"It's correct?" Chrome calmly opened his eyes. Seeing the familiar ceiling and surroundings and checking the time on the wall clock, he confirmed his theory when he picked up his phone from the desk next to him.
"It's not that much different from what I guessed."
The phone Chrome held in his hand was his usual touch screen one, a sign of his return. Since Alter Chrome's financial state wasn't that good, let alone that he had no use for something better, he only had an old button-dependent model that could be only used for calls and checking the clock. Undeniably, checking his phone was the easiest way for Chrome to differentiate between realities!
During his last day in the parallel dream, Chrome had waited out the time by reading some old books till the clock finally hit midnight. Having immediately slept after that, he directly found himself waking up in his original reality, the clock's hands turning to indicate that it was 1 minute past 8 AM.
With the addition of the one last input that Chrome had been missing, his theory about the mechanism of the world exchange paradox he was experiencing could barely be considered complete.
'Two days are too little for a testing period, but…' Chrome's mind gears turned as he grabbed his note and pen, quickly noting down what he had so that he could check if he had missed something.
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Parallel world's Alter exchange theory:
1. The day passes in the main reality first.
2. Sleeping in the period from 8 AM to 11:59 PM results in normal sleep with no exchanges taking place.
3. Sleeping at Midnight(exactly 12 AM) in the main reality and after that would automatically cause the exchange to happen. (requires additional testing)
4. Sleeping in the normal sleeping period till the start of the exchange period will result in normal sleep that ends with the exchange taking place.
5. After the exchange takes place, the day in the parallel reality also starts from 8 AM to 11:59 PM.
6. Points 2, 3 & 4 also describe the process in the parallel reality. Only, the exchange happens in reverse
+ [Normal reality] = Usual reality, no supernatural phenomenon exists. The completely normal reality that didn't change until yesterday.
+ [Parallel reality] = Distorted reality, multiple supernatural phenomena exist. A new reality that had only entered my life a day ago.
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"This should do." Since there was no knowing if the memory overload would cause him to forget some important stuff. Chrome took his time to make everything detailed enough for the sake of a quick recall if needed.
The period after midnight was still somewhat of a mystery that required additional testing, but that could only be done at another time. Still, Chrome had an additional test that he could immediately proceed with, finding out if his 'Self Reliance Palace' also worked on this side!
He had precisely left the last note empty since he hadn't confirmed it just yet!
'Self Reliance Palace? Self Reliance… Assessment Scroll?' Unfortunately, no matter how deeply Chrome tried to think about it or change his approach
"As expected." There was no response whatsoever, just as any logical person would come to think.
'What about… Lightning?' Even then, Chrome still tried giving [Basic Lightning] a try. After all, was logic really a good criterion after everything he went through? For now… the answer was yes.
'That does make sense.'
Seeing nothing manifest on the top of his fingers, Chrome wasn't too disappointed. Although it wouldn't be extremely strange if his Superpower was to actually work here, it was still a bit far-fetched. Since this world wasn't met with the same change as his counterpart's reality, he would be basically given the ability to dominate this normal world given a few years of time.
'Even nuclear power would be useless if I achieve the growth that I'm expecting…' This was definitely within the scope of ability of the few top-ranking Extras that Chrome took as a reference!
"Let's get up first." Chrome dispersed his grand thoughts as he put away his blanket. He was still not much of an Extraordinary on either side just yet.
Feeling refreshed despite directly skipping forward to the start of the day, Chrome opened the window to let the sun in before leaving the room.
"Eh?!" Encountering Chrome on his way to the bathroom, Sarah displayed blatant shock mixed with confusion.
"Is there something wrong, mom?" Chrome asked, reflecting Sarah's confusion. He was too concentrated on his thoughts to notice if anything had changed.
'Could it be that my body has changed in some way or another?!' Thinking of the plausible occurrence that could have resulted from his repeated exchange, Chrome took a few steps toward the mirror in the hallway
'Nothing is different?'
