Enter Daichi Atsuo

After 6 hours, I could grow a 3 metre tentacle with muscle in 3.3 seconds and a 7 metre in roughly twice that. Originally, it took a minute to grow a 3 metre. After an hour, 41 seconds.

The 3rd hour - 15 seconds

5th hour - 5 seconds.

As practice went on, it took more training to reduce one second of transformation time. I was approaching my limit.

I went to bed 2 hours past my bedtime. Routine is important. I still have school the next day. Was it still necessary to go to school? Maybe. The parasites may be world breaking news and the labs be full of autopsies. Then what would be the excuses I have for absenteeism?

However, the most important cause is the lack of knowledge. Certainly, there are students infected with parasites too. The most natural place for a student like myself to gather information is no other than the school.

Besides, if the authorities have caught on, how would they quickly weed out the parasites from humans? Circumstantial evidence like changes in behavioural patterns. For students, they'd look at unusual attendance records and further investigate. They might not be that prudent, but it doesn't hurt to be cautious.

However, if the humans have a way to mass test the populations. I will have to figure a way to hide my parasite physiology…

There's nothing I can do without more information so there's no point in worrying.

…

It's hard to sleep when I'm thinking too much. Do I even need sleep?

I sat up on my bed and looked at the clock on my nightstand. 12:30am.

I can't sleep after all. I rolled up the window and looked outside. There's usually no one outside at night in a town this close to the countryside.

I changed into a blue denim jogger for pants and black sneakers. For the top, a grey hoodie and a black bubble jacket over a white singlet.

I looked at the drop from my bedroom. Feeling confident I jumped out and landed on my feet. It didn't hurt but I felt the shock. I could probably handle a couple of stories higher before I would injure myself. You'd always have a higher fall distance limit than jump distance.

Curious, I jumped. On the way up I saw my bedroom door! I jumped about 2 metres high from the centre of mass. If I lifted my legs in the air, I could jump over anything 3 metres high. My whole body felt exhilarated during the jump. It's time for a test run.

Staring at the never-ending road, I ran. I sprinted faster than I ever could and felt the wind blew my hair. The kind of wind that never graced its gale to any human before. I had timed it on my phone and calculating it with known distances, my speed was approximately 13 m/s. A bit faster than Usain Bolt's 12.3 m/s!

Like an overcharged battery, I ran to the front of a black Subaru car and I picked it up. Well I tried. I heaved and deadlifted the front of the car. I couldn't hold it for more than a second, I tried putting it down gently when I heard my shoulders crack and snaps in my back. I fell to the ground and grunted in extreme pain.

AGHH!

After 10 minutes of laying still on the concrete. I stood up slowly and was surprised. What snapped my back were muscles, but my shoulder was dislocated. I could tell that the upper arm bone has fallen out of the cup-shaped socket that's part of the shoulder blade.

Huh? I never really had a shoulder dislocation and yet its like I can sense the structure inside of me to explicit detail. As if I developed internal spatial awareness? Could it be…

That time when Genkei had touched the skin of my neck, I sensed that his cells were not human. So, my cells have become extra-sensory?

I gritted my teeth and pulled on my arm bone until it snapped back into place. Good. I fixed it but it is still sore. Staring at the long way back, I walked painfully slow. I regretted but that was just the pain talking. I knew my limits now. I'm sure what damage I accumulated would probably reset in a couple of days. Probably…

Outside my window, I looked up. Then I jumped onto the window ledge quietly. My kneecaps started feeling sore from the deadlift. I laid my back on my bed and rested my wounds.

…

A distant radio noise reverberated through the night. I paid it no heed.

…

***

Earlier at 5:45 pm.

Daichi walked solemnly home. None of his enthusiasm from before could be seen on his face. His facade was completely broken. It was non-existent before his house that looms before him. The shadow so huge in size it gobbles him up. Himself looked like a black ant walking to his fate of never seeing the sun again.

He walked slower and slower the closer he came to the front doorstep. When he had finally reached the door, he reluctantly finds his key. When he was about to put it in, he froze. A moment passed by.

Another moment passed.

Too many moments had passed.

His eyes remained the same, stoic like dead fisheyes. This happened every day before returning from school. There was only one person in the house he was afraid of, that he dreads seeing.

Mrs. Atsuo. His mother. It was the reason he always stayed afterschool. He'd always take any excuse he could. That's why he's part of the swimming club. The other reason he chose swimming was…

However, today was different. A parasitic worm waiting on top of the door ledge hanged down. It was 7cm long and 6mm wide. Its mouth had four mandibles at each corner resembling a square and had sharp teeth further down.

It fell between the crevice between his ear and the head. Then it flexed and went into his ear like an acrobat. An uncomfortable wet squirming sensation erected inside. He touched his ear to find out what was wrong. Then a sharp pain ensued.

His mother had seen him in a mirror that reflected through the door side window. The immense emotion that welled up in her heart had frozen her. When she heard a stifled yell, she frantically snapped out of it and went to the door.

For the first time when the door opened, he felt relieved. His mother has come to help him. She grabbed his ear, lifted his face and then slapped the side of his head.

"You rotten piece of egg!"