AN: This chapter is shorter than I'd like but I did like the ending sentence. I'm going to try for at least 2.8k next chapter and ideally 3.25k

Chapter Four – You Can't Beat Yourself

I feel lost. Despite being in this body, despite trying to make the most out of this body, my wife doesn't want me. I can't blame her. I'm stuck living the life of someone who hurt her greatly but these hands aren't mine, this body isn't mine and yet he gets to be closer to my wife than I do. I don't know what went wrong and that troubles me.

The only comfort I have is knowing that as I'm sitting at this exclusive bar is that I have arranged to meet someone who will hopefully make things easier for me. I hear people still talking about Fuwa excitedly and I make a fist. I have to try to find a way out of this. There must be magic users, people who have control of curses and know how to break them. I should be trying to find those people.

Someone touches my back and I look up to see the older actor wearing his sunglasses and with his hair pushed back. A hat would have been a lot more of a disguise. People tend to look for that dyed blond hair when it comes to him. "Hey," he says as he takes a seat next to me. "You're you, right?" he asks.

"Yeah," I nod speaking English although his accent is very thick. I should have known that Fuwa never trained his body to speak foreign languages, that takes work and Fuwa is hardly the most diligent person. "Sorry, that this had to -"

"Let's go outside," Dad gestures and I nod, paying for the drinks that I've had and following him into the cold evening. He looks at me confused. "You're…"

"Is this one of those times when you're going to ask me everything about my life just to make sure that I really have switched bodies with someone else?" I ask and Dad laughs a little at that. He keeps studying me, nodding every so often but I know that his brain is trying to trust me and trust this news that I've told him. I don't even want to trust it.

"One of those times?" Dad asks as he gives me a strange look. "First of all, you should feel lucky that I would do anything to keep my son safe and second, I don't think that this is a hobby of yours jumping in and out of bodies. I mean, it's not something I tend to schedule."

"And if you switched bodies with Boss, how would you handle it?" I ask and Dad gives me a response that I didn't expect.

"See what the extent of his costume collection is. I've always wanted to have the clean look where I can look flashy and still stylish but I wonder what his costumes are. He tends to surprise me with something new," Dad tells me and I roll my eyes.

"People have come to forget that you're not a natural blond," I tell him and he smiles.

"You have gorgeous blond hair…usually," Dad tells me, "and you will again. I am determined that we can get your body back. We just need to figure out what the method of taking it was in the first place. I wonder if Boss can sort to that as well. It'll be something hard to figure out."

"Dad," I say slowly as I try to look away. "Kyoko doesn't want me, I failed her…she doesn't want me."

"I doubt that Kyoko is that shallow," Dad says and I don't know what's going on. I don't think it's a shallow feeling but she and Fuwa have clashed so much in the past, there's so much awkward history there. I can't really be surprised that she would start to hate me for occupying this body, I'm starting to hate myself for occupying this body.

"It's not based on looks. She has a history with Fuwa, she doesn't trust Fuwa, it's not a…it's not a personal thing," I try to tell him and he watches me.

"She loves you and why are you staying away from that apartment? You pay for your share of the rent?" Dad tells me, "Stay there, be with her, see what's going on for yourself."

"You really think I should do that?" I ask and Dad nods. Maybe he does have a point.

…..

…

It wasn't my sweet Kuon who had hurt me in that way that only a swine hurts a woman. It was not Kuon. It is not Kuon that I am looking at right now despite it being his body. I take a deep breath in and bow my head. The look of pain on hi—Shotaro's face killed me. He doesn't understand how disgusted I feel, how much I don't want to trust another man.

I try to find myself somewhere to sit down and just look out of the window. "You should leave," I tell him hearing noises behind me but it's not as if I can just make him immobile. I want Kuon to put Kuon's hand on my shoulder and wrap me up in his arms. I don't want this. I sigh. He really did look so lost and so hurt. I wanted to make sure that he had a chance to be happy but maybe the president is right, I don't really know the meaning of happiness or the meaning of love.

I hear a hard knock on the door and look up at Sho, I glare at him, my heart starting to crumble as I realize that I'm actually looking into those emerald eyes and glaring. I don't want to associate what Shotaro does with what Kuon does. I need some way of breaking out of this.

