Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Eventually, Lucas manages to compose himself. Before exiting the alley, however, he turns to face Jonathan with a grin.
"Hey, wanna find out if you're faster than an explosion?" As he says this, Lucas shakes the two cans of spray paint in front of Jonathan.
Initially, Jonathan's expression is faintly confused. Before long though, he ends up with an even larger grin.
"Oh! Oh! What do you have in mind?" As he asks this, Jonathan initiates overly-energetic mode, his desire for mischief self-evident. He's nearly prancing in place, distinctly reminiscent of a dog that just got asked if it wants to go out for a walk.
Stifling a laugh at Jonathan's enthusiasm, Lucas goes back into the alley and holds both spray cans out in front of himself, as far out as he can reach with them lowered to about his waist level. He keeps them pressed together, holding the tops of both with one hand and their bottoms with the other, each thumb bracing a can from the side facing him. Applying enough force to keep them securely in place, he isn't very far off from starting to crush them.
"Go on, slash at them as you run past as fast as you can. I gotta see this. Not like we need to worry about whatever mess it makes, hah." With this instruction, Lucas crouches a bit, bracing himself for the oncoming forces.
[And here I thought he was already as happy as could be. Goodness.]
'I bet he was jealous that I got to play with exploding cans and he didn't.'
[…I am not willing to take you up on that bet.]
'Hah!'
Jonathan crouches down, his body set as if he were at the starting block of a race. Pulling the switchblade out with his right hand, he flicks the blade out and rotates his wrist a few times. He shifts his hold on the blade into a backhand grip and scoots his butt back a bit as he is ready to charge. He has the most villainous look he's ever managed in his entire life as he focuses his attention on the doomed aerosol cans.
Going along with the mood, Lucas can't help himself.
"Ready... Set... GO!" As he shouts out the countdown, there is a sudden change in pressure before him. Barely a moment after his shout, the loose edges of his clothes are blown back as a blurry streak passes in front of him.
The cans rupture nearly in unison, the force of the explosion directed at the wall opposite Lucas. His elbows bend a bit from pressure, but he largely remains unmoved from his original position.
The abused wall has now become artistically enhanced. The two mostly overlapping splotches of paint don't quite form circles, instead, they were distorted into a slightly skewed oblong shape from Jonathan's momentum.
At a bit of a distance past Lucas, Jonathan is now crouching with the switchblade still held out in a backhand grip. He's turned so as to be facing Lucas, one foot braced behind him, which he had used to spin in place when he stopped.
Jonathan himself received a little bit of red and black paint on his side and back, but not very much. As the cans didn't have the chance to move around, the entirety of the blast went forwards, sparing Lucas from any additional coloring.
There is a brief moment of silence as Lucas and Jonathan make eye contact, both of them then shifting their gaze to his shirt. Seeing how he's still mostly clean, they both break out with huge smiles before heartily laughing.
[Of all the possible applications for your powers, the two of you seem inclined to focus on nonsense like this. The worst part is; I'm starting to enjoy it too.]
'You could just admit how awesome that was, I won't judge.'
[…]
'Tch, forget you. Jon knows what's up.'
Lucas crumples up the now empty cans and tosses them back over his shoulder. They bounce off of the wall and land in some other miscellaneous abandoned garbage, immediately forgotten.
Having settled back into simply grinning like an idiot, Lucas holds a hand out for another high five while otherwise staying in place. Jonathan flips his switchblade closed and pockets it, running at a speed somewhere in-between an enhanced speed and normal sprint to then jump up and aggressively hit the high five. Which just hurts his own hand, ouch, that was like smacking a brick wall. They're both in too high of spirits to particularly care about this detail though.
"Hehe, it's way more fun being the one doing it than just watching. I was almost fast enough!" Shaking his stinging hand a few times, Jonathan says this as he turns to observe the splatter on the wall. A satisfactory beginning to his career as a modern art artist.
