Candy I

Mrs. Kawahara and Ms. Enko bowed at us one more time before they turned around and walked back into the university. They had accompanied us to the entrance to send us off. Sachiko was still in Jun's body, Jun was in mine, and I was in Sachiko's.

The last sun rays of the day hit me directly in the face as we walked the sidewalk of the university in complete silence. My heart had been pounding in my chest since the moment I realized we had gotten stuck in each other's bodies.

"Is it alright if we sit down a little?" asked Sachiko, crestfallen in Jun's body.

"Sure," Jun answered in my body.

We sat down together on the bench on the sidewalk, not caring about touching by accident anymore. I focused on my breathing as the silence remained, calming my heart at last. The shadows of the buildings finally covered our bodies, and the temperature didn't take long to cool us down.

Sachiko's sniff made Jun and I turn to see her brush her eyes with her hands. It was weird seeing Jun cry for the first time, and it must've been even weirder for Jun to see himself cry. We didn't say anything, yet she still apologized.

"I'm sorry. The three of us are in this mess and I'm the only one not keeping it together."

"Don't worry, everyone has different levels of tolerance to stress and pain in general," I said.

Jun added, "Just tell us if something is bothering you and we'll do what we can to help."

"Exactly."

Sachiko glanced at us from the middle of the bench, then looked down at the pavement again.

"There is something. Do you remember I told you I just got engaged?"

My eyes opened wide. I snapped my head down to see my left ring finger, confirming that a beautiful ring wrapped it with a pink, shining gemstone. My hand wouldn't stop shaking as I stared at it.

Sachiko continued, "If the scientists aren't able to find a solution, there'll be no other option but to… have sex, and hope it still works for our case. If it doesn't…"

"Let's not think about that yet," replied Jun. "They are just as concerned as we are, so they might have something for us next week. I see why you're worried, though. It won't be easy to bring a topic like this to the table with your fiancé."

"Especially with her."

The way she said it made me raise my head and ask.

"What do you mean?"

She sighed. "I didn't want to talk about such personal matters with other people, but it'll only make the situation worse. My fiancé is…"

Sachiko's phone ringtone interrupted her.

"She's calling. Answer."

"What? But I don't know anything…"

"Just answer! Try to act like me and put the call on speakers; I'll whisper what you should say to her."

My heartbeat raced in a snap. I shook my head as I reached for her phone in the pocket of her pants. I read the name of the caller.

Candy….

About to slide the button to answer the call, I realized that I didn't even know how to address her.

"How should I greet her?" I asked.

"Don't worry about it, she'll do most of the talking."

Sachiko's frown hadn't been this intense before. I gulped saliva down one last time before answering. I pressed the speaker button and lifted the phone to my ear. It was the same side Sachiko was on, so I changed ears quickly.

Her fiancé had already started talking while I did all of that.

"Honey! How did the afternoon treat you? Are you ready for tonight's date? Can you believe it's the last one before we move in together? Well, only if you don't count the packing Sundays as dates, which I don't."

That's too much to take in at once! Date? Moving in together? Packing Sundays?

Luckily, Sachiko came to my rescue.

"Yes, I'm ready," she whispered in my free ear.

Really? An answer that short after everything she said? Whatever. There's no time to doubt.

"Yes, I'm ready," I said.

Even I was surprised at how genuinely and smoothly the words came out of my mouth.

Sachiko's fiancé replied, "Sweet! I can't wait to bury my face between those…. Oops, I'm already getting carried away," she giggled.

My mind went blank, but Sachiko's red face made it obvious she was having a worse time.

Sachiko's fiancé continued, "I'll stop bothering you and let you get ready. I just called you to make sure there weren't any problems."

Yes, there's one big problem. I know I'm meddling too much, but we should tell her before it's too late.

"About that…"

"Stop!" Sachiko yelled in a whisper.

I moved the phone away from my ear and whispered back.

"Do you really want me to have a date with your fiancé?"

"We don't have a choice!"

Sachiko's fiancé said, "Honey? Hello?"

"Just… say goodbye and we'll talk," added Sachiko.

I sighed and rested the phone back on my ear.

"Just wanted to say you're not bothering me."

"Aw! I know that, but it's nice to hear you say it."

A shiver went down my spine.

Ew.

She added, "See you in a couple hours!"

"Bye."

The call ended and I was able to breathe again.

"Good job," said Jun. "You got really good at acting like Sachiko in no time."

"I don't know how," I replied. "It became easier when I stopped worrying about what to say."

"Interesting."

Sachiko lowered her head. "I'm sorry for raising my voice at you, it's just that my fiancé can be somewhat… explosive."

"Explosive?" I wondered.

"Yes. Her name is Ame, by the way. I would've loved to introduce you to her properly, but there are several reasons I've been delaying that."

"Do you want to tell us?"

