You reach over and grab the bra off of the shower curtain rod you'd placed it on after coming into the bathroom. You hadn't even changed clothes once you'd gotten the mask onto K.C. so in a way it was fraught, you standing nude in the living room first as Jelena and then as yourself. Once the mask re-emerged you'd scooped it up and dashed to the bathroom. You were in the process of getting dressed when you caught your first real sight of yourself in the mirror and stopped to examine yourself.
Your new home. Right?
You shake that off however and finish dressing, a thin, striped and distressed sweater that you also grab from the shower curtain rod being the last thing you have to put on. You then head out to the living room as K.C.'s phone is likely still out there but have to stop and pause when you see Jelena. You feel like you can't do much more than look at her and it's she who finally reacts.
"Yes?"
A simple one word question and it causes a wave of uncertain emotion to wash over you. "Nothing," you finally say. "Is my phone still out here?"
"I put it on the coffee table."
"Thanks," you say as you head over and grab it. You're about to open it to text Umeko when you stop and look back at Jelena. "Hey Yell, you don't feel weird do you?"
"Not really," she answers with little interest. "Besides knowing that you're not really my sister under there, that's a little weird."
That doesn't surprise you of course since you know by now that the magical robotic doubles obey you and can recognize you under disguises. "How much do you know?" you ask.
"I know that I'm really K.C. under this mask. Not that I know what she's thinking or anything." She continues to look at and scroll through her phone. "Basically whatever was going on in your head up to the point you decided my sister was a better model is what I know."
That stings a bit. K.C. would never like to hear her sister talk about herself so dismissively. Sure for a while their relationship was kind of strained and that it took some rather dramatic events (like the date, related to K.C.'s disowning of her given name) to mend things. But K.C. truly does love and even admire her sister who she sees as compassionate, smart and resilient. It's to your own surprise, then, as well as Jelena's that you find yourself leaning down to embrace her in a tight, sisterly hug.
"I'm not throwing you away, don't think that. You're great, Yell," you tell her reassuringly.
"Mhm, I wasn't really thinking that you were though," she answers.
You pull back then. You're not sure why you immediately rushed to such an absurd conclusion but you suspect a lot of it is due to the circumstances that led to Jelena coming to live with K.C. and Zoe. And although she does feel great affection and even a bit of protectiveness for her sister, K.C. would never really go all in on emotional outburst like that. So despite what Sydney had said before it's maybe best not to assume you can just waltz right into a new life because you've got their brain and quirks and whatnot. You definitely still need to get a handle on actually working them.
That said it's nothing that should be an issue when dealing with Umeko so you grab your phone from the table and send a message off to her telling her you'll meet her for something to eat if she's up for it. She texts you back a few minutes later to let you know that it's fine and, checking the time, you agree to meet up to grab some food a little after five. That gives you a few hours to get better acquainted with K.C. at least and so you agree that it's fine. She asks about bringing some other people but you tell her to keep it to just the two of you since you'll likely be talking about things which aren't really meant for the ears of those not involved.
"Alright, I'm gonna hop in the shower real quick," you tell Jelena. "Got myself a date coming up. Figure I should clean up a bit."
* * * * *
"Hey, so I know you said it was cool and all but like, I hope it's not stereotypical or anything," you say as struggle with the slice of fried pork. K.C.'s only been to Osaka a handful of times and so hasn't quite gotten a handle on chopsticks.
"If I said that it's cool then you don't need to worry about it do you?" Umeko asks before expertly slurping up a nice helping of noodles from her bowl. "You sound so worried," she teases.
"Well sure but it's like I've ever, you know, been on a date," you reply with a bit of nervousness that's uncharacteristic of K.C., "with a girl and all."
Umeko's eyes go wide. "Wait! Is that what you think? That this is a date!?"
"Well that's what it is right? The two of us meeting out at restaurant for dinner." You decide to play it cool and so relax in your chair a bit. "The fact that you're head over heels for me. You think it's a date too right?"
