Out

Mrs. Kawahara spoke in Japanese while glancing at Verónica and Yoichi. Verónica's glasses instantly translated and displayed subtitles in front of her eyes.

"Please step out while I take off the laboratory coat. Remember to not get farther than two meters from each other."

The same process happened with Yoichi's reply.

"Okay. Verónica, let me help you with your backpack."

The guitar case that hung around her torso didn't let her carry the backpack in the same way; she had to carry it by hand. However, that wasn't a problem for her.

"It's fine," she replied in Spanish.

Fortunately, Mrs. Kawahara and Yoichi wore translation glasses as well.

"I promise I'll be careful with it, don't worry," Yoichi added.

"I said it's fine."

They stared at each other in silence.

He smiled again. "Alright. I'm behind you."

Her eyebrows furrowed ever so slightly.

"Shouldn't you walk ahead since you know the building and are a local?"

He froze and laughed nervously.

"You're right. Please follow me, then."

He walked forward and she made sure to stay a couple of steps behind. He stopped at the door to look to the left and to the right before stepping out. She did the same.

Unlike when she arrived at the university, she could now observe the garden calmly. The brown dirt and the dead sticks overpowered the lonely green leaves under the orange sunlight. She had never seen anything like it where she used to live.

She snapped back to reality and looked in all directions to make sure no one was getting close to her. Aside from Yoichi, only one person walked through the corridor, but they were far away.

Something clicked behind her. She turned around to see Mrs. Kawahara locking the door of the laboratory. She wore the brown coat she had worn when they met at the airport instead of the laboratory coat.

Verónica couldn't explain the nervousness that grew in her. It was the same pressing feeling from the airport. She had felt something similar regarding Yoichi when they arrived at the laboratory too but far less intense, meaning it couldn't have been entirely because they were foreigners. What was it, then?

"Shall we go?" Mrs. Kawahara asked.

Yoichi nodded and they began walking. Verónica followed them.

They reached the gate of the university. Mrs. Kawahara kept walking, while Verónica and Yoichi waited for the people on the sidewalk to get far enough.

Mrs. Kawahara glanced back and stopped when she noticed they weren't following her anymore. She turned around and approached them.

"I fathom your life-long habit of avoiding people won't disappear from one day to another."

Yoichi replied, "We should still be careful even if it did."

Verónica agreed. She didn't want to get hurt because there were people around her anymore. Her chest still stung whenever she breathed in too deeply.

"That's the responsible thing to do," Mrs. Kawahara said. "Keep it in mind as you follow me and don't stop until I do."

She didn't wait for a response and turned around to resume her walk.

Verónica took a step, but Yoichi wouldn't move. As much as she wanted to keep going, she couldn't without him.

"Is something wrong?"

"Sorry, it's nothing," he smiled.

Verónica felt something off in his tone. Something was missing compared to his previous smiles throughout the day, but she couldn't pinpoint what.

They began walking and reached Mrs. Kawahara.

People walked past and nothing happened. Finally, Verónica didn't need to worry about her well-being around others. She could take in the surroundings at her own pace.

Tall buildings stood everywhere she looked. The trees in front of them had been equally spaced.

She still couldn't believe how pristine the streets were despite the lack of trash cans in sight. Even then, everything seemed planned and thought out compared to the neighborhood she used to live in.

They arrived at the parking elevator, which meant Verónica had the opportunity to see the advanced process.

Mrs. Kawahara approached the panel on the wall and tapped the screen a couple of times. It scanned her face in a second and a checkmark appeared.

A deep, mechanical sound came from inside the narrow building. It kept going until Mrs. Kawahara's gray coupé emerged from above, lowered by a platform. Once the tires touched the floor, the glass wall in front of them sank, allowing them to step inside.

The entire process took less than a minute. She had watched it in videos, but it was more impressive in person. Still, Verónica had a few questions, which she asked as they walked to the car.

"Isn't this dangerous? Don't people need to queue during peak hours?"

Mrs. Kawahara answered, "The hundreds of safety measures in place are so effective that there haven't been accidents involving people since their invention."

She lifted the keys in front of her and aimed at the car. A bleep came out of it.

"And yes, that's often the case, though it's still acceptable. That's why this elevator is exclusive for the university's staff."

Mrs. Kawahara climbed into the driver's seat, which was on the right side of the car instead of on the left.

"Verónica, you should sit at the back to have more space for your stuff," Yoichi suggested.

She nodded and walked to the backdoor. She placed the backpack all the way to the right of the backseat and then took off the guitar case to place it in the middle. Lastly, she sat behind the passenger's seat to stay as close to Yoichi as possible and closed the door.

She had just fastened her seatbelt when Mrs. Kawahara gently accelerated out of the elevator and turned onto the road.

Verónica could count how many times she had been in a car with the fingers of one hand. They were in Dr. Herrera's SUV to travel between her house and the clinic through the same route. She would've loved to get bored of the scenery, but they couldn't take the risk of going outside unless absolutely necessary.

She admired the tall and modern buildings out the window until she remembered something more important. She took her phone out of the pocket of her hoodie and unlocked it. She looked for Dr. Herrera's name and tapped it to open his messages. He was flying back to Mexico, but she had promised him to keep him updated.

Yoichi spoke at the same time she typed.

"The tests were fun as always, but can we skip the blood samples? It's a miracle I didn't run away or pass out."

Mrs. Kawahara answered, "I can't promise that. Depending on the findings, more blood samples might be needed. We can't discard more complicated procedures either."

