In response, something huge dropped down from the unseen ceiling above, landing right on the torchlight. It wrapped itself around Whip’s neck with something that almost resembled affection.
She stroked its thick, fleshy body, which looked disturbingly soft and muscular at the same time.
As expected of the leader of the Hidden Insect Corps, the trust she received from the parasites was overwhelming. She’d probably taken in and tamed some truly powerful specimens.
“We cram all kinds of little ones together in a tight room,” Whip went on, tone bright and casual. “Then we let them fight until only one’s left. It does kinda hurt my heart, you know. But anyway, we’ve got several rooms like this, and whenever a winner emerges, we implant that one into whoever volunteered. That’s what makes a member of the Hidden Insect Corps!”
Whip’s own parasite, Milk-chan, looked like a giant centipede, its whole body covered in hard chitin.
The one hanging from the ceiling, in contrast, had pale, almost translucent skin that looked strangely soft.
Apparently, parasites came in all sorts of types.
When I asked Whip what kind of bugs were in the other rooms, she answered with a sparkling grin. “There’s ones that can fly all around the sky and ones that have weapons!”
Looking down at the floor, I finally understood and noticed more details.
Scattered underfoot were fragments like veined wings and what looked like the severed forelegs of a mantis.
When most people heard “parasite,” they probably pictured some kind of simple worm. But the ones they were using here came in all sorts of forms, and they implanted a wide variety of them into their bodies.
“Whip, let me touch that one,” I said.
“Eh!?” she gasped, eyes sparkling. “Don’t tell me you’ve realized how wonderful bugs are!? Go ahead, touch all you like! Oh, hey, if you want, I can implant it for you?”
I took a step forward toward her, wanting to get a better look at the enemy we’d eventually have to defeat.
Whip handed over the worm with the casual excitement of an owner letting someone pet their dog.
I accepted the parasite the way you would a snake, and its size and weight hit me immediately. Its body was about thirty centimeters thick, and its total length was over five meters.
Since part of it still hung down into the darkness, it might have been even longer. Its head writhed near my neck, and a ring of toothlike mouthparts opened wide. Near the jaws, several small holes puckered and flared—probably how it sensed scent and sound.
Once it had completely locked onto my position, it used its many legs to climb up and settle across my shoulders, heavy as a sack of wet sand.
This really takes me back to the plated lizard I kept as a kid…
I’d always been the type who could handle insects and reptiles. This thing was a little too massive for comfort, but just petting it didn’t bother me.
The surface felt like one of those inflatable playground toys you see at parks, though deeper down, there was a lukewarm, spongy sensation, like warm gluten.
Aside from its nature, it was… honestly kind of cute.
“Cuter than I expected,” I said. “Do they usually get this big?”
“We’ve tweaked them so they do,” Whip replied proudly.
“Huh.”
“Bet you’re interested now, right? And seriously, the first thing you said after touching it was ‘cute.’ You’ve got great instincts. Come on, let’s do it. Let’s put one inside you. There is a pretty decent chance you’ll die, but… well, anyway!”
I stroked its head a few more times, and it eventually pulled away and crawled back up toward the ceiling.
“If you’re going out of your way to implant a bug, there’s gotta be some benefit, right?” I asked.
“It boosts your reflexes and increases your muscle output!” she said brightly. “There’s a side effect where your lifespan gets a bit shorter, but you’re facility-grown, aren’t you? So it shouldn’t be that big a drawback. I mean, I won’t force you if you don’t want it.”
These dangerous parasites couldn’t be tamed unless they were compatible with their host.
The bugs used at the Northeastern Branch would enter through every available opening in the body, burrow under the skin, and slowly eat away at the host’s insides over time.
Only when the host’s body and the parasite were in perfect harmony would the host’s physical abilities break past their natural limit. Or so the story went.
“Break past their limits, huh?” someone echoed softly behind me.
Karatena.
