Dekim and Izumi left together for a walk before heading home. In the distance, Dekim spotted someone standing on the train tracks, waiting for the train to run him over and end his life. The boys began to run toward him, shouting for him to reconsider. But as the train approached, it seemed inevitable.
Then, a surprise occurred: Dekim's left hand shot out toward the person, pushing him off the tracks and quickly retracting back to its normal position. The boys stood in shock, unable to comprehend what had just happened. It was as if the hand that had caused so much trouble wanted to atone for its misdeeds and apologize in its own way.
"Ah, did you see what just happened..." Dekim said, staring intently at his left hand.
"Oh my gosh, I can't believe that happened," Izumi replied, astonished. At the same time, a question crossed his mind: Why didn't my right hand act? His left hand looked just like his right hand did during the transformation. So, it made him wonder!!!
Izumi returned home, and as time passed, his questions multiplied. He headed straight to his room and powered on his computer, hoping to find answers to some of his questions.
A talking right hand,
a rubbery right hand,
a right hand as long as a blue whale,
a left hand that saves a person's life,
strange insects invading the human hand.
Izumi spent hours sitting at his computer, trying to find answers to his many questions, but to no avail.
"There's nothing related to this. I think no one else is experiencing it. Where did the rest of those insects go that night? Could it really be?!!!" Izumi spoke to himself aloud.
"Come on, Izumi, dinner is ready!" his mother called.
Izumi went to the dining table for a family meal, where his father was present.
"I received a call from the university; they said you left early. What's wrong?" his father, Takashi, asked.
"I feel tired," Izumi replied, his face pale.
"Are you okay?" his mother asked with concern.
"Yes..." he said, extending his plate to her for more food.
"Are you going to have another plate?" his mother asked, surprised.
"So you're feeling tired, but your appetite is wide open," his father remarked.
"Does that even matter?" Izumi waved his fork dismissively.
His father was taken aback by Izumi's slightly rude response but chose not to comment, continuing to watch him eat. The strange thing was that Izumi had never eaten more than one plate at dinner in his life, and even his eating style had changed, as if he were having his first plate. Izumi didn't say a word and kept eating, wondering how he might explain his right hand to his parents.
Izumi returned to his room and lay back on his bed, directing his right hand toward the lamp, trying to awaken the strange creature that his hand had become.
"No, I can't tell anyone about my right hand. Even if I told Dad and went with him to the police station, they'd think I'm crazy. My dad himself would think I'm insane. I can't even go to the hospital; there would be a huge uproar if they discovered the creature living in my hand. What should I do?
"Hey, you, wake up and talk to me!" Izumi poked his right hand.
The next morning arrived, and Izumi was still asleep, his room in disarray, books scattered everywhere. All of this was due to his right hand's curiosity, eager to explore and learn more about the world it now inhabited. Izumi woke up to find his right hand far from him, transformed into its new shape. He wasn't surprised; it was as if he had grown accustomed to seeing this scene every morning.
He watched his right hand's movements for several minutes without saying a word, observing how it flipped through the pages from one book to another. He soon discovered that his hand could take on the shape of various animals. Each time it read about a creature, part of the hand would adopt its form: a chameleon, a snake, a frog, a turtle... all animals that his right hand could transform into.
Izumi decided to interrupt what his hand was doing and asked, "What are you doing?"
The right hand closed the book it had been reading and replied, "What does it look like, human? I'm studying."
"I see you've mastered speaking; you're no longer stuttering like before," Izumi said.
"Anyway, tell me, what are you? Could it be that you're an alien?" Izumi added.
The chameleon form disappeared, and the hand said, "Alien!!! What is that?"
It crawled toward the computer to search for the word "alien."
"That strange insect is your true form, isn't it?" Izumi asked.
"I won't deny that there's no information about me in the biology books you've lost or in this device," the right hand replied.
"I pity you, human," it added.
"So what I understand from what you're saying is that you came from outer space?" Izumi asked.
"I don't know where I came from. I read that you humans consider yourselves the superior beings, so why don't you discover where I originated?" the right hand replied.
"All I remember is the feeling of bitterness from not being able to control the brain," the right hand added.
"What!!! The brain? Were you trying to reach the brain when you invaded my hand and started creeping up my arm? Could it be that you could try it again and take over my brain?" Izumi said, alarmed by the right hand's words.
"Calm down, human. If that were possible, I wouldn't hesitate, but I can't. I failed at that, and it's probably too late now," the right hand replied, sounding frustrated.
"What would have happened if you had succeeded..." Izumi wondered.
"Succeeded at what?" the right hand busy flipping through the pages of a book.
"Put the book down and pay attention to me!!! Succeeding in eating my brain and taking control of it," Izumi said, annoyed by the right hand's disregard for him.
"Most likely, you would have become... a human-like creature but with a transformed head," the right hand said.
It then manifested the shape that Izumi's head might have taken if it had controlled his brain, resembling a Venus flytrap—with two leaves at a 180-degree angle, surrounded by hard, sharp, toxic thorns, forming a deadly collar around its prey when it tightened its grip.
Izumi was horrified by the sight of his right hand, which now covered most of the room, blocking out the light with its sheer size.
"Okay, okay, I get it. Can you return to your normal form so we can continue our conversation?" Izumi said.
"Coward! Ha ha ha," the right hand mocked Izumi's fear after its transformation, but it still complied with his request.
"But! Why me?" Izumi asked.
"By chance," the right hand replied, moving closer to him to be at eye level.
"I didn't choose you specifically, but if I had the choice, I wouldn't have picked you," the right hand added.
"Well, I'd be happy not to have a strange creature living in my hand," Izumi retorted.
"Well, no choice," the right hand said.
"I think I need to go to the hospital now, whether it causes a fuss or not," Izumi said, turning his face away from the right hand.
"Why would you do that?" the right hand followed him to be at eye level again, curious.
"So they can cut you off," Izumi replied.
"And did you get my approval? I feed on the nutrients in your blood to survive," the right hand waved a finger at Izumi.
"Like a parasite?" Izumi asked.