"Well that was fruitful," Ayu said to Hanako as she puts her phone away and starts walking, prompting Hanako to keep pace and who also has her arms raised to cross behind her own head. "I just don't understand her anymore. Ever since she got hospitalised for that mystery illness, she has simply never been the same."
"I know," Hanako agreed. "How could an illness change her like that?"
"I don't know," Ayu admitted. "Ever since she recovered from that illness, she lost interest in sex. She knows that super stud Dasutin-kun and just snubs him. I mean, what the hell?!" As her expression turns to outrage. "And here I thought her old lust was finally coming back when I met her in that erotic bookstore!"
"She was in an erotic bookstore?" Hanako asked with a disbelieving expression.
"Oh yeah I didn't tell you about that," Ayu said in revelation. "I was in my favourite bookstore and she just happened to be there looking for something to read and even asked me to help her. It was kinda annoying at first because she was being so picky and vague about her fetish. But she managed to describe what she liked and I was able to help her find what she was looking for."
"And that was?"
"A romcom."
"Eh?! Virgin delusion fodder?!" Hanako sneered. "She likes that sort of crap?!"
"Apparently, she does. It's rare in erotic manga but I managed to find one for her."
"It's usually the boys who're into virgin delusion fodder," Hanako smirked. "The old Ichikawa would've never been caught dead with something like that."
"The old Ichikawa," Ayu echoed with a distant expression.
"Yeah, just what I said," Hanako said while lowering her arms to let hang back down. "But I guess whatever illness she had must've damaged her brain."
"I don't think that's the case, Kanzaki," Ayu explained with her head tilted downward and her fingers tweaking her chin. "Ichikawa's getting better grades and taking up hobbies. People with brain damage become less capable."
"Well what else could it be?"
"I . . . I really don't wanna say it," Ayu said while rubbing her forehead with an exasperated expression.
"Go ahead and say it," Hanako urged. "Say what's on your mind about Ichikawa."
"Okay," Ayu said as she stops while momentarily touching Hanako's shoulder to get her to stop walking as well. She gives Hanako a solemn expression. "But I warn you, it's gonna sound crazy."
"Out with it already!" Hanako demanded.
"Ichikawa Momona . . . is not Ichikawa Momona."
"Eh?! So what're you sayin', she's an imposter?" As Hanako grimaces at Ayu. "You think the real Ichikawa Momona was done away with and replaced with a double?"
"No, what I am saying is that she is who she is, and yet she is not who she is."
"But that don't make any sense, Kawashima. How can Ichikawa be who she is, and not be who she is?"
"Simple, she was switched with another Ichikawa Momona from another world."
"From a morally reversed world!" Hakano stated with a distant awestruck expression, then doubles over slightly as she clasps her own head from the epiphany she is having. "It . . . It all makes so much sense . . . ! Her strange behaviour and complete turnaround . . . ! Her disinterest in getting laid . . . ! Wait!" As she stares at Ayu with a more intense expression. "Urisugi was hospitalised for the same reasons! That means he got switched too! No wonder he was so eager to fuck us! A-And now there's Dasutin-kun! Remember what was reported about him?!"
"There's also Amamiya's mom!" Ayu added eagerly.
"Amamiya's mom?!" Hanako winced.
"Yeah, I neglected to tell you but when she was still in high school she took sick and changed; just like Ichikawa did."
"S-So just how many people has this been happening to?! How long has this been going on?! C-Could this happen to us?!"
"Who knows?" As Ayu continues walking with an intense expression forward with Hanako falling in line. "But what we do know is that all those physicists were right about parallel universes."
"Awesome!" Hanako stated with a profound look up at the sky. "A universe where men are eager to get laid! I'd love to visit it for a day! Or maybe a week! Or a month!"
"Before what happened with Ichikawa," Ayu said, "I never heard of someone claiming to be from a parallel universe. Have you?" Looking to Hanako.
"Nope," Hanako admitted.
"Well now there you go."
"But at least we can let Ichikawa know that we now know!"
"Sorry, Kanzaki, but we can't do that," Ayu said with a serious expression.
"Why not?!"
"Because she won't believe that we believe and she could end up thinking that we're just pitying her. After all, in the beginning we thought she was just sexually frustrated from being cooped up in the hospital for two weeks and fantasised about a morally reversed world. Think about it . . . She can't prove her claims and we can't prove that we believe her."
"Aw, that's right," Hanako said with a sad expression. "So she's all alone."
"She's not alone," Ayu countered with a hopeful expression. "She's got, I mean she had, Urisugi. Now there's Dasutin-kun and Amamiya's mom. And there's no way those three are ignorant about Ichikawa's situation nor is Ichikawa ignorant about their situation. So cheer up."
