. Now that you have a body}

Momo-chan: [That sounded wrong somehow. As if I have some sort of motive]

Hiro: {Do you?}

Momo-chan: [Yes…]

Hiro: {Then what do you want to do then}

Momo-chan: [I… it’s just feel too wrong to ask her something like that]

Hiro: {What is it then, Momo-chan?}

Momo-chan: [I… I… want to hold her hand…]

That… was surprisingly tame. And Hiro knew that Momo-chan wasn’t lying either. That was truly what he wanted to do.

Hiro: {Then ask her for it}

Momo-chan: [But that’s just…}

Hiro: {Just what! Here we are, stuck in this world that we know next to nothing! Here, we have been chased by monster and masked people! We had too many close calls already! You never know what will happen tomorrow. So just… at least have this}

Momo-chan: […]

That was certainly passionate. Hiro didn’t even know himself what happened there. It just erupted, after so long lain dormant. At least his words seemed to reach his younger self.

Momo-chan reached out nervously. He asked, not ordered but asked. The difference may only lie in him but that was fine, for now.

“Could... could you hold my hand?”

To the boy surprise, Suiren remained seated there, unmoving. In that moment, his heart dropped. It only last a moment though as the woman soon reached out and held his hand gently. And so, Momo-chan continued to lie there, holding her hand. To him, this was enough, he was happy, for now.

Hiro, however, was feeling the opposite. He had suspected this for a while now. The young man noticed that Suiren would always follows her order slightly sooner than when it was conveyed verbally. Just like the captain with his aides, the directive was given telepathically, something Momo-chan hadn’t realised.

And Suiren only accepted order from Hiro only, him and no one else.