Earth - Classroom Continued
Riku's eyes were bright with excitement. "I have to check Varek's social media right now!" She closed her eyes briefly, presumably accessing her other body's interface, then opened them with a grin. "Oh my god, he has soo many followers!"
Tim groaned, seeing her get distracted so quickly by something shiny. Typical young adult mentality, even with literal soul splitting happening, she got sidetracked by gadgets and social media. Well, at least she wasn't panicking anymore.
"What's your full name there? I'll add you," she said after barely ten seconds of browsing.
Wow, this girl was a natural multitasker. Or maybe kids today were just raised with such split focus that handling two bodies was easier for her.
"It's Lia Xian from the Flowing Water Sect."
She tapped away then squealed again. "You are famous!"
Lia felt her ring receive a message and opened it. She saw Varek's picture with a friend request and clicked on his profile before accepting. There he was, a handsome, tanned man with a strong jawline and rippling muscles holding a scimitar, standing on top of some dead beast, smiling proudly in golden-trimmed desert robes.
Tim sighed, rubbing his forehead as Riku started fangirling over how attractive her new body was. "Mr. Jones?" Riku asked hesitantly when he zoned out too long, staring blankly ahead while processing everything.
"Yeah?"
"What do we do next?" Her voice wavered slightly despite trying to sound brave.
Good question. What did they do? Investigate further? Just... live normally while adjusting?
"For now," Tim said slowly, "we learn. We adapt. And we make sure neither of our other selves die." Because if one half died... would the other follow? Neither wanted to find out.
"We'll talk more tomorrow during lunch break where nobody can overhear us," Tim said, dismissing her as the next class period approached.
Lia spent the afternoon meditating, trying to understand the jumbled memories of this body. Her ring vibrated constantly as messages flooded in from Varek.
Meanwhile, Tim taught his remaining classes mechanically, thoughts drifting constantly to another world where he was far more powerful. I have to find a way to improve my current body. I wonder if qi exists here or if cultivation is possible somehow in this universe.
That evening, Tim decided he needed to better his earthly form. He browsed the internet looking for Dojos that sounded like the cultivation world and found the Soaring Phoenix Fist Dojo. That sounds exactly like a cultivation dojo. I will visit it tomorrow he told himself.
Cultivation World - That Night
Riku fell asleep while Varek battled hordes of beasts as he tried to make his way back to the city. Varek had been a top-class warrior of the younger generation, protecting cities from qi beast hordes. He'd been incredibly unlucky to encounter two king-level qi beasts of the late Golden Core realm fighting. The spiritual clash had shattered his soul, and shortly after, Riku's expanded soul had found the empty vessel.
The first beast she encountered was the size of a small car and terrified him. Shaking, he drew his saber and with closed eyes swung wildly as it tore through the creature. "What?" he gasped—it was far too easy. This body was way overpowered for these monsters. He cut through more and more Beasts and gained confidence as his body was flooded with testosterone.
As he cut through beasts with increasing confidence, he took pictures of herself looking cool and sent them to Lia :
"Why do I have a scar here? Was I stabbed??" (attached: close-up of abdomen)
"Do you think my hair looks better up or down?"
"Murder is fun! Also I figured out how to send videos—watch this—"
The final clip showed Varek roundhouse-kicking a wolf-like creature mid-leap, complete with slow-motion replay.
Lia woke to her ring vibrating endlessly. Tim groaned through her mouth before responding: Go to sleep before you get your other self killed.
A reply came instantly: But murder is fun! Also, guess what? Our friendship is trending!
Tim's heart sank. Lia then noticed the tags with her name. Her accepting Varek's friend request had caused political waves. His sect was somewhat of a rival to the Flowing Water Sect—nothing serious, but enough to make headlines. The trending topic read: #SectPeace? Since when did the great northern plains warrior start friending southern water disciples?
Great. Even more attention he didn't need while still adjusting to his dual existence.
Lia spent her morning browsing the cultivation world's internet for information about qi-dead worlds and soul cultivation techniques. Surprisingly, some texts mentioned ways to generate small amounts of internal energy even without ambient qi, though it required expert guidance from childhood. For someone past their development years, it seemed hopeless. No mention of split souls in any texts either.
At least I have a month of confinement to research, Tim thought. Perfect chance to figure this out while pretending to recover like Elder Cho ordered.
Earth - Next Day
During morning lessons, Riku sat staring at Tim with a mischievous grin. Lia's ring buzzed with a message: "Teach, I still can't picture you in a bikini like Lia. You must make the most uptight teenage girl ever."
She'd sent a selfie of Varek flexing shirtless in the desert sun, showing off toned muscles while grinning roguishly at the camera.
Lia replied: "Have you always been such a little terror? I always thought you were such a good student."
Response: "Uwu ♥"
Tim looked at Riku making a silly cross-eyed face in class and wanted to scream. She was always polite and well behaved. Was he finally seeing her true personality. This girl was acting exactly her age.
"Riku, can you repeat the word we were practicing?" Tim said trying to reign her teenage behavior in.
Her mouth dropped open as she realized everyone was staring. "U-ummm..."
The class giggled as she turned beet red, the first time she'd shown any shame about their bizarre situation.
Not to be outdone, Lia sent back a short video making the peace sign while saying "uwu" in an overly cute voice to varek. Lia was an absolute cutey and Tim was impressed at how he looked as Lia doing it. He couldn't help himself as he teased her. This will teach you to act up in my class Tim thought.
Varek, while blushing, thought Game on and posted the video on his social media. Lia's cute Uwu with a peace sign was posted on Varek's main page.
It went viral instantly.
Comments exploded: "Since when did ice queen Lia do cute stuff??" "Varek you lucky bastard, how'd you get her number!?" "This has to be fake, right??"
Lia's follower count skyrocketed as hundreds of imitations appeared. She banged her palm against her forehead. "What have i done"
Then she saw Elder Cho had liked the post.
Oh no. Even the elders are seeing this.
Meanwhile, Riku was silently cackling during class as Varek saw all the notifications coming in!
Lia typed furiously to Varek: "Share any of our private messages again and I will block you" followed by angry face emojis.
Varek replied with puppy dog eyes: "Okay teach, I'll behave. But only because you're way cuter than Tim."
Tim rolled his eyes. Why did one of my students have to have a spilt body.
Lunchtime
Tim locked his classroom door as Riku slipped inside carrying two elaborate bento boxes. She handed one over with a grin.
"Peace offering?"
He took it warily.
"Wow, this bento is amazing," Tim said, sampling the elaborate meal. "Did you make it?"
Riku blushed. "Ah, no, my chef did."
Tim laughed at her embarrassed expression. "So you're rich, huh?"
"Yeah, parents own some big company. Who makes your lunches, Mr. Jones?"
Tim smiled ruefully. "I usually skip lunch or grab something from the convenience store."
She looked horrified, immediately pushing half her remaining food toward him. "Old people need proper nutrition!"
Her face went blank mid-lecture—another message from Varek's sect brothers teasing him about Lia's video. Riku groaned. "Ugh, i am getting teased now too..."
Then she looked at tim and did Lia's uwu pose right at him, complete with hand gestures. A last little teasing jab at tim.
"Okay, okay, enough already!" Tim laughed, putting his hands up in surrender. Despite everything happening, he was glad they could joke together.
"But we have to be careful when meeting up and discussing the cultivation world," he added more seriously. "I don't want people thinking I'm being inappropriate with a student. The irony is that in the cultivation world, it's actually the reverse age gap that would be concerning."
They finished eating together, both grateful to have someone who understood their impossible situation.