"In the meantime, what are you going to say to your mom about our fuck time with Dasutin-kun?" Hanako asked. "Remember what happened when you kept Urisugi a secret?"
"Yeah, I think I will. Gauge her reaction. What about you, Kanzaki?"
"There's absolutely no way I can tell my mom." As she crosses her forearms. "I'd just get punished even more."
Early that next morning, Dustin is awakened by the ringing of the telephone in his room. He groggily reaches over and picks up the receiver.
"Hello?"
"Somebody is here to see you," the desk manager said in stilted English.
"Wha-What?" As Dustin sits up more attentively. "Did you just say somebody is here to see me?"
"Yes I did."
The call abruptly ends.
Dustin stares wryly at that phone for a moment, then hangs it up and gets up. He puts on his pants and a shirt.
There is a knock at the door.
"Give me a moment!" He called while tucking in his shirt, then goes to open the door.
There stands Nanami's mother.
"Yes, how can I help you, lady?" Dustin asked, not knowing who she actually is.
"I want to come in," Nanami's mother said in stilted English.
"O-Okay," Dustin said with a whimsical expression while backing away so that she walks in.
He closes the door and turns to her. "So what can I do for you-gah?!"
Upon being startled by her glowering up at him wordlessly. She begins stalking toward him, forcing Dustin to back away.
"L-Lady, is something wrong?" Dustin fretted while continuing to back away from a woman smaller than himself. What the hell is this mental pressure?!
But she continues stalking toward him while glowering up at him.
Dustin falls backward upon the bed after hitting his legs against it. Nanami's mother stops her advancement and stands so close to him that their knees almost touch. Without tilting her head, she continues glowering down at him with downcast eyes, giving her a dangerous look.
What the hell is up with this woman?! Dustin thought with a bewildered expression. Is this what they call, the killing intent?! Wait! Is she?! As his expression changes to recognition.
"Nanami's mother, I presume?" Dustin finally said with an uneasy smile.
She remains silent, unmoved as her downcast eyes seem to bore through him.
"Yeah, I should've known from that brief talk we had on the phone yesterday," Dustin continued. "I can see why Nanami is so pretty."
"Shut up," she said without change in movement nor expression.
Dustin sighs with a frustrated expression. "If you have something to say, say it. Fellow switched-over-from-my-world."
"Twenty-three years," Nanami's mother begins while still in that pose. "Twenty-three years of being forced to witness most of the female half of this version of humanity lust after their male half, most of whom were passive against those females . . . Twenty-three years of media and advertisements centred around women, involving half-naked handsome men to get our attention for a product or service . . . You would think that I would be relieved about this but I found it all disturbing . . . I thought I was going to lose my mind, but . . . I was able to make something of this world by trying to find something positive about it. That being the men . . . they did not treat me like a potential sex partner. I got married and then I had Nanami. As she got older, I came to understand she might become sexually aggressive and I tried to keep her away from anything obscene that could excite her into sexually harassing boys . . . Unfortunately, she sneaked pornography into my home after one of her friends gave it to her."
"Okay, so what does any of that have to do with me?" Dustin said with a sarcastic expression.
"Plenty," Nanami's mother answered while still retaining that pose. "Any other man of this world, including your own 'twin', would have turned her down . . . Then you got switched and had your way with one of your students back in America. You came to Japan because you kept dreaming of Ichikawa-san. And finally . . . you encountered my daughter and took advantage of her."
"I think you got it backwards," Dustin tried to correct.
"No, I do not!" Nanami's mother as her expression grows more intense, deadly, while still retaining that pose. "If it had been your 'twin', I would not have been angry at him because he would have been seduced by my daughter . . . But you were switched with him and now see this world as something to take advantage of; just like that Urisugi boy Ichikawa-san told me about." Then finally changes her pose if only to point at him. "It is exactly because you are from my world that I am very upset! You encouraged my daughter, then you went on to encourage more girls! That and it is also because you are a foreigner! A lot of you Western men seem to come down with that so-called, yellow fever." Then drops her arm back down to her side. "But getting back to my daughter, thanks to you I now have to put her on a very short leash."
She suddenly leans over Dustin, arms akimbo, causing him to react by having to lean back with a bewildered expression.
"Stay away from my daughter." As Nanami's mother glares down at him with eyes like Sadako, causing Dustin to sweat with fright.
She suddenly straightens with a now casual expression and folded hands at her groin.
"I will be leaving now," she said casually then bows. "Thank you for having me."
Then turns and walks up to the door, opens it, and leaves.
Dustin plops backward on the bed with arms spread wide and a bewildered expression.
