Alternate Dimension (Part 30)
Throughout the day, I played the leading role for Kotomi's class of 2-1 several times to the visitors. I didn't pay any attention to what I was doing or what the play was about as my body moved by itself, just as I was "programmed" to do yesterday. Since I'm feeling bored being stuck here, so I'm going to take a look at what Saeko is up to now.
Ugh, Mamiko is reading my mind and is seeing what I'm seeing right now just because she's bored when acting in Kotomi's class. I can't stop her from doing that because, technically, the body I'm in now was originally hers, but she is now stuck with her clone's body. Still, it's giving me the creeps. How did I end up in this body, I don't know. I don't even know who I was prior to that. The only memories I have are what this body had, which are obviously not mine. (It's stranger that I am able to think of that.) I bet she's happy with that cloned body of hers since she no longer needs to feed herself or head to the toilet. The weird part is that if someone did things that would kill her, her body reacts as though she actually is dying, complete with real blood, realistic reaction to it, and having difficulty moving or speaking as time passed by. However, in her mind when this is all going on, she's actually all right, and can only move and revert back to her healthy self when nobody, except me or someone we trust, is looking. It's her body's mechanism to deceive the killers that she has actually been killed by them. She is however, annoyed with the part of not being able to move as she wants to when it happens. So much for being invincible: it's useless when trying to stop someone with a lot of weapons or helpers without avoiding their attacks.
Last night, she came home with that Kenjiro guy even though, in her mind, she doesn't want him to, but the words that came out of her mouth says otherwise. I had to hide, because she hasn't introduced me to him yet and that I look exactly like her. Wasn't hard as the house is quite large: if you were to enter via the main entrance, it would look just like the other units in the apartment building, which itself forms a small percentage of the total area of the house that is hidden behind a door that guests are least likely to open. Anyway, sometime after she took a shower, I actually find myself blushing for no apparent reason and I found myself sitting on a seat with sticky liquid of some sort. Huh? I thought that seat was dry? I even touched the seat with my hands before seating down and felt nothing! Where did it come from? If it's an air-con leak, it wouldn't be sticky and I didn't bring any drink of any sort here... I'm puzzled as to what happened.
I met up with Kotomi's siblings. To Mamiko, this would mean seeing them again. They really can't tell me apart from her. Since she is controlling me now, what she said to the oldest sibling about telling me apart from her would be useless unless they were to look out for something not obvious. When she's in control of me, I can only watch. If she lets me, control the other one. It's hard to be someone whom I'm not, except that I am forced to.
What on earth was Saeko thinking about? I can tell it has something to do with me... Anyway, I took over control of her and met up with Kousei, Izumi, and Shin'ichi again. They were at the building opposite Kotomi's classroom of 2-1.
Izumi: "Eh? Weren't you supposed to be helping Kotomi-oneechan's classmates with the performance? What are you doing here? Aren't you the leading actress of it?"
Shin'ichi was looking for the barely visible distinguishing factor between my original and cloned bodies which gave him the wrong impression of something else. I can tell from the whispers of the people around me.
Me: "Well, I got bored from the monotonous acting, so I took care of it. And Shin'ichi, I know what you are trying to do, but the way you're doing it gives the people around us the wrong impression."
Kousei: "Huh?"
I'm confusing myself if continue to keep a secret about the other me. Not to mention that people might have already seen the 2 of us together or not too long earlier. I don't see the point of keeping this so-called secret.
Me: "Shin'ichi, I did tell you earlier that there are two of me, right?"
He nodded. The other two were shocked.
Me: "And that the two of us behave differently, right?"
Shin'ichi: "Yes, you are the one whom I talked to this morning, but I don't see you wearing that inside even though you said you can't remove it."
Kousei: "What are you two talking about?"
Me: "Well, if you all come to Kotomi's classroom with me, you'll know why."
It shouldn't take that long to get there, but the crowd made it harder to get around. The students in charge of admission outside class 2-1 recognized Kotomi's siblings, but got a shock when they saw me. In a state of panic, he look at the me with the siblings and the me acting currently inside. He didn't say anything, but he let all of us in without paying or waiting in the line. An acting section has just ended. People of 2-1 were shocked to see the both of us.