"Mmm, pretty good. Honestly, I didn't think you'd avoid as much of it as you did. Eh, enough fun for now, we have a busy day ahead of us still." Disrupting the celebrations, Lucas elbows Jonathan, nearly knocking him over, and finally leaves the alley to continue towards their initial destination.
Flailing a bit as he steadies himself, it isn't long before Jonathan follows in Lucas's wake.
Apart from one small incident, the duo finally reaches MF Fashion Boutique without too much fuss.
The incident had been that a young man bumped into Lucas and gave an exaggerated apology, attempting to pick his empty pockets in the process. Instead, Jonathan empties the would-be thief's pockets while the man had distracted himself.
This resulted in the piece of gum that Jonathan is now chewing. He had tossed the empty crumpled foil wrapper at the back of the man's head when they passed each other on the way towards their destination.
-----
Lucas kills this chapter: 0
Lucas total kills: 6
Lucas deaths this chapter: 0
Lucas total deaths: 6
Lucas current GDV: 4.39
Jonathan current GDV: .69 (nice) (-.01 net change)
-----
Little character theater:
Jonathan is off to the side blowing bubbles with his recently acquired gum.
Lucas, very confused: Wait, where did he get gum from? More importantly, why didn't I get any?
427, exasperated: [Please teach your sidekick that stealing is wrong, even if it is only something small, done out of vengeful spite.]
Author, struggling to hold back their laughter: Oh no, bad puppy! No more exploding paint cans for you! ...That's a normal punishment for stealing someone's gum, right?
Previous Chapter
Related Chapters
I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please Ch23 - That's What She Said
Having recently arrived at a major four-way intersection, Lucas and Jonathan stare up at the massive building diagonally across from them. Multi-tiered stone steps lead up to a corner entrance, its double-wide glass doors are held open with large free-standing signs with the store's current promotional information on them. Above the broad entryway is a sign with "MF Fashion Boutique" written in a large and elegant font.The outer walls are completely transparent, the floor-to-ceiling windows showing that every floor has a double-height ceiling. The first six floors display a mix of tables and myriad racks on racks of merchandise, with the occasional male mannequin or other such promotional displays. Beyond these six floors, the remaining ones still have a few promotional displays, however, there are walls covered in posters and tapestries blocking off further sight inside behind the
I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please Ch24 - Cloth Mountain
As Jonathan diligently takes inventory of every single style of clothing on the first floor, Lucas is slowly being buried under a mountain of fabric. Not that he has been putting up any resistance, if anything he keeps verbally directing Jonathan to grab more things in his size as well. While he is unaffected by the weight of what he is carrying, he feels tired from watching Jonathan zipping back and forth.[...Are you two planning on buying the entire store?]'Pfft, look how excited he is. Besides, we both should probably have several changes of clothes left at each of the apartments we get tomorrow anyway, so no harm in getting a bit extra. A lot extra. This really is a lot, isn't it?'[Just how do you plan on getting it all home?]