Her voice was edged with mockery, but there was a faint tremor in it that said she couldn’t quite dismiss the idea either.
We all knew there were risks in taking a parasite.
The question was whether there was enough reason to accept those risks, and that was something I’d have to test myself over the course of the joint training.
Early the next morning, I stumbled across Joanne and Stella in the middle of an argument.
Joanne was tearing into her with terrifying intensity, voice like a whip, while Stella muttered back in her usual low monotone. My name popped up every so often, which gave me a bad feeling. I would’ve loved to pretend I hadn’t seen anything, but with words like “stay away from him” and “I’ll kill you” drifting over, I couldn’t exactly walk off either.
“You were peeping on Oakley in the bath yesterday, weren’t you?!” Joanne snapped.
What the hell is that? Since when.
“If you know that, you’re equally guilty,” Stella murmured.
“I’m allowed!”
No, you’re not, I screamed internally.
For some reason, Joanne was wearing something that looked suspiciously like a cheongsam. Probably Whip’s doing.
“And another thing, at least stop peeking at him when he’s on the toilet!” she shouted. “It’s disgusting!”
She chose that moment to act as the voice of reason. They had both already broken through the ceiling of creepiness.
“I can’t stand how you stalk Oakley like some sleazy little freak!” Joanne snarled. “You peek in his private time, you put crazy crap in his food… I’m done holding back. Come on! I’ll kill you!”
More things I didn’t want to know just kept coming out.
I ran.
A few minutes later, I noticed the corridor growing noisy. Word had gotten around: Joanne and Stella’s argument had escalated and was about to turn into a full-blown showdown.
Crisis after crisis, one after another. I never got a moment’s peace.
“Seriously? Stella-sama and Joanne-sama are gonna fight?” someone said. “I’ll bet my dinner on Stella-sama winning.”
“Then I’ll bet on Joanne-sama,” another replied. “It’s a contrarian pick, but still.”
“Hey, hey, do you not know about Stella-sama’s unbeatable magic?”
“The best feeling is betting on the bigger payout and winning.”
The battle-happy members of the Northeastern Branch all took off running toward the commotion.
Fine, fight all you want… I thought. Except I can’t just leave it alone. This is such a pain. Someone, please, kill them all already…
I followed the flow of people toward the mess hall area. Alex spotted me and waved with a goofy grin plastered on his face.
“Oakley-senpai, things are getting real entertaining,” he said. “Looks like Joanne-sama and Stella-sama are gonna have an actual kill-or-be-killed match!”
“If you’ve got the time to call it ‘entertaining,’ you’ve got the time to stop them,” I snapped. “If either one of them dies, we’re in serious trouble.”
“I wanted to stop them, really. But those two were totally fired up. No way I could’ve stopped ’em by myself.”
“Fair point.”
Apparently, they’d been arguing while walking. They’d started out around here but had gradually made their way further and further outside.
As we quickened our pace in pursuit of the two, Karatena slipped into step with us, pointing at me.
The look on her face made it crystal clear she was enjoying this, like she was savoring the sight of me stuck between two feuding executives.
“My, my. You truly are the ladies’ man the rumors suggest,” she said with mock politeness. “To provoke a catfight between executives over you… How impressive.”
“You’ve got some nerve showing your face to me…” I muttered.
Apparently, she’d been spreading the rumors quite efficiently. The fact that she could still smirk like that meant she felt pretty secure. Probably because she believed she was gaining allies.
Staring at Karatena’s thoroughly condescending expression, I felt my strength drain away.
“Let’s put the past behind us,” she said breezily. “I was… mistaken back then as well.”
“Huh?”
“Let’s shake hands. There, I’m sorry. Good. Now, that topic is over.”
Her cool and steady hands wrapped around mine. Her panicked expression from the other day was nowhere to be seen. She looked composed. Confident.
And with the immediate crisis between Joanne and Stella to deal with, it felt like I was being forced to lower my fist and play along. At least, for now.