Because the figure is so rare, there are only a few stores in town that would sell it.

Even then, they would only sell it on specific days.

That's why if i dont go today, I may not get another chance in a long time.

I often go to this store so I have memorized the shortest way to get there.

My phone is telling me that I only have about 30 minutes until the store closes.

I walk through an adjacent alleyway and cut through a neighborhood.

I get goosebumps coming through here every time.

The walls between houses are usually washed but the walls here have been left to the elements for far too long.

Half of the houses look abandoned and some of them even have collapsed roofs.

On top of that, there are no people here, even though there were plenty of people where the convention was taking place towards the city center.

All of that is what is putting me at edge walking through this place every time I take this route.

I walk through this neighborhood for quite some time until I reach a house that looks completely decimated.

It's more like a bundle of charred wood than a house.

It's said that it burned down four years ago when the city was experiencing an economical low point.

It seems that about half of the residents left 4 years ago.

Once I turn left here, I should be able to get to the north wing of the city where the store should be at.

“Hey!” Says an all too familiar voice.

I don't hear it through my ears though.

Instead, I feel it being shouted directly into my mind.

I stop walking just before turning the corner.

“There is something dangerous trying to kill us. I can feel it coming.” he says, standing in front of me now.

That doesn't make sense.

Nobody is even around me.

“Something much stronger than us is coming and we need to run.” He says in a louder tone of voice, almost frantic.

Alright, fine.

What is this guy talking about?

How can he even have the capacity to sense any form of danger?

I really shouldn't take this guy seriously.

I roll my eyes.

I try to turn the corner but I hear a woman's voice call towards me.

“Hey!”

I turn my head back to see a woman staring at me.

She is much shorter than me even though my height is below average for a male.

Her outfit looks dressed up and she is wearing a mini skirt.

Her hair is in twin tales.

A tattoo of what looks to be a salamander is seated slightly below her shoulder bringing her parents into question on why they would let such a young woman even get a tattoo.

Maybe she is a cosplayer who got lost or something.

“C'mon we have to go now! She is trying to kill you!” The parasite man says.

A girl like this would never be able to kill me.

I need to get this annoying thing out of my head quickly.

Someone like her shouldn't be walking around in a dangerous area like this.

Anyways, it's not my problem at the end of the day.

I turn back trying to ignore this stranger.

There is a faint crackle sound coming from behind me where the girl was.

It sounds like a large amount of sticks are being broken behind me.

Is she opening a bag of snacks?

BOOM

A sudden pain is coming from my stomach.

It hurts to the point where I can barely stay conscious.

I go to clutch my stomach to feel nothing, only air.

I look down.

There is a massive hole in my stomach.

I try to call for help but I dont have the lungs to let air out of my throat.

No surgery could ever fix this.

It can't end like this.

Not when I'm still a virgin.

I wish I could visit caitlin at the cemetery again.

I fall onto the concrete.

My last sight is the twin tail girl walking away.

There is a grotesque mass on her arm that was not previously present.

Did she do this to me?

My vision closes in, until I can only see darkness.

“I really thought that you would be more of a fight.” The girl says, seemingly disappointed.

All I can do now is hear her footsteps until they too disappear.

I wish my life wouldn't end this way.

Part 2

I'm so sleepy.

I eventually get my eyes to open after struggling.

I sit up still in a daze.

My eyes are heavy.

It's like my body wants me to go back to sleep.

It looks likeI'm in a library.

There are rows and rows of books stacking up, appearing to be infinitely high.

I look down at myself.

The gaping hole in my stomach that girl made seems to be still there.

Does that mean this place is the afterlife?

Would that mean everything actually happened and it wasn't a dream?

I feel oddly cold.

I could still be linked with my body in the real world.

“You are an idiot.” Says a voice behind me.

I look behind me to see the parasite bug man from my visions.

“Wow, i didn’t expect to see you bere”

“If you would listen to me, we may have had a chance. Now I need to find a way to get us out of this mess.” He says angrily.

I watch as he throws a book he read onto a considerably large pile.

It seems as though he has read a lot of the books here.

“Each one of these books contains your memories.” He says calmly.

“Don't treat my memories so carelessly then!”

“Well I need to gather as much information as quickly as possible.” He says explaining himself.

“I'm dying and you're just reading?”

“I've taken care of your wound. Somehow.” He says.

I can tell he's hiding something.

“What are you hiding from me?”

I try to intimidate him but it doesn't work.

“Well I've actually learned a lot from you almost dying.” He says.

“Like what?”

