Parasyte System

"What are you thinking?" Noah asked when he saw that Jay had gone quiet.

"Oh, well...about what should I do from now on~" replied Jay, unwilling to tell Noah that the excuse explaining his nakedness of "It was too hot" was a lie.

Of course, what he had said was also an important issue.

Hearing what Jay said, Noah began to think as well.

'I wonder...will it be safe to come back...?' He thought.

That was his biggest concern, after all, there was a possibility that when the Metal Body guard caught him, he might have seen who he was...

But even in that situation, Noah didn't have anywhere else to go, so he was really struggling with what he should do.

There was no other option?

The only thing he could do now was to return to the place where a gang confrontation was taking place?

A place where there was a risk that they would know that he was an accomplice of the man who had attacked the Metal Body members?

'Come on, there must be another option...'

Right at that moment, an idea crossed his mind.

"Maybe... it's time to move." He said, seriously considering that option.

That had long been his goal, and although he would have preferred to wait until he had more money, the situation, combined with his intense desire to leave the South Zone, led to this conclusion.

The only thing that held him back was the apartment he lived in, specifically all his belongings, mostly college stuff and all the clothes he had there.

As for the furniture and utensils or things like that, most of them had come with the apartment so he didn't care much about them.

But of course, even if he didn't have to come back for his things plus the fact that he had enough money saved to last for a few months, there was still the same problem as always, he still had to look for a place to live.

He had investigated about this a long time ago, and that's why he knew that the rental prices of apartments in the city or in other areas other than the South Zone were definitely not cheap.

However, before he could continue to think about it, Jay's voice interrupted his thoughts.

"If you're looking for somewhere to move, I have an empty room upstairs ~" He said, with a smile that expressed his goodwill.

"R-really?!" Noah shouted, surprised at Jay's suggestion.

It was understandable, after all, even though they had a relationship of client and seller, and the fact that without each other's help neither of them would have made it out of the South Zone safely was true, they had barely known each other for a few days!

At that moment, Jay put his hand on Noah's shoulder, before saying with a look full of gratitude and determination, "Noah, you practically saved my life last night, there's no way I won't help you, even more if I have the means to do so."

"B-but don't you think it's dangerous to let a stranger live here?" Noah asked, stating the obvious.

"You're not a stranger, Noah, we're partners."

Those words, though simple, carried a clear message in them, a message that moved Noah.

He had always been accustomed to being treated as someone inferior to others because of his personality and esper ability, often being the errand boy or similar things, but this time, Jay not only recognized that they were not a boss and his henchman, he said that they partners on equal terms!

"I..."

Therefore, in front of Jay's determined gaze, Noah could only admit defeat, although to be honest, this time he couldn't be more happy to lose.

"...Thank you very much."

"No problem, well then, I'll go get some exercise."

"Oh, wait, we haven't discussed the... rent..." Noah said, but he was late, as Jay had already gone out to the backyard.

Looking at his back, Noah couldn't help but smile and reaffirm the impression he had of Jay in his mind.

'He...really is a good guy...'

***

In the backyard, a few seconds after Jay left the living room, he sat down at his usual training spot and began practicing his increasingly strong Wind Control skill.

Although on the outside he seemed to be training hard, with his eyes closed and even a few drops of sweat on his upper body, what he was really thinking was something very different.

'I...don't have to pay him anymore!' he thought, trying not to smile, feeling happy and relieved.

This was an issue that had concerned him from the moment he asked Noah to help him pass through the entrance to the South Zone.

While he had a few credits in his room, that was all the money he had left, and what's worse, that money wasn't even close to the amount he was supposed to pay Noah for his services!

In addition to that, considering the fact that his kitchen was completely devoid of food right now, Jay was in a difficult situation.

Fortunately for him, from the moment the guardian of District 30 caught Noah, Jay had already thought about the possibility that his identity had been discovered, so he thought of a few solutions in case Noah had to leave the South Zone while he carried him to the abandoned house.

However, while he didn't thought much about that at that moment, that changed when Noah helped him to defeat the Wolf's Fang member.

Of those options, the one that was most feasible and beneficial for Jay was to let Noah live with him until he could financially stabilize himself and then be able to move to a better place, even if it took a few months.

With that option, by giving him a month or two of free rent, Jay could avoid having to pay him, and not only that, but when that month passed, it would be Noah who would have to pay Jay, generating an income for him.

And most importantly, when the parasites were done assimilating Noah's skill, which was tomorrow, Jay wouldn't have to go to the South Side to find him.

It was like killing three birds with one stone!

But of course, that didn't mean that what Jay had said about them being partners and trusting him was a lie, that part was true, Jay did think of Noah that way.

As for the issue of whether it was dangerous for Noah to live with him...Jay wasn't so worried about it because the one who had the most to lose wasn't him, but Noah.

'Now then...I wonder what I should do today...' Jay thought, leaving the Noah issue aside for the moment.

He had several things pending that required his attention.

There was the issue of the Jujusen's stalker, having to train to get used to his body, investigating further the true capacity of his parasites, and of course, the biggest problem, the inevitable fact that he had consumed human flesh.

'Haa...let's see, it's 9:17 in the morning...so I'll train until 1 in the afternoon and then head over to Jujusen's office to settle this matter once and for all.'

What Jay chose, following his motto of one thing at a time, was to first familiarize himself with his body, to find out what the current limit of his strength was, after all, he wouldn't be able to use Overload all the time.

"Ouch, it still hurts..." he said as he put some force on his arm to form a fist.

Although Noah had used his ability to relieve his muscle pain, that didn't mean his body had recovered, so if he used too much force on any part of his body, the pain would quickly return.

"But...this is nothing compared to last night~"

Then, with a bitter smile, he got up and started walking towards one of the rocks that Sarah had extracted from the ground when they had both trained some time ago.

Because the rocks had been a little too heavy to move at the time, Jay had left them there, hoping that at some point they would be useful for testing his strength.

And that time had come.

The rock he had chosen was the largest, the size of a car tire, in fact, when Sarah pulled out this rock, Jay had been quite scared, but fortunately, being large and heavy, it was much slower than the small ones, so he was able to dodge it...just barely.

"Woah, it is heavy..." he said, raising the rock to the height of his head with his right hand.

Although it was a bit difficult for him, Jay estimated that he could carry it for a few minutes without problems, even with his body's current condition.

*PAM*

With that noise, the rock fell to the ground, in the same place it had originally been.

"Well, that wasn't very helpful."

Now with the knowledge that he could lift small sized rocks, an unsatisfied Jay began to stretch, letting out a sigh.

*Ssh*

At that moment, the sound of the grass being trampled came from the entrance of the backyard leading to the front of the house.

Jay quickly turned to see what had made that sound.

"..."

"!"

Then, he saw a girl with glasses peeking out from the side of the wall, her panicked face was red, as if she had been running for a while, but what was most striking...was the fact that she was pointing her smart watch at Jay....