The Genius of Cloning in the Academy City

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‘We’ were finally able to collect ourselves after a short while.

“Alright. First, let’s sort out what the heck is going on.”

“Let’s summarize how we ended up in this mess.”

Now we’re managing to speak without overlapping too much.

To put it mildly, at first, it felt like our bodies were all tightly bound, half-merged into one, but now it felt like we were just tied together with a string.

The two of us—I mean, I—faced each other. I had summoned clones several times before, but this was bizarre. I could feel myself looking back at me.

I gaze at myself. ‘Why are my thoughts overlapping?’ It felt ‘dizzying.’

So, I have no idea where my thoughts end and where ‘I’ begin. ‘Aaaah!’

“Ugh…”

“First, let’s calmly take a deep breath,” one of us said, trying to relax. “Let’s figure out this ‘Jin’ situation!”

As we all tried to speak at once, our thoughts got tangled, creating confusion. After a lengthy struggle, the clones and I decided to take turns talking.

“Who am I?”

“I’m Violet! Violet D Rugilinn, a student at Polaris Comprehensive Academy.”

The me on the other side responded.

“No, that’s not the right answer. I’m asking something more essential. What was I doing just before being transported here?”

“I was rushing to take an interview for a temporary position.”

“Correct! But there’s one more thing. What was my biggest failure in life back in April 2017…? Ah, wait. Don’t say it…”

“Ugh… Stop! Don’t think about it…! Oh no…that…”

We nodded at each other, looking a bit bewildered.

“While this is a strange situation, at least we share the same memories.”

“We can understand each other’s thoughts.”

My head gradually began to clear.

In front of us, a shimmering status window appeared.

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*Resonance Trait: Synchronization of consciousness is complete due to collective intelligence.
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“Did you see that?”

“Yeah! Could this be a result of our current situation?”

It wasn’t just named ‘collective intelligence’ for nothing.

“Wait, but who’s the main body here?”

I crossed my arms and spoke to ‘myself.’

“Of course, I’m the main body! You are the clone I created.”

“But during the newbie welcome event, I died! When I opened my eyes, I was transferred to Unit 2. So you must be the clone, right?”

I shook my head.

“No! The main body, which is me, transferred into the clone. Therefore, you are my subordinate.”

“What? Subordinate? No way! I’m the main body!”

“You’re the clone!”

We both sprang to our feet. Frustrated, I swung my fist.

“Ha-yah!”

“Hey!”

What the heck! My clone dodged my punch! I also avoided the punch thrown by my clone…?

“No! How did that even happen!”

“It’s because we’re both thinking in sync!”

We flailed our arms clumsily like some poorly choreographed martial arts movie and ended up missing each other over and over again.

“Ugh… this is pointless. It feels like I’m shooting at nothing in the air.”

“Haah… let’s think about who the main body is later. This is exhausting…”

-Ding!

My old smartphone buzzed with a message notification.

-Ms. Rugilinn! All the school convenience stores are either closed or out of stock! I’m going out to buy some things, so it might take a while. Please wait!

“Oh no, Daphne seems to be running late.”

“What do we do now?”

We fell onto the ground, exhausted, and looked at each other with tired expressions.

“This is tough… I’m just sweating… I want to take a shower.”

“Me too…”

Deciding to simply take a shower, I started to take off my shirt when something strange caught my eye.

“Hey, what’s that number on your arm?”

“Arm? Huh? Wait, you have one too!”

On our upper left arms, in big letters, were the numbers ‘1’ and ‘2’!

“I wonder, could this be the numbering for the clones? I didn’t have this before.”

“It must be the effect of that new flowing ego or whatever clone technique.”

I looked at the ‘1’ written on my arm.

“See! If I’m number 1, then I’m the main body!”

“No way…! How can you determine the main body just by a number…?”

I flaunted the ‘2’ in front of me, and the second clone hung its head in defeat. The crushed pride of the second clone was palpable. As the second clone grew morose, I felt down too.

Let’s change the subject a bit.

“Are there any numbers on the other clones as well?”

“…Yeah. I’m curious, let’s try summoning them.”

We hastily summoned more clones.

“Oh! This is real! We have numbers on our arms too!”

“I’m number 4!”

We confirmed that the other two Violets had ‘3’ and ‘4’ printed on one arm.

“So the numbers on our arms correspond to the order of clone creation.”

“Let’s summon as many as our magical power allows!”

Using all the ether we had, we managed to summon three more Violets one after another.

