The Simulacrum ~Chapter 27~ Part 1

"Are you all right now?" I asked the nervously fidgeting girl sitting on the edge of the bed while I was in the process of wiping the front of my coat with a towel I found in the bathroom. She gave a nod so insecure she might as well had shaken her head, but I didn't say that out loud, lest it would prompt Snowy to grab again and start sobbing for another ten minutes. Speaking of ti, I quickly checked my phone and noted that it was almost eight in the evening. I promised Judy we would be back in two hours, so we weren't late by a long shot, but that didn't an I shouldn't hurry things up a bit. Anyways, the silence in the room was getting a little heavy, so I put my phone away, put down the towel, and then put on a smile as I nonchalantly asked, "Hey, Snowy? Where exactly is this place?"

She glanced up at with eyes that couldn't tell whether I was serious or not, but in the end she answered with, "It's the… a hotel near the docks. I think it has a na, but I can't rember."

"Really?"

My casual question sohow made her visibly flinch and she quickly averted her eyes while whispering, "I… I knew I couldn't stay in the room brother rented, so when I ran away, I just looked for a place to stay and picked the first hotel I could find."

"Is that so?" I responded noncommittally while making sure that my clothes were in order, but then I raised a single brow as I rembered the most obvious question, "Speaking of which, why did you run away?"

The girl on the bed only bit her lips for a while. In fact, it took her so long to answer that I almost asked her again, but then she blurted out, "I'm from the Abyss."

"Yes," I replied by reflex. "Everyone knows that. So what?"

She took a deep breath and finally looked in the eye.

"Leo, I… I hurt you. At the ti, I even thought I killed you. You can say it was because of brother's orders, but it doesn't change the fact that I, an Abyssal, hurt soone. And on the grounds of a School too. The Magi only tolerated my presence because brother was here. Without him around, and after breaking the laws like that, they would hunt down for sure."

"Well, they can try," I told her with a smile I hoped was decently reassuring, "but then they would have to deal with and our friends."

"I know," Snowy answered with a small smile that didn't touch her eyes. "But at the ti I thought you were dead. Do you think the others would've protected like that?"

"Sure," I answered with all the baseless confidence in the world. "They are your friends, and they all knew you were under mind control or whatever. They would've helped you out without batting an eye."

"If you say so…" she said weakly and lowered her head. I could totally see her sobbing in a second, so as a preventative asure I swiftly sat down beside her.

"Co on, Snowy!" I told her while I reached my arm around her and patted her shoulder. "Do you think we went out of our way to rescue you and Josh just to abandon you at the finish line? Is that the kind of people you think we are?" She shook her head without saying anything, and I couldn't help but grin at her even if she couldn't see it.

I was just about to continue my pep-talk, but then she slowly turned her head back to and asked, in a mousy voice, "How's Josh doing?"

"Oh, him?" I mumbled as I wiped the grin off my face and replaced it with a very dignified pondering expression that was in no way taken aback or dopey for a mont. "All things considered, I'd say he is doing fine. He was a little rattled by the whole kidnapping thing, and he is still a bit freaked out about the supernatural, but he should settle down after a good night of sleep." I paused for a mont, then I playfully added, "He was also worried about you, you know?"

"Really?"

Seeing the girl imdiately perk up made stifle a chuckle.

"Yeah. I told him you were fine."

"I'm glad…" she began, but then she curiously tilted her head to the side and asked, "How did you know I was all right?" She paused for a mont to blink, like she just realized sothing, then she continued with, "And how did you even find ?"

I raised a finger to my mouth and replied, "It's one of my little secrets. It might or might not be revealed in due ti."

She didn't seem to appreciate the answer, so I did what I always do in situations like this and switched topics like a pro.

"Anyways, you should be able to talk with Josh tomorrow. We already agreed to have a tactical eting with everyone to discuss the situation, so you two can catch up before that. Or after. Or during. I don't think anyone would mind either way." Snowy only looked at funny, so I patted her on the shoulder again and then stood up, pulling her along. "Before all that though, let's go ho. You look like you also really need a good night of sleep."

