10:15 PM
"He's been there for like twenty minutes now," Shouki muttered, lowering his phone camera. Throughout the whole day, Akie, his childhood friend, has been persistent on capturing and reporting a new upcoming villain.
"Quiet! I might miss something!" Akie snapped, her voice low but urgent. She dreams of being a top news reporter and since superpowers are taking over the world, she wants to be the first to cover the interesting stories. The man they are stalking goes only by "Killer" in the streets. She roped Shouki on this adventure with her. Right now they are outside hiding in the bushes, waiting for him to exit a liquor store.
"You know," Shouki began, slouching against the wall, "I'd take this more seriously if we didn't have school tomorrow morning. We're going to get scolded for breaking curfew. Haven't you thought that this guy might just be an innocent person? We've been stalking this dude for three days and nothing's happened."
Killer was anything but normal. His body gleamed like polished marble, his stainless steel skin eliminating any need for clothes. Massive metal coil cylinders replaced his biceps, giving him the appearance of a mechanized titan. Standing at a towering eight feet, he looked like a smoother, more humanoid version of the Terminator. Every feature screamed "military-grade weapon," not "innocent civilian."
Akie's eyes remained glued to the store's entrance. "It'll all be worth it when we catch him in the act."
Shouki sighed, finally grabbing her hand. "Come on. Let's go before someone sends a search party for us."
"Wait—"
"Nope. We're leaving."
Just as they turned to leave, a deafening explosion erupted behind them. The force slammed into Shouki, who instinctively shielded Akie with his body. Shrapnel sliced through the air, embedding itself into his back as chaos unfolded.
* * *
5:00 AM
A sharp slap jolted me awake. Blinking groggily, I saw my second clone, 2c, grinning as she dragged me out of bed.
"Let's go," she chirped, dumping me onto the floor with zero formality. My head hit the carpet with a dull thud.
Ryuuka—my first clone, lifted me to my feet. Without a word, she carried me to the bathroom, where she made sure I brushed my teeth and freshened up. Meanwhile, 2c flopped onto my bed, taking my place. Efficient? Sure. Dignified? Not so much.
Breakfast was already laid out. My schedule for the day was planned, my clothes ironed and ready. Ryuuka handled most household chores now, much to Mom's delight. The free time she gained from outsourcing tasks to clones had been life-changing.
2c had spent the night multitasking: finishing freelance gigs, updating my programming skills, and tackling my school assignments. While she worked, I slept. A perfect system. Except, it could be better. With more clones, I could amplify my efficiency—but space was a problem. Our house wasn't exactly a clone-friendly fortress.
Lately, 2c had been making some extra money through small freelance schemes, while I juggled retail shifts. Every dollar went toward saving for a studio apartment, a future HQ for my operations. With enough room, I could expand my abilities and maybe even launch a small business.
Throughout the past few months, I've already realized many more features of my powers. The interesting one being Subconscious Partitioning. Currently, I have it split 50-40-10 for me, 2c, and Ryuuka respectively. It allows us to use more or less of our subconsciousness, although it might be a bad way to name it, since it also contributes a lot towards how aware a clone becomes.
If I remove all consciousness from a clone, they will get disconnected after a few tasks and go limp. However, even as small as just 0.01%, it will be enough to finish any tasks given, although sometimes I must be very specific. The more of my consciousness I allow, the better connection and control I have over the clone.
The fascinating part was when I put most consciousness on 2c, which seems like it made it the master clone, and in a way it felt like it became the main body.