Solid and steady

Toshiko seemed hesitant to declare victory just yet. She squinted, eyeing you carefully, as you got up off the pillows and sat still. To your initial surprise, the way you were sitting was not your normal sprawled-out form, but you were actually sitting in a traditional Japanese way, with your rear resting on your calves and your hands in your lap. You briefly registered your nudity in this pose, glancing down at your bare chest, fighting an urge to cover up as you smiled at Toshiko.

Toshiko moved slightly closer. "You're really still in control of everything, even after all that?"

You nodded. "It's strange, I know. I'm forcing Hotaru to talk and to move on my behalf. She cannot resist it. But I am certain I could make her do anything I like right now. Here, such as..." You had an idea, and you reached over to the table, grabbing one of the unused chopsticks. While you didn't know how to put your hair in a tight bun, Hotaru certainly did. You merely gave a mental command, and your hands started to expertly wind and twist the hair, securing it in place with the stick. "See? Her actions and memories are mine to control, and while I can feel when she would want to do something different, she cannot act. She is a glove around me."

With a sigh, Toshiko moved closer. "That's... incredible, really! It's like you really are Hotaru now." She grinned, and reached up to your hair, pulling that chopstick out so it all tumbled back down. Hotaru would have barked at anyone who dared do something like that to her, and for the briefest moment, you felt tension as the instincts from the mind under your command felt like they wanted to say something mean to Toshiko for her behavior. But, it passed after a fraction of a second, when your delight at feeling the long hair tickle along your naked back overrode anything Hotaru would have acted upon.

Toshiko wasn't fully convinced yet, as she leaned closer, this time slowly bringing her lips into contact with yours. You could still taste yourself on her, the slightly sweet flavors of your pussy had remained on her lips. Your body shuddered--your mind, and the body that had allied with it, found an immense thrill in the realization of that flavor as you wrapped your arms around Toshiko to further the embrace. Once again, you felt a twinge of resistance from Hotaru's mind, but it was quickly squelched by your desires. Hotaru couldn't so much as think on her own without you now, her consciousness was just as wrapped around yours, and thus her thoughts were yours as well. Her brain signals were never able to formulate fully independent thought without your intervention, thus she couldn't manage to put up any true form of resistance.

You grinned as you pulled away. "Convinced yet? It's not perfect, I can feel her pushing back much more vividly now, but I think that will be subdued over time." Toshiko nodded, and remained cuddled against you for some time, reflecting on the fact that her dream had been made real. This wasn't just someone pretending to be Hotaru anymore--it really was her! Just, all her thoughts were being influenced by someone else... but that didn't seem to matter. There was no way that the original Hotaru could have been convinced to do this, so this was as close as she was going to get. She smiled at you; you smiled back. And while you tried your best to withstand another late-night monster movie with your companion, the two of you eventually drifted to sleep then and there.

Morning arrived, and you had Toshiko drive you to Hotaru's apartment really early so you could get ready for work. It wasn't that you didn't like the nerdy t-shirts and such, but you and Toshiko agreed that you should try to minimize suspicion and office discussion by playing the part properly, at least to a degree. Even as you donned a more conservative skirt and business jacket like Toshiko typically wore, you kept on the graphic tee Toshiko bought for you earlier. You would have to get more of those... Toshiko beamed at your merging of style sensibilities, creating an adorable blend of professional and playfully casual attire for the office.

Taking care of Hotaru's body throughout the week was effortless with all her knowledge at your disposal. You had no trouble guiding Hotaru's mind to making sure her hair, skin, and makeup were on point still. Her diet, however, was something you entirely discarded. Despite her sizable chest, her overly slim body was the result of aggressive dieting techniques that only seemed to punish the body--and if you were totally honest, you thought she could do with a bit of meat on her bones beyond her ample chest. While it felt like you were going to have a miniature panic attack every time you picked up a french fry or a scoop of ice cream or whatever, you knew that was just Hotaru's instincts and eventually the satisfying meals made their way into your new stomach. It was only for a couple weeks, if you didn't overindulge then everything would be fine! Probably.

At work, you split your time between two departments: your usual chemical engineering work and Hotaru's acquisitions side of things. Each team required an explanation, but not everyone knew about the Phase Binder outcome, so for your usual team, sans Harry and a couple others, you explained that you'd been studying for months to gain enough chemical knowledge to handle the acquisition process. As for the other side of the Shaw Biosciences building, you merely had to explain that you'd been taking anger management classes. While you didn't know that everyone believed the explanation, everyone seemed so thrilled that you were doing Hotaru's work without yelling at everyone that they instantly accepted the peace and quiet in any way they could get it.

