"Everyone run! Those who can fight, please step up and defend

  the weak!"

  "They're headed this way! Those murderers!"

  The TV was broadcasting news of users with strong powers running

  around and destroying the city. Watching it, I didn't feel all that

  terrified, I felt like I was watching a movie. On the other hand, Mom

  was completely devastated. Knowing that your life can always be at

  risk from other people who decide to be dangerous with their powers

  can be daunting.

  Kazu enters the living room from the backyard door covered in sweat.

  "Who's that?" He asks after sliding the door shut.

  "Something that relates to my

  power. Don't ask." I say, trying not to cause a commotion. "She

  looks like you a lot. What is she a duplicate of you or something?"

  He says.

  Mom takes a glance at the sleeping girl, "Oh I didn't notice

  that before." She says surprised. I don't understand why Ryuuka

  went back to sleep. She was just walking and talking a moment ago.

  "Kazu look at the TV. People are dying everywhere. It's out of

  control." Says Mom, "No one goes outside for now, at least

  until things calm down."

  Kazu gives a slight nod while gazing at the TV before looking back at

  me. I'm currently eating a sandwich while sitting on the couch, with

  Ryuuka sitting asleep and laid back.

  "So what are you gonna do

  with her? Does she do anything?" Kazu asks.

  "I believe I can take control of her," I say while still

  munching and chewing food. "Wait you can control her? How? Show

  me!" Kazu demands.

  "Not now, I haven't gotten used to it yet, plus I get a

  brain-ache every time I use it." I spoke out, "I just don't

  want to bother right now. Let me understand the environment we are in

  first." I contest.

  "Sure man. Imma take a shower so take care of the house. I'm too

  sweaty right now, I guess even rocks can sweat hah!" He says

  while walking away.

  As I finished my food, Mom confronted me with a great question, "Wait

  Yuuji. Doesn't the girl need to eat as well?"

  "I don't know." I'm

  almost certain she would need food since otherwise how else would she

  get energy, or she would always be draining me of my power to remain

  active? One important thing to know is, how powers operate on energy.

  Is the energy just using your stamina? I don't have any answers as of

  now. I guess it's better to leave it for the experts to figure this

  stuff out and explain it properly. As for now, I have to work off my

  guesses.

  "I think you should give her food," Mom says. "I'm

  gonna need to switch to her then, I'm not sure if it will work

  correctly though." I express my concerns.

  "Is that difficult to do?" She asks.

  "I should be able to do it, but there might be some problems,"

  I explain before getting ready to switch. I kept hard focus on what

  felt like my power and tried to point it towards Ryuuka's head and

  released my energy, after a couple of seconds I felt like my power

  had a different, odd feeling to it. I remembered feeling like it when

  switching before, but I didn't pay attention to it.

  "Just be careful." I hear my mom say before my vision fades

  to black and get up as Ryuuka.

  As I attempt to pull my head forward and lean into a sitting

  position, I suddenly feel my brain burning like hell, as if I have a

  cramp in my brain. All I could do was hold my head firmly with my

  hands to try and ease the pain. It felt like I was relearning every

  piece of information I ever knew all at the same time.

  "Are you okay? Is everything fine?" Mom asks. I wish I

  could answer but my head is hurting so much I could only bite my lips

  and brace the pain.

  Then I feel a rub on my back, "Looks like it worked, but I'm

  still awake, and you're the real me now." This was the split

  consciousness talking that is now controlling my real body while I'm

  on this one.

  "I don't understand. How can you be two at once?" Mom asks

  after witnessing my power.

  "I honestly have no clue, but what I know is that I'm not the

  real one, but the one taken over Ryuuka is the real me. As for me,

  all I did was focus my power on the girl and just saw her become

  alive again." The split one tries to explain his point of view

  while my head feels like it was just healing back up after being

  turned to mush from a chainsaw.

  "It hurts too much, I think I'll switch back now," I say

  after showing my abilities.

  "Wait you have to eat some food first." She takes a spoon

  and tries to feed me some of her soup, to which after I eat five to

  six spoons. "I think the pain is going away now," I say.

  "Do you think that's because

  of the food?"

  The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  "I think it just fades after a while."

  "So what now," the split body spoke. "I think we

  should try to master this power more. There has to be other stuff it

  can do. Maybe if you keep switching then it won't hurt as much."

  The split body knows exactly what I was thinking.

  "I agree." I say standing up, "Let's try a bunch of

  stuff with the power and see how it works!" I was genuinely

  excited. What could this power hold?

  Wait a second, I have to try this, "System window!"

  "What?" Mom questioned.

  "Oh, good idea, real me." Said split body.

  "System popup! System call! Board! Hey system! Stats!"

  Nothing happened at all.

  "What are you trying to do?" Says mom.

  "Nothing, it's just something I see a lot in books, I guess it

  doesn't make sense in real life." I try to explain without

  revealing that I read a lot of anime and mangas that have crazy

  leveling systems. Which makes sense. This is real life, not a game.

  "Well, me and I will go start testing some stuff out so I can

  get stronger with my powers." That's right, stronger, now that

  everyone has gained powers, the world has changed from a

  money-oriented status ranking system to a power status ranking

  system. Having power is what's going to allow someone to rule over

  another.

