Part 4 (cont.)

The weather was cool but we hadn’t been in a while. Allison got chocolate with banana pieces and strawberries. I got cheesecake with nuts. The place was quiet. We were the only ones seated but a group of people were buying to-go. Allison ate with intermittent smiles. I leaned with my chin held in my hands like he often did. He mimed me back and returned to eating.

After a spell of quiet, Allison softly asked, “There’s…something. I was wondering…”

I encouraged him but he took a big scoop in his mouth instead of answering right away. When he was ready, he asked, “If I happened to be turned into a girl…” He seemed to anticipate my immediate thought and added, “I’m not talking about that…I just. It’s just a thought.” I’d rarely seen Allison so reticent to say something. I leaned back a little.

Eventually, he spilled out, “If I were a girl…would you be up to going on a date with me in that situation? A fun date. Just…that.” She spooned more yogurt into her mouth. His mouth.

I blinked. I’d never quite seen Allison like this. I wasn’t sure what to make of it. He fidgeted a bit.

I took a breath and leaned forward. So many things were swirling in my head from everywhere. But I looked at Allison’s dipped head and I knew I wanted to see all those smiles of his which had gotten me through college so far. I wanted to see the smirks with breakfast served with surprising comments. I wanted Allison to be at ease like the ease he…she...Allison passed to me when I spilled out my love of anime girls.

I put my hands forward and said softly but clearly, “Absolutely.”

The moment which followed surprised me. Allison looked up with wide eyes and mouth slightly open. What came wasn’t a smirk or a coy look but a pure and radiant expression of happiness. Allison smiled at me and bowed his head.

At that moment, I felt I’d truly made Allison happy. It felt like when Lissa told me that some old movies I’d given away to her were enjoyed by Quilla (one of them even a pirate movie). Before then we’d been two classmates sharing the same space. Sometimes I’d smile at a snarky comment of hers but I couldn’t tell you more than a few surface things about her. After that, we talked all the time. Seeing Allison smile like that gave me the same feeling as Lissa’s beautiful smiles.

A quiet spell followed until Allison suddenly started talking about the classical nine muses and how he liked the muse of comedy (Thalia) so much more than the muse of tragedy. From there it was just random discussion. I felt a little bit of tension remaining though, like Allison was laughing more at little things than usual but I joined in as we both finished our yogurt.

Milling about outside, we checked out the new pizza place which was a converted drug store with a massive amount of room, a whole hall full of games, and even an area for bumper cars. It might be a fun place for a date if not for the fact we’d each eaten there before and the food was mediocre (or burnt, in my case).

Stretching, Allison lamented that the nearest non-academic bookstore was too far away for a quick trip. I filed that away as we returned to the car and, eventually, the campus house.

Allison took care of prepping her windowsill herb garden and delighted in her watering can. The rest of the day passed uneventfully.

The next day was the first in a week that Malcolm’s girlfriend, Jessica, made it over to visit. Down went several of Malcolm’s posters.

The visit was a bit of a wash, at least for Malcolm, as most of Jessica’s time was spent hanging out with Allison like he was an old friend. Malcolm brooded a little but he still used only the feminine pronoun when referring to Allison.

There was something of a “girls vs. boys” gaming match later (Jessica was a brutal, newbie-crushing player. I knew all too well.). It was really no contest. I mainly got to watch how long Malcolm managed to survive after I was pummeled. He grumbled, “Duuude” to me each time. I could only shrug.

The weekend ended with me and Allison on the couch watching The Sound of Music. Allison bundled up and leaned against me. Halfway through, I could hear his soft snoring. I let him sleep.

The following week was only distinguished by a brief warming spell which renewed hope that the herb garden might soon be ready for outdoors. The first version of Clayton’s fence looked more like the world’s most impractical weapon. Ideas of a tiny greenhouse came up. We stopped him before that. One of my other professors mentioned the Kinrae thing in class but, fortunately, didn’t single anyone out.

Before I expected or felt ready for it, the day had come. It wasn’t quite like Christmas morning as a kid, which was good because none of those mornings were pleasant. Christmas with my uncle was a lot better but nothing like in the movies.

That morning, I fidgeted. I woke early, especially for me. Allison wasn’t even up. I idled in my room doing all the small distractions I could think of. I tidied up my area of the bathroom. I gazed at Allison’s area. Plenty of items from where he worked in a rainbow of soaps, lotions, and sprays.

