Drastic Measures

The sunlight coming through the windows gradually hit my eyes as I opened them. Mrs. Kawahara stood in front of me and stared at me with her eyes wide open.

"Keita?" she asked.

"Yes?"

A deep breath came out of her mouth. "That's a relief."

"A relief?" the guy sitting next to me stammered while looking down at the floor. "I'm still in Keita's body."

Only then did I realize I was still sitting next to me. "What happened?" I asked.

Mrs. Kawahara looked at me. "It seems like the swapping process didn't complete, but it's a relief that we don't have two Emi's or two Keita's."

My heart skipped a beat. "Has that happened before?"

She merely smiled before turning around and walking away as she whistled.

Mr. Araki stood up from the sofa and asked her, "Saori, why didn't you tell us about that?"

She stood still for a moment, then she looked at him. "Because that happened years ago and it was a different experiment. I'm not sure what happened just now. It might've been a fluke caused by the cure."

"So, what do we do now?" I wondered.

"I'll call the scientists that are currently specialized in this research. You'll probably have to wait another half an hour to try to swap bodies again."

And so we did.

Two scientists came into the room and asked even more questions about what happened and how we felt.

The cooldown time ran out and we started the swapping process again, this time by properly touching each other's skin to see if that changed the result. We fell asleep within five minutes.

A couple of minutes later, we woke up in each other's bodies again. My stomach churned and I felt lightheaded. I could only imagine how Emi felt in my body.

The time for our appointment was over and the next couple was already waiting outside, so we were asked to leave and come back the next day.

Mrs. Kawahara walked with us back to the car. We all hopped in, although Mrs. Kozue was now in the driver's seat instead of Mr. Araki.

Mrs. Kawahara stood next to the driver's door. "I'm extremely sorry for this," she apologized. "I'll allocate more of my time to help the scientists find a solution."

"Don't worry, you didn't know this was going to happen," Mrs. Kozue replied. "We'll see you tomorrow."

Mrs. Kawahara nodded with a smile and walked away. Meanwhile, we remained silent in the car. Seeing myself sitting in sadness on the other side of the seat was weird, but I felt defeated as well.

"Yōko, Keita, do you want to come to our house to have lunch?" Mrs. Kozue asked.

"That would be great," Mom answered.

Mrs. Kozue turned the engine on and we drove off.

It took a little longer to reach Emi's house, but it still was a reasonable amount of time. Thinking Mrs. Kozue had stopped to turn the car off, the garage gate in front of us opened on its own. Mrs. Kozue then carefully drove into the garage, where another smaller car was parked, and stopped next to it.

Finally, we got out of the car. The house was similar to ours, both in looks and size, which I didn't expect since I had searched for information about Emi's family on the Internet after everyone kept talking about it in class. They had a world-famous restaurant chain, managed by Mr. Araki's sister, so I expected to see a mansion.

We stepped inside and I was once again hit by the fact that it was a regular home. A couple of coffee tables with plants on top of them sat next to the stairs in the hallway that connected to four rooms. Paintings and portraits hung on the walls as well.

"Please make yourselves at home while Koji and I prepare the food," Mrs. Kozue smiled. "Emi, guide them to the living room and turn the TV on," she said while looking at me. "Ah, I'm sorry, I'm still a bit confused," she laughed nervously.

Emi didn't have to wait to be asked again and walked into one of the rooms. She didn't say anything, yet we guessed we were supposed to follow her.

The room was quite a bit bigger than our living room, while the TV seemed to be double the size. Aside from more plants, there were a couple of bookshelves and a cage with three bunnies inside. However, what surprised me the most was that there was a piano on the corner.

Emi grabbed the remote from the coffee table between the sofa and the TV and turned it on. She set the remote on the table again and stood next to the sofa.

"Take a seat," she breathed.

Mom smiled, "Thank you."

She sat in the middle of the sofa, while Emi and I sat on either end. I was curious about the piano and the bunnies, so I asked.

"Emi, do you play the piano?"

She shook her head. "My mom does."

"Oh, she's going to be the Music Club teacher, right?"

Emi nodded.

"Everyone has been talking about it. Looks like they all love her."

Although Emi was still staring down at the wooden floor, I could see the corners of her lips curving up slightly. It felt weird to keep looking at myself as I showed these expressions, but it was different this time.

"Are you going to join the Music Club?" I asked.

She didn't hesitate to shake her head.

"I see. Which one are you going to join, then?"

"I… don't know."

"Do any of them interest you? What do you like to do?"

She took a moment to answer, "Nothing."

For the first time, I felt like I was bothering her, so I stopped talking about it. However, she asked back.

"Do you… have any hobbies?"

I did, but it was something I didn't feel confident talking about. "I don't," I laughed nervously.

Mom stared at me with a deadpan expression then sighed. "I haven't heard you talk this much to someone apart from your Mamma and me."

"Yeah, swapping bodies also affects our personalities."

"It must be very freeing to be able to talk without mental barriers." She looked at Emi, who snapped her head away. "And it must be extremely frustrating not to be able to say what you want."

Emi's smile disappeared. "It is."

"Ah, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to ruin the mood. Why don't you tell me about your bunnies? They are incredibly cute."

"Bunnies," Emi said and the three of us looked back at them. "The dad of the youngest one just died, but he's the fourth generation since my dad won a bunny."

"He won a bunny? How do you win a bunny?" I wondered.

"My parents said it was a weird prize for the Egg Hunt."

"Egg Hunt?"

"It's exactly what the name implies," Mr. Araki replied as he walked into the living room. "A hunt for easter eggs around Kasen."

