The Case of Being Reincarnated as a Heretic Mob Character in an Eroge Where Everyone is Extremely Determined - Chapter 17

Chapter 17: Together Forever♡ Engaged fingers♡

Beside the collapsed church, I was tormented by surprise, anticipation, and anxiety.

I held my left hand up to the sunlight repeatedly to check it, but the fusion was complete and it didn’t budge at all.

I tried pulling on the ring finger of my left hand as if peeling off a suction cup, but it didn’t come off.

Joanne’s knife should have passed through the third joint of my ring finger.

Now, Joanne’s ring finger is growing from there.

Are you telling me it’s fused at the joint, with nerves and blood vessels connected as well?

There’s no discoloration of the skin like a suture scar. The only noticeable difference is the color of the skin.

There’s no rejection between our bodies. There are no physical abnormalities due to blood rejection either, at least not for now.

Could it be that Joanne and I are genetically compatible?

I shifted my gaze to Joanne’s ring finger, which was still throbbing heavily.

Since I hadn’t applied healing magic yet, bright red blood was rhythmically being pushed out from the cross-section.

“Joanne-sama, is it possible for you to put my finger to your hand?”

“Ah?”

“If you don’t like it, that’s fine.”

“No, I want to try sticking it on too!”

Joanne then took my ring finger out of her pocket, pressed the bloody severed end against her hand, and began to cast healing magic.

It looked so painful that I almost had to look away, but just like when it was my turn, the severed ends began to match up with each other, making a sound like kneading meat.

I might be reaching a realm outside the original work that I am unaware of.

I watched the process of reattachment with wide eyes, then took a step towards the restless Joanne.

“Hmm… Fwaa… I’ve never felt like this before… I think I can kind of understand how Stella feels…”

Joanne collapsed to the ground, her legs giving out beneath her.

With an ecstatic smile, she caressed her cheek with her left hand, which had become completely one with her body.

Please, let’s not go down the cannibalism route.

“I was told by Juanquiro and the others to take care of your mental health.”

“Is that so?”

“Haha… I didn’t realize it before, but you’re definitely not right in the head.”

I don’t want to be told that by you.

To begin with, having Joanne in charge of my mental care is a mistake. It’s counterproductive no matter how you look at it.

I’d like to question once more which one of us is truly out of their mind.

…Wait a minute. Joanne went out of her way to come see me. And because she exchanged ring fingers with me, who she mistakenly thought had lost his mind (and still does), in Joanne’s mind, the verdict of my madness has become firmly established.

In other words, since it will be reported at the Executive meeting that my mind has not yet returned to sanity, does this mean I can continue this human-body exchange experiment for a while longer?

(Could it be coming…? Some kind of major shift…)

I took Joanne’s left hand and compared it with my own left hand.

“Hyah, wh-what are you…?”

I looked at the palm, then the back of the hand.

I pinched it and traced its surface. I observed the ring finger from various angles.

Indeed, it seemed as if her body and my ring finger were originally part of the same tissue, intertwined with each other.

(What does this mean…? Has Joanne’s transplanted ring finger truly become part of my body in the real sense? Or is it still considered someone else’s body?)

“Ah, that tickles, Oakley… Mmm…”

It may seem somewhat philosophical, or rather, it’s a speculation fraught with uncertainty… but this could be likened to the problem of Theseus’s ship paradox.

The paradox of Theseus’s ship is a question of whether a ship that has had all of its parts replaced remains the same ship.

To give a familiar example, can a band ‘A’ that has had all its members replaced since its debut still be considered the original band ‘A’?

If not, at what point with how many member changes does it cease to be band ‘A’?

Applying this to the current issue, it’s crucial to determine where and to what extent the absolute laws of this world identify something as Joanne.

This is because, depending on how the judgment is made, I may be able to use her ‘healing magic’ in addition to her special abilities supernatural strength and ability to detect one’s own body.

If the world’s laws determine that I am Joanne, then I should be able to use those powers without limit.

With such thoughts, I try to conjure some sort of spiritual something in my mind to handle magic and super strength, but realizing that I can’t locate my severed ring finger that was taken away, I deduce that I probably don’t possess her special abilities. It seems I haven’t acquired magic or super strength either.

I calmly make this judgment and continue my thought process.

Her ring finger is just a mere part, after all.

“Hey… how long do you plan to keep touching me…? My body is really hot… and something… I can’t stand the throbbing below my stomach…”

So, where is Joanne’s ‘main’ body located?

The spine?

The uterus?

The heart?

The brain’s central nervous system?

The entire head?

Or a combination of specific parts?

…No. Not only is it difficult to transplant any of those, but there’s also no certainty that transplanting those would allow me to become Joanne.

Nothing happened with the transplantation of the ring finger, and it seems too risky to exchange something like internal organs.

(…Simply put, when more than fifty-one percent of the body weight is transplanted, will the ‘Joanne’ judgment transfer to me? If that’s the case, it seems I have no choice but to go down the route of limb amputation and exchange…)

The approximate weight of each body part is eight percent for the head, sixteen percent for both arms, thirty percent for both legs, and forty-six percent for the torso.

So either I exchange the entire head or a combination of limbs and part of the torso to get the right balance.

(But wait. When Celestia fought Joanne, Joanne didn’t lose her will even after losing her head. Even when her entire body was blown away, she revived from the earlobe I had… The condition isn’t physical tissue. It’s premature to judge based on visible parts alone.)

…So does the world’s judgment criterion fundamentally depend on ‘self’ or ‘soul’?

Is only the body inhabited by Joanne’s ego automatically identified as ‘Joanne’?

