New Interests

Mike was starting to have a hard time ignoring the fact that the longer he seemed to spend in Ashley’s body, the more he seemed to become like Ashley.

The hardest part wasn’t the new interests he gained -- like scrolling through the feeds of fashion models to check out the latest looks -- but losing interest in things he once enjoyed. He noticed it first when his fingers fumbled with a video game controller; later he found himself so bored attending a football game.

He began to wonder if he would lose himself completely at some point. Would memories fade? Would he forget that he ever used to be Mike at all? It was worrisome, but there was also a cute dress he saw for sale online....

Kawaii Transformation Virus

I watched my roommate transform in front of me. The hair growth, the big eyes, and even his clothes changed. He had all these cutesy, feminine traits that fell into this weird uncanny valley -- except it was very real and standing right in front of me. He now spoke with a squeaky voice and was extremely needy. He grabbed me; I wished he hadn’t.

I’d come to learn that my roommate was the first to fall victim to the Kawaii Transformation Virus, which changed both his body and his mind. He became this weird kawaii female version of himself.

I knew my transformation would be next.

Break a Nail

All Glen could hear was Melinda’s voice behind him complaining about how he was going to break one of her nails. Quite honestly, he’d be happy if he didn’t blow both of them up as he tried to fix this strange, alien device.

The thing had literally swapped their bodies, and then powered down. The only thing he wanted to do was get the thing up and running again so he could return to his own body. He had managed to restore power, but so far he was still stuck in Melinda’s body.

And her griping continued. It wasn’t helping. He had half a mind to stop right here and leave her stuck in his body just to annoy her more -- if that wouldn’t be more punishment for him than it would be for her.

A Fly in the Ointment

Journal

No one could explain why or how reality shifted that day. Scientists began to study the whole thing extensively, but the changes left no physical trace behind. People started talking about how the trees and grass used to have a purple tint to them, and I couldn’t tell if they were bullshitting me or not -- because I couldn’t remember if they did; I thought they had always been green.

Then I started to realize how many memories of my old self were missing. I remembered being a male professor instead of a female college student, but I couldn’t even recall the subject I used to teach, so I decided to start writing down what I could remember of who I once was.

The more I wrote down, the more the holes in my memory became apparent. I’d even go back a few days earlier to re-read things, and the memory I had described in the passage seemed like it happened to another person. We were all adjusting to the new reality, and it was terrifying.