Chapter 4: Identity (II)

Unknown POV

Identity, it's something that defines a person. Without it, a person is incomplete. Without it, a person wouldn't be recognized. So, they try their hardest to create an identity for themselves. Sometimes, a person gets so indulged in creating their identity that they forget their real selves.

I was slowly losing myself too; pretending to be another person, someone who was the complete opposite of me was difficult but if I didn't do it, I would still lose myself due to the contract.

I hate this. I hate everything and everyone. I hate myself.

"Argh. Where am I?" The light coming from the gelatinous white walls of the room made my eyes flinch a bit. Even the slightest light was uncomfortable to me because of my origin. I covered my eyes with my bangs to reduce the blinding effect the light had on my eyes.

One of my eyes felt slightly smaller than the other. It must be because of that damned demon.

The events of yesterday flashed in my inner eye as my nails dug into the soft, fluffy bedsheet under me. It had become really difficult to control my body and it almost felt like my soul was floating in the air, and I had to take a special pill that could restore my possession abilities.

"I can't believe I had to deal with five brats in a single day. The demonic elitists and that annoying superhero-wannabe," I sighed. "Where am I?"

"You are at the hospital," a young boy with his mint-green hair twirled into a ponytail spoke as his sudden presence sent a chill down my spine. He was wearing male nurse clothes and had a black sticker in place of his badge.

You should've been a bit smarter while concealing stuff like that. It seems that he wanted to hide his name or probably the company he worked in, from me.

"Oh, and you are?"

"The nurse."

An idea took birth in the cradles of my brain as I took out the mouth freshener. It was my target and I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fulfill my contract.

It was really compact and fitted inside the pocket just like a plug which fits perfectly into its socket.

"Why am I here?" I looked around the room trying to figure out the hospital's name.

"Because, you are a patient?"

"And would you let me go?"

"Sorry. But I was asked to look after you and not leave your side, by the head nurse."

"What if I leave on my own?" I sprayed the mouth freshener in my mouth while staring at the nurse, after which I tucked it back into my pocket.

"You can't. Until, Amnesia comes back."

"Can I go to the toilet?" I came up with an excuse to leave the room.

"Sorry, you can't. The nurse will be coming soon."

"But I can't hold it in anymore. I have not visited the toilet for an entire day. Oh, wait. What time is it?"

"It's five in the morning."

"Oh, can I go then?"

"I am sorry. You can't. This has nothing to do with the time."

"Then, I am might end up wetting the bed..."

A moment of awkward silence followed as we continued exchanging awkward glances at each other until the greenette finally broke the ice.

"Is it that urgent?"

"Yes." I tried to sound as convincing as possible.

"Okay then, you can go. But come back within five minutes," he finally agreed as he opened the door. "Five minutes. That's it."

I headed towards the door, as I patted his shoulder. "Thanks, bro. I will definitely return the favor one day."

"I would be happier if you didn't though," he sighed. "Wait, I'll show you the way."

"It's not necessary."

"It is," his words resonated stubbornness as he grabbed my arm and walked straight. He covered huge strides with his short legs, as I struggled to keep pace with him.

"Good Heavens! Are you trying to rip off my arm or something? Is this how you treat your patients?" He grew angrier with every step.

"Yes, I'm trying to rip your arm off so that I can hang it as a souvenir in front of the main door."

"Would anyone visit the hospital if you do something like that?"

"No, because this place isn't a hospital in the first place. And no one can visit this place, unless they have an Identity Card that verifies them as a member of-" He concealed his mouth with his hands as he realized he had screwed up.

"Oh, so I see. You have t-taken me h-hostage, right?"

I trembled with fear as I looked at his gorgeous grayish-green eyes, trying to convince him, that I was terrified by his revelations. He had become calmer than before as soon as he let go of my hand.

"Obviously not. You know, I was just annoyed and I ended spewing all that nonsense. None of that is true. This is just a normal hospital. Sorry if I ended up scaring you."

