Dustin arrives back at the Simple Stay where Momona awaits him as she sits on a sofa.
"How long were you waiting for me?" Dustin asked her.
"Several minutes," she verified assuredly.
"Okay, let us do this," Dustin said. "Just to talk." He was quick to add to the manager.
Momona follows Dustin back to his room.
"So what is on your mind?" Dustin asked after closing the door.
"Not what, who," Momona corrected with a glower.
"Oh ho," as he smirks, "so Nanami, Yamada, and that ah . . . Saki girl went and boasted?"
"How could you?!" Momona snarled.
"It all started when Nanami approaching me-"
"And you couldn't say no?! Was it because she was too pretty?!"
"Okay, just what exactly is the problem here, Momona?"
"The problem is that you seemed to have gotten over your brush with the law!"
"The law of this world does not take what I did as seriously as the law of our world does."
"That doesn't mean you can just go around indulging every female willing to spread her legs to you!"
"That was not my plan!" Dustin then sighs. "Look, my plan was to find you because of that dream I kept having about you. But now that I found you . . . Where do I go from here?"
Momona is at a loss over how to counter that.
"Now what about your other self, Momona?" Dustin next asked. "What do you know about what has been going on with her? For all that you know, your other self might have already taken on three guys at once, if you catch my drift." Smirking over that last part.
"The last I heard," she begins with a weary expression, "was that Urisugi-san told me that she had sex with him before he got switched over, but it was painful for her. After all, we only switched minds not bodies. In this world, females treat their hymen with contempt. Anyway . . . that calmed her down and she stuck around with him. But yeah," as she looks away with a grimace, "I hate to admit it but she might have moved on."
"At least you last heard of what was going on with your other self in your original body," Dustin said. "Now me, ever since I woke up and found myself in this brave new world, I still do not know what my other self has been up to or how he has been adjusting. I do not believe that I will ever know . . . unless someone I know were to get switched over and inform me . . . You know," as he next takes out his cellphone, "this whole situation with myself, yourself, and that Urisugi fellow has me thinking about something. Give me a moment."
Dustin falls silent as he types something in.
"Yep . . . the concept of parallel universes do exist in this world too." Then looks back to Momona with an eager expression. "We are living proof that parallel universes actually exist!"
"And we can't prove any that to the rest of the world," Momona said with a distant expression.
"There is also something else I want to check out," Dustin said as he types in his cellphone. "Yeah I figured . . . I cannot find the word, nymphomania. Let me check something else . . . Okay, listen to this. I typed in, sex addictions in men, and this word came up . . . Satyria. It means excessive sexual desire in a man. A man with satyria is called a satyriac. I think it is a play on the name, satyr. You know, one of those half men half goat creatures in Greek mythology? Anyway, this word parallels, nymphomania."
"What's the point, Dasutin-san?" Her expression peevish.
"The point is that these nymphomaniacs were actually women who simply got switched over from this world where they were just viewed as being womanly. While these . . . satyriacs were actually men who simply got switched over from our world where they were just viewed as being manly. Do you understand what that means?"
"I guess it means that this phenomenon has been going on for very long time," Momona admitted.
"Probably longer than we think." Looking off to one side, then smiles. "You would think this would be a part of history and it be known to all . . . But up until it happened to me and I met you," looking back down at her, "I never heard of such a possibility . . . If this happened to someone I knew instead of me and they started claiming that they came from a parallel world, I know I would have ended up thinking that the illness had damaged their brain . . . Just as you would have in regards to any of your friends, right Momona?"
"You have a point there, Dasutin-san." Her expression turns distant. "So that's it then. Something extraordinary happens to us and we have to keep quiet about it or risk judgement about our mental health . . . About the only thing we can do is secretly locate those who share our secret and let them know that they are not alone. Now what you just said reminds me of something . . . When I was in the hospital, I was looked after by one Doctor Shiraha. Later on, he came to my school and told me that Urisugi was exhibiting the same symptoms I had and was at a loss over how to treat it. He wanted to consider it a disease, and that might make it harder for us to function in this new world."
"There might be a silver lining in that." As Dustin makes a thoughtful expression. "If that docter were to have his findings published, there is a possibility that more people in the same situation as us could end up reading it and learn that they are not alone."
"Anyway, I'll be leaving now, Dasutin-san," Momona said while heading to the door.
"Wait," Dustin said, prompting Momona to stop and look to Dustin. "There is something else I want to share with you. I learned that Judeo-Christianity went a little differently in this mirror world where the Garden of Eden incident was involved. You know how that went with Adam and Eve, right?"
"Yes. The Devil took to the form of a serpent and tempted Eve into taking a bite out of an apple from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil."
"Hold on a moment, Momona. Just to be clear, the fruit is not explicitly named, only that it was fruit. Okay, you may continue."
"Anyway . . . Eve took that fruit to Adam and tempted him into taking a bite out of it too. Then God came along and they hid. God called out to them and they finally came out covered in leaves in a vain attempt for clothing. God asked them what they had done and Adam said that Eve told him he could eat the fruit and did so, and Eve said that the serpent told her it was okay to eat the fruit and did so. Then God expelled them from the Garden of Eden. What of it?"
