Marla kept her hands on my shoulders until after she’d guided me into the bathroom. “There’s soap to use in the shower and I’ve already laid out a towel for you to dry off with. I can’t do much about your hair at the moment but if you’d like, I can see to trimming it up after the meeting.”

                “That’d be good…” I responded to Marla’s offer of hair care. I’m sure I could do it myself but having someone else cut my hair would be convenient. “Is… there something else?” I inquired, noticing Marla hadn’t moved to vacate the bathroom yet.

                “Just your clothes, if you would. Please.” Marla stated bluntly. Bending her arms out at the elbows, she stood and waited. “It won’t do to put on dirty clothing after you’ve gotten all cleaned up.

                “I think I can handle this myself but thanks for the offer.” I stated dismissively.

                “It’s no offer. Remove your clothing and hand it to me right now.” Marla demanded.

                “Can’t I just leave my clothes and you come back for them later?” I asked, taken aback by Marla’s assertiveness.

                “No can do. I dealt with Lulu’s nonsense just a bit ago when she tried to get into the bath while still wearing all of her clothing. If you want me to leave you to your bath then I will need you to cooperate.” Marla’s stern expression and reluctance to move told me she wouldn’t be moving until I submitted to her demands.

                With a heavy sigh, I obliged the stubborn panther woman only because she looked ready to pounce if I chose not to bend to her demands. I didn’t have much to offer in the way of clothing. A shirt and a pair of shorts later, Marla’s perplexed stare brought a certain uneasy warmth to my cheeks. “W-what?” I asked. Seeing that she happened to be staring at my now naked body, I reflexively covered my lower region. Oh right. There wasn’t anything down there anymore...

                Double-checking that she had all I could offer her in the way of clothing, Marla turned to leave. “Before I go I’ll set out the clothing you and Lulu are to wear for the meeting. I attempted to dress Lulu myself earlier but she utterly refused to allow me near her. I trust you’ll have better luck with her so I’ll just leave that task to you.” Marla left, closing the door behind herself.

                “Okay…” Now standing alone in the bathroom, I pulled aside the shower’s curtain and reeled back in momentary surprise when a completely naked red-haired woman with short horns and a long thin tail reeled back away from me. It took a second for me to realize that I was looking at a reflection of myself. “What kind of shower is this supposed to be?” Curious, I poked my head inside to investigate and found that the tiles covering all four walls plus the floor of this shower were coated in a highly reflective material. While inside this strangely designed shower, it would be impossible for me to avoid seeing every inch of Lyssa’s body…

                Turning the faucet to a medium hot setting, I entered the shower and let the stinging warmth of pelting water from above flow over me. Pain surged in the backs of my legs when the hot water reached the wound Lulu had afflicted me with earlier. My new reality was finally beginning to sink in. In my head I was Ono Tamaki, but in body I was now Lyssa. While it should’ve been the wakeup call I needed, the pain of having my leg broken had somehow not been enough to convince me that none of this was a dream.

                “I mean, can you blame me? What man in his right mind would buy this sort of world changing experience as real?” I asked the woman reflected on the wall in front of me, my voice cracking. Her gold-ringed crimson eyes looked back at me filled with despair. “How do I even start looking for a way to get back to my reality?” The red haired woman mouthed back the exact same words.

                Pik’s outburst had been the call that told me I could no longer keep treating everything like it was some sort of joke. Pik had lost both her home and her mother. What had I ended up losing today? My identity as a human was lost but I’d gained the physical body of a demon. I’d probably lost my living space as well considering I didn’t have enough money left over from my foolish book purchase to pay the rent, but I guess that wouldn’t really matter at this point. “Maybe I can’t be exactly like you, but I suppose I can at least stop acting like a child and man up a bit. If we managed to swap places, I’m certain there’s got to be a way for us to switch back. I just need to stop being such a chicken and search for a way…” While talking to my reflection I glimpsed several shampoo bottles in a corner pocket of the shower. Retrieving one of the bottles, I dumped a generous portion of the blue liquid into one hand and lathered it over the top of my head.

