I ran away from the dining room all the way up to my room upstairs. The door shut behind me and I jumped onto the bed, burying my face into the pillow. It took a whole minute for my heart not to feel like it was about to burst out of my chest, yet it hadn't calmed down completely.

I would've never expected Mom to imply things like those. She used to swap bodies with Dad and I couldn't help but imagine the things they had to go through, although they weren't stuck in each other's bodies for long periods of time like Keita and I.

The cold of the pillow slowly cooled my face down. I expected Mom or Dad to come and talk to me, but they hadn't after twenty minutes. I was worried something had happened downstairs, so I took a deep breath and walked out.

No one was in the dining room or the kitchen, then I headed to the living room only to see Mom and Dad watching the TV as they did on any typical day. They wouldn't notice me as I stood still and stared at them.

"What happened?" I asked.

Mom smiled, "What happened to what?"

I hated when someone played dumb. "Where's Keita and Mrs. Yōko?" I frowned.

"There was nothing else to do, so they went home," Dad answered.

They became silent again and they were getting on my nerves. "Why are you acting as if nothing's happened?"

"What do you mean?" Mom smiled. "Is there a reason we should act differently?"

"Just tell me what you're up to already!" I yelled.

Their emotionless expressions didn't change. "The current plan is to go to the university tomorrow," Dad replied. "You know that already."

I had been in this situation many times before; there was nothing I could do to make them confess.

"I hate you," I said and walked back to my room.

 

The afternoon slowly passed by as I watched videos, checked social media, and played games on my computer. I had to adjust the height of my computer chair upward to be able to use the keyboard properly.

At some point, I even forgot I was in Keita's body until it was time for dinner. Dad called me downstairs, but I realized I wasn't hungry. I thought of taking a shower to see if I would get hungry during that time, just to remember I was in Keita's body. Even though I could've found clothes that fit, it was extremely weird knowing Keita was going to wear my clothes. Not only that, but I also didn't want to see Keita naked or even worse: take a shower.

I gave up on the idea and simply went downstairs to eat. Mom and Dad kept pestering me about cleaning myself up and I kept saying no. Yes, it was filthy not to do it, but there was nothing I could do.

Mom asked me to help them wash the dishes and so I did. Once we were done, I headed back to my room and got into bed. I stared at the white ceiling for I don't know how much time until I grabbed my phone and looked for Keita's contact. I started the chat by asking,

"Have you showered?"

The double check under the message indicated he had received the message and it took less than a minute for him to read it, yet he didn't reply for another minute.

"I haven't."

"Good. I would've had to kick you in the face if you did."

He immediately read the message but didn't reply within the next minute, so I continued the conversation.

"Do you want to kiss me?"

Again, the blue double-check appeared under the message instantly but, at least, he replied after almost two minutes.

"If that would solve our problems, yes."

"So, you wouldn't do it if we hadn't swapped bodies."

"No."

"Why?"

"Because of the same reason you don't want to kiss me: I don't want to kiss someone I just met."

I began to type, "Am I not attractive enough?" but deleted it immediately. The phone bounced on the bed and I brushed my face with my hands.

What am I doing? I hate annoying people and I'm acting like one now, but I want to ask him these questions, for some reason.

After growling like a crazy dog, I grabbed the phone again and sent, "Good. See you tomorrow. Don't you dare look at any part of my body."

"I won't. Good night."

I threw the phone at the bed again and pulled the blanket to cover myself up. Why didn't he ask me to do the same? What if he…? I need to stop thinking like this. I'll start tomorrow.

Before I realized it, I had fallen asleep.

 

The light in my room was still on when I woke up. Barely any sunlight came through the window. However, all of those thoughts were thrown away as soon as I felt something pressing against my pants. I rolled around on the bed and lifted the blanket.

Somehow, I managed to keep the scream inside. At the same time, someone knocked on the door and opened it. It was Dad.

"Emi, breakfast is ready…."

We stared at each other. As always, he showed no emotion, while my face was burning. We stayed like that for too long until he asked,

"Do you want me to explain—"

"No!"

 

Long story short, we were back at the university a few hours later, along with Keita and Mrs. Yōko. Basically, we were told there would be no cure for at least one month since it had to go through many tests before it could even be used on a human.

The scientists asked us more questions and ran tests like taking a sample of our blood and attaching us to weird machines. Not even an hour later, we were back in the car.