"Koji. Aren't you busy? Do you need help?" Mom asked.

"Don't worry, we didn't want to leave our guests alone for too much time."

"But we aren't alone, Emi's taking good care of us."

"Really? That's good to hear."

While they talked, I couldn't help but stare at a picture hanging on the wall behind Mr. Araki as the woman in it looked familiar. A young Mr. Araki stood in the middle between her and an elder man in what looked like a forest.

Suddenly, Mr. Araki appeared in my sight again. He glanced back at the picture and looked back at me. "Is something bothering you?"

"No!" I stuttered. "It's just that I think I've seen that woman before."

He glanced back again. "She was my family's maid when that picture was taken, but then she became a very famous streamer."

My brain instantly connected the dots as soon as he said that. "I remember now. She recently retired, right?"

"Yes, but she's still active in many other ways, like giving scholarships to people that are studying anything related to video games or cosplay."

"That's awesome. It's already rare for a maid to become a streamer, but it's even rarer that I'm in the house of the man of the family she worked for. And who is the older man?"

He turned around and stayed silent for a moment. "He was the family's butler, but he was part of the family as well." The silence extended a little longer before he talked again. "Well, since Emi's taking good care of you, I'll go help Suzuka in the kitchen." He walked out of the room.

Mom, Emi, and I continued talking until Mrs. Kozue came to the living room to guide us to the dining room. She and Mr. Araki had already served the plates, so we simply sat down and began to eat.

Despite the meal being breaded chicken, rice, and seaweed, I had never eaten something so rich that looked that simple.

"This is delicious!" I burst after gulping the first bite.

"Thank you," both Mr. Araki and Mrs. Kozue replied at the same time.

"I have never seen you this happy when you've eaten. Is our cooking that bad?" Mom sniffled.

"No! It's just that this is…"

"Better than our cooking?"

My mouth stayed open as I didn't know how to answer without it sounding bad.

"I'm playing with you," she grinned. "It is more than delicious. I can't even describe it with words."

"We really appreciate that," Mrs. Kozue smiled.

"We can give you the recipe if you want," Mr. Araki added.

Mom's eyes opened wide. "Are you serious?"

"Why not? But we don't have it written down, we'd need to give it to you a little later."

"We could exchange numbers," Mrs. Kozue suggested, "something we should actually do anyway in case something happens to Emi or Keita."

"That's a good idea," Mom replied. "Keita, Emi, you should exchange numbers too, but do it after eating. I can't wait to eat this!"

I shared her sentiment, so I didn't hesitate to continue eating.

Mom was the first one to finish. I was used to that, but she did it in record time. She was embarrassed to ask for more, yet she did anyway.

The rest of us had only finished the first plate when Mom finished her second one. I knew she was capable of asking for even more, but she held back.

Emi's parents and Mom exchanged numbers, and Emi and I did the same. Since we still had our phones in our original bodies' pockets, we unlocked them and added each other's numbers before handing the phones to each other.

Emi's parents were about to start washing dishes, but Mom and I insisted that they let us wash them instead to return the favor. They accepted after a few tries.

We chatted a little as we washed the dishes, then we returned to sit down at the table.

"So, what should we do now?" Mr. Araki asked.

"Well, we'll go back to the university tomorrow," Mom replied.

"Do you think they will have a solution?" I wondered.

Everyone's silence was enough for me to understand the answer. Suddenly, Mrs. Kozue's expression turned into a frown.

"Emi, are you sure you don't want to… kiss Keita? This would all be over in a blink."

Emi glanced at her before looking down at the table. "How do we know?"

"How do we know what?" Mr. Araki asked.

"That it will work now that we are stuck. For all we know, we could be stuck forever."

"Don't be so pessimistic, young lady," Mrs. Kozue scolded.

"I'm sorry."

It seemed like she was about to say something else but preferred to stay with a more simple answer.

Silence encompassed the room for a while until Mrs. Kozue spoke again.

"Look, I'm proud that you don't want to kiss someone that you just met but, if you don't do it, we'll have to take more drastic measures."

Everyone frowned in confusion.

Emi stared at Mrs. Kozue as she replied, "Like what? Pushing our faces against each other?"

"Practically, yes."

Everyone's eyes opened wide.

"What do you mean, Darling?" Mr. Araki asked.

Mrs. Kozue didn't answer him. Instead, she kept looking at Emi.

"Emi, haven't you realized what being stuck in Keita's body implies?"

It took a few seconds for her jaw to drop. Only then did it hit me as well.

Mrs. Kozue continued, "It won't take long before you have to use the bathroom. You'll eventually have to change into other clothes and you'll have to take a shower sooner or later. Not only that, but a specific part of Keita's body won't listen to you—"

"Stop!" Emi yelled as she smashed the table to stand up.

Suddenly, she looked at me with fierce eyes and started walking toward me. My heart beat faster and faster as she approached me. She seized the neck of my shirt and pulled me to stand up.

Her face got closer and closer to mine. My chest was being hammered by my heart as I stared at her lips. A thousand emotions attacked my body at once, when she suddenly pushed me back and ran away.

It took a few seconds for me to be able to breathe again. Everyone was shocked and we took a couple of minutes to calm down.

"This will be harder than I expected," Mrs. Kozue sighed. "It's not only her common sense that is in the way, it's also fear."

"What are we going to do?" Mom asked.

Mrs. Kozue glanced at her and then at me before answering, "I have an idea, but we'll all need to cooperate. It goes against what I've been saying and Emi will hate us."

Mom and I looked at each other, then she replied, "If you think it's going to work, we are all ears."