just want to take a walk around, trying to refresh my memories." Honestly, he felt stifled in the room and guessed that if he continued to ruminate in there alone, he might just completely lose his mind.
"Just make sure not to wander off the premises. Although people with an elevated regenerative ability usually recover quickly and the doctor has cleared you, sometimes there could still be complications and it's best if you are close by, so we can react quicker." There was also his durability, but apparently that and his regeneration were chalked up to him being a 'Wereape'. Why his agility wasn't, was beyond him.
Although he didn't feel like it, Sean nodded with a smile. "Thanks for the reminder. I'll keep it in mind." For some reason, his response seemed to have caught the receptionist off guard.
"O-of course, it's my job."
Sean was about to continue when he realized something. "Before I forget, there should be a locker or something with my personal belongings, right? If I need a code, then- well, I don't remember it."
"Right. Wait a second-" He turned to a colleague, who was on a phone call. "Could you take over for a sec?" The colleague gave him a thumbs-up and a quick nod.
The two continued down the hallway again. They walked past a sign indicating which floor they were on. 'Basement, huh? Wouldn't it make more sense to have the infirmary on the first floor? That would make it easier if they needed to transport their patients to a real hospital.'
There was also an overview sign indicating that there was a lab on this level, but he doubted that he could just waltz into something like that. After thinking for a moment, he just followed the guy to what appeared to be the changing room.
"So, which locker was it?" the guy asked, making Sean give him a blank look.
"…I don't remember."
"Oh, right. Force of habit. Let's go through them. I think it was around here." He walked in, turned the corner to the left, walked past one bank of lockers before heading to the corner.
He then continued to open two lockers before presenting the second one to Sean. "This should be yours, right? I think this was your bag."
"Why do you know where my locker is and how my bag looks?" Perhaps Sean was overthinking it, but the guy was pretty confident about where his locker's approximate location was. From what he could tell, the lockers weren't personal ones, so he could have chosen any locker.
Sean glanced to the back from where they came from. On the other side were some stalls, sinks, and then a rather open shower. Along the way was a plethora of lockers.
"I helped you unlock your locker when you started here and forgot your code. Most people stick to one locker, or at least the same area."
"So, we are acquainted?" Sean glanced at the guy. He looked average: buzz cut with black hair, average build and looks, donned in a nurse's clothes.
"You could say that, though we didn't really speak much besides the three times you demanded your locker be unlocked. Right, if you want to lock it again, just press the symbol, then some numbers, and then the symbol again. If it's locked, do the same to unlock it with the sequence of numbers you used to lock it with." As the guy spoke, Sean glanced inside the locker. A bag, shoes, and some clothes.
"What is your name again?" Sean asked as he glanced at the name tag on his chest.
"Stephen."
"Nice to meet you, Stephen, and thanks for helping me out." Sean offered his hand, only for Stephen to take a moment to look at it before accepting the handshake, a bit flustered. "You good?"
"What- yeah, no. I'm fine." He chuckled a bit nervously.
"Riiight…" Sean started to open the bag. It was empty, probably just something to transport his clothes with, also a towel and shampoo.
"It's just… you're too polite."
Sean raised an eyebrow at that. "Hm? I'm just thanking you... Just to clarify, I'm not into guys."
"No- that's not. Whatever, man. Anyway, I've got to go back to duty. If you need something, Saiyan, I'm supposed to take care of you. I'll be on duty until the late shift comes." The guy then stormed off.
"Strange," Sean muttered. He shook his head and pulled out the wallet he found in the bag. When he unfolded it, there was a picture of Kohjin and his mom inside the ID pocket. There were some bills and cards inside, which might not be usable anymore without the codes. There was an ID tucked in between his credit cards: Kohjin, no surname, born in 1997, brown eyes, ability holder.
'Huh? Are all people with powers registered, or is it because Kohjin had been arrested before?' His intuition leaned more toward the latter option. His attention turned to the credit cards again. He would have to search for any documents that contained the codes. Hopefully, he had a folder-
At that moment, he remembered that he didn't even know where he lived. He took out his phone and went to the maps app. A sigh of relief escaped him as he saw an address come up as his home address before realizing that he was in Torrance, which should be in California, if his memory served him right.
"Strange, I figured cities would be even less recognizable. And why do I remember this city of all other cities?" He muttered quietly as he searched through his bag and then his jacket before finally finding some keys, which he hoped included the keys to his apartment. At least, with this, once he had to leave the hospital, he would have an indication of where to go.
