"How can you prove you're the real Reiko?"
Matsusaka looked at her warily.
"Exactly." Kita didn't believe her either. "Just because you couldn't beat Kitahara-kun, you claim to be Reiko-chan? Don't think you can fool us."
"I—I'm really not lying!"
Reiko had teary eyes and was on the verge of crying:
"Please believe me!"
Kitahara remained calm and spoke softly from the side:
"She really is Reiko-san."
"Huh?" Matsusaka looked over in surprise, clearly finding it hard to believe. "Are you sure, Kitahara-kun?"
"I'm certain."
Kitahara spoke in a calm, matter-of-fact tone; his [HP Bar Warrior] ability was active the entire time.
An imposter might be able to mimic anyone's appearance, but they obviously couldn't fake a "health bar" that didn't exist. The girl before him had a health bar the length of an ordinary person's—she was undoubtedly human.
"If Kitahara-kun says she's Reiko-chan, then it must be true."
Kita harbored no doubts; she trusted Kitahara implicitly. "I—I told you, it really was me..." Reiko teared up. "Thanks to Kitahara-kun... that monster from earlier hid itself inside my body."
"Don't cry just yet, Reiko-chan." Kita trotted over and helped the girl up; with Kitahara by her side, Kita wasn't the least bit worried about being attacked herself. "Tell us what happened."
"Reiko, wipe your eyes."
Matsusaka walked over and handed a handkerchief to the girl:
"What happened earlier?"
The girl sat on the sofa, trembling slightly, her voice filled with fear:
"Last night, after I finished my bath, I was watching TV with my mom in the living room when the doorbell suddenly rang. I went to check and saw the lady who lives next door."
"She hadn't moved in long, so we didn't know her very well, but since she was alone outside, I opened the door without thinking twice..."
At this point, a look of self-reproach crossed the girl's face:
"I wish I hadn't opened the door..."
Matsusaka asked softly:
"The neighbor who knocked... was she a Doppelgänger?"
"That's right." The girl's voice was heavy with regret and guilt. "After I opened the door, she walked right in. At first, she was expressionless and spoke in a stiff, robotic way—like a doll. But later, expressions slowly began to appear on her face, and finally, she suddenly flashed a terrifying smile..."
Reiko wrapped her arms around herself, her body trembling slightly:
"The neighbor lady's mouth suddenly flew open; her jaw dropped to her chest, the corners of her mouth split all the way to her ears, and then an incredibly long tongue shot straight out."
"I was frozen with terror—I didn't even know to run—until mom suddenly shoved me aside..."
At this point, mist welled up in Reiko's eyes again:
"But mom got snatched up by that tongue, and then a small spider made entirely of liquid crawled right into her ear..."
"Oh, right—mom!"
Reiko suddenly grew frantic; she looked at Kitahara with tear-filled, pleading eyes:
"Mom has been parasitized by the monster too. Please, Kitahara-kun, save her! As long as she's safe, I'll do anything!"
"Calm down," Kitahara said in a steady voice. "Let's deal with your situation first; I still have plenty of questions for you."
Reiko hurriedly wiped her eyes:
"Ask whatever you want, Kitahara-kun. I'll tell you everything I know!"
Matsusaka crossed her arms and asked softly:
"Didn't your mom push you away, Reiko? Why didn't you hide and call the police?"
"I... I forgot..."
Reiko's voice grew faint:
"When I saw mom being snatched up by that horrible monster's tongue, my mind just went blank—I completely forgot all the official self-preservation advice. All I could think about was pushing the monster away to save mom, and then... then I got attacked myself..."
Kitahara: "..."
It was irrational and sounded foolish, yet it made perfect sense.
Any normal person, seeing their mother in danger, would rush forward without a second thought, rather than rationally bolting out the door to hide and call the police.
"You were so brave, Reiko-chan." Kita gently embraced her friend, offering soothing words: "Don't worry, we'll go save your mom in a little while."
"Thank you, Kita-chan..."
Reiko said gratefully. Kitahara didn't rush into action; instead, he continued gathering information:
"Reiko-san, what did it feel like to be parasitized by the monster?"
