Three People

The two figures lying on the ground suddenly woke up.

"?!"

"What's going on?" x2

"Where is this?" x2

"What's wrong with my voice..." x2

"And this body!" x2

"Who are you, Blue-hair? Why are you copying me!"

"Hmph, who's this Red-hair wild girl? You're not even wearing any clothes! Shameless!"

At the very beginning, the Red and Blue combination's synchronized performance reached an astonishing four sentences. Given time, they would be two good prospects for playing "Harp".

[But judging by their performance, their emotional aspects aren't as lacking as mine.]

Watching the two about to start arguing again after only a few words, the Golden-haired girl checked off another guess in her mind.

After another round of bickering, the two small figures, Red and Blue, finally calmed down and observed their surroundings.

Then, they immediately noticed the golden figure observing them silently from the side.

"Holy crap! There's another person here?!" x2

Synchronized performance score increased by one.

"Nice to meet you, my other two 'selves'." The Golden-haired girl's tone was flat, but she dropped a bombshell.

As expected, the two were stunned to hear this. The Red Phantom Spirit couldn't help but open her mouth.

"Huh? What nonsense is this Gold-hair spouting—" the Red-haired girl's question was abruptly cut off.

An indescribable sense of familiarity seeped from the depths of her soul, informing her of the identity of the person before her.

"It's just as you're thinking."

The Golden Phantom Spirit nodded. If the other party was also 'herself', she should be able to easily figure out the current situation with that sentence.

"We were originally one, but were split into three independent individuals by some power."

"You're my dad's illegitimate daughter!"

Golden Phantom Spirit: "..."

The disparity between the individuals exceeded her expectations, and the feeling of being rendered speechless by the other party mid-sentence was really not pleasant.

"We're the same person?!"

The Red Phantom Spirit, completely caught off guard by the explosive nature of the other's words, was even more stunned.

"You, you, what are you suspicious people talking about! How could I possibly be..."

"Quiet, give me your hands."

Abandoning the time-consuming and inefficient method of explaining the situation with words, the Golden Phantom Spirit chose a more direct approach.

Upon hearing this, the two small figures, though still confused, obediently extended their hands.

The other party's tone wasn't heavy, but they couldn't disobey. It was a kind of suppression from the depths of their being.

The Golden Phantom Spirit held their small hands, one on each side.

In an instant, a faint soul resonance coursed through all three of them like an electric current.

"Huh?! This feeling... Although it's very weak, it feels like our souls are connected."

The Red Phantom Spirit was very surprised by this feeling of "I don't know why, but a soul connection should feel like this."

"More accurately, it's the residual pull after a complete soul was torn apart."

The Blue Phantom Spirit frowned. "But scientifically, it makes no sense..."

The Golden-haired girl let go, allowing the lingering connection to dissipate in the air.

"Tell me your memories. Do you remember what happened before you fainted?"

"Ah! I, I remember I was playing cards, and then suddenly my vision went white with a 'swish', and then I didn't know anything else."

The Red Phantom Spirit answered honestly, accompanying her words with an exaggerated gesture.

"Mm, my memories are similar to this Red one's." The Blue Phantom Spirit nodded, crossing her arms.

"And you?"

"As for me... Actually, regarding what happened afterward, I still had some consciousness at the time.

I could feel my soul being split into three parts by that light." The Golden Phantom Spirit recalled the moment before she lost consciousness.

"How is that possible?

If what you're saying is true, and my original soul was split into three pieces, how am I still alive?

And with a complete consciousness."

The Red Phantom Spirit still found it hard to believe.

"And according to you, you and this blue one were actually split off from me?!"

[Subconsciously, I've made myself the main subject. So, after splitting, everyone has indeed become an independent, subjective individual.]

The Golden Phantom Spirit perceived this fact from the other's words.

This split was a true separation, not some "one main, two subs, three in one" type of clone. Each was an independent entity.

A fragmented soul could not exist for long, let alone have a future. Thus, they could only re-enter their cocoons, awaiting metamorphosis into entirely new lives.

[So, it was you after all… the Three Phantom Gods, who rewove our life cocoons.]

With that thought, the Golden Phantom Spirit once again lifted a strand of its golden hair and brought it before its eyes.

The Blue Phantom Spirit, who had been silent beside them, also grasped a strand of its blue hair, twisted it back and forth, and then began nodding to itself.

Seeing this, the Red Phantom Spirit, feeling out of place and left to the side, simply picked up its own hair and began to examine it.

2000 YEARS LATER……

Perhaps finding playing with their hair rather dull, the Red Phantom Spirit began to grow impatient and sought someone to talk to.

However, she didn't dare approach the Golden Phantom Spirit, who was clearly lost in thought, so she nudged the Blue Phantom Spirit, whom she had always found displeasing.

"Hey, what are you nodding about over there? Do you know something?"

