Chapter Sixteen

Jin returned with red eyes and a red face that was contradicted by a smile, it wasn’t a strong one, but it was there. “Thank you, Kayobi.” He said with that weak little smile growing a little bit stronger.

“Don’t sweat it, just pick up my cookies when I need it, maybe help clean my place when it gets to be a little too much, we call it even, yeah?” I asked with a smirk. “You know how I hate chores.” I opened my mouth and stuck my pointer finger into the gaping face hole, then made a quick gagging noise.

He blinked a few times, “Yeah, yeah, no problem, no problem. I’ll handle the close up, you can go ahead and go home.”

“Great, but how is she?” I asked as I grabbed my purse and a handful of purchases that I’d made over the course of the day.

“I think you probably can guess.” He answered, then jerked his thumb over his shoulder, “Just get going, I’d rather not talk about it. I’d be happier if you just let me work for a while.” Jin gave me an urgent nod, and I shrugged in response.

“Alright, and hey, chin up, my boy. These things have a way of working themselves out.” I promised, and made my way out of the store to the sound of his quiet…

“Yeah, right…” Being repeated several times.

It was evening out, not dark-dark, but dark enough.

But there’s no amount of dark that can outdo a swapper’s sense for the evil eye, that sort of ‘instinct’ that tells you when you’re being watched.

I made a show of stretching and followed my instincts, and much to my total lack of surprise, there was a car up the street that was way too nice for the neighborhood. Sleak, black, dark tinted windows. ‘They really are efficient.’ I thought to myself and chose to linger outside my door and lean over the rail, just watching the sky grow darker. ‘They’ll probably figure out it had something to do with that store. I probably should have gotten rid of them after all…’

I shook my head at the thought, that was a last resort, I could leave that place alone, at least… probably. I doubted the old man was responsible, I felt the fear in his throat, the way it pulsed and saw the sweat beading on his bald head with enough quantity to make it shine like a polished cueball.

‘He would have reported to his boss, however. And it’s only natural they’d want to investigate. But then, they didn’t come by, they’re just watching for now.’ I thought about what that might mean. They weren’t totally stupid, at least.

Smart people are easier to work with than stupid people, they have a greater eye toward their own self interest. As I watched them out of the corner of my eye, careful to ensure none of them left the car to come and bother Jin, I contemplated my options.

“I really don’t want to work on my vacation, damn it!” I muttered and furrowed my brow.

They were still watching me. I could feel it.

That was a relief, the cool air caressed my skin, and it felt almost blissful.

I hadn’t meant to get so involved, I’ve spent years just trading little favors for doing my damn errands… ‘Now look at you… great job, Kayobi, great… great… job.’

This is probably the most troublesome part of being a swapper, we mimic other species so well that we take on their emotional capabilities and many of their mental faculties, and humans' sense of community is stronger than that of my species.

So what else was there for it but to go along with what had already happened?

When I watched Jin make his way to his apartment, I waved a warm “Goodnight.” to him, which he barely acknowledged, and then I went into my home.

But, I didn’t close the door, not all the way.

Instead… I swapped. My body shrank, grew fur, tiny ears, cute little paws, and when I opened my mouth, a squeak came out.

I raced out the crack in my door and down the steps, then went on a roundabout journey toward their car. There was no reason for them to be suspicious of a mouse, but even so, why tempt fate, right?

I scurried underneath their car and I went straight for the tire. I gave a quick bite after hardening my teeth enough, and the puncture was clean. I repeated the act three more times in quick succession. Each time I was rewarded by a tiny ‘hiss’ noise in the dark.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

Up above, I could hear them talking. “They said no. Just observe. See if there’s anything strange, then go. We keep her under surveillance, that’s all.”

“Asking questions is faster.” His colleague in the passenger seat responded.

“Lots of things are fast, they’re not always good. We can take her any other night as good as now, if there’s nothing strange. And if there is, we were smart to be cautious.” The driver said, and I wiggled my ears.

With that kind of work ethic… ‘He might have been a decent swapper. Oh well.’ I thought, and bit through their break lines. I didn’t envy them sitting there the whole time… and I really didn’t like the idea of them lingering around my neighborhood.

