Chapter 94: Experiment Gone Wrong

"Whee!" A young boy loudly screamed as he ran around clumsily with a figurine in his hand. He looked to be about 3-4, with white hair and a rather cute face.

He was currently in a place where the indoor was filled with toys, and with just a few meters away, the outside greenery lay outside the sliding glass door.

The boy ran around in circles in the room for a while before eventually getting bored of it. He quickly turned his attention to the outside world before he turned to look at the figurine in his hand.

"Aceman is gonna save everyone, even the people outside!"

He struggled to climb down the stair to the open field with soft grass and pretty little flowers, but with the "help" of Aceman (as he believed), he eventually managed to do so.

The soft grass beneath his feet tickled his sensitive soles and the fresh morning breeze brushed against his face softly.

After admiring the beauty of morning for a full two seconds, the young boy continued playing with his Aceman figurine. Running left, running right. Sometimes he fell, but he always got back up, dusted himself off, and continued playing alone.

It seems that the slight pain that an ordinary three-year-old wouldn't be able to endure was non-existent in the young boy's eyes.

"Whee! Wheee!" Making some weird and random noises, the young boy ran around in circles, slowly moving away from the room. The young boy ran from the initial green and flower-filled backyard to what seemed to be some sort of fence.

Too bad the fence had a small hole that the boy had discovered a few days before, so the fence failed at doing its job, allowing the young boy to leave the area.

A fence separated two areas, but the difference between the two areas seemed to be like heaven and earth.

One was prim and proper and was filled with bright green and colorful bright flowers, inviting cheerfulness, positivity, and joy. That was the backyard.

On the other hand, the world beyond the gate was much darker, both color and atmosphere. The grass was of a darker shade of green, and the flowers weren't as bright as the ones in the backyard. It was filled with birds chirping and insects buzzing, much like in the backyard. But despite them both having the same noise of nature, the shades in this place made it seem eerier. This was the world beyond the fence - the woods.

The morning dew littered and sprayed as the young boy moved further into the woods, devoid of any fear that a child should instinctively have.

Too engrossed in his Aceman Figurine, the young boy failed to notice where he was going, and only after suddenly being hit by a bright ray of sunlight did he look away from his figurine.

"Huh? Where am I?"

"Who are you?"

Two voices overlapped, one female and one male.

"Huh?" The young boy confusedly commented as he turned to look at where the sound came from, "Who are you?"

"I asked first."

The young boy came face to face with a young girl sitting by a tree. She had white hair and red pupils - a primary feature for an albino - and a pink one-piece dress.

"You have white hair?" The young boy completely ignored the girl and went at his own pace. Although he phrased it in a question, it was more of a statement, a comment.

"Mhm..." The young girl didn't know how to react when she saw the boy ignore her. She quickly turned her face away with a pout when the young boy commented on her hair.

No one liked her white hair before, and that was the reason why she even came out to these woods in the first place - to get away from their judging eyes. But even here, another person still managed to reach her and comment the exact same thing those people did?

"I like it! My hair is white too, see?" The young boy innocently went towards the girl and touched her hair as he spoke, "So soft..."

"Yiiii!" The girl exclaimed at the sudden touch, whipping her long hair around so the boy couldn't touch it anymore. Now, with her facing the boy head-on, she could see the short white hair on top of his head.

"White hair...too?"

"Yeah! White hair friend!" The young boy commented boisterously. With a loud laugh, the Aceman figurine in his hands "flew" once more.

"What is that?" Being praised for her white hair for the first time, the girl's tone also softened a little as she looked curiously at the figurine in the young boy's hand.

"This is Aceman, a superhero who always saves everyone!"

"Superhero?"

"Yes, superhero!" The young boy then sat down beside the girl and started explaining everything he knew about Aceman. If anybody else was here, they would have found it scary.

A three to four-year-old boy was talking like some sort of professor explaining quantum mechanics at a high level. Only, instead of quantum mechanics, it was just every episode of Aceman's show. From the name, the sidekicks' names, the villains' names, the superpowers, and basically the entire history of how Aceman came to be (in the show).

The girl only sat down and listened to his every word. With every word passing, the girl's eyes brightened up. Slowly, a smile started to form on her face as the young boy spoke more and more about Aceman.

"Aceman is strong!"

"Aceman save people!"

"Hehehe, Aceman is so fun!"

"That's right! Look at this Aceman!" The young boy raised his small little arms to show the girl the figurine, and the girl instantly took a liking to it.

"What's your name?"

"Shiro. Just Shiro."

"I'm Fuutarou!"

"Are we...friends?"

"Of course we are! Anyone who likes Aceman is a friend! Nice to meet you, Shiro!"

Hearing Fuutarou's words, Shiro smiled brightly for the first time they met, "Nice to meet you! Let's play!"

∞

This was...a memory from the previous "me"?

So that was how I met Shiro. White is indeed a pretty color; why would she ever think otherwise? Ah, I know why. Because her experiments basically took place in an environment filled with nothing but white, so she probably hated it.

