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Chapter 6: A Normal Day

Back home, Keiko could still feel her face both terribly hot and bitten by the cold wind she suffered after running nearly all the way home. Her bags were still held tightly against her chest, as if she was hiding her racing heart underneath. With her back against the door as she tried to catch her breath, the memories of being stuck between the wall and that man surged right back up into her mind. The cold of the winter weather was soon forgotten as her face warmed up even more, followed by the rest of her body… She was definitely reacting to this, to whatever “this" was, even just thinking about it. She needed to reel things in, to get control over herself since for some reason she seemed to be the sort of girl that'd just fall for anyone… She found the idea stupid, and yes that guy was attractive but in a conventional way that she definitely wasn't into. Kei was into girls after all, one hundred percent, so she couldn't be into anything else.

As she slipped out of her new shoes, she walked into the bathroom of her apartment and once more saw herself in the mirror, staring in there, trying to find that Kei she was thinking about. There were traces of him for sure, her eyes were similar, some facial features… What if she really was some family member that he somehow swapped bodies with, hence these desires that weren't his? His own lie was turning into a theory, one that pushed whatever those desires were deeper down so as to not think of them, piling up with the rest of those feelings this new body had been going through in such a short time.

“This isn't what Kei would do…" She told herself, once more trying to reassure herself, to get back to what He would have done in this situation, and only dissociating herself from that person she was once in the process.

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On the next day, any thought of Mitsuru, Haru, or anything else was successfully pushed into the back of her mind. Unable to even marvel at her own ability to painfully hide things from herself, the girl looked at her own reflection in the mirror. She was able to tell, from the tastes of her old life, she was cute. That ponytail she sported was now put on with a few more strands of hair framing her face, bangs falling on her forehead in nice arcs -thanks in no small part to a Metube video- while the rest of her body wore the outfit she had just put on for a few hours the day before… After all, the rest of her limited wardrobe was a bit too dressed up for what she had to do today. But she was confident, this would work.

It had been two days since the change happened, and of course Keiko was nowhere near ready to put into words what had happened to her to an entire classroom… That problem had been resolved however, as a leave of absence had been set up, which she would actually have to one day properly explain “in person"... Which definitely made that issue rather simple. Going back to College wasn't an option, but she couldn't just lose her lifeline, that little job Kei went to five evenings a week. All she had to do was, as Kei thought before, walk into the store, be cute enough and sell a story to be able to keep working in Kei's place… Simple enough. Today she was going to prove to Kei that he was right, that girls had it easy, and from there everything would be smooth sailing until she figures out how to fix this situation.

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Getting to the store was as easy as it always was. Most of the day the Manager was running it on his own, the small Konbini didn't really need that many people to handle the register. In the evenings, one or two students came over to either help at the register so the boss could just rest until closing time, or fill the shelves with the deliveries received that same morning. The work was dull, but never too difficult save for a few portions of it. Back then Kei begrudged others for having it easy, getting to be at the register just chatting away for hours as he had to do all the heavy lifting… But the main issue was having to do the same task, over and over, without a shot at doing anything else or even proving he was able to. This job had become something he both needed and abhorred.

Keiko however stepped into the store earlier than the starting time would have usually been, almost happy to walk into a place she was as familiar with than her own home rather than some clothing store. Somehow she knew everything would go well as she stepped to the register. Behind it was this 50 or so years old man, graying hair, slightly balding but in otherwise good shape, standing behind the counter. He smiled at first, thinking the girl was a customer before a rather interrogative look came up on his face as she was seemingly empty handed.

“Hello, can I help you Miss?" he asked with all the professional politeness that came with the job.

“Good evening sir!" The girl let out energetically, her breasts bouncing lightly as she straightened her back up in that tight sweater. “I am here to take the place of my cousin Kei, he has family issues to take care of and I needed a place to stay, but he didn't think he should leave you without anyone to replace him so… I offered to come work in his stead, since I did have to find something anyway…" She offered with a bright smile.

“Hmm…?" The man tilted his head to the side, the stripes of his shirt -a trademark of those convenience stores- soon cut away by his wide arms being slowly crossed. “He left without telling anyone then? Hmm… At least he did bring someone else I suppose…" He said in a slower tone, a deeper voice, losing the salesman's smile as his eyes wandered down along the girl's every curve. He never had done anything against Kei, and Kei didn't have anything against him… But at that moment, Keiko felt something was off. This manager never had looked at “Him" like this. She crossed her own arms in an attempt to catch the man's attention, even letting out a light cough that eventually had the man look back at her in the eyes again. “Hm… Well if you need it… But if you want to start today, I can't have you write a contract just yet. Kei will receive his pay while you work as an intern, is that okay?" He offered, as the paperwork needed would take some time.

