“An… inugami?”

“That’s right, wan. I am what you call an inugami, or a dog god.”

“Does anyone else know about this?”

“Yup. Everyone at Sakae48 industries knows I’m an inugami.”

“Even Rena-san?”

“Yes, wan!”

Meru got closer to the puppy girl.

“Jurina, shake.” She held out her open hand. Jurina smiled and put her pawed hand in her palm.

“Aw~ cute~”

“Shake again.”

Jurina placed her other hand in Meru’s paw. She squealed and hugged the older girl.

“SO CUTE~~~”

Meru hugged her and petted her head as the older girl made barking sounds.

“I’m actually not too surprised at this,” Nana said.

“You aren’t?”

“I’ve seen videos of Jurina in the past. She always did seem to act like a puppy. So, no, I actually find it very logical she’s an inugami.”

Hm, now that I think about it, Jurina does have a… puppy-like personality.

“But, you see…”

“Hm?”

“I wasn’t always an inugami…”

“Eh..?”

“Before I became an inugami, I was a regular puppy. I was living at a pet shelter before Rena came and adopted me. She took good care of me and would always keep me company when I was lonely, and I would comfort her on her worst days.”

“Wait, if Rena adopted you, then is that the reason why you made your last name *‘Matsui’?”

“Yes.”

“Ah~ I see now.”

“So, how did you become an inugami?”

“That was… when Rena was taking me for a walk, we got in an accident.”

“Eh? Accident?”

“I ran off… and I didn’t listen to her… and because of me, we were both….”

“Jurina-san…”

She hid her tears, trying to compose herself quickly. I understood it. She obviously doesn’t like people seeing her cry.

“I was stupid… Because I didn’t listen…”

“Did something happen?”

“No… But, I had this sick feeling… Something terrible was happening…”

“What if that was the Akuma? I heard that animals have a sixth sense that can make them feel when something like that happens.”

“Maybe.”

“When I ran off, I heard her voice and stopped in the middle of the road… She jumped out and protected me…. We were both hit by a car.”

“Oh God…”

“My body was mortally damaged and I was dying… Rena was in the hospital for months before she fully recovered, but even now, her body is still weak from that day… That’s why now, she’s so bad at sports…”

“And, was that when..?”

“Yea… I was screaming to God. ‘Why? Why do I have to die? I just want to be with Rena-chan!’ I think… that moment, He heard me… Rena was okay.. She was alive. And I came back as an inugami.”

“I see. So that’s why you always act clingy and protective over her.”

“Because you don’t want her to get hurt…”

Jurina nodded.

Meru was getting tears in her eyes again as Mio comforted her.

“Ah, but you know, Rena was affected by the accident, too.”

“Eh?!”

“The doctors said she had a hard impact on her head in the accident. And since then, she’s been able to see ghosts!”

“G-g-g-ghosts?!” Miki held onto me, shaking.

“Wait, like Nana?”

“Nana can see ghosts, too?”

“Well… sometimes, but, more often, I can just sense their presence. If it’s strong enough, I can hear their voices or see silhouettes. I can also see auras and sense dark energy, but that’s about it.”

“I see. Rena can see and hear ghosts clearly. Sometimes, she mistakes them for real people.”

Elsewhere, Rena sneezed.

“Wait,” I stood up. “Jurina, thanks for explaining all that, but… right now, there’s one more thing that needs explaining.”

I turned and looked at Nagisa. She was hiding her face with her hair.

“Is this… really Ryouha?”

“There’s no mistake! That scent admitting from her is Ryouha-tan’s!”

“How can you tell?”

“I wasn’t just smelling her body. I was smelling her aura. Just like how souls give off a different aura, they also give off a different scent. For example, Rena smells like lily flowers and melonpan~.”

Huh, I can imagine that actually.

I looked back at Nagisa. She was acting exactly like Ryouha, but there’s only one way to know.

I took her hand and looked at her ring. It wasn’t a sapphire Heart fragment like Nagisa normally had. It was an emerald.