She gave a sheepish nod as I stepped forth and took a look around the place.

"First of all, let's gather your stuff."

"Stuff?" she repeated after a touch uncertainly as she followed my example and looked around as well, as if searching for sothing.

"Yeah. Clothes, bags, that kind of thing," I answered off-handedly, but instead of moving to gather her belongings, she kept looking at like I just said sothing weird. "What? Don't tell you don't have anything."

"All my luggage was taken back to the Abyss," she stated like it was obvious.

"When? Before the incident at school?" She nodded her head, and that made pause for a mont. "So you have no clothes?" That earned a head shake this ti. "No toothbrush? Favorite mug? Plushy?" Shake, shake and shake again. "What about your purse?"

"I don't have one. All my belongings were managed by brother, and he took back my money and the fake ID last Saturday."

"Wait," I raised a hand to make her stop. "You say you have no money on you? At all?" She shook her head for the umpteenth ti, and I could only gawk at her. "Then how did you pay for this room?"

Snowy gave another strange look, then she looked away with what I presud to be embarrassnt before she muttered, "I didn't." I urged her with my eyes to go on, and she continued, "I… was in a hurry at the ti, so I kind of… seduced the receptionist and she let stay for free."

"Wait, you did what? You seduced…" I began, and then paused with my mouth still open as my brows slowly descended into a frown before I continued, "Did you just say 'she'?"

Snowy nervously nodded, and for a mont I had so many questions I couldn't decide what to ask first. Eventually I decided on none, and instead I let my palm cover my face as I exhaled an exasperated groan, followed by, "You know what? I don't even want to know."

After collecting my thoughts for a mont, I let my hand down and shook my head to clear it from stray thoughts. "Okay, so you have no money, no ID, and we need to get you so clothes. On the bright side, that ans you don't have any luggage, so moving in should be easy-peasy. Silver linings, am I right?"

"Err… Yes?" The girl at my side spoke timidly, but I was already too preoccupied with the logistics of the situation to mind.

First things first, we should call a taxi. Since it was just the two of us with no baggage, I figured it wouldn't cost that much. Not that it would matter; I still had a bad habit where I kept way more cash than necessary on hand, specifically for situations like this. I reached into my coat's inner pocket and took out my phone. I decided to first look for a local taxi service, then I would call Judy to tell her we were coming. I couldn't wait to see the look on her face when I told her my teleporting ability got even more bullshit… and it was at this exact mont when my hand stopped typing into the search bar of my phone's browser as a realization hit like lightning out of a clear blue sky.

"Snowy, co over here for a mont," I instructed the girl at my side while I hastily put my phone away. "I want to try sothing."

She wordlessly stepped closer to , and I held out a hand. She glanced at it, then gave a skeptical look, but ultimately she obediently grasped it. From the outside, it might've looked like we were shaking hands. In fact, it looked exactly like that. I should know, as I was looking at us from the above and a little to the right at the mont using Far Sight.

Now, here's what this was all about: I could teleport. When I did that, I could take all my clothes with , and even miscellaneous items, such as a certain borrowed spear. So, if I could take inanimate objects along for the ride, could I do the sa with a person as well? Or was there a limitation, like in that movie where an AI could only send organic matter back in ti? And if there was, was the limitation as easily circumvented as covering a tallic endoskeleton with organic tissue? But wait, I was getting ahead of myself again.

First I had to see if it was even possible before I started thinking about ways to exploit it. As such, I closed my eyes and focused on the area around us using Far Sight on Snowy, as it allowed to see myself in the process. First test: I tried to teleport to the other side of the room. The mont I did that, I could see my body beco hazy and sowhat transparent, but Snowy stayed the sa. I sharply exhaled, and my body imdiately regained its solidity. That made blink in surprise, breaking my concentration, and the Far Sight with it. So, teleportation can be canceled. That was good to know.

