Code Zulu Alpha: Nerd in the Apocalypse!

With something that could be easily taken on and off—and even have someone else wear—was just something I didn’t put much emphasis on, but Alexander really wanted me to get sold on the gloves this Astra chick supposedly wears. He was totally adamant on the idea but the look on Marisha’s face told me she knew what I was thinking but I should just listen because it was important.

"I told you, sir, it’s this… this l-leathery kind and—"

"The ones where the fingers stick out?"

"No, no, it’s the one that covers your whole hand and it has this button thingy to enclose it by the wrists. I’ve never seen her take them off and—"

"Hold up." Stay updated with

"Huh? What is it, sir?"

"You’ve never seen her take them off?"

"Yes? I did say that, why do you ask?"

"You also said that she always moisturizes, how does that work?"

At that moment, all I could see was a distraught Alexander trying to piece together that discrepancy in his memories by staring down without saying a word. However, it slowly turned into a blank stare before his gaze landed on Marisha, wearing an expression meant to ask for help—before suddenly clutching his stomach and vomiting on the hospital bed.

"HhHWAachKKWHHH!!!"

"Alex—" I tried to get up to help him or even call out to a nurse but Marisha held me back and motioned to see what would happen next.

"Just watch… for now…"

"..."

Obviously an unarmed soldier was still as dangerous—especially with a civilian like Marisha next to me—but at the end of the day, I’d wish for no more conflict with this dude and have him spend less time in this hospital. In addition, I wanted to make use of his skills and the information that he has about this Astra chick so that I could tick off one more thing from my list.

But yeah, I never thought being wrong in giving information could cause such a reaction so this time, I just followed what the doctor, Marisha, ordered.

It’s just that when Alexander wiped his mouth, his hands that seemed to have participated in labor spooked the hell out of him. While he doesn’t necessarily need a manicure since a simple clipper could do just fine, I didn’t think anyone would look so frightened by seeing their rough hands.

And right after that, he crawled to the nearest corner of his bed, hugging the walls, before pleading for dear life.

"P-Please, no— STOP! I— I told you every— AHHHHH!!! I TOLD YOU— YES! YES! I-I-I— I’M HERE WITH ORDERS FROM THE PRESIDENT— N-NO! I MEAN— YES!

IT’S BOTH FROM OURS AND Y-YOURS— AHHHHH!!! HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO REPEAT—"

"..."

Marisha whispered to me, "He’s… He’s untangling… I might have removed the ’Hook’ but… there’s still a lot of things to work on… But yeah, Angel and Astra are technically the same person…"

"WH— What?!" I turned back to Marisha and saw that she wasn’t kidding.

"PLEASE! I’LL— I’LL HELP YOU— I-I’LL— I’LL DO— ARGH!!! I’M NOT TRYING TO— WE’RE ON THE SAME F-FUCKING SIDE!!! CAN YOU JUST— ARHDHHHHHHHhgHGFaAaaHHHHH!!!"

After that second outburst, Alexander began shaking as if he was being electrocuted—more like tied up in a chair and getting tortured, and I can only assume that the scars on his chest were the cause of such deformity on his skin. However, I suddenly felt a familiar sensation when Marisha walked in front of me, leaned over to Alexander, and then spoke in a gentle voice.

"Alexander, it’s me, Marisha."

"W-What?!"

"Can’t you remember me? You’re safe now, you’ve been here for a while recovering, remember?"

"I-I—"

*SNAP*

As soon as Marisha snapped her fingers— no, a few more seconds after she snapped her fingers, Alexander’s ragged breathing returned to normal before he looked around and figured out where he was. Right after that, he wore a difficult expression and apologized profusely from the things he did.

I waved him off, "It’s just a quick trip to our laundromat, no biggie~"

"But I— I did worse when… I still can’t believe I’m not in restraints right now—"

Marisha cut in, "Because you earned it, Alexander, you did."

"Still…"

Marisha continued, "You also asked me to plant in your head that you’ll never leave this room. It’s a, umm… safety feature for everyone but you haven’t even come close to touching the doorknob. That’s progress in itself, don’t you think? And you’ve done it in a few days, I might add."

