Spicy Solutions

No, this can't be happening. It's a nightmare. Yes, it's a vivid nightmare because I was exhausted last night. I'll wake up with some water.

Still standing in front of the mirror and sink in the bathroom, I filled my hands with tap water and splashed it on my face. It didn't work so I kept doing it, to no avail. I stared at myself in the mirror before slapping myself with all my strength. My cheek reddened as I exclaimed in pain, yet I was still in another woman's body. I sat down on the cold tiles and leaned my head against the wall.

I can't believe it. I can't believe the body-swapping nonsense is real. I never cared about it and now I'm living it. What am I supposed to do? Today's my first day…. Wait. She works there and knows that I just signed the contract, so she should be heading there as well. I hope she thinks the same.

I stepped back into the room and looked at the time on the lock screen of her phone. It was too early to go out, but I didn't want to waste any more time. I unlocked the phone with the fingerprint of my thumb and the last message she received appeared: kiss emojis from someone with a profile picture of a woman hugging the woman I was. I closed the conversation not to invade her privacy and opened the Maps app to see my current location. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw that work was a ten-minute walk away.

The phone bounced on the bed and I approached the wardrobe in the same room. Most of the clothes inside were dark and elegant, save for a few to wear at home. I chose an outfit based on what I remembered her wearing when I first saw her and realized something as soon as I put it on.

Wasn't her chest bigger?

I was right. Bra pads lay in one of the drawers of the wardrobe and they made an incredible difference once I put them on.

Perfumes were nowhere to be seen, only deodorants. I applied it to my armpits while still looking for any kind of fragrance, unsuccessful.

Boxes of cereal and noodles sat on the counters of the narrow kitchen. My stomach growled like a wild beast, but stealing wasn't in my plans. Regardless, I had already lost too much time. I placed the phone in the purse on the table and took one last look around for anything that seemed important before heading out.

Only halfway there did I realize that the heels were no longer a struggle. Curiously, my ankles began to bend after thinking about it, which added to the spinning of my head and the non-stop yawning.

I survived the journey and sat on a bench in front of the company building. Although people could recognize me and start a conversation that would become instantly awkward, I needed a clear line of sight to be able to spot myself coming down the sidewalk.

The wait became boring soon enough, so I started to search for answers on the Internet.

The CTCT disease had been detected slowly throughout the entire world. Scientists believed it only happened to a few, select individuals, but that couldn't be proved since it needed two compatible people to be triggered. Once their skin had direct contact, the swapping process would start. Both of the subjects would experience sleepiness that became stronger within several minutes until they fell asleep. In a matter of seconds, the swapping process would conclude and the individuals would wake up in each other's bodies.

How's that even possible? I don't care now, just give me the solution.

To return to their original bodies, the couple would need to touch each other's skin after the cooldown ended and the process would be repeated. However, only two cures had been discovered for a permanent solution. Depending on the age, the couple would need to either kiss directly on the lips or experience intercourse.

The cure is to kiss or have sex? What kind of cures are those? And how am I supposed to know which one will work? Oh, the next section talks about it.

Even with the little data gathered in the few years since the disease was discovered, it was certain that the cure for couples below nineteen was a kiss. After that, the cure would vary from couple to couple. From twenty-two and beyond, only intercourse would work.

You have to be kidding me. How does that even work?

"Hello," a familiar voice came from in front of me.

I looked up from my phone. The pink hair struck my eyes first once they became accustomed to the light of the sky. She was me. I was seeing myself standing in front of me. Shaking my head was the only way to bring me back to reason.

I stood up. "Hey. I guess you're the woman I'm inside of."

"That sounded quite outrageous, but yes, I am."

The conversation quickly came to a halt. Clueless about what to say next, I bowed slightly and introduced myself.

"I'm Rie Minami, the new programmer."

"I'm Sachiko Katō. I'm the—"

A grotesque growl came out of my stomach.

"I'm really sorry about that," I apologized.

"Don't worry, it's my body, I'm used to it. I'm the one embarrassed, actually."

A slight pink had tainted her cheeks already. She looked away from me at the pavement. A shiver went down my spine.

"Let's talk somewhere else," I suggested.

"Sure. I'm hungry as well. And rather cold."

Now that she mentions it, I haven't felt cold at all. I guess our bodies are that different.

About to walk away, I stopped her.

"Wait. Before going, we should touch each other."

She stared at me.

"Please elaborate."

"I just read in an article that this… swapping occurs after two compatible people touch their skin directly. We just need to touch again to swap back, as long as enough time has passed. I didn't read about that, so I'm not sure if it'll work now."

"Let's try, then. How should we do it?"

Thoughtful for a second, I extended my arm in front of her.

"Just touch the top of my hand."

She looked at it for a moment before raising her hand and gently touching the top of my hand with her fingers. She stayed like that for a second before moving her hand away.