I took an early shower and splashed my face more than a few times. The house finally slipped off its tranquility with Malcolm coughing and scuffing about in his room with the morning news on. Early rise for him too.

I dressed and considered using my phone before I realized again how early it was. I’d talked to my uncle the night before. All the Kinrae stuff to say had been said. It was in the air, so we mostly talked about the dog that used to live down the street which always ran into trees like they should get out of his way. That look of annoyance when they remained rooted in place. A little growl to scare them off with the last resort of rubbing his way against them to get past. The lady who used to own him told the most vivid and hilarious stories in the driest deadpan. And she could make cookies and sweets like no one else. Every Christmas she left bright blue and white cookies on our porch with some new sweet she was experimenting with. I still had some of them. I’d been rationing them in a spot under my bed, not trusting they would survive long in the house fridge.

My uncle ended the conversation with, “I hope you have a fantastic week” and nothing more.

Lissa seemed more anxious than me the last week or so. Both Thursday meet-ups were uneventful but there had been discussion of a meal out, especially in anime form. Lissa was leaning towards some strange color of hair not much longer than her regular hair, if it was available. Quilla drew mock-ups of her mom with green and purple hair and Quilla’s new favorite thing was a velvet cloak which worked for both a heroic pirate captain and the hiding method of a devious ninja. Quilla mentioned being “secretly undead” for the sake of new protection against her enemies of salt and now, Glutonians (wheat gluten). Lissa made her some little pale puff balls out of lint and cheapie materials at the fabric store so she could have enemy Glutonians to face down.

Neither movie was as bad as that first one so as to warrant the punishment of a running commentary but I also couldn’t remember either of them the next day. However, Quilla did stay to watch till she was fast asleep and Lissa had to put her to bed.

We made our final arrangement the last time we talked that I would decide on a form once I started using my device and I would come over to show it to Lissa at the same time she showed me hers. And then we threw out that notion and just figured we would “wing it”.

I ate breakfast quicker than usual, especially since Allison seemed preoccupied with house chores and a conversation with Clayton I only heard bits of. When the time came, I checked everything I was taking with me multiple times.

Before I left, Allison snuck up on me and gave my arm a quick hug before saying, “See you soon.”

I barely reacted to the hug, giving him an automatic smile before I made my way out the door. The day was cool but the rain had definitely passed and I could already feel it might be headed for a really warm day.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

Entering campus was like any other day. The traffic was the same. Same people milling about. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing to distinguish this from the start of any other week. But then I came to the hall with our classroom. I noticed several of the other students from class were hanging out as the previous class was still in session. They weren’t talking much and I noticed there were a few students who’d missed the last few sessions but had made this one. No Lissa to be seen yet.

I spent some time chatting with Elizabeth Mendoza about everything but class. She talked about her family back in the Philippines. She spoke about her cousin, who was a violinist aspiring to join the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. Then we both went quiet for a bit as she fiddled with her backpack and I looked around at the group. People exiting other classes just finishing up were much more talkative than us and I could tell they noticed and slowed when they walked by. The typical muttering was, “Must be a test.”

I considered sampling the fossilized vending machine offerings just so I could have something to distract myself but I hadn’t brought nearly enough change with me and the machine had a sign on it saying that it returned incorrect change and was being fixed (eventually).

Fortunately, Lissa showed up in a sleeveless, narrow strapped tie-dyed top and what looked like a leather hat and snug fit cotton pants. She wiggled her eyebrows at me and said, “Almost go time. You ready?”

I could only offer a shrug followed by a quick nod. She quipped, “Don’t be too excited…and remember…photos.” Soon after this, the previous class made their way out and we started to file in. The next few minutes slogged by to the point I took to looking at the random campus postings on the board to the side of the room. Something about a casino night. Some club I’d never join. Salsa dancing. Improv night…Allison was a big part of that last quarter but hadn’t been involved yet. Bingo night. All the usual things.

I got a jolt when Lissa traded a couple of seats and managed to get a spot next to me. She leaned back and noted, “I hope you know how big a sacrifice this is…” I smirked and told her if it was fine if she wanted to be in the back but she waved me off and said, “You look nervous. I’m even worse. So, let’s be nervous together and screw around to kill some time.”