Toshiko stayed close by your side the whole time, providing an extra level of comfort. With Hotaru's mind at your disposal, you didn't really need any hand-holding, able to seamlessly blend in to either role with ease. And if you needed to call upon Hotaru's stern side, it was always at the ready--though you only ever pushed a little on other employees, and they quickly bent as necessary to make something happen. Using that considerable power of persuasion with merely the threat of Hotaru's temper flaring up, you managed to convince managers to allow Toshiko to join you on the Hiroshima trip, instead of trying to save money by cutting things down to one seat on the plane.

The night before the trip, you were comfortable in Hotaru's skin, and you weren't afraid to show affection for Toshiko around the office and elsewhere. Using some of Hotaru's savings, you and Toshiko significantly altered her wardrobe to better suit the mix of formal and casual you tried to cultivate. You'd continued to play big sister as well as girlfriend more and more for her, and it was clear that Toshiko was falling hard for this new you, in ways you never could have expected! With everything already packed for the two of you in a small suitcase and backpack each, knowing that there wasn't much room for anything more on the trains, you and Toshiko spent much of your time in Hotaru's spotless-yet-sparse apartment, lounging on her extremely comfortable bed in nothing more than a big t-shirt with a silly mecha-crab monster on it, and some lacy black panties.

"I'm going to show you everything!" Toshiko squealed excitedly. "My dad's from Hiroshima, so I know all the good spots. You know the tsukemen we had earlier? I'll show you my favorite shop, it's at the train station! The baseball team has been known to eat there, even. Oh! Are you a baseball fan? We could see the Carp play while we're there! You would look good in a red jersey..."

You giggled, hugging onto Toshiko. "Don't forget, we do still have to do work while there. I heard earlier that Hideki is going to try to make a move on this lab as well, we might even have to deal with someone from their board of directors while we're there. If it's Reiko Hasegawa, I might have to use a bit more of my fiery passion..."

Toshiko tapped her chin, as she climbed atop you, straddling your waist. Even though it's only been a couple weeks, your abdication of Hotaru's diet already seemed to add a little bit of shape to your legs and waist--still beautiful, perhaps even more so in your eyes versus an abnormally small stomach, but still a departure as you continued to sculpt Hotaru. Even your chest may have gained a little extra heft... something Toshiko seemed to notice as she reached down to place her hands upon your breasts. "I don't know," she mused, "I think perhaps putting Wayne inside you was to cool your hot-headedness. Maybe our bosses were worried you were going to hurt our chances of making a good offer."

You smiled a little inwardly at Toshiko's word choice. At the beginning of things, you were still you, and Hotaru was merely the host. Two weeks later, Toshiko and you treated yourself as the 'real' Hotaru now, and Wayne was just a memory. It had at first been strange to consider your former identity in the third person, but it grew on you, and felt pretty natural after trying it out. After all, Hotaru's body was the membrane through which you experienced the world now, and through which you expressed yourself, so it only made sense to assume that identity for yourself.

"I suppose you are right." Toshiko closed her eyes and smiled upon hearing your words. Hotaru never would have admitted someone else might be more correct than her, but that's what everyone seemed to love about this new you. "We won't worry about Reiko unless she talks directly with us. I just want to enjoy the trip, you can show me all around the area, we can go to Saijo for drinks... I worked out the itinerary with management earlier such that if we get a yes or no sooner than expected, we net those extra days as vacation time. So, I would like to see if we can convince them to accept our proposal in one week instead of two, just more padding onto that third week I negotiated for us."

Toshiko nodded, and leaned down against you with a quick kiss to your cheek. "I believe in you. I'll be right by your side to help however I can." She gulped a little, and you felt her grip tighten around your body as she hugged you tightly. "I want to make these memories unforgettable, so when everything returns to normal I can hold them in my heart forever."

You stared up at the ceiling at that. Even the Hotaru side of you, by now, had calmed down, and instead of resisting your mental whims, her mind had integrated more smoothly to yours, thoughts dancing between two sets of gray matter seamlessly. You forgot there would be an end to this...

And for now, you would choose to forget it for a time longer. You wanted to fulfill Toshiko's every wish while you could. With less than a month to go, that was plenty of time to create as many memories as possible before someone's world would end.