Sacrificial Scars

Yoichi, Okamoto, and Mrs. Kawahara stared at Verónica on the opposite side of the room.

She had been rather quiet the whole morning and the past half week. Many questions crossed her mind each passing minute, but no answers came. The outcome of whatever she could do was the same: to return to her guardians' claws.

She couldn't expect a group of strangers to fulfill her selfish, overly optimistic request. If she asked them, she would burn the bridge as it was being built.

It wasn't like her to be doubtful.

"Verónica?" said Yoichi.

She'd rather get it over with.

"Get me and my brother away from my guardians. They aren't human beings, they are brainless monsters who only want immediate satisfaction. No one should be under their care, they can barely care for themselves. If you do that, I'll do whatever you want me to do."

They frowned at her, including Mrs. Kawahara.

Giving them an ultimatum was a dirty tactic that would destroy their relationship, but since that would happen anyway, she'd better increase her chances of succeeding.

After long, silent gazes, Yoichi walked to her.

It wasn't the first time she saw him scowl, yet being its target was… threatening. She couldn't look up at him for long.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" he questioned.

There were several reasons she could choose from, and yet she was unable to.

Okamoto arrived in her wheelchair and slapped Yoichi's arm. She held Verónica's hand between hers and squeezed it gently.

"You've been very strong, but you don't need to hide your fear anymore."

The warmth of her hold and grin spread throughout Verónica's chest. It grew into a scorching flame, yet she kept it inside.

Mrs. Kawahara approached them.

"None of us can promise to fulfill such a condition. However, we'll do everything within our power to improve the situation, whether you want to participate in the experiments or not. I'm confident I speak for everyone."

She and Yoichi smiled at Verónica.

The corners of her lips lowered and twitched.

"I really wanna hug you," Okamoto said, "but I can't, for obvious reasons."

Yoichi shook his head. "Do you want a hug?" he asked Verónica.

Did she? Could she get one after what she did? What good could it do, anyway?

The moment she opened her trembling mouth, she realized she wouldn't be able to hold the tears back if she spoke.

Okamoto pushed him toward her. "Just do it."

He looked down at Verónica. "I'm going to hug you, okay?"

He didn't wait for an answer and wrapped his arms around her.

Even though he barely touched her shoulders, no tears threatened to come out anymore. The warmth of his shoulder caressed her cheek.

She felt different.

She felt… nothing.

…

The white ceiling light blinded Verónica's eyes. She looked away to regain her vision and saw a blurry blob slowly shaping into Yoichi's silhouette. More specifically, she saw her body's silhouette lying on the surgical bed beside her.

The bridge of her nose wrinkled before she brushed her face, while the sound of a whistle gradually grew in her ears until it deafened them.

It was the second time they had swapped bodies. The first swap happened the same day they agreed to the surgery to run tests for Mrs. Kawahara.

The instant loss of consciousness, splitting headache, dizziness, and nausea were more intense than the first time. She struggled to keep the breakfast she'd eaten in her stomach and almost gave up. Luckily, it only lasted a couple of minutes.

One of the surgeons approached Yoichi, who controlled her body and said something to him in Japanese. He replied within a second.

Even though Verónica didn't wear the translating glasses, shivers shook her body at the sound of her own voice. At least the face mask hid most of his expressions.

She only understood three words in the whole exchange, including Yoichi's last name.

The surgeon walked around the beds and stood beside her.

"Are you alright?" he asked in Spanish.

"I am."

The deep voice that came out of her mouth froze her thoughts. She would never get used to it.

Although a face mask hid the surgeon's mouth, the corners of his eyes wrinkled. He walked more until only his head could be seen behind the curtain that prevented her and Yoichi from seeing their own lower halves.

After several seconds of silence, the other surgeon next to Yoichi said something to him. He hesitated to reply, and the surgeon added something else.

Verónica's surgeon then asked, "How about you? Are you feeling that?" 

"I don't feel anything."

"Very well."

The surgeon switched back to Japanese and disappeared behind the curtain. A moment later, mild tickles spread around her thigh. It wasn't painful, but it was uncomfortable imagining her skin being sliced. And yet, she was curious to see it.

"Why don't you practice your Japanese?" Yoichi suddenly asked in English. He stuttered somewhat, but she wasn't much better at it. "I will practice my Spanish."

They couldn't do anything else, and Mrs. Kawahara had asked them to keep their brains stimulated so that the readings of their brain electrical signals were more intense.

She took advantage of the surgery to kill two birds with one stone and get as much data as possible. The only supposed downside—aside from the swapping side effects—were the bald spots they got in order to stick the pads and round pins closer to their brains. Verónica didn't care, though she could hide them with the rest of her hair if she wanted to.

They spent the next hour learning about each other's cultures and languages, including the surgeons and nurses from time to time. She didn't expect the mood of a surgery to be that lively.

Then, they returned to their shared hospital room.

The nurse left after checking that there were no issues, but before closing the door, Mrs. Kawahara stepped inside and handed translating glasses to both of them.

