Three heads

"A hard fate…" Even Mikhail was surprised. "How are you?"

"I told you I won't negotiate with you." Keshita or Takeshi said firmly. "Who am I?"

"Hey, what's wrong with him?" Kamiko asked, looking at Keshita, who was muttering to himself. "Let her go!"

After freeing herself, Miku ran up to Keshita.

"Wake up, Ke… Keshita!" Miku pulled her hands away from her neck. "Is it true what you said?"

"His face…" Kamiko sadly looked away from Ningen's head. "It's changed, but it's definitely my brother. After the accident, only his head remained, and it was connected to the life support system. I didn't know what happened next, so…"

"What? Is that possible? I've read about attempts to transplant a head into another body, but not about successful cases!"

"Do you think they'd publish something like that?" Fumiko intervened Fumiko. "Definitely not Mukibutsu."

"Mukibutsu!?" Miku was shocked. "N-no way… my parents were involved in this!?"

"Your parents? What's your last name?" Kamiko was wary.

"Mellow, what's going on here?" Jan suddenly asked.

"Takeshi… or Keshita, a test subject in Mukibutsu's experiment to research an evolutionary virus that could be used as a biological weapon or for other purposes…"

"N-No! We only wanted… to save Japan… and the world…"

"Your full name!" Kamiko brandished her katana.

"Soda, what's wrong?"

"… Aoki Miku."

"A-aoki!? Aoki Makoto and Kazumi are your parents?" Kamiko didn’t lower her katana.

Miku nodded silently. Kamiko's face twisted in anger, and she quickly moved towards Miku, but Jan stopped her with a giant hand.

"Do you even know what your parents did to us, especially Takeshi!?"

"I…"

Miku, in deep despair, recalled that night again and tried to piece together the picture.

"…I saw a dump full of corpses and my parents, but…"

"But what!? What did they do to Takeshi, what's happening to him now!?"

"He learned to read people's minds… he's in a trance now, but lately it seems like he's struggling with something…"

"Could it be Izanami?" Mellow guessed. "It's unknown how she manipulates creatures, and there's blood everywhere with her nanobots, as Ami explained."

"Finally…"

Keshita suddenly stood up, Miku recoiled.

"What a wonderful air here!" Keshita inhaled and exhaled, tilting his head to the side. "Where do we start?"

"Takeshi?"

"Keshita, it's you, isn't it?" Miku suspected something was wrong. "What happened?"

He looked at her coldly, not even hiding his murderous intent.

"I'm so tired of these games." Keshita said slowly, and then continued with tears. "I'm sorry."

Tamiya slashed with his hand, which instantly turned into a bone blade, piercing Miku's stomach.

"Ke…shita?" Miku said with blood on her lips and began to cry.

"What are you doing, Takeshi!?" Kamiko rushed towards him.

He pulled out the bloody blade. Miku's body began to convulse and transform.

"How ironic, huh, Keshita… or Takeshi?"

Miku fell to the ground, frozen. Her hair turned half white, and her face and body stopped in their transformation.

"Why? Is Keshita's mind still struggling? I haven't finished the transformation… how sad, Keshita! You killed your own beloved!"

"Miku!" Mellow shouted. "Protect her!"

The monks immediately ran up and pulled the body away.

"Takeshi… why did you do this!?" Kamiko looked at him with pity.

"Takeshi can't hear you, 'sis'."

Mikhail, who had taken over Keshita's body, smiled and pounced on Kamiko, knowing that she couldn't hurt her brother.

"Soda, be careful, don't let him touch you!" Mellow warned.

Mikhail attacked Kamiko with bone blades, she blocked with her katana. Then Misha pointed the blades at the monks who were defending themselves with spears. Mikhail knocked the weapon out of one and pulled it towards himself, trying to grab the monk's body, but suddenly a small ball of magatama flew and froze in front of his eyes.

"Binding chains!" Jutsu shouted the command.

The sphere exploded and bound Mikhail in a net. He retreated, trying to get rid of the bonds. His body released many bone blades, cutting the net.

"W-what!? They've become stronger!"

"My turn!"

Omosa's huge fist, reinforced with metal cables released from the backpacks, threw Mikhail straight into a tree.

"Be careful with brother's body! Guard Magmatama!"

"Okay!"

Mikhail didn't take much damage and quickly came to his senses.

"Mellow, what should we do?"