With his basics sorted, he needed to come up with a name to go with. Being called Saiyan felt strange to his ears. Although it was just his hero-name before, he felt awkward hearing it. It was the same as if he was called human, ironically it felt dehumanizing despite the fact that he shouldnt feel strongly about it...
He also didn't want to go with Kohjin. If he did, it would feel like he was… accepting all of this as reality.
He also didn't want to use his old name. It would feel like he was desecrating this body's identity, like he was overriding the name of someone's grave with his own. Or perhaps it was just because, for some strange reason, he feared hearing his name being called in this world. There was no instinctive dread of a higher being or something absurd, he just felt like he didn't want the people of this world to call him by his name. In a way, it felt sacred…
However, this left him with no name and that's not really an option either. 'I'm neither Kohjin nor Sean, I am Kohsean, Kohean, Korean? What? Sejin? Sojin? Soul society- Whatever. I'll figure something out.'
He put away his stuff and locked it away again. Getting to open his locker and seeing the stuff he had at hand was just to get an overview of what his options were. There were a few bills, but nothing that could last him forever. One task that he mentally noted was getting access to his bank account. Either way, he would have to go to that home address at one point.
Of course, this would have to wait until he was cleared to leave. As for leaving already and just running out, he did think about it, but he figured it was too early to test boundaries. They told him that he only needed to stay the night and truthfully, he didn't feel ready yet to face the world outside.
In an unknown world, it was also appropriate to be cautious. He wasn't going to defy the medical personnel hired by the very people that allowed him to not rot away in a cell.
As he walked the hallways and remembered all the fire exits, staircases, and elevators, he started exploring the basement. There was more than he expected on this floor: the changing rooms, a rather large rec room divided into a gym area, a place to play table tennis and billiards, while on the other side was a small kitchen area and lots of sitting areas. It was a rather generous place.
They also did a great job somehow not making it apparent that it was the basement. If he hadn't read the signs, he would have never guessed it. He walked up the stairs to the first-floor level and entered the lobby.
The lobby was rather large as well, or rather it appeared big because of the large glass front letting lots of natural light inside. Honestly, he was quite impressed with everything until now, it didn't feel like a bad place to work at. As he watched the door swing open and office workers come inside, he glanced outside, seeing a parking lot, tempting him to just leave the place for a moment.
'A criminal… With my record, I probably was a villain.' He shook his head, 'At least, I haven't committed any mass murders. A Saiyan wanting to do mayhem surely wouldn't be a petty thief.'
Him escaping wouldn't do well for him. He wasn't even sure what his liberties were and whether they put a tracker into him to check his location. He didn't want to start a chase with the police just yet.
As his mind conjured up some imaginary scenarios, he heard some whispers pertaining to him.
"Heard he lost his memories."
"Hopefully, he isn't grumpy because he got injured again."
There were several similar reactions as he wandered through the rec room. Most of the office workers avoided him. Some of them whispered about his 'memory loss', despite having only occurred a few hours ago. However, what unnerved him more was that he was capable of hearing what they whispered among themselves. It just further hammered the weirdness of his situation in again.
He turned his back to the entrance and continued exploring. There wasn't much to see. The floor mostly consisted of the lobby and some hallways that went around a central inner courtyard. There were some rooms as well.
After having looked into a few, he guessed that most were just some additional meeting rooms or storerooms.
The inner courtyard of the building, or the 'Green Space' as it was signed, was nicely designed and it gave him a brief glimpse into the second floor and the third floor.
The third floor was hard to look into, but from down there, it just looked like a continuation of the office vibe from the first floor.
Without much hesitation, he went up to the second floor and ran into a rather busy crowd. With a sense of urgency, people hurried along or were talking animatedly with their headsets on. 'They must have headphones with pretty good noise-cancellation.' Sean thought as he remembered how distracting noisy offices could be.
Among the people, he recognized a few from when he was hurried down in a stretcher. He hadn't truly perceived them then. However, now while taking his time to observe them, he had a strange feeling coming up again when looking at a creature that was so alien that it didn't even give him uncanny valley vibes. It did activate some part of his brain that seemed to perceive other predators.
He observed them as he explored the office. Strangely, the computers they were using were old, which was strange since everything else he had seen was modern. He went through the hallways and noticed that among the workers there wasn't a small percentage of what appeared to be ability holders like himself or were true aliens.
