Chapter Eighteen

You know that feeling you get when you first wake up and you don’t remember who you are or if you have a job or if the dream you had was real or if it was just a dream after all?

I love that feeling. If I really needed to, I could have just ‘swapped’ back to my natural body. A swapper only really needs about three hours sleep in what the Earth counts as a twenty-four hour period.

But the problem with that is… swappers don’t naturally experience the same kinds of highs and lows that humans do. We’re not totally without those things of course, but… think of it this way. Humans can go from negative one hundred, to positive one hundred, on a sensory and emotional scale.

A swapper though, we can only go from negative thirty, to positive thirty, for our most extreme emotional states. It’s part of why we have trouble connecting with each other as real friends and comrades, because we just can’t invest that much.

But by becoming ‘human’, I could experience a high of contentment with just existing that was the greatest height possible for my ordinary self.

So I enjoyed my languid awakening, stretching out and yawning, wondering if my dreams were real or not… those really messed with me the first time I had them, by the way, and got myself into a boiling hot shower to start my day.

The sun wasn’t quite up yet, but I was already feeling pretty content. I wore a smile on my face as I soaped up my body and washed away the day before, and basked in the feel of steam rising up around me.

I loved my orangish-reddish hair, the way it felt hanging down against my body when it was wet, the way it blew in the wind when it was dry and outside.

Alright, I’m a pretty hardcore NEET, but damn it, I have a balcony and I can still enjoy that!

I threw on a pair of jeans and a blue T-shirt after I was out and dried off and after slipping on my flat shoes I stepped outside and leaned over the metal rail to let the wind pick up my hair. It wasn’t much of a breeze, really, but it was nice enough, the way it stroked my neck and carried the little strands far enough that I could see them out of the corner of my eye, like they were grasping for something just out of reach…

I guess I haven’t really said why I do this… let alone how I ended up coming here of all places. And I’ll tell that story… some day. It’s a bit too much for me to think about, for right now.

But I can tell you the ‘do this’ part. It’s because I was happy. That’s it, that’s all. Just standing there watching the lights in people’s little apartments across the way come on, listening to the noise of people rising to get to work…

Full disclosure, despite coming here for years, I didn’t know most of my neighbors very well. Just the Toriyama family.

Now though, having worked at the store for all of two days, I was growing curious about everybody else. I laughed a little while I stood there, “And here I was thinking I needed to get Celia Norn out of her shell a little, look who’s talking, eh, Kayobi?”

I shook my head, sometimes my own foibles stare me right in the face and I don’t even see them. I still had some time before the store needed to open back up. But even so, I was ready now and… ‘Why not give it one more quick mop job… besides, restocking will be necessary soon.’ I thought. I had told the delivery people ‘when’ to arrive as to a day, but not a specific time.

So down I went to enjoy a pleasant morning shift, and to wait for whatever came my way.

This time of course, I remembered my key.

I rolled my eyes at myself as I unlocked the metal barrier and lifted it up. “You’ll never let go of that, will you, Kayobi?” I asked myself when I heard the click of the lock and opened the door to settle in to work. “No… no you won’t.” I answered myself, but wore a little self-deprecating smile on my face when I went to get the mop and the bucket and make sure the floor was nice and shiny to start the day.

I may not look it in my daily life as a human, but I’m a perfectionist of the highest order, that’s why I’m such a skilled Painter. I have a vast array of species under my belt to change into, and unlike ‘most’ swappers, I can actually combine them to make fictional creatures.

And that perfectionism translated now into helping out this store. I made a few mistakes, sure, but I remembered and learned from them. I immediately went to the phone after mopping and called the vendors and suppliers to schedule a specific hour for them to show up, instead of just ‘any time’ and then it was back to the register.

It was a quiet day. Like most days.

It came and went, my Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. But it was on the fourth day that I got an unexpected surprise.

Tough guy came in. The one who was picking on Jin. Trailing behind him were his two little buddies.

I didn’t feel any guilt about knocking their heads around a bit, they picked on Jin, after all.

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But they did not look good. Their clothes were dirty, and they had a very faint smell about them like they hadn’t washed in a while. Now, not every apartment had its own baths, some people still went to bathing houses, but the fact that they had that faint odor to them meant that they hadn’t done so in at least a few days.

Even if they didn’t have baths or showers in their homes, the bath houses were cheap.

So either they didn’t care, or… ‘They can’t afford it.’

I furrowed my brow. I saw the back of the largest boy’s uniform, it still had a grass stain on it that he probably got when I put him on his butt.