"After the monster burrowed into my ear, I quickly lost control of my body. I could still hear sounds from the outside, but I couldn't control my own movements or make a sound." Reiko's body trembled slightly as she described her firsthand experience: "It felt like being locked in an airtight box and pushed into the ocean—sinking deeper and deeper... it was so cold and dark..."
"Until you suddenly appeared, Kitahara-kun."
Reiko looked at him with shining eyes, her small face filled with admiration:
"That airtight box shattered instantly. The monster was terrified and retreated deep inside my body, which allowed me to break free."
Kitahara asked calmly:
"What did you come to school to do after being parasitized, Reiko-san?"
Reiko spoke hesitantly: "I could sense it... the monster wanted to use my body to infect others... and Matsusaka-senpai was its first target."
"Fortunately, Matsusaka-senpai was smart enough to call you over; otherwise, she might have been turned into a pseudo-human too."
Kitahara raised an eyebrow slightly:
"Aside from you, are there any other pseudo-humans in the school?" Ikuyo was startled upon hearing this:
"Wait, does that mean there are a lot of 'Impostors' in the school?"
"It's unclear." Kitahara's voice was low, his expression grave. "Based on the information Reiko has provided so far, the infection and parasitism by these Impostors clearly spread exponentially; no one knows exactly how many of them are out there right now."
"I don't know." Reiko shook her head in bewilderment, a look of hesitation crossing her small face. "But after that monster hid inside my body, I seem to have gained some strange kind of intuition... If they're close enough, I can apparently tell whether someone is an Impostor or not."
Kitahara's expression remained serious:
"Piecing together the current information: Impostors aren't merely humanoid anomalies but a type of monster from the 'Otherworld.' They take control of human bodies through parasitic infection and access the host's memories—with the ultimate goal, in all likelihood, being to completely replace the human."
As for the ultimate fate of the parasitized human... well, the relationship between anomalies and humanity has always been a life-or-death struggle. Kitahara continued his explanation in a low, serious voice:
"Once a human is parasitized, they exhibit symptoms like a drastic personality shift and a blank, expressionless face—looking almost like an uncanny doll. However, as time passes, the 'Imposter's' expressions and demeanor gradually become more animated, eventually becoming indistinguishable from a normal person... This entire process likely takes no more than twenty-four hours."
Matsusaka bit her lower lip, her face turning pale:
"Reiko-chan isn't the first person to be parasitized, and the neighbor's wife from last night probably wasn't the first either. Add in the Imposters' explosive rate of spread... there are likely already a huge number of them across Tokyo..."
Kita was startled by this, a look of panic crossing her small face:
"That's terrifying—I absolutely don't want that to happen!"
"..."
After a brief silence, Reiko spoke up again, looking at him pleadingly:
"Kitahara-kun, could we go save my mom right now?"
"There's one last thing." Kitahara looked down at her. "Since the monster was able to burrow into your body on its own, it should be able to crawl out the same way... Let's try to see if we can pull the monster out of you."
Reiko looked hesitant:
"Th-that monster seems to be inside my head; surely it can't be pulled out, right?"
"Don't worry, Reiko-chan; just trust Kitahara-kun." Kita offered gentle reassurance, already knowing what Kitahara intended to do. "Kitahara-kun has a special ability that can strip curses out of people's bodies, but the thing is..."
Kita lowered her voice and leaned in close to whisper:
"...you have to take off your clothes, leaving on only your last two pieces of underwear."
"Ehh? Ehh?"
Reiko covered her chest, looking over with a face full of bashfulness.
"That ability extracts things randomly and consumes a huge amount of mental energy each time," Kita explained, acting as his spokesperson. "Kitahara-kun gets exhausted after using it three times at most and needs a long rest to recover, so... there's no other way; you have to take your clothes off, Reiko-chan."
Kitahara: "..."
Actually, that wasn't really necessary. The abilities [Hand of Deprivation] and [Schrödinger's Cat] can be used in combination; they have now been upgraded to allow for targeted deprivation, meaning removing one's clothes is no longer strictly necessary.
However...
Having kept this a secret until now, revealing the truth so suddenly is bound to cause a lot of trouble, isn't it?
"Reiko-chan, hurry up and take off your clothes," Kita whispered. "We need to go save your mom soon."
