Tense moment between "sisters"

I quickly caught up to her. She was waiting near the car, looking at the right-side mirror and observing her reflection.

"Airi! What are you doing?" I asked her.

She giggled, trying her best to make an adorable smile. "Silly sis, there's no Airi, here. Only your adorable little sister Sophie."

“Stop that. Why are you doing this?"

Her facade quickly crumbled as she glared at me with disdain. Seeing Airi twist Sophie's face into such an unnatural expression for her was deeply disturbing to me. "You are really asking me why? Is it that difficult to figure it out on your own? I knew you were dumb, Ben, but still..."

I sighed. "I can think of a multitude of reasons, Airi."

"You've been parading in my body for five days, so I will parade in your girlfriend's body for five days. It will allow me to be far away from Mother for a bit, which is a nice bonus." She snickered, touching Sophie's face. "Hehe, I would never have thought I'd ever get so close to Sophie, considering how much I used to hate her. And yet, here I am, in her body, it obeying my every whims. Can't really get any closer than that."

My eyes narrowed. "What do you plan to do, while being her?"

She seemed angered by my question. "Do you think I will fuck her life up? I thought you knew me better than anyone else. I hated her for petty reasons, and I moved past that. I won't ruin someone else's life just because I hate you, Ben. I'm better than that." She then grinned. "Although, I have a newfound respect for you, for having so much self-control with your abilities."

"What do you mean?"

Airi looked down, observing the body she was inhabiting. "This feeling of controlling someone else is pretty thrilling. Many people would get drunk with power in our situations."

"I just try to stay true to the values my mother taught me." I answered truthfully.

For a brief instant, a smile that I thought was genuine formed on her face. "That's admirable."

"Airi..."

Her face became serious again. "I'll tell you why I asked Sophie if I could possess her. As you know, my parents were celebrities. I never got a normal life, and I've always hated it."

I remembered the scene at lunch the first day I did the mind sink in Airi… How people always tried to get close to her to boost their fame and ego, or use her for money.

"I know, yeah..."

"I always wished to be born into a normal family, even if I loved Father and Mother."

Right, she used to love Yurika too, before her father got killed.

"So, I asked Sophie if I could see what it's like to be a ‘normal’ person. And use that as a way to get a break from Mother as well. I still need to think about everything that happened in peace, without her being around." She then smiled again. "I suppose I should thank you for that, even if it hurts to admit."

I was confused. "Huh?"

"You did help me break the inner-wall I built to keep my feelings in check, and you helped me learn the truth about Mother and Father." Her cold gaze returned. "It doesn't mean that I forgive you, though."

I closed my eyes and sighed. "I don't expect you to ever forgive me, but know that I truly regret what happened. I'm just glad that I won't have to keep living like this forever, now that your mother is willing to help me..."

Airi's expression shifted, her eyebrows lifted as she seemed curious about what I said. "You grew fond of her rather quickly, huh? Can I know why?"

I didn’t see any reason to lie. "I don't have my parents anymore. My father died seven years ago, and my mother died two years ago. She worked hard to raise me, but was always kind and cheerful. Your mother... reminded me of her… That's why I got jealous of you once I saw how she treated you."

Airi giggled, but it sounded **** than her previous laugh. If I didn't know it was Airi in Sophie's body, I might have been fooled. "You were jealous of me? That's interesting."

I was taken aback by her reaction."Why?"

She smirked again, but it was more of a teasing kind of smirk, not a malicious one. "Oh? So there are still things you didn't dig up in my mind? Maybe I'll tell you later, if I feel like it. For now, we have to get back home, ‘sis’."

I sighed and nodded. "Right... Let's go, then."

And so, we went on our way to Sophie and Jane's house. Knowing that under the face of my girlfriend was the girl whom I possessed earlier and who hated me was making me uncomfortable, but there was nothing I could do about it...

"Will you stand living with me for five days, considering that you hate me?" I asked her while driving.

"I don't really care. Being far from Mother is all that matters."

We arrived, Airi going in first and observing the living room. "I was just here last night, but it's still unfamiliar to me. Can you help me get my bearings?"

"You don't have access to her memories?" I asked.

She shook her head and put her hand on her chest. "No, Ben. This form of possession is different from yours. I could theoratically dig into her memories, but, unlike you, it might affect me permanently. At least, that's what Mother said. That this spell can be really dangerous to the user. And I care too much about my sanity to risk it." She then pointed a finger at me. "Your form of possession is more efficient than the form I'm using."

I tilted my head, confused. "So, mine is different?"

"Yours is a physical form of possession. From what I understood, you attach yourself to someone's nervous system and take control of them that way. The form wizards use is more of a spiritual form of possession. We **** our soul to enter one's body, and dominate theirs. But, according to Mother, people with strong souls can resist it, and exorcism also works. Except by tricking you into drinking weird potions to **** you out, there's nothing one can do to get rid of you, especially the host.”