"O-Okay, I trust you. But, can you give me three minutes more, since you wasted three minutes of mine saying all that nonsense."

"Okay. I am giving you eight minutes. There's the toilet," he finally gave in as he pointed towards the washroom. "Come fast or else the head nurse will get the better of me."

I stood in front of the mirror as my pink eyes slowly turned grayish-green along with my hair that changed into a shade of mint, as I started to resemble the nurse I just closed the door on.

"Wow, the shapeshifting potion is just spectacular. Mariposa's creations are miraculous indeed."

A tiny hamster landed on my shoulder after jumping across the ventilation as I asked, "Chi-Chi, is this our destination?"

"Yes. Yes. There is a huge sign in the front," they spoke in a tiny, squeaky voice as I gifted them a chocolate bar. "Good job, Chi-Chi!"

I took out my phone as I chatted with my friend.

Hello, Alicia.

Yes, Rosie. Where are you?

Toilet.

Number one or number two? :0

Oh God! I am at the DMPEI HQ!

Wait a minute or two. I am tracing the location. There's a heavy security blanketing the HQ which is hindering the tracing.

Oh okay, do your thing then. I will free the prisoner in the meantime.

"Okay, so Chi-Chi, where's he?" I kept my phone over the stand in front of the mirror.

"Climb on my back." I gobbled up the 'small pill' and shrunk into a size two times smaller than Chi-Chi and did as they said.

They jumped through the ventilation and climbed down the wall of the building to land into the hole that they had created in the ground.

After traveling a long distance through a muddy tunnel which Chi-Chi dug in the soil, the road transformed into one of the plastic pipes that finally led into the bathroom. Knocking of the shower drain cover, we ended up in the bathroom.

"Huh, which kind of prisoner gets these facilities? Separate showers attached to their room? And the bathroom is bigger and better than my entire apartment. Let's steal the AC and the shower from the bathroom before leaving this place! I would readily commit crimes to occupy a room like this."

"No need, master! We can use the money to buy fresh sets for each room!"

"Yeah. Thank God he didn't bolt the door!"

Upon crossing the narrow gap between the door and its frame, we landed into a lavish room containing the prisoner we were supposed to rescue.

He was a classmate of mine- Tadashi. So, I had to disguise myself to minimize the chances of getting my identity disclosed. He was the son of the president of a prestigious conglomerate.

"Damn, this is inequality!" I cursed upon seeing the room. "All prisoners should get equal treatment..."

Fortunately, he was in a deep sleep which made the task easy.

The effect of the pill vanished as I reverted back to my original size. After standing on the edge of the bed, I stared into the camera before masking it with a tape.

Damn, I missed the times when I was tall.

Six minutes remaining.

"Chi-Chi, ask your partner to open the portal to his room! Quick!"

"Ki-Ki Ki-Ki Ki-Ki," they squeaked as a portal to the blue-haired chap's room opened up in front of us, as I tossed him into his bed.

Four minutes remaining.

"Quick, now lead me to that brat," I handed a green strand of hair after which I swallowed a 'small pill' again.

Chi-Chi led me through the pipelines to the healer's staff room's toilet. They then escaped through the ventilator as they ran over the wall to land at the window panes.

I channeled my entire frustration that had been accumulating over the past week towards my tiny palms as I created a tiny pair of a bow and an arrow.

Me and the bow were the best of friends from birth. I knew how to use it before I even learnt to brush my teeth.

And I was on of the best archers of my species, if I were being humble and the best, if I were being honest.

Two minutes remaining.

My eyes fell upon the nurse's archnemesis who was sleeping peacefully in his chair, which was at the other end of the room. There were a lot of other healer's in the room, because of which I couldn't transform back. Hence, we had to take the window-route.

I aimed the arrow at him as I controlled it's tangibility during its motion in such a way that it could phase through the wall, without breaking it but still hit the target, without hurting him.

