09: First Parasyte

Natsuo didn't mind being teased by a beautiful onee-san, but he was a little annoyed that she had nearly scared him. He took a good look at her new appearance before asking, "Where did you go?"

"To find us new identities." Chelsea placed a hand on her waist and made a seductive pose, giving him a flirtatious wink. "So? How do I look? My chest is even bigger now. Want to cop a feel?"

She had left earlier because she wanted to impersonate the woman whose appearance she had taken. Along with her appearance, she had also taken the woman's ID card, bank card, and other personal documents.

Of course, Natsuo didn't do it. He knew Chelsea simply had a habit of teasing people, but if he actually tried to touch her chest, he couldn't guarantee his hands would remain intact. More importantly, he was concerned about something else, "What about her... this person?"

"She is dead." Chelsea's smile disappeared as she answered calmly.

"Dead?!" Natsuo exclaimed before quickly lowering his voice.

"Hmm, she is dead. I killed her, took her belongings, and disposed of the body." Chelsea leaned closer until their noses were nearly touching and whispered, "What? Are you scared?"

They were standing out in the open, and many people turned to look at them. From their point of view, it looked as though they were a couple about to kiss, which made many of the corporate slaves grit their teeth in envy. Why were they the ones buried in work all day with barely any rest, while others got to enjoy this romantic life?

"...To be honest, yeah, a little."

Natsuo felt that she was standing far too close. If either of them moved even an inch, their lips would touch. "You didn't have to kill an innocent person. There were plenty of other ways."

Judging by her outfit, the woman whose identity Chelsea had taken was probably returning home from work. She looked to be in her early twenties, someone who had only recently started working. She had her whole life ahead of her, yet it was gone just like that.

What about the family who had raised her? What if she was married or dating someone? How would her partner feel? What about her friends? Her dreams and hopes were all gone in an instant.

"With time, you'll get used to it," Chelsea replied calmly, her teasing tone from earlier completely gone. She moved away from him, took his hand, and began walking forward. "She is dead, but I wasn't the one who killed her."

"You weren't? Then who?" Natsuo frowned.

"You must've already guessed it." Chelsea gave him a faint smile and quickened her pace. The two of them left the main street as she led him into a remote, dark alley.

As they drew closer, Natsuo caught the thick stench of blood in the air. He glanced toward a dark corner and saw blood splattered across the wall.

A body belonged to a male while the other belonged to a female. The female was wearing the same clothes as Chelsea.

There were two headless figures lying on the ground in pools of their own blood. Chelsea silently pulled Natsuo along and stepped beside the corpses before saying, "I already dealt with one; now we only have to finish another 99."

"It's really a parasite!" Natsuo resisted the urge to look away as he stared at the bloody bodies on the ground and muttered in disbelief. He had already suspected as much when Chelsea told him that she had found the woman dead. He never expected they would run into one of them so soon.

"You're taking it better than I expected," Chelsea said in a gentle tone as she patted him on the back.

She explained what had happened. It turned out that while the two of them had been walking, she had been carefully observing every person on the street, which was a basic skill for an elite assassin like her. That was when she noticed a man walking beside a woman. His facial expression was unnaturally stiff, and his eyes were lifeless, like those of a dead fish.

She grew suspicious and immediately began following them.

The man eventually led the woman into a secluded corner. The moment they were out of sight, his head split apart, and three tentacles burst out, instantly killing the woman. As he bent down to feed on her corpse, Chelsea silently approached from behind and threw four of her long needles at his head and heart, killing him before he could even sense her presence.

"So that's what happened. Chelsea, you really are awesome. You identified a parasite so easily and got rid of him so quickly," Natsuo said, genuinely full of admiration for her. She was truly amazing at this, just as expected of the assassin who had the same kill count as Akame.

She might not have been as strong as Akame, but in terms of assassination skills and deception, she was far more accomplished than Akame, who relied almost entirely on her overwhelming strength.

"Ehem! Did you finally realize how awesome I am?" Chelsea lifted her chin and puffed out her chest, placing both hands on her waist with an expression that clearly said, 'Come on, praise me more!'

"Haha," Despite the bloody and grim situation around them, Natsuo couldn't help but laugh at her antics.

"Move away, I'll clean up this mess," Chelsea said with a smile when she saw him laughing. She pushed him aside, then took something out of her bag. It was a bronze bottle. She opened the lid and poured the white transparent liquid over the corpses.

