…-ke up…
I turn around in my bed, my sleepy brain completely ignores the words that sound like they came from the inside of my head.
Wake Up.
"Mghn…" I mumble unintelligibly, prying my eyes open and staring into the ceiling above, mentally cursing on whoever decided to wake me up in what appears to be
6 in the morning. "Whuh…?"
Yes, very eloquent, truly words of wisdom. Now get up!
I rub my eyes and look around the guest room, trying to locate whoever is talking to me. At first I thought it might be Koko, but her voice is so much different from the one I've just heard… And she's also not in the room. Weird.
Oh, for the love of- Get your head into work, will you?
The voice sounds right behind me, sending my brains into fight or flight mode. I whip my head around, hands tight into fists, preparing to fight possible threat… However, there's nobody behind me. I turn my head around frantically, panic slowly enters my mind. Is that guy invisible or something? How can I fight someone who I can't even see?!
Stop that! All this rotation gives me nausea. Calm down before you twist my neck!
I jump from surprise as the voice rings once more, making me fall from bed onto the floor with startled yelp.
And then the world freezes in place.
That quick adrenaline rush surely helped me finally wake up fully, allowing me not only realize the strange familiarity of the voice I'm hearing, but also to find its source.
As I sit on the floor I hear my own voice inside my head, laughing at my stupid fall.
No, not my voice. His voice.
Ah, are you finally catching up? About time. Can't believe I have to share my body with such an idiot.
He mocks.
"How could something like this even happen to me…" I whisper under my breath, tying my hair into a messy ponytail. "Whatever I even did to deserve you?"
Ha, how selfish of you to think that! He says, his voice rings inside my head, laced with poison and spite. Allow me to remind you that I am a real victim here.
I glare at the mirror, frowning at my reflection.
A cheap knock-off. Body snatcher. A fake copy. A reflection without a body.
"Will you please shut your pie hole and stop throwing half-baked insults my way for at least one minute?!" I raise my voice, catching myself just before it was a full on yell. No need to gather the attention of every single person in the mansion.
"Listen," I start, lowering my voice back to whispering. "I know that this situation you're stuck in sucks. But it's not my doing! I didn't ever asked for my consciousness to be sent into another's body, especially one that was already occupied!"
All I get in response is an irritated huff.
"You're getting angry at the wrong guy here." I try to reason with my 'newly' acquired brain neighbor once again. "I am here against my own will as well, thrown into a brand new world with magic and monsters and whatnot. And I didn't even get to keep my old body, instead I had my soul ripped out and shoved into someone else's body."
I let out a heavy sigh, letting my hands drop down.
A short pause filled with tense silence.
Still doesn't cancel the fact that you've been ruining my life while all I could do was watching you do it from the back of my own head.
I feel a cold sweat running down my back. Alright, the realization that this prick was watching my every move from the very start of my 'new' life is unnerving as heck. And… Doesn't help that he is kind of right. I ran around in his body, probably throwing whatever plans he had for his life into the drain.
And don't get me started on his relationships with mamodos, both from the mamodo world and human one.
"Alright, yes, fine. But in my defense your plans involve a nifty load of violence, malicious intents, blackmailing and other fun little ways to be as bad as a full on morning cartoon styled villain."
Your moral 'dilemmas' are cute but they make you nothing but a laughingstock in the eyes of others. If you spent your whole life as a mamodo, if you've been through what I've been - you'd be just as bad as me if not worse.
"I highly doubt it." I say full of confidence but there is a small part of me that says that the true owner of this body might've been right. I remember his sister and how freaking weird of a person she was, making me wonder what the heck is wrong with his whole family…
A light knock on the door is all it takes to make me return back to the present, away from my thoughts.
"Zofis, are you ready yet?" I hear Koko speaking behind the closed doors. "Sherry's personal jet is almost here and she says it's time for us to head out to the landing field."
"Ah, yeah, coming!" I call out, standing up from a chair and walking away from the dressing table. "And as of you…" I whisper to the ex-owner of my body, "What happened - happened. There's no value in bickering over it. It sucks that we share a body now but if it bothers that much, go figure out a solution to our problem yourself."
Oh, I will find one, don't you worry about it. I will get my body back, eventually… And once I'm done - all your little fun fake life will be over.
It takes quite a bit of self-control not to shudder at that proposition. This jerk is just trying my nerves at this point.
But, a nasty little big-like thought does linger a bit in my head, flying around like an annoying insect… If he does find a way to return his body back to himself, what would happen to me? Will I just stay here, watching helplessly as this new-old Zofis ruins my old life? Will I just disappear? Will I die?
I suppress a deep sigh and throw this thought far away into the darkest pits of my mind.
I'll deal with it later.
"...Stop being so stubborn and take it. It's already converted and..."
"Sherry, I really can't… It's too much-"
"Koko," Sherry gives Koko a stern and firm look as I exit the mansion with relatively small suitcase, with Koko's items neatly stuck inside.
It looks like girls having a verbal fight. Koko doesn't want to take Sherry's wallet while Sherry is this close to just duct-taping it to Koko's hand and calling it a day.
What a weird couple.
