Once outside, I leaned back against the wooden front door and was able to breathe again.
He's just as ominous as I remember, but he looks hotter than eight years ago.
I shook the thoughts out of my head to focus on the important matter. I walked through the small front yard and then turned around for another wave of memories to hit me. The house remained exactly the same as the last time I had come, unlike me, who now lived in a decrepit apartment instead of with my parents.
I stepped out of the yard onto the narrow street, just to realize I hadn't thought about how I was going to get to the mall. The simplest answer was to take the subway, but I didn't want to risk anything happening while in Jun's body—that was my excuse to get a more comfortable transport.
Jun's phone rang in the pocket of my pants, so I took it out and unlocked it with my fingerprint. Yet another memory popped into my head as soon as I saw it was a message from me. He used to call me Rimimi, and my contact information in his contact list used to be stored with that name. Now, it was just Rie.
Why am I remembering that?!
"Is it okay if I request a taxi with your account?" Jun's message said. "I don't want to risk anything happening while in your body."
A snort came out of my mouth as I wrote, "Right…. Yeah, you can do that. Can I do it too?"
He didn't take long to reply, "Of course."
Out of nowhere, a shiver went down my spine.
He hasn't asked me anything about where any of my stuff is….
"Is everything okay?" I asked.
"What do you mean?"
Realizing he had asked me about the taxi app because he was ready to head out, I didn't want him to waste any more time than needed by making him change into a decent outfit; we were just going to chat about the swapping, after all.
"Nothing. See you at the mall," I replied.
"If you say so."
About to close the chat to open the taxi app, a gif of a cartoon cat with squinting eyes walking out of the image popped in. My lips curved up on their own, then I shook my head before closing the chat.
I opened the taxi app to request one. Luckily, the payment information was stored in Jun's account, so I simply needed to set the destination to the mall. Since it still was quite early in the morning, I expected the fee to be exorbitant due to the high demand and traffic, and for the taxi to take half an hour to arrive.
It ended up being a normal fee, and the taxi only took three minutes to pick me up. Only then did I remember it was Sunday. There still was a fair amount of traffic, however, making the trip take six minutes more than expected.
Not needing to pay in cash, I simply wished the driver a good day and climbed out.
Even though it was ten past nine, there were already many people walking around the stalls outside the entrance of the mall, and I could see even more people inside since the entire wall was made of glass.
Being ten minutes late, I jogged to the fountain in the middle of the mall, where I had told Ms. Katō to meet with Jun and me.
I saw her sitting at a table far in the distance, so I jogged faster so as not to make her wait any longer. However, Jun and I arrived at the same time, and the apology I was going to give to Ms. Katō vanished from my head as soon as I saw myself.
Jun had chosen a pink sundress with white dots to wear—the only sundress I owned since I hated wearing any kind of skirt—accompanied by white loafers.
Nonetheless, it was more surprising that he had taken the time to put makeup on, even though it was something light. My cheeks were slightly pinker and my lips glossier. And to top it off, the ponytail was well done.
He was staring at me in silence too, so I asked.
"What?"
"What do you mean, what? Looking at my own body is weird as hell."
"I went through that already. Just imagine you're seeing your reflection in a mirror."
Out of nowhere, he started making funny faces and waving his arms.
"No, you didn't move when I moved."
I sighed. "I didn't expect you to put on makeup and pull my hair up into a ponytail."
"I might remember one or two things from the time you taught me."
I squinted my eyes at him.
He scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously.
"I also might've tried it on myself a couple times."
"Whatever. More importantly, why did you pick that dress?"
"Because it was a shame that you never wanted to wear skirts; you have really nice legs."
"And I told you that nothing was going to convince me to wear them."
"That's why I took advantage of the situation," he smirked.
Suddenly, he turned to see Ms. Katō and asked.
"Don't you think she has nice legs, Ms. Katō?"
She raised her head from her phone. Her mouth remained open, seeming like she was going to say something, but she merely stared down at my legs.
"She does, actually."
I pulled Jun by his dress and scolded, "Why are you asking her that?! She's my boss and she's about to be yours too."
"Okay, sorry, sorry."
After taking a deep breath, I let go of him. I approached the table Ms. Katō was sitting at and sat down in one of the two empty chairs.
"I'm really sorry for arriving late," I apologized.
"Don't worry, I don't blame you. Swapping bodies with another girl is already troublesome; I can't imagine how troublesome it'd be to swap bodies with a guy."
As he sat down in front of us, Jun replied, "It's not that bad, to be honest."
"Having been a couple before definitely helps," I said, "but before talking about the CTCT thing; Jun, your dad wants you to buy the groceries. There, now it's not my fault if you forget about it."
Jun simply smiled and shook his head.
"I looked up more information about the disease," said Ms. Katō, "and I couldn't find anything about three people being able to swap bodies at the same time."
"Me neither," I replied. "Wait. What if the three of us swapped bodies literally at the same time? I would be in Ms. Katō's body, she would be in Jun's, and he would be in mine."
"My head already hurts," Jun nervously laughed, "but it sounds fun."
"Don't even think about it," I scowled.
Ms. Katō added, "I did find that it is mandatory to schedule an appointment with the scientists at Hosei University. Minami, I know we planned to ignore it, but we should do as they say now that there are three of us involved. I also don't want to do something illegal."
"No, I agree," I replied. "There's no cure, but they'll be able to help us ever so slightly. Talking about the cure; Jun, give me your hand."
"Why?"
"I told you, the swapping occurs when there's direct skin contact."
"Ah, right. I was still half asleep when you told me."
Promptly, he lay his arm on the table with his palm open, then I touched it with my fingers. For some reason, I expected him to close his hand to hold mine, so I thought of doing the same. Realizing what I was about to do, I snapped my hand away and looked down at the floor.
What was that thought?!
Fortunately, Ms. Katō broke the awkwardness, although I didn't know if she did it on purpose.
"Should I schedule the appointment for the three of us?" she asked.
"Yes, please."
"Sure."
Both Jun and I answered at the same time.
Ms. Katō continued, "I'll do that, then."
She grabbed her purse and stood up, but doing so made me notice a ring wrapped around one of her fingers.
"Is something the matter?" she asked me.
"Ah, sorry. It's just that I hadn't noticed you wearing a ring before."
Her lips immediately curved up before she looked down at the ring.
"That's because I got engaged last night."
The reply came like a blow to my brain.
"Seriously?"
"Congratulations!" exulted Jun.
"Thank you," Ms. Katō replied.
"Congratulations," I said after being able to think again. "Now I feel bad for making you come here right after such an important event."
"Don't worry, our situation is also very important," she smiled. "If you excuse me, I'd love to hang out with the two of you some more, but I have many plans today."
Jun replied, "Please, don't let us interfere."
She nodded. "Minami, I'll send you the appointment date as soon as I have it."
"Sure. Have a good day."
I stared at her as she walked away, and I kept looking away from Jun because I knew an awkward silence was about to occur.
Out of nowhere, he asked, "Are you still bad at handling spicy foods?"
Confused, I turned around.
"I am. Why?"
"I want to eat some Mexican food."
"Mexican food this early in the morning? Are you crazy?"
"It's a good way to wake up."
While thinking of a way to reject his invitation, a better idea came to my mind.
"Alright, let's have some Mexican food."