Otto nodded seriously at their exclamations of shock.
But then, seeing the two of them staring at each other in astonishment, their eyes filled with the horror of discovering a new continent, Otto suddenly paused.
"Hmm... let me guess. Don't tell me you're only just now realizing... that you're the center of this incident?" Otto's eye twitched as he looked at the two Shus, who were still sizing each other up in shock.
He had just been so focused on figuring out who the imposter was that he had completely overlooked Shu's simple desire to just beat the other guy to death.
He had felt it, sure, but Otto had merely thought it was Shu's anger towards the fake.
Thinking about it calmly now, Shu didn't seem like the type to get so agitated over an unclear sense of his own identity.
Hmm...
Otto's heart sank slightly. But the next moment, he clapped his hands, then proactively walked between the two completely stunned Shus and clapped each of them on the shoulder.
"Alright, this is good news no matter how you look at it, isn't it?" Otto said with a smile, only to be vehemently refuted by both in the next instant.
"How could this possibly be good news!"
"How else can you look at this!"
Their voices were so united against a common enemy that Otto couldn't help but withdraw his hands.
But at least Otto finally heard a long-absent, intense emotional fluctuation in Shu's voice.
Shu grabbed Otto's shoulder. "Why don't you check again? How could two identical people just appear in this world?"
[Shu] grabbed Otto's other shoulder. "Otto, why don't you think of a way to distinguish us again? At least we have to figure out who was the one copied, right?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the two Shus snapped their heads up and looked at each other again.
But this time, their gaze was completely different from before.
Previously, their stares held only the purest killing intent. Now, a thick sense of dread was mixed in.
Well, now that was a normal person's reaction.
"Hmm... is this matter very important to you?" Otto asked, using a smile to mask his probing.
Countless people in this world had once proposed and pondered this question: If one day, a person who looks identical to you, with the same memories and cognition, suddenly appears by your side, how can you prove that you are you?
Different people would arrive at different conclusions through different lines of thought, but at the very least, everyone, when thinking about it, subjectively or subconsciously considered the core of this question—
What if "I" am really not "I"?
What then?
That's worse than death!
"Of course it's important!" the two Shus practically shouted in Otto's ears, the sound nearly rattling his brain.
Everything he had experienced was still so vivid—the hardships, the pain, and the beautiful memories... How could they be fake?!
The feeling of being torn apart at Nagazora Station... that feeling of powerlessness... that feeling of giving it his all—
The memories with Kiana, the conversations with Mei, the... between him and Bronya...
All of this... all of it was so clearly real!
They were in his mind, just yesterday! They were even engraved in his personality and subconscious reactions!
All of it was beating along with his heart, so clear... so distinct!
And now you're telling me that all of this might be fake?!
Fake?!
Everything that shaped me is fake?!
What kind of fucking idiot came up with this goddamn plot twist?!!
Shu would not accept this result!
He could follow Otto's arrangements for anything because he knew Otto was smarter and more knowledgeable than him. Besides his strength, he was arguably inferior to him in every way.
But that didn't mean he had no bottom line!
No, to be more precise, this was his red line!
He had... he had finally found a reason to live... finally obtained his own identity! All of that was his!
How could he possibly hand it over to someone else?!
How could he let the other party enjoy all of this just because of a single sentence, "He is your copy"?!
You've gotta be fucking kidding me!
Two berserk auras erupted, colliding with a deafening roar in the not-so-small laboratory, a boom that shook the entire base.
Bianka, reacting first, instantly flashed in front of Sirin, crossing her arms before her, yet she was still pushed back two steps by the overwhelming force before stabilizing herself.
It wasn't that Shu didn't have a reaction; he just prioritized others so highly that, compared to them, he himself was like a completely disposable tool.
But this sense of priority wasn't innate; it was gradually formed.
Just as his self-awareness wasn't nonexistent, but had been suppressed bit by bit.
And now, after Otto's prompt, Shu had finally focused the problem on his "self."
And the reaction he unleashed was far more violent than Otto had ever imagined.
That's right. Wasn't the "self" that one held onto even within a mindset that had almost completely objectified oneself a bottom line that a person would rather die than abandon?
Can't tell them apart, huh?
Doesn't matter.
Once he beats the other one to death, they'll know who's real!
Their auras had already climbed to their peak, on the verge of clashing.
But in the end, the two Shus suppressed the urge to tear each other apart right here.
The reason wasn't that they had thought it through.
It was because if they started now, the first person to be killed would be Otto, who was sandwiched between them.
Shu forcibly reined in his rampaging emotions and power, constantly reminding himself in his heart to focus on the bigger picture.
He forced himself to think about why Otto had said, "It's good news no matter how you look at it."
Otto actually had a point. Shu didn't feel any weaker. On the contrary, during the probing in Sapphire City, he felt he had become much stronger.
At the time, he thought it was because the people in Sapphire City had given him more [Hope]. Thinking about it now, the reason was probably that suddenly appearing core.
And if the other party was really his copy, then his power must be the same as his own... In that case, wouldn't the Fire Moth have double the insurance?
Shu had already pushed his margin for error to the limit with his Return by Death alone. If the other one could stand on the front lines, allowing him to "plan before acting"...
The two of them really did seem capable of brute-forcing their way, leading humanity back to civilization...
These were the benefits...
Benefits...
To hell with the benefits!!
Shu still wanted to beat the other guy to death. He really, really just wanted to beat the other guy to death.