“It’s Ryouha’s… Her Heart fragment.”

“No way…”

“It is!”

“You are Ryouha-tan.”

She nodded. “Y-yes…”

“How did this happen?”

“W-well… we were both trying to attempt Jewel Harmony.. And then, before we knew it.. this happened.”

“So, we need to find her so we can turn you both back.”

“Where could she be?”

Just then, the door opened.

“Jurina-chan~”

“Ah, Milky.”

“I’m here, Jurina-chan. Oh, and Tentomu chu girls and Ikoma-tan.”

“Hi, Milky-san.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Since I’m co-current with Sakae and Namba, I decided to see what was going on.”

“Maybe you can help. See, there was a bit of an incident. Ryouha-tan and Nagisa swapped bodies.”

“Oh?” Milky came close and took a good look at Ryouha. “Yup. I can see into her heart. That’s Ryouha.”

“Milky should know how to reverse it.” Jurina said, her ears perked up. “You can ask your girlfriend!”

“G-girlfriend?!”

“Oh yeah.”

“On a *TV show with the other Namba48 members, there was an episode where she and Milky switched bodies.”

“Wait, that was real?!”

“Yeah. It was actually pretty fun in Sayaka-chan’s body. Plus…” Milky looked down her shirt collar. “She has bigger s than me.”

“Milky-san!” Ryouha screamed. “Stop thinking about that! Just call Sayaka-san and have her come over here!”

“OK~”

“Oh, and tell her if she meets Nagisa… or ‘Ryouha’… or Nagisa in Ryouha’s body?”

“Just, tell her if she finds her, bring her here, too.”

“Okey-dokey-lokey~” she said in a cute voice as she typed on her phone.

“Don’t worry, Ryouha-tan. We’ll have you and Nagisa back to normal in no time.”

“I hope so. I can’t think of what she could be doing right now…”

…..

Meanwhile, Nagisa was in the streets of Sakae, trying to collect her thoughts.

“How on Earth are we gonna turn back to normal, me and Ryouha?”

Nagisa remembered that Mako contacted her, so now she has to think of some way to turn them back. But, everyone she could think of was too busy.

“What do I do..?”

At her side, Nagisa then heard the strum of a guitar.

She looked and saw a young girl sitting beside her, playing a firey red guitar.

Nagisa felt a certain interest towards her, and stared at her as she played, humming some notes to herself. She also had a notebook with her, writing down lyrics.

“A singer/songwriter?”

The girl happened to notice Nagisa and smiled.

“Yaa.”

“Oh… uh, hi.”

“Were ya watchin’ me practice?” Nagisa took notice of the fluent Osaka dialect.

“Yea.”

“Cool. I don’t mind people starin’. I always get lost in the music.”

“I understand.”

“Yup. And my lucky *Scarlet Angel here…” She picked up her guitar, and strummed a strong chord. “I always have ‘er with me. Never leaves my sight.”

“You’re really good.”

“Thanks. Name’s Sayaka. Yamamoto Sayaka.”

“Yamamoto Sayaka…”

Then, she remembered. She knew where she had seen this girl and made her interested.

She was THE Yamamoto Sayaka. The rock star of Namba48 industries. Known for her talent in music as well in comedy, a true star from Osaka.

“You work at Namba48 industries. I’m a really big fan!”

“Really? Thanks.” Sayaka smiled as she closed her notebook. Then, a spark came to her. “Wait… I’ve seen you before.”

“You have?”

“Yeah, you’re that member from Tentomu chu. Uh, Ryouha-tan, right?”

Nagisa panicked a bit, trying to cover herself.

“Y-yeah, I am. I didn’t really think that anyone would recognize me; I don’t… stand out as much as Mako-chan or Nana-chan.”

“I think you’re pretty cute.”

The younger girl felt her cheeks blushed. She was being praised by her idol. No other words could express the happiness she felt…

“Wait.. but it’s for Ryouha… not me.”

“Th-thanks.”

“No prob.”