The second floor was just a conglomeration of whatever an office needed. Scanners, printers, old computers, cubicles, office rooms, among which was the large conference room, a boardroom, and a couple of bathrooms.
There was only one office that had a name on it. "Blonde Blazer, I think that was a big shot I saw in some recent news article." He muttered before heading up. He wasn't sure what he expected, but it wasn't a normal office. Honestly, it only made it strange with how normal it was.
The third floor was the IT section, lots of computer parts and a big server room. Not sure what they were used for. With that, he was done with his tour and headed back down again. Perhaps the walk calmed his paranoid ass down to the point that he realized that he could just ask to leave the hospital earlier. They were confident enough to let him roam the building, so they didn't seem too concerned about the injury being anything serious.
He headed down and was about to go into the infirmary when he walked past the gym. Having regularly visited a variety of gyms in different cities or even countries made him feel at ease every time he visited one, even those he hadn't been to before. Although the layout, machines, and people were different, once the weights were in his hands these differences were insignificant and everything else turned routine.
There was a desire in him for something familiar, so without thinking more about it, he went inside. He didn't have proper gym clothes, but the clothes he wore felt like they were designed to move in. A look around made him spot a towel shelf with a sign urging one to take one and place it on the machines when they use it. He took one and started mentally noting down the machines they had.
The gym wasn't full, full, but there was a decent amount of people. All the incline benches were taken, so he went with a regular bench to do bench presses with. His mind was at ease as he started warming up his joints for a minute or two before continuing his warm up with the bar. The moment he started pressing, he felt strange.
Due to the arc in the back, the tail was surprisingly fine, but when he performed the movement, he was shaky. It wasn't because it was difficult, but because it felt unfamiliar. A movement he had done thousands of times now felt unfamiliar.
'I guess new body means I have to relearn the movements.' Although, in theory, the movement wasn't complex, it came down to the details. The micro-adjustments of muscle strands that stabilized the weight or pushed the weight into the correct and most efficient arc were something that would take some time to master again.
Fortunately, his memory was mostly intact when he thought about the key points of the movement and started to consciously adjust his posture. After doing a set, he pulled out his phone and started plexing or whatever the equivalent to googling was called. After finding the information he needed, he put two 25 lbs onto the bar.
"That should be 42ish kg." He muttered before he slid under the bar again. He adjusted his grip, tensed his traps, arched his back, and then unracked it. He was midway through his set when he realized that the movement was rather smooth. Smoother than it had any right to be, especially after realizing that this body probably did it for the second time ever.
The weight felt easy as well. It wouldn't have qualified as a warm up set a day ago, but here it felt just about right for one. Then his eyes searched the room for two 45s or another two 25s. There was a guy on his phone, probably 2 meters tall, who had something on that would have screamed cosplay if this was his old world. His bar was already loaded and there were 4 45s at his bench. Sean approached him, making him look up from his phone.
"Hey, do you mind if I take two of those-"
"Piss off." The guy went straight back to his phone again as if he hadn't just responded with hostility to someone approaching him.
Sean frowned. In the gym there sometimes were those with too much testosterone injected into their veins or just with too fragile an ego. Getting into a conflict in the gym had been a rare incident for Sean, not more often than any other place, but that didn't mean he had never experienced it.
Usually, the best way was to remain calm and try to handle it amicably or to just inform the staff of the gym. Of course, just giving way and dipping was an option as well. After all, there were other plates he could take. Honestly, dipping was probably the best option considering his current situation, but it was precisely because of his situation that he didn't react as he usually would have.
"The fuck is your problem, bitch?" Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Nitro925, Sylph, goldeningot and 285 others
Seriously, you're making me search for you?" Invisigal muttered as she exited the infirmary. She just wanted to check up on Saiyan because she felt guilty for what had happened. Now Stephen had told her that Saiyan had already left the hospital section of the building. He could be anywhere and apparently, he wasn't wearing his earpiece, so there was no way to contact him directly.
It wasn't like she had his phone number or knew where he would go. Saiyan was a loner, usually an asshole when he thought he was stronger than you. Part of the reason, she wanted to give him a scare. How could she have guessed that he would fall and smash a flowerpot with the back of his head.
The only reason that she wanted to apologize was because it caused an accident. It was also his reaction after waking up again that made her feel guilty. She just wanted to check up and see if he was back to normal. If he was, she would give him a lecture on attitude, the reason she did it. If he wasn't back to normal… she honestly didn't want to think about it.