Reiko had been incredibly shy, but the moment Kita mentioned her mother, her concern instantly outweighed her embarrassment; her face burning hot, she whispered:
"When we get home and find mom, Kitahara-kun will need to eliminate the monster inside her body... so... so it doesn't matter if I take everything off..."
Despite the intense embarrassment, Reiko chose to sacrifice her modesty without hesitation for the sake of her mother.
"You don't need to strip completely," Kitahara said, stopping her. "Leaving two garments on is enough."
Reiko hesitated. "But Kita said Kitahara-kun would run out of energy..."
"No need to worry," Kitahara said decisively. "I'm not the same person I used to be."
"It's best not to strip completely," Kita urged. "Reiko-chan, hurry up and take off your clothes."
"Okay..."
Reiko took a deep breath, her face flushed crimson as she removed her glasses, and then, under everyone's gaze, began to undress.
Although she was incredibly embarrassed, her concern for her mother back home meant the bespectacled girl didn't dawdle; she quickly removed her coat, skirt, stockings, and shoes one by one.
A moment later.
Reiko was left in just two pieces of undergarment; her face flushed, she covered her lower abdomen with one hand and her chest with the other, her eyes darting about, unable to meet anyone's gaze.
"Kitahara-kun, I'll leave it to you."
Kita stepped back two paces, clearing the way.
Kitahara gave a slight nod, his expression calm, and extended his right hand, making a grasping motion in the air toward Reiko. [Ability: Hand of Deprivation]
[Category: Active]
[Description: You may select a target within your line of sight and randomly strip away one external object or entity attached to them.]
[Note: This ability consumes mental energy; consecutive uses within a short period will cause the consumption to increase exponentially.]
"Good, the ability triggered successfully..."
Kitahara narrowed his eyes, targeted the negative aura within Reiko, and initiated the deprivation process.
The next instant.
A bizarre, spider-like creature made of liquid appeared out of thin air in the palm of Kitahara's hand.
The creature seemed to possess a degree of intelligence; upon suddenly appearing in Kitahara's palm, it froze in confusion for two seconds before letting out a high-pitched squeal and scrambling to escape.
Unfortunately, once it had fallen into Kitahara's grasp, escape was impossible. He closed his fingers, firmly imprisoning the monster in his palm. Glancing down at it, a look of disappointment quickly crossed his face.
"There's no faint glow, so I can't 'Optimize' it like I did with the Hallucigenia creature. It doesn't meet the criteria for the 'Mount' attribute either, so I can't convert it into a mount. I'll just have to kill it..."
However, Kitahara didn't rush to destroy the creature; instead, he looked up at Kita:
"Kita, have Reiko-san put her clothes back on first."
"Reiko-chan, Kitahara-kun has pulled the monster out of your body, so you can put your clothes back on now."
As she spoke, Kita handed the clothes over.
"Thank you, Kitahara-kun..."
Reiko's face flushed crimson as she hurriedly put on her clothes, not forgetting to offer her thanks.
Kitahara turned his head toward Matsusaka, who was standing nearby, and spoke softly:
"Matsusaka-senpai, please take the phone out of my pocket."
"Okay."
Matsusaka naturally didn't refuse; she gave a soft affirmative, quickly found the phone, and handed it to Kitahara with both hands.
"Thanks."
Kitahara offered a casual word of thanks. Once Reiko had mostly finished dressing, he dialed the number of his dedicated liaison officer. A mere three seconds later, the call was answered, and the operator's sweet, pleasant voice rang out respectfully:
"Kitahara-sama, how may I assist you?"
Kitahara got straight to the point:
"I've encountered a particularly troublesome anomaly that needs to be reported."
"Please hold a moment."
The operator's tone quickly turned serious:
"I will contact my superiors immediately... Please describe the specific characteristics and details of the anomaly, Kitahara-sama."
"I've got the anomaly right here in my hand," Kitahara said casually. "I can start a video call so you can see its features for yourselves."
"..."
Moments later, a video call request popped up.
Kitahara accepted the call. After verifying the identity of the Bureau staff member on the other end, he held up his right hand—displaying the spider-insect doppelgänger—and began describing the information regarding the anomaly.
Only a fool would choose to save the world all by themselves; as an ordinary high school student, his real priorities were making money and dating. Saving the world was, naturally, a job for the professionals!