Eventually, we reached the university and parked in its relatively-empty parking lot. We got out of the car and walked through the garden, from which we were then guided through the hallways. It was a nice opportunity to see a university from up close.
We were a few minutes early, so we had to wait outside the office. A couple significantly older than us came out and the scientist inside asked us to come in.
"Good morning," the scientist smiled. "Please take a seat."
Keita and I sat in the two chairs in the middle of the room, while our parents walked to the sofa not too far away from us.
The scientist continued, "Before starting, I'll ask some questions—"
The door suddenly busted open and a woman wearing a laboratory coat stepped inside. Aunt Saori?
"Mrs. Kawahara? Is there a problem?" the scientist in front of us asked.
"Yes. I'll attend these subjects," Aunt Saori answered.
"What? But I thought you were busy with another research—"
"Just take this opportunity to have an extended lunch break."
The man remained silent for a moment before replying, "If you excuse me." He took his gloves off and walked out of the room.
That was easy.
"Saori!" Mom exulted. "It's great to see you here. I thought you had stopped working on the swapping."
"Well, I couldn't pass up this opportunity when I saw Emi's name on the appointment list. How are you, big girl?" she asked me.
"I'm good, Aunt Saori," I smiled.
"I'm sorry for not visiting you more often, things have been busy around my laboratory. I'd say the same about Enko."
"Don't worry, I understand."
"How is she, by the way?" Dad asked. "And how are the kids?"
"Enko is busy with her research, just like myself. The kids are sad because you don't visit them more often, but they are good overall."
"I'm glad."
The conversation halted until Mrs. Yōko laughed nervously, "Am I missing something?"
"Ah, I'm sorry!" Mom apologized. "Yōko, she's Saori Kawahara. She works here as a scientist and she's the mother of one of our long-time friends. Saori, she's Yōko Umehara. Koji and I met her during high school, but her son swapped bodies with Emi just five days ago. Keita is her son, who's standing over there."
Aunt Saori bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too," Mrs. Yōko replied, bowing along with Keita.
The room remained silent as Aunt Saori glanced both at Keita and me. She then let out a deep breath. "I got nostalgic all of a sudden. Seeing you here made me reminisce about when I treated your parents for the first time in this very room twenty-three years ago; they were the first couple with the CTCT disease. It hadn't even been named yet."
"Did you name it?" I wondered.
She nodded frantically. "I've also discovered most of its properties over the years. I must admit Enko helped me a little bit."
She looks really proud.
"Now, I'm confident to say that you're the first couple to swap bodies whose parents have also swapped bodies in the past; this should give us new and juicy data. Well, not for me because I'm not working on this research anymore, but it's still going to be interesting."
She's already thinking about how valuable this is going to be, typical of Aunt Saori and Aunt Enko.
Mrs. Yōko raised her hand. "Excuse me, this might be a dumb question to ask but, do you know why this is happening? Why does my son specifically swap bodies with Emi?"
"That's a very valid question. To be honest, there's no answer as to where the disease originated from. Some say it was random or that it came from radioactivity, but most people think there's some kind of divine reason behind it."
"What do you think?" Mom asked.
She didn't hesitate to answer, "I choose the latter."
Mom's, Dad's, and my eyes opened wide at her answer. I had always thought of her as a science person.
"Why?" I wondered.
"Because the effects of the disease are too oddly specific to be random or caused by radioactivity. Statistics speak for themselves; ninety-eight percent of couples that swap bodies end up in a relationship. If that isn't destiny, then what is?"
My heart skipped a beat and my face grew hot. I glanced at Keita, who glanced back at me, and I snapped my head away.
"Of course, you can believe what you prefer to believe until its origin is found, which I doubt it'll ever be. We've come as far as discovering how most of the process works, the genes that cause the disease, and we can even predict the compatible targets."
"Then why don't you do that?" Dad asked.
"Testing the DNA of every single baby that is born isn't cheap and not very ethical. Not to mention that when people grow up, they don't bother to go in for a test because the probability of finding the person they can swap bodies with is extremely low and also because there's no medical cure yet, so it doesn't really matter."
"There's no medical cure?!" I yelled.
"We told you there wasn't," Mom replied.
"Yeah, but I came hoping there would actually be one. Why are we here, then?"
"Because it is highly recommended to come when you find out you can swap bodies. Also, you said that you touched Keita's shoulder over his blazer, but you also blew air at his ear. Wouldn't both cases be rare, Saori?"
"That would be rare indeed. More and more people have been swapping bodies by touching each other over their clothes, but not through the air. We must make sure that isn't the case. It would be an alarming path of the disease's evolution and could be catastrophic."
Everyone in the room remained frozen. That sounded far from good.
Aunt Saori continued, "Don't worry, it would take years for the disease to reach catastrophic levels."
That doesn't help!
"I'll stop wasting your time and begin with the tests."
She approached one of the many desks in the room and opened a drawer to take out a plastic bag with a pair of gloves inside. She ripped the bag open and put the gloves on as she approached Keita and me sitting in the middle of the room, but a sheet of paper on the table next to us caught her attention.
"Ah, I should tell you there actually is an experimental cure."
"Really?! Let's do it!" I shouted.
"Calm down, Emi," Dad scolded. "What do you mean experimental?"
"It means it is in an experimental phase."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Mom asked.
"So far, the people that have tried it have had no problems, but even the mandatory vaccines we've been using for decades can have adverse effects, so I can't promise it'll be inoffensive."
"But did it work for those people?" Mrs. Yōko asked.
"It didn't, unfortunately. Scientists are making changes constantly, so it might work this time."
"Let's do it, then!" I shouted again.
Aunt Saori looked at me. "Are you that against the idea of kissing the boy?"