Me: "Oh, don't mind me. I'm just her twin sister dropping by to watch."
Izumi (whispering): "T-There are t-two of y-you! W-What i-is g-going on?"
Me (whispering): "The one right here is like an android, but was originally a human. Since my mind is merged with it, I can control it as though I am that android. The drawback is that my mind is somewhat trapped in it because of that and can't control my original body for long, which should be shortly before the festival ends today. It's strange for me to say this, but I was actually programmed to perform today's act by your sister."
Kousei (whispering): "Speaking of Kotomi-oneechan, she's been acting rather weird lately."
Me (via cloned body): "Oh, that's because..."
Ack, my voice came out from over there. A sign that I'm losing control of my original body for a while.
Me (whispering): "...I travelled to the future and your future selves showed me about an tragic incident that is to happen in Winter next year."
I explained what it was about after we headed to the computer room Kotomi dragged me to earlier that now has the "Authorized Personnel Only" sign on the outside. I also mentioned that the files were placed on her old computer at her birthday last year, but she never saw it until some days ago.
Izumi: "You mean that it will happen?"
Me: "Only if she is not aware of it taking place. Though this could change, like how changing the past affects the present. Since she and all of us know now, this could change, but we don't know if they would still attack her or how differently."
Kousei: "But what can we do? I can only think of stopping them, which is impossible for me."
Me: "And if their attacks hit my other body, I would be limited in movement and can't do anything for a while. Really get killed if they go after the one I'm in now."
The door suddenly opened. It's Kotomi! She's also wearing the student council and organization committee armbands.
Kotomi: "Well, I wanted to keep it a secret, but this involves my life. Unlike Hisakawa-san here who has somewhere to fall back to that can't die, I fear that I would fade into nothingness if it were to actually happen, especially when I have not yet experience life in full before even becoming an adult. I think I can reprogram you so that attacks would not penetrate you and prevent your body from going into a 'pretending-to-be-dead/killed' mode."
The way she addressed me was as though she neither knew nor care about me. She also looked at me for a while but had a sigh of disappointment.
Kotomi: "I forgot... The one capable of what I just said is not here. Saeko, bring her to your workplace at the end of the day. I will be there. I have a lot of things to do now."
At that point she left. She didn't even let us say anything, not that we have anything to say. However, her eyes says something completely different, something that her straight-to-the-point tone of voice did not give a hint of. She's quite good at hiding her true emotions and only showed her true feelings to me. She didn't this time because her siblings are with me.
Izumi: "See? She's acting weird."
Shin'ichi: "How did she know we are here?"
Me: "She was the one who placed that sign outside and she programmed today's act for me here."
Izumi: "Booking a room for the whole day just to tell us this?"
Me: "Well, this room is rarely used, not to mention that it was never planned to be used at all during the festival. People won't come in here even if that sign weren't there."
Shin'ichi: "Wait... Hisakawa-san? Weren't you that mysterious girl who dragged around a dead body in a wheelchair I saw during the holiday trip with our cousin's classmates not too long ago?"
Me: "Erm, that wasn't a dead body. It's just paralysed and can't do anything even if it wanted to. Had to let customs check the heart or use a mind reader to prove that it's not a dead body even though it looks like it. Since a part of me was her, I can say that it's frustrating that people do what you don't want them to do, but unable to do anything about it. But yes, the two of them are me."
Shin'ichi: "You didn't make your presence known to us. No wonder I didn't notice you, not to mention that I don't recognize you as a girl back then."
Me: "Speaking of which, why wasn't your memory about me modified like everyone else? Only employees of my company did not have theirs modified."
Shin'ichi: "Well, onee-chan brought me to her workplace for help with uncle in the middle of May. The place is messy and searching around is hard with the place in a mess. It took me whole night. So, in some ways, I was working for them or was inside one of the buildings of the company when whatever happened to you happened."
Izumi: "Our memory of you?"
Kousei: "Modified?"
