The Simulacrum

Book 3 Prologue

"Leo?"

It happened in an instant. One moment, I was languishing in a kind of euphoric state of unconsciousness, and then BAM! All of a sudden, everything hurt. It only lasted for a second before it faded into a kind of 'background noise', yet in that short moment my parched mouth opened wide to suck in a panicked gasp. My torso also rose from the bed, without any conscious agreement from my higher brain function, only for me to almost fall over when my senses were assaulted by an unholy combination of nausea, pain, and fuchsia. I mean, the color itself. It's hard to explain, so I won't even try.

Anyhow, once the fog on my mind began to break up a little, I noted that almost literally jumping awake like that was very unrealistic, and chided myself for engaging in such clichd behavior. Once my head cleared out even further, I realized that my previous observation, while not inaccurate, was both dumb and completely inconsequential. However, it took about five more seconds after that until I finally registered that I was inside my own room. I wasn't alone either, as my gradually refocusing eyes finally noticed the duo of Snowy and a red furball standing by the half-opened door and looking at me with concerned eyes.

"Are are you all right?" my sister inquired with just a hint of bewilderment as she stepped inside, though the little fox somehow still managed to get to the side of the bed faster than her.

"No, I'm not, but that's beside the point," I responded practically on autopilot before I pointed a finger at her and declared, "Simulacrum."

Snowy came to a sudden halt, her eyes no longer only holding a hint of bafflement, and at last she timidly asked, "What is that?"

"I'll be damned if I know, but it's really important," I responded, only to pause, let my hand down, and add, "At least I think it is."

"Neige-ue! I think Ue-sama must still be delirious!" the fox declared with her front paws on my bed. "It's just like Judy-ue said!"

"Oh, right!" my sister's expression immediately cleared up as she exclaimed and she quickly made her way over to my bedside. She extended a hand towards me, but then paused a muttered a barely legible "Please excuse me," before she first touched my forehead, then after a few seconds she clumsily stuck her fingers down my collar to feel around my collarbone.

"How is he?" Ichiko asked without a hint of worry in her voice.

"You still have a high fever," Snowy stated, completely ignoring the excited fox and her wagging tail by our side. "Judy said that if you still had a fever in the morning, I should tell you that you must take another cold shower."

"Did she really?"

It was a rhetorical question, but they both nodded in unison. Honestly though, I didn't feel that bad. No, rather, I was feeling bad, but better than yesterday. Maybe it was because I got a good night's sleep, but my head felt much clearer than last night and I Wait There was something wrong with that thought just now.

"Erm Snowy?"

"Yes?" my sister perked up the moment I called her name.

"Was I sleeping just now?"

" Yes?" she asked, for some odd reason.

"Are you sure?"

"I I think?" she said, her answer once again coming out with a question mark at the end. "You woke up just now, didn't you?"

"Did I?"

Before she could answer, the little fox let out a high-pitched giggle and swatted at my leg with her tiny, plump paw.

"Ue-sama is so silly! Of course you woke up! If you were still asleep, we wouldn't be talking like this!"

" Yeah, right. How silly of me," I responded a tad flatly, but she apparently didn't realize, as she began to wag her bushy tail with so much pride I couldn't help but scratch her behind the ear a little.

Anyhow, that was slightly alarming. I mean, it's a very minor superpower, but my lack of need for sleep was something I heavily relied on to keep me on top of things in these past two months. I was naturally worried about losing it. But then again, I might have just fallen unconscious from overwork, or the fever, or maybe as a side-effect of Angie's treatment. Not that any of those were a good thing either, but I would gladly take any of them over requiring regular sleep like normal people. I mean, where will I find time to watch funny cat videos otherwise?

Bad jokes aside, let's operate on the assumption that I simply shut down because of my physical condition. I mean, it wouldn't have been the first time; something like this already happened when I got injured during the school incident. Maybe this time it took things a bit longer to catch up with me. Well, at least I was only out of one night instead of three days. That's a silver lining, I suppose.

That said, while I wasn't feeling absolutely terrible anymore, it was true that I still had a fever, and it couldn't hurt to check my physical condition again, just to be on the safe side. I could also use some alone-time to collect my thoughts and figure out what this 'Simulacrum' thing that keeps repeating in my head is. As such

"You know, on second thought, maybe a cold shower isn't such a bad idea after all."

The little fox let out a high-pitched 'Yip' in response, which I couldn't really translate, while my little sister nodded and told me, "Please put your clothes into the laundry basket. I'll wash them later."

I responded with a noncommittal "Sure," and got up. I let the rush of blood from the sudden movement settle down first (the last thing I needed right now is to lose my balance and embarrass myself in front of my sis), and once I felt steady enough, I headed towards the bathroom without any further ado. I was already out of my socks when I noticed that, in my hurry, I forgot to bring a change of clothes with me. Snowy was one step ahead of me though, and by the time I was about to head back to my room, she was already standing outside of the bathroom door with a set of freshly ironed, lavender-scented casual garments in her hands. I thanked her with only a smidgen of embarrassment and closed the door again.

As I undressed, I couldn't help but think about yet another small yet peculiar way the ever-discreet ninja maids influenced our lives. While Snowy diligently made sure to fire up Betsy (that's what she called our washing machine, don't ask why) every other day, and she even hung the laundry out to dry, I've never seen her iron anything. Apparently by the time she took them off the clotheslines, they were perfectly ironed already. Weird, but convenient.

I said yet another silent thanks to the ninja maids and stepped under the showerhead. At this point I was already well experienced with cold showers and how to make them slightly less of a pain in the neck, so I started out with lukewarm water, and then gradually kept turning the red knob in front of me to lower the temperature in small increments. It was a slow process, so in the meantime, I checked and assessed the state of my body.

First off, I couldn't find any new external injuries or scars. Angie did a great job on my scrapes, and even the shallow cut on my abdomen healed without a mark. As for my right hand... well, it looked fine on the outside. A little swollen, but not enough to draw attention.

Unfortunately that was pretty much the only positive thing I could say about it. While it no longer hurt like hell, it was instead feeling uncomfortably numb and weak. If I had to liken it to something, it was like as if I put my hand into a bowl of ice for half an hour, until I lost all sensation under the wrist save for a dull, pulsing pain coursing up and down my fingers. Speaking of which, my hand was also fairly unresponsive, and I had to put an uncomfortable amount of effort into something as simple as clenching my fingers into a fist. On the bright side, it was still better than last afternoon, when I couldn't even move a muscle without feeling like my whole hand was on fire, but it was still far from ideal.

Anyhow, it was around this time that I started shivering. Even while I was observing my injuries, I didn't forget to turn periodically adjust the hot water tap, and by this point it was completely closed, and each cold droplet felt like a tiny pinprick on my overheated skin. I tried my best to ignore the protests of my body and focused on my plans for the immediate future instead.

First of all, I had to go and deal with Labcoat Guy. I also had to gauge just how useful he could be, his capabilities, and just how much I should share with him. I also had to do something about Mountain Girl. Finally, once those are settled, I would definitely have to look into a professional healer to fix my hand. Angie said she could introduce me to someone, but with my access to the Hub, I probably had a better chance of finding someone, and if all else failed, I could always ask Abram if the Dracis had any relevant connections. Either way, I was mentally prepared to dedicate as much money and/or favors as necessary to fix this. I mean, sure, I had three others, but it was my dominant hand, and it wasn't like I could use my Phantom Limb to replace it.

"Wait... Three?" I muttered with a hint of alarm in my voice and hurriedly checked again. Right hand, down. Left hand, check. Phantom Limb. check. And then...

...

"What the hell!? When did I grow another one!?"