My apartment was not too far away from the Hunter’s Bureau. In the past timeline, I had asked the receptionist for any good apartments nearby, and I was recommended that one. It was a nice place that I really loved making my own.

  I calmly walked up the stairs to my apartment with Machua trailing behind me. Normally, I would simply hop up to my unit but Machu didn’t know how to do that yet, so it was good old stairs it was.

  As I walked towards my unit’s door, countless memories flowed into my mind. I had lived in there for about 4 years. From this same day all the way until the regression. It was my home, the first permanent residence I had after leaving mami’s house. But now, it had been stripped clean of everything that had made it mine.

  “When did you rent this, by the way?” Machua piped up from behind me.

  “A week ago. I was busy with other things or I would have come back sooner,” I replied, opening the door as well.

  “Ooh, nice place you got here,” Machua commented on the unit as she made herself comfortable on the sofa.

  The area we entered was a nice little open living room, which included a couch and a tv, alongside a small kitchen and a counter. It was connected to a little balcony as well, and also connected to a bedrooms. There was also a washing machine and a dryer in the apartment. It wasn’t too small but was a little dusty. A far cry from what I turned it into. There were so many souvenirs and trinkets that were missing, so many memories that didn’t exist here anymore.

  “Ahem, ahem.”

  I turned to Machua. “Yes?”

  “Tea?” Machua asked in a ‘posh’ accent. “A host should serve his guest drinks.”

  “What?”

  “Come on, you know. Proper etiquette and all that.”

  “…Yeah, tea coming right up.”

  I took out two cans of normal green tea out of a dimension and tossed one at her. She popped it open and guzzled it down.

  “Aaah! Just like old times. Glad you didn’t forget how much we liked this.”

  “Of course. I am a ‘canned tea aficionado,’ after all,” I replied in a ‘posh’ accent as well.

  “Who is your tea guy anyway? He’s not someone I know right?” Machua questioned sincerely.

  Yes, he was. He was my best friend, in fact. Jingyun, our childhood friend, who always acted so haughtily but had a soft spot for canned tea. The man I had to put out of his misery. Though, as far as the timeline was concerned, all of that was a complete lie. To the current ‘him,’ I was a complete stranger. So, it didn’t feel fair to tell her.

  “Nah.”

  “Nah…?”

  Why is it that sometimes she ticked me off? It didn’t help I could always tell her intentions. She had some serious growing up to do.

  “I’m not introducing him to you. He’s not a very social kind of guy, so he’d probably feel exhausted talking to you.”

  “What does that mean!?” She exclaimed.

  I… said the exact same thing when he told me that.

  “It means that not everyone can match your energy,” I repeated the explanation my other best friend, Suka, answered with.

  Machua stared at me dumbfounded, as if this was a massive revelation. Which it was.

  ‘Did I look that dumb when I heard that?’ I wondered.

  “That’s so not true. In fact, I’m the one on the other end most of the time,” Machua proclaimed.

  I couldn’t imagine anyone who would surpass my silly little past self in energy though. Captain Galas could match my energy, surpass it even, but without him, I was usually the only one messing around. And Remile sometimes, I supposed.

  “Who the hell could do that?”

  “Naiya, dummy,” Machua responded, saying a name I wasn’t too familiar with.

  The look of confusion on my face must have been evident. Because Machua stared at my face inquisitively, almost waiting for a reason for why I didn’t recognise the name. I didn’t have one, so she continued.

  “You know Naiya. She’s our best friend.”

  ‘Naiya is my… best friend?’ Was all I could think of.

  I absolutely froze. I wasn’t prepared for this. For all I knew, Machua’s history should have been the same as mine. She wasn’t supposed to have a mystery best friend.

  “You…don’t know Naiya?” Machua asked sadly.

  “… I feel like I recognise the name. But no, I don’t know Naiya,” I admitted.

  I turned my face away, not wanting to meet Machua’s gaze. After a few seconds of silence, she folded her legs, and spoke aloud. She spoke while looking at the ceiling, almost as if she wasn’t speaking to me, but reminding herself who Naiya was.

  “Naiya is…a bit of a dummy. She’s not very smart, she plays way too roughly, but she’s super earnest. She’s kind of a simple girl, but she has so much confidence in herself, it’s amazing.”

  Machua’s eyes sparkled as she talked about her best friend. She looked happy just thinking about her, and I could tell she probably couldn’t wait to meet up with her again.

  I wish I could say the same.