I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please Ch25 - Mind Flare
While the mighty cloth mountain, as sung in legend, was once the tallest point at the checkout counter, it has been trounced by the glorious shoe tower. Insignificant before its regal splendor, Jonathan has to hand the shoebox he bears to Mind Flare to add to its majestic parapets.[Oh dear. You probably won't make it to the grocery store tonight at this rate. Is there anything you're in the mood for, I'll start researching restaurants in the area for you in advance?]'Uhh... Not really. Apart from being rude, I'm worried if I ask Jonathan right now, we'll end up with a third joining us. And making the plans for us. Whew. At least hearing Jon's version of the exploding duffel bag incident was pretty funny. I guess MF is a bit... Lonely?'[Probably, on multiple
I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please Ch26 - Efficiency
No longer being supported by telekinesis, the rack of merchandise heavily crashes back onto the ground. Surprisingly, only a single shirt slips off of its hanger onto the ground, otherwise, all of the remaining merchandise stays more or less in place.Mind Flare sighs heavily, every ounce of his body language expressing how absolutely done he is. Pulling a handkerchief out from one of his suit jacket's pockets, he carefully dabs some of the blood off of his face, taking care not to smudge his makeup. After doing this, he wipes his hands off a bit as well, dropping the handkerchief onto the soiled floor once he's done. Then, he raises his right hand to blow out two short whistles using his thumb and index finger.With far less care than Mind Flare had used, Lucas pulls his hoodie off to wipe his hands and face on the inside of
I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please Ch27 - Mikah
After some time spent in spoiled luxury, Lucas is lazily reclining in the front area for floor eight. Without any traces of Jonathan in sight, Lucas eventually asked a bot to go hunt him down.'Ya know, either that robot has better fashion sense than me, or it was someone else that picked the clothes out.'[I wasn't tracking Mind Flare at the time if that is what you are insinuating. Though he does have a whole team of designers staying here, so it wouldn't be too weird to have a person hand select it.]He has an absentminded look on his face as he rolls the bottom hem of the shirt between his right thumb and index finger. The soft fabric is certainly a much higher grade than something he'd expected to get for free. Also, the entire outfit of; a dark green hal
I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please Ch28 - Isekai Knowledge
Taking longer than was really necessary, Jonathan eventually settles on light blue pajamas covered in cartoon fishes and a dark blue tracksuit with a few vertical white stripes. With these painstaking selections bagged to go, Lucas leads him off for the grand finale of the trip, the suits.Ever since Mikah left, 427 and Lucas have been having a constant back and forth.[-Also, while being aware of other supes nearby is clearly beneficial, when we're at a large organization HQ like this there is obviously a very high concentration of them. Though yes, I will admit, that ones that there would be a reason I cannot inform you of them in real-time are worth advance notice.]'As long as you admit to your mistake.'
I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please Ch29 - Unfounded Smugness
After a bout of comical posing, Lucas's attention returns to reality. Once again aware of the presence of the patiently waiting service bot, he loudly clears his throat before speaking."Ah, yes. Very good, we'll be wanting several each. Does it cost anything extra for putting in custom orders?" Given his cadence and choice of words, one could almost forget how ridiculous he was being mere seconds ago. But not quite, it was just too much.He'd probably deny it all the way to his grave, but Lucas is rather enjoying the absurdity of superpowers in this world, and this new villain lifestyle. You can get away with anything."Only the cost of modifications selected would affect pricing. The suits available in-store ready-made are largely to allow distinguished villains to t
I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please Ch30 - Truck-Kun
[Hmm, that greeting from the raven might not have been for your benefit. Seems it caught Black Ash Snow's attention and he's on his way from the back room.]'I can sorta understand getting MF's attention between the rainbow disaster and how much money I spent, but I really don't know why Ash is in on it too.'[Who could say?]The raven seems to have become greatly agitated all of a sudden, hopping from side to side while making a grand display of flapping its wings. With its croaking squawks of varying intensity, it seems to feel the cause is urgent.'What's got him all riled up all of a-'As Lucas turns his attention from the fluffy cut