Just then, Sayaka’s phone buzzed and she opened it.

“Sayaka-chan~ I need you over at the Sakae48 studio. And if you meet someone wearing a sapphire ring who acts like someone from Osaka, bring her, too. ;)”

Sayaka raised her eyebrow. “Not the weirdest text I’ve received from my girlfriend.”

She closed her phone and packed up her guitar in its case.

“Uh, Ryouha-tan.. do ya mind headin’ with me somewhere?”

“Eh? Where?”

“It’s a studio near here. Sakae48 industries.”

Nagisa’s heart dropped a bit.

“Uh-oh…”

…..

“There they are.”

I watched as a young girl carrying a guitar on her back walked in. Behind her was Nagisa(in Ryouha’s body), her head dangling as if she was sulking.

“Sayaka-chan~~~” The little demon chirped happily as she hugged her girlfriend.

“Hey, Milky. How’s my lil’ devil~?”

“Good~.”

They kinda look like Jurina and Rena…

“Nagisa?”

We all looked and saw her slowly backing away a bit. “E-eto~…”

“Nagi!”

“Tell us what happened. How did you two end up like this?”

“Um… well…”

“Were you two trying to create Jewel Harmony? Did something go wrong that made your Heart fragments switch?”

“I-I…”

“Ryouha, do you remember anything?” I asked.

“I’m not sure. I-I remember that, when we were about to merge our auras, we were close to creating it… then, I felt like I was plunged into darkness.”

“Eh? You too?”

“Nagisa?”

“I felt like something cut in… something powerful hit me. Then, I was pulled into darkness. When I came to, I was in Ryouha’s body.”

Dark… Masaka!

“Mako, do you think it’s the Akuma?” Rina asked.

“Probably…”

…..

“Yup, it’s definitely work of the Akuma… Yeah… Don’t worry. You, Milky, and the others might be able to hold them off before they can fix things… Un, got it. See you then.”

Miichan hung up her cell phone and sighed as she put it down.

Takamina stepped in and saw her friend still sulking.

“We need to tell her sooner or later…”

“I know, but… what if.. she doesn’t want to remember?”

“She’ll have to, whether she does or not. It was the same with some of the others.

“Yeah. Sayanee, Jurina-chan and Rena-chan… but, we still don’t know about—”

“We’ll figure that out when we get to it. For now, I need help with something.”

“Eh..?”

“I want to get a present… a parting gift, for Yuko.”

…..

*“Moshimo kimi ga BARA nara~”

“O-oi, what are you..?”

“Aw~ Rena-chan, it’s our song!”

“Miyuki, quit teasing,” Sayaka lightly told her girlfriend.

“I can’t help it. Just LOOK at them,” the devil pointed at how Jurina was lying on Rena’s lap, like a cute puppy while Rena her hair. “The *yuri is strong within Sakae48, I tell you, Sayaka-chan!”

*“Nandeyanen!”

Ah, there it is. Osaka-style *tsukkomi.

“Yes, Milky, can you please stop? It’s a bit embarrassing.”

“Oh. I see someone’s getting all *tsundere again. So cute, Rena-chan~”

“A-am not..!”

“Tsunde-Rena~~~”

“Moshimo kimi ga BARA nara~” Milky sang again.

“Miyuki.”

“C’mon, be honest. All of you wanted to do it.”

“You really are *Warukii.”

She tuck out her tongue at us before running ahead of us.

“Hold up, Miyuki!”

As we came up at the corner, we saw someone grab Miyuki and heard her scream.

“Miyuki!”

We chased the person up to the roof and saw Miyuki trying to break herself free.

“Let me go!”

“Who are you?”

The woman revealed her face, and grinned.

“Isako.”

“Hello, girls. Like the little mix-up?”

“So that was you!”

“Well, looks like you catch on fast.”

I saw Sayanee had an angry expression on her face. “Let her go.”

“Oh, and what are you going to do about it?” Isako smirked before she went to grab her.

