Turning around, Belle's eyes widened as the briefcase started to emit smoke—or was it mist?—before it creaked open with an eerie slowness. The group instinctively took a step back as the haze curled into the air like tendrils of something alive.
From within the briefcase, nestled in foam padding, sat a sleek, obsidian-black USB drive. No labels. No markings. Just an ominous-looking device that felt… wrong.
“That's it?” Nicole muttered, stepping forward with a hesitant glance at the others. “A USB drive? Not gold, not diamonds, not even top-secret documents?”
“Maybe it holds something important,” Billy offered, though his voice was unsure.
“Only one way to find out,” Belle said, reaching forward.
“Hold on, should we even be touching that thing?” Nekomata asked, ears twitching with unease. “It was locked up in a huge briefcase with literal mist. That ain't normal.”
Belle hesitated but then picked up the USB. The moment their fingers made contact, a sharp pulse surged through them. A jolt, like static electricity—except it wasn't just on the surface. It ran deeper, slithering into their very being.
Their vision blurred, the world around them twisting, stretching like a funhouse mirror. A wave of nausea struck, and suddenly—
They weren’t standing where they were before.
They weren’t even in their own body.
Belle gasped—or rather, Esos gasped—as they found themselves looking at… themself?
“What the hell just happened?!” Wise’s voice came from beside them—except it wasn’t Wise. It was Belle’s body speaking with Wise’s voice.
Nicole, Billy, and Nekomata took a collective step back. “Uh… guys?” Nicole said slowly. “Why is Wise talking like Belle?”
Belle—or rather, Wise—looked down at their hands, flexing fingers that weren’t their own. “No way…”
“Oh, this is so messed up,” Belle muttered, watching their own body react as Wise ran a hand over their face.
Wise turned to the USB, still resting in Belle’s hands. “I think… I think this thing lets us swap bodies.”
Nicole's eyes widened with excitement. “That is so much more valuable than some dusty old relics. We could make a fortune selling this!”
“Or get hunted down by every shady organization that wants something like this,” Billy countered, crossing his arms. “This is way beyond us.”
Belle shook their head, steadying their breath. “We need to figure out how this works before we do anything reckless.” They turned to Wise. “Try touching the USB again.”
Wise—still in Belle’s body—hesitated but pressed their fingertips against the device once more. A pulse of energy, a vertigo-inducing shift, and just like that—
They were back.
Belle let out a sharp breath, relieved to feel their own body again. Wise groaned, stretching his limbs. “Yeah, I do not like that.”
Nekomata stared at the USB warily. “So what, this thing lets you swap places with someone else? Is it only between two people, or could more people use it?”
“That’s what we need to find out,” Belle said, eyes locked on the strange device. “And more importantly, we need to figure out who wanted us to retrieve this… and why they never planned on picking it up.”
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