                The bath served more purpose to me than simply cleansing my body of blood, grime, and dirt. I’m not certain what the soap was made of but I felt rejuvenated somehow. A weight lifted up from my spirit making me feel happier and newly energized. Shutting the water off, I snagged the towel from the rack next to the shower and proceeded to dry off. A quick glance around the bathroom in search of the promised clothing revealed nothing other than the towel with which I could cover myself… “Marla said she’d leave something for me to wear, did she mean out in the other room?” I sighed, wrapping and securing the towel around my waist before stepping out of the bathroom.

                “Lyssa alert!” Lulu spoke up the moment I’d exited the bathroom. I had just enough time to see the incoming pillow before it smacked me square in the face.

                “Oof!” I uttered, surprised by the sudden attack. The pillow fell at my feet and I could see a still naked Lulu standing on one of the oversized beds through the disheveled locks of red that partially obstructed my sight. “Why did you do that?” On the Chester drawer behind Lulu, I could see two neatly folded stacks of clothing.

                “Defeated Marla, Lulu did. Now fight off Marla’s minion, Lulu Must.” Lulu dove down onto the bed and snatched up a second pillow.

                “I am not Marla’s minion.” I stated defensively. Bending down to pick up the pillow Lulu had thrown at me, I straightened back up to deliver a reprimand to the defiant mass of light blue hair and exposed pink flesh. “Stop throwing pillows at- -Oof!” Another pillow smacked my face and briefly obstructed my view.

                “If Lyssa isn’t Marla’s minion then Lulu and Lyssa can escape together.” Triumphantly, Lulu stood on the bed crossing both arms over her bare chest.

                “I’m not going anywhere without clothes on, and you shouldn’t either.” I didn’t bother to pick up the second pillow now laying at my feet. Doing so would only give Lulu more time to arm herself again.

                “Then Lyssa is Lulu’s enemy. Lulu chooses freedom!” With those words Lulu jumped over to the second bed.

                “What are you even talking about?” I questioned. Freedom from what? Clothing? Lulu was getting more absurd by the minute. For someone who enjoyed being lazy, this active behavior defied the laziness I’d already come to expect from her.

                “Lulu chooses freedom!” The blue haired woman shouted again, launching a third pillow at me. This time I countered the thrown mass of fluff. Using the pillow I’d picked up I managed to bat away the incoming projectile with it, only to find another pillow propelled into my face. “Score!” Lulu cried out triumphantly.

                “That’s it, I’m gonna get you dressed now!” I couldn’t say I was really mad or frustrated by this pillow fight Lulu had initiated between us. With everything that’d happened to me today, my stress levels were so exorbitantly high that I couldn’t help but crack a smile. Reeling back, I propelled the pillow as hard as I could back at a Lulu distracted by her own laughter.

                “Eeep!” Startled by the sudden retaliation, Lulu fell backwards onto the bed. I took the chance and closed the distance between us, bouncing up onto the first bed. Lulu recovered in time to notice my advance and let out a high pitched squeal as I plunged over in an attempt to tackle her to the bed. Snagging up the pillow I’d thrown at her, Lulu rolled out of my way and managed to slip off the bed with my towel in tow.

                “Hey! Give that back!” I protested, scrambling off the bed after Lulu. She responded by chucking the pillow at my face.

                “Join Lulu! Fight against the Zavis meeting!” Lulu taunted, waving my towel around.

                “I don’t care about the meeting, but we still need to get dressed.” I stated. Jumping off the bed I reached out to grab the towel from Lulu’s hands. She responded in kind by turning away from me to throw the towel.

                “No! Lulu doesn’t want to go to meetings!” Lulu reiterated while holding my towel out away from me as far as she could reach. If she could have she’d likely have thrown the towel too but that was difficult now considering I had my arms wrapped around her body.

                “Give me my towel back!” I demanded.

                “No!” Lulu protested. Dropping the towel to the floor, she then kicked it further away.

                “Ahem…” A gruff male voice broke into our spat.

                Lulu and I both turned our heads to find Folke standing in the doorway.

                “Sorry to interrupt… I’m here on behalf of Mayv’lar to, uh… take you to the meeting… Yeah…” The wolfman's attempts to speak were intermingled with embarrassment and confusion on where his eyes should be focused.

                “Hi Folke.” Lulu retorted blankly.

                I didn’t speak, but I could definitely feel my cheeks heating up.