Sayanee just smiled and pulled out her guitar. She strummed a strong chord on it and the sound waves blew her back, making her release Milky.

“What was that?”

“My Scarlet Angel is special. Akuma are powerless against her sound.”

“That’s so awesome, Sayaka-san!”

“Alright, let’s transform!”

“Right!”

“Transform! Tentomu chu!”

We all kissed our rings and transformed, summoning our weapons.

“Uh-oh…” Nagisa said.

We looked and realized Ryouha and Nagisa were not transformed.

“Guys, something’s wrong!”

“My ring ain’t workin’!”

“We can’t transform!”

“It must be ‘cause y’all switched bodies. Your auras are out o’ whack, and now…”

Ryouha made a face like she was about to cry and stomped her foot angrily. “Oh, NOW what?!”

“Is this why you switched them?!”

“Yes, and I can just as easily do the same with all of you!”

We were about to attack, when suddenly, an incredible force blew us back.

“Huh?!”

“What was that?!”

“Hahahaha. Can’t beat what you can’t see~”

“Momo?!”

“Try to find me!”

Jurina’s ears perked up as she sniffed the air.

“Bubblegum flavored lollipop!” she said before she transformed into a dog and bit Momo’s arm, making her reveal herself.

“Ow! What the hell?! Get off me!”

Jurina popped back into human form with a triumphant smile.

“My nose is never wrong!”

“Oh yeah?!”

Momo threw some seeds on the ground and black vines came and grabbed all of us. Milky, Sayanee, even Jurina in her dog form was powerless.

“Let us go!”

“Ugh… my Dark Flame..!” Rina screamed. “I can’t burn the vines!”

“Ryouha-tan, Nagisa, you both need to do something!”

…..

Ryouha was shaking, watching her friends struggle as they tried to release themselves of the vines’ grip.

“W-w-what should we do.. N-Nagisa..?”

The elder girl had a serious look on her face and nodded.

“We have to do Jewel Harmony.” Nagisa stated.

“Eh?! But—”

“It’s our only choice. We just need to try.”

Ryouha held her chest, feeling it pound from her anxiety. She sighed and nodded.

“You’re right. We need to… t-try.. right?”

“Un.”

The two faced each other, intertwining their hands.

“You remember what to do, right?”

“Un. First, concentrate my aura…” Ryouha closed her eyes as a green aura surrounded her.

Nagisa did the same as a blue aura surrounded her.

“Then, just let my power flow.”

“Right. Just go with the flow.”

She gripped onto the older girl’s hands, feeling a new power surge into her.

“And…”

The two felt an overwhelming power rush into them and were surrounded by bright light.

…..

A bright light suddenly flashed and blinded us. The vines weren’t letting us go, however, so we watched as the light started to dim down and two figures appeared.

“That’s..!”

As the light faded, I saw Nagisa and Ryouha, transformed into their outfits, which were combined green and deep blue. The aura surrounding them was also a green and blue mix.

“Jewel Harmony!”

They held hands as they jumped up and cut the vines like it was nothing.

“What?! How did they become so strong?!”

“Damn it. Fine! I’ll just kill you myself.”

Isako charged at the two girls, about to attack, but then they each created a strong orb of wind and water. They combined the two orbs and threw it at Isako and Momo, blowing them back.

“Crap! How could that have failed?!”

“We’ll be back!”

They left and after everything calmed down, the aura surrounding Nagisa and Ryouha disappeared and they transformed back.

“Guys?”

“Masaka…”

Ryouha looked at herself, then looked up at the girl in front of her.

Nagisa did the same.

“Na.. Nagisa?” Ryouha spoke.

“Ryouha-tan?” Nagisa spoke.

We all stared in awe.

“They… switched back?”

“It looks like…”

Ryouha and Nagisa both smiled. Ryouha hugged her body and covered her face, letting out a small squeal of joy, while Nagisa was cheering as loud as she could and dancing a happy dance.

“Yup.”

“They’re back to normal!”

“Nagisa!”

“Ryouha-tan!”

