I stand frozen in the blinding white snow, staring at the teacher who is heaving like a water buffalo. His attitude is something I simply cannot stomach.

  "Hey Reo," I narrow my eyes. My tail bristles straight up like a lightning rod. "Has this pile of snow frozen your neurons solid? Or is that tacky floral shirt cutting off circulation to your brain?"

  I definitely just dragged the kid Kaito along to find him, so why on earth is this guy wearing a face like he just successfully completed his monthly KPI?

  "Frozen my ass," Reo snaps, a vein pulsing on his forehead. He shoves a hand into the pocket of his shorts and tosses a small object at me. "You said it yourself. I needed to remove the mask from this fox statue to 'stabilize the spiritual flux'. Did you forget?"

  I catch the item. Ice cold. Perfectly smooth.

  It is a white porcelain fox mask. Bright red veins wind around the eye sockets like trails of fresh blood that have just dried. It is exquisite, hauntingly beautiful, and stands in total contrast to the shattered black hole on the face of the stone statue by the pine tree.

  Kaito stammers from behind my back. "Sensei... are you okay? Itsuki-sama has been standing next to me the whole time..."

  "Do you think I'm crazy?" Reo waves his hand, his voice full of irritation. "Do you think I have enough free time to act out a monologue in the middle of this pine forest?"

  "How fascinating," Kaito pushes up his glasses frames. His round eyes begin to shine with the strange excitement of a bookworm. "The Doppelg?nger Effect. The lurker in the mirror stepping out into reality. Truly interesting..."

  "Interesting my foot," I growl, my claws unconsciously digging into the snow. "This is my territory. Any bastard daring to sneak in here to play Doppelg?nger will learn what real Soul Destruction feels like."

  But then, a chilling current suddenly runs down my spine.

  "Oh... so you finally decided to come down here to visit me, huh?"

  A voice rings out from behind the ancient tree trunk.

  I whip around. The fur on my neck shoots up.

  He steps out from the shade of the pine canopy. A perfect copy. From the pure white fur and the smoky purple eyes full of calculation to the half-hearted smirk. Everything is identical to the original. The only difference is that he is wearing the traditional outfit I haven't touched for hundreds of years.

  "You... who the hell are you?"

  "Sniff..."

  His face falls instantly. The fox ears on his head fold back completely, and his misty eyes look at me like I am a heartless traitor.

  "You sound so cruel. You threw me into this freezer for god knows how many years, and now that we meet again, you only ask 'who the hell' I am? That is ungrateful, Itsuki."

  Reo stands to the side, his jaw dropping before quickly snapping shut into a smirk. He claps his hands slowly.

  "Great. Turns out my boss has been playing the 'two personalities in one soul' game all this time. No wonder he has been acting eccentric lately."

  "Shut up, you perverted teacher!" The other version, let's call him Snow-Itsuki, turns to yell at Reo before looking back at me with sickeningly adoring eyes.

  "You are me. I am you. There is no such thing as me being a different soul fragment. We belong to one complete soul from the very beginning."

  He shrugs and takes a step closer to me. I instinctively step back.

  "Don't put on that guarded face. I don't want to fight for your shabby seat of Head of Diplomacy. It is exhausting up there, so you should be the one carrying that burden."

  He flops down onto a snow-covered rock, resting his chin on his hand as he looks at me.

  "I just want you to come down here occasionally to 'take care' of yourself a little. You keep chasing after FP endlessly. Don't you feel bored?"

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  Kaito stands dumbfounded between two identical white foxes. The kid looks left, then right, his head spinning like a tumble toy.

  "Wait... wait..." The boy stammers, his finger pointing wildly in the air. "Why is this so confusing? Who is the real boss? Or... should I prepare two altars for offerings from now on?"

  "Smart mouth," I cross my arms, narrowing my eyes at the entity lounging on the rock with a look of utter disapproval. "What about you tricking my subordinate into doing shady business? Explain that. Or are you going to claim it was just a 'cultural exchange'?"

  He sighs, his shoulders slumping in exhaustion. "To breathe. Didn't you see those hand-walkers? They hunt me like prey all day and night. I just wanted to close my eyes for a moment, yet they beat me to a pulp. Do you think I enjoy this?"

  "Nonsense," I huff, my claws scratching against the rock surface with a grating sound. "You are me. I don't believe I am useless enough to let those buggy code puppets strangle me."

  "That porcelain mask... I don't even have the strength to take it off. Let alone fight back."

  "Aha," Reo clicks his tongue, his finger twirling the softly glowing fur ring. "So our boss is so stingy he won't even share a single cent of Faith Points with his own soul. Living like that, no wonder there is internal conflict and the personality wants to go on strike."

