Hypocrisy

"Silence! Tremble before your knees, mortal! For Oshigurama desires your enhancement! Despite being a lowly life form, you possess the ability to walk in other worlds!"

"W-Well, it's not like I had a choice-... wait a minute. How did you?"

|...|

A wooden platform, about twenty-one inches long and wide, with eight by eight tiles interchanging from black and white. Chess is a game of pure strategy and mental fortitude. Each move should-... No, it is required to outsmart the opponents.

As such, revealing the blueprints to your grand plan means you're as good as dead, and that means I'm fucked.

"Answer me, you bastard!" I barked at the black-haired bitch.

"..."

Why isn't she responding? Well, that's to be expected. She certainly isn't a shounen anime antagonist who reveals her inner insecurities to some random twelve-year-old kid.

"My! How clueless you are, child. Perhaps I should enlighten you with a presentation." The black-haired bitch muttered while raising both her hands to chest level, seemingly waiting for something to come.

"W-What may that be? C-Can I go now?"

"You musn't! You have to witness his divine grace!"

"O-Okay?"

I'd prefer to get back in action as soon as possible, but now that everything has become interconnected, my curiosity is killing me.

If I could sum it up in one thought, Hitoshi and Eric... are working together to capture me? Eric wants me for my enhancement, and he- I mean, she's working for Oshigurama?

"It appears that you've figured it out... Well then, it's about time I deal the finishing blow." Her sympathetic tone shifted to a silent, emotionless hiss. It's nothing compared to the tragedies I've encountered, but it was cold enough to numb me still.

"W-W-What do you mean?" I barely stuttered out.

"..."

Silence filled the air, and she replied by holding her right hand out, and out of nowhere... "Eiga!"

|...|

"Open your eyes, child. We have much to discuss."

I felt... nothing? What the hell happened?!

"You think I'd fall for that? I don't know where am I, but I sure ain't trusting you!" With my arms covering my face, I snarled.

"Haha, surely you jest! Are you sure you don't want to see... the very beginning?"

The... beginning? It can certainly help me figure out the shithole I'm in, so why wouldn't I want to?

"Oh, pardon my euphemism. Let me rephrase that... are you sure you don't want to see how I've been playing with you all this time?" The black-haired bitch spoke in a menacing tone.

"Lies! That's nothing but lies! You're just trying to break my-"

"Your will? I'm just trying to convince you. Be grateful that I didn't take you by force." Arms crossed, and with sharp eyes, she replied.

"W-What do you mean? Isn't that what you're doing right now?" Like a forsaken child facing the truth, I cluelessly asked.

It's too late to realize it now, but at this prevailing moment, I'm an ant trying to comprehend a human. Certain things can't be thought to mere insects; no one with a sane mind can expect an ant to discern the intricacies we humans experience.

Countless scenarios with their individual set of issues and a hot mess of absurd ideas to deal with those problems... I've thought of it all, but not this.

It has crossed my mind from time to time, but I may be fighting for naught.

"Perhaps you're a bit more willing to listen now, Miles?" Switching back to a sympathetic tone, she murmured.

"S-Suit yourself! But don't expect me to believe anything you say." I hissed as I put down my arms.

While lending her hands, she softly said, "Let us start back in the islands, shall we?"

|...|

A whiff of dust permeating the air, rustic wooden furniture on the brink of collapse, and the constantly creaking floor; it's only been a month since we met, but it feels like it's been decades.

"Ugh! If my previous host didn't have extraordinary potential, I would've left her alone." The black-haired bitch complained with disgusted eyes.

We're back in sky islands, in the cabin where Ria used to live. So this bitch wasn't lying. We really are in the very beginning.

"That's enough being sentimental. I want out of this place as soon as possible!" She once again complained while trying to avoid contact with the furniture.

"Hurry it up, then. I don't want to spend any more time with you."

"Oh, don't be so cold! We may end up working together by the end of my presentation."

"As if I would, you bi-"

Before I could finish, everything suddenly halted. As her face crossed my field of vision, everything in my sight vanished to the void, everything except her face.

"Ria..."

While jaws dropped in disbelief, I slowly approached her while reaching my hands out.

"Hmph... That's futile." Before I could make contact, the black-haired woman warned.

She's right. It'll probably phase through her like a ghost, but what if... just what if...

"You're a walking contradiction, you know?" She remarked as my hands phased through like expected. "You try your best to be pessimistic, but in the end, you're the first to hope for something to come."

"That hurts..." I whispered underneath my breath.

"I'm not here to comfort you, but look behind."

I turned my head and did as she said and, "It's... me?"

I'm covered with bruises. This must be from when I fell from space and passed out.

My body looks like a corpse! It bewilders me that I didn't die! Ria's enhancement is more believable now.

"It was at this exact moment where it all began. All the conditions were met for the transfer. The requirements are: host has a mind enhancement, is alive, and is making physical contact with my current prey."

"And you're telling me this because?"

"Although you weren't able to protect her from the coma I planned, you saved her from her fate."

"Huh? W-What do you mean?" Eyes widened, I asked out of shock.

My mind was struggling to process the information being given to me promptly. It was like my brain tissues were being pulled apart.

"Riaru was supposed to be my offering to his divine grace, but from the heavens, you fell. I am grateful that a mortal such as you exist!"

"And I suppose I inherit her fate now?"

"Don't be disheartened, child! His grace will definitely be fond of you! He would treat you like his son, but I doubt you'd ever see your beloved again."

I saved her life as she did with mine. You can call that debt paid, but... it feels wrong.

In both this world and the previous, I have no obligation to be a part of it. It's yet a dismal perspective of life, but despite having no responsibility to exist, I still choose to, notwithstanding its tragedies.

I've always questioned everything, and mostly life itself, and yet I'm the one who selfishly clings to it.

I guess you can call me the biggest hypocrite there is.

Foolishly denouncing romance despite being driven by it. Constraining myself with pessimistic thoughts despite being the first guy to hope for something to come. And needlessly questioning everything despite-... That should be enough.

I'll contemplate about it later. I still have things to do.

"Fine then... I surrender." Biting my lips as I bite my pride, I casually remarked.

"You'll surely change your mind aft-... wait! What did you just say?"