"..."

I cut in, "Okay, now I need more context. What’s going on?"

Marisha looked at me with a faint smile, "Fine, but you have to sit down for this."

"Sure, after we send someone to clean his bed first—"

Alexander cut in, "A-And some food, too! Please. Thank you!"

"..."

"..."

"W-What? I just threw up, I-I’m hungry again…"

With that said, Marisha roughly explained that while Alexander was now coherent and harmless, so to speak, there were still things in his head that were jumbled and needed to be untangled by having conversations like we did. And if somehow we spot a discrepancy, simple or complex, it needed to be called out but it’d unlock another memory in his head, painful or otherwise pleasant.

It’s just that Marisha needed to document everything and remember every session she had with Alexander, and every time someone visited, she had to be present.

And in the case when someone really had to and she wasn’t available, some sort of recording device should be used since they could easily recreate the conversation and go from there.

I just didn’t think that it’d have this sort of system to fix memories because the approach Marisha had with me was totally different.

In my case, I have to relive everything every single time I go in for a session—but it just might be because that Marisha was against Angel and Astra—who were also supposed to be one person, but I needed more information on that. Also, Marisha didn’t call that discrepancy out but she already had an answer as soon as I inquired about that.

"It’s a Split Personality Disorder—"

Alexander and I quickly waved her off, "N-No way, Marisha, I’m telling you they’re different people…/ Yeah, and how do you grow and shrink boobs?"

Marisha rolled her eyes at me, "You’re so caught up on someone’s chest, huh? Doofus…"

"That’s— But that’s a valid point! And he said that he’s seen them both at the same time! How does that work?"

Marisha answered with a straight face, "Kage Bunshin no-Jutsu?"

"You— Stop messing around!"

She never looked so offended, "Oh~ When I do it, it’s stupid? And are you for real?! I don’t get some cred from saying Kage Bunshin no-Jutsu?! You would’ve railed Kaley by now!"

"But Kaley’s my wife and you’re her— This is too weird, Marisha!"

Marisha rolled her eyes hard again, "I’m not telling you to do THAT, of course! Doofus!"

I snorted, "Fine~ That was awesome, heh. I just didn’t think I’d peg you for doing that— and don’t get me started on that other thing I said, okay?"

She chuckled, "Hmph! Fine, fine, I’ll take it. But yeah, you really have to listen to everything I was saying first before cutting me off. It’s good you did something like that for Alexander but I have more things to say besides Split Personality Disorder since it’s just one form of it."

"What do you mean?"

"I did say at first that they’re ’technically’ the same person, right?"

"Yeah?"

"And you remember that Astra and Angel are sisters?"

"Of course! Then—"

"Then hear me out, please, no interruptions."

"..."

"What I’m trying to say is: from all the information I’ve heard from Alexander and received from Jesus—"

"Which Jesus?"

"You— Number 7! Who else?!"

"It’s a CARTEL, Marisha! You can’t throw a stone in there and not hit a couple or a bunch named Jesus or something!"

"Pfft— B-But that’s not the point! The point I’m trying to say is—and thank you for not interrupting, really! What I’m trying to say is that it seems like Astra and Angel are sisters who share the two personalities while in different bodies. Do you get me?"

"Umm… No?"

"Ugh! It’s like— It’s like a—"

Alexander cut in, "Like a yin-yang?"

"A Yin/Yang! Thanks, Alexander!"

Hearing that, for some reason, it kind of made a lot sense but it bred more confusion at the same time. I’ve heard of personality disorders occurring in a single person but I’ve never heard of two people having someone else’s personality as their split personality at the same fucking time.

I scratched my head low, "But… By how much?"

Marisha tilted her head, "What do you mean?"

"How much is the other personality living in the sister’s head and vice versa?"

"That’s… That’s what we are still trying to figure out. All we know right now is that Astra’s the one responsible and we aren’t sure who’s who and what’s what."

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