"Well in this world's version," Dustin begins with a gleefulness, "Adam refused to take that bite by slapping the fruit out of Eve's hand . . . ! God was about to make his appearance, when Eve ran and hid while Adam stood his ground! God picked up that fruit and asked Adam, 'Did you eat this?' Adam answered yes . . . ! God next asked Adam where Eve was, but Adam remained silent! Finally, God called for Eve to come forth and she does so, wearing leaves in that same manner . . . ! God demanded the truth and although Eve said that the serpent told her it was okay to eat the fruit, Adam on the other hand told God that he only wanted to protect Eve! Long story short . . . God punished them in the same manner as He did back in our world, except in one detail!" Holding up his forefinger. "Adam's relationship to Eve . . . ! Back in our world, Eve was forced to submit to Adam because she tempted him into taking a bite out of the forbidden fruit, since she herself had been tempted into taking a bite out of that fruit earlier! But in this world . . . God placed a portion of Eve's sin onto Adam, forcing Adam to submit to her, because he tried to hide her sin from God!"
"I guess it shows that this mirror world has its own mythologies that are in line with the intrinsic morality of this world's humanity," Momona deduced.
"You can say that again," Dustin quipped. "Since time out of memory in this world, women have been at the mercy of their own sexual urges and the men have been at the mercy of the women."
"Anyway, I'm leaving now." As she turns, but takes a moment to glare back. "Oh, and about my friends-"
"Okay stop right there, Momona," Dustin stated with a serious expression. "Let's just depart on a good note, okay?"
"Fine, but this could turn bad for you," Momona said without looking back while heading toward the door.
She opens the door and leaves, closing it behind her. Dustin stares glumly at the door.
The next day Momona is out walking when she encounters a familiar person out on the street.
There's Amamiya. Momona thought with a disappointed expression. How could she just throw herself at Dasutin-san like that?
She approaches Nanami.
"Hello, Amamiya," Momona said.
"Hello, Ichikawa," Nanami replied.
"You seem a little different today," Momona said.
"I do? Whatever do you mean, Ichikawa?"
"It's almost like." Her expression grim. "You had sex with Dasutin U-iba-san."
Nanami gives Momona a startled expression.
"The girls told me all about it yesterday," Momona stated with a resentful expression. "How could you just walk up to a complete stranger, and a foreign one, and ask him for sex?!"
"I didn't want to remain a virgin for eternity," Nanami stated with an intent expression.
"What's wrong with being a virgin?!" Momona asked with an innocent but outraged expression. "I'm a virgin!"
Insofar as in this body, that is. Momona next added inwardly.
"But you don't have an image to maintain!" Nanami countered with an upset expression.
"Image?"
"I'm the popular girl! And being popular means having the appearance of experience!"
Momona stares at her with a befuddled expression, which turns to weariness upon realisation.
Okay, I get it now. It's just like for the popular boys back in my world. They have to appear that they are experienced to the other boys as well.
"But are you sure that's what the boys want?" Momona next asked.
"I don't know," Nanami answered with an uncertain expression. "All that I know is that I'm glad that I picked Dasutin-kun up."
"But Amamiya, you still shouldn't go around picking up random strangers for casual sex," Momona pleaded with an expression to match.
"You're not my mother, Ichikawa," Nanami said with a peevish expression, then in a more subdued one. "Who by the way had suffered just as you have."
"Eh?" Momona pondered.
"I learned from Kawashima's mother that she knew my mother from back during their time in high school. She told me that my mother was also hospitalised for the same illness you had. Because when she woke up, she became obsessed with morality just like any boy would. Just like you have."
Nanami walks away, leaving Momona standing there looking dumbfounded.
Amamiya's mother?! Is she really from my world?! First me, then Dasutin-san, then Urisugi-san. And now Amamiya's mother?! I should catch up with Amamiya and ask! No, she's still upset with me so I'll let her cool off first. But tomorrow after school, I've got to get in touch with her mother and let her know about me and the other two! She might even know more people in our situation!
Momona takes out her cellphone and places a call.
"Hello, what is it, Momona?" Dustin answered.
"I was just talking with Amamiya Nanami."
"Really? How is she? Could you put her on?"
"No, she's walked on." As Momona makes a weary disapproving expression. "I guess she's upset with me now that I told her about you two, especially the part where I scolded her for it."
"Oh I see," Dustin sneered. "Is that why you called me up? To gloat?"
"No, it's what she told me about her mother!" Momona corrected with an intense expression. "Back when her mother was a teenager, she took ill and got hospitalised! When she woke up, she became just like the both of us, and Urisugi-san."
There is a moment of silence from both sides.
"Go catch up with Nanami and ask to accompany her home!" Dustin stated with an intent expression. "That way you can have a talk with her mother to verify this!"
"No, she's still upset with me so I'll wait until tomorrow," Momona answered. "Besides, it's going to be tricky to try and be alone with her mother in order to talk about that."
"Very well. If there is nothing else, Momona, then I will hang up."
"Okay."
And they do so.
NOTE:
That alternative Garden of Eden incident seems to make sense for this morally reversed world.