Latest Chapter
- I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please
Vol 2 Ch 11 - System Updates
Lucas and Jonathan—dressed decently but nowhere near as fancy as yesterday—are most of the way to Cat’s Paw Cafe, pointedly not utilizing the stinky subway station to get there.‘Ya know, it’s been surprisingly peaceful, yeah? Though, not havin’ people gawk as much as yesterday is kinda nice. All that attention was gettin’ old fast.’[Ahem, well, fortunately, Boss System approved my long-term task priority filtering proposal.]‘Oh? Whassat?’[Compared to before, now it requires an opt-in before being bombarded with every single task in range. Before receiving alerts—and therefore penalties for ignoring them—we’ll run the calculations of the tasks’ estimated impact vs. potential unwanted attention. This effectively weeds out a majority of minor tasks—plus some moderate ones—by accounting for how suspicious it would be for you to know the event was taking place, let alone be believably compelled to interfere. I knew there was no need to ask if you were interested in activating it immedi
- I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please
Vol 2 Ch 10 - Chosen Chores
Once the allotted thirty minutes have passed—precisely down to the second—427 tentatively undeafens Lucas. At first, all he can hear is a booklet’s pages being flipped through, followed by Lucas grumbling.Hesitantly removing the remaining sensory suppressions one at a time, 427 nearly sighs with relief upon discovering that Lucas is standing in the kitchenette by the new automatic drip coffee maker—thankfully dressed—in the midst of poorly attempting to demystify its instruction manual.‘How the hell is this so complicated?’[Ah, making good on your promise to Jonathan?]‘Oh, thank fuck; yer back. Took ya long enough.’[…Hello, again, to you, too.]‘Yeah, yeah, yeah. Welcome back. So, anywho, can ya scan through this or somethin’ and tell me how to use it?’[…I already looked up the instructions from everything’s model numbers earlier. First, measure out—]427 guides Lucas through measuring and grinding a serving’s worth of coffee beans and setting it up in the machine with such in-d
- I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please
Vol 2 Ch 9 - Solitary Request
For a few peaceful minutes, Lucas delights in demolishing the delicious delicatessen delivery. As Jonathan reaches for his coffee cup to gauge if it’s cool enough for a sane person to drink, he ends up cutting himself off with a yawn, earning a side-eye from Lucas.“Hey, ya barely got any sleep, yeah? Instead of havin’ caffeine, shouldn’t ya go take a nap?” Upon Lucas’s question, Jonathan pauses, looking at the contents of his mug with an obvious longing. “I’ll make ya a fresh one in like half an hour; I’m sure 427 can figure out howta use whatever newfangled machine ya got,” Lucas continues, his eyes also fixed on the beverage.[…I suppose I appreciate your vote of confidence.]Jonathan’s gaze lingers on the coveted coffee for a moment before he sets it back on the table. As soon as he lets go of it, Lucas lays his claim upon it.“Um, o-okay, yeah. I just, um, sh-should take a shower first,” Jonathan stammers as he stands.Lucas hums an agreement around a mouthful of coffee.[Did y
- I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please
Vol 2 Ch 8 - Good Un-Morning
Thankfully, there are no further interruptions during the rest of this round of deliveries. Or even during the next one, either.Once Jonathan finally has the fourth and final load of freight, he makes a detour to a delicatessen. More specifically, the one where he previously purchased yesterday’s breakfast.After equally uneventfully acquiring milk, third breakfast for himself, and first breakfast for Lucas—since he’d totally only eat sugary baked goods if real food wasn’t conveniently available—he makes his way home.With his back to the recently re-locked front door, Jonathan reclaims the last armload of supplies as he looks at Lucas’s still-shut bedroom door.‘…Our food will still be too hot to eat for a little while; I’ll make some coffee first.’Jonathan may or may not be making up excuses to keep putting off waking up Lucas in the hopes that he’ll do so on his own, knowing full well that he probably won’t.While taking longer than necessary to decide which appliance to christen
- I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please
Vol 2 Ch 7 - Ongoing Onerous Obligations
