Prologue
“Our world has MERGINGS. They’re our source of energy, our way of life that we all take for granted. Few of us remember the battle of the wielders. When alien life known as the Tsuyoi Tamashi (TsuTamas) was proven to exist we were terrified and, of course, we pushed buttons that we couldn't reset. The alien race that we caught bad blood with just so happened to have slaves so we easily blamed the innocents who were conveniently there; “Free the alien slaves!“. The slaves, Jinsokuna Owari (JinRi), were a result of a lost war but no one in their right mind would stay a slave if they had a choice not to be one. The JinRi were shifters and could turn into incredible things that went even beyond our imagination. However they would only shift for those who were deemed worthy of it and even then it was a rarity if what they transformed into was useful enough in a war. Back then there were only a few thousand of us who knew how to complete a merge between man and alien. But because of that alliance we became stronger against the TsuTama. In turn for winning the war, humans allowed the JinRi to live among us on Earth. Although, seeing as some people were still wary of the JinRi, their leader chose to not only live discreetly but to help us replace all the damage from the war by becoming items of our benefit. In his words “ Our service to you is as indefinite as the amount of stars in our universe”. Now 300 so years later we are here today and I guess Tome (pronounced Tōmā or Tōmə) can guide you through how these things relate tod-- TOME!!”
-snore-
“This bi-”
“I can take it from here Ms.Fuye.” said Mr.Tsunami. Damn I really wanted to give Tome good punch. He was supposed to segway into his half of the presentation, but he was snoring away, leaning against the wall.
He went over to Tome’s ear and I swear his inhale was so loud that Tome’s eyes shot wide open before Mr. Tsunami yelled
“F! for preparedness.”
“Aaaaaahhh... the ringing~” Tome whimpered. Everybody's ears were ringing from his shout. At least Tome got the worst of it, serves him right.
“Let’s see if you can still salvage your grade Mr.Shizuko.” he sneered. He clapped loudly at the rest of the class of whom more than half were kindly using my presentation as a 5 minute lullaby.
“I CAN’T HEAR YOU. I’M JUST GOING TO FINISH THIS PRESENTATION SO I CAN SIT DOWN!” he yelled. He sounded like an old geezer who lost his hearing aid. He was actually pretty convincing.
“BASIC- Oh the ringing stopped" Tome sighed in relief and began again."Basically now that we’ve harnessed a better understanding of how the JinRi work, people have obviously used mergings to fulfill less and less honorable deeds and now people have messed up views on the JinRi saying that they’re not alive, that they’re our slaves, or that they’re secretly plotting against us, yadayada radarada. Treat your merges with respect kids. We haven't learned how to live without ’em and sure as hell forgot how to be an independent species." Tome yawned openly. "That’s it. I’m going to sleep Cherry.” he said, nodding to the teacher and slumping into his chair.
“For the last time Mr.Shizuko, it is MISTER TSU-NA-MI. Cherry’s for my wife.” he pouted. By the time he was finished Tome was already asleep. The class snickered.
As I went to my desk I heard someone say “Is his wife named whipped cream?" In response another kid said “I’m pretty sure Cherry whips the cream real nice and slow.” and an annoying group of laughs follow. Tome muttered something under his breath that sounded way funnier than what the class was cackling about.
As I sat down, saw my desk mate Heiru, slumping in his chair hiding his face from the other students. Too bad he’s the milkshake to their whipped cream and cherry.