"Don't even think about answering it," I warn Shotaro before going to the door.

I look out the peephole and my heart drops. Kuon is here in Shotaro's body. As much as I want to see him, I'm not sure if I can act in the same way that I used to. I was such a coward and I don't want him to see me as weak or know what really happened.

"Go away," I speak loudly, forcefully.

He laughs, "I live here too," he yells back and I know that now this has gained Sho's attention. It's going to be weird to see the two of them together and appear to take Sho's side when I'm really on Kuon's side. I am always on Kuon's side.

"Not while you're in that -" I try to argue back but Shotaro moves forward and opens the door and I see a hatred that is rare in Shotaro's eyes, even when Shotaro is in the body of it.

"So, you're playing happy couple living together in my body," Kuon says as he cracks his neck and I start to remind myself of how much better Kuon's body is in terms of the athletic build and defined muscles than Shotaro's. Shotaro might do acting on occasion, Kuon does it professionally.

"That's right…Fuwa…" Shotaro says and I open my mouth to speak but he has his arm wrapped around me and is pulling me close. I step aside and am surprised to see Kuon throw his own body against the wall and put a hand flat on his chest. He isn't afraid of the body getting hurt.

"Don't you dare call me that disgusting name!" Kuon barks back and I see his hand shaking as its positioned on his chest. I look between them. I need to concentrate. This is Kuon protecting me, this isn't Shotaro coming in and attacking Kuon. This is Kuon protecting me.

…

…..

I turn to Kyoko, she's looking as if she wants none of this but this actually does concern her. What happens to this body concerns her and she's not acting like too good of a wife to just allow that to happen. I wonder what would come of me burning this body right in front of him. Cutting this body in front of him. It would destroy him wouldn't it. However, it is nice to see my body up close…I don't really get the chance to. It would be much better were more people to look like me.

"It's not as disgusting as the name Hizuri or Tsuruga," I smirk back and he throws me onto the ground. He seems to have no problem beating up his own body. As he kicks me I see a blinding light for a moment. Damn! Why is he so fond of hurting his own body!? He pushes me to the wall and holds me there with his foot.

"What is your…problem?" I ask him as I cough and he glares to me.

"You really think that this will win Kyoko over to you?" he asks with a cold and bitter laugh. "Look. It's not the body that Kyoko is interested in. Kyoko's got more depth than that. She's far more intelligent than that."

This guy is blinded by love. He doesn't have to praise her so much. If you praise a girl like that then she's less likely to do anything to impress you and I've definitely been able to have her impress me, have her comfort me on a physical level. I hear his steady breathing and I want to tell him what happened. I know that Kyoko probably hasn't told him.

"Kuon," Kyoko says in a steady voice, "I told you that…"

"I know what you told me," Hizuri says with a cocky smile and now I feel like I'm looking into a mirror. This man and I have nothing in common so how can our facial expressions share such a similarity. "I simply am choosing not to listen."

Damn it. This guy is like me. I stand up, pushing my back against the wall for support. I try to throw a punch but I can't. My body would take a while to heal were it to get hurt and then the advertisers wouldn't want someone without flawless skin showing off their products. I need to rebuild my fame and popularity, a black eye would cause a negative feeling to that.

"You can't do it, can you?" he laughs. What right has he got to laugh about this!?

"Do what?" I ask. I don't want him to look so superior to me. I don't want him to think that he's won and that I'm just going to give up on being with Kyoko. That isn't going to happen. I look at him as if he's stupid despite how much looking at my own body brings more respect than looking at his.

"Hit your own body, see you love yourself too much. I don't care what happens to my body right now apart from anything that can't heal. I'm also very skilled at knowing what can't heal. What would I say anyway were a reporter to ask me what happened? Sho Fuwa beat me up?" he shrugs but I know the most powerful weapon that I have towards him.

It's going to be me who has the last laugh here.

I look at him and my eyes narrow, I raise an eyebrow before very simply telling him.

"I had sex with Kyoko."

End of Chapter Four

Thank you for reading, reviews are appreciated

Thank you to the reviewers of Chapter Three

Brennakai, H-Nala, Kaname671, melchormonica8