# [V], <s>26, 16</s>, 13 bytes

<pre><code>ä$Àñã2xñVpø&#136;±
</code></pre>

[Try it online!][TIO-j9fuzyjr]

[V]: https://github.com/DJMcMayhem/V
[TIO-j9fuzyjr]: https://tio.run/##K/v///ASlcMNhzceXmxUcXhjWMHhHYc6Dm38/z8xCQT/mwEA "V – Try It Online"

Hexdump:

    00000000: e424 c0f1 e332 78f1 5670 f888 b1         .$...2x.Vp...

1 indexed.

Explanation:

    ä$                  " Duplicate this line horizontally
      Àñ   ñ            " Arg1 times...
        ã               "   Move to the center of this line
         2x             "   And delete two characters
            V           " Select this whole line
             p          " And replace it with the last pair of characters we deleted
              ø         " Count the number of matches of the following regex...
               <0x88>   "   Any character
                     ±  "   Followed by itself


For reference, my original answer was:

[V]: https://github.com/DJMcMayhem/V
[TIO-j9fuis6r]: https://tio.run/##ASUA2v92///DpCTDgMOxw6N4eMOxaDJ4VnDDuMKIwrH//3BwcXFwcf8y "V – Try It Online"

    Àñx$x|ñxv$hhpÓ¨.©±/1
    ñllS0

[Try it online!] (0 indexed)

[V]: https://github.com/DJMcMayhem/V
[Try it online!]: https://tio.run/nexus/v#@3@44fDGCpWKGiBZppKRUXB48qEVeodWHtqob8h1eGNOTrDB//8eqTmp@f8NAQ "V – TIO Nexus"

Hexdump:

    00000000: c0f1 7824 787c f178 7624 6868 70d3 a82e  ..x$x|.xv$hhp...
    00000010: a9b1 2f31 0af1 6c6c 5330                 ../1..llS0