Sizzle! Sizzle!

A sizzling sound echoed as smoke rose from the two bodies. Within moments, the corpses began to dissolve, rapidly turning into watery puddles. Under Natsuo's astonished gaze, the two corpses, their clothes, and even their blood all melted away into liquid before quickly evaporating into white smoke.

The only thing left behind was the blood splattered across the walls.

"So that's what a professional is like," Natsuo muttered. The anime had only shown Chelsea's acting skills and her ability to change her appearance, but it never showed these other skills she possessed, such as her keen senses, sharp instincts, and resourcefulness.

"Alright, we're done. Let's go!" Chelsea put away the bottle and dusted off her clothes. As she patted her chest, the movement caused her breasts to bounce slightly, catching Natsuo's gaze.

Noticing where he was looking, she gave him a smug smile before walking away, and Natsuo quickly followed her.

Along the way, she took out the two ID cards belonging to the two dead people and handed them to him so he could look through their information. After learning their names and addresses, he handed the cards back to her.

The two of them then went around to a jewelry shop. Chelsea handled most of the talking. When it came to dealing with people and conducting shady business, she was miles ahead of him. The first shop owner refused to do any business with them without proper documents for the gold, but the second one was more open to their offer.

The person who received them was a thin, middle aged man with a narrow moustache and a receding hairline. He appeared very cordial on the surface, but his shifty eyes made him seem crafty and insidious. He attempted to scam them, but Chelsea "persuaded" him very gently, convincing him with her own virtue and methods to buy everything at a reasonable price.

Natsuo watched everything in silence, feeling speechless. He thanked god that Chelsea was on their side, because when she truly entered professional mode, she was terrifying.

At the same time, he couldn't help but admire her. He wanted to become someone like her, someone who was versatile, capable, and competent in every situation. Silently clenching his fists, he made a vow to himself that he would do his best to learn from her and become even greater than her in the future.

When the deal was finalized, they sold 20 kg of gold for a little over 80 million yen, which was around 488,000 USD. The year in this world was 2015, so the price of gold was much lower compared to Natsuo's world.

Natsuo felt that this was a great investment opportunity. If he could buy gold from this world and sell it in his own, he could make an enormous profit. However, he realized that he first needed to find a buyer who would purchase gold without requiring receipts, because receipts from another world would be completely worthless and could only bring him unnecessary trouble.

Not to mention that he didn't have the freedom to travel between worlds whenever he wanted.

"With this, we have solved our money problem. All that is left is to settle your and Hilda's identity problems. I'll deal with that tomorrow." Walking out of the shop, Chelsea stretched her arms and shoulders before waving the bank card between her fingers with a grin.

"Indeed," Natsuo nodded. He then asked, "What do we do now?"

"Let's go to the hotel! We will book a presidential suite!" Chelsea hurriedly pulled him along and asked him to show her where the most expensive hotels were so they could book a suite.

Although they were in a different world, Natsuo also lived in Tokyo in his own world. Even though there were some differences compared to the city he was familiar with, he could still navigate himself around here with ease.

He took her to a five star hotel, but they didn't book a presidential suite. That shit started at 1,380,000 JPY per night, so they settled for a Grand Club Suite instead. This immediately deflated Chelsea, who had thought she had become ultra rich.

She gritted her teeth and swore that one day she would book a presidential suite for an entire year!

"You should dream bigger. Why not buy the entire hotel and keep it all for yourself?" Natsuo shook his head and chuckled at her cute, sad puppy face.

The staff led them to their suite and respectfully informed them that if they needed anything, they could call for assistance before closing the door behind them.

The Grand Club Suite cost around 1,100 USD per day, but it came with exclusive access to private concierge services, complimentary daily breakfast, evening cocktails, and free access to the luxurious Nagomi Spa and fitness facilities.

Although it wasn't like a presidential suite that came with a private butler, a private luxury car, and other extravagant perks, the Grand Club Suite was still impressive. Even so, the price was still far too expensive for most people.

When the two entered, Natsuo watched as Chelsea took off her shoes and waved her hands, returning to her original appearance. She pulled a lollipop out of nowhere and placed it in her mouth before Natsuo spoke in a serious voice.

"Chelsea, I want to become stronger and more useful. Can you teach me?"