“That’s enough for now. My magical power is depleted…”

“Me too, it seems that clones share magical power or something.”

The fifth clone lay on the floor, panting. The third clone leaned against the wall, exhausted.

“Maybe because our levels have increased? It seems like the number of clones we can summon has also gone up.”

“If the amount of magical power increases, maybe the number of clones will too?”

“That sounds like a good idea. Let’s check it later.”

The fifth and sixth clones chimed in.

The dorm room was filled with identical smiling girls, each with red eyes and blonde hair.

Thanks to the effect of our unique ability, even with seven of us now, the initial confusion didn’t feel overwhelming at all.

The world had merely seemed to become a little tighter, and larger, and taller.

It felt like switching from a first-person shooting game to a third-person strategy simulation.

A chilling thought struck me—I mean, Unit 1—like a lightning bolt.

Did everyone catch that? The room collectively gasped in surprise.

“Wait, if we recreate the clones here again…”

“No! Unit 1! Don’t say that! That’s scary!”

“What will happen to us?”

Hearing those words, the faces of all the Violets went stiff in unison.

“Yikes! Are we going to disappear?”

The fourth clone screamed.

“Well, I doubt that will happen. Don’t you remember when we were at the lab and Kalia’s house?”

The third clone calmly reassured the fourth clone, speaking to Unit 1.

“That time? Hold on… Aha! Occasionally, the clones did things in detail without being prompted. Suddenly sitting at the dining table or doing things that seemed casually controlled to fit precise actions.”

“Right! At some point, I faintly started feeling like something was ‘me’. Back then, my awareness wasn’t as strong as it is now with ‘this is me!’ but I certainly felt like I was thinking in this place.”

Hmm, if that’s the case, then our peculiar powers didn’t just suddenly appear out of nowhere; they must have roots deeply planted in possibility.

“And a moment ago, I don’t know if it was Unit 1 or the main body, but Violet died. Yet the one thinking they were the main body, I’m here perfectly alive, aren’t I?

Therefore, in conclusion, even if the clones disappear, the consciousness and memories of the subject will remain somewhere. They won’t completely vanish.”

“Hey, Unit 3! Do you have any proof for that statement? We should be considering the worst-case scenarios!”

The fifth clone shouted.

“Hey, Unit 1, the ‘main body’ lying under the air conditioning unit… is that the real me?”

Unit 1’s face distorted. Unit 1 spoke up.

“Right. So, I’m not the main body? Am I just another persona that mistakes itself for the main body?”

We all grabbed our heads in unison.

“Ugh… Suddenly we’re debating about the essence of existence and the concept of the self.”

“Seeing is believing! Let’s try recreating a clone first!”

As the sixth clone snapped their fingers, Unit 1 began to scatter into shimmering dust.

A commotion broke out among us.

“Wha—? This is too fast! Hold on! Stop!”

“Ahh! No! The main body is disappearing!”

“But Unit 1 might not even be the main body.”

“Still, you’re reflecting on this option, right?!”

We all watched the empty space where Unit 1 had been, filled with fear, curiosity, and tension in our violet eyes.

-Uh? I thought I disappeared, but here I am!-

From somewhere in our minds, Unit 1’s voice echoed. Using the remaining magical power again, I summoned the clone marked with ‘1’ on its arm.

“Violet! Revive!”

Unit 1 leaped up, while Unit 5 breathed a sigh of relief and Unit 3 nodded as if agreeing.

“See! I knew my thoughts were correct.”

Now, we all began to brainstorm and discuss this bizarre phenomenon.

“Through the reverse creation-summoning experiment, we’ve come to understand one basic fact. The self of the reverse-created clone does not evaporate or vanish.

Instead, it’s stored somewhere in our minds for a time. Looking at the case of the incident during the summoning ritual, even if the body is destroyed, the ego is preserved and can transfer to another body.”

The fourth clone summarized our thoughts clearly.

“Oh, so does that mean we can’t die?!”

Unit 1 raised their head with sparkling eyes.

“I hadn’t thought of that! Then, assuming there’s more than one clone left and our magical power isn’t depleted, what happens to our existence?”

“The answer is already known. In the original story, the countless witches could only be defeated after killing each of their clones. Oh! Then…”

We all exclaimed in amazement.

“Wow! That’s amazing! We can’t die!”

“We’re invincible!”

“That’s something we’ll only know after we test this power more. But there’s still one problem left.”

Unit 3 leaned, resting his chin with a serious expression.

“Question: who’s the ‘main body’? Unit 1 just reversed into that cloning experiment. We thought Unit 1 was the main body.”