"Drinking weird potions?"

She shrugged. "Mother could explain it to you better. I'm still a novice, after all. But I don't want to talk about her anymore for now."

I weakly nodded. "Alright." I glanced at my watch. "It's almost dinnertime. Do you want something in particular?"

"Not really. I can eat what Sophie usually eats."

I smiled. "Okay, I'll prepare Sophie's favourite dish, then. You'll love it!"

She raised an eyebrow. "You're not lacking confidence, I see. This part of you didn't change even after being turned into that thing."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing in particular… I just find impressive how much positivity your managed to keep despite your situation."

I made a weak smile. "I'm not the kind of person to keep lamenting forever on my condition. I'd love to have my old life back, but it's not possible, and I'm fine with that. Especially now that I have hope of not being dependant of other people to survive anymore.” Tying an apron around me, I continued. "To get back to cooking, Jane is a great cook, and you have Sophie's tastes right now. That's why I'm so confident."

It surprised Airi. "Oh, I didn't think of that. Since it's not my own tongue or nose, food will probably taste and smell different."

I nodded, having experience in tasting things with different tongues. "Yeah, I can confirm. Now, grab a seat, it'll be ready in half an hour."

I led her to the kitchen and started cooking. Sophie loved rice and chicken with white sauce, something I also liked back when I had my original body. I always looked forwards to when Jane would prepare this dish.

I sat next to her, bringing our plates. "And voila! Jane's signature dish!"

Airi leaned closer, the scent filling her nose. "Wow, it smells delicious..."

I giggled. "Hehe, I told you. Jane is an amazing cook, and I have her skills right now."

She was about to eat, but dropped her fork and looked at me. "But why would you prepare something so nice to me, considering I'm possessing your girlfriend?"

"So what? Even if I'm not particularly fond of you being in her, you asked her for her permission, and I understand why you wanted to possess her." I made a reassuring smile, tapping my forehead. "I may not have most of your memories anymore, but I can still relate to you, Airi. I know that you're a good person, so I'm not worried."

She closed her eyes, taking a pensive expression. "It never occured to you that possessing me might have altered the way I think?"

I froze when she said that. "What?" Was... what we talked about with Yurika true?

She suddenly chuckled. "I'm joking. I'm still myself, as far as I'm concerned, just without me repressing my feelings."

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't scare me like that, please… I don't want anything bad to happen to you."

Her grin was teasing, but warmer than before. "Heh, sorry about that. But consider it a way to get back at you."

"I deserve it, yeah…" After taking a bite of the food, I asked Airi about it. I found it delicious, but I wanted her opinion. "So, what do you think of the dish?"

Cleaning her mouth with the napkin, she seemed satisfied. "It is really good, indeed. Your confidence wasn't just a façade."

"It's all thanks to Jane's skills. She might even be better than Yurika." Airi's expression quickly made me realise my mistake. "Ah, sorry… You said you wanted to stop talking about her…"

"It's alright..."

We finished our meal in silence. I scratched my head. I made things awkward again… And just after she started to cheer up a bit, at that...

Airi stood up, smiling at me. "It was delicious, thank you."

"I'm glad you liked it, Airi! I'll make sure to prepare more of what Sophie likes while you're possessing her."

Airi got up, glancing at me. "You don't have to **** yourself just because I'm her."

"I'm doing it because I want to. Even if you have Sophie's face right now, I think it's the first time I've seen you genuinely smiling like that ever since we started high school." I declared. "And I prefer to see you smile."

Airi seemed pretty surprised by my answer, given how she was looking at me. "Ever since we started high school? You've been observing me?"

"W-well…" I looked away, slightly embarrassed. "I might have looked at you a few times… But can you blame me? You're a beautiful girl, and I'm a guy..."

"Huh?"

I weakly snickered. "Or at least, I used to be a guy… Can't say I really felt like one since last week..."

"Hahaha!" I saw her starting to laugh at my joke. It probably was the first time I ever saw her laugh, too. Regaining her composure somewhat, she eyed me playfully. "It's not like you were actively trying to become a guy again, though. You don't seem bothered by the fact of being a girl."

"I mean... I'd like to be a guy again someday, but… It's a unique experience. Being able to see what it's like to be the opposite gender is pretty interesting." I tilted my head. "You never wondered what it was like to be a guy?"

She shrugged. "Not really. I might have a few times when I was a kid, but I'm perfectly happy as a girl."

"So, am I weird, then?"

"You're a gooey monster, do you really have to ask that?" She replied, and even if she didn’t really mean any harm, it still hurt a bit.

"I was human until last week, even if I'm a monster, now."

"Sorry."

"It's okay…" I sighed. “I accepted this situation, anyway… In any case, let me show you around, so our parents won't suspect anything when they're back."

"Oh, right, I remember Sophie said they would be back in two days, yesterday."

"Yeah. Olivia and Jacob are pretty nice, don't worry."