kscans

I ended up stepping into the supernatural world after getting caught in a conflict between certain organizations.

It really happened out of nowhere. I was walking through Shibuya chatting with my buddy when suddenly I was hit with intense dizziness.

When I came to, not only was my friend gone, but all the pedestrians had vanished too, and the scenery had taken on this weird psychedelic quality.

I didn’t understand at the time, but I’d been caught in a shifted phase space created by those bastards for their conflict.

Those guys were scum, but they did at least observe the unwritten rule of the supernatural world, the minimum standard of not involving ordinary people.

Shifted phase space. A parallel dimension called the alternate world, mirror world, or slide space. Normal people can’t enter there.

But unfortunately, I… no, “we”… possessed powers that disqualified us from being considered ordinary people.

“What is this place? What the hell is going on?!”

“Another person?! Oh, thank goodness… I’m not alone.”

“Calm down. Let’s start with introductions, shall we?”

And that’s how we met. Not that I wish we hadn’t… I don’t regret that encounter, even now that we’ve parted ways.

Anyway. That’s when our paths first crossed. Just a bunch of unlucky guys who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught up in this mess. Three kids unintentionally dragged into the middle of a conflict.

What do you think the people who started the conflict would do? Let us out? They could, but it would be a hassle. Move us somewhere safe? There was no safe zone.

Those guys, fed up with the situation, ordered their underlings to dispose of us, but neither I nor the others were resigned enough to accept that quietly.

We combined our strengths and fought back with everything we had… thanks to that, Chika-san was able to save us just in the nick of time.

From then on, being three guys caught up in the same mess, I started hanging out with Takahashi and Suzuki.

“Hey, remember our faces? Well, doesn’t matter if you do or not.”

“Yeah. Let’s do this.”

“Time for some payback.”

We got stronger and went back to get revenge on the organization that had dragged us into the supernatural world.

“How’s that, idiots?! You underestimated us because we were kids, didn’t you?! How about I shove firecrackers up your ass!!”

“Wait, wait, Satou. Firecrackers are too cruel. Let’s go with beer instead. Hey, punks! Ready to chug?!”

“Satou-kun, Takahashi-kun. You’re being incredibly undignified.”

“Huh? After everything they did to us, you’re letting them off easy?!”

“Don’t be so aggressive, Takahashi. So, Suzuki, what do you plan to do?”

“How about we shave off all their body hair, take pictures, and release them on the internet?”

“Genius alert!”

“Let’s go all out while we’re at it!”

Those days with them were really fun.

There were tough times too, but after overcoming them, the three of us would laugh like idiots.

I thought it would last forever. That our youthful days would never end.

But we chose different paths. And we reached the point where it wouldn’t end unless one of us killed the other.

Takahashi was the first one I settled things with.

“…damn, you’re really strong.”

Fallen and looking up at the sky, Takahashi was smiling.

“But, well, if I’m going to lose to anyone… I’m glad it’s you.”

If I was going to kill him, that wasn’t so bad.

“Come on, kill me. If you don’t, I won’t stop. I still believe the path I’ve chosen… is worth risking my life for. Just because I lost doesn’t mean I’ll give up. If you don’t kill me, I’ll keep chasing my dream, as pathetic as it might look.”

In Takahashi’s eyes as he looked up at me was a strong light tainted with obsession.

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but understand. I had no choice but to kill him. Yeah, I understood it in my head. But I couldn’t accept it.

From the beginning, I didn’t really care about how the world was supposed to be.

I parted ways with the two of them because what they were aiming for just didn’t sit right with me.

Fighting alongside Chika-san was just because “Well, maintaining the status quo doesn’t bother me.”

While I had personal affection for both of them, I couldn’t get that invested in the future they envisioned.

How could I accept having to kill a friend over something so trivial?

“Don’t screw with me!!!!”

And that’s when I snapped.

I didn’t intend to deliver the finishing blow. I just wanted to punch the idiot who was confronting me with such a ridiculous choice.

Really… really, that’s all I meant to do.

I grabbed him by the collar and punched him. Takahashi went flying.

He tried to say something, but before he could, something strange happened.

“Wha… guah… AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!?!?!”

A terrible scream unlike any he’d let out even during our fight.

No way, why? I—I didn’t mean to… I panicked. I was truly terrified.

Takahashi’s body began to melt, and the strange liquified substance formed a cocoon around him.

Not knowing what to do, I stood there frozen for a moment, then rushed over and desperately tried to tear away the cocoon.

Now I could probably forcibly remove it, but back then I was helpless, consumed by frustration.

After about ten minutes, cracks suddenly appeared in the cocoon. The fissures spread, the cocoon shattered, and from inside emerged…

“—Huh?”

An unfamiliar girl. Completely naked.

Seriously, all the tense emotions I’d been feeling vanished in an instant. It was too bizarre to comprehend.

“I… what’s… happening to me…”

Looking into those eyes, I instinctively knew it was Takahashi.

But unlike the previous Takahashi, there was no obsessive light in those eyes.

I didn’t really understand, but whatever. Good! I knocked Takahashi out on the spot and asked the Mutual Aid Society members who had joined me to take care of the situation.

The Mutual Aid Society probably wanted to kill him, but I insisted.

“If you’re going to lay a hand on Takahashi, I’m walking away right now.”

After all the battles ended, Suzuki, who had also turned into a woman like Takahashi, was released.

The interrogation revealed that his previous ideology had disappeared. Why had that obsession that consumed him vanished? Because he had become a woman.

Ideology has nothing to do with gender? Maybe that’s true. But what about the process that led to adopting that ideology? Couldn’t gender play a role there?

Men and women think differently, perceive things differently. Takahashi, through masculine thinking, came to desire chaos.

But with the thought process of a woman, Takahashi could no longer arrive at the ideological conclusion of chaos. The same went for Suzuki.

That’s why they were deemed harmless and released. Though I’m sure some consideration for me played a part too.

After turning them into women and handing them over to the Mutual Aid Society, I never met Takahashi or Suzuki again.

You could say I couldn’t face them. When the Society explained that their ideology had disappeared, that feeling only grew stronger.

The two of them didn’t die. But in a sense, they experienced a kind of death.

I killed the male versions of Takahashi and Suzuki. That fact can never be changed.

They apparently accepted it despite their confusion, but still…

And they never said they wanted to meet me either. They probably felt guilty for having opposed me.

Both I and they thought we’d never meet again.

(Or at least… that’s what I thought…)

By some twist of fate, we ran into each other.

The fact that they recognized me immediately while I didn’t recognize them right away.

The fact that I didn’t recognize them and was exclaiming, “Look at that hot chick! Woohoo!”

(I want to die of embarrassment…)

Kill me! Can somebody please kill me?!