Reincarnation One Way And Back

Chapter 19: The Slaps And The Hellspawn.

Alex was lying on his side in his bed, listening to music and reading manga that Elara recreated from his memory. It was different than what Elara was reading. As for Elara, she was lying in her own bed, still reading the same manga. Alex's back was turned to Elara, while Elara was lying on her back.

The silence, previously only interrupted by flipping pages and outside noise, was broken by Alex, "...You're not doing anything, right?"

"Only reading." Elara responded, not bothering to look up from her manga.

"Really?" Alex asked.

"You can turn around and see for yourself if you don't believe me." Elara responded.

"I'm good." Alex replied.

"Then don't ask if you're not going to believe me." Elara said.

They both went quiet. The only noise in the room was noise from the outside. Horseshoes clopping against the hard pavement in the stable when the horses move, some people talking while standing next to the horses, birds chirping.

Suddenly, Elara sung in a quiet, melodic voice, "♪ You're counting all your sheep in disguise. ♪"

Alex's head turned almost immediately, nearly snapping his neck from the turn. Alex, however, didn't feel anything.

"What was that?" He asked, his face getting red the next instant as he recognized the song Elara sung.

Elara shot Alex a glare and said, "What? Got a problem? It's a catchy song, I don't care where it's from."

"That's true, I guess..." Alex responded.

"You should watch out. You almost snapped your neck." Elara said in a very casual tone despite what she said, and went back to reading her manga.

Alex felt scared and placed both his hands on his neck, looking for any damage, "What? How did I not feel anything?" He asked, looking at Elara with a fearful expression.

"You didn't feel anything because I made us unable to feel pain." Elara answered, not looking up at all.

Alex's hands stopped in their tracks as he heard Elara's words, "Huh?" He said, more confused than scared.

"You know, you sure are easily confused for a smart guy." Elara finally looked up at Alex. She sighed, "Instead of nerve endings sending signals to our brains, I made them more into a warning system. For example, when you turned your head so much, did you feel or maybe hear something?"

"Maybe? I don't know." Alex said.

"If we were to, for example, slap each other, instead of feeling pain, we would either hear a warning if the damage was serious, or feel a sense of pain without feeling actual pain if it's not that serious." Elara explained.

"For real?" Alex asked.

"For real. Wanna test it?" Elara suggested, putting her manga down and standing up.

"S-sure?" Alex agreed, unsure of if he actually should. He stood up and stood in front of Elara.

"Now, watch this." Elara said, extended her arm and immediately swung as hard as she could. Her open palm connected with Alex's cheek before he could even react. Alex's head turned as much to the right as it could, and he instinctively placed his hand on his cheek, expecting pain. But to Alex's surprise, he didn't feel any pain. Instead, just as Elara said, he both heard a quiet warning sound inside his mind, and felt a sense of pain.

Alex let out a sigh of relief, as he was fully expecting to feel pain earlier,"I-it works." He said.

"Of course it works, I made it, after all." Elara said proudly, "Now your turn, I wanna hear the warning myself, so you have to do it hard." She requested, preparing herself.