“Ah! Um…” Jonathan’s face scrunches up a bit as he looks over his pending purchases.‘Can we at least turn off tasks while my hands are full? I really don’t want to drop everything and have it get broken or stolen by the time I get back to it… It will be annoying enough having to run back and forth a bunch.’[Requesting temporary task suppression… Permission granted; disregarding minor tasks for one hour at no penalty, effective immediately.]Jonathan barely represses his urge to sigh with relief.Before Ji Soo works up the nerve to express concern over Jonathan’s vacant stare at the wall behind the service bot, Jonathan’s attention returns to reality and redirects to said bot.“Um, c-could you hold some of it for a few minutes once I’m done paying? I-I won’t take long… Like, five minutes?” Before fidgety Jonathan even finishes asking his question, the bot is already nodding.“Certainly. Do you wish to use a private scanning kiosk to complete your order?”‘I’m surprised it’s even an
- I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please
Vol 2 Ch 6 - Whole Latte Shopping
Jonathan, however, doesn’t hear the utterance of recognition. Unaware, he continues his quest for a coffee maker.A short time later, Jonathan stands--while quietly grumbling--before a row of two-in-one coffee/espresso machines.Behind him is a sea of drip coffee machines, with cold press equipment further off to the side. Alongside the arrangement of two-in-ones sits a selection of espresso machines, both automatic and semi-automatic.‘How are there so many!? What even are the differences? Wait, no, don’t answer that. The technical details will probably just be even more confusing.’[Understood.]Although Jonathan notices movement in his peripheral vision, he doesn’t outwardly react to the recent arrival at the end of the aisle. Instead, he pulls out one of the two-in-one machines set at eye level, rotating it so he can read the back of the box.“Ah! Don’t get one of those! That entire line is overpriced trash,” the newcomer blurts out, muffled by the layers of carbon-filter fabric f
- I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please
Vol 2 Ch 5 - The Worst Part of Waking Up Is Almost Endless Tasks
After the harrowing--see also; totally normal--experience of getting his hair professionally cut, Jonathan blinks a few times as he looks himself over in the mirror. ‘Oh, wow. That’s way better.’ He’s now sporting a long-top, backswept, tapered hairstyle with a rounded back. Given how clearly tense he was throughout the entire cutting process, a trendy skin fade would have fairly obviously been too much for his liking. After giving Jonathan a few moments to make his mental evaluations, one of the hairdresser’s dreadlocks uses a soft-bristle brush to clear away the loose hair clippings around the collar of the barber cape. A few other coils of his hair organize the various tools he used, setting them aside for cleaning. Meanwhile, he quickly sweeps aside the bulk of the rogue tufts of hair on the ground in a much more conventional hands-on-broom method as he uses the mirror to make eye contact with Jonathan again. “Lookin’ good, mon. Well? Whaddya tink?” His question pulls Jonath
- I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please
Vol 2 Ch 4 - Coiffure Conundrum
Once Jonathan is finally en route to the hairdresser...[Safe distance from Mikah’s power detected. Alert; you have exceeded 10 GDV. You have one enhancement available.]‘Oh! Um, you said before that rank three vision should be good enough to see through Maria’s powers, right?’[Correct, rank three should be sufficient as long as her target is in motion. Rank four would be necessary to see anything stationary, given the current strength of her powers. Please be aware that going beyond rank three for any individual enhancement has additional requirements.]‘Three should be good enough to avoid most of her pranks... Use my upgrade on vision.’[Please confirm that you would like rank two vision.]‘Yeah.’[Understood. Please close your eyes during calibrations to avoid nausea.]Jonathan slows from running at enhanced speed into a normal-paced jog for a few steps, then stops and shuts his eyes.[Bzzt... Calibrations complete.]He opens his eyes and looks around, blinking several times.‘Wo
- I'd Like to Change My Reincarnation Subscription, Please
Vol 2 Ch 3 - Chaos in the Streets, Asleep in the Sheets
The duo’s fiery funnel further forces the growing multi-car pile-up towards the middle of the street for a few seconds longer. Finally, the flames falter and fade. After a short delay, the wind wanes as well.‘Oh, I shouldn’t give them any extra reasons to think I’m a threat.’Jonathan swiftly shuts and pockets his switchblade as he follows the sidewalk. While doing so, his attention flicks between the ongoing chaos in the street and the front door of Howling Cartographer’s HQ lobby.Ashley steps through the door with Jason right behind her. They both take a moment to appreciate their destructive handiwork with smug expressions. Considering that Jonathan is conspicuously the only person still in the immediate vicinity, they quickly focus on him.Before either of them manage anything beyond a glare, Jonathan raises both hands in a submissive gesture, showing that he isn't wielding a weapon. "I-I just wanted his gun!"Ashley's exposed eye squints with amusement, the not hair-hidden cor