"What happened?" ca the flabbergasted question from the girl in front of .

"Oh, that?" I said nonchalantly. "I'm just experinting with sothing; please humor for a second."

"But… You were transparent," Snowy stated while squeezing my hand. "Are you…?"

"Please tell you are not going to ask, 'Are you really a ghost?'…" I interjected, and she visibly twitched and averted her eyes.

"I won't."

I let out a sigh and closed my eyes again, repeating the early steps of the previous experint. What went wrong? Well, my first guess was that I used my ability as usual, but that was for transporting myself. So, what if I had to consciously try to take Snowy along? This ti I tried that, and after taking a deep breath I triggered my teleportation ability again. The change was readily apparent from the first mont, as I could feel a tug that was resisting my efforts to move. That resistance ca from the hand clasped around Snowy's, unsurprisingly. I let out the breath I was holding and told her, "Don't move."

Saying so, I stepped closer to her and hugged her. She stiffened for a mont, but then when she realized I wasn't doing anything else, she relaxed and leaned onto my chest. With that, it was ti for the third experint, and as they say, the third ti's the charm. … Well, except in this case, as I failed to teleport once again.

Now, here's the thing: I got a glimpse of it on the second try, but this ti I had a very strong and distinct sense that I could actually do it; I could definitely take soone along for the ride, I was just missing sothing. I tried a few more tis, sotis holding Snowy closer, or holding onto different all-ages rating compatible parts of her anatomy, but nothing seed to work. Credit where credit's due, Snowy was a real trooper, as she put up with all my unreasonable demands without any complaints.

I was just about to give up on the whole endeavor when sothing ca to my attention. Well, that might have been a bit misleading, as it was always on my mind ever since my dangerous stunt this afternoon, but I was ignoring it exactly for that reason. At the end of the day, I was getting desperate enough for results to start incorporating my Phantom Limb into the equation.

Now, this wasn't just blindly grasping for straws and hoping for the best. I had a distinct feeling that my new appendage and the thing reaching out towards the 'dots' during my Far Sight were similar, if not the sa thing. Because of this, it was not far-fetched to think that, considering that I could already find a synergy between my Far Sight and my as of yet unnad teleportation ability, there could be sothing similar to discover here as well.

As such, I slowly stretched out my phantom tendril thingie, and carefully wrapped it around Snowy's waist, making sure it only brushed the surface, lest I would be treated to the images of infinite overlapping Snowies followed by my favorite just-kill--already brand of headache. Fortunately, nothing of the sort happened. I took another deep breath, then I snugly held onto my test subject with all three of my arms before I crossed my proverbial fingers and triggered teleportation again.

There was the tugging sensation once again, but to my surprise, it felt entirely manageable this ti around. If I had to make an analogy, it felt like that until now I was trying to lift a grocery bag from the floor using only my pinky finger, while now I was using both my hands. It was such an obvious difference it made wonder why I even bothered trying to do it the other way around.

Anyways, when I opened my eyes, we were in the sa room, only a few ters to the right.

"It worked!" I exclaid, startling the girl in my arms.

"What? What happened?"

"You didn't see it?" I asked incredulously as I glanced down at her.

"My eyes were closed," she told , earning her a curious look, so she shyly clarified, "It felt comfortable…"

That was unusually forthcoming of her, and also a bit embarrassing, so I quickly cleared my throat and flashed a toothy smile to ease the mood in the room.

"Never mind then. As for what happened... Let's just say you are going to learn about one of my secrets sooner than anticipated." That line earned another quizzical look, but I ignored it for the ti being and let go of her. "So, just to be clear: You have nothing of importance here, right?" I waited for Snowy to shake her head again, then I continued, "That ans we can leave right now if we wanted to, right?" This ti there was a brief pause, but after a short while she nodded in the affirmative. "Great, now give a second."