  “She’s a tomboy through and through, and even though she tries to solve all her problems with violence, it’s only because she wants to help. She won’t fully understand the issue, but she’ll do her best to solve it. Sometimes she makes things worse, but you can’t find someone else more loyal.”

  Machua smiled when she finished, and she looked at me with such a jovial expression, it reminded myself that this was me. The person in front of me was me, which meant I must have been this happy as well, around my friends.

  A faint emotion rose up inside of me. For a second, I could feel their presence beside me again. Su offering his support and Jing complaining that I was holding them up.

  “How about you? You have someone like that, right? You had to. I mean, you’re way more serious and cold compared to me now, but as a kid, you had to be the same as me. So, you must have someone.”

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  Machua’s confidence made me flinch. I wanted to respond truthfully and tell her about my own best friends in turn. Best friends that, now that I thought about it, might not have been hers as well. But I couldn’t.

  “No,” I answered flatly. “I don’t. I don’t have someone like that.”

  I couldn’t do that to myself. I had already faced the truth, that I had no connections to them anymore. They were strangers to me, they didn’t know me.

  “That’s not true at all! You’re telling me little Machua never made any friends at school? Really?” Machua stood up and asked.

  “He did, but he never became super close with anyone,” I said, trying to sound as cold as possible.

  “How…?” She lamented quietly.

  Machua took a good, hard look at me. She looked me up and down, as if she would find an answer merely by observing me. It was then that she slammed the table.

  “…I think I get it. I must be the reason why you’re like this,” Machua said with confidence.

  “Hm?”

  “I made you, right? Something like that. You said that you’re me if I was born as a boy. Why are you a boy? Even though you look exactly like me?”

  That…was a question I had given up on answering. I assumed it was because of my very strange case of time travel, something which differed from even the Regressor. Something went wrong, which resulted in a past self that was a different gender. I wasn’t a time travel expert or anything, so I left these questions for later, when I could meet Kalina again. But hearing that Machua felt she had an explanation despite her very limited information made me curious.

  “I think what happened is that during the process of making you, my subconsciousness kind of influenced it. I probably thought that having a clone that’s the same gender would be boring, which turned you into a guy.”

  Machua paused slightly, waiting for confirmation that she was on the right track. I nodded silently, waiting for her to continue.

  “Then I probably thought, what would happen if I was a guy? I wouldn’t be friends with Naiya, and maybe I would be friends with more guys, but I don’t really know any of them. So, because I don’t know the guys in our school too well, you didn’t have any friends.”

  Honestly, it wasn’t such a bad theory. Ignoring the impossibility of a perfect clone, a person’s subconscious did affect their magic greatly. She even incorporated her lack of knowledge into the theory as well. But, well, knowing what I did, there wasn’t a single thing true about it. Well, maybe there was, just in the opposite direction.

  “…Sure. I can believe that.”

  “Well, we don’t know if it’s true or not. But, even if it isn’t, you still have a problem.”

  I turned my head slightly. “…?”

  Machua flashed a grin and raised a finger. “You need more friends! I’ll introduce you to Naiya. And Yoona too!”

  … Yoona? Wait, she wasn’t talking about the Yoona Dias was she? Owner of Diamant Brioche? Manager of Dias Mall, the biggest mall in Erelier that we always go to? That Yoona Dias?

  “… Are you telling me you’re friends with Yoona Dias from our class?” I asked slowly.

  “Uh, yeah. Yoona’s a great gal but she has a hard time showing her feelings. She’s really good at homework tho-“

  “THAT’S HOW YOU GOT THE BEST FRIEND DISCOUNT!” I suddenly screamed.

  “You’re best friends with Yoona Dias! Agh, why couldn’t I have been friends with her?! I had to buy all those cakes and pastries without a 40% discount all this time!“

  “Haha…” Machua scratched her cheek. “If you went to Diamant Brioche as often as me, I think she probably would notice you liked the place and secretly given you a 20% classmate discount. Am I right?”

  “Tch!” I clicked my tongue.

  She got it exactly right. I only found this out when Suka told me about it. Suka was a friend of Yoona’s, unlike me, so he got a hefty discount at Diamant Brioche. I used to be wowed at his 30% friend discount, but then I learned that Machu had a whole 40% best friend discount that basically eclipsed mine.

  “Urgh…” I grumbled. “All this because you were born a girl.”

  “Haha. Well, Naiya also has a really protective dad. Remember what she said back when we transferred in?”