"Get his ass!"
"Holy shit!"
"Come on Saiyan get up! Win me that 10 bucks!"
"Should we call security?"
"Nah, Saiyan started that fight. If he gets his shit kicked in that's on him."
The cheers and hollering attracted Inivisigal's attention to the gym wing of the basement. She saw a small crowd surrounding an area next to the benches. She had a bad feeling after hearing pieces of conversation.
"Did that fucker start a fight?" Invisigal muttered in disbelief as she squeezed through the crowd and saw Saiyan fight against Jeremy.
For a moment, she was stunned to see that Saiyan would pick a fight with that hero. Jeremy was a brick wall. Not only was he strong and quite resilient, but he could also control his hair, make it grow and entangle his enemies. In the Torrance branch, he was usually in the top ten on the leaderboard. Not only could he take care of most criminals and villains by his lonesomeness, but his ability also made him a good support too.
Saiyan was lying on his back, getting his face pummeled. "Fuck." Invisigal cursed before turning invisible, trying to get close. To her surprise, instead of cowering like he usually would, Saiyan used his tail to wrap around Jeremy's left arm. He used the opening to get a shot in. Unfortunately, the punch was too weak as was his tail. Jeremy ripped his arm free and started to punch Saiyan's face again.
He could only hole up behind his arms to protect his head. However, the punches slipped past his weak guard. Fortunately for him, she had already closed in. She kicked Jeremy's face, making him stagger back. "Why the fuck are you picking a fight right after leaving the infirmary?" She cursed at Saiyan as she watched Jeremy glare at them. Jeremy's nose was bleeding, but otherwise he looked ready to continue.
"Picking fights? That fucker was provoking me!" Saiyan shouted as he clutched his nose. Blood was leaking between his fingers. It looked pretty bad. "He has a screw loose! I was just asking for some plates, and he started insulting me." Saiyan stood up with murder in his eyes.
Honestly, she had never seen that look in his eyes or rather she had never seen any sort of fighting spirit in him. He was good at being a smug annoying asshole to those a lot weaker than him, but he usually ran away with his tail tucked between his legs the moment any resistance came. There was a reason he usually only took stealth missions.
For anyone in the building that was a relative fit adult and didn't take any shit only heard that he was an asshole as Saiyan didn't dare confront them. It was one of the reasons that the guy was consistently at the bottom of the leaderboard.
"Fuck you!" He shouted at Jeremy as he stepped past Invisigal with his hands raised, seemingly ready for round two even as blood covered his mouth. It was clear that he was seriously pissed off. The change was so stark that even the crowd couldn't believe their eyes. The surroundings turned eerily quiet, wondering whether they were seeing correctly.
"Come on, paws up. I don't want you to whine about me sucker punching you, asshole!" Jeremy frowned as he looked at Saiyan, not sure if he was truly the same bully that avoided anyone who could put up a fight. Inivisigal couldn't blame him, she wasn't even sure if she was seeing right.
"He… he was injured during lunch. It messed up his mind a bit, so if you excuse us. We will see a doctor." Invisigal grabbed Saiyan's arm and yanked him to head to the infirmary even if he seemed reluctant to be spared an asskicking. Jeremy didn't make any moves to stop them, getting a handkerchief for his nosebleed from a friend of his.
"Not gonna lie, that was kinda tuff."
"It was, if he wasn't bleeding all over the floor."
"No, that made it even tougher!"
"He looked ready to die for being insulted. Respect."
"Insulted and shoved. Jeremy did escalate it."
"That is no reason to resort to start fighting-"
"Oh, shut up Rebecca."
The crowd opened them a path while discussing animatedly among themselves. It didn't take long until Invisigal dragged him back to his hospital room, "Now go lie down and recover! The fuck was that about?!"
Saiyan snorted as he sat at the edge of his bed and kicked off his boots. "It's been a stressful day." He then grunted as he threw his legs on the bed. His back seemed to have taken some abuse with the way he hissed in pain as he lied down.
"Stressful, no shit. One might think you're into this. Apparently getting a concussion isn't enough, you wanted to get your ass handed to you as well."
"Exaggeration of the century."
"Yeah, right. Whatever you have to tell yourself to be able to sleep."
