Chapter 233 The Truth Unfolded, Pt. 1

"There were only two instances and you were suspicious of me already…" Lee Seng quietly spoke. He looked at Ritsuka. His fists were balled. It scared Lee Seng to think someone had found out about his secret.

'If he knows everything, that would be worse, right?' Lee Seng wondered. 'How much do I tell him?' He realized he had caused more unnecessary silence. He took a deep breath in and closed his eyes. He let the breath out and opened his eyes. Ritsuka was definitely thinking about the situation.

"Fine, I'll tell you what you want to know." Lee Seng spoke. Ritsuka looked up, surprised. He turned to face Lee Seng. "But, this is too open. Let's go back to my room and I'll tell you what you want to know."

The two went back into the locker room and grabbed their things. Lee seng wiped himself of the water and decided he would just change into his clothes and take a shower in his dorm room. Lee Seng and Ritsuka walked, quietly, the whole way back to the telepad.

'How much should I tell him? I should definitely tell him about Keng and the Fox form. I dunno if I should tell him about the whole Realms thing… Eh, that wouldn't be the biggest bomb dropper, ever, right? But… Should I tell him about the Protocol…? It might show up with Ritsuka and the others around. And when it does manifest itself, I'll have no choice but to tell them…' Lee Seng thought about situations like this. It was his way of trying to protect himself. He had prepared himself for the chance this would happen, but he didn't think it would happen so fast.

Meanwhile, Rituska racked his brain on how big the secret could be. 'He's the son of the Creator so anything could be on the table. Secret serum? He's a spy?' The biggest theories to the smallest tidbits went through Ritsuka's head as they neared Lee Seng's room. Lee Seng punched the door code in and stepped inside. He waited for Ritsuka to step in. Ritsuka stepped into the familiar yet foreign room. Lee Seng shut the door behind him and moved to set his wet swim trunks in the bathroom.

"You can leave your wet shorts in here for a bit if you want." Lee Seng told Ritsuka.

"Ah, uh, thanks." Ritsuka followed after him and set his shorts on the shower wall. He followed Lee Seng out. Lee Seng pulled his chair around and sat in it and motioned for Ritsuka to sit on his bed.

"What do you wanna know?" Lee Seng asked.

"What happened in the tunnel? Are the rumors true? Were you the cause of it?" Ritsuka barraged him with questions about the invasion. Lee Seng sighed and cleared his throat.

"What I'm going to tell you, you have to keep a secret. If I find out you spread my secret, I will do what I need to do with you." Lee Seng threatened. Ritsuka shook his head and crossed his legs together on Lee Seng's bed. "I didn't think I would be telling you or anybody so quickly… But, I wasn't really careful about it, so…" He shifted in his spot. "I'll answer everything you need to know, but I'll start with this." Lee Seng stood up and looked at Ritsuka.

Ritsuka shifted in his spot and watched as Lee Seng's single tail split into three tails. Ritsuka began to loudly gasp when Lee Seng's eye twitched.

"Dude, I know it's a lot but can you be quiet?" Lee Seng lifted a finger to hush him. Ritsuka covered his mouth, still making a loud gasp noise.

"Turn around." Ritsuka motioned. Lee Seng gritted his teeth and turned around. "Holy tails. That's a lot of tails." Ritsuka pointed. Lee Seng sat down and nodded. "How did you even get more tails?" Lee Seng took in a deep breath.

"How do I explain this…?" He whispered.

"This is complicated to explain?" Ritsuka asked, surprised.

"Well, I can't really show you him so I'll have to explain this… Dammit, now I wish I didn't leave him in the other Realm."

"In the other Realm?" Ritsuka repeated loudly.

"Shh!" Lee Seng hushed him.

"Oh, yeah." Ritsuka zipped his mouth.

"You know I got a serum like everyone does but didn't produce any powers until a couple of months ago, right?" Lee Seng started. Ritsuka nodded. "Well, I might a deity that offered me power in return for…"

"Looking like that?"

"Well, yes, but no. I made a pact with a deity that turns out to be a God King of sorts… He turned me into a Fox Spirit. Think of it like a kitsune."