She brought out her phone and showed off a goofy game involving drunk porcupines and a cannon. I played a little two-player with her and almost got into some serious discussion about what was about to happen but she directed it back to talking about what sort of alternate scenes our last Thursday movie should’ve had. A mispronunciation of a long-winded name. A horse that suddenly took off and didn’t stop.

“He’s naked and covered in shit! Must be a writer.”

I offered a few too but they weren’t as good as my usual ones. We were cut short by the appearance of what looked to be a Kinrae sitting in place of the professor. Everyone focused their attention and the anime girl greeted both campuses. So far as she showed on the screen, I could tell she had dark brown hair in a long ponytail and wide, lavender eyes with oval-shaped irises. Her color tones were like the vast majority of Kinrae I’d seen. She wore a warm, pastel pink sweater and had her hands folded in front of her. The faint line of pink at her mouth showed a smile.

“You may notice I’m a little different this time…” With a small, clicking sound, she shifted like a rough edit between images in a film to the professor’s usual face and form. And so class began.

We got a lot of the preparation and warnings of before but even sharper. Don’t abuse the device or you will have it taken from you and wind up on academic probation or worse. Otherwise, it was like any of the previous class sessions, minus the theorists about the Kinrae which had been introduced last week.

It was all leading to the end though. The professor gave the word and one of the faculty staff came in with a lockbox and called us up alphabetically. Lissa came before me and she showed it off. All the expected parts.

The main component was like a weight belt for exercise, only without the weight. It was very light and off-white in color. Despite some warnings on the side (Example, do not put in the washing machine. Only wear as instructed.), it looked like any nylon wrap you might put around your arm or an undersized back brace. The secondary component was the main control. It was linked to the imitation device. If it was ever separated from it by a big enough distance then it would start to chime and then the imitation device would deactivate a minute later as a security feature in case of those who happened to lose that component. They were kept separate because the belt would essentially vanish while in use (‘phased’ was the technical term).

One of the recommendations was to keep the control with you at all times. The control itself looked like an old digital music player. The display was small and similar to an e-book ink display (which gave it enough battery life that it wouldn’t need to be recharged for months). It displayed a couple of settings one could scroll through with a finger press on one side of the screen or the other.

Lissa fiddled a bit and I finally got called up. I gave and signed all the forms and received both pieces. To my quick surprise, I didn’t have a white one. Mine was a pale color of lavender. I looked around and noticed some of them did have different colors. Lissa pouted a bit when I sat down, noting how much prettier mine was.

The class basically wrapped up there with the advisement not to first activate the devices unless we were in private. Someone in the back already had hers on her leg but hadn’t turned it on yet. I skimmed through the settings.

The central groupings were by hair color with a couple variations which brought the color selections to a total of seventeen. The settings allowed some variation between each recorded form, mostly by re-coloring hair forms. There were no visuals and some of the descriptions were plain. “Curly lime green hair”. Sometimes heights were given but it depended on whether the volunteers provided them.

It was a bit daunting but exciting as well. There was a “random” option and I felt like just putting it on and pressing it the first time. Lissa had the same idea and remarked with a smile, “So? My place or yours?”

Lissa didn’t have a later class but I had to take mine into consideration, as well as lunch. But all that was filed in the back of my mind. I’d considered skipping my later class since I’d already done and turned in the work and I would be distracted through the entire session no matter if I went as a human or a Kinrae.

And then there was Allison to consider. I told this to Lissa, who stroked her chin a little and decided, “Alright, but once his little experiment is over, it’s our time.”

I nodded. We were again amongst the last people out of the room as all the other students had presumably gone off to test their devices. The walk to the house felt so long, so Lissa filled it by singing random melodies and getting me to guess them.

Eventually, the front door was just a few steps in front of me. I opened it and stepped inside. Allison was up, alert, and smiling. He waved to Lissa, who entered just behind me, and gave her a big hug then one for me as well.

After a declined offer of food, Lissa camped out on the couch and beckoned me with the words, “You should go first.” The bathroom down the hall was empty. Clayton and Malcolm were both out. I held my strap and controller tightly. They felt warm.

“Wait!” Allison called from behind and hurried to catch up to me. I turned around and took a breath. He reminded me of the experiment. I gave a nod and fidgeted.

He gave a teasing wave and assured me it would be fine. Then he scooted a little deeper into the hallway. I cleared my throat and waited. He told me to close my eyes. I did as he said.