Chapter 31: So Like You

“I need to talk to Milo,” Kai said.

“I’m coming with you.” Tani pushed herself off the bed.

“Not this time,” Kai said.

His own voice, the determination in it, was new. Tani must have heard it, too, because she didn’t insist.

“Find Galien and tell him that dinner better be ready, ‘cause I’m starving,” he added in a more playful tone.

Tani smiled at him. His sister understood. She was young, but she was clever, sharp even, just like their mom. In their family, their father had been the dreamer, the one with the head in the clouds, and their mother always the one grounded. Both took after him, especially with their belief in fantastic worlds and whatnot, but Tani was more like their mom. She understood much more than she let on, and this time, Kai was grateful for having such a smart sister.

“Will do,” Tani said. “Kai,” she added after a short pause, “will Milo be okay? He seemed really in shock.”

“He’ll be, once I tell him everything.”

His sister nodded as if she knew that she was leaving the matter in trustworthy hands. As soon as she was out the door, Kai set on exploring the area and finding Milo’s room.

It took him little to discover his friend. A maid walking the hallways with her arms filled with clean sheets quickly pointed him at the right door. Galien’s personnel was incredibly competent; they didn’t blink at what must have looked like a bizarre choice of clothes in their eyes. Or Galien was so much an eccentric that they were used to the weirdest things.

Kai shrugged and let himself in after knocking shortly on Milo’s door. After all, he and Tani were just the same when it came to their manners. But they always cared about the person on the other side of the door, so that was that.

“Hey, man,” he said and rubbed the back of his head as he took in his best friend.

Milo must have gotten the royal treatment by the number of pillows stacked behind his back and the luxurious coverlet. He looked a bit better, and the tea tray left on the bedside table indicated that he had been treated to the best of the abilities of this world, which Kai suspected to surpass whatever counted as natural remedies in the real world.

Real world. Not like this one felt any less real.

“Hey,” Milo called meekly. He held his arms over the coverlet, his fingers intertwined.

“Are you all right? Jeez, I never thought I’d see you like this.” Kai sat on the bed and looked at his friend.

Milo snorted. “So like you to get us dragged into a freaking isekai anime.”

Kai snickered. “Well, glad to see that you’re coming to it. But I don’t think it’s an anime. I mean, everything looks very 3D, right?”

Milo looked around. “Some really good 3D. I mean, it’s really realistic.”

They both began laughing at the same time.

“So,” Milo pinched the bridge of his nose, “all that dragon riding, it was real?”

Kai leaned back and placed his hands behind his head. “Totally.”

“Freakish,” Milo commented. “That fancy looking dude kept telling me everything would be all right. I must have freaked him out really bad.”

“Well, you can’t really blame Galien. You were really freaked,” Kai pointed out.

“Yeah,” Milo admitted and snickered again. “So, all this time,” he began hesitantly, “like for two weeks or so, I’ve actually been with—I mean, you were--”

Kai nodded. “Yeah, I was here, in Sebastian’s body, and he was inside my body, as Tani told me. Hey, did you guys...” he started to ask but swallowed his words quickly.

Milo threw him a very but a very guilty look.

“Are you for real?” Kai shouted. “Did you bone ... I mean ... oh, shoot!”

Milo looked away just as fast as he did.

“Dude,” Kai whispered.

“Dude,” Milo whispered back.

They fell silent for a while.

“Screw me sideways, this is complicated,” Milo was the first to talk. “So, actually, I ... did it with that scary guy with long hair?”

“Uh-uh,” Kai replied and shifted in his place. Was he supposed to feel something different? Clearly, Milo had been on top. There was no doubt about it since Sebastian was such an incorrigible bottom. But his butt didn’t hurt or anything. Right, let’s leave things as they are for now, he decided. He didn’t need any details on how his best friend had boned his ass.

“Damn.” Milo covered his face. “He tried to tell me, you know? He kept on and on how he was a prince and all that.”

“And what did you think?” Kai asked, curious of how that must have gone down.

“Just that you were getting into some kind of method training while cosplaying all the time. Really, I was getting a bit annoyed, but on the other hand, you ... I mean this dude ... I mean...”

Kai put one hand up. “You don’t have to tell me. You have no idea how much I had to fight off Conrad who was after my ass all the time.”

Milo laughed, much to his annoyance. Yeah, he could laugh. Not like his ass had gotten boned or anything. “But what about that cute dude? Pepin?”

Kai sighed. “Pepin, well, that’s complicated. I mean, I got him pregnant or something, although I have no idea how. This world is really weird. Until today, I had no idea such a thing was possible.”

“Galien told me that Pepin is in love with you. Did he mean you, you, or you cosplaying as Sebastian?”

Only then it struck Kai. “Oh, damn. After seeing the real me, Pepin must be so disappointed. I mean, I have nothing on that hunk of a prince, and Pepin has been crushing on him since forever.”

“Hey, that’s not true,” Milo protested. “Sure you can compete against him.”

Kai threw his friend a suspicious look. “You’re not thinking of boning my ass, I hope. Think of boning Sebastian’s round ass instead.”