"A kitsune?!? You're one of those kitsune soul suckers who likes to toy with people and has those beads they have in their mouths?"

"Yes and no." Lee Seng shrugged.

"So this 'God King,'" Ritsuka quoted. "Gave you your powers in return for looking like a kitsune?"

"Basically. I look like a humanoid kitsune and I might take souls from humans and monsters, but–"

"Hold your horses! From humans and monsters?!? You could take them from any living thing?!?" Ritsuka's voice raised. Lee Seng shushed him, again.

"Yes."

"Are you a murderer?" Ritsuka leaned in.

"I only found out because I accidentally killed some bad guys, okay?"

"Accidentally… okay." Ritsuka slowly nodded.

"Anyways, I made that pact and gained a Fox Spirit. That Fox Spirit entered my body and I basically got a lot of Dark Matter energy pushed into my system. That triggered the perfect conditions for the Fox Spirit to hatch and stay within my body. It roams around in my Spirit world and physically made me look like a fox."

"Spirit world?"

"Mmmhm. Think of it as a place where your memories and such are stored. Every experience, all the different sights, places you've lived, etc. That's the Spirit world."

"This fox is in there now?" Ritsuka asked. Lee Seng's face frowned.

"No, he's in another Realm."

"Oh yeah… You said that. Why is he in another Realm…?"

"Well…" Lee Seng sighed. "I temporarily moved Realms and ended up where the God King lives. I met all of the other Fox Spirits and story short, he and I learned I have to make a choice on something and he didn't like the choice I was thinking about…"

"What was the choice?" Ritsuka asked. Lee Seng bit his lips and cleared his throat.

"This is going to involve me telling you the other secret…" Lee Seng whispered.

"You have another secret?"

"I basically gained powers because the God King deity and I made a pact. That's why I have gravity powers, but I learned that I actually had powers the whole time. The Creator, my father, injected a special serum in me like he did with the first ten Numbers. I had very low Dark Matter because my power actually uses Dark Matter, kinda."

"Kinda? What do you mean by that?"

"Well…" Lee Seng sighed. "My original power allows me to mutate and/or create an ability. I have no control over what happens. It was brought to my attention by the Foxes in the other Realm, that my Father kidnapped a Fox Spirit and took his blood. His blood got turned into a serum and it got injected into me. I have his mutation power and the ability to manipulate Dark Matter energy to my will."

"Can you show me?" Ritsuka asked. Lee Seng leaned his head to the side and scrunched his face.

"I don't have great control over it. That's why I should be practicing it, but after learning what I learnt in the other Realm… I'm not sure what to do…" Lee Seng looked at his hands.

"It's your power. You choose what to do with it, right?" Ritsuka stood up and crouched. He made eye contact with Lee Seng and smiled. "Whatever happens, I'm sure your Fox Spirit or whatever understands, right? He's been with you this entire time?"

"Mmm. This is the second, but first time we've been separated. He got mad that I was entertaining the idea of trying to keep both powers."

"So how does that whole thing work? Does he just live within you or are you him?"

"He and I are bound together by our souls merging." Lee Seng explained.

"Oh. Souls merging. Should've thought of that." Ritsuka sarcastically spoke.

"Are you trying to make me angry or laugh?" Lee Seng playfully pushed Ritsuka away. Ritsuka smiled and stood up.

"I'm just trying to make sure you're not going to be all depressed. You can be reassured that I will keep your secrets." He patted Lee Seng. "And don't worry about your other guy."

"Keng." Lee Seng told him his name.

"Huh?"

"His name is Keng. I named him myself. He must be pissed that I left him in the other Realm."

"You could go back for him, right?"

"Yeah, but time works differently there than here. Every four hours that occurs here, a day passes there. So he would've gone through a quarter of the day by now." Lee Seng pulled his phone out and noticed the time.

,m 5:30am

"You should go and make up with him." Ritsuka patted Lee Seng, again. He moved backwards and sat on the edge of Lee Seng's bed. "I'm sure he and you has a lot to talk about. And plus, you seem really attached to him."

"He's just like a brother to me." Lee Seng quickly interjected.

"I wasn't going to say you two were a thing." Ritsuka laughed. "You just have those eyes that tell me you care alot about him."