"I mean..." Umeko tries to say but her face is turning red and she can barely get another cluster of noodles in her mouth. "Is that Will talking or K.C.?" she asks in a hushed tone.
"Dunno. Is that Sydney asking or Umeko?" you retort while you hold her eye.
"So you figured it out then? That Umeko... you know."
"Well I mean it's not like she ever hid that she was into girls. 'Least not with her friends." You shift a little and unconsciously rub at the back of your head the way K.C. does when she feels uncomfortably at a loss for words. "From family I guess it's a different story though."
"It's not like she can just tell her family. I mean her parents... you know how they are."
"My aunt and uncle aren't going to disown her for it or anything," you state.
"No of course not. But it'd be kind of awkward for a little while all the same. I think they'd just be kind of confused about it," she says and it's her turn to look uncomfortable. "Anyway I wasn't talking about that. I was being a little more specific."
"You mean about Umeko liking K.C.?" You shrug at that. "Not like she wasn't super fucking obvious about it but it's not like anything was going to happen there since K.C. is straight as an arrow and all."
"You don't think she doesn't know that? The heart wants what it wants though. You can't really choose what that is."
"I mean we can now considering it's us in the driver's seat and all," you reply before deciding to change tracks. "And speaking of choosing, we're going to need to add some new members to the club eventually right?"
"Sure," she answers.
"I was hanging out with a couple of friends before I switched and one of them, Roxanne, is someone we should keep an eye on," you tell her. "She goes to St. Xavier's."
Umeko's eyes go wide at that. "She's loaded?"
"She's not," you clarify. "She lives in town and commutes in but we get her and we could maybe grab a couple of people there too."
Umeko looks like she's thinking it over but when she talks it's not to ask about Roxanne. "Did you grab Zoe too?" she asks.
You shake your head. "She wasn't back by the time I left."
"What are we going to do about Kurt?"
That surprises you. Kurt Trapp is the drummer in K.C. and Jelena's band (Zoe is another member) but you get what she means. This is going to be a sisterhood and Kurt kind of screws that up. "Leave him be," you finally says.
"Or kick him out," she counters. "K.C. bitches about him being catty and running off keyboard players anyway."
"We'd need a new drummer then." You think for a second. "We could get a mask onto Nadine, the other girl I was with. She drums in Sienna's band." You sigh however. "But I think we'll wait before doing anything like that."
That causes a bit of inquiry from your companion.
"I had some time to think earlier and, well, that arts council performance? I think K.C.'s going to have a change of heart about it."
* * * * *
You talk it over through the rest of dinner and have to admit that you like the idea of playing music and being in a band and if you're going to do that then why not try and be successful? Umeko agrees with you both because Sydney herself is excited about the idea of "subliminal messaging reaching a larger audience" (you're not sure if she's serious or joking) and because Umeko herself had been wanting K.C. to do it.
But that's not until this coming Saturday so you decide to hold off on changing the band lineup until after the performance since while a week is enough time to practice it might not be enough time to have a new person learn all the songs.
That's not all there is to be excited about however because as you're leaving Umeko suggests heading back to the house for a little together time and to drive the point home she places a hand on your leg and begins to softly run her fingers up it. As you're driving at the moment it takes an incredible amount of willpower to not jerk the wheel and allow yourself to be distracted. Thankfully you're able to make it back to the house with no problem but before you get out Umeko leans over.
"Hey so I was thinking. We're going to really do this right?" she asks.
"If you're up for it."
"I am. It's what Umeko wants so I just have to subsume myself into her. But," she pauses. "You fixed up Jelena's mask right?"
"Yeah."
"What about K.C.'s?"
You look over at her and cock an eyebrow. "Not yet," you reply simply.
"We didn't get a chance to do Umeko's mask either," she states. "So I was thinking that after we do this would you want to, I don't know, swap masks?"
That takes you by surprise but you keep your composure and say nothing so she continues.
"I get K.C.'s and you get Umeko's," she says. "I mean you'd want to know what's going on in her head yourself right? And you could, you know, look at her body whenever. Do whatever you wanted with it. That'd be nice right?"  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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