Saying so, I took out my phone and quickly dialed my dearest assistant. As I did that, I also quickly entered into Far Sight and my vision arrived back at my living room just as she was entering from the kitchen with her mug in hand. Perfect. A mont later her ringtone sounded (which was the the song from so obscure ani about a blonde robot girl or sothing), and I watched on as she skillfully took out, unlocked, and picked up her phone using only one hand with a single smooth motion.

"Chief?" she spoke in an echoing voice that resulted from hearing her through the phone and my Far Sight at the sa ti. It was a little spooky, to be honest, but I ignored it and greeted her back.

"Hi Dormouse. I found Snowy," I told her in a chipper voice.

"Good. Is she all right?"

"Yeah, she's fine," I answered while I absent-mindedly reached out with my free hand in an effort to rub the head of the subject of our conversation, an endeavor that was made needlessly complicated by the fact that my eyes were closed and I was looking at soone else a couple kiloters away. Anyways, I continued with, "She has the panda-eyes, but otherwise she looks okay. So shuteye should fix that."

"I see. When can I expect you—?"

"Wait," I interrupted her as a new idea brought a smile to my face. "First put down the mug."

I could see her glance around the room for a mont, then she looked up (which was not at all where my point of view was located, by the way) and asked, "Are you Far Seeing right now?"

"Yup," I answered while I gently pulled Snowy to my side again, and then I quietly wrapped my phantom limb around her waist.

In the anti, Judy let out a small sigh and she obediently placed her mug on top of the usual coffee table.

"There, are you happy now?"

"Trendously," I answered while ignoring the confused fidgeting of Snowy at my side. "Now say what you wanted to say before."

"… Why?"

"Co on, Judy! It's going to be funny, I promise."

My girlfriend promptly rolled her eyes at my comnt, but in the end she still uttered, "When can I expect you back ho?"

"In a mont," I answered, then I imdiately ended the call and was about to put my phone away, but then another idea struck , and instead I turned on the cara app. After preparations were complete, I told Snowy, "Stay calm. This might be a little strange at first, but it should be safe."

I could see that she wanted to ask what I was talking about, but I ignored her in favor of capitalizing on the mont. I entered back into Far Sight and focused back on Judy, then once I was sure everything was in order, I imdiately used my teleportation ability to appear in my living room.

This ti the tugging sensation was more pronounced, but it still wasn't particularly bad, and a literal blink of an eye (plus so mild nausea) later we were standing right in front of Judy. The mont we appeared, I imdiately snapped a photo of my astonished assistant and said, "We're back."

For a mont Judy kept blinking at with eyes wide open, then she cleared her throat and simply asked, "How is this funny?"

"What are you talking about, it's hilarious. Look." Saying so, I tried to show her the photo I took, but when I looked at it, I couldn't help but burst out laughing myself. "Look, look! Your expression!"

My assistant frowned at and then pointedly gestured towards the white-haired girl clinging to while glancing around the room like a rabbit that just got placed in an unfamiliar pen.

"I'm happy to see that you are enjoying yourself, but don't you think there is sothing more important to do right now?"

I glanced down at Snowy and gave an affirmative nod.

"You are correct. Hey, Snowy?" I called out to her, and she gave that classic deer-in-the-headlights look in return.

"Wha…? How did we…?"

"I will explain shortly, but first… You also think that Judy's expression is priceless on this picture, right?"

She looked at the screen I pushed in front of her, but after a few seconds of staring at it, she only shook her head.

"I… I don't see what you an. I don't know what's going on—"

"What? But look! She looks so freaked out!" I retorted while pointing at the screen in my hand. "Look, you can see that her eyes are slightly wider than usual! And here, her mouth is a little open, which ans she is shocked! On top of that, can you see how the tips of her ears are a little flushed? It ans she is flustered and doesn't know what to say! It's so silly it's downright adorable!"

"Chief!" Judy exclaid while the tips of her ears were turning red. See, I told you that's how it is. Anyways, she grabbed hold of and told , "Stop trying to embarrass and let go of Neige already."