“Round ass?” Milo blinked a few times.

“Yeah. They sing songs about that thing in this world,” Kai said with importance.

Milo shook his head in disbelief. Then he looked away and rubbed the back of his neck. “So ... all that happened ... is not real? We were never together.”

“No,” Kai admitted. “Sorry about that.” He didn’t know what else to say.

Milo kept his eyes turned from him. “Well, that’s a huge bummer,” he commented.

Kai was an airhead most of the time, but that didn’t mean that he had no idea what crossed Milo’s mind right now. The situation was pretty freaking complicated. “You couldn’t know,” he offered. That sounded lame, but it was all he had.

“I suppose I should have listened to him more and believe him when he kept saying that he was someone else,” Milo said slowly, but it was evident that he didn’t believe his own words.

No, reality-grounded Milo had no reason to believe such a thing. So, he hadn’t, hence the whole mess.

“Pepin is with Sebastian now,” Kai said. “And, weird as it may sound, I kinda don’t like that.”

“So,” Milo scratched his head, “if you hadn’t been transported to another world, could we have been, you know, boyfriends?”

Kai stood from the bed abruptly. Well, he needed to start being honest. “Actually,” he began pacing the room, “you were just confessing, and,” he stopped for a moment, “well, I thought something like, ‘oh, no, this isn’t happening’ and then wished that I would be transported to an isekai anime world, and ... well, this happened.”

Milo remained silent for a few moments. “That’s good to know, I suppose. I mean, you clearly preferred getting body swapped with a prince from some random fantasy anime than go on a date with me.”

No point in lying, Kai, no point in lying. “Yeah, that kinda sums it up. Ugh, sorry.”

Milo blinked a few times and then puffed out his cheeks. He let out the air with a loud noise. “This sucks. But was it because you don’t like me, or the idea of getting it on with a dude? I mean, the latter cannot be since the moment you get here, you make some guy become pregnant.”

Kai covered his face and groaned. “Milo, you’re my bro. And I didn’t just get here and start jumping Pepin’s bones. Actually, he kinda seduced me. Okay, so not like seduced me, but you know ... I have no idea how it happened! But I’m in love with him, and you’re just my bro! I mean, best bro! Jeez, like I wasn’t having a bunch of problems already.” He plopped himself down on the plush carpet and crossed his legs in front of him.

To his surprise, Milo started laughing. The next moment, a pillow was sent straight to his head, hitting him so hard that he lost his balance and ended up sprawled on the floor. That didn’t last long. Releasing a war cry, he jumped to his feet, grabbed the pillow, and dashed to the bed to hit Milo in the face with it.

Their little battle was interrupted by a polite yet pretty loud cough. They both turned toward the door to see the butler standing there with a small smile on his face. Kai blew away some feathers that were gently flowing through the air. “Sorry about that,” he said, feeling chastised.

“Master Galien is waiting for you downstairs. Dinner is ready.” The butler stopped for a moment. “We like it when the place is so lively and filled with young people,” he added as he retreated.

Kai exchanged a look with Milo after the butler was gone. “People here are way too cool.”

“Yeah, totally,” Milo replied.

“Glad to see you’re no longer shell-shocked, though. That was pretty funny.” Kai snickered, earning a quick, murderous look from Milo. “What made you think it was all real, though? Before I came to your room, I mean. Or do you still think you’re dreaming?” He narrowed his eyes as he looked at his friend.

“Galien, you say the guy’s name is?” Kai nodded. Milo continued, “Dude holds my hand and talks to me like I’m lacking half a brain while his butler is plying me with the tastiest tea I’ve ever had, and so I thought to myself, ‘they must think I’m stupid’, so I calmed down and looked around ... and thought, ‘well, it’s a pretty good simulation, but I doubt the government would use someone like me for experiments’. The tea must have helped a little. And the only option left was that I got trapped in the same isekai anime as you. There.”

Kai rolled his eyes. “So, how was it? With Sebastian?” He just couldn’t help it, as the curiosity about everything that had happened while he had been away was gnawing at him.

Milo gave him a suspicious look, and then he smirked. “I thought you wanted to know nothing about the boning thing.”

“No, no, totally no boning! But how did he manage ... I mean, did he get kicked out of school or something? I heard from Tani that he kicked Chet’s ass. Everything had to be so new for him.”

“Actually, now our math and French teachers think you’re some kind of genius.”

“For real? Ah, damn.”

“Yeah, Sebastian must be pretty freaking smart.”

“As opposed to me,” Kai said quickly.

“Hey, I didn’t say that.” Milo stood and offered him a hand. “We should go eat, right? And I guess Sebastian is just some kind of a nerd.” That was probably to soothe the low blow from earlier. “I mean, he even set himself to learn karate or Kung Fu or something. And he got you some pretty good grades in the meantime.”

“Why did the swap have to happen now? It would have been nice to return to my finals passed with flying colors.” Yeah, that was a bummer. This body swap thing offered him no advantages whatsoever.