Just like on the previous day, there were awkwardly long silences as we drove back home. Aside from those, everything else was normal until I noticed something weird through the window.

"Why did you turn here?" I asked.

Mom answered from the passenger's seat, "What do you mean? It's the same path we took yesterday. Maybe you aren't used to being around here."

"Actually, Emi is right," Dad added. "I found a better path to avoid the noon traffic."

Mom seemed surprised for a second, then smiled at me. Dad's reason made sense, yet it was obvious they were up to something. Still, I didn't want to accuse them and complain, as I had promised myself last night. I wanted to believe they were taking us somewhere nice to eat, but it became less and less believable the farther away we got from the city.

Eventually, the surroundings felt familiar, but I couldn't tell where we were until modern houses the size of mansions began to appear.

"Are we visiting Aunt Hisa and Aunt Rem?" I wondered. "Weren't they on vacation?"

Dad took a moment to answer, "Yes. They asked us to pick something up from their place. It'll only take a minute."

No matter what they said, they weren't going to convince me they weren't up to something, yet I wasn't going to complain.

Finally, we parked in front of Aunt Hisa's and Aunt Rem's home. The house was modern and big, but nothing absurd. Almost all of its walls were windows and the style was very simplistic with white and black colors. However, what was absurd was that the estate was double if not triple the size of the house. It had three gardens, a fountain, a garage for two cars, a pool, a jacuzzi, and even a small, private onsen. It was a dream house they could afford since Aunt Hisa was a world-famous actress and Aunt Rem was her make-up artist and assistant.

Mom got out of the car, which still was running. That made me think they were telling the truth for a second. However, instead of approaching the normal door on the wall that acted as a fence around the estate, Mom approached the panel next to the garage gate.

She first entered a code on the panel, which then asked for her fingerprint. Lastly, it recognized her face before opening backward. Dad carefully turned the car into the gate and drove through the short, concrete roadway to stop in front of the garage. I didn't like how the situation was developing.

As Dad unfastened his seatbelt, he asked, "Emi, can you help us pick up some boxes? They are too big for your Mom and me to carry alone."

I stared at him. Don't complain. Don't complain. Don't complain.

"Yes."

The two of us got out of the car and walked to the main pathway toward the front door, where we met with Mom again. We stood in front of the door when Keita and Mrs. Yōko arrived behind us.

My brain connected the dots. I turned around to walk back to the car, but it was too late. Dad grabbed my shoulder to stop me.

"Are you serious?" I said.

"Just listen to what we have to say."

"After you lied to my face?"

Mom raised her voice, "We're doing this for you." It was the first time I had heard her do that.

I took a deep breath before turning around to see her face. "I'm listening."

"Thank you. I just want you to see that we are trying to help. This house will be a neutral ground for everyone. We'll be living here until the cure is ready or until you make up your mind, but we won't force you to do anything. Living together will also save us a lot of trouble. You won't have to choose which house you should sleep at and we're even going to buy clothes for the two of you so that there are no complaints about using each other's clothes."

After listening to her explanation, my mind calmed down. It made me remember the severity of the situation we were in. I hadn't thought of it as a game, yet it was hard to take something this absurd seriously.

Dad added, "Also, one of the cars in the garage needs repair and they allowed you—"

"Alright, alright!" I yelled. "I accept. I don't have a choice, do I?"

Dad smiled and Mom let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you," she said.

"What about our stuff?"

Mom answered, "Well, we didn't want to make this obvious since you would've refused and stayed at home or at the university."

"I wouldn't have done that."

Everyone stared at me with a deadpan expression.

"Hey, don't stare at me like that," I stuttered. "I would've complained, but I wouldn't have refused."

Dad continued, "What's done is done. Why don't we go buy clothes first? Then we'll pick up our stuff on the way back."

"That's a great idea," Mom replied. She then glanced at Keita and Mrs. Yōko. "You know you can talk now, right?"

Mrs. Yōko laughed nervously, "We know, it's just that our jaws dropped when we saw the size of this house."

"Oh, that's right, we haven't told you about the owners. I'll do it while we drive back to the city."

"Sounds exciting."

"Wait, you weren't allowed to talk?" I asked.

"We preferred not to because we are the worst liars in the world," Mrs. Yōko answered.

How didn't I notice it before?