Before I could say anything, a hand suddenly rested on my shoulder. I turned around to see Jun, my ex-boyfriend.
"Hi, Rie," he greeted with an unrecognizable handsome smirk.
Speechless for a second, I replied.
"Jun? What are you doing here?"
"I see you're as happy as ever to see me."
"Sorry. I didn't expect to see you here."
"It's alright, I'm surprised to see you here as well. At least you apologize now."
Jun and I met during our first year of high school. We got along because we were the only nerds in the class. Our tastes were similar and we were both geniuses at math, compared to the rest, so everyone always approached us when it came to homework. No one cared about us, though, and we didn't care about them.
Still, we wanted to experience what they were experiencing—or what we thought they were experiencing. We started smoking and then we started dating. It didn't take us long to want to experience more as we discovered more things.
Before realizing it, we had lost our virginity. Only then did we really learn about each other and broke up a little before high school ended, yet we promised to be each other's date at every party after graduation so we wouldn't look like losers.
"We haven't talked since high school graduation. How has life treated you?" wondered Jun. "Did you manage to stop smoking?"
"No, I relapsed in the middle of uni. Now it's worse than ever."
"Can I ask why?"
"Let's just say life hasn't treated me very well, but I can't really complain either. What about you? You look handsome now."
"I didn't before? Don't answer. Yes, I started caring about my looks after getting into university. I've also been free of tobacco for two years."
"That's great."
"You could say I got lucky. My father forced me to start working, so I had to sacrifice meals and bus fare to buy cigarettes. Until, one day, I was forced to quit smoking because I couldn't afford it."
"Meanwhile, I lied to my parents about my expenditures so I could get money for more packs."
"To each their own," he continued smiling.
"Yeah. So, why are you here?"
"I'm here for an interview for the programmer job."
"Huh?"
Ms. Katō joined the conversation.
"I can help you with that."
Shit, I forgot she was behind me. I just said I lied to my parents.
"Do you work here?" Jun asked her.
She nodded. "I am Sachiko Katō, the project supervisor."
"Jun Nishida," he bowed.
"Nice to meet you. I'll go tell the directors right away. Please wait here."
"Sure, thank you."
Ms. Katō walked away and Jun and I stood alone at the entrance. We didn't say anything for a while until I broke the ice.
"So, why are you looking for a job at this time?"
"Because my father doesn't want me living with him anymore."
"Fair enough."
"Is the company any good?" he wondered.
I didn't know how to answer. On one hand, I wanted to be brutally honest, but I also wanted to know his opinion without me influencing it.
"You know what? Just get into the interview and find out for yourself."
He remained silent for a moment before smiling.
"Okay…. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad sign, but I'm used to it. I'll take your word."
Ms. Katō came back.
"Mr. Nishida, the directors are ready to receive you. Please follow me."
"Sure," replied Jun. "Rie, is your number still the same?"
"It is. My email too."
"Perfect. I'll talk to you later, then."
Ms. Katō and he walked towards the directors' office.
Huh. Did my mood improve just by seeing Jun again?
I headed to my desk and, to my surprise, Watanabe was already sitting at her place.
"Good morning," she greeted me as I put my bag on my desk.
"Morning. You arrived even earlier today."
"Yeah. I want to give a good impression."
"You're doing well, then."
I turned on my PC and it resumed where I had left it the previous evening. Yes, I still worked after hours, but it was nothing compared to my last job.
"Was he a friend?" wondered Watanabe.
Not knowing how to answer, I replied, "Kind of."
"An ex?"
"Yeah."
"I see. It's okay if you don't wanna talk about it."
"It's fine. I just haven't seen him since high school and I didn't expect to see him here."
"Understandable. Let's save the topic for lunch."
"Alright."
We continued working without ceasing. I didn't even notice when Jun walked out of the office. I remembered only when he texted me a little before lunchtime. He told me that the company seemed too new and unpredictable, yet the directors begged him to read the script to give them another chance. I replied that he nailed it.
The rest of the afternoon flew by and I returned home under the sunset. I was strangely tired, so I merely played with my online friends until nine. My eyes kept closing on their own and my head refused to stay upright. I said goodbye to my friends and went to bed.
…
I opened my eyes not even remembering when I fell asleep. I turned around to grab my phone from the nightstand and checked the time.
It's only four. I can sleep some more.
I pulled my blanket back over my head when I noticed something pressing against my pants. Thinking it was a bug, I tried to turn on the light, but the switch wasn't on the wall. I jumped out of bed and got sickly dizzy, which made me fall sideways onto a table. Several pieces of something I couldn't see fell off and I landed on them, but I still couldn't see a thing.
That fucking hurt. This can't be happening. Ms. Katō and I didn't touch each other. Wait a minute. This table wasn't here last time and the bed is on the same side of the room as mine. Oh, no.