So as soon as I was done, I scurried away out of view, off to a direction they weren’t watching, then I swapped again. This time into the form of a young human male, old enough to be out late, but not much else, and I started walking up the length of the sidewalk.

I paused when I got to their car, then stopped to stare.

They noticed me pretty quick, and the window on the passenger side came down. “Go home.” The meathead in the seat said.

I pretended to be startled, scared, and moved my mouth a few times before I could say anything.

“S-Sorry.” I said, “I ah, I was just going to t-tell you guys…” I swallowed the lump in my throat as if I were fearful of what they were.

“What?” The passenger asked.

“Your tires, they’re flat.” I said, “S-Sorry to bother you, I’ll go home!” I swore, and ran off into the darkness until I was well out of sight and I could turn and watch them.

The pair got out of the car and a string of swear words came out of their mouths a few moments later.

“This one’s popped, and so is this one… what about that side?” The driver asked.

“Both are out… we must have hit something…” The passenger concluded.

The swearing renewed, and when I’d snuck back into my apartment, I ‘swapped’ back into my usual form.

I chuckled while I listened to them cursing up a storm, they maybe had one spare, but not four. I didn’t want them to call a tow, though. So I stepped back outside with my own phone. [E’grahcrevo] I cast the spell in their direction, frying their electronics. Their cellphones were as good as bricked.

More cursing for them. More mirth for me.

As it was getting late in Shinjai, there was a logical, obvious choice after concluding I’d gone to bed. Drive away as far as they could, borrow a phone, and call for a ride home, leaving the car to be towed in the morning.

But, them being Yakuza, they would almost certainly report to whoever sent them out, which meant going to that building.

I dialed the connection number to our satellite and waited while the call was routed to Celia. I was rewarded by her face in its natural state. “Celia, hey, how are you?” I asked with a very human grin.

“Fine… just… you know.” She mumbled.

“Oh, well I can improve that a bit. How about you come hang out here with me for a few days.” I suggested.

“Wait, really?!” She asked, so stunned that she leaned back from her device.

“Yeah, well, listen it won’t be all day every day, I’m doing a favor for someone, but we’ll have all evening, and you can binge watch all the stuff I’ve been enjoying, you know, catch up with me some!” I gave her a wide, encouraging grin, “And there’ll be plenty of snacks, just convert some of your credits to gold and, well you know how I do it, but you can pick up whatever you want to eat, from the store I’m helping out at. Then we can relax after I get back.” I promised.

She shivered a little, and I knew excitement in my species when I saw it.

“I do need you to pick up one thing for me on your way here though, just a small errand, nothing big, and I’ll pay for it, of course. Just grab me one of the Q-42 xenocrystalization vials, would you?” I asked.

She blinked her eyes at me. “Are you just trying to get me to do one of your chores for you?” She asked.

I held up my thumb and forefinger to the screen and made the space between the two very tiny. “Just a little bit, I promise. But I really do want to hang out with you, I just can’t take the time to come all the way out there and fill out those damn requisition forms.

“Fine, I’ll fill out a form for you and pick it up, but you’d better pay me back as soon as I get there.” Celia insisted, “I’ll be there in a few days. Just don’t get into any mischief while I’m gone, alright?” She asked.

I couldn’t blame her for the question, after all, the X-42 vial had an extremely flexible fluid inside of it, and the sale of those was strictly limited.

“Celia,” I said with my face deadpan, “when have I ever gotten into shenanigans or mischief of any kind?”

She only looked blankly at me from her screen, tens of thousands of solar systems distant from myself, and…

I gave in.

“I withdraw the question.” I mumbled, “But under protest that the mischief and shenanigans were both worth it one hundred percent of the time.”

“Objection noted.” She responded, and hung up.

I laughed, then poked my head out of the door in time to watch the car start to roll away on three bad tires, after they’d evidently used the spare on the front right tire. It wouldn’t do much good, but I suppose it was better than nothing.

“Alright. Time for some more shenanigans.” I laughed to myself and after stepping out of view again, I swapped into the body of a bird and began to follow after them.