Thanks for the Invitation, I'm in Terra, and I'm a Parasite

Amaya took out the bottle and watched as the blood inside, which had remained inert all this time, suddenly became active.

Several tiny pupils condensed at its center.

They stared straight at her, then quickly scattered and looked around as though searching for something.

At the same time, as if transmitting some kind of signal, she heard the small lump of flesh rapidly deform inside the bottle, followed by violent, tremor-like movements.

"Wait, if it stays active like this, it'll—"

Before she could finish, the flesh began to lose its color, then quickly shriveled and dried up.

Wait, no!

Amaya's conclusion was that the reason this piece of flesh could remain alive for so long was precisely because, after being separated from the main body, it had remained dormant—or rather, inert.

That was why she had been able to preserve it for research and hand it over to others accomplished in this field, hoping they could find a way to reactivate the flesh.

But now, it had awakened on its own. And as though it didn't care about its own survival at all, it was consuming the nutrients sustaining it just to respond to some signal!

"Damn it..."

If this continued, the flesh would wither away completely. Once that happened, unless they found the original body, there'd be no way to reactivate it.

She had to find a way to keep it alive. Keep it alive...

Nutrients... Right, nutrients...

Amaya hesitated for a second, then rolled up her sleeve, opened the glass bottle, and poured its contents directly onto her arm!

The instant it touched her skin, some kind of strange information spread through her mind!

[Found... it.]

[Found... it.]

[Found... it!!!]

The small lump of flesh seemed to let out an excited hiss, desperately trying to convey this simple message to its original body.

To do so, it even completely ignored Amaya.

It maintained those high-frequency vibrations... until it finally withered into something resembling dry bark.

"..."

She blankly stared at the severely shriveled, reddish-brown dried mass lying on her arm.

"...Found it... What did they find...?"

Amaya murmured, repeatedly recalling the single, repetitive message the mass of flesh had kept sending until the very end.

What was it that could make them become like this??

And why had they suddenly changed from inert to active??

..

Darkness... Bottomless darkness.

The girl sat dazed within it, watching the darkness wrap around her like a tide.

Yet all she felt was a strange sense of security.

"This is fine."

"This... is fine."

Within her vision, a figure seemed to appear—a pure white dress adorned with a few black crystals.

The owner of the dress turned around. An intermingling of white and pink appeared for only an instant before being swallowed by even more darkness.

"There.

...s...a?"

She opened her mouth and uttered a few syllables.

Only to realize she couldn't recall any more details.

Something in her chest seemed to ache faintly...

Why...

She couldn't remember...

...No. It wasn't that she couldn't remember.

It was that she didn't want to remember...

A voice seemed to echo endlessly in her mind, telling her—

Just forget it.

This is fine...

"Is this... really fine...?"

The girl lowered her head and muttered to herself.

Then exhaustion battered against her defenses like rolling waves.

She slowly closed her eyes...

Yeah, this was fine...

[Found... it.]

"?!"

"Who?"

A chilling voice sounded by her ear. The eerie whisper made goosebumps rise all over her body.

What followed was malice even more overwhelming than the waves of drowsiness—like towering tsunamis!

In the darkness, several pupils opened, staring fixedly at her with greedy eyes.

There wasn't a trace of light in those gray-blue eyes. There was only pure malice and greed.

[Found... you.]

"What is that?!!"

The girl instinctively tried to back away, but within the pitch-black space, viscous shadows seemed to gain substance, transforming into slippery tentacles that swept toward her.

"No... Aah..."

(I know what everyone wants to see next, but sorry, going any further would never pass censorship.)

"Abnormal heart rate detected..."

"Sedative prepared..."

"Error. Failure... Failure..."

"Protocol modified. Reactivating projected procedure..."

"Ah!!!"

The pitch-black stone coffin opened on its own. A silver-haired girl, drenched in sweat, suddenly sat upright inside it with terror in her eyes.

"...This is... No... Tentacles... Don't..."

Like a startled cat, the girl instinctively curled up and fearfully scanned her surroundings.

..

"Where... am I?"

Time: 26 minutes after Zuo Jian regained consciousness / 17 minutes and 16 seconds after the disappearance of the individual codenamed "Doctor."

What? The Doctor disappeared??

The usually composed woman on the other end of the call suddenly cried out in alarm.

In Ace's memory, not even the Princess's departure had ever made her lose composure like this.

When did you discover it?

"After sealing the Doctor away, I should've left. But... perhaps out of selfishness, I always felt I should leave something more for the Doctor."

The muscular man with a hard, angular face took a Sarkaz rune from his waist. Delicate markings had been carved into it, as though they had been made by a woman's hand.

"But now, it looks like there's no need to leave it behind."

He put the rune away, then continued over the communicator.

"Dr. Kal'tsit, what should we do now?"

"Dr. Kal'tsit?"

What... should we do...

The woman called Kal'tsit muttered to herself.

Operator Ace... No matter what, we must find the Doctor!

No matter what... we have to bring the Doctor back...

Iberia, Saltwind City.

"Zuo Jian!"

[Hm? Ah? Oh, what's wrong?]

"Why are you spacing out again?"

Laurentina was walking down the street. They had agreed to go back and find Anita, but from the very beginning, Zuo Jian had seemed distracted.

[...I think I sensed... a very familiar presence.]

"Familiar? What kind of familiar?"

Laurentina frowned. Hadn't Zuo Jian been following her the whole time? How could he be familiar with someone else??

Something was wrong!

[How should I put it? It feels like... a compatriot?]

The moment he said that, even Zuo Jian froze. A compatriot? Wait, why did he feel that way?

Wasn't this a different world full of beast-eared girls?

Why would he feel like he had a compatriot here?

And whenever he thought of compatriots...

Why were words like "delicious" coming to mind...

Delicious compatriots? What kind of description was that?

(Oh shit, it'll be going paid this Friday. What, me? This Friday?)

(Stunned.)

(Alright, if it doesn't go paid soon, the follow-up reads are going to disappear. Sad.)

(...Come to think of it, am I supposed to post extra chapters when it goes paid? Stunned.)

(Wuwuwu, in that case, please support the first subscription, everyone. Please, I really want subscriptions!!)

(And once again, let me emphasize the nature of this story: it's not yuri, it's not!!)