Chapter 2: You and I / Prelude

You and I / Prelude

[1 year later]

"Nina, let's get out of here! You don't belong here!"

"Sensei ...?"

In the changing room of a deserted bathroom for test subjects, a very haggard-looking woman in a white coat and a pure white young girl wearing something similar to a white hospital gown are facing each other, their eyes fixed on each other.

"It's okay, just leave everything to me, I'll definitely get you out of here safely..."

The woman who says this clearly does not seem to be in a normal state; she appears to be overcome with guilt and has lost her ability to think normally.

"I'd even sacrifice my life to get Nina out of here..."

"No."

The girl's voice, layered over and over, was calm and gentle in comparison.

"If you do that, you'll get into a lot of trouble, Sensei."

"But even so! I can't bear to see you... no, I can't bear to hurt you or cause you pain, so..."

"...It's okay, it's okay."

The woman bows her head and mutters as if in repentance, and the girl lovingly embraces her, stroking her back and head slowly and calmly.

"Nina will be fine with the pain and discomfort. She's already used to it."

"Nina...but, but..."

"I would hate it if you were in pain or suffering, wouldn't I? If it's painful to be with me ...."

The girl held the head of the woman in the white coat and spoke to her in a gentle, admonishing tone.

"You can forget about Nina, I just want you to be happy, Sensei."

"Ni... na. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

Hello, it's been a while! I'm Nina, subject number 027!

After that, due to the drastic change in my personality I was immediately sent for testing and was diagnosed with memory loss caused by dissociative identity disorder. I was an innocent, ignorant and fragile beautiful young girl, but I was able to use my memory loss premise to successfully obtain a fair amount of information.

To briefly summarize, it's like this.

"What's my name?"

-- They didn't tell me, just Subject 027.

"How old am I?"

-- Five years old, they didn't tell me my birthday.

"Where am I? Why am I here?"

-- A place to study supernatural powers, because your powers are dangerous (well, that's true).

"How long I will be staying here?"

-- It hasn't been decided yet.

Well, basically all I got for my questions were convenient answers mixed with childish lies, but I did get some useful information so I was fine with it.

And for about a year since I had possessed this body, I had been living a wonderful, cloudy life.

By the way, the doctor in the white coat that had been clouding her eyes until just now is a new employee who became my supervisor about three months ago.

At first, she was a cold-hearted female researcher who seemed used to me and who calmly and emotionlessly assisted with experiments and helped me with bathing and meals, but I didn't give up and instead treated her cheerfully and kindly, and as you can see, she showed me a wonderful transformation...　

"Well, that sensei will probably be transferred soon, so I guess the next fun thing will be looking forward to a new sensei."

Those who become too attached to me or who start acting strangely are probably being a hindrance to the progress of the experiment, so after a while they are transferred and replaced with new personnel.

Personally, I would like to have a bit more fun, but the process of clouding the new sensei is also fun, so I guess it's good deal, with just a slight positive?

─────

[Six months later]

"I'm bored."

Today was my one day off in seven days, and I was thinking while lounging on my bed in my room.

Just to be clear, I wasn't bored with the clouding, I was bored with the lack of clouding patterns.

It's been a year and a half since I became Nina, and almost all of the sensei who were in charge of me have been replaced. The only ones left are Mad and the beautiful teacher with glasses.

By the way, Mad is that intimidating male sensei. Well, he seems to be the head of my experiment, so I don't think he'll be transferred, and Nina's acting doesn't work at all... The beautiful teacher with glasses is a normal teacher, but she avoids me as much as possible. I've tried to talk to her hard, but so far there's been no result. She's gentle when restraining me or administering medication, so I think she's a nice person.

Well, that's how I've cloud and transferred quite a few teachers so far, but my recent worry is how repetitive this all seems to be.

A new guy arrives → Nina seduces them with her acting → they clouds up and says goodbye!

This pattern, this is the only pattern! No matter how much you change the content, if the development and ending are exactly the same, you will eventually get bored of it. Just like how you get bored of eating a dish every day, no matter how delicious it is, or how you get bored of a movie if you watch it over and over again, I got bored of this dull pattern.

