Tale of Discovery

Chapter 6: First Jump

I head back to the house, as I don't want a panicking Sora early in the morning.

I go to Sora's room, the only room with a bed, and notice that Sora is still sleeping. As if sensing I am here, she slowly wakes up.

I slowly approach the bed, and hold her in my arms as soon as she lifts herself from the bed and softly say to her,

"Good morning, Sora."

She flinches a little, probably not expecting her brother to suddenly hug her early in the morning. She doesn't back away though, and just replies in a low voice,

"Good morning."

After a short while, I let her go and step out of the room and head towards my own. As I'm walking, I realize that I need to take a bath.

As soon as I reach my room, I look for my stuff, underwear, bath towel, etc.

I then make my way to the bath. Thank goodness I have this body's memories unlocked or else I would be struggling a lot right now.

I step into the bath, and turn on the tap water, and wait for the tub to be filled. There is a bath mirror attached to the wall. After I'm done taking off my clothes, I head over to the mirror and examine my naked body.

Toned muscles and abs. Smooth and pristine skin. It's going to sound narcissistic, but I must say that I have a very fine-looking body and face. My height should be about 168cm.

I find someone peeping inside through a gap in the door using my senses, but I decide to not pay it much attention and continue taking a bath.

After a solid 30 minutes, I leave the bath, put on some casual clothes, and head to the kitchen, and take a seat on the table as Sora cooks. I take a look at her and notice that she is in her school uniform.

Oh. I had completely forgotten about school... I don't think it's necessary to go to school though.

Irritated, I ask in a low voice,

"Do I need to attend school?"

"No. It is recommended that you move to another location once you have returned from Project Charlotte." , came an instant reply inside my head.

That's a relief. But, why do we need to move though?

"Is there a reason for moving?" , I ask after deliberating.

"Yes." , she affirms.

"As your body has the aura of time and fate attached to it, 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 will just leave it at that. There is plenty of time to find out what she exactly means in the future.

Once breakfast is prepared, Sora and I silently eat. After eating, I inform Sora that I'm not going to be school today, to which she replied,

"Then I won't be going too. I don't need to go if you aren't going."

She says in a calm voice while holding onto her stuffed rabbit.

I'm not going to be reprimanding her, no, this might probably be what she needs; a little rest from outside.

------

I tell Sora that I will be taking a nap, to which she just nods. I then move to my room, and lie down on a tatami laid on the ground.

The next moment I find myself in the Mete, with Juno waiting for me. Upon noticing my arrival, she moves towards me and says,

"As I've told you before, the Mete will be providing you a physical body when you transport to a Platform. There are 3 methods of doing so."

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 attempted on a non-human.

The third and last method, Juno refused to tell me about it no matter what. She claims that it's useless if I know about it, and will do more harm and good if she told me about it.

Juno suggested that I use arrogation for this transport, and take over the body of some guy that goes by the name, Y Otosaka.

According to Juno, arrogation alters reality to the point that my appearance will combine with that of Y, and everyone that knows him wouldn't suspect a thing unless I act unnaturally myself.

Once I'm done preparing, I feel like I'm propelled from space and get thrown in a random direction. After what seems like an eternity, I find myself in my new body, lying on the ground in an alleyway.

Memories suddenly start to flow into my brain, even though they're supposed to be already there, of the original owner of this body.

One day, he suddenly received a power that let him possess people for 5 seconds, while his body became unconscious during the process. He wasn't shy of using his power, in fact, he used it on a daily basis to his advantage. Possessing girl's to check their body out, possessing a guy in a group of guys, and punching the others to start a fight, possessing the smartest students in his class to copy their answers during examinations.

He took advantage whenever he could. As a result, he became the top student in his school and was recommended to go to a prestigious school. 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, making him get chosen as the representative of the freshmen.

He didn't stop there but aimed for 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 and steered the wheel in the girl's direction, and coming in himself to save her at the last moment.

This effectively left an impression on the girl, as she invites him out to eat with a female friend of hers.

After this, things go downhill, as he is called in by the student council the very next day, claiming that he has cheated and that he must take the exam again in front of a student council member, and must get a score of at least 90.

During the event, he possesses the body of the student council member and attempts to find anything that could help him in the exam, but it was to no avail. Once he returns to his body, he notices that there is a white-haired girl beside him, pointing a camera at his face.

He panics when the girl begins to tell him that she has been observing him, and runs out of the room. He then realizes that he is being chased by something extremely fast.

That's where the memories come to an end.

I realize that it's disadvantageous for me to continue standing here, so I begin running.

The next thing I know is that my speed has decreased a lot. It should still be abnormal, but not as much as it used to be.

As I continue to run, I finally leave the alleyway and reach a staircase. My senses that have been dulled alarm me of something. I look back behind me and 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. They seem to be fresh.

He suddenly shifts his body in a way that shows he is planning to sprint towards me. The next thing I know is that he runs at an incredible speed, that should be thrice as fast as I'm currently capable of in this world, and grabs me and holds onto me as we launch into the air.

I use some force to break free from him and kick him away from myself, towards the water beneath us. As for me, I let myself fall, confident in my endurance.

When I reach the ground, I am on the other side of what seems like a water canal, with the guy in glasses slowly swimming over.

"Who are you, and what's with that speed?" , I inquire in a menacing tone.

"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.", he continues and has a pitiful tone towards the end.

The heck? Did he not attempt to master it?

"You didn't answer me properly. Who are you, and what do you want with me?" , I ask with a threatening tone.

"As I've told you before, I'm Nao Tomori, student council president of Hoshinoumi Academy. We are here to get you to join our school." , I hear the voice of a girl behind me.

Turning around, I see a beautiful girl that seems to be about 15 years old. She has long grey hair tied into short twin tails with dark hair ties. Her eyes are a beautiful 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.

"And what if I refuse?" , I question her while squinting my eyes.

The next moment, she turns transparent. I am barely able to see her even with my improved eyesight, but I can sense her properly. She throws a punch at my face, to which I casually tilt my head and avoid.

A look of surprise covers her face, seemingly not expecting me to dodge her attack. I grin as I expectantly wait for her next action.