"Brother is under someone's control. Izanami? We need to contact Ami, hold him off for now."

"That 'demigoddess'?" Mikhail thought about it. "This could be a problem. We need to finish them off quickly!"

Mikhail tried to rush into battle, but his body suddenly froze.

"You still won't give in, Keshita!?"

Mikhail regained control and quickly attacked the monks, when he was suddenly shot.

"Buki, don't shoot!" Soda shouted.

"Don't worry, they're tranquilizer darts!"

"Hahaha!" Mikhail laughed.

He easily created an antidote inside his body, neutralizing the tranquilizer. Misha jumped at the group of monks attacking him with spears. One of them hit the target, but Mikhail broke it with his bone blade and landed on the monk, impaling him.

"No!" Kamiko shouted, swinging her katana.

"What?" Mikhail looked back at her and laughed. "Kill your own brother? Keep your word and chop off his head!? A second time?"

Soda looked at the bloody body of the monk, gritting her teeth.

"I always keep my word!"

"Huh?"

The blade flashed in Keshita's eyes, and his head fell next to him with a surprised expression.

"Mellow, LSB!"

One of the monks quickly handed over an LSB — Life Support Box. Fumiko quickly connected Keshita's head. Now on Mellow's flat chest were two devices to support the life of Takeshi's human head and his android copy.

"How cruel… You’re now the keeper of our brother's heads…"

"The m-most honorable position I hold…" Fumiko sneered.

"Hey, look!" Jutsu called out to Jutsu. "What the hell!?"

The body that remained of Keshita began to move. Its hands searched for the missing part and reached for the head of the monk whose corpse it lay on. With a sharp twisting motion, it tore off the head and installed it in place of the missing one. While the head was fused, Mikhail stood up, swaying from side to side.

"Should I shoot him!?" Buki asked.

"What are you…" Fumiko was shaking in horror.

"Ms. Mellow, w-w-what's h-h-happening?" The monk's head spoke, twitching. "P-please, save me!"

"Huh? Where am I?" Another rough voice rang out. "That damn Shuichi tricked us! A-a-ah, save me!!!"

"Shuichi… Yamanaka? The head of the Mukibutsu Research Department!?" Kamiko was furious at the sound of his name.

"Hey, take it easy…" Another new voice spoke. "It's so crowded here…"

Mikhail took control of the monk's mind and the suddenly returned mind from the body of another person, which was somehow able to partially restore the personality of the previous head.

"The human body is a mystery of nature. But I’ve already solved it. And now…"

Mikhail said and leaned over to the monk's remaining body and pierced his stomach.

"S-spores…" Suddenly, Keshita's severed head spoke. "Watch out, Fumiko!"

"What?" Mellow was surprised, but quickly figured it out. "Everyone take cover and put on your masks immediately!"

Everyone hid behind the trees and bushes while Mikhail prepared the monk's corpse. Suddenly, Miku's body moved and scattered the monks guarding her.

"Oh, my love, have you finally returned?" Mikhail noticed.

"Yes."

"He changed her personality!?" Mellow was confused.

"How rude." Mikhail stood up. "And now…"

"…you’ll all become me—"

—the flying head of Mikhail, or rather the monk, finished the sentence already in the air.

Turning around, Mikhail saw Ami, angrily looking into his eyes and the gleam of the Kusanagi sword.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Fumiko awkwardly ran after the third head.

"Mellow, she may still be dangerous!"

"I know!"

Fumiko quickly pulled on protective gloves and placed the head in the LSB.

"I will seal it!"

"Oh my god, what's going on here?"

Omosa scratched his head, looking at Fumiko, who was holding the third head in front of her.

"Your turn."

Ami said menacingly, delivering a powerful blow with her palm, knocking out Lilia, who had captured Miku's body. The monks, along with Jutsu, ran up to her and used his devices to seal her body as well until all the circumstances were clarified.

"Ami…" Kamiko thanked him with tears. "You’re our savior!"

"This is the task of a goddess, isn't it?" Ami smiled.

But the joy of victory was short-lived - it was spoiled by Fumiko's loud cry of pain. Between Takeshi's two heads and right above the third head, a blade with Fumiko's blood on it suddenly appeared.

Fumiko turned around to see the unexpected attacker from behind her. But Ami saw it first and froze with his name on her lips: “S-s…”

The whisper of a snake.