Hastily but carefully, I looked for the light switch with my arms extended and my hands brushing the walls. I finally found it and turned the lights on just to see a familiar room. However, the real terror came when I looked down. My chest tightened and a scream wanted to come out, but I managed to keep it in. I ran to the bathroom and saw my reflection in the mirror.
I am Jun. I'm Jun and now I have a dick instead of tits. And I need to pee. Fuck me.
Troubled for several seconds, I sat down on the toilet as quickly as possible and got it over with.
It's bigger than…
I shook any thoughts away and washed my hands before returning to the room. I picked up the phone and looked for my number on the contact list to call it. The phone rang a few times before I heard my voice.
"Hello?" Jun said in my raspy, low voice.
"Jun, we…. Were you still sleeping?"
"Who is this?"
"Didn't you see your name when I was calling, you idiot?"
"What do you mean? Wait. Why is my name…?"
Silence was the only thing I heard for a few seconds before a scream blew my ear up.
"This isn't my phone. This isn't my room. And I have boobs!"
"Stop screaming and listen! We swapped bodies. You're in my body and I'm in yours."
"Rie? Swapped bodies? You mean the CTCT thing?"
"Exactly."
"It's real? How are you so calm about it?"
"Because this is the second time it's happened to me. Look, there's nothing to worry about. We just need to touch each other again and we'll get back in our bodies…. Did we touch each other yesterday?"
He stayed silent for a moment.
"I touched your shoulder to make you turn around."
"Yes, but the swap should only work when there's direct skin contact. You only touched my clothes and we swapped bodies anyway."
"That's weird. I guess we should still meet. Good thing it's Sunday."
"Yeah, but I don't even know where I am. I should check the map."
"Don't you remember I told you that I still live with…?"
"Jun," a woman called as she knocked on the door. "Are you talking with someone?"
Shit. Who is that? Wait. How did I not recognize Jun's room sooner?
"There's a woman outside," I whispered to Jun on the phone.
"My father's current partner."
"'I have to answer." I raised my voice and said, "Yes, I'm talking with a friend."
She asked, "Did you fall or something?"
"Yeah, I tripped on my blanket while going to…"
"Alright. Don't make any more noise," she replied and walked away.
Jun's dad always manages to choose a rude woman.
"Okay, she's gone," I told Jun. "Where should we meet?"
"I don't know where I am either," he replied. "Let's hang up and check where we are, then we can pick a place in the middle."
"Alright. Send the locations through chat. I'll send some too."
I ended the call and took a moment to breathe deeply.
First, it was Ms. Katō. Now, it's Jun. I never read that you could swap with two other people in the articles. Why is this happening to me? Also, just what did I drop from the table?
I took a look around the scattered pieces on the floor, then I looked at the table I had tripped over. It was some kind of cabinet displaying a dozen or more figures. Luckily, they all seemed to be built with building blocks, including the one on the floor.
I hope it's not broken.
After opening the Maps app, it didn't take me long to remember Jun and I lived on opposite sides of the city. We shared several locations in the center and chose a mall with a large food court. I told Jun that the first person I had swapped bodies with was Ms. Katō, so I invited her to meet with us.
When the adrenaline rush eventually ceased, waves of memories hit my brain the more I looked around the room. Somehow, it still maintained the dull look with empty gray walls and barely any decorations from the last time I had come. The only new things were the figures, which actually made me jealous because I only had a few.
The next step was to change into something decent to go out in, but I didn't expect it to be that difficult due to the lack of organization in his drawers and wardrobe. To top it off, half of his clothes were in a basket near the entrance. Unwilling to check if they were clean, I simply assumed they weren't.
It took several minutes for me to find something decent enough, but with the most difficult step done, changing into the clothes was a breeze.
Although there was no pressure to be on time, I didn't want to get stuck overthinking how to avoid suspicion from Jun's dad. Luckily, I remembered he was quite… careless, to say something. Still, I didn't know if Jun wanted to tell him about the swapping, so I preferred to avoid it.
With no more than Jun's phone and his ID in my pants pocket, I stepped out of the room and jogged downstairs, hoping his dad was still sleeping. Making sure the hallway was clear, I approached the door, but a man's voice growled from the living room as soon as I turned the knob.
"Where're you going?"
Startled, I turned around to see him. His white tank top and gray boxers were barely visible as he slowly sat up on the couch.
"Turn on the light," he ordered.
Not knowing where the switch was, I assumed it was near me since he had asked me to do it. I stepped into the living room and it indeed was on the wall just by the entrance.
The light allowed me to see his toned arm and leg muscles, which I had only seen beneath his clothes before. However, the most striking difference was that his hair now was partly gray and covered half of his face, even when tied up in a ponytail.
"Cat's got your tongue or what?" he growled.
"Huh?"
"I asked where're you going."
"Oh, I'm off to meet a friend."
Expecting him to scrutinize me, he merely replied, "Alright. Get the groceries on your way back."
"Got it."
I ran out of the house to avoid further questions.
He looks hotter than eight years ago.