Suddenly, the rain slanted even more, soaking Saiki Kusuo's pants, but quickly the distant typhoon scattered, taking with it the gloomy sky and opening up a large round patch of clear blue sky.
It was as if another world was unfolding in the sky.
The summer sun once again showed its wild smile to the earth.
Something came straight towards him.
Are you finally done pretending? Saiki Kusuo opened and closed his eyes.
Standing on the balcony was a...
A...
It's definitely a cat, but why is it the size of a large dog? Are you evolving into a mascot? Is the next step eating until you're fat and becoming a cat version of Sadaharu?
"This is for a very important reason," because Kusuke wanted to see a big cat. Kusuko lightly jumped into the room. At this time, Kusuko was a large, long-haired cat, pure white all over, of an unknown breed, with a tail as long as a leopard's but with fluffy long fur. Around his neck was a jingling collar with details that were clearly different from the previous one, but it still had the same childish large red heart pattern.
That tail is like a great, soft feather duster, Saiki Kusuo thought.
Under Saiki Kusuo's gaze, Kusuko lowered his head and licked his fur twice.
Hey, you're not a cat, don't copy the nervous movements of cats.
"...I don't know where to start. Do you have any questions you want to ask me?"
Yes, why are your movements so light? Normally, when you change bodies, it becomes difficult to control your strength.
"You're asking about that? Because I've been a cat for many days."
Well, even so...
"Every night, while you're sleeping, I do intense training, like tossing and catching giant rocks."
Oh, I also do that kind of training sometimes.
"Tossing and catching them with my tail!"
You should train your limbs first.
"I also practice going from the bottom to the top of Bankai Mountain, the highest mountain."
Mountain climbing, huh? That does train control of your leg strength.
"By jumping up with my tail!"
Are your legs broken?
"To train my legs, I spend 10 minutes running around the edge of the Dark Continent three times a day."
The edge of the Dark Continent is about the length of the Earth's equator, right? You've gone beyond bubble tea.
"Besides that, there's round-trip jump practice, cliff jumping practice, and waterfall swimming practice."
You didn't practice all of that with your tail, did you?
"As expected, the real you has already learned to answer before I finish! It's all with my tail!"
Don't tell me it's true! And how do you train your tail for swimming? What are you trying to achieve by training your tail every day??
"Winning at thumb wars using my tail."
I really don't understand the hobbies of the clone.
The chat made Kusuko feel a lot more relaxed. He knew from telepathy that the real him wasn't really calm inside.
"The real you..." Do you want to get your powers back? Before he could finish the sentence, it was interrupted by Saiki Kusuo's thoughts.
Call me Saiki Kusuo.
"...I understand," Kusuko lowered his head and said no more.
Saiki Kusuo waited, confused: Huh? What do you understand? Are you trying to steal the name Saiki Kusuo from me? That's not it, right? Besides, what were you trying to say just now?
Kusuko: The real me stressed that he is Saiki Kusuo, the one who was born in the Zoldyck family, has psychic powers, and has memories with these hunters. He doesn't want me to take his place without permission and hopes to get his powers back in the future. I see. If I had known that the real him would actually come back after leaving so confidently, I wouldn't have done those things! Actually, he only asked me to help him make a Dark Continent version of Greed Island to use up psychic energy, but I left and presumptuously tried to solve his problems on my own. I wonder if he's angry? He should be. Why isn't he angry now, but instead, he's asking about my tail training? What kind of changes have happened to the real him? Is he no longer the psychic who hates trouble, makes a grumpy face when making friends, really cares about people, likes to be with everyone, but hides on his own and is arrogant and wants to be normal?!
Saiki Kusuo: Why can that cat face show such a serious expression?
Kusuko: Yes, the reason why I change other people's memories, the reason why I want to try to replace him...
[It was winter a year and a half ago...]
Saiki Kusuo, being shown a mental image: Why is it suddenly showing me a scene?
...
It was winter a year and a half ago. After Saiki Kusuo left this world, white-haired Saiki Kusuo slowly recruited people around the world who were willing to participate in the game's internal testing. He didn't intend to meet more others, but there were always "idiots" who would follow him on their own.