Or maybe people just bullied people different from them. Children will be children, after all.

My eyes opened as I faced an empty ceiling, save for a fan spinning at low speed. It wasn't there to provide cool air; it was just to circulate it in this window-less room.

In front of my bed was an area overflowing with various books and toys that I had barely touched since I came to this world. There was a shelf that acted as the bookshelf, and the area was for me to "play" in, though I modified it slightly so that I had space to practice my control over my tails.

I did try to read the books to try and get a better understanding of this world, but children's books don't exactly contain a lot of political, geographical, or historical information.

To my left, leaning the wall, was a small desk to do some "homework" that the scientists occasionally give at the beginning of the day. Like...

Knock, knock.

Now.

The door opened without my permission for the umpteenth time, and the scientist entered, placed the worksheets on my table, took the completed worksheets, and left. All without saying a single thing to me.

And to my immediate left, right beside the small desk, was my wardrobe, filled with identical clothing that I wore every day.

This simple room, filled with nothing but the bare minimum, was where I spent most of my time in peace in this facility.

As much as I don't mind this place, I wondered when I needed to leave. It was getting dangerous for me to stay here; a few times, the scientists almost caught me with foxtails.

Not to mention that the "due date" for the "change in medicine" was coming, and I do not have a good feeling about that.

If I choose to escape, I would then have another problem.

What would happen to Shiro then? Do I just leave my only friend here where they would continue experimenting on her? Or do I go without a second thought?

If it was a few months ago, the answers would have been obvious. Now...

Sigh...let's just find Shiro and play first.

∞ 3rd POV ∞

"ARGHHHH! PLEASE! STOP THIS!" A shrill yell sounded, but the room remained perfectly still. There were barely any lights in this room; the only lights were the lamps focused on the squirming body lying on the operation table.

"Shiro, I can't guarantee your life if you continue squirming like this. Your arm just fell off recently, right? If you want to continue playing with your friend, stop moving." While it might seem as though the scientist was comforting the poor young girl, it was actually spoken with a monotonous tone.

With the right amount of carrots and just a little bit of sticks, the scientist easily controlled (manipulated) Shiro's behavior. While Shiro continued screaming at the top of her lungs, she stopped squirming about, only trembling and moving with a spasm-like action.

It was still a problem, but it was a lot better than her just squirming all

around the operation table.

"There, it isn't so hard, is it?" The scientist muttered as he continued the experiment.

Shiro only replied with more screams, which everyone in the room ignored.

"Moving on to the next phase of the experiment. Phase 3: Adjusting immune system to allow nanomachines."

All the scientists were in skin-tight hazmat suits, with only the helmet having a transparent cover to give the scientists a clear view of their surroundings.

"Remember to note every single twitch of her body. If it comes out, everyone's priority should be to ensure that it doesn't run out of this room." The head scientist commented, to which the other scientists nodded.

"Start."

At his words, everybody got into their respective places. The previous experiment had taken them almost an hour to prepare Shiro for this experiment, and their mental strength was already tired. But this experiment was just too important for all of them for them to mess up.

It was a turning point, so to speak. Their future experiments would depend on the success of this experiment, not that Shiro knows that.

"First injection." The head scientist spoke, and a needle was inserted into Shiro's arm.

Only 5 seconds had passed before Shiro started yelling even louder than before.

"ARGHHHHHH!"

The machine connected to her also started beeping rapidly, causing several scientists to immediately perform their duties.

"Sir!"

"Continue."

"But-"

"Continue."

"But Igarashi-san..."

"Sorae will be the least of your concern. Now, continue."

The scientist hesitated for a moment before eventually continuing.

"NOOO! ARGHHH!" The machine started beeping even more rapidly as everyone rushed even further.

"Sir! Sir! It's going out of control!"

The leader only frowned for a moment before the machine's sound went dead, leaving only a consistent line signaling her non-existent heartbeat.

"S-Sir...is she...?"

But before the leader could reply, he suddenly choked as blood spilled out of his mouth. The person beside him widened his eyes, but he couldn't even move two steps before a red sword pierced through his heart and lungs - the same fate as his leader.

The girl, originally thought to be dead, turned out to be alive and more powerful than ever. Sitting up from the operation table, Shiro looked around.

Shiro, no. She wasn't Shiro anymore. Sporting a hooded and lazy look to her eyes and a wicked bloodthirsty smile on her face, the young girl with Shiro's appearance licked her lips as tens of blood-red tendrils emerged from around her and waved about.

"What is that...?" A young boy who was peeking through the window asked.

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A/N: Since the title I originally planned to put was a spoiler, I changed it. But after everything becomes clearer and you guys know what world we are in, I'll put in a better title.

Sigh, I haven't written anything in 2 weeks now. School only opens tomorrow, but it's already a bitch.

If you want to support me or/and want chapters in advance, link:

https://www.patréon.com/spirits_everywhere. We are currently 8 chapters ahead~