If one were to describe it in magical terms, it could be interpreted as being tied to the soul and endowed with power… Is that the correct understanding?

“Joanne-sama, I have a question I’d like to ask.”

“Mmm, wh-what is it…”

“You fought with Celestia before, didn’t you?”

“Eh? … Ah, yes.”

Upon hearing the name Celestia, Joanne’s eyes regain their sanity.

Despite the pressure of her suddenly cool and almost disdainful demeanor, I pressed on with the conversation.

“At that time, Joanne-sama was blown away, leaving only a marker behind… How were you resurrected?”

“How? Just normally.”

“Human beings cannot think without their heads. In fact, normally if your head is blown off, you would die instantly. Yet, Joanne-sama used healing magic to resurrect. When only the remnants of your body were left as a marker, what process did you go through to resurrect?”

It had always been a mystery to me.

Why could the Executives fight even without their heads?

The original work didn’t delve deeply into that aspect of the setting, and fans had interpreted it as, ‘Well, it’s an extreme battle between monsters…’ ‘They’re human (monsters), so resurrection is normal.’ or ‘They’re regenerative characters, so that’s just how it is.’

But what is the actual case?

At the moment the head is blown off, does the self or soul reside in the largest remaining piece of one’s own flesh?

Faced with such a question, Joanne snorted through her nose.

“That’s because, you see, it’s all about determination.”

“Determination… you say?”

“Yes. If you truly commit to giving your all for Guru-sama, your body will move on its own. Even when I was reduced to nothing but earlobes, it was the boiling fighting spirit that allowed me to come back!”

…As expected, I couldn’t get an answer that would defy the laws of the world.

“Is it possible for me to become Joanne-sama?”

“Hmm… I don’t know.”

“…I see.”

It seems certain that I cannot create a second Joanne or a degraded version of Joanne, given that I am unable to obtain her supernatural abilities or magic.

Although I didn’t get a concrete answer, there’s no doubt that this is a world very convenient for the Executive.

After all, if it were possible to mass-produce such enhanced soldiers, Stella, the woman who loves human experimentation, would have thought of it already.

“What would happen to my body if you were to be resurrected from your ring finger on my hand?”

“Probably, your body would be pushed aside, and my body would sprout out vigorously. But don’t worry, okay? I’m good at healing magic. I won’t make such a blunder.”

I see, so my body would be pushed aside… It’s impossible to transform into Joanne through a physical transplant, and it’s also impossible for me and Joanne to merge.

Is it that once chosen to be an Executive, some kind of restriction is placed on the soul of the subject?

In other words, no matter how much you tamper with the body, you cannot obtain the power…

Feeling let down after getting my hopes up, I slammed my left hand against the wall behind me, making sure she couldn’t see.

Of course, it makes sense. If it were that easy, there would be clones of Joanne and Pork wreaking havoc everywhere by now.

“More importantly, I have something I want to ask.”

“What is it?”

“Y-you know… when you… comfort yourself, what do you do?”

“Excuse me?”

It was a sudden question.

Comfort?

That’s quite vague… Oh, is she talking about m*sturbation? Joanne must know things like that too.

“Excuse me, I don’t understand what you’re saying…”

“Well, which is your dominant hand?”

“It’s my right hand.”

“In that case… from now on, do it with your left hand. I’ll try using the ring finger on my left hand too… okay?”

What do you mean ‘Okay?’ ?

Come to think of it, I’ve never engaged in m*sturbation in this world.

There’s simply no time for it, and there’s no place for privacy either.

Joanne has a private room in the old castle that serves as our headquarters, so I guess she can do such things there.

It’s only natural for a girl her age to be interested in s*xuality.

The problem is her trying to impose her perverse preferences on me.

She should find someone with similar interests to enjoy that with.

“Using my left hand is probably impossible. It doesn’t feel good.”

“If that’s the case, I’ll…”

“Are you just teasing me…”

“Ugh, this is so frustrating! Aren’t you interested at all!? You must be! It’s the body part of someone you like! Don’t you ever think about wanting to do intimate things with your lover!?”

Well, I was a virgin in my past life, and I’m still a virgin now.

It’s not like I have no interest in it instinctively as a man. But it’s not going to happen with you.

“Now is not the time for that. I must decline.”

“…Okay. Then let’s try exchanging each other’s genitals.”

“Yes?”

I don’t think the situation is unfolding as one would expect from an ‘Okay’ understanding.

What does that mean? Try exchanging? I don’t understand.

“And then we’re going to have s*x after that… How about that? It seems pretty good, right?”

“Are you joking right now?”

“…”

As I asked, unable to completely hide my astonishment, she turned her face away with her cheeks blushing red.

This is bad. This girl has finally reached the limit with her s*xuality.

Rather than feeling embarrassed, she should be questioning her own mental state.

“Ah, I’ve had another great idea.”

Has she come up with another crazy idea?

I manage to keep a straight face, though I’m half in disbelief.

“Is it another s*xual suggestion?”

“W-wrong! This is a solid idea!”

(I wonder about that…)

I brace myself for her next bombshell statement.

However, what came out of her mouth was a terrifyingly powerful nuclear bomb of an idea.

“At this point, why don’t we just transplant the fingers of all the Executives onto Oakley’s hand? It’s like a plan to create the Oakley Mercury Mobile Fortress Plan? How about it, doesn’t it sound like something amazing is about to happen if we did that?”

—What is this person talking about?

Hearing such a clearly absurd plan, I couldn’t even muster a retort like, ‘Why not just swap the executive’s body parts instead?’