Sometimes it was Hisoka: "How amazing. Did little Pink go to the Dark Continent and dye his hair white? Is he going to become the head of the family? Should we carry out a plan to take over the Zoldyck family? I'll help you~ As long as I appear next to you, little Illumi will definitely kill me~ Hmm~"
White-haired Kusuo took out a steel pipe and changed all the pink hair in Hisoka's memory to white hair, leaving behind a cool statement, "With the experience in Meteor City, changing the hair color in memory to white is the easiest choice and will definitely not bring shame to the real me."
When Hisoka woke up, he saw the back of white-haired Kusuo walking into a nightclub.
White-haired Kusuo: Because I heard that you can get special information in this kind of place. Ordinary Nen users don't want to risk going to a place like the Dark Continent.
...
Sometimes it was the butler Tsubone, who was working abroad: I didn't expect young master to have returned to the mainland. Why doesn't he come home? Why did his hair turn white? Could it be... Could it be that this isn't young master Kusuo?! Is it the head of the family outside...!
White-haired Kusuo took out a steel pipe and hit Tsubone. When Tsubone woke up, she saw white-haired Kusuo holding a stack of documents walking into a nightclub, with two people next to him with their arms around his shoulders.
White-haired Kusuo: Those are the leaders of an important human trafficking organization who recommended people to me.
...
Sometimes it was an old acquaintance Chrollo whom he hadn't seen in a long time: I knew you would teleport back, although I was a little surprised. You can come and go freely between the two worlds? It's a little too formal to talk at the door. How about we go in and have a drink together? I also happen to be investigating...
White-haired Kusuo: Because I already knocked him out once in Meteor City, I didn't need to do it a second time. I heard his plan from telepathy here. I didn't expect him to know that there was a human trafficking organization here too. In the end, I participated in the transaction with Chrollo and submitted complete information to the police.
...
Sometimes it was Kite, a good hunter from the Hunter Association: I heard that Dr. Saiki left the mainland. I didn't expect him to come back, but it seems... Hmm, should I remind him? His hair has turned white because of working day and night! I have naturally white hair, but he has premature gray hair! He should go to the hospital to get it checked!
White-haired Kusuo took out a steel pipe and knocked the pink hair of "Saiki Kusuo" in Kite's memory into white hair.
When Kite woke up, he saw white-haired Kusuo walking into a nightclub with some flashy women and became even more worried about him.
White-haired Kusuo: Those people are the main reference targets for the dark creatures of the love city. I've carefully collected information.
Of course, there were countless people he met. Whether they were hunters, assassins, or thieves, they were all characters who ran around. They never stopped their steps and never ignored the scenery around them. They were not in complete light, nor were they in complete darkness. They would occasionally stop at nightclubs and would coincidentally see white-haired Kusuo's figure there.
Saiki Kusuo: Hey! Why are you always at nightclubs? Is that your respawn point? How much do you like nightclubs? You've completely ruined my reputation, haven't you!
"It's all a coincidence!" Kusuko raised his paws in surrender, "One day I realized that it's not just the Zoldyck family, there are actually many people in the world who care about Saiki Kusuo's existence. It's not like everyone will follow along and forget just because you say you're leaving. I'm afraid that even if you die, many people will burn incense for someone named Saiki Kusuo every year. Maybe if Saiki Kusuo doesn't appear for three to five years, everyone will assume that he has died in the Dark Continent, and then they will start burning an extra stick of incense every year during Qingming Festival..."
Saiki Kusuo: Who are you saying died?
"I felt the thoughts in everyone's hearts. Since those feelings exist, they shouldn't be wasted. I'm your clone. If you can really hear those voices, you will definitely make the same choice as me, and that is... to return. So I did it. When I saw you come back in female form, I immediately realized my mistake. After confirming that you weren't comfortable being a normal person and constantly wanted your powers back..."
What are you talking about? I like being a normal person. It's my lifelong dream. If I didn't need to travel back and forth between the two worlds to visit my parents and friends, I would definitely be willing to be a good normal person.
"But you've already incurred countless favors in just half a month, right? It's not good to be helped by others, because if you treat these people as friends or family, you can't help them at all. In other words, you can't return the favors equally."
Saiki Kusuo was silent.
"After realizing this, I picked up the steel pipe again and re-knocked out almost everyone I had knocked out before."