"…Thanks for your help and don't worry I'm fine." Saiyan said as he glanced at her. The reaction caught her off-guard. It was probably the longest conversation she had with the guy and that was despite having multiple hour-long missions that they went out on together.
"Pfft, you think I was worried about your ass? I'm just worried you got some permanent injury you will sue me for... Shit, what do you even remember Saiyan?" His face grimaced. He looked at the ceiling, and the behaviour made her tense up. Guilt spread in her chest as she watched him seemingly contemplate the world.
"Nothing of the incident if that's what you're getting at… I remember going to a pool party with my brother. Honestly, I could never let him go on his own, especially when we are on vacation in a different country. Although I'm younger, I always feel like I'm his babysitter." He stared at something only he could see. It was the way his face lit up as he remembered something he thought fondly back on, that the pang of guilt rose in her. "There was that one time, where he broke into an ongoing party and started making out with the host before throwing up all over her parents when they got back earlier than they were supposed to."
Her fists tightened behind her back. It didn't sound like something that happened recently. After all, all members of the Phoenix Program were all convicted criminals, when would he have time to go to a party in a foreign country? She fucked up again, didn't she? "So… pool party?"
"Yeah, right. I can't tell you much. We decided to go there, have a couple of drinks before I was determined to drag him out, but then… I think I fell into the pool, and I woke up in here, being dunked with water in an office."
"Oh! I've heard this. You know when someone is sleeping and you put their hand into water. They think they are going to the bathroom. Haha, that shit must be funny. I always wanted to try that!" Saiyan looked at her weirdly, almost as if he noticed her attempt to stir away any uncomfortable topics. She was never good at serious topics, or rather she avoided them.
Although she didn't really know him, she could guess what it meant for him to dream about his brother that he hadn't mentioned even once since in the month they worked together, but then again, he had barely talked anyway. Maybe it was for the same reason. No one really knew about his private life.
"What has that got to do with anything?"
"Well, you know. You were splashed with water, which, by the way, were two glasses since one wasn't enough. The first one you just tanked, and with that your mind probably came up with that pool party memory."
"Okay…? That doesn't really explain why my contact list is completely different, why I can't remember my brother's or my mother's phone number-"
'That's a lot of things to unpack,' she thought uncomfortably.
"Well, maybe you're remembering all this because that's where you felt most comfortable or some shit, you should probably talk to a therapist about that… The mind is strange, it will give you reasons to move forward, to try and find a way, another perspective in this world." She wasn't even sure whether she was trying to make sense of his situation or her own and that too wasn't something she was keen on unpacking now.
"Since I've seen that you're fine- well, Saiyan just remember to not sue me, or should I say Sean?" She added the name he had mentioned with a wink. It was just meant to be teasing to distract him, but she regretted it the moment she saw his jaw clench. It was the face she associated with when you crossed a line, like mentioning someone's dead mother.
"Don't call me that." His words came out firmly like he had set his mind on something.
"Alright, Saiyan. Sorr-"
"Don't call me that either."
"Then what should I call you, Monkey?"
"Jin. Just call me Jin."
"Alright Jin. You'll have to report that if you want to make it your official hero-name."
"Good to know…"
"Yep. If you don't want to be called Saiyan, it will take some time for people to get used to that, so its probably better to change it earlier than later…"
'This is awkward,' Invisigal thought as she glanced around the room while thinking that she had already done the minimum, hadn't she? She did check up on him, even helped him out in a fight, making sure he arrived at his hospital bed in one piece. Common decency, check.
"Saiyan is a race"
"…Sorry?"
"Saiyan is the name of a race." He simply said. "An alien race that comes from the planet Vegeta."
'Holy lore drop.' Despite him not being older than him, she could feel that he might have some crazy stories. She didn't say anything in fear of interrupting him, unfortunately, he didn't seem eager to continue.
"It makes it weird to be called that." His tail seemed to respond to his words as it unfurled from around his waist before placing itself into his hands.
"So, you're not a Wereape but an alien from the race called Saiyan?"
"Seems like it."
"Makes sense why it would be weird to be called your race… Why the fuck did you call yourself Saiyan then?"
"Beats me, from the looks of it, I wasn't really thinking…"
"Heh, yeah. Honestly, calling you not smart is probably a compliment, but you know what? The you now, is quite bearable. You can actually hold a conversation, so maybe your little accident did some good."
"…Sorry, what was your name again?"
