On The Side Of The Pitch With You

Story of Kiel

"My name is Potomuri. I am not from Earth. As of now, I exist as only a soul." It went over to Mizukawa's sleeping form and pointed to her before continuing with, "I have joined with you to participate in this fight by sharing Mizukawa Minori's body."

"This... can't be real..." Kusaka's voice struggled to get his words out.

"W-What the heck is going on?!" Tetsukado stuttered. "Why have you joined us?!"

"Well. My planet was destroyed in the past by the appearance of a black hole, as is now. Right before my planet was sucked into the black hole and destroyed, I alone managed to escape from my home planet."

"Just you?" Tenma asked.

It― He? She? Let's just go with 'it'― nodded. "However, my escape failed and, as a result, I lost my physical body."

"U-Um, but... Doesn't losing your physical body mean you're dead?" Sakura and Konoha were hugging each other tightly. "That means you're a ghost!"

"EHHH?!"

First, Shuu. Then, that Acrous guy. And now, this clown... Potomuri, was it? Kimiko was glad that she was standing behind all the others. She didn't really have any way of hiding her lack of fear.

"Well, let's leave it at that for now." Potomuri continued on with his story. "As a spirit, I wandered the galaxy until I arrived at Earth. By then, I was hanging on by barely even a thread of consciousness. A soul gradually vanishes without a body to dwell in. Therefore, I used the last, feeble remnants of my power to save this girl's dying life, while at the same time, using her body to extend my own."

Well, that explains the double consciousness she felt.

"So that my spirit does not end up rooted to Minori's body, I have preserved my spirit by alternatively dwelling between this doll and her body." It gestured to its own body and Mizukawa's respectively. "Without any idea on my purpose in life, I simply existed each day. Then one day, I felt the presence of someone like me arriving down from space."

"And that was Ozrock." Tenma assumed.

It nodded again. "I felt as if it was destiny."

Destiny, huh... Kimiko bit her lip to stop herself from sneering.

"Earth is very similar to my own planet. I began to think that perhaps my reason for being alive was so I could save Earth. The name of my planet is Kiel. Lady Katora is the princess of my home planet."

Tenma's eyes widened. "Then, could Katora have survived too?"

"Impossible." The doll bluntly replied. "There were no signs of anyone other than myself having escaped. Immediately before I escaped, I saw Kiel disappear into the black hole with my very own eyes. The princess that you saw could only have been an illusion."

But―

"But I never even heard her name before." Tenma reasoned, trying to convince their resident alien (aside the fake that she still refused to acknowledge the existence of) of what he saw.

"Perhaphs you heard the whispers of rumors about her in a town somewhere, and that appeared before you as an apparition." It countered. "Ever since we made contact and began socializing with other planets within the galaxy, there are very few who do not know of either our planet Kiel or Princess Katora."

"Is that so...?"

She couldn't help denounce that logic as she wasn't with Tenma for most of their time around Sandorias, but she wondered if 'Princess Katora' would've appeared so vividly in his memories if that is truly what happened. Before she could interject, a small groan came from the table.