“Oh of course!" That didn't change anything for Keiko, that account was hers anyway. And while she had been a bit creeped out, the Manager was as easy to work with as she remembered. “I have his locker key too, so… I can use that locker if you'd like. Should I just… put things on their shelves?" She asked, assuming her day would at least end in the normal things she was used to.

“Well… You'll probably be liked by the customers, I should put you at the register. I'll teach you, don't worry. For now you can go in the back, there should be some uniforms left in the boxes. There's a sign saying “Changing Room'' above the door, you can't miss it."

The girl was surprised, blinking quite a bit as she was told she'd be put at the register, but smiled a second later. This truly was easy, way too easy! She bowed deeply and thanked the man before hurrying to the back room. She knew the way after all.

Once she was in the changing room, she easily managed to find a girl's uniform, opened her locker to put her own outfit in there as she changed. First she put on the skirt, sliding easily despite her wide hips, however it truly felt rather breathy… Either the fabric was thinner than the skirt she had bought before, or it was shorter. The right answer? Both. She kept on her thick high socks going to the middle of her thighs, and proceeded to put on the shirt that came with the outfit… Keiko buttoned it up from the bottom until.

“Eh-...?" She let out a surprised sound as the shirt simply didn't want to close from the bottom of her breasts. The shirt was simply too small. After some rummaging around, she couldn't find any larger uniforms… But, she did have a bright idea. Taking that shirt off, she took her old shirt, the one Kei used, from the locker and put it on. The fit wasn't… any good really, the chest area was stretched around her heavy breasts, and the bottom of it looked more like a mini-dress than anything… So she folded the bottom of the shirt to tuck it into her skirt, looking at herself in the mirror until it looked somewhat decent… However the buttons were stretched in quite a few places, showing some skin at a side angle, which she didn't notice.

When she walked back to her locker, she noticed her phone was blinking. As she opened it, she saw a message from Haru asking her if she was doing okay, to which she answered “Great! I'm going to work at Kei's job now, talk later!" and put the phone back down and locked the locker. By the time she left the changing room, her phone in the locker started to vibrate once more, a call nobody would answer.

Once she got back to the front, the man seemed rather delighted with her appearance, as a low chuckle escaped his wide chest, seemingly rather pleased to see the stripes of her shirt turned into slithering curves. Keiko soon got to work, standing behind the register as the man loomed over her, from all too close a position, pointing at her one thing or another on the screen. It was rather hard to focus as the man's breath was rather loud, a bit too close too, which only made her more and more uncomfortable… The scent he carried was also quite odd, as she couldn't quite put a pin on it, but it definitely was some sort of bad scent trying to be covered up by a cheap wood scented deodorant. Maybe he worked out in the afternoon?

Something that did cheer her up however was the sight of one of her coworkers, the girl that always could just do nothing all evening and be paid for it. That same girl squinted at Keiko, surprised to see a new girl here, in this spot, and Keiko couldn't help but feel a bit smug about it… She obtained the cool spot where she could do nothing this time. However, that other girl didn't seem to dwell on it, in fact her heavy steps turned quicker as she went to the back and changed, before going to work on stocking the shelves without even mentioning it.

How long was this explanation supposed to be? She had stopped listening a while ago as she felt the old man was just repeating himself over and over, talking about how to speak to the customers, how to do refunds… He was talking in such a low voice too, it truly was starting to all sound like a background noise. Eventually though, the register opened up, and the content of his speech changed, which finally led her to listen again. One of his fingers tapped a Ten Thousand Yen bill in the register as he kept on speaking.

“-... and a pretty girl like you, I wouldn't mind letting you have one of these every so often." As he spoke, one of those large hands grabbed Keiko's right butt cheek, sinking his fingers straight into it, making that flimsy skirt feel like it barely was here as her deliciously soft fat pushed right between his fingers. What had probably been a heavenly grope for him turned her perception of this situation into an absolute nightmare.

“Eh…?!" Was all she could let out at the moment, her entire body twitching before freezing as she felt that lecherous man's hand on her ass. She looked down, confused at the thing he was pointing to, his words only now hitting her as that hand was squeezing on her behind. Was he offering her money for…?! “I- I don't think–" she started to speak, her voice shaking, strangled in what she soon would understand to be fear.

“You need this job, right? I just want to make sure girls like you get enough money to live on." He told her, painting himself as a nice man as he loomed over her. His width, his height, the size of his hands alone were enough to make the dark haired beauty look like a doll. He clearly didn't see her as much more than this, if he was so brazenly groping her.