"Dang, you ruined it! I was trying to build up a moment here. It's Invisigal. You can call be Visi... and my real name is Courtney." She wasn't quite sure why she told him that. She did tell Bruno her name already and gave him his phone number, so it wasn't like it was forbidden or anything like that. They were colleagues and she didn't really like Saiyan or at least, the person he was before. Now, the verdict was still out, but telling him her name felt right.
The reveal seemed to have stunned him for a moment, "Cory?" He muttered a nickname that she hadn't heard for years. He then shook his head, "Sorry. My little sister is called Courtney…" His gaze turned distant as if the reveal had opened some forgotten memory or made him want to contemplate the world again.
"Well…" This was awkward. "Don't go around calling me sister and I'm pretty sure I'm older than you."
"Yeah, no. Of course. Then, thanks Visi." It was a simple 'Thank you', but for some reason, to Invisigal it felt deeper than usual, not the kind of thanks she would get for doing her job. And given the fact that she apparently shared the name of his sister made it feel like they had bonded in some strange sense despite or maybe because of the awkwardness.
A fuzzy feeling arose that made her want to go invisible and leave, but at that moment someone knocked on the door and then opened it. "Hey Saiyan, I've heard- Oh Visi, you're here as well."
"Yep, and I was about to leave, see ya! Saiya-Jin, hope you get better!" She then turned invisible and brushed against Blonde Blazer, pretending to exit the room. Blonde Blazer stared in her direction as the door fell shut.
She turned back at Jin, "Didn't know you two were close… Saiyajin? A new name?"
"Heh, almost. No, it's just Jin. The accident gave me a new perspective on things, so I thought I would change it up a bit." Blonde Blazer nodded slightly, silently taking the statement at face value.
"About your 'accident', I've heard some things. Could you tell me more about it? You know for insurance's sake."
"Right… Seemed like I was rocking my chair and lost balance falling onto a potted plant. Honestly, can't tell you anything more than that, don't remember."
"Okay, so the rumors about Invisigal scaring you out of the chair were just rumors then?" Invisigal's eyes narrowed as she looked at Jin, half expecting him to rat her out, but surprisingly he just nodded casually.
"Yep, just a rumor." The damn fuzzy feeling returned.
"What about the fight, just now? I've heard someone provoked and fought you in the gym area."
"We just bumped into another, which caused me to fall. We had some loud arguments, but we didn't really fight. People like to exaggerate, it seems."
"… must have been a pretty hard fall with how heavy your nose must have bled to cover the majority lower half of your face and the busted lip."
"Yeah, I fell pretty hard and at a bad angle."
"…"
"…"
Blonde Blazer pinched the bridge of her nose before sighing, seeing that he didn't elaborate, "You get tomorrow off. Just try to recover and stay out of trouble."
"Will do, boss?" His unsure tone seemed to have reminded her about something.
"Right, your memory had taken a hit. If you still have trouble the day after tomorrow, come to my office first thing in the morning, I'll give you the rundown again. In case this is some elaborate ploy to get out of your sentence, I'll tell you now that it won't help you after having already been convicted, it also won't help you with avoiding work, especially with the clause in your contract… If you really lost your memories, it's best to contact your lawyer to inform you about everything that should be of importance to you. We'll talk about what is expected of you for the Phoenix Program when you return."
Jin furrowed his brows as he heard her words. Invisigal also had some doubts about his memories in the beginning, but she doubted Jin would be able to pull something like this off. Although it had only been a month and they barely talked, Jin hadn't appeared to be a master actor or smart. Then again, perhaps that was part of his plan too. "Thank you… About my name change, who do I need to contact?" Blonde Blazer raised an eyebrow at that response.
"I've got it covered. Also, the doctor will come in a few minutes to check on your new 'fall' injuries. Also, if the doctor clears you again, you don't need to stay here afterward. We don't want any more work injuries as it seems it's a 'fall' hazard for you here."
Jin nodded at that, "Got it." Blonde Blazer looked surprised at his fast agreement but only nodded before leaving the room. Invisigal followed her out, not wanting to be caught having listened in on the conversation.
---
Sean had given up on coming up with a name that combined aspects of his own name and Kohjin, so he just decided to go with Jin. Besides he wasn't really a fusion of two personalities, he just occupied Kohjin's body and took it for himself. He only had half of this Saiyan's being, so he just took half his name. It would also just be his hero-name, whether to change his real name wasn't something he could just ask his boss for.