“How foolish. Didn’t we talk about ‘collective consciousness’? All of us Violets are ‘me.’ Overmind, collective consciousness!”

Unit 5 scolded Unit 3.

Unit 2 shook her head in disagreement.

“No, Unit 4 has a point. I share thoughts with all of us, and I feel that you all are ‘me’, but the me that’s here, the ‘me as Unit 2’ also thinks and exists.”

The sixth clone proposed a new hypothesis.

“It could be an illusion. We might actually be one distinct existence, merely engaging in self-questioning like a child’s doll play.”

I gasped. Are we saying that the conversation among ‘us’ is just the ramblings of a lunatic?

“Ugh! No way! This can’t lead to any conclusion. Oh my gosh, Descartes!”

“So what can we do? This is unsolvable! Even if we brought Dennett or Frankfurt, they wouldn’t explain our situation!”

“Argh!”

“Yikes!”

The Chinese room followed with a cognitive philosophical disaster, Violet’s room! Our Violets fell into a state of anomie over this issue.

Confusion of identity! Crisis of subjectivity! Popular brain!

In the midst of all this chaos, the seventh clone stepped forward, arms wide open, declaring,

“Shut up, everyone! From now on, we will start the first Violet Parliament meeting!”

And so, we put our heads together and began to actively hold the meeting.

***

After a passionate ten-minute marathon of discussion, I managed to summarize a few conclusions.

“I was able to formulate several hypotheses regarding our current state.”

Units 3, 4, and 5 took out pens and drew sketches on a piece of paper.

“Alright, let’s first examine the first theory.”

The crudely drawn diagram of my face with several numbered circles connected by lines appeared below.

“The first hypothesis was the central control theory. The idea that one consciousness controls all bodies.”

“This can be refuted by the fact that Unit 1, considered the main body, died and was brought back to life. Furthermore, we all seem to have our own consciousness, at least we feel like we do. Dismissed.”

We examined the second hypothesis drawn by Unit 4.

“The second one is the integrated consciousness. Our individual selves have crude consciousness, but all connect like an internet network to form the larger identity of ‘Violet’. Think of it like cloud computing.”

Unit 3 refuted it.

“This describes the emergent tendency that occurs when several entities gather beyond a certain threshold! ‘We’ began with one person. It’s the exact opposite case, so dismissed.”

Finally, Unit 5 revealed the third diagram.

“Then there’s nothing left but this. A structure of parallel connected consciousness.”

The crudely sketched characters of my face stretched out to the side.

“This is the most definitive model that can explain how our consciousness or thoughts are shared. Each has an individual consciousness, but they share memories and emotions.”

“But according to this model, when a clone is reversed or disappears, that entity just evaporates. How do we explain the maintenance of the conscious self?”

“Ah, that’s the issue. We need to find another method…”

Unit 6 picked up their pen and added a few new ideas.

“How about positing an external server? A sort of backup server where our memories and selves are shared and stored! That way, even if a clone disappears or is recreated, we can explain why the concept of ‘me’ is maintained!”

“That’s a great idea!”

“It feels like mixing and stirring up the previous hypotheses, but it’s good!”

We all acknowledged it.

“There are still many lacking points. The backup server is purely hypothetical!

But one thing is clear—we can share all memories and thoughts without missing a beat, and we have a united goal and will. Let’s conclude with that. Thud! Thud! Thud!”

Satisfied with the conclusion we reached, we wrapped up our first Violet Parliament meeting.

“I have a feeling Daphne will be back soon. Should we recreate?”

“Sure. For now, let’s keep our consciousness and memory-sharing a secret.”

One by one, we melted away into sparkling dust. In the end, only Unit 4 remained.

Just then, the door clicked open and Daphne came in, holding a bunch of plastic bags.

“I’m quite late, aren’t I? Ms. Rugilinn! It took me some time to get various snacks. For now, shall we have some ramen and rice balls?”

I happily ate the cup noodles and rice balls.

What do you expect from a game otaku? Even in a Western-style school, they have onigiri and cup noodles for sale nearby!

When it was time to sleep, I simply dressed up a bit and climbed onto the top bunk.

Since tomorrow marks the beginning of my proper school life, I need to sleep early.

Lying down, I found the bed empty and chilly, making it hard to sleep.

I summoned Unit 2.

“Ehhh? Why?”

“I’m cold…”

I pulled Unit 2 close and fell asleep. It was warm.

This existence of mine really has a soft and lovely smell…