It's like a prodigal son returning, but don't forget that you're holding a steel pipe. Where did the question mark banana go? Absolutely no kids without powers should copy this!
"The memories may have a slight deviation from the original, but the image is completely undamaged."
Was the nightclub image also deleted?
"What! Is that necessary? I'll go knock them out again."
Stop causing trouble for others! Just forget about it. The memories are already messy enough.
"Your psychic powers will definitely recover as usual. The reason why they didn't recover before was because I gave you a psychic power suppressor every two days..."
Saiki Kusuo's face darkened.
"Uh, I had no choice in order to achieve my goal...so, but they will definitely recover now! If it really doesn't work, I'll take you back to restore them!"
...
"Saiki Kusuo, I don't mean to replace you. I will try my best to return everything to you. So, are you... angry?"
Saiki Kusuo: "Yes, I'm angry."
Kusuko: "!!!"
Well, I'm kidding you. You heard my thoughts, right?
You're my clone. No matter how you change, you will be one with me. I trust you.
Kusuko was shocked.
"Then would you trust the 32nd generation tentacle monster version of the clone?"
That's a different story. Don't use so many clones, it's hard to control them, hey.
Kusuko slowly nodded.
According to what you said, we just need to wait for my powers to recover next, right?
"Yes, let's play chess together in our free time, Saiki Kusuo!" Kusuko raised a paw, and many kinds of chess appeared in the room.
Saiki Kusuo looked around: What is this? A rainy day physical education indoor fitness activity room where you can only play chess.
"I've been using clairvoyance to play chess with the principal of the school area recently. You might lose to me."
Oh? I won't lose easily, Saiki Kusuo rolled up his sleeves. The competition began.
Although the sleeves of summer clothes are only a small bit, rolling them up has no momentum and is very strange.
"By the way," Saiki Kusuo said, "Change the way you call me."
"Is it okay? Then, should I call you Saiki or Kusuo?"
Think for yourself.
"Saiki is a bit distant, Kusuo feels weird since it's my own name, then... Master?"
What kind of roleplay is this?
"Master can call me Kusuko. I'm in cat form now, right? In order to ensure that everyone in the hunter world correctly identifies you as Saiki Kusuo, I have decided to formally play the role of a cat for a while."
So that's it. You've really thought it through.
But the name is rejected. It's weird to be called "Master" by my own clone.
"Then Kusuo can? No, you're older than me, so should I call you big brother Kusuo? It's the same as my younger brothers. Brother Saiki? Nobita? Big Nobi?"
Big Nobi is definitely not okay.
"Then, which one do you think sounds good?"
None of them sound good. Forget it, just call me the original.
"No problem. Original, I have another idea."
Speak.
"I think turning back into a male body will help you recover faster, because that body is more used to the powers. We can switch souls, and then I can..." Kusuko didn't want to overstep the line, but he had to overstep the line on this matter. After taking the original's identity, he would also take the body. He should have a little bit of vigilance.
Saiki Kusuo understood: Let's do that. Let's start right away. By the way, you can use my body to use the psychic powers. You can go a little further away and work out at the same time as you transform. You can come back in two hours.
Saiki Kusuo had no defenses at all.
Kusuko was very moved and jumped onto Saiki Kusuo.
This large cat weighs 20 kilograms. Pouncing on someone is like a towel full of water. One towel can slap a living person who just came out of the pool back into the pool.
Saiki Kusuo was also knocked onto the sofa by the cat. Of course, in the blink of an eye, he turned into that cat.
It's like the feeling of pouncing on yourself.
They successfully switched bodies. Saiki Kusuo turned into a cat. Kusuko turned into Saiki Kusuo. Kusuko picked up Nanshi like holding a sacred object, put Saiki Kusuo cat on the sofa, and waved his hand to fly away to the horizon.
After saying goodbye, Saiki Kusuo stood up on the sofa. He could feel the power that large cats have innately that exceeds humans just by moving his legs. If he wanted to, he could easily destroy this building even without having powers now.
The body also has very good control over strength, especially the tail... So why train the tail like that?
Alright.
Saiki Kusuo cat lay down on the spot.
There's no need to waste time and energy adapting to this body more, since the clone will be back in two hours.