“Firstly, the fact that these books tell me more about you, but also about me and how I work too.” He says.

“Ok, but you haven't explained why I'm not dead yet.”

“I'm getting to that.” He says defensively.

“I've forcibly put you into this state with me to conserve your energy. That's why you're here. Through reading these books, I've learned that I'm not supposed to exist in this state. I was originally supposed to take over your brain and spread my seed but I failed to do so. According to these readings, creatures sharing similar fates to me are known as rejections of the mother worm.” He says solemnly.

“Since I couldn't achieve my original goal, I still have my seed. I can feel that my seed has a great amount of energy stored inside of it. On top of that, I was supposed to have the ability to grant you one wish with that energy, according to records left from other rejections in these books.” He says, looking at the ground.

My heart pumps with excitement.

This is my chance to be the main character.

I can have powers and fight bad guys and have a harem all to myself.

“Did you not hear me? I said “supposed to”. you can't have a wish like everyone else because i had to use the energy to heal your wounds. If not for your wish to “want to live”, i wouldn't have even been able to heal you so i also give my thanks to you.” he says trying to make light of the situation.

My heart sinks.

What?

“Then I can't have a harem?”

“No.” he says flatly.

My only chance to become the main character is gone now.

“Is there anything in the book about that girl that tried to kill me?”

“No, but I think she's in a similar situation to us. The tremendous power we saw was most likely a result of the wish she made. Anyways, I think that you should naturally gain consciousness once you are fully healed and you will probably be kicked out of here.” he says.

“I guess we're a team now.”

“Don't get so friendly now, we're more like roommates.” he says, brushing me off.

“I think you need a name.”

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

I've been having trouble not being able to call this thing by any name.

“Just make one that isn't tacky,” he says.

“What about Grey?.”

“Sure, I'm inclined to like it too because we have to share the same tastes since i'm in your brain.”

We sit for a bit in silence as he reads books.

After a while he decides to ask me a question.

“What are you going to do about that girl anyways. She's a threat and she might even come after us again with that overpowered ability.” he says with a book in his hand.

He most likely already knew the answer since he can read my mind.

I know he just wants a reaction out of me but thoughts about that girl keep jumping into my head.

I can't let this girl get away with what she's done.

A rage boils in my chest.

I remember back to a time I unknowingly drank boiling tea and burned my lower throat.

I cant let anyone go through what i went through by this woman.

I'll get my revenge on her whether it means killing or defiling her.

“Alright settle down.” he says, fanning his hand downwards.

My rage disappeared suddenly.

“I was just testing something out,” he says.

I can tell he got something he wanted.

I angrily looked at him.

“oh, i'm just learning about what makes you tick.” he says smugly.

I'm sure he wants to find a way to get control or to influence me.

We sit in silence again as he continues to read books.

Part 3

It has been about 32 days in my brain's realm since the encounter with the mysterious girl.

I tried to keep count, but my inconsistency with tallying days led to us losing count.

My beard hairs are starting to grow out and even though it's in my own head, a subtle stench is developing off of me.

It seems that Grey has realized it too and he seems to have slowly distanced himself from me.

I hope that I'm alive in the real world.

I don't know how time is moving outside compared to this space.

Both me and Grey have silently considered the possibility that his plan went wrong and my real body has already died.

Grey seems to be trying to consume as much information as possible to get any answers on our situation.

He only rests to sleep and eat.

Somehow, we still need to sleep and eat even though we are in my brain.

Conveniently, there is a section seemingly dedicated to me, where there is a tv with all my favorite games and consoles.

Since this is my memory space, I would inherently only be able to play up to the points I have left off in the real world.

Food is also abundant here, though the only options we have are what I have eaten the day of the incident.

Most of my time is spent here so as to not bother Grey.

I would intermittently ask Grey if he had found any updates on my condition.

Each time he would grow more irritable about the reality of our situation.

I stopped asking after a few days due to his violent outbursts and have so far been focused on beating the same level on one of the games repeatedly.

My stomach has been healing, albeit slowly.

The hole is almost completely sealed.

The hole is only about the size of a golf ball now.

I've recently started to help with the reading and gaining knowledge from the books.

It's mostly information about me which I obviously already know.

Sometimes in the book, there are small portions of information about Grey too.

Grey has told me that he has no memory of before he infected me so all of this information is new to the both of us.

I scour around for any interesting books to read.

I find an interesting looking book.

It sticks out against the other boring looking books catching my attention.

How did Grey miss this?

It's red with gold bezels and smells like dust.