"Should I kill Nina now?"

Nina is a cheerful and kind person, but behind that facade the stress of the daily human experiments is steadily building up, until she finally reaches her limit and has a mental breakdown, causing Nina's personality to die... How about a plot like that?

Yeah, not bad! I'm sure the beautiful glasses sensei will be a little sad about this, and the other sensei will probably respond quite well.

Once that was decided, I had to create a scenario to see what kind of development would naturally lead to Nina being killed...

"Number 027"

Huh? Mad? I thought today was a break from experiments...huh...?

The complete opposite of me was a beautiful girl with jet black hair and slightly slanted crimson eyes, her eyes clearly reflecting resignation, fear, and deep despair.

"038, come in. 027, show this girl how to use the room."

Without even noticing Mad leave the room after saying that, I was entranced by the girl.

………Okay, let's change the scenario. First I'll make this girl happy. Make her truly happy, help her remember how to smile, and become an irreplaceable part of her life before I die. That's the start.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Nina! I'm Nina, subject number 027!"

Let's start with introducing ourselves!

─────

[One week later]

What! I couldn't get any results whatsoever!!

No, that's not it, I tried my best, you know? But the black-haired girl's despair is deeper than I thought...

Ever since she came into my room, she has been curled up in the corner, hugging her knees, and not moving. She is eating a minimum amount of food and going to the toilet, so I can sense she has the will to live, but she is completely unresponsive when I speak to her. After lights-out, I can hear her sobbing all the time, so I have tried to hug her or hold her hand, but she has rejected this too.

For now, I've stopped talking to her and I've been trying to stay close to her whenever I'm in my room, because when you're feeling down or in pain, being alone is the worst thing... Because of that, I've been sleeping on the floor for the past week, and my body hurts a little...

And what worries me most right now is that the experiment on the black-haired girl is about to begin.

─────

[After 3 days]

Yesterday, Mad told me, "Experiment 038 will start tomorrow, tell them." It's bad, if the black-haired girl were to undergo that experiment now, she might seriously commit suicide, but it's also true that there's no way to stop it.

So I have to at least let her know that I'm on her absolute side, and if words aren't enough, then actions are.

─────

"Number 027, number 038, it's time to go."

As Mad said this he approached the black-haired girl in the corner of the room, but I stood in his way to protect her.

"027, get out of the way."

"No, don't take this child."

"I can't do that. Come on, take Number 027."

Usually only Mad comes to pick us up, but since my lab and the black-haired girl's lab are in different ones, there's another sensei here today to take us both, but that person is my sensei, which means I've already won him over.

I lightly brushed off the sensei's hand as he tried to gently put an arm around my shoulders and lead me away, and stood in front of Mad again.

"Please! You can use her medicine to me too! Just don't take her away!"

This is all I can do right now, if this can make the black-haired girl think of me as an ally even just a little then that's fine, gulp!!

─────

When Nina woke up, she was restrained as usual in the usual laboratory. It seems that Mad had punched her in the face and knocked her unconscious.

"Ugh..."

"Sorry Nina, I'll be done soon."

"...No, I'm fine. Thank you, Sensei."

I'm currently undergoing a drug experiment while the sensei treats my swollen face. By the way, that Mad hit me pretty hard. Would you normally hit a little girl like that without hesitation?

But well, this isn't a bad turn of events. From tomorrow onwards, I will continue to interfere with Kurokami-chan's (black hair) experiments, and show her that I am an ally who will not betray her even if I am subjected to violence.

That day, the black-haired girl didn't eat any food.

─────

"027, do you want to get hit again?"

"..."

"I see."

Mad's hand swing my face as if shaking me off. The impact is stronger than I'd imagined and my body falls, and I nearly lose consciousness. But it's okay, if I know it's coming I can still bear it. Unsteady and unable to stand up, I crawl around and cling to Mad's legs.

─────　

"Uh, huh..."

In the end, Nina was knocked out with three hits, but I think I held up pretty well for a six-year-old girl.

