3 Brand Mercer & Hollow I

Sonasha told me that she placed me in this body, what memories do I have?

My father was American, and my mother was Japanese... they didn't put me out for adoption but they had business abroad and spent next to no time back home. Instead, I lived in this big house together with my 'carer'. The only memories I had with them were until I was eleven, from then, they became an intermittent existence in my life, at some point they weren't even together with me, I suspect they divorced and never told me anything.

And now that I remember. Oh, yeah... no wonder why it looked as if someone left not too long ago. I still don't understand why are we sleeping on a bunk bed when this house is so big with so many bedrooms.

I sighed and departed the washroom to look at the sandwich left on the kitchen counter together with a note, as any practitioner of the medical profession, her writing was horrible, even in Kanji.

'Don't forget to tidy up your uniform for tomorrow Brand-chan. You're starting high school and I don't want to have to scold you! Hmph! I don't care if your onigiri is delicious, I'll still straighten you up! I won't be waking you up anymore either, you need to learn how to set up an alarm; be a good boy and be there by five o'clock, I won't be coming back today as I have a meeting with some friends of mine in the college hospital so please sleep early and wait for me, alright?~ with love Shizuka-chan'.

Yeah, I remember this woman now, she was studying college to become a medic while working part-time in the school where I'm supposed to be studying from now on, Fujimi Academy.

Shizuka Marikawa is a 27 years old blonde beauty, quite clumsy yet seductive. She takes care of me, my mother is a Japanese doctor who works abroad while my father is a lawyer, Shizuka's parents were my mother's clients and they tried to get a nice spot for their daughter in the Japanese medical scene, as such my mother got Shizuka into a prestigious college with the condition that she'd take care of me in their absence. She has been living with me for three years now.

That said, I can't really call this woman someone dependent for me to rely on... it is more like she relies on me, mother... what the hell did you do?

I prepare her breakfast and lunch; if I have luck she will prepare me cereal for dinner. She comes home and falls asleep with me on my bed, she didn't even get her own room; saying that she's scared of lightning... she cooks just barely and instead I had to teach her how to cook.

The first time she burned preparing Tuna salad, eventually, she picked up, but fried eggs, tuna salad and sandwiches are as much as she can prepare. She studies a lot too, going to sleep late just to finish her homework and thesis.

Despite her clumsiness, I can't say that I don't like this girl and appreciate her company but Come on... she's indeed quite smart and her body is like a bombshell ready to blow, but... aish.

Anyway, tomorrow is my first day in High School... Sonasha said that the 'infection' is going to start in a year, does that mean I have a whole year to prepare? what catastrophe is it even?

[I can answer that question, Brand].

!!!

The words appeared in front of me on their own, without my prompt.

"You are?"

[I'm the system given to you by Mistress Sonasha, my purpose is to assist you in this endeavour to my full capacity... I don't have a name, you can either assign me a name or call me 'system']

"Very well, then I will call you Duck" I dismissed it, this is after all just a 'tool'.

[...]

"Tell me what this catastrophe is going to be, Duck?" I sat down and started eating the sandwich that Shizuka left me for lunch, for god's sake, sandwich for lunch.

[...]

"Duck?"

[I refuse to be addressed as such, host].

I remained silent for a while, so this thing isn't wholly mechanic. Does it have pride? moreover, apologise to all the 'Ducks' in existence.

"You should have said so from the beginning, then... should I call you... Hollow?" It was the first word I thought about it, void and hollow. Perhaps those words defined me at some point, but hopefully not anymore.

[I accept that name... as for your question, the catastrophe that has assailed this world is an infection that seals the souls into husks and prevents them from going into the afterlife, it was a threat sent by a foreign world into this world... gods are unable to directly influence the physical world and hence, Mistress Sonasha is unable to sort out this issue on her own]

"Does that mean that whatever god did this, also didn't involve himself?"

[Correct, that God likely sent an agent to begin the infection... the problem is, this is not the only world where this infection was sent to, Brand... this is merely the weakest world, the one chosen by the Mistress for you to begin and become stronger... would you like me to explain the function of the system?]

"You may, Hollow..."

[The Gacha System is simple, aside from connecting to Causality I have many functions that would allow your run in this world to be more efficient, my modules are as follow]

[Gacha roll: Pull the Gacha and obtain an item, weapon or summon from across the river of Causality, the use is limited depending on the number of points that you have as each roll consumes a lot of power from Mistress Sonasha].

[Inventory: Using the laws of space you have been given a private space in which you can store things, it should assist your mobility, the space is limited but can be enhanced in the future].

[Shop: You're allowed to use the laws of causality to replicate objects or obtain materials that you need, once again, it requires points to be used].

"Could you give an example?" More than words I'd like to see it in action.

[Yes, if you so desire I can analyse that sandwich and produce another similar one for a determined cost, I can do this for anything that you'd desire, the more complex the material, the higher the cost].

"Amazing... it is so useful... can I replicate people?~" I thought immediately, thinking about all the possibilities.

[For that... you're able to replicate a body, but not a soul, so... what you would replicate in any case, is a corpse...]

"Could I replicate this table? individually, in parts or completely?" I pointed at the four-legged table in the middle of the kitchen.

[Regardless of whether you replicate it individually or in parts, the cost will always be the same or equivalent... which means, the sum of the parts is the same as the totality of the object].

So what it means is that if the table has four legs and each leg is a single point, then the whole table would likely cost me five; a point for each leg plus the top table.

"Excellent, what other modules are there?~" The more this thing speaks, the more interested I'm to try it out, but my points are limited.

[The 'Power' module is currently locked and it will remain as such until the system has evolved to the point where your body can sustain powers, until then... this module shall remain blocked]

"When you say powers, you mean?"

[Extranatural powers given away by the Gacha.]

It sounds compelling, but I'm too weak to think about that now, if I could have power, what would I choose?

[The last module is called 'Scanner' it will allow you to sense threats by proximity, it can be enhanced in the future to sense further threats]

"Define 'threat', is it someone that desires to cause ill to me?"

[No, the threat is merely an infected foe... it can't sense anyone's hostility towards you, merely the infected ones]

"I understand... so Gacha, shop, inventory, power and scanner... rather resourceful. I think you and I will spend a good time together, Hollow"

[Please, use me to the best of your capacity. Hopefully, together we can overcome this catastrophe, Brand]

With the explanations done, I looked at my stats and saw that I only have a thousand points, standing up I went into my wardrobe to pick up my clothes and touch some grass outside, there are more questions I want to ask Hollow... I'll make sure to understand this tool's usage to the tee.