Why does my side hurt so bad?

It feels like my sides are being pierced from multiple sides.

I yelp in pain.

Grey comes to see what the commotion is.

Me and him realize that this is my body trying to wake me up.

There must be an urgent reason why my body is trying to get me back to consciousness.

I open my eyes to 6 or 7 guys surrounding me.

They are all wearing the local high school uniform.

I touch my chest to feel that it has fully healed.

“So he is alive!” One of them says.

I feel another sharp pain, this time in my stomach.

One of the thugs is kicking my stomach.

I defensively curl into a ball.

In highschool, I was bullied frequently and oftentimes I would find myself in a position like this.

These must be members from the local street gang controlling this area.

I pick myself up quickly and get into a fighting stance once there was a break in the kicking.

“Look, he wants to fight you.” one of the goons says with a smirk.

From behind the crowd comes a thug that looks slightly bigger than the rest.

It is obvious this is their boss.

It looks like he lifts weights or takes some kind of drug based on his muscle mass.

I should be able to take him with my new powers.

Since I'm in the same situation as that one girl who tried to end me, I should be pretty strong myself.

At least enough to defeat a normal human.

And since i now have made my wish, i can assume i'm on her level in terms of power now.

If that's the case, then I should be able to defeat him.

He gets into a boxing stance.

He seems to have knowledge on how to fight.

All the other thugs crowd around, allowing a one versus one.

He runs up to me in a zig zagging motion I can barely track with my eyes.

He's going to punch my face!

I defensively bring my hands up.

He ducks down and fires his fist into my stomach.

It's enough to make me spit blood.

I fell to my knees.

I can't even breathe.

I'm way over my head here.

Why don't I have any special powers?

I thought I had special powers because I made a wish!

Why is that girl so much stronger than me?

“Look, one punch! He's so weak!” one of the other thugs says.

They laugh.

Anger courses through my body.

My chest becomes hot.

My heart is beating more intensely.

I'm not angry at these guys though.

I'm angry at Grey for giving me a shit power.

Why would Grey do this to me?

He winds his leg back and with a thump kicks my stomach with his full strength, launching me back.

Landing hard on the concrete, I hit my head and tumbled backwards.

My brain can barely process how much it hurts.

My vision is getting more and more distressed by the second.

I'm not strong enough.

I need to run.

He lets out a laugh, there is an amused look on his face.

I think he just wants to see how much my body can take before it breaks.

It's pathetic, but to preserve my body, I need to get away from these guys.

I attempt to crawl away since it's too much for my body to stand up.

He easily catches up to me just by walking.

Before I can even react, my head is thrusted into the ground by his foot.

My body isn't moving anymore no matter how much I want to run.

several of my teeth are broken.

Why is today such an unlucky day for me?

Tears flood out of my eyes, cleaning a trail down my dirt covered face.

“aagahh!” I plead, no longer being able to pronounce words properly.

“You should stop. He might actually die.” one of the minor thugs says, making a submissive recommendation.

Is he going to stop?

“All we have to do is tell the police that he attacked me first, and that I acted in self defense.” he says confidently.

None of them object.

He walks up to me and pulls my head up by my hair.

“Smile!” he says casually whilst taking out his phone.

His phone is on camera mode, the battered state of my face on full display.

Somehow, my face looks even more ugly.

“Look at you, you're a failure.” he says.

Suddenly, a strong gust of wind shoots over me

It was so strong that I couldn't even hear anything.

The wind causes my eyes to reflexively shut.

I open my eyes.

There isn't a phone in front of me anymore.

In fact, my hair is no longer even being pulled back.

I look back in confusion, wondering why the relentless pursuit of my life has stopped.

What I saw made my heart drop.

The biggest guy is now on the wall and his entire shoulder is missing.

He seems to be in a state of shock, not even being able to scream.

The rest of the group on the other hand, started to scream hysterically and run away.

He slumps down and starts to breath heavily and intermittently let out cries of help while clutching his missing shoulder.

I see the hope leave his eyes while he witnesses the people he thought were friends not even attempt to save him as he enters a catatonic state.

I know from first hand experience that only one person could have left a wound like that.

It has to be that girl.

But why is she still here?

I begin crawling away but realizing that I somehow regained all my energy, I start running.

Now that I realize it, my body doesn't hurt anymore either.

I feel my mouth to see that all my teeth are somehow back in their places.

As weird as this is, I need to keep running.

That girl is infinitely stronger than I am.

I can't risk another interaction with her.

A few more blocks and I can reach a more populated area where I can get help.