It looks that I have a lot of explaining to do that could take all day. I lost interest in the school festival anyway.
[Author's note: Part 29 seem to have a lot of conflicts with earlier parts...]
*****
Ugh, Mamiko is reading my mind and is seeing what I'm seeing right now just because she's bored when acting in Kotomi's class. I can't stop her from doing that because, technically, the body I'm in now was originally hers, but she is now stuck with her clone's body. Still, it's giving me the creeps. How did I end up in this body, I don't know. I don't even know who I was prior to that. The only memories I have are what this body had, which are obviously not mine. (It's stranger that I am able to think of that.) I bet she's happy with that cloned body of hers since she no longer needs to feed herself or head to the toilet. The weird part is that if someone did things that would kill her, her body reacts as though she actually is dying, complete with real blood, realistic reaction to it, and having difficulty moving or speaking as time passed by. However, in her mind when this is all going on, she's actually all right, and can only move and revert back to her healthy self when nobody, except me or someone we trust, is looking. It's her body's mechanism to deceive the killers that she has actually been killed by them. She is however, annoyed with the part of not being able to move as she wants to when it happens. So much for being invincible: it's useless when trying to stop someone with a lot of weapons or helpers without avoiding their attacks.
Last night, she came home with that Kenjiro guy even though, in her mind, she doesn't want him to, but the words that came out of her mouth says otherwise. I had to hide, because she hasn't introduced me to him yet and that I look exactly like her. Wasn't hard as the house is quite large: if you were to enter via the main entrance, it would look just like the other units in the apartment building, which itself forms a small percentage of the total area of the house that is hidden behind a door that guests are least likely to open. Anyway, sometime after she took a shower, I actually find myself blushing for no apparent reason and I found myself sitting on a seat with sticky liquid of some sort. Huh? I thought that seat was dry? I even touched the seat with my hands before seating down and felt nothing! Where did it come from? If it's an air-con leak, it wouldn't be sticky and I didn't bring any drink of any sort here... I'm puzzled as to what happened.
I met up with Kotomi's siblings. To Mamiko, this would mean seeing them again. They really can't tell me apart from her. Since she is controlling me now, what she said to the oldest sibling about telling me apart from her would be useless unless they were to look out for something not obvious. When she's in control of me, I can only watch. If she lets me, control the other one. It's hard to be someone whom I'm not, except that I am forced to.
*****
What on earth was Saeko thinking about? I can tell it has something to do with me... Anyway, I took over control of her and met up with Kousei, Izumi, and Shin'ichi again. They were at the building opposite Kotomi's classroom of 2-1.
Izumi: "Eh? Weren't you supposed to be helping Kotomi-oneechan's classmates with the performance? What are you doing here? Aren't you the leading actress of it?"
Shin'ichi was looking for the barely visible distinguishing factor between my original and cloned bodies which gave him the wrong impression of something else. I can tell from the whispers of the people around me.
Me: "Well, I got bored from the monotonous acting, so I took care of it. And Shin'ichi, I know what you are trying to do, but the way you're doing it gives the people around us the wrong impression."
Kousei: "Huh?"
I'm confusing myself if continue to keep a secret about the other me. Not to mention that people might have already seen the 2 of us together or not too long earlier. I don't see the point of keeping this so-called secret.
Me: "Shin'ichi, I did tell you earlier that there are two of me, right?"
He nodded. The other two were shocked.
Me: "And that the two of us behave differently, right?"
Shin'ichi: "Yes, you are the one whom I talked to this morning, but I don't see you wearing that inside even though you said you can't remove it."
Kousei: "What are you two talking about?"
Me: "Well, if you all come to Kotomi's classroom with me, you'll know why."
It shouldn't take that long to get there, but the crowd made it harder to get around. The students in charge of admission outside class 2-1 recognized Kotomi's siblings, but got a shock when they saw me. In a state of panic, he look at the me with the siblings and the me acting currently inside. He didn't say anything, but he let all of us in without paying or waiting in the line. An acting section has just ended. People of 2-1 were shocked to see the both of us.
