10:15 PM

  "He's been there for like

  twenty minutes now," Shouki muttered, lowering his phone camera.

  Throughout the whole day, Akie, his childhood friend, has been

  persistent on capturing and reporting a new upcoming villain.

  "Quiet! I might miss something!" Akie snapped, her voice

  low but urgent. She dreams of being a top news reporter and since

  superpowers are taking over the world, she wants to be the first to

  cover the interesting stories. The man they are stalking goes only by

  "Killer" in the streets. She roped Shouki on this adventure

  with her. Right now they are outside hiding in the bushes, waiting

  for him to exit a liquor store.

  "You know," Shouki began, slouching against the wall, "I'd

  take this more seriously if we didn't have school tomorrow morning.

  We're going to get scolded for breaking curfew. Haven't you thought

  that this guy might just be an innocent person? We've been stalking

  this dude for three days and nothing's happened."

  Killer was anything but normal. His body gleamed like polished

  marble, his stainless steel skin eliminating any need for clothes.

  Massive metal coil cylinders replaced his biceps, giving him the

  appearance of a mechanized titan. Standing at a towering eight feet,

  he looked like a smoother, more humanoid version of the Terminator.

  Every feature screamed "military-grade weapon," not

  "innocent civilian."

  Akie’s eyes remained glued to the store's entrance. "It’ll

  all be worth it when we catch him in the act."

  Shouki sighed, finally grabbing her hand. "Come on. Let's go

  before someone sends a search party for us."

  "Wait—"

  "Nope. We're leaving."

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Just as they turned to leave, a deafening explosion erupted behind

  them. The force slammed into Shouki, who instinctively shielded Akie

  with his body. Shrapnel sliced through the air, embedding itself into

  his back as chaos unfolded.

  * * *

  5:00 AM

  A sharp slap jolted me awake.

  Blinking groggily, I saw my second clone, 2c, grinning as she dragged

  me out of bed.

  “Let’s go,” she chirped, dumping me onto the floor with zero

  formality. My head hit the carpet with a dull thud.

  Ryuuka—my first clone, lifted me to my feet. Without a word, she

  carried me to the bathroom, where she made sure I brushed my teeth

  and freshened up. Meanwhile, 2c flopped onto my bed, taking my place.

  Efficient? Sure. Dignified? Not so much.

  Breakfast was already laid out. My schedule for the day was planned,

  my clothes ironed and ready. Ryuuka handled most household chores

  now, much to Mom’s delight. The free time she gained from

  outsourcing tasks to clones had been life-changing.

  2c had spent the night multitasking: finishing freelance gigs,

  updating my programming skills, and tackling my school assignments.

  While she worked, I slept. A perfect system. Except, it could be

  better. With more clones, I could amplify my efficiency—but space

  was a problem. Our house wasn’t exactly a clone-friendly fortress.

  Lately, 2c had been making some extra money through small freelance

  schemes, while I juggled retail shifts. Every dollar went toward

  saving for a studio apartment, a future HQ for my operations. With

  enough room, I could expand my abilities and maybe even launch a

  small business.

  Throughout the past few months, I've already realized many more

  features of my powers. The interesting one being Subconscious

  Partitioning. Currently, I have it split 50-40-10 for me, 2c, and

  Ryuuka respectively. It allows us to use more or less of our

  subconsciousness, although it might be a bad way to name it, since it

  also contributes a lot towards how aware a clone becomes.

  If I remove all consciousness from a clone, they will get

  disconnected after a few tasks and go limp. However, even as small as

  just 0.01%, it will be enough to finish any tasks given, although

  sometimes I must be very specific. The more of my consciousness I

  allow, the better connection and control I have over the clone.

  The fascinating part was when I

  put most consciousness on 2c, which seems like it made it the master

  clone, and in a way it felt like it became the main body.