Meeting Jane and Sophie as Sayaka

I approached Jane and Sophie’s house, and I readied myself for how I should explain everything to them.

Come on, I shouldn't be so anxious...

I knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. After a minute, I heard the door open. Sophie was standing behind it.

"Yes?" Her eyes were red, as if she had been crying until recently. I could even spot some wet marks on her shirt, most likely from tears.

She looks so devastated... It made me feel guilty.

"Hmm, I would like to talk about Ben." I hesitantly said.

She jumped in surprise as she heard me. "Ben? Y-you know something?"

"I do, yes. But... may we speak inside, please?” I didn't want to reveal my true form out in the open, where anyone could see.

I could see in Sophie’s eyes that she wasn’t sure whether to agree or not, but after a few seconds, she replied. "O-okay. I'll let my sister know we have a guest. Stay in the living room for now, please."

I smiled at her. "Okay, thanks, Sophie."

She looked at me with her eyes wide open. "How do you know my name?"

"I'll explain everything inside, so that Jane can hear it, too."

"O-okay…" Of course, Sophie would be surprised that a stranger knew her and her sister's names.

I followed her inside to the living room, and waited for Jane to join us. Jane eyed me for a minute before speaking.

"So, Sophie told me you know something about Ben's disappearance?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I know everything."

"Where is he, then? What happened to him?"

Okay, breathe... I was really nervous, I was so afraid of their reaction, but I had to speak. "He's... in front of you..."

Sophie and Jane didn’t expect that, surprised. "What?"

"I am Ben…" I declared.

"That's not funny!"

Obviously, Jane didn't believe me, so I made a sign with my hand.

"Let me explain everything, first. You know the abandoned castle inside the forest? After Nadia came home drunk again last night, I left and decided to hike around there." The mention of Nadia apparently calmed Jane down a bit. "I... saw some shady people going in and out and decided to sneak in. I grabbed some chemicals from their warehouse with the intent of showing them to the police before fleeing the scene. But I dropped these chemicals, and they... transformed me. Let me show you..."

I knelt and guided a part of my body to Sayaka's mouth. I seemed to have an easier time splitting now that I knew it was possible.

"W-what the heck is that?" Jane shouted, taking a step back.

Jane and Sophie looked at me with a mix of disgust and shock. Even if it did hurt to see them act like this towards me, it wasn't like I could fault them, my real body became pretty hideous, after all. I quickly went back inside her body and reunited both parts of me.

I got back up, quickly brushing my knees to get rid of the dust on the thighs. "I told you. I became a sort of monster, who's able to take over other people's bodies. Or, has to take over other people's bodies would be more accurate."

"What do you mean?" Sophie asked.

"If I stay outside of a body for too long, I start to lose strength, and I think I would die after some time." I sighed. "I was lucky to find a host, last night, while I was fleeing from these shady guys.”

"It sounds... impossible…" Jane muttered.

I looked at her. "Is there something I can do to prove to you that I'm Ben?"

Jane shook her head and observed me again. "Wait, if you're Ben, why are you in a girl's body? Was she the host you found last night?"

I decided to be truthful, I had to convince them at all cost. "It's complicated. I possessed this girl earlier today, but I was, and still am, in another girl, the one I possessed yesterday."

"What?" They obviously had a hard time understanding what I meant.

"Okay, so, I have a few... abilities. I can not only possess someone, but can also get access to their memories and personality. Basically, I can perfectly mimic the real person without much effort. And I also accidentally learned earlier today that I could split myself to possess multiple people."

"You have... two bodies?" Jane finally asked, starting to get it.

I nodded, chuckling softly. "Yeah. It was quite trippy at first, but it's pretty neat.” I then put my hands on my hips. “Although, the personalities of my hosts can somewhat influence how I think. And the other girl is kinda... wild. I got angry at this girl and tried to possess her, but ended up controlling both of them. The other girl's body is sleeping, right now, but I plan to use her to scout for a host to get inside the castle, tonight. I want to find a way to return to normal."

After a moment of silence, Jane took a deep breath and spoke. "So... Why did you stay in a girl's body? If you can possess anyone, I'm sure there are plenty of guys that you could possess?"

"Huh?" I tilted my head. "I haven't thought of possessing a guy… Sayaka and Tori's bodies feel so natural to me that it didn't even bother me until you just pointed it out. Maybe it's also a side-effect of my abilities…" I decided to think about that later, and shrugged it off. "But hey, it's a learning experience to be of the opposite gender. I sometimes wondered how it was like to be a girl, and now I can be one. For a short time, at least."

Jane stared at me for a moment, holding her forehead as she was lost in thoughts. "It's so weird… To know that it's you beneath the face of this girl..."

I cheered up after hearing Jane. "You believe me?"

"I... I think…" She replied.

"So, is the other girl also from Tina Koya?" Sophie asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, that's why I ended up possessing the girl you're looking at. I was there today, since I didn't want to behave out of character." I gestured at my current body. “This girl seems to be their version of Airi, a bully who pretends to be a good girl. I decided to have a bit of fun at her expense for today, considering how bitchy she is."

"I often saw Chisa hanging out with a guy from Tina Koya." Sophie commented, intrigued.

"Oh, her boyfriend, maybe?" I wondered. I knew that Sophie liked Chisa, so I was curious.

Sophie looked away shyly. "I don't know. You know I'm too shy to get closer to her."

I took a step closer and gave her a teasing grin. "I could always possess her. You'd certainly be closer to her, that way."

"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks." Sophie awkwardly replied.

I giggled. "I was joking. Chisa is too nice for me to do that to her. In any case, I will take my leave.” I wrote Sayaka's phone number on a piece of paper and gave it to Jane. "Here's Sayaka's number, if you want to contact me. It'll probably be my main body until I can become me again. Please avoid mentioning anything about me if cops or weird guys come see you, I don't trust them."

Maybe it was because of Tori's relationship with authorities, but I disliked the idea of having to rely on cops for that.

Jane sighed. "It's a bit late for that. Nadia and I went to the police station earlier."

"Huh?"

"This morning, she called me, panicking, when she noticed that you didn't come back last night." Jane explained.

I grit my teeth, my voice barely concealing my anger. "Oh, now she's worried?"

Jane sighed and looked at me with a serious expression. "Ben, I fully know that she didn't do a good job taking care of you since Anya's passing, but trust me when I say that she didn't fake it. She is really worried about you. Give her a chance, and you'll see."

Sayaka's pride was trying to influence me there, but I didn't want to blow up at Jane. "I'll think about it. But I'm not going to see her today. Don't tell her anything for now, I'll see if I can return to normal tonight."

Jane clearly wasn’t so confident about my plan, but nodded. "Okay. Please be careful if you're going to try to sneak inside that place again."

"It should be fine. I told you I can perfectly imitate my hosts." I was confident I could pull this off. "I have to get to Sayaka's house, now. Have a good evening, Jane, Sophie. And thanks for believing in me."

Sophie smiled more warmly at me. "Stay safe, Ben."

"Good luck." Jane said.

"Thanks."