  Snow-Itsuki just smiles with eyes closed, his pure white fox tail curling around his legs in resignation. "Money solves nothing here. Once he intentionally erased me from his memory, I became just a flickering shadow waiting to fade away."

  A prickling, uncomfortable sensation crawls down my spine. Truly annoying.

  "This place treats me like a virus," he continues, his voice hoarse and bitter. "If it isn't those monsters, then blizzards or lightning strikes aim straight for my head. Your subconscious wants to wipe me out to clear the debt."

  He nods toward the stone statue that has had the porcelain mask removed. "Now it is fine. Finally, I can sleep in peace."

  "Really..." Kaito breathes out, looking at the sky that has suddenly become calm and the monsters that evaporated into the void as if they never existed. The boy turns to me. "Itsuki-sama... why do you let 'him' suffer alone like that? He is also you, right?"

  I jump, the fur on the back of my neck standing up. "Me? How the hell should I know what kind of creature is harboring in this basement! And hey kid, don't look at me with those eyes."

  I point straight at the fox face grinning with narrowed eyes, my voice harsh. "He looks like me. Do you understand? And since I am already untrustworthy, he is no good either!"

  "Well, I am not exactly a saint," Snow-Itsuki speaks up, his smoky purple eyes gazing absently at the snow beneath his feet. "But I have a small request. Can you not put that thing back on the statue right away? I want to... breathe a little."

  The cold air rushes into my lungs, but inside my chest, it feels like a powder keg has just been lit. My claws unconsciously dig deep into the rocky outcrop. Crack. A throb of pain crawls up my spine, strangling every rule of diplomacy I usually uphold. Why do I find him such an eyesore? Look at that wimpy attitude. It makes me want to vomit.

  So that is it. After ignoring his existence for too long, I thought I had forgotten. But this face-to-face encounter right now has triggered something primal deep in my psyche, dragging all the resentment back like a torrential flood. That guy is me. Not someone else. Not another personality. But for this Itsuki to become who he is today, that guy is not allowed to exist.

  "Stabilize the spiritual flux?" I sneer, the words hissing through my teeth. "You are trying to drill into my skull, more like. Do you think I want to harbor this lazy, weak, undisciplined thing in my head? If I hadn't cast you into this frozen pit, The Nexus would have chewed me up and spit out my bones long ago."

  Blue fire flares up on my shoulders, hissing menacingly. The anger has nowhere to vent, so it just expands, taking over my reason. I want to burn this trash. Right now.

  Snow-Itsuki looks panicked. He steps back, fox ears flattened against his head, hands waving frantically. "Don't! Okay, fine! I'm wrong, you're right! Just put it back! Just... leave it like this for a moment. Let me sleep for a bit..."

  His pleading only makes me feel more disgusted. Now I get it. That drinking session in The Myriad District. That bizarre drunkenness that almost made me spill my guts to Zhen Shan. It was this bastard pulling the strings. He was lurking, waiting for me to slip up so he could drag me down into the pathetic mud just like him.

  "Give it here, Reo," I order, my voice hardening like cold steel.

  Kaito suddenly stands in the way, arms spread wide. "Please calm down, Itsuki-sama! Just let him sleep for a bit... he is so pitiful."

  Reo instinctively steps back. Surely, he can no longer recognize his cunning, money-grubbing boss. In front of him now is just a wild beast going mad.

  "I SAID GIVE IT HERE!"

  I swing my arm. An invisible pressure crushes the snow around Reo's feet, lifting the teacher into the air. His limbs go stiff, forced to hold out the porcelain mask toward me.

  But the mask suddenly vanishes.

  Kaito! That brat is quick as lightning, snatching the item right from Reo's hand and sprinting toward Snow-Itsuki.

  "You brat!" I roar. Fox Fire erupts violently, evaporating the surrounding snow into white steam. I step forward, the darkness from my body casting a shadow over the two cowering figures. "Tell me, who saved your life from the Anomalies? Who gave you a job with a sky-high salary? Who stays up all night guarding your sleep? Huh?"

  I point my claw straight at my own chest. "It is me! Or is it this useless guy who only knows how to cry?"

  "But... he is also you, sir!" Kaito trembles. "Why do you have to be so cruel to yourself?"

  "Kids don't know anything!" I shout, the blue flame on my shoulder rising high. "Hand over the mask!"

  Just then, a cold hand places itself on Kaito's shoulder.

  "He is right, kid," he says, his voice light as air. He gently takes the mask from Kaito's hand. "Give it back to him. I... am used to this by now."