"Koko, take the money. I will not be there with you for at least few days and I need to make sure you have everything you need. Japan is not France, Koko… And I know what you thinking! You can't get a job there-"
"Wait, hold up-" I rudely butt into the conversation, earning myself an irritated scowl from Brago's bookkeeper. "What do you me 'I will not be there with you'? I-... Am I and Koko going to Japan alone?"
Sherry's face strangely softens by concern as she glances at Koko.
"Japan is the safest place in the world, at the moment. Since this whole Mamodo Battle started, Mamodo's have been popping out all over the world, causing chaos of various degree everywhere." She explains and I feel my heart skipping a beat. "But Japan is different. Yes, there are still troubles, even there, but it appears that Mamodos who reside there are much weaker and fewer than what we have here."
"So… You're sending me and Koko there as… A safety measure?"
"Exactly." Sherry cuts out, shoving wallet into Koko's hands and stepping away, leaving her dear friend in a sudden mental turmoil. "You will be there alone for first few days, but when me and Brago burn all Mamodo's books in France we will fly to Japan after you."
She is not messing around… Wish she was my bookkeeper, she is much more competent than what I got instead.
I glance at Koko, who looks like she's about to cry, holding big black leathered wallet as if it's a bomb. I have half a mind to give a deep sigh, partly because Sherry will exterminate me on the spot and partly because I don't want to give him even a slight satisfaction from realisation that he is right.
"Few days, you say?" I tilt my head in confusion, switching my train of thoughts onto more important topic. "Isn't that a bit too short of a timespan? Don't you think that you'd need at least a week? There might be more than a handful of mamodos in France, and some of them might take a while to track down and defeat…" I trail off deeply in thoughts.
"For you - yes." I yelp and jump away as Brago's deep voice scares me from behind.
"WHERE DID YOU EVEN CAME FROM?!"
Sherry and Brago both ignore my question as they give each other a neutral stare.
"Both me and Brago are capable of tracking down mamodos - I can scout news and talk to people to find needed information while Brago can feel the presence of nearby mamodos. And once we find them, well, the easy part starts."
I know she says that only to reassure Koko. But what she does just makes her even more concerned. Although Brago is scarily strong, Sherry is just a human, after all. There's no way other mamodos won't target her over Brago.
"Alright! I will leave it to you then!" Koko suddenly declares, brightening up and looking cheerful, but I see that her heart is trembling with fear and guilt and sadness. What has gotten into her? "If you say you can do it then I believe you!"
I can feel Sherry's own heart easing up a bit. Oh, so that's what's going on. I see what game you're playing Koko.
"Me and Zofis will try our best in Japan too! We will try our best to-"
Oh, nope, wrong direction, Koko! I fly up to her and gave her a shove.
"And by that we mean we will not get in trouble! We will stay away from fights and, even if we get into one, it's probably going to be weak mamodo who's not going to be a challenge even to myself-" I get a shove from Koko in return as a revenge for my interruption.
"-And we will kick their ass! And burn their book! And become stronger and-"
"-And that's it! Maybe we just treat Japan trip as a holiday break? As a vacation? Please?!" I nearly beg her at the end. Thankfully, she seems to finally catch up with what I'm doing.
"Er… yeah. I guess we will just relax and not get into trouble. So no need to worry about us, just like we will not worry about you guys!"
Both Sherry and Brago stare at us. Brago's expression is somewhat bored and annoyed by our antics while Sherry's is confused, giving out an air of slight concern. Slowly but surely it fades.
"We promise we'll be fine. Don't worry about us, concentrate on mamodos instead." Koko says softly, as if trying to reassure herself too.
"Yep, me and Koko tougher than we look! Heck, I've survived being hit to the head with a sword, how cool is that?"
"I wouldn't call that cool perse, but it indeed was impressive."
"Alright, I got it, you two can go now, the jet is waiting for you on the landing field." Sherry cuts us off, pointing at the field behind us. Me and my bookkeeper share a glance before Koko smiles, grabs her suitcase and waves Sherry goodbye before we both move away.
I didn't know how much time a flight from France to Japan would take but I was mentally prepared for at least 12 hours. To my surprise our pilot estimated around 6, with how fast while still being very careful, our jet could go. The new information about the quickness of the said flight did not however ease Koko's nerves.
Ever since we took off the ground her heart was throbbing with worry. I am not sure where it originates from and every time I try to pry her inner turmoil out of her she shrugs it off. 'It's nothing to worry about' or 'I'm just afraid of height' are one of the few of her favorite lines.
She is a horrible liar.
I give her a sympathetic look. Her heart is still aching but I just have to be patient and maybe she'll trust me enough to help her. In the meantime, I think I could catch a small nap… Thanks to someone very noisy who had the audacity to wake me up at the break of dawn I still feel tired after a night of sleep.
Mamodo's don't need to sleep as much as you do. Stop acting like a disgrace - you make me look bad.
He complains when I try to get comfortable in a business-class styled plane armchair. For a jet this thing is helluva stylish.
"Hm, I suppose you have any other ideas on how to spent around six hours stuck in a small room that flies at insane speed in the air from point A to point B?" I whisper after making sure Koko won't notice me.
I regret saying that because, instantly, he starts plotting pretty heinous wrongdoings, telling them to me in very explicit details.
This is going to be a long ride.
[author notes:
My keyboard broke two monts ago. I just recently got a new one. Still getting used to it.]