Me: "Oh, don't mind me. I'm just her twin sister dropping by to watch."
Izumi (whispering): "T-There are t-two of y-you! W-What i-is g-going on?"
Me (whispering): "The one right here is like an android, but was originally a human. Since my mind is merged with it, I can control it as though I am that android. The drawback is that my mind is somewhat trapped in it because of that and can't control my original body for long, which should be shortly before the festival ends today. It's strange for me to say this, but I was actually programmed to perform today's act by your sister."
Kousei (whispering): "Speaking of Kotomi-oneechan, she's been acting rather weird lately."
Me (via cloned body): "Oh, that's because..."
Ack, my voice came out from over there. A sign that I'm losing control of my original body for a while.
Me (whispering): "...I travelled to the future and your future selves showed me about an tragic incident that is to happen in Winter next year."
I explained what it was about after we headed to the computer room Kotomi dragged me to earlier that now has the "Authorized Personnel Only" sign on the outside. I also mentioned that the files were placed on her old computer at her birthday last year, but she never saw it until some days ago.
Izumi: "You mean that it will happen?"
Me: "Only if she is not aware of it taking place. Though this could change, like how changing the past affects the present. Since she and all of us know now, this could change, but we don't know if they would still attack her or how differently."
Kousei: "But what can we do? I can only think of stopping them, which is impossible for me."
Me: "And if their attacks hit my other body, I would be limited in movement and can't do anything for a while. Really get killed if they go after the one I'm in now."
The door suddenly opened. It's Kotomi! She's also wearing the student council and organization committee armbands.
Kotomi: "Well, I wanted to keep it a secret, but this involves my life. Unlike Hisakawa-san here who has somewhere to fall back to that can't die, I fear that I would fade into nothingness if it were to actually happen, especially when I have not yet experience life in full before even becoming an adult. I think I can reprogram you so that attacks would not penetrate you and prevent your body from going into a 'pretending-to-be-dead/killed' mode."
The way she addressed me was as though she neither knew nor care about me. She also looked at me for a while but had a sigh of disappointment.
Kotomi: "I forgot... The one capable of what I just said is not here. Saeko, bring her to your workplace at the end of the day. I will be there. I have a lot of things to do now."
At that point she left. She didn't even let us say anything, not that we have anything to say. However, her eyes says something completely different, something that her straight-to-the-point tone of voice did not give a hint of. She's quite good at hiding her true emotions and only showed her true feelings to me. She didn't this time because her siblings are with me.
Izumi: "See? She's acting weird."
Shin'ichi: "How did she know we are here?"
Me: "She was the one who placed that sign outside and she programmed today's act for me here."
Izumi: "Booking a room for the whole day just to tell us this?"
Me: "Well, this room is rarely used, not to mention that it was never planned to be used at all during the festival. People won't come in here even if that sign weren't there."
Shin'ichi: "Wait... Hisakawa-san? Weren't you that mysterious girl who dragged around a dead body in a wheelchair I saw during the holiday trip with our cousin's classmates not too long ago?"
Me: "Erm, that wasn't a dead body. It's just paralysed and can't do anything even if it wanted to. Had to let customs check the heart or use a mind reader to prove that it's not a dead body even though it looks like it. Since a part of me was her, I can say that it's frustrating that people do what you don't want them to do, but unable to do anything about it. But yes, the two of them are me."
Shin'ichi: "You didn't make your presence known to us. No wonder I didn't notice you, not to mention that I don't recognize you as a girl back then."
Me: "Speaking of which, why wasn't your memory about me modified like everyone else? Only employees of my company did not have theirs modified."
Shin'ichi: "Well, onee-chan brought me to her workplace for help with uncle in the middle of May. The place is messy and searching around is hard with the place in a mess. It took me whole night. So, in some ways, I was working for them or was inside one of the buildings of the company when whatever happened to you happened."
Izumi: "Our memory of you?"
Kousei: "Modified?"
It looks that I have a lot of explaining to do that could take all day. I lost interest in the school festival anyway.
[Author's note: Part 29 seem to have a lot of conflicts with earlier parts...]
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