  ———————————————————————

  A Certain Erelier Primary School, 4th grade Classroom

  “Everyone, I have a special announcement to tell all of you,” declared its teacher, a kindly middle-aged woman who wore glasses. Her name was Ms Blue, though it wasn’t her real name, it was a nickname she insisted the kids used.

  The class erupted in excitement. The last time it happened, there was free pizza. And even though one person in particular gobbled most of it up, everyone got a slice. In fact, that particular little girl, a girl with cat ears and a tail, was easily the most excited one.

  “Woooo!” She cheered.

  “Uuugh, you’re always like this. We definitely can’t be seatmates,” her seatmate, a girl who had long and pointed ears, scoffed at her excitement.

  “Haha. I hope it’s pizza too. How about you?” A boy with sharp and twisted horns asked his seatmate.

  “It’s nothing to get happy about,” responded said seatmate, who had a long brown scaly tail.

  Just as the excitement reached its peak, Ms Blue raised her hand and everyone calmed down a little. She slowly walked over to the door with a little smile and opened it.

  “Everyone, please welcome our newest student,” she said jovially.

  Machua Purin didn’t know how new students were supposed to feel walking in. She had never done this before, walking into a classroom. Before today, she was home-schooled by her mother and some of her friends, since they could never really settle down long enough for schooling. Even though her mom was able to settle long enough for a pregnancy, there was a sudden urgent crisis with the company, which only really got fixed recently. At least, that was how she understood it.

  What awaited her was a crowd of young bright-eyed students, who stared at her as she walked in. There were many races there, some she didn’t recognise and others she thought she did but seemed a little different. Some of the children wore smiles, others were discontent, and others were shocked.

  “Awww… You’re not pizza…” lamented one girl.

  “Naiya!” Ms Blue snapped.

  “Sorry!”

  Machua shrugged it off and tried to walk in as fast as possible, nerves getting the best of her. She didn’t know the proper way to do it. She couldn’t feel ‘it.’ The guiding ‘flow.’ This always happened with something new, and she was always afraid she wouldn’t instantly be good at it. But experience served that she would be, so she had no reason to be afraid. Still, it always scared her.

  “Machua, you should introduce yourself now. Don’t worry, they’re all wonderful kids like you,” Ms Blue reassured her.

  Machua knew Ms Blue. She had tutored her before and was the person who pushed her mother to stay in Erelier and enrol her in a real school. She had always talked about how great these kids were. She knew a lot about these kids from the stories, but seeing them in person, it was different. Still, she kept it in mind that these people were just like her. Just imagine there were other Machus right in front of her.

  “Uh, um. M-my name is Machua Purin. I haven’t been to school, uh, ever. So, I-I hope we can be friends!” Machua bowed a little as she said so.

  “Alright, let’s get you seated first. We can get you introducing yourself to everyone during snack time. For snack time, I’ll be giving everyone a candy bar for each person who introduces themselves to Machua.”

  “Yay! Machua, you’re the best!” The catkin cheered.

  “Haha…” Machua trailed off.

  “Sit over here, over here!” The catkin girl, eager to introduce herself for the snack, hollered.

  Machua cracked a smile and went on over. There was an empty seat next to the girl, who had sparkles in her eyes. Her long-eared seatmate calmly waved hello, waiting for the cat girl to finish.

  “I’m Naiya. First, I gotta ask something! Is that okay?”

  “Uh-huh,” Machua nodded.

  “Ahem, ahem!” Naiya cleared her throat, making her seatmate groan.

  “Are you a boy or a girl?” Naiya asked nonchalantly.

  “Eh?”

  “Naiya, you’re not supposed to ask people that,” scolded Ms Blue.

  “But I don’t know! And papa says I can only play with girls! No boys allowed! Machua, are you a boy or a girl!?” She repeated.

  Machua suddenly lost all confidence in herself. “Isn’t it obvious…?”

  “Hm… Not really,” commented Naiya’s seatmate. “You’re pretty enough to be a girl, but you’re also a little… rugged?”

  “Yeah! You’re a tomboy or a pretty boy. Which is it?”

  The rest of the class clamoured together on this. Nobody was really certain which gender Machua was. Machia looked at Ms Blue, for guidance, who did know, but she merely smiled back, urging her to answer with confidence.

  “I-I’m a girl, dummy.”

  “Okay, great! We can play together! Later, let’s play Ultimate Beast Hunt!”

  “Ugh, do not take her up on that. It’s terrible,” her seatmate cut in.

  “Hey!”

  “I’m Yoona, by the way. It’s a pleasure to meet you,” she introduced herself. She had an air of maturity to her, though Machua felt she was trying to appear more confident than she was.