"Yes, I am. Why are you taking it so lightly? I've been taught all my life that I should only kiss the person I love. Now everyone's saying to do it like it's nothing."
"Your parents did well by teaching you that. Look at it this way, actors kiss all of the time even though many of them are married to another person, but there are no issues because everyone knows they are acting. You're doing the same, you're only kissing to cure a disease and nothing else."
"You just said this happens because we're destined to be with each other."
"Did I?" she smiled.
I sighed. "Let's try the experimental cure."
"You are not old enough to decide, your parents have the final say."
The three of them glanced at each other with worried frowns.
"Are you sure about this, Emi?" Mom asked.
"I am."
"Are you okay with it, Keita?" Mrs. Yōko asked.
He nodded.
Dad let out a long sigh. "Go ahead."
"Understood," Aunt Saori replied. She grabbed the sheet of paper from the table and approached the same desk as before to grab a pen and a clipboard from another of its drawers. "The subjects must sign this agreement. In this case, the guardians of the subjects," she said as she approached our parents.
Subjects?
Mrs. Yōko was the first one to grab the clipboard with the agreement and the pen. She stared down at it for several seconds before laughing nervously, "It doesn't sound pretty."
"I know," Aunt Saori replied. "It's the typical contract where the institution disclaims any guilt in case something bad happens; there's nothing I can tell you to make it sound pleasant."
Still worried, Mrs. Yōko continued reading. "Daily reports?"
"That's right. The subjects must write a report every day and send it to us the next morning."
"Really?" I sighed.
"Don't make it sound like a chore, young lady," Mom scolded.
"But it is!"
She glared at me, so I stopped complaining to avoid further scolding.
Aunt Saori continued, "The scientists will also ask you to come in for periodic checks."
I'm already regretting it.
Mrs. Yōko read for a bit more before she let out a deep breath and signed. She handed the clipboard to Mom, who read for less than a minute before signing and giving it to Dad. He only spent a few seconds glancing over the agreement and signing it.
Aunt Saori took the clipboard back and left it on the same desk as before. She then approached a more distant desk from which she grabbed a syringe. However, she didn't take it out of its bag, she merely put it on the table next to Keita and me and left through a different door.
The five of us stayed silent until Aunt Saori returned, now holding a tiny bottle with a wrap filled with many red and yellow symbols. To top it off, the liquid inside it was purple. That looks awful.
She put the bottle down on the table and grabbed the syringe again. "Do any of you suffer from trypanophobia?" she asked as she ripped the plastic bag open.
"I don't," I replied.
Both Aunt Saori and I looked at Keita, but he snapped his head away. He stared down at the floor and stuttered, "What is… that?"
"Fear of needles," I answered.
He opened his mouth and glanced at us but quickly lowered his head again before shaking it.
"Good," Aunt Saori smiled.
The syringe was out of the bag. I hadn't noticed there was a needle in the same bag until Aunt Saori installed it into the syringe. She then proceeded to slide a tiny lid on the bottle's cap and insert the tip of the needle through the opening. The syringe slowly filled with the purple liquid as Aunt Saori pulled the plunger upward.
Only a quarter of the syringe had been filled when Aunt Saori took the needle out of the bottle. She raised up in the air and tapped it a few times.
"I'll briefly explain the procedure," she said. "I'm going to inject this liquid through your arm like any other vaccine. We'll wait a minute for it to spread throughout your system before you initiate the swapping process. You'll swap bodies as normal and your immune system should learn how to combat the cells in charge of the swapping process. Then we'll have to wait for the swapping cooldown to run out before you can swap back to your original bodies, which should take thirty minutes. Easy, right?"
Keita and I glanced at each other. "I guess so," I replied.
Aunt Saori smiled. "Pull up one of your sleeves and extend your arm over the table."
I didn't expect to be vaccinated, so it was a bit troublesome to pull my sleeve up. I managed to do it and extended my arm as she had asked. She moved the lamp on top of the table to aim it at my arm and began to squish it.
Finally, she placed the needle right next to it. "Here I go." The pinch hurt more than I expected, but it was bearable. The needle stayed inside for several seconds until the syringe had been emptied.
It was Keita's turn. Aunt Saori changed the needle and repeated the process.
"Now we wait."
The five of us chatted as a minute passed by, which didn't take long.
"Alright," Aunt Saori said. "You can initiate the swapping process, but I want to test if you actually can do it through the air. Please repeat the same thing you did that time."
My cheeks became warm. I was just being playful when I did it, but being asked to do it was extremely different and I had to do it in front of our parents. I had no choice. I took a deep breath, leaned toward Keita's ear, and blew air at him, making sure not to touch him.
It was done in a couple of seconds. Just like that time, Keita's face was entirely red. Meanwhile, Mom and Mrs. Yōko seemed okay with it, but Dad was far from pleased.
We only had to wait a couple of minutes before we became sleepy and we took even less time to fall asleep.
I hated what I was feeling as soon as we woke up, it was as if I was being repressed by a strange pressure.
Aunt Saori seemed worried as she asked us many questions about how we felt, but the mood was relieved once we changed the topic.
Mrs. Yōko told the story of how she met Mrs. Tazuko and how she proposed to her at one of our family restaurants thanks to Dad. Then Mom and Dad shared more about the adventures they had never told me about before.
Thirty-five minutes flew by and the alarm on Aunt Saori's smartwatch rang. This time, she asked Keita to blow air at me, which felt weirdly ticklish. In less than five minutes, we had fallen asleep again.
"Wake up," a distant voice murmured as my shoulder was shaken. It was Aunt Saori, standing next to me. "How are you, Keita?"
"I'm not Keita," I replied as I rubbed my eyes, "I'm Emi."
She frowned at me before her eyes opened wide. She looked to my side and I did as well. I was still sitting next to me.
No.