“…Hey Nina, why are you going to such lengths for Number 038…that girl?”

As I was receiving my medication and treatment from sensei, just like yesterday, he asked me that. If he had been involved with Nina for even a few months, her actions this time should have been within the realm of his expectation. She was a kind-hearted girl who cared more about others than herself, and she would put her own body on the line to protect a girl her own age that she had just met, even if it meant she was completely worn down.

The reason why sensei asks such a question is because Nina is more important to sensei than Kurokami-chan and he doesn't want to see her get hurt. It may seem cold-hearted, but it's a normal human emotion. So I'll answer by acting like Nina.

"Because that child looks like she is in pain. I don't want to see her in pain anymore."

Well, it's not all just acting...

─────

She was kicked in the stomach and sent flying into the wall, KO'd in one hit! A little girl with painful bruises on her stomach was completed! ...That girl was seriously mad, she had no hesitation whatsoever...

Jigglypig, jigglypig, jigglypig, jigglypig.

"H, zuuuuu!"

Ah, I'm hungry.

Jigglypig, jigglypig, jigglypig, jigglypig.

"Fuh! Guuuuuow."

I mean, my whole body hurts. Experimenting with supernatural powers really hurts.

Jigglypig, jigglypig, jigglypig, jigglypig.

"It's so, so good."

I wonder if the black-haired girl is okay...

─────

When I returned to my room, the black-haired girl was already curled up in the corner, crying. She was hugging her trembling body tightly, so hard that her nails were digging into her arm and blood was seeping onto her clothes.

Her behavior is clearly different from yesterday. It seems that my unpleasant prediction has come true. It's reasonable to assume that an experiment using supernatural powers has begun. That's not the kind of pain a normal child can endure.

"Fuhh... h, hhh... h"

I guess I have no choice but to take drastic measures before the black-haired girl breaks...

"Hiiigh... hiiifu, huh... no ....."

I hugged the black-haired girl. She rejected me like always, but her resistance was weak, and her hands only held me in place as she tried to push me away.

I'm sorry to take advantage of your weak mind, but this is probably the best thing for now.

"It's okay, I will never hurt you or cause you any pain or suffering."

Stroke your head and back as gently and calmly as possible.

"Fuh, uuuuuh."

She pulled me from behind, her hands gripping onto my clothes.

"It's okay to cry, I'm not going anywhere, I'll always be with you"

"Ahhh, Ahh, Aaaahhhhh!!"

The black-haired girl cried for about an hour, and then she got tired and fell asleep. I couldn't pick her up, so I dragged her to the bed and fell asleep with her in my arms.

─────

"Mmmm, hmmm~!"

When I rubbed my sleepy eyes and opened them, a beautiful young girl with black hair was staring at me. Come to think of it, I fell asleep hugging her last night.

I feel a bit embarrassed when she stares at me like this... What should I do? To be honest, I've never been with a child before, so I don't know how to interact with her.

Well, for now I'll get through it by acting like something Nina would do!

I slowly reach out my hand to the black-haired girl's head and stroke it gently, smiling. For a moment, I thought she might reject me, but that didn't happen and she accepted me.

"Good morning"

As I continued to stroke her, the black-haired girl buried her face in my chest, and we remained silent for a while. What should I do from here... What is the right thing to do?!

"Reina"

"...Eh?"

"My name, Sannomiya Reina."

There are still some issues to be resolved, but this is a step forward...right?

Anyway, let me introduce myself again.

"Yes! I'm Nina! Nice to meet you, Lena!"

"……noisy"

Yes, I overheard that, sorry.

[Subject 027/Nina]

A young girl with a pretty face only.

Fluffy white hair that reaches down to her waist, skin like fresh snow, and slightly droopy red eyes.

Good looking.

Age: 6 Height: 110.2cm Weight: 20.5kg

[Sannomiya Reina/Lena]

A girl who was kidnapped because of the usefulness of her supernatural powers, and her parents were killed in front of her eyes to prevent a search and to completely break her spirit.

Age: 7 Height: 122.4cm Weight: 24.6kg