The two hugged each other and jumped up and down happily.

“We switched back!”

“Yokatta~”

“Ah, don’t cry! Mou~”

We all smiled, giggling a bit at the cute scene. I’m honestly happy that we got things back to normal… for the most part.

“Hey, I just got a text from Miichan. She said she wants us to meet with her and Sasshi for something,” Meru said.

“Let’s go then.”

“C’mon, you two~” Miki said as she grabbed the two and pulled them back into the group.

Before I could leave, I felt someone grab my wrist. I looked and saw Jurina looking at me.

“What?”

“You’re Kojima Mako, right?”

“Y-yeah, of course I am.”

“Oh, okay. I wanted to make sure. You… smell kinda familiar.”

“My smell? You mean, the scent of my aura?”

“Yeah. I feel like I’ve smelled it somewhere else before.”

“Have we met before?”

“Mm~ I don’t think so…”

“Jurina.” Rena suddenly came up and whispered something in her ear.

“..Eh?”

“What?”

“Oh, it’s nothing. Eto… I can’t really remember if we did meet before… but, if I think of something, I’ll tell you. Okay, Mako-chan?”

“Yeah. Alright.”

“Makocchi, come on!”

“Coming~!” I ran back towards the group, still thinking of what happened.

Do they know something..?

…..

Back in the dressing room, Rena was packing up her stuff while humming a song she had in her head a while. Jurina was looking at her phone, thinking about Mako.

“Nee, Rena-chan…” she asked.

“What?”

“Do you think… Mako-chan could be..?”

Rena stopped a bit, looking at her puppy.

“Could she..?”

“Probably.”

The older girl sighed as she sat down in her chair.

“It’s only been a little while now. About… 2 or 3 months?”

“Feels like less than that. Time sure flies, huh?”

“Even so… it was only a short time ago. Since we got our memories back.”

Rena nodded. “I’m still confused about a lot of things.”

“Milky-chan and Sayanee-chan did, too, right?”

“Un…”

“I wonder how they took it.”

“Probably better than us…”

Jurina got up and walked over to Rena, sitting beside her and laying her head on her shoulder.

“What if she really is alive?”

Rena didn’t look into the puppy’s eyes. Her mind was already racing with so many things she couldn’t think straight.

“Rena-chan?”

“…If she is… let’s hope we find her soon.”

…..

We got back to Tokyo and walked into the café, where Miichan and Sasshi were talking about something. We walked over to their table.

“Hey, what did you guys need?”

“Sasshi booked another TV gig for you guys.”

“Really?”

“This!” Sasshi pulled out a poster of the TV show.

“Idol Cooking Competition Special!!”

“Cooking?”

“Yup. You guys won’t just be performing. I picked two of you to compete as chefs.”

“Who?”

She stood up, chuckling lowly. Whenever she did that, I got a chill up my spine.

“That is…” She pointed at Nagisa. “Shibuya!”

“Eh? Me? Wow, I’m actually kinda happy!”

“And…” She grinned and pointed at Meru. “You, too, Tashima!”

“Eh?!”

================================

Footnotes

*1. Note – Although Rena and Jurina have the same last names, they are not related in real life.

*2. I named Sayaka’s guitar “Scarlet Angel”, but I don’t know if it has an actual name or not.

*3. NMB48 Geinin! (Season 2, Episode 9) – [Link: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10cr1h_sayamilky-body-swap_music ]

*4. Opening chorus lyrics to “Two Roses” by SKE48.

*5. Yuri – Japanese term for girl+girl romance, or lesbian relationship.

*6. “Nandeyanen!” – A line often used in tsukkomi.

*7. Tsukkomi – A term often used in manzai or in anime to describe a character who often gets ticked off or angry based upon acts of the boke. They try to remain cool at first, but gradually get angrier as it progresses.

*8. Tsundere – A term often used in anime when a character(usually female) is cold and hostile towards their interest, but becomes more gentle and open as time passes.

*9. Warukii – A given nickname to Miyuki because of her devil-like behavior.