"Although I scarcely exchanged words with the surgeons, and won't get the results until the evening, I'm confident the data will be more crucial than anticipated."

"Why so?" Yoichi asked in Verónica's body.

"Perhaps you didn't notice. Based on this morning's tests, your surgical beds were placed at a calculated distance from each other to enable the effects of your mutated diseases just enough to be read by a specialized gadget. However, even without seeing the data, the surgeons felt the forces weaken around the area the local anesthesia was applied on."

"Seriously?"

Verónica questioned, "Won't that affect the samples of our skin?"

"Great observation. That's currently unknown. Whether it does or not, the disease's cells should remain in them and will give useful information regardless."

"And won't it be weird to work with chunks sliced off of our bodies?" Yoichi wondered.

"It's for research purposes, so no."

"Should've expected as much."

Mrs. Kawahara observed them a little more.

"You can swap back to your bodies. Were you told how long you must stay here?"

Yoichi answered, "The anesthesia will wear off within half an hour. Then we'll get another checkup to determine if we can leave."

"Understood. You'll visit Manami during her rehabilitation session after that, correct?"

He nodded.

"Message me once you're ready to leave. I have matters to attend to."

She turned around and exited the room.

Since Verónica's and Yoichi's beds were closer than they normally would be to neutralize their mutated diseases, Yoichi merely stretched his arm toward Verónica.

She lay the palm of her hand on his, covering as much skin area as possible while touching his fingertips. Eyes closed, she emptied her head and focused on the contact, commanding her brain to swap bodies. At the same time, she let her mind drift away. A strange combination of sensations, yet efficient thanks to both of them lowering their defenses.

Suddenly, her strength vanished. Her eyes wouldn't open and her muscles wouldn't move. She couldn't feel her breathing or anything else until her eyes snapped open. All her senses rushed back, overloading her brain.

The nausea didn't let her think about anything for five minutes. Once she felt well enough, she grabbed her tablet from the thin drawer beside her bed and called Dr. Herrera as promised.

After two rings, time started counting on the screen beneath his profile picture.

"I didn't think you'd answer," she said. "It's almost one there."

"I needed to hear that everything went well," he whispered in a raspy voice. "I guess it did?"

"Yes, and the results will be more useful than Mrs. Kawahara anticipated, apparently."

"That's wonderful. I truly was hesitant to approve the surgery, but it seems it was the right choice. I'll be waiting for the results. Have a good night, and please keep me updated."

"It's not even noon here."

He laughed nervously. "Staying awake this late isn't my thing anymore. Have a good—"

"Wait. There's a chance Kevin and I can get away from our guardians, and I might need your help."

"What do you mean?"

"I agreed to the surgery in exchange for their help."

The room remained silent. Verónica thought the call had cut off, yet the time kept counting.

Eventually, Dr. Herrera spoke, "I suspected something was going on when you told me about it so directly. Please don't do things like that, there's no necessity. Believe me, there are as many good people as bad. You'll be able to form your judgment over time. We're lucky we found such good people to guide you in the meantime."

"Not everyone would've done as much for a stranger, right?"

"Definitely not everyone, but more people than you think would've."

She was right, yet wrong at the same time. She had been for a long time about many of the concerns that lingered in her mind. That was why she couldn't pick the correct answer, there wasn't one, and there was no wrong one either.

"Including me, of course," Dr. Herrera added. "Ask them to contact me if they need anything regarding your guardians. Have a good day."

"You, too."

"It's not even sunrise here."

The call ended before she could think of a reply.

"Come on, not even a smile for that?" Yoichi smiled.

"Why? It was a mistake."

"I know, but…." He closed his mouth and looked away. "You both seem quite close. His scolding didn't even feel like one, and it was much wiser than anything I could've said. Meanwhile, I'm still a bit upset."

"Why?"

"You could've told us sooner and there wouldn't have been any problems."

They stared at each other.

"Isn't that hypocrisy?" she asked. "You constantly keep things for yourself too and put on a fake smile to hide them. I don't like it."

His eyebrows furrowed.

"What does that have to do with trying to put us between a rock and a hard place? That's just… wrong."

"Because I would've halted the research that would help millions. Why should I care about them?"

"It'll help us too. And don't be ungrateful, we've been helping you however we can."

"How are you sure it'll help us? Our diseases are different from everyone else's. And I wasn't talking about you. I only asked for your help last week."

"How could we not help you? Most people would've done the same."

"How can you be so sure?!"

His frown lifted at the yell.

Ever since escaping her guardians, no one had been monsters like them. That meant she couldn't assume anyone's intentions. Then, why did he keep assuming most people were good? Did he not care about helping the criminals Mrs. Kawahara talked about?

He always put others over himself.

He had no idea what she had gone through all her life.

Silence encompassed the room until the nurse returned for their final checkup. Once they got permission to leave, they changed back into their clothes behind the privacy of curtains.

They walked out of the room in the direction of the rehabilitation facilities.