She only took a quick glance up at him, but didn't see any kindness in that expression. Her heart was starting to race, beating faster and faster… She could just step away, tell him no, right? But… But what if he didn't take no for an answer? What if he forced her to do it? If she was Kei she could really elbow that guy in the face and… Kei would have… Kei would've… It didn't matter what Kei would have done, she didn't have the strength to fight that kind of man… But maybe she could get help. Her shaking pupils moved away from the man, scanning the store to find this girl she worked with. She understood now, that lecherous old man was not letting the other have a nice time for no reason… She was submitted to this too! Surely she would help her-

The moment their gaze met, the girl looked away, focusing terribly on her own work. After all, if the price for her not having to refuse the advances of that gross old man over and over was to let another girl receive his unwanted attention, so be it. She'd become as small as a mouse working in the aisles, and let the Manager's new crush deal with his antics.

Keiko could feel it all now, the fear, the hopelessness, the loneliness, it all hit her like a truck in one full blow. Her body trembled and not from arousal. The scent that was unpleasant before was now making her sick to her stomach, but that same stomach felt like it was filled with lead, pinning her in place. Her silence and terrified look didn't seem to stop the man as his hand even tried to go lower, while the other pulled a bill up from the register to hold it up to her.

“One isn't enough? How much hm…?"

Keiko could feel a gag coming, the repulsion she felt for this man reaching an all time high, anger boiling up before being crushed by the lid of fear pushing her down… And just as she was left to hope for some sort of miracle to happen, someone barged in.

Some sort of large shape burst into the Konbini just as Keiko's eyes started to water, completely lost and confused, her lower lip trembling as the man next to her took a step back, finally letting her go. He probably couldn't get his hand on her in front of customers after all. She just needed to recover and… And what? She still needed this job, how would she work as a girl without much knowledge of anything people would expect her to know. She didn't even have any ID to show to any employer… And what if every employer was like this anyway?!

“Wel-gh-" She tried to say welcome to whoever that shape was walking up to her, but barely even could finish the word. That disgust from before wasn't going anywhere, and her trembling body felt like every bit of strength was drained… Until she felt a hand on her arm.

“Let's go." The voice was familiar, and didn't leave her a choice. If anything the idea of going anywhere seemed like the perfect thing and her body just followed along as the hand tugged her around. Her arm was far in front of her entire self, her legs catching up in a motion that mostly made her look like she was falling and catching herself back over and over as she heard the voice of that Manager

“Hey! She's still on the clock! I'll sue! Where are you going!"

Seemingly whatever shock he had from someone getting behind the register was dissipating as he followed them out, the voice in front of her ordering once more.

“Run!"

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So she did, her legs managing to fall forward a little bit faster, her upper body trying to straighten up. The cold wind was drying up her eyes as she finally saw the back of a blond head of hair and a puffy winter coat.

“Ha- Haru…? How…?" She asked with half a breath she didn't have the leisure to lose, trying to breathe and not break down crying at the same time seemingly took quite a bit to do at the same time. Since her vision blurred once more however, she noticed she wasn't doing so hot at the second part.

“Kei told me about this place… before!" He let out between two breaths, still running and tugging her around, turning over and over to make sure that weirdo wouldn't chase them further. “I thought something about what he said was weird-" He added, taking another breath. “But when you told me you'd work there, I tried to call you… You didn't answer… And I got worried…" And the rest could explain itself.

On her end, Keiko didn't seem to do so well. Her body was managing the rhythm Haru was pushing on her, despite not being used to those new shoes of hers, hitting the pavement weirdly every so often, getting close to falling down before being tugged back by Haru somehow supporting the worst getaway that ever was. And while the reason as to why she was safe didn't really matter, what pushed her to burst into tears were those few words. Kei told him… Just from whatever complaint he vented out, Haru thought something was weird while he… while she… While she thought she was finally treated the best way.

She felt sick again, this time about herself. Her tears felt like they were getting bigger and bigger, loud sobbing noises coming from her mouth, throat, chest, as if her entire body was breaking down from how harshly she started to cry.

“I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" She managed to utter in a shaky voice whenever her entire body wasn't raised and thrown back down by a heavy sob, the uncontrollable crying continuing as her legs were starting to hit right into one another, falling against Haru's back.

He stopped straight away, unable to understand what she was apologizing about. “You don't have anything to apologize for, that scumbag did something to you right?!" He asked, his anger showing past his desire to protect her for a moment.

But Keiko wasn't apologizing to Haru, but to that girl she didn't even remember the name of. The disgust she felt against that man was now violently turning against herself as both of her hands started to cling to the back of Haru's winter jacket, sinking into the fabric, clinging onto it as the mere idea that she once had envied this girl, berated her in her own mind for this special treatment was making her hate herself so much.