"I'm not trying to embarrass you, I just find your over-the-top reactions really cute," I answered while casually removing my hand from Snowy's waist.

"It wasn't over the top, or cute," my assistant denied with a tiny pout that didn't help her case.

"It was. Look, we have evidence. Right, Snowy?"

The other girl, apparently still confused by the situation, once again looked at the image on my phone and ultimately shook her head.

"I don't think Judy's expression is any different than usual."

"Really? You can't see it?" I asked back incredulously while I looked at the photo myself. "Huh. I guess you had to be there to get it."

"She was there, and you are just being obnoxious at this point," Judy fud while she grabbed hold of Snowy and pulled her away from , then she added, "Also, we are going to have a talk about your prank later, just the two of us. Prepare yourself."

I gave her a flat look and then muttered, "Well, that was ominous."

"E-Excuse ?" ca a sudden interjection from Snowy, who was finally getting to the point where she didn't look like she wanted to jump and hide under the sofa. "Are we in Leo's house?"

"Yes," I answered with a grin.

"But… We were in the hotel just now…"

"I said we would be ho in a mont, didn't I? It's a neat trick, right?"

Snowy blinked at again, apparently still confused, but before she could ask another question, my assistant grabbed hold of her again.

"Stop confusing the poor girl even worse than you already had done with your entry." She paused for a mont, then sent another subdued glare at . "Speaking of which, I can't believe you revealed another of your abilities just for a joke. We just talked about this a few hours ago."

"I didn't just do it for a joke," I pointed out with a small huff. "It was also an experint that opened up so brand new possibilities, and on top of that, it helped get Snowy ho ASAP. The surprise photo was just an icing on the cake and completely normal couple stuff."

Judy locked eyes with , but when it beca obvious I didn't show even a hint of remorse, she promptly rolled her eyes and grumbled sothing along the lines of, "You are incorrigible."

"No, I'm not," I replied with a chuckle. "I'm just fulfilling my boyfriendly duty of teasing my girlfriend without having to hold back."

My dear assistant gave a sideways look, followed by a defeated sigh and the line, "This relationship is already off to a rocky start. Sotis I wonder why I put up with your antics."

"Because you love a bunch?" I asked with a cheeky smile, and Judy returned the gesture with another roll of her eyes.

"Against my better judgnt."

I let out a mirthful little chuckle, but before I could continue, I noticed Snowy tapping on my upper arm, so I turned a curious glance at her.

"S-Sorry, I didn't an to interrupt, but… Did you say 'girlfriend'?"

"Yup," I answered with a toothy grin.

She glanced over at Judy next, and after a long sigh and acting like this was the most botherso thing in the world, my girlfriend stated, "We are going out."

"Really?!" For so reason, this seed to perk our Abyssal guest and she grabbed hold of Judy's hand with both of her own. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks?" I answered, feeling a little awkward by her enthusiasm. Judy shared my sentint, as she only gave her a nod.

In the anti, Snowy leaned closer and asked my assistant in a whisper that I probably wasn't supposed to be able to hear, but I did anyway.

"Since when? And who confessed first? Wait, no, first tell how Eleanor took it. Was she mad?"

My girlfriend let out a tired sigh and she pulled on the other girl once again while saying, "The bath is ready, so let's go there first. I will tell you the details there."

Saying so, the two of them left without saying as much as 'see ya later', leaving all alone in the living room. I let out a long breath and walked over to my favorite comfy chair, then I sat down with a satisfied noise escaping my mouth. So, what did I learn just now? I could teleport long distances with others in tow, I had poor impulse control, and I was going to be scolded by my girlfriend for revealing the forr because of the latter. That said, I raised my phone to my eye level and took another look at Judy's dumbfounded face on it, and I could barely hold back my chuckles long enough to save it into my backup folder.

"Still worth it," I whispered as I serenely glanced up at the stairs leading to the first floor, a serenity that not even the shouts of 'You and Eleanor are both going out with him?!' coming from there could break.