As I turn a corner and before I can even process what just happened to me, I am grabbed by what seems to be tentacles.

The tentacle's grasp quickly tightened while it pins me on a nearby wall.

Reminded of the many xxx rated games I would play with tentacles, I make a note that it is far less enjoyable being on the receiving end.

My struggling is only rewarded with a tighter grip as all of the tentacles individually climb up my body securing their grip onto each of my limbs.

“Let me go!” I shout in desperation.

Looking at me was another girl slightly taller than the twin tailed girl.

She has short messy black hair with green mixed into it.

She has a marking on her chest that is poking out of the blouse she is wearing.

The marking is oddly familiar but I can't seem to remember where it's from since I can't view it fullShe smiles up at me.

“Wow, you're ugly!” she says laughing.

“I really need to get going. I'm in a hurry.” I plead.

I've had enough weird things happen to me today.

“I can see why Claire didn't spend much time on you.”

Huh?

“Who is claire?!”

The twin tail girl suddenly appeared into my field of view, startling me.

My breath gets heavier and I can feel each heartbeat tremor throughout my whole body.

It's only getting worse the closer she comes towards me.

Soon she comes up to about a meter away from me.

She would look cute if only she didn't try to kill me.

“Looks like you were too late claire.” The green hair one says to her.

“yeah, if only you hadn't dragged me to that provocative cafe shelby, i might've gotten to it in time.” Claire says sharply to the green haired one.

“It's called a maid cafe.” Shelby retorts.

“Whatever, I'm blaming this error on you when we report back.” Claire argues.

“What? No way.” Shelby responds

They continue to bicker almost like children.

For people this immature to have that kind of power is absurd.

I need to report these people to the police.

“It's already four pm! We need to be heading back soon.” Shelby exclaims.

Four pm?

It seems the amount of time I stayed unconscious was only about two hours.

What's worse, the figure is most likely sold out by now.

They stop after simultaneously remembering their objective.

They both turn to me with determined faces.

“Alright, we need to know how you survived my shot. It should've killed you.” Claire tries to be assertive.

“Why would you try to kill me?” I question.

She ignores my question.

Seemingly annoyed by my last question, she asks another one.

“Did anything *weird* happen to you afterwards?”

I try to feign ignorance, but she easily read my face and got her answer.

“Hm, if that initial power developed an instinct, then this could get really annoying.” Claire says to Shelby, well aware that im hearing.

“Do you want us to get other club members?” Shelby asks in a worried tone.

“Absolutely not. We're never going to hear the end of it from Leader if we ask for help.” Claire says bluntly.

I rack my brain trying to understand what they are talking about.

“Did you get any power?” Claire suddenly investigates.

“no?”

“We may still have time. Do it before he tries anything.” Shelby urges Claire.

Claire's arm points towards me.

With a familiar crackling sound, It slowly transforms into a grotesque growth that doesn't resemble its original form in the slightest.

The growth resembles a gun shape, with a long bore.

Looking at the muzzle, all I can see down it is darkness.

Claire's eyes also reflect that same darkness, giving the impression that she has done this countless times.

I reflect on how fruitless my life has been and the fact that my second chance is now being taken away by the same person who took my life the first time.

I do regret taking more than giving in this world, but then again, I'm not the one ending my own life.

Suddenly, only for an instant I see something eject out of it.

It was so fast i could only see a flash before i felt the same emptiness i felt previously.

Looking down, I can see another hole in my body, this time on my chest area.

I can't seem to pick my head up though, my view just keeps going down until I can see my body upside down.

I can see the part of my body she took from me in full view.

The wall behind my body is also disintegrated.

I feel a sharp pain as my hit the floor.

They both turn to walk away.

“Owch.” I reflexively blurt.

They both instantly turn towards my now severed head.

Their eyes are wide in disbelief.

With a dead serious look, Claire grabs my head by the hair and shoots me in the face.

Again, all I can see is darkness.

I sit in the darkness for a while waiting.

It seems like this could be death.

Everything is dark but I'm still conscious for some reason.

I guess death is just an empty abyss.

I can see a tiny white pinhole in the distance.

It seems to be growing in size

I can see Claire and Shelby standing in front of me.

What?

I thought I died?

They both have their arms crossed.

Their faces reflect shock and disappointment.

Shelby lets out a long sigh.

“This is abnormal.” Says Claire, surprised.

“We need to let leaders see this.” Shelby said.

Still binded by the tentacles, I'm dragged away by Claire and Shelby against my will.