"Holy shit! What a scary woman! And yet she managed to be polite afterwards? These Japanese are polite to a fault."
Meanwhile Momona is heading out to school, joining her are Ayu and Hanako.
"Hey, Ichikawa," Ayu said. "Have you heard from Amamiya yet?"
"No," Momona admitted.
"Neither have we," Hanako said.
"I suppose we'll get to see her once we get to class," Momona said.
"I wonder what Dasutin-kun is doing?" Ayu said.
"Probably out prowling for more girls," Momona sneered.
"Whoa, you made a funny, Ichikawa!" Ayu laughed.
"I'm glad some of us find this amusing," Momona sneered.
"Oh, Kawashima, that reminds me," Hanako said. "Did you tell your mom about Dasutin-kun?"
"Oh yes, I did," Ayu said with humorous unease. "I even showed her the picture after we had sex. This is what happened . . ."
"Arrrgh!" Her mother has gnashed teeth with tears of blood streaming down her cheeks. "This foreign fuck toy picked you and Kanzaki-san up for a fuck session?! Where the hell can I find him?!"
"Mom, what about dad?!" Ayu stated with an outraged expression.
"Your father's not home enough and my pussy aches!" As her mother makes a wistful expression.
"Then go use that vibrator I heard you using!" Ayu stated with an outraged expression while gesturing elsewhere.
"It's not the same!" Her mother stated with a now sorrowful expression. "I wanna hold a warm living man with his dick in me!"
"MOM!"
"I need a drink." As her mother makes a pitiful expression.
"Your mother is nuts," Momona winced.
"At least she's not like Amamiya's mom," Hanako said. "Or my mom for that matter."
"Amamiya's mother was only looking out for her own daughter," Momona stated with an upset expression. "Her anger was out of fear for her safety. The same goes for your mother too. She got angry at you for what you were doing with Urisugi because she was afraid for your safety too."
"So what you're saying, Ichikawa," Ayu said with a glum expression, "is that my mother is not that concerned for my safety."
"Oh, Kawashima, I didn't mean it like that!" Momona stated with a remorseful expression.
"No, no, when you're right, you're right," Ayu said while waving dismissively. "I was an accident after all."
Momona grabs Ayu's hand while making a determined expression, causing Ayu to stop.
"If your mother never wanted you," Momona begin with an earnest expression, "then she would have either aborted you or gave you up for adoption. So in her own perverse way, she loves you."
"You got a point there," Ayu noted. "Let go of my hand!" As she vehemently pulls away. "That's creepy."
They arrive at school.
"Oy, Amamiya!" Ayu called upon noticing her and hurries over to her, followed by Hanako and Momona.
"Oh, hi girls," Nanami answered.
"We heard about what went down between you and your mother," Ayu said with a serious though empathetic expression. "So how's she punishing you?"
"My allowance has been cut off," Nanami answered with a glum expression.
"My mom did the same to me," Hanako said.
"Did she also give you a body search every time you return home in case you're hiding porn on yourself?" Nanami asked.
"Huh?" Ayu asked.
"I was showing the porn you gave me to Ichikawa," Nanami explained. "Then we started talking about Dasutin-kun just as my mom walked in. Mom calmly told her to leave, then went out and said something to her and she left. And when mom came back . . ." Trailing off with a frightened expression. "I've never experienced such rage from her before! I thought I was going to die! That was when she noticed the porn on the floor, picked them up, looked at them for a moment; then started beating me with those books!"
"Whoa! Your mom is the polar opposite of my mom!" Ayu stated with a shocked expression.
"She forced me to reveal if there were any more and I swore there wasn't! She figured that I didn't buy them on my own and forced me to reveal who helped me and I told her about you, Kawashima."
"I see," Ayu frowned with a sweat drop.
"Mom also told me to tell you, Kawashima, that your presence is forbidden at our home."
"I'll keep that in mind," Ayu said with a wry expression. "But ah, not to ask a stupid question, Amamiya. What did your mother do with that porn?"
"She threw them into our local incinerator, saying they weren't fit for recycling."
"Argh! Some of those porn books were pretty good!" Ayu stated with a frustrated expression while grabbing at her own head. "I don't think I can get them replaced!"
"I also have until the start of the next school semester to move out," Nanami added.
"Hang in there, Amamiya," Ayu said empathetically with a slap on her shoulder. "In a few days, her power over you will end because we'll all be graduating and you can move out before your deadline. Then you can go fucking and sucking to your heart's content. Hey, you could even invite Dasutin-kun over for that! I wonder how long he's gonna be in Japan for? Ichikawa?"
"I don't know," Momona sneered.
The warning bell sounds and the group head inside.
