Preshow ✧ 2

The next day, Mirai opened her eyes as Mimi.

“That's me, by the way.”

“I think they understand by now…”

Since I did have my deal with my aunt that I'd tidy up the apartment and keep it squeaky clean in her absence, after a modest breakfast we got to cleaning. I was glad that I could be at the backseat of our body and just watch and chat with Mimi, as she handled the chores. As you might guess, I wasn't the most fond of cleaning. Luckily for me, she greatly enjoyed such tasks in my stead. What would I do without her, seriously… I almost pitied the people who only had to manage life with one soul. What if they despised house chores as much as I did? What then?

“They can request other people to do them. Separate bodies exist, you know.”

“Yeah, but that's with people with siblings and friends and such…”

She shrugged as she held the mop with our slender arms. Mirai might have been looking like a thin and lanky girl in your eyes, but we were way stronger than what our appearance conveyed, so it was convenient that I wouldn't feel much exhaustion if I were to switch afterwards. Since I didn't have control over when that would happen, it was a good thing that I wouldn't have to feel the aftereffects of physical excretion of simpler chores like these.

Mimi enjoyed everything where she could move her body, so I had many sleepless nights because of the muscle aches she caused in our body after her more intense workouts. I still got to enjoy the benefits of her hard work though, so I didn't complain much.

“Really now.”

“...really.”

Well, maybe, sometimes I did complain. I was more delicate than her, you know.

“And lazy.”

“Aha, who's the one who had us graduate from high school? What would you do if I didn't listen to the classes intently?”

“...”

The times Mimi had to listen to class, she would space out completely. Because of that reason, some of my study notes had some obvious information gaps, but other than that I did my best to keep up with studies–thinking I should have at least one good thing going on for me.

… and suddenly, I found myself holding the mop instead of Mimi. I sighed. What a timing.

“Darn it.”

Looked like Mimi wasn't too happy about it either. I had to continue the cleaning, though in a less efficient manner. I thought the house looked clean as it was. Couldn't this have waited a few days more…?

That being said, we had time until the circus, which would begin in evening time. It was half an hour away from here, so I would just need to take a bus and walk for a bit. I had never been to that area before, but if anything I figured I could just ask around for directions. I happened to know the language rather fluently, thanks to my mother’s side of the family being from here.

I spent some more time tidying up around, and felt my now empty stomach buzz with that familiar, uncomfortable feeling. In what was a bit of a sudden change in plans, I decided to treat myself to a lunch out. I found it rather pointless to stay inside when the whole point of me being here was to experience the city to its fullest.

I opened the wardrobe in the guest room I stayed in, and scanned the clothes I had brought here. Something fancy without being too flashy seemed like it would be for the best. I pulled out a dress, a black one that was figure fitting and thought combining it with a white spring coat and a beret hat would be a perfect fit to match the vibe I was going for.

I put them on, inspecting the reflection. I saw Mirai, the girl standing at 182 cm and the slender figure being accentuated with the tight fitting dress.

“What do we think?”

“Plain but elegant enough. Wish we had brought our accessory box, though.”

I nodded in regretful agreement. I had forgotten to bring it, but at least it was a trivial thing to forget. Preferable to forgetting money or your toothbrush…

“Speaking from experience.”

“The fault lies with the two of us, in any case… You could have reminded me.”

I headed to the bathroom to put on some light makeup, as well as brush my hair. Mimi had always wanted shorter hair, but I didn't want to cut them off just yet. I felt too attached to the flowing blue locks… For that reason, we had come to an agreement that we would only cut one side, leaving us with this unique haircut.

Yeah, people didn't like it much. Yeah, we were made fun of. But those things would happen regardless of our hairstyle choices, so we were happy.

I put the hairbrush aside and checked my appearance one last time before leaving the house. I knew that the fashionista between us, Mimi, wasn't too satisfied, so I offered that we could visit a store during our time out. I didn't have that much pocket money to spare, but a few accessories wouldn't break our budget. The prospect of shopping immediately cheered her up. It was a good thing my forever companion was a mostly easily appeased one.

Exiting the house, the fresh spring air of Balamur greeted us, along with the hustle and bustle of all the vehicles rushing around. I liked this sight. It got me quite excited. I made a mental note of trying to find a job in the city someday, so I could have this sight every day.

I hopped on a bus that I knew would take us to the closest shopping district. It was actually on the opposite side of the Circus, but we had quite a lot of time anyway. Mimi reminded me of the traffic that might get jammed during the evening. Keeping that in mind, we arrived at our target street.