Chapter 12

The Duplicate

"Shit!" Natsume bellowed. "Ruka, wake up!"

There was no answer, Ruka just laid still, his eyes closed and his right shoulder was gushing with blood. His skin looked pale and so was Natsume's.

"There's no use trying to wake him." Tsubasa senpai said solemnly "It's best that you leave him asleep for now, that way his blood flow will not be too heavy. "

"Shut the heck up!" snapped Natsume.

The escape door they had vanished into was an underground tunnel. Once one had the time to walk through it for three hours, he might find himself in what seems to be a dead end, but luckily for the three of them, Natsume knows there is hidden trap door just above the canopy of hard earth. After opening the trap door would find yourself out in the deepest wood of Hokkaido. Japanese would naturally refer this as "the magnificent wilderness of Hokkaido." After all, that part of Japan is 70 percent of wilderness and agricultural areas.

They had started off running in the tunnel but after noticing no one was following them( and Natsume reasoned that it was because the trapdoor was well hidden) they just continued by walking. Natsume carried Ruka all the way. Even though Tsubasa senpai persisted that someone older should do it, Natsume gave him one sharp reply and the senpai had to give in.

"Where the heck did you come from anyway, huh?" Natsume asked, rather furiously. "We were doing fine when you weren't around."

"I came here to help you!" Tsubasa senpai exclaimed. "And besides, I'm not really that person right now…"

"What?" Natsume retorted.

"Look here!" Began Tsubasa-senpai. "I wasn't attracting anyone and no one followed me…because-"

"Then how the hel-"

"Shut up and listen!" snapped Tsubasa senpai, Natsume grew quiet. "I'm not sure who those people were but the truth is… 'I'm' not really here…"

There was silence for a moment. Then Natsume said, a little puzzled:

"So you're from the future?" It was too dark to see his expression.

"No…I'm a duplicate."

Natsume stopped dead on his tracks.

"What?"

"Yes, Natsume…" I'm not really that Tsubasa guy…I'm just an imitation of him. I was created in his very likeness by my master, Imai Hotaru-sama."

Natsume almost felt sick as he said, "Shit! So how on earth did you find us?"

"My master is very resourceful. When she sold you those shape-shift candies, the tag had a tracking device that she could relocate." The duplicate explained.

"But…you look too human to be a robot? What are you?" Natsume asked, stunned. "Of all people, why would she use your image?" They were still walking as they spoke. "Are you an avatar body?"

"My master told me it was because this image annoys you most? Anyways, no…I'm a vessel with a computer mind. My master made me from a certain plastic material that looks like the human body's largest organic matter (the skin). Right now, I am in pilot mode…a few minutes ago I was being controlled by my master's orders. However, to prevent any body else from tracking us, I am automatically set to pilot mode. But I have come for a greater purpose."

"What!?" asked Natsume.

"To deliver you a few messages that my master instructed me to:

"One, my master wants to meet up with you, so that you two can travel together. And my second purpose is to bring you safely to them."

"Them?" Asked Natsume, astounded.

"Imai-sama, and Mikan-chan."

Natsume nearly froze as the duplicate Tsubasa spoke these words. There was a dead silence for a while. After a few minutes, natsume spoke:

"I can't fulfill your 'master's' orders." Natsume said, quietly. "And you're only a duplicate so you can't understand my reason and feelings."

"Oh…But I can!" The duplicate exclaimed. "I may be a computer but my master is a genius and she has implanted sensors in my vessel!"

"That ain't what I effing mean!" natsume grunted. The duplicate just looked perplexed.

"Anyway, since you're a robot and all, can you help Ruka?"

"Why, yes, I can!" TD said (Tsubasa-Duplicate would be far too long to type, and from this point onwards, I'll just use the abbreviation to save me the trouble of typing and for you, the reading). "I have multi purposes, one of which I can locate the nearest hospital and run four times the speed of an average human being toward it."

"Dumb ass, that's not what I mean!" snapped Natsume. "We can't afford to be seen in a hospital, besides, I can remove a bullet myself. I just need you to help me for a while as I operate Ruka's wound."

"Ok, whatever." TD replied. Natsume gave him one look of incredulousness and said. "You know, I may not like Imai but she's done a great job in imitating that dim witted Tsubasa. I don't like it." But the TD hardly understood this.

"Anyway, I'm not operating in this tiny tunnel. We'll have to get out of it first and find a clean area where we can sterilize the utensils for a small operation."

Now, I can tell you about the arguments they had doing all the above and the details but I'll just tell you what basically happened. After they got out of the tunnel, through the trap door, they found themselves in the magnificent wilderness, but after a few minutes walking (Naturally, Natsume lead the way), they found a queer looking square brick house in the middle of the thicket of wood. It was only twelve feet high and obviously it was only one floor and had only one small door made out of plastic and no windows. The roof was made of zinc, and the corners of the walls were well covered with weeds and thistles. One might say it was abandoned for a year by the looks of the small building.

Once they opened the door and entered the house, they found themselves in a bare white room that only consisted of two bunkers and a small table; no others rooms or corridors. They immediately got to work, there was no toilet and no running water in the sink on the corner so the TD was made o fetch some clean water from a nearby river. Natsume laid Ruka on one of the bunkers, face down, so that he might operate his wound properly. He found a bottle of pharmacy alcohol and a first aid kit somewhere inside his backpack and then when the TD came back a few minutes later with the water and they had it boiled, he sterilized his tools for the small operation and a minute later his wiped each of it clean with alcohol (including a special thread and a large needle).

After an hour and a half the work was done and Ruka's shoulder was clean of the bullet and of the blood. But Natsume knew he had to rest and therefore kept very quiet and signaled the TD to go outside and talk. They decided to head to the river which the TD had gone to a few minutes ago, for Natsume was dreadfully thirsty, thought the TD didn't quite understand what he meant by the word.

After a long drink, Natsume leaned his back on a tree and looked hard on the TD that imitated him. "About that thing about traveling together…," began Natsume. He paused and the TD just looked vaguely into Natsume's hard eyes.

"Where are they?"