"Hmph. Even as 'me,' there's such a gap in intelligence.

It seems I've expelled the foolish and mediocre parts of my soul to form you."

The Blue Phantom Spirit, interrupted from its thoughts, retorted sarcastically without politeness, rolling its eyes.

"Huh?

What are you so smug about, you rude blue-haired bastard? You were just shouting 'This is unscientific!' earlier."

The Red Phantom Spirit, seeing this, naturally refused to back down. It began to protest loudly, mimicking the Blue Phantom Spirit's earlier actions to mock it back.

"And what's this about 'foolish'? What's 'mediocre'? You little shrimp, explain yourself!"

"You're so loud, be quiet! You red-haired chatterbox.

Indeed, after losing me, who constituted your calmness and wisdom, you can't even perform simple thinking, can you?"

"You…!"

"Your foolish game of arguing with yourselves can continue later. How about we return to the main topic now?"

The Golden Phantom Spirit, also interrupted from its thoughts, ended the argument with its highly recognizable voice.

"As you can see, there's still a faint connection between us, who were once the same person.

This is probably because our souls have only recently separated, and our new individual souls have not yet fully formed.

However, I can feel these connections gradually weakening.

I can no longer even sense your emotions now, which suggests we are indeed developing into complete, independent individuals."

The Golden Phantom Spirit proposed its hypothesis based on the available clues.

"In other words, our current state is similar to meiosis.

Our 'nucleus,' meaning our souls, have split and regrown into new, complete cells.

Then, due to certain factors, we differentiated into different forms." The Blue-aligned Phantom Spirit summarized with its own understanding.

"Huh?"

The Red Phantom Spirit responded with an expression on its face.

"That's right, and that 'certain factor,' according to my guess, should be the power of the Three Phantom Gods.

The evidence is that our current faces are almost identical to the Three Phantom Gods figurines that were placed before us that day."

Kindly overlooking the utterly bewildered Red Reckless Girl, the Golden Phantom Spirit continued its explanation.

"The gods' power merged with our incomplete souls, making them whole.

But because an adult soul was divided into three small portions, our bodies and ages also became smaller, resulting in our current forms."

Upon hearing this, the two young girls, red and blue, belatedly shifted their attention back to their own bodies and then began to grope themselves in front of a nearby rock that, for some reason, happened to serve as a mirror.

Watching the two busy with their actions and remaining silent, the Golden Phantom Spirit continued:

"As for why we have these faces now, perhaps it's the gods' sense of humor.

Or maybe the divine power used a nearby template when reshaping our souls.

Or it's possible that the gods and humans simply look like this after merging."

Finally, after a comprehensive self-examination, the Red-aligned Phantom Spirit was the first to stop and offered a simple, yet remarkably wise, conclusion.

"You two are explaining it so complicatedly, with talk of meiosis and soul fusion, but to put it plainly, you were just screwed over by the Three Phantom Gods!

Tsk~ I knew I shouldn't have recited those lines randomly. Why do these Egyptian gods enforce jurisdiction across borders!"

"Yes, the situation is largely like that.

However, calling it a punishment might be somewhat inaccurate."

Seeing that the other party had understood most of it, the Golden Phantom Spirit didn't offer any further explanations. Instead, she planned to discuss another, more important matter that would also interest the other party.

"What do you mean? You're happy about becoming like this? Just because I like mecha doesn't mean I want to become a mecha, hey!

That was my lifeblood! My second brother, who I'd been with through thick and thin for decades!

Why did I have to be so stupid and create a gender-bent version of the Three Phantom Gods back then! Wuwu~ Wu Wu~~~"

Misunderstanding the situation, the Red Reckless Girl let out a motorcycle-like wail and was about to roll on the ground.

[It seems not only has her body shrunk, but her mind has regressed into a child's as well?]

"Creating a gender-bent version back then was just my lower brain controlling my upper brain.

Now that the lower brain is gone, it's just karma coming full circle." The Blue Phantom Spirit chimed in at the opportune moment.

"You guys, why don't you care at all?!

That was, that was more important than any cheat or advantage after transmigration, my second brother!"

The red motorcycle stopped rolling, and she looked at the speaker's eyes with disbelief, trying to see if they genuinely thought that way.

"It might take some time to adapt, but in the end, it was just an organ I barely used except for going to the bathroom. If it's gone, it's gone."

The other party's tone remained nonchalant.

The Red Phantom Spirit's light golden eyes were filled with disbelief. Her soul had only just separated, and the other's cold words already made her feel the vast difference between them.

[Did... did my past self really have a side like this?] The Red Phantom Spirit felt a trace of unfamiliarity towards "herself."

A soft clapping sound interrupted her wandering thoughts.

"Alright, what I said about not being a punishment isn't about gender, but about this..."

As she spoke, the Golden Phantom Spirit extended a hand.