"Thanks, again." Sean said to the doctor as she left the room. She had looked over him again and even did some additional scans to make sure nothing was wrong. He also finally got her name, Dr. Angela Ziegler, for some reason the name sounded familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. After seeing that he was physically fine, he was cleared to leave.
He didn't need to be told that twice. He quickly headed towards the changing room, but before that "Hey, Stephen. I was cleared and will head home. Thanks for your help earlier!" Stephen looked a bit stunned at seeing who had suddenly addressed him.
"Of course, no worries…" He muttered quietly as he watched Sean leave for the changing rooms.
Sean took a shower getting any remaining dried blood off him before changing into his normal clothes. It wasn't end of the day yet, so there weren't many people in the changing room. After packing everything he headed up to the first floor and into the lobby. With a deep breath, he headed outside.
He wasn't quite sure what he expected, but as he walked through the parking lot, it all felt too normal. He glanced around as he stepped off the property, almost expecting to be teleported back or being tackled and restrained. However, nothing of the sorts happened, he just walked off and into the lively streets of Torrance.
Before committing to a direction, he opened up his navigation app and got the direction his home address was in. It was just a couple of miles away, and it wasn't like he had any other choice. He hadn't seen any car keys among the ones he found in his bag and even though the app told him what public transport he could use, he wasn't going to spend the few bills he had until he found a way to access his cards.
The city was surprisingly clean, though he didn't really have any impression of the city besides the pictures through GeoGuessr, so he couldn't tell if this was unusual or not. Perhaps in his world it was a shit hole, while here we have heroes that at least contribute to the city putting up the appearance of a place someone wants their grandchildren to live in.
He shrugged the thought off and tried to keep an open mind. There were a couple of shops he came across, some larger malls and buildings in the span of 30 minutes. It made him realize that his work was rather central in the city, which he made sense of by recognizing that heroes needed to be active in all parts of the city.
Then again, he would have placed his building in an area where more crime happened, but he wasn't the one to make the decision and some other smarter people probably had a good reason to place it where it was. Money was usually the greatest decider…
The sun was still out when he reached the address. It was surprisingly not an apartment like he had suspected. It was a house in a rather nice area. He tried some keys before one opened the door in the gate upfront. He walked in, to a nice garden. Surprise remained etched into his face as he walked to the door and opened it after trying some keys.
"At this point, I'm not sure what to expect anymore." Sean muttered as he entered the house to see an arcade game console in the middle of the way, clothes were thrown across the place. There were some expensive looking necklaces hanging from lamps, rings creating a lump on a dresser, jewels, rubies, sapphires scattered on the carpet.
It was a chaotic mess and just a glance over all the items was enough to assert that these goods were stolen. He just hoped that these ill-gotten items weren't stolen after he got out of prison. To Sean, it almost looked like someone broke in and tried to search for something, but since the jewelry wasn't taken, someone was either searching for something even more valuable or the more likely case, Kohjin didn't care about order and was a hoarder.
"Honestly, the more I learn about you the less I like you." Messy, a bully to the weak and a coward to the strong, an obvious kleptomaniac and apparently dumb too. If these things were stolen after he had been released then he would have some trouble coming his way soon, if not then he might not be as dumb as he thought.
After stepping over the stuff that was scattered on the ground, he took stock of the house. It wasn't a big house. Just one floor with a basement. The first floor had a kitchen plus dining room, two bathrooms, one bedroom, and a living room. The basement was just two rooms, one for heating, water and stuff like that and the other was cramped with expensive looking stuff.
After getting a rough overview, Sean thought about searching for the documents to get his card information but decided to clean up first. With that much disorder, he wouldn't be able to live in such a mess, besides he doubted he would find anything with the way it was anyway.
He didn't have enough time to deep clean the place, but he still had enough time to kill. It was almost 8 o'clock when he started cleaning and was sufficiently satisfied at midnight to call it a day. "That's better." He muttered as he dusted off his hands. There was still a lot to do, but he was able to categorize all the things he had and placed them into separate piles, got most stuff out of the way, taking out the trash that was scattered around, and also found the documents needed where his pins for different cards had been noted.
Fortunately, Kohjin was the kind of person who wrote all their passwords in clear text on a single sheet of paper, while also writing next to it what it was used for. "Let's see how our finance is looking." Sean mentally crossed his fingers, hoping that he wasn't in too much of a debt.