"I hope that's enough," she said.

"Me too. Let's go."

We stepped into a nearby ramen restaurant that had just opened for the day. There weren't many people, so we didn't take long to place our orders at the counter.

We sat down at individual booths with our respective order numbers to wait for the ramen. A wooden partition divided each of the booths, yet it was possible to look to the side and talk with the person sitting next to you.

The restaurant was rather silent, save for a tapping sound coming from beneath the table; Ms. Katō's foot was hitting the stool she was sitting on.

"Are you okay?" I wondered.

"I am. Why do you ask?"

"Your leg's bouncing a lot."

"Oh. I'm not sure why I've been feeling this… anxious since I woke up. I'm a little nervous about all of this, but not that much to justify feeling like this."

Could it be…?

"I think I know why," I said. "I get anxious if I don't smoke for a while and I haven't felt anything since I woke up. It's quite peaceful, actually. I guess that, since you're in my body, you're the one feeling the symptoms."

"Makes sense. It's overwhelming. Do you have to go through this every day?"

I nodded. "Do you feel this hungry often? I haven't felt like this in ages."

"I do. I got used to it."

"Just like me."

A chef approached my booth from the other side and slid a bowl onto my table. Pork and green garlic garnished the noodles and the soup, accompanied by a soft-boiled egg cut in half; common yet still delicious.

I had already picked up the chopsticks when I realized that Ms. Katō's bowl hadn't arrived yet, so I held back. Fortunately, it didn't take long for her ramen to arrive and I began to vacuum the food into my mouth. Tasting its flavor froze time. I could finally say that a meal was delicious for the first time in ages.

Ms. Katō's incessant coughing took me out of the moment. Her face had reddened.

"Are you choking?" I asked.

"No," she answered amidst sharp intakes of breath.

I looked at her ramen to see a blazing-red soup, topped with even more red condiments.

"Did you order the spiciest one?"

She nodded. "I'm usually okay with it."

"Remember you're eating with my body. I can't handle spicy at all."

"You're right. Luckily, I know the best technique."

She moved the bowl closer to her, took a deep breath, and started vacuuming the ramen just as I was. The noodles were the first to be gone, followed by the pork and the vegetables. She tried slurping the soup but gave up halfway.

She's gonna die. I'm gonna die.

She put the bowl down and rested her arms on the table, staring down at it for a minute while breathing through her mouth. I had almost eaten half of my meal when she came back to life.

"That was wild," she said, her nose stuffed up. "I need to cool down; I'll wait for you outside."

"Sure."

I finished the rest of my ramen in a few minutes and walked out of the restaurant, just to find Ms. Katō jumping on the spot and moving her head from side to side. Like the people passing by, I merely stared at her, speechless.

"I do this to make the spicy go away," she said. She looked down. "But… nothing."

I don't even know what to think anymore.

We headed back to the same bench. More people walked on the streets, yet we still had fifteen minutes to spare.

"We didn't get to talk much back there," I said.

"I apologize for that."

"It's fine. I actually expected to be sleepy by now, but I guess the cooldown hadn't passed yet when we touched. Should we try again?"

We repeated the same process from before and sat in silence for a moment.

"I have many questions about this situation," said Ms. Katō.

"Me too."

"What does 'compatible people' mean?"

"I have no idea. Maybe it's random."

"Or maybe there's a deeper meaning…. What else did you read? Is there a permanent solution?"

"Yes. Ah… I think it's better that you read it."

I took out her phone from the blazer's pocket and unlocked it before handing it to her. After a minute of reading, she lowered the phone and closed her eyes to let out a deep breath.

"The article is posted on the official website of Hosei University," she said.

"Yep."

She sighed once again. "What a headache. I think we should just avoid touching each other again. It should be simple, even though we share the workplace."

"I agree. That reminds me, you didn't get to say what your job is."

"Right. I'm the project supervisor."

"I see. I'm looking forward to working with the whole team. I hope we get along nicely."

"Likewise."

A yawn came out of my mouth and Ms. Katō copied me.

"I think the swap is coming," I said.

"Wonderful. I'll set an alarm for five minutes from now just in case."

I watched her do that and didn't even realize when I fell asleep.

An instant later, a dim rooster alarm abruptly woke me up. Ms. Katō was still sleeping beside me and I was back in my body.

Yes!

"Ms. Katō. Ms. Katō," I repeatedly called while gently pushing her shoulder.

It wouldn't work, so I called her a bit louder and pushed her harder.

"Ms. Katō!"

She hastily sat straight and replied.

"Yes, I'm awake. Thank god, we're back in our bodies. Let's avoid touching each other at all costs."

"Fine by me. We should get into the office; I don't wanna be late on my first day, but before I go in, is there a smoking lounge?"