“The-... The other girl…" She let out between a few more sobs, as Haru turned around to catch her in his arms.

“The other girl? She ran to the back and left I think. I probably scared her." He let out with an apologetic tone, he did have quite the scary look when he came in, not like Keiko would have been able to see it in her state back then. “Come, let's get you home." he added, ushering her along as the light embrace of his arms released her, hand still holding her forearm as he tugged her towards her place.

“H-Haru…" She let out in that same sobbing voice, slowly trying to collect herself.

“Yeah?" He answered while still walking.

“It hurts…" she added, her hand going onto his own, as she could feel his grip all too tight on her arm. She was thankful for it really, she could feel how panicked he probably was, how glad he was that she was there but… it still hurt.

“Oh… Sorry…" He apologized, his grip suddenly loosening up as his warm hand soon found the back of her cold one.

“H… Haru…?" She once more called out to him, her voice sounding a bit calmer now as she seemingly was a well of questions all of a sudden.

“Yeah?" He simply answered once more.

“I'm cold…" She finished her sentence as he stopped in his tracks, looking back at her… Indeed the flimsy skirt that showed most of her thighs, the light shirt that was too close in parts and all too long in others was making this outfit the most breezy one could wear… And in winter, it was obvious that she was going to be cold. As he looked back at her however, Keiko moved her free hand towards her chest, tugging the fabric around her chest to try and close it a bit better as she felt rather embarrassed to have him look at her… For some reason she was getting self-conscious about it.

“Oh… Sorry…" Seemingly that was the only thing he could say, the single-minded man had one goal at the moment, bringing this girl Kei put in his care to safety, a few steps of courtesy and common sense seemed to have been skipped in order to reach that goal. He finally let her hand go as he took off his puffy jacket, before wrapping the girl's shoulders inside of it. The back of her neck all the way down to below her rear were covered in Haru's warmth, and secondarily the jacket as well. Both of her arms crossed in front of her in order to tug the jacket closed on herself. The warmth… Haru's warmth calmed her down. He was left in just a sweater and a pair of jeans, but he didn't seem to mind. Keiko on the other end almost felt bad from being relieved, hoping her coworker really did leave.

Haru looked back over his shoulder as they started to walk, putting his hands in his pockets once he didn't see anything unusual. They probably had lost the guy a while ago, so they could just walk the rest of the way home at her pace. Keiko too stayed silent, mostly looking down, not taking a single step past him but walking alongside him, every so often checking to see if he was still there and looking back down as her heart raced once more. She felt stupid, awful, her eyes were dry from having cried too much but the feelings didn't pour out with those tears. The most confusing part was that, while what happened felt horrible to her, she also felt deep down so thankful, so happy that Haru came for her. There wasn't any way to put it into words.

She felt guilty about it, but her heart hadn't stopped racing. Fear and then exercise could explain all of it to a point, but even as they walked her heart didn't slow down. She felt safe, loved, lucky to have him in her life. She wanted to feel like this all the time, she wanted to be the one he protects most, she wanted to be his priority in his mind. The confusion in her own mind wasn't a part of this… It was despite how sorry she felt, how awful of a person she thought she was, despite all of her flaws that this greed, this burgeoning seed of love started to become eager to wrap itself around Haru, and make him hers. Her face was red, as she wondered if love was something that could start with something so ugly. Was love simply this? Wishing to make someone else hers?

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Before she could find an answer, she was already turning the key in the door of her apartment. The key to the locker was on the same keyring, and at that moment she didn't even think that her phone, her clothes and the rest of her things were still in that locker. She just stepped inside, expecting Haru to walk in with her… But he didn't.

She turned her head and looked at him, the light corridor he stood in contrasting with the dark room she was in.

“I probably should leave you be, for tonight. You went through a lot right?" He asked, as from where he stood, he could only hope she was fine. She probably had a lot to deal with and-

“N-No…" She called out to him, cutting his train of thought with his breath as she took two steps to push herself against his chest, the jacket on her shoulders falling to the ground as she loosened her grip, wrapping her hands in the middle of his sweater instead, clinging onto him with her thin digits. She looked up to him, showing a messy head of hair, fringe hiding her eyes a bit, her tears having ruined what little make-up she put on, the slight dripping of eyeliner leaving her looking like she had dark rings under her eyes. “Don't leave me alone…"

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Thanks for reading an other chapter of The Key of Change. Things do get a bit dark in this one but hopefully I managed to put enough tags that properly made people sensitive to this type of stuff to dodge it I guess! Gotta admit it makes for fun drama though. See you in the next chapter! I didn't name it yet, don't ask me--

Edit: Ugh for some reason the justified text jumps to an other line at weird spots every so often. Sadly nothing I can do about it =/