"What kind of procedures?"

"I can't say for certain without examining the blood samples."

He sighed. "Will you ever change, Aunt Enko? You don't have to be cold and calculating all the time. People wanna hear that sort of stuff in a sweet, gentle way. Right, Verónica?"

She lifted her head, but Mrs. Kawahara replied.

"There's no point in sweetening the truth. That only brings false hope and misunderstanding."

Verónica agreed with her and couldn't have said it better.

Yoichi sighed again. "I pity your kids and husband. Anyway. How long will the findings take?"

Verónica resumed typing as Mrs. Kawahara answered.

"Any attempts to calculate the deadline of a solution of such complicated research would be futile. As easily as it could take a week, it could also take a month or more. However, I assure you I'll work as fast as possible—with prudency—so that Verónica can return home swiftly."

Verónica's heart hammered in her chest at the same time she tapped the Send button.

Please, don't.

She wanted to say that, but it wouldn't have been wise.

She hadn't told anyone she didn't plan to return to that hell, not even Dr. Herrera. She didn't know how, but she was going to stay far away from them and only return for Kevin.

She was going to make it happen.

…

The three of them walked through the small front yard of a house. Although the two trees had no leaves, the grass seemed uniform and well-decorated with rocks and temple ornaments. The wall was cream white and had a window, while the double wooden door had two.

The lack of multiple floors was the only similarity to Verónica's former house, which had no space for a yard, plain gray walls, and a rusted metal door.

Mrs. Kawahara pressed the button beside the front door and a bell chimed inside the house. Two blurry silhouettes appeared behind the translucent glass and hastily approached. One of them reached for the doorknob. However, they didn't turn it and stood still.

Mrs. Kawahara and Yoichi also stood still, while Verónica stood clueless.

Eventually, the door opened. The middle-aged man and woman glanced at Mrs. Kawahara. Then, they stared at Yoichi.

"It's true—"

Yoichi interrupted the man by wrapping his arms around them. They flinched and froze, but they didn't take long to squeeze him back.

"Finally," the woman said.

The hug continued for a while. Mrs. Kawahara smirked at the scene, and Verónica understood the situation—or she believed so.

They stepped back from Yoichi and rubbed their eyes dry before looking at Verónica.

"Where are our manners?" the man said. He and the woman bowed. "We are Yoichi's parents. Thank you for giving us this incredible opportunity. The least we can do is offer you a place to stay."

Verónica didn't know what to do or say. She hadn't done anything special. If anything, they were the ones giving her the opportunity to escape.

Mrs. Ishige added, "And thank you too, Enko. Please come in."

They moved aside to let Mrs. Kawahara and Yoichi walk inside. However, they stopped after a few steps.

Verónica observed how they took off their shoes. Along with learning the language during the thirty-hour trip, she had read about this etiquette. She understood it helped keep the floors clean, but nothing else.

Regardless, she used her right foot to anchor her left shoe against the ceramic floor and lifted her leg. Her left foot came out, revealing the torn sock. She repeated the process to remove her right shoe.

Yoichi snapped his head away and began walking when she looked up. She took the elevated step and followed him deeper into the hallway. Fortunately, the wooden floor grew warmer the closer they got to the living room.

He stopped in front of one of the two sofas and extended his hand toward it. She didn't hesitate to sit down, hugging the backpack on her lap.

He sat on the opposite side and Mrs. Kawahara sat in the middle. Yoichi's parents sat on the loveseat closer to the TV at least three times bigger than the one at Verónica's former house.

A deliciously strong scent tickled Verónica's nose. The painful growl from her stomach interrupted Mr. Ishige, who had just opened his mouth to talk.

"You must be starving after the long trip," he chuckled. "We'll talk quickly so that you can eat all you want."

Mrs. Ishige added, "You probably want to take a long and relaxing bath as well."

Verónica had never taken one. More importantly, she couldn't understand why they were so kind to a stranger.

She merely nodded at them, and they smiled back.

"Enko, please tell us about the situation," Mr. Ishige said.

Mrs. Kawahara pushed her glasses with one finger.

"As you already saw and experienced, my hypothesis about their mutated diseases canceling each other out was proven correct. On the other hand, the possibility of them swapping bodies was discarded."

Yoichi's parents sighed in relief.

She continued, "The next step is to analyze their blood samples. Hopefully, I'll find further leads within the next two weeks. Realistically, that might take a month. Until then, we may run more tests every Sunday so as not to interfere with Yoichi's studies."

"That's right," Mrs. Ishige said. "Since you now can get close to people, you'll be able to go to the lectures at the campus again."

Mr. Ishige grinned, "I hadn't thought about that. Isn't that great, Yoichi?"

"Hold your horses," Yoichi replied. "It's not like I've been cured yet. Verónica has to be near me for the effects to cancel out. I can't ask her to come to class with me every day."

Verónica asked, "Why not?"

"Because you'd be bored to death."

"It would be the same anywhere I stayed. It'll be more interesting to get to experience a class for the first time. If I can't follow along, I'll spend the time learning Japanese on my tablet."

He stared at her with his eyes wide open. Then, he smiled.

"That's the most you've talked today."

Her eyebrows furrowed. That was true, but why did it matter?

He added, "Okay. Please accompany me to class tomorrow."

"Did she agree?" Mrs. Ishige beamed.

"Oh, right. You don't have glasses. I'll translate."