He opened his finance app and his eyes widened as he glanced through his bank and investment account. "Dang, I'm rich."
He had a few low hundred thousand in liquid cash and several million invested in what was equivalent to the MSCI World, some other ETFs which made up about 80 percent of his total stocks, the rest were individual stocks that had seen some substantial growth.
Sean was a bit stunned, "Was he dumb or did he pretend… Maybe an idiot savant?" If he was truly smart, he wouldn't be caught. Someone smart and ruthless enough to rack up the criminal record he had wouldn't end up as a criminal, but as a CEO of some big company.
He closed all apps and found himself relieved somewhat. The funds he had would give him some leeway, some stability in this world. After all, with money a lot of doors could be opened or would remain open.
After having sorted the basics, he started to brush his teeth, wash his face, and then look through his closet for something comfortable to wear. The house was unfamiliar and felt empty. He was getting tired and just tried to go through habits that he had built in the 26 years he had been alive, desperately clinging to something that resembled normalcy.
As he lay in a bed that was too big for his comfort, thoughts involuntarily came up. Thoughts that he tried to distract himself from by doing anything besides sitting still. Minutes ticked away as he tried to fall asleep in vain. Half an hour later and it took all his will not to toss around in bed, trying to convince his body and mind to fall asleep. However, they wouldn't listen. At one point, his defenses cracked and a thought creeped in.
'What does it mean that I have transmigrated?' A simple thought that opened the door to other insidious ones.
There were several different ways, something like 'Transmigration' was usually depicted. Usually, transmigration also included their bodies, in his case when it was 'just' the soul, it meant that they had died in their old world…
Given his memories of falling into the pool and then that strange transition when fighting to come back to the surface, it all pointed him to the possibility of his death. If he had died and his soul occupied this body, it usually happened the moment that the host had died. A Saiyan dying by falling out of his chair was a ridiculous thought, something that he just couldn't conform with what he imagined when thinking about the alien warrior race.
That meant, Kohjin didn't die but the memories of his past life awakened, but then why didn't he have any other memories? The more Sean thought about it, the more it resembled Goku's case of hitting his head. Afterward, he too was like his personality had been swapped. As for why he didn't have any other memories, perhaps, he was just too young? He barely had any memories to begin with, and his mind didn't think it would be necessary…
A Saiyan survival mechanism activated by the trauma and the need to allow him to grow up rather safely. After all, given Grandpa Gohan's nature and him being the only one to take care of him in the wilderness meant he was the best shot at survival. Being more docile increased his chances of being permanently taken care of by him.
"So, I'm a personality conjured up to allow him to survive better? Because my personality was a better fit to become a Hero with?" The first instinct was to reject the possibility, but reasonable doubt lingered, especially when he thought about Visi's words- Courtney's words. "It's been just a day and I'm questioning my existence… I think therefore I am. In the end, I'm still Sean, I still have friends and family that I love…I'm not a delusion… They are still out there… I believe they are real… My experiences were real…"
His room was good in isolating any external sounds and the blackout curtains didn't allow any light to enter the room. Usually, this would be a good thing to encourage a good night's sleep. However, now, it caused his mind to spiral, and he felt himself losing grip on reality. Fortunately, before he could spiral into the deep end, a thought came up like a distant flicker, "My memories are proof of my experience…" In the beginning, it was a weak argument as all memories could have been a product of his mind to make sense of his situation, but the thought of proof made his mind hone on what he could do to confirm his memories. Actions he could take to give him reassurance over his identity.
"If I become a Super Saiyan that should prove it, right?" Although he asked himself, he already found an answer, a path for himself. Becoming a Super Saiyan would prove that the memories he had were real, that it wasn't something that his mind conjured up.
From the brief overview of his abilities and record, there was no mention about any sort of transformation. There wasn't even an inclination of him being able to fly or shoot ki blasts. Hell, it didn't even seem like Kohjin was an alien! Becoming a Super Saiyan, the way his aura and hair would transform, it would be too specific and contrary to what could be a manifestation of his Wereape traits.
The mental image of becoming a Super Saiyan was like the light of hope that cast away the darkness that had been creeping up in his mind. It was hope that he clung to. Hope that his sanity relied upon.
"Super Saiyan" He whispered like a mantra as he fell asleep.Last edited: Jan 18, 2026 Like Quote ReplyReport Reactions:Nitro925, Sylph, goldeningot and 262 others