  “Well, Machua, why don’t you sit next to Naiya and Yoona then? I’m sure the 3 of you will be the best of friends.”

  ———————————————————————

  “I-I’m a boy, duh.”

  Naiya’s excitement instantly disappeared. “Oh, okay. We can’t be friends then.”

  Machua opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. It was that moment he felt a hand tapping his back. Looking behind him, he saw a boy with large horns looking at him.

  “I can be your friend instead. I’m Suka Ananta.”

  His seatmate, who was swishing his long tail across the ground, spoke next. “I’m Jingyun of the Tang family.”

  Machua struggled to remember what the Tang family was, but he definitely recognised it. Tang, Tang…

  “Oh! Tang is the company that sells the really expensive coffee!”

  Jingyun nodded and smirked at the recognition.

  “Don’t tell anyone, but he likes tea more,” Suka not so quietly said.

  “Shut it.”

  “Everyone knows it.”

  “No, they don’t. Coffee is better than tea and I have never drunken tea in my life, especially canned,” declared Jingyun.

  “Well, Machua, why don’t you sit next to Suka and Jingyun then? I’m sure the 3 of you will be the best of friends.”

  “… So it’s Naiya’s fault we’re so different,” I said with a little bit of ire.

  Things would be so much easier if Machua was literally a past me. I was sure she’d be best friends with Suka and Jingyun, but…

  ‘I should’ve known something was wrong when he didn’t show up at the Bureau…’

  “We can go bully her anytime we want,” Machua interrupted, “But I gotta ask. Does that mean you just sulked and sat in the corner then?”

  “Is that what you think?”

  “Aw, no wonder you’re so grumpy all the time.”

  I stared at her with a blank expression. “I’m only grumpy cause I have to babysit you, Machu. I just had to manifest as your clone, not anyone else’s.”

  “Bleh.” Machua stuck out her tongue. “You’re stuck with me and you know it.”

  “And I have to live next door to you too?” I complained.

  “Oh, haha. If it’s like that, I guess I’ll have to stay at Yoona’s place. She has a penthouse that’s too big for her anyway.”

  I retorted, “I could get a penthouse if I wanted to. I just picked this place because I knew you wouldn’t have the money for it.”

  ‘Ah, I got carried away.’

  Machua’s eyes grew wide and she stood up. “Hah!? No way. What kinda work do you do!?”

  “I’m lying,” I said with as neutral of a tone as possible.

  “No, no, no! You were sooo confident about it, there’s no way. You SO can get a penthouse.” Machua said with an accusatory voice and pointed her finger at me.

  I turned my head away. “Tch.”

  “Tell me! Come onnnnnn…”

  Machua began shaking me by the shoulders. I kept my blank expression on.

  “You’re acting like a kid.”

  Suddenly, Machua lightened up as if she had a brilliant idea. Wait, usually when this happens, I do something terrible.

  “I’m gonna tell mom!” She exclaimed, pulling out her phone in a dramatic fashion.

  “Don’t you dare!” I growled, almost leaping at the phone.

  “Then tell me.”

  I slammed my hand onto my forehead and crouched down on the floor. “… Fine. You win. Don’t tell anyone.”

  “I promise.” I couldn’t see her eyes, but I’d bet they were sparkling.

  “I…deal in info.“

  “…That’s it?” The disappointment she must have felt was unimaginable.

  I stood up and gravely held her shoulder with one hand. “It’s the kind of information people kill for. I know corporate secrets, effects and prices of black market goods, like drugs, the hideouts and statuses of dangerous criminal bosses, and even the best way to infiltrate the most secure of places. I have to be careful never to reveal my identity lest people take you, or even worse, mami hostage.”

  Machua seemed to crack a little bit under the pressure. “Is… Is it really that dangerous?”

  “Yes. You can’t tell it to anyone. I’ve never shown anyone what I look like or used my real name. No one’s even ever heard my real voice before. If they did, you’d know since I would’ve used ‘Machua.’ Don’t. Tell. Anyone,” I enunciated with as much emphasis as I could.

  “Y-yes! I won’t!”

  Satisfied, I let her shoulder go with a smile. “Okay. I trust you. Let’s move on, shall we? You already have an idea of what the place looks like.”

  I opened the door and gestured over my shoulder. “So, let’s eat. I know a great place.”

  “F-from your secret underworld sources?” Machua hesitantly asked.

  I grinned. “You can say that, yeah.”