It landed on his neck, as he screeched, "Ouch, who was that? A bee?" Then his eyes fell on the hamster attached to the window, as he walked towards us in awe.

"Aye, is that a hamster? Wait, the arrow... So, it's you! I thought I was hallucinating for a second." He opened the window as he held us amidst his palms. "You look so ugly in that disguise."

"That's because I resemble you."

"Also, why did you shoot me in the neck? It hurts so bad."

"Shut up, you are a healer. Go heal it on your own, you wimp. And, give me my payment! I don't have much time! The contract has been fulfilled."

"Wait really? How and why should I believe you?"

"Shut up, can't you see that the mark on your wrist disappeared? Now, give my payment or else I will send you to hell."

"Oh chill. Here's the payment, Mr. Rosario." He handed over the payment, which was in the shape of a gift-wrapped box.

30 seconds remaining.

"Go, Chi-Chi. There's just half a minute remaining," I ordered. Chi-Chi started dashing so fast that I had several encounters with death in the course. I fastened my fingers around their fur to secure my dear life.

The toilet I was allowed to go to was opposite to the staff room's one and Chi-Chi had to travel up and down the building to reach its ventilation.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

"Are you done? And you took five minutes more than the prescribed time."

"Yes, yes. Sorry for the delay, you stingy dollar bill."

"What the heck were you doing?" He was annoyed. "Didn't I tell you, you could go after the head nurse comes?"

"What, you got scolded by your momma? That's unfortunate!" I glanced at my phone as the message saying 'mission successful!' from Alicia, made me heave a sigh of relief.

"Now, go inside. Amnesia will take care of you." He opened up the door as I walked towards the bed,

There was a middle-aged lady with flowing white hair was sitting on a swivel and I couldn't take off my eyes from her hair, which...resembled my own.

Moving forward, I saw a pretty lady with charming dusty rose eyes. I couldn't speak anything for a moment which felt like an eternity.

"Don't worry, the hair is not inherently white... It's dyed."

"But..."

"Sleep," she cast some kind of spell on me as darkness replaced the beautiful lady sitting beside me.

***

"Argh. Where am I? Chi-Chi, can you tell me what happened?" A feeling that a lot of stuff occurred persisted in my mind as I tried my hardest to remember. "Am I suffering from amnesia?"

Chi-Chi seated themselves on the pillow as they spoke:

"Yes, you are. But, not from the disease, rather it's from a person with the same name. You know, yesterday you invaded the DMPEI HQ and fulfilled three of your contracts in one go. You did an amazing job although, you forgot what you did. But never mind, you were amazing indeed," Chi-Chi praised me as I looked at the missing marks on my arm or rather Rashiro's arm.

"So now, just one more for a full clover-leaf," I mumbled while falling back on the bed. "I am so tired. Tired of fulfilling contracts at the expense of others. Tired of acting as a blockhead. I am tired of everything. What if I was unable to gain my original identity?"

"That won't happen. I know you can do it! I believe in you!" Chi-Chi squeaked.

"I am so glad to have you as my advisor. Wait did you confess to Ki-Ki yet?"

"No," the hamster denied, turning a shade of beet red.

"Don't worry I will play the match breaker and make your match."

The hamster chuckled as I re-framed the sentence.

"I will be the matchmaker and break your match. Shit, I meant I will be the matchmaker and make your match."

"T-that's not n-necessary. I will c-confess at the perfect time."

"I wish I had your confidence." I glanced out of my bedroom's window as the closed candy shop in front of Rashiro's house. It remained open all week except on Sundays.

"Wait, what day is it today?"

"Sunday, according to human terminology."

"Oh my god! Get ready. We are gonna become millionaires this fine Sunday."

The sound of the bell disturbed my materialistic thought-process as I listed down the names of potential visitors. "Ha, I remember it must be the delivery guy."

"Wait, master! I can smell the nefarious intents of the person in front of the door."

"Oh my god, who could it be on a fine Sunday morning?"