She sighed. "She can be extremely jealous, and her temperament is very fragile. She… has her reasons."

"There are no excuses for things like that."

"Rie! We don't know anything about her," Jun scolded.

"She's right," said Sachiko. "There are no excuses for her behavior. I managed to take her with me to a couple of therapy sessions, but she refused to go anymore because she believed she was already healthy and it was just a waste of money."

That doesn't sound very good.

Sachiko started massaging her own temples.

"We could've told her about it today, but I'd really prefer to wait until next Sunday in case the scientists find a solution. I can't even imagine how she'll react if we tell her about our situation."

"You know that delaying it will only make it worse, right?" I asked.

"We could just have sex and get over it," suggested Jun.

I glared at him. "Jun."

"That's a very valid suggestion," said Sachiko.

"Huh?"

"However, I wouldn't dare do it behind Ame's back. If we're going to do it, she has to know."

I took a long deep breath, then exhaled.

"Alright. How am I supposed to survive a date with her without knowing anything about her?"

"Good question," Sachiko replied.

The three of us remained silent until Jun spoke.

"Do you own wireless earphones?"

Sachiko answered, "I do, but they are in my apartment."

"Doesn't matter. Rie has to go there to get ready for the date anyway, right?"

She nodded.

"Rie will keep one earphone on all the time, which she'll hide with her hairstyle, and Sachiko will be able to help you at any time."

"Will I be able to hear their conversation?" asked Sachiko.

I answered, "There are ways to disable the microphone's filters. The quality of the call will be awful, but you should be able to hear everything if I leave the purse open on the table."

"Wow, you've already thought of taking a purse with you and everything," said Jun.

"No, I just assumed I was going to wear a dress for the date," I replied. "Is that a problem, Sachiko?"

She answered, "I wasn't thinking of wearing a dress, but no, that shouldn't be a problem."

"That settles it, then," smiled Jun.

Why does he look excited about this?

"By the way, where are we going to sleep for the next week?" he asked. "Should we go to our real places or… our bodies' places?"

Sachiko answered before I could even think.

"Can we keep this a secret? At least until next Sunday. We'll discuss how to proceed after the appointment."

"That's fine with me," Jun replied. "I should have it easy since Rie lives alone."

"Do you live alone as well?" Sachiko wondered.

"No, I live with my father and his partner, but they don't give a damn about me, so you'll have it easy too."

To say that with a smile on his face….

"That's a relief," said Sachiko. "The only one that will struggle is Rie, but that should only be tonight. Ame and I rarely meet each other during the week because we're both busy with work, though we call each other every night."

I sighed.

Why me?

"Let's get over it," I said. "Should we go together to your apartment, Sachiko?"

"No."

"Why? Does she spy on you?"

She took a moment to answer.

"I don't think so, but she might appear at any moment, so let's avoid that."

It's sad that she has to doubt her fiancé.

"Alright."

We stood up and walked to the underground station nearby. We took the same train to get closer to the city, then we split up and took different lines.

I followed the directions on the Maps app to go to Sachiko's apartment, my new home for the next week. I got off at the indicated station and walked toward the apartment.

As usual, Sachiko wore high heels, and it became difficult to walk with them as soon as I realized it. However, it was significantly easier than last time, and I forgot about it as soon as my mind wandered off again.

I arrived, but only then did I realize that I didn't know Sachiko's apartment number, I only remembered walking downstairs when we swapped bodies for the first time. I opened the contact list on the phone, then I also realized that Sachiko and Jun hadn't added each other's phone numbers before.

Fuck me. At least there's still an hour and a half to spare.

A phone number suddenly popped up in my head. I was certain it was Jun's, yet I still messaged myself—Jun in my body—to ask him to give me his number. Luckily, he replied quickly, and he gave me the same number I had remembered.

Why do I still remember it?

I messaged Jun—Sachiko in his body—to ask for her apartment number. She took a little longer to reply, but nothing too bad.

I walked upstairs and tried to open the door. Obviously, it was locked, so I took out Sachiko's wallet from the pocket of her pants and looked for a key. I found two. The first one didn't work, but the second one did.

I let out a deep breath.

Finally.

I stepped inside and closed the door behind me. My first instinct was to jump into bed and bury my face in the pillow. However, the rest was cut short when Sachiko's phone started vibrating in my pocket. I took it out and read the name.

Unknown? It must be Sachiko from Jun's phone.

I answered. "Hello?"

"Rie, it's me," Sachiko said in Jun's voice.

"Yeah, I guessed so. I'll save his number…"

"No, don't save it."

"Why?"

"Because it'll be hard to explain to Ame why I have a guy in my contact list."

"But aren't you…. You know what? Nevermind."

"Thank you. Are you getting ready for tonight?" she asked.

"Not yet. I was lying on your bed for a moment…."

"Let's not lose time, shall we? Share your camera so that I can help you."

I sighed. "Fine…."