Hotaru's face and body; your mind is in full control

You blinked rapidly, thinking you were seeing some sort of illusion or prank at first, or that the reflection was angled funny from the surface of the lamp such that you were seeing someone next to you instead of who you were. But, when you widened your eyes and saw the reflection instantly reciprocate, you instantly realized that you were in Hotaru's body.

At least, that was your best assumption. You couldn't move your neck to look down, not yet. Nothing felt like it worked, other than your eyelids. Had the phase binding paralyzed you in the process? You glanced to the side a little, seeing your boss and coworkers, along with Toshiko standing off to the side, watching you like a hawk. She seemed just as concerned about the outcome as you did... and she tapped Harry's side when she saw your eyes open.

Harry turned to you, to give you a quick examination. "Ah, there we go. Okay, so... don't worry, we've put some neural limiters on your body for temporary paralysis, just so we could sort things out before you could run out of the room screaming. I'm going to remove the one at your jaw and neck so you'll be able to move your whole head, but don't strain yourself, it would be easy to hurt yourself with a sudden movement."

Your supervisor reached over and removed these little pads from your chin and neck, and suddenly you had feeling in them again! You could feel the heat from the lamp on your skin, and you could feel your tongue running along your teeth on the inside of your mouth. But the sensation reminded you of going to the dentist and getting a filling in a tooth, where then your tooth would feel wrong every time your tongue touched it. It was like that, but... for your whole mouth. Everything was strangely different.

You squinted as you looked up at Harry. "What the hell did you do to me..?!"

One of your colleagues, Teresa, wrote something down on a clipboard. "No accent when speaking English. So Wayne's mind is at least functioning to some degree."

"Yeah, but it's functioning from within someone else!"

More scribbling on a clipboard, before Teresa steps closer. "Okay, and now Hotaru, can you say something to us? How about a little Japanese?"

You stared up Teresa like she was mad, as nothing else happened. Silence fell over the room, before enough time had passed to confirm that Hotaru was either unwilling or unable to speak independently. "You expected our minds to be active at the same time or something? What's going on already!" Still no accent, still all you.

"Alright, alright, calm down Wayne," Harry said, before motioning over Toshiko. "Next test. Toshiko, if you would please."

You bit your lip a little, staring up at this girl who for whatever reason seemed to fear approaching you. It must be because she was looking at Hotaru's face the whole time, and Hotaru berated Toshiko more than anyone else at the company. You didn't like seeing her afraid of you... you relaxed a little, hoping to not scare her off with a scowl. Toshiko said a few phrases in Japanese, so quickly and fluidly that you couldn't keep up with anything she said. You heard a few words you recognized, mostly from high school Japanese classes you took years ago, but you stared at her blankly when she stopped.

"Sorry, uh... what was that?" you said.

Toshiko put a hand to her mouth as she stared down at you. "It really is just Wayne as an active mind, isn't it? What did you think about Killer Lizards From Venus?"

"Great acting, good monsters, but I totally saw the plot twist from a mile away that the lizards were actually the other space crew that landed on Venus in the first place."

Toshiko's face brightened as she looked down at you. "Amazing... I agree, it was so obvious!"

You chatted with Toshiko for a little bit, at least to ease your mind, as others took some vitals and checked your body. She was the best distraction you could ask for, as her cute smile and extensive knowledge of classic monster movies always captured your attention without fail. For at least a brief amount of time, you'd forgotten that you were speaking through someone else's mouth, with someone else's face, stealing their appearance as your own.

Eventually, Toshiko had to get back to work, and when she was gone, reality sunk in again. You turned to Harry. "Could you please tell me why you put me and Hotaru in the phase binder now?" It was strange to hear someone else's voice escape, but it didn't sound like Hotaru either. You spoke softly and calmly this time, something you'd never heard Hotaru do unless she was flirting with someone to get something she wanted at work.

"This was easy math, Wayne," Harry said. "We looked back at the amount of time it took to assess the last acquisition, that Korean lab. That was weeks of untangling technical topics across two languages where we had take some risks based on translations that missed the mark. We needed someone who both had the translation and technical capabilities all in one, and it would take too long to train you on a new language and to train Hotaru on the technical side of what we need evaluated. The Phase Binder is being explored as an option, as you can see. Don't worry, we can undo it later, but this experiment comes from the top to see if we can fix the barrier between the technical and translation work for future company buyouts."

"Why didn't you consult me first? And how in the hell does Shaw have some scrapped Yabusa tech anyway?"

"Forgiveness versus permission, Wayne, that's all it is. You should know better how Shaw Sciences works by now, huh? Dr. Shaw's always been ready-fire-aim, and usually omits the ready part as well. As for the Phase Binder, well I don't know, but we've got it. And we're gonna use it, as you've found out."

"Can't you just put me back to normal now?" you asked, a pleading look in your eyes. "This feels weird enough as it is, everyone looks at me differently, nothing feels or sounds right and that's all just from the head so far. You'd already seen I can't speak Japanese, so it seems like this is a failure."

Harry shook his head. "Not exactly, not yet. The Phase Binder team thought this might happen, with how they connected your brain to Hotaru's with the phase tech. It's not woven together, it's more like with the phases it's kinda layered, I guess. They think you'll start making new synaptic pathways in the language center of the brain really quick with a bit of immersion into things that might remind Hotaru of stuff. Though, it's a delicate dance--if we push you too far, Hotaru's whole mind might just light up and override you, and then we've got a girl who probably won't know anything about the chemicals and materials we need, back in control of herself, while you're a passenger fighting for control. That doesn't do us any good. We specifically tried to make sure your personality was at the fore, because people like you, pal. But Hotaru's personality is right under the surface, and too big of a push could make her bubble up and then who knows how easy it would be to claw your way back. That part of her brain is more phased out than yours, so avoid that catastrophic failure and I think you'll be set."

You frowned. "This sounds like a bad idea. If I'm the one people want in control, why not just use my body? Where even is it right now?"

"Oh, it's phased out." Harry picked up a little pamphlet titled 'Phase Binding And You', holding up the graphics for you to see. "Basically, Hotaru's body is at normal phase, yours is at the opposite phase so it's not visible. And the phasing in your brains are strategically interleaved to, hopefully, give you Hotaru's memories and skills and language while keeping you in control. We could've done it the way you said, but Dr. Shaw thinks that a pretty lady will make the people over in the Hiroshima lab way more agreeable to what you have to say, as long as you can do it without Hotaru's pushiness."

You sighed, and looked upward. "This is absurd..."

"It sure is," Harry said, patting your shoulder--at least, you thought he did, you couldn't feel it yet. When he removed the limiter that had been placed on the shoulder, sensation flooded into you once more, no longer feeling totally numb. "So, in order for you to acclimate, we're gonna remove these limiters, and we'll give you most of the rest of the day to just... get to know yourself. I don't care what that entails, neither does the medical staff, they're being instructed to knock before entering this little observation room before you let them in. If you feel like there's some medical problem, or you feel like Hotaru's personality is about to take charge, you've got a panic button by the bed. Otherwise... get used to things, and then we'll talk some more logistics by five. And don't bother asking to end this experiment, Dr. Shaw personally has said things are to continue so long as your personality is present. So, you're not getting out of this one just because it's weird."

You sighed. You really should start looking for a new job... you wonder if Hideki Labs had any open positions.

Harry removed the limiters from head to toe, as feeling started to surge through your body, like it was finally waking up. Without another word, he vanished out the door, closing it behind you, leaving you totally alone.