"Oh my, not only responding to my waking up call yesterday but even waking up on your own today? Sorry… I couldn't contain my shock," Sarah explained with a wide smile, she was genuinely impressed by the sudden change.
"Ah…" Looking at it from a normal point of view, Chrome finally realized how abnormal it was for him to actively wake up now. Not to mention 8 AM, he woke up in the afternoon most days during summer break.
'Could this be called a biological alarm at this point?' Before he knew it, Chrome realized another benefit to his precise exchange schedule.
"Is it still the same nightmare from yesterday?" Sarah asked half-jokingly while her eyes contained a hint of worry. Even if Chrome woke up early as she desired, it was no good if it was at the expense of his mental health…
"Well, I was actually wrong about it yesterday. I somehow managed to continue it last night and it turned out to be a great dream!" Mixing some truth in his words, Chrome responded in the same manner.
"A great dream…? Do share the story with me if we have time later. Since you are already up, come help me put out the dishes, and maybe wake up your father?" Sarah snickered before turning to make use of the moment. Since there was no knowing when Chrome would wake up early like this again, it was normal to ask him to give her his rare helping hand, or so she thought…
"Sure." Chrome agreed without showing any reluctance. Unbeknownst to Sarah, he had already experienced dozens of Alter Chrome's sad lonely memories of eating his meals alone before forcing himself to go out for an additional early shift. To Chrome, sharing another meal with his family was the best rehab he could do to recover from last day's memory recall…
"Really, this easily? Where did my normal son go? Which kind of imposter, trying to take over my son's identity, are you? An alien or a doppelganger…? Actually, never mind, you seem like a much better version of him, you can stay!" Sarah put on a fake serious face as she carried on with her jokes, hiding the happiness she felt about her son's budding change.
'Well, only if he continues and doesn't stop after a few days as he usually does, that is,' Sarah followed on with a quick self-note.
"Thanks, 'mother'. Don't worry, I won't let that lazy guy out, hehe." Rather than being the butt of the joke in Alter Chrome's place, Chrome easily preferred turning himself into the joke in a conversation like this.
"Good. Here, take these out." A smile bloomed on Sarah's face as she handed Chrome a set of plates.
"Yes ma'am!" Taking the empty plates from his mother's hand, Chrome assigned them on the table before taking a turn towards his parents' room…
`~~~`~~~`~~~`
After re-enacting the little scene he just had with Adam taking Sarah's place, Chrome had an enjoyable breakfast with the two before sending his father off. He then turned to surprise his mother once more by helping her with the dishes!
Spending the rest of the day having fun to wash away the years' worth of miserable memories that he had to digest in a single day, Chrome finally got down to thinking about managing his life around the fixed reality exchange.
'This should be okay for now.' Having penned down a schedule after some thought, Chrome pinned the paper in a hidden spot next to his bed.
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Sleeping Timetable:
1. Normal Reality: around 8~10 PM.
2. Parallel Reality: possible naps before Midnight, ??????.
_______________________
While he couldn't pinpoint a set time for his sleep in the parallel world, since there was much that had yet to be decided regarding his future there, Chrome was already set on sleeping at dusk in his normal world!
Even though he didn't feel sleep-deprived despite losing up on actual sleep through his last two reality exchanges, Chrome still believed that he had to cut out some of the 32 hours that he had to live in both worlds. No matter how tempting having more time was, the normal mind wasn't supposed to experience that much, especially not in an endless cycle.
In simple words, sleep might not be something that Chrome required in this abnormal condition of his, but it was something he desired to ease the constant tension he would be put under…
When dealing with something that he couldn't truly explain, Chrome could only act on what he understood. It remained a mystery how he could seamlessly stay awake in a cycle of 32 hours, but Chrome could still do his best to not come out on the losing end.
Seeing that it had already become 8 PM while he was lost in thought, Chrome put away his phone before turning to lay on his side, tightly covering himself with the light blanket.
'Tomorrow is a big day after all… Or should I say today?'