They had sullen faces and walked hunched over, their hands shoved in their pockets, they went around the store and checked out the prices. The smaller of the two looked frankly… anxious, after a very short time.

So much so that I began to suspect they were up to something, they stayed behind their larger companion as much as possible, but I had a memory tickle in the back of my head.

An assignment I went on… there was a dictator who was impoverishing his people to build an armada to invade their neighbors. One on a small moon that was barely iron age. One on a world that had just reached what humans call ‘The Age of Sail’ level technology. Both would have been helpless to a fleet invasion.

I’d ventured to the world that was planning the invasion while negotiations were at play to deter it, and while there I witnessed the horrendous poverty of this more or less reptilian people. While in one of their little shops I witnessed a peculiar form of theft. One would walk in front and act as a ‘blocker’ while another person or pair of persons would subtly reach out and take things. The ‘blocker, would then separate from the others who would move out of view, and he would attempt to buy something to distract the clerk.

Then they would leave with more than they paid for.

It was pretty clever in a simplistic sort of way. As long as the three were willing to share the goods, they might even get a fair bit, and if they weren’t caught, they could repeat it a bunch of times.

The one I’d dubbed ‘Bullyboy’ was approaching the bento boxes I’d put together. I expected him to take the more expensive one… but he didn’t.

He went for the sale item, the leftover boxes from the day before were always half off, and while he approached, I looked at his pockets. They had nothing in them that I could see.

I was ready to call them out. In a way, I was itching to say something. I wouldn’t let them steal from the Toriyamas.

He put the bento box down and reached for his wallet. His head was down, the arrogant, cocky, even cruel look on his face from before was gone. He reminded me more of those little reptilian people I saw stealing.

His stomach rumbled.

The two others did too.

“M’a little short…” He mumbled. His wallet was in bad shape too, it was probably older than he was.

His stomach rumbled again. I narrowed my eyes. “I know what you did to Jin.” He took a step back, and the other two in the rear snapped up straight like somebody brought a lash to their backs.

Bullyboy’s eyes widened, his mouth opened. Of course he had no idea it wasn’t Jin that put him and his buddies down, but even so… I hadn’t forgotten.

“And you two… get up here.” I said, looking over his shoulder. “Put the things you were trying to steal, down on the counter.”

I could see the moment of indecision on all three of their faces. “Don’t think I can’t catch you.” I quipped, “Come on. Do it, and I won’t call the police.”

That spurred the two to action, and they shuffled over to me with their heads down and emptied their pockets. Snacks.

Little cheese and meat things, the small stuff and nut packages. Their stomachs rumbled.

“Can I… look… can I just… I don’t know, work… if you’re friends with Jin, I know you don’t like me but… I’m the one that did that… they just did what I said… let them have the box… I’ll do some work around here…” Bullyboy looked very much like he was about to start crying then and there.

Their stomachs rumbled again. “What are your actual names?” I asked.

You know, I’d been on Earth off and on for years now, but what I felt right then, it was a first for me. At least in a ‘real’ sense. I almost didn’t recognize it, thank goodness my vast experience with anime of all genres taught me what it was.

‘Pity.’ I was actually feeling bad for them. They were obviously hungry.

“Kimura…” Bullyboy answered, “Kimura Asahi. My cousins, Rin and Shugo.” He tilted his head first left, then right as he gave their names.

“Alright… Asahi…” I pursed my lips, I could feel that faint tingle on my skin again, like I was getting involved in something, and I reached into my pocket and pulled out my own wallet. “Don’t ask me why I’m doing this. The gods know you don’t deserve it from me, not after what you did to a friend of mine. But… go get two more of those day old bento boxes.”

Asahi moved like a stunned bunny, going over to the side counter and taking the discount white boxes away from their place. I tallied up the snacks and boxes and then tapped my card to cover the cost.

“Consider this… a favor, since you’re willing to do that for your cousins.” I said as the trio looked in stupified wide eyed disbelief at me. “But, you will come to the apartment two zero six at eight thirty tonight so I can tell you how you can pay me back. Do we have a deal?”

“I… I guess… I guess I can do that… but-” Asahi began to answer, but I shoved his stuff into a bag and handed it to him.

“Hurry off to school, you’ll be late.” I said, and watched them leave. I wasn’t sure how long it had been since their last real meal, but that couldn’t have been a good sign. Plus he was willing to give the box over to them.

Maybe he wasn’t all bad the way I thought?

I shrugged off the thought and put my card away, time would tell, it always did. Then I got back to work.