  I had split body write multiple notes on the possible theories we had

  on this power. First of all, I switch back to my real body, or a

  better way to say it is, merge everything I learned while I

  controlled Ryuuka and everything that happened with my split body

  into the same clump of memories. Although I anticipated that my brain

  would hurt switching back, it didn't hurt as much as before. What

  affected it? Or is it because I was controlling Ryuuka for a much

  shorter time?

  Speaking about Ryuuka, after I merge back to my real body, Ryuuka

  starts being active again, almost like she's alive by herself.

  However, it didn't seem like she improved her learning or anything at

  all. Every time I spoke to her, she would sparsely repeat or combine

  words and mumble them. After a couple of minutes, she would shut down

  entirely and go back to sleep.

  Here's what else I found out. The more often I switch, the less my

  brain hurts since less information is sent or updated to each other's

  brain. The downside is that the pain is dramatically harsher the

  longer I wait before switching bodies.

  On the third day, I understood a fundamental concept, the farther I

  am from my main body, the longer time exponentially it takes to

  switch back when focusing on the other body. For example, 10 feet

  away takes 5 seconds to switch back, while 20 feet takes 15 seconds,

  it's a huge difference, and the farther we are apart, the longer it

  takes.

  One thing I noticed when I was

  attempting to switch bodies extremely fast was that there seemed to

  be a thread between me and Ryuuka, each time I tried to connect, it

  felt like I was, or my consciousness was sliding on that thread

  across to the other side. This gave me another theory to test out.

  However, it seems like I need to learn how to control my power

  correctly to test out my new ideas.

  After a couple of days, my split body and I were able to work

  together to achieve more productivity. For instance, split body,

  which is my real body, can be reading a book, going on the computer,

  or even learning a whole subject, and on Ryuuka I can clean around

  the house, prepare food, or heck, even just read another book! Once I

  merged back, I learned and understood everything I did on both

  bodies. The only problem is the headaches, or what I call brain

  cramps.

  To use this power effectively, when the split body is sleeping, I

  control Ryuuka and get on the computer to research and take notes. I

  wouldn't want my real body overworked. I research everything and

  anything I can get on how powers work fighting techniques and

  tactical information on survival. This has helped a lot, I've also

  built much better mobility while controlling Ryuuka, since according

  to anatomy, female bodies have different maneuvers and movements than

  male bodies, it took less than a week for me to get used to fighting

  in it like it was my own body.

  The more information I learn, the harsher the pain is, after just

  reading half a book on one body, and learning a dinner recipe, I was

  given an almost 30-minute long headache after merging. It was a

  painful problem and I had to find a way to solve it.

  "The streets look much calmer now than a week ago," I say

  watching the window.

  "I think it's safe enough outside to go buy stuff, I think I

  even see some normal civilians outside." Split body claims.

  "Do you really think so? I'll

  go tell Mom I'll be going outside." I say, realizing I was

  Ryuuka. Does that mean my mom has essentially also gained a daughter?

  What am I saying, this body is just a power, but I can't help but

  wonder, what if I met danger outside and was killed, would my

  consciousness merge back to my original body, or would my real

  consciousness be gone forever and split body lives? Wait, isn't Split

  Body just the real me?

  "Do you think the real me will die if I die as Ryuuka?" I

  ask split body.

  "Your guess is literally the same thing as mine." His

  answer makes total sense. We are the same person after all, with the

  same mind.

  I go over to the living room and see Mom watching the news again.

  "That guy is insane! Someone stop him, he just destroyed two

  6-story buildings just because someone made fun of his shoes?!"

  Then the camera zoomed in to a guy with spikey hair and goggles with

  a maniacal smile, looking like a came out of a steampunk cosplay

  convention.

  "Hey, mom."

  "Who? Wait oh never mind, I almost forgot you can control the

  girl now." She says.

  "I'm gonna go outside and buy some stuff from the hardware store

  and some clothes."

  "Don't go outside! It's very dangerous don't you see the news?"

  She objects to my actions.

  "It's okay, I've been watching the streets these days, it's much

  more calm outside, also I'm going as Ryuuka so no matter what

  happens, my real body is at home," I reassure her.

  She looks at me with second thoughts, "But didn't you say that

  your real consciousness is when you are controlling Ryuuka?"

  Shit, she got me there.

  "It's okay, even if something happens, my consciousness will go

  back to my real body by itself."

  She stares at me for a while before speaking again, "Only if you

  are really sure, I don't want you to get into any fights okay?"

  "You should get your mind off the bad stuff on TV, you know

  that's happening on a whole different provenance right?" I

  picked up the TV remote and switched to a different channel that was

  playing cartoons.

  I grab some cash from my wallet and put on a hoodie to conceal myself

  and avoid any contact with anyone who seems threatening.

  "If I'm not back by

  tomorrow, assume I'm dead if the power doesn't let you know,

  although I would like to be back in less than 2 hours." Split

  body nods while staring at the computer screen, playing chess. I

  unlock the front door and lock it back on the way out as I begin to

  walk down the sidewalk. I wonder if the outside will be turned into a

  strategic stage, and if then, what moves can I make, except to become

  a pawn.