Prisoner of Love

To say I was nervous would be an understatement.

Let me set the scene for you. My location is Nanba Prison, said to be inescapable once incarcerated. To my right is a dark skinned man in a guard’s uniform with a sinister smile on his face. Before the chair I’m sitting in is a desk belonging to the warden. Said warden, Momoko Hyakushiki by name, is sitting behind the desk, arms resting on the desk as she gives me a glare that chills me to the very bone.

I had no idea what possessed her to fetch me, but I was betting it was nothing good.

“Hitokoe, is the office secure?”

“Don’t worry, boss lady!” the man beside me said, in a way I never expected one to say to a superior. “The whole room’s clean. No bugs, no dust, no probs!”

“Very well. I’m sorry to call you all the way here, Miss…Kuro, was it?”

“Um…yes, ma’am!” Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve heard Hinata’s voice so nervous. I don’t care that I was the one saying the words; it’s still a surreal experience nowadays.

“There’s no need to be intimidated.”

“Sorry, ma’am; it’s just…well…”

“Don’t be too insulted ‘bout her nervousness,” Hitokoe said, casually walking up to the warden. “It’s not every day a girl gets plucked up off the street out of the blue and is taken to the most secure prison on the planet. I bet the poor thing’s scared half to death, wondering what horrible crime she’s committed that could land her in a place such as this.”

“…Hitokoe…kindly shut up…” the warden said, a threatening tone in her voice. “The least you could’ve done was have her dressed more appropriately.”

She was right, of course. I didn’t want to run into any inmates dressed in only a sports bra, yoga pants and sneakers. Then again, I never expected to get snatched up while jogging.

“How about the others?” Momoko asked.

“They should be coming right about now,” Hitokoe responded.

“Planner Kay reporting, Miss Hyakushiki!” I heard a cheery voice say.

Turning my head, I saw Kay and Konan walk into the room. Kay, though, had swapped bodies with the half-genie Shantae, and thus possessed her tan skin and purple hair. She wore a pink shirt that exposed her shoulders and midriff. Jean shorts adorned her lower body while a pink ribbon was tied around her neck.

Konan was dressed in a red tank top with a red cloud design on it, a leather jacket over that, and blue jean shorts and black leggings. She had a guitar case flung over her shoulder, something I figured she took up since I last saw her.

Kay turned to look at me and said, “Hi, hi, Mr. Kuro!”

“Mister?!” Momoko asked sharply, causing everyone to shirk at the venomous aura she was emanating.

“Oops, um…I mean…”

“I was born a boy, Miss Hyakushiki, but I decided to become a girl over a year ago. So much time body swapping with girls…” I explained.

“I see…I’m sorry I overreacted. In any case, it seems Miss Kay made the right call.”

“Um…if you don’t mind me asking, why am I here again?”

“Well…you see…”

Momoko was suddenly fidgeting and acting nervously, something I didn’t expect her to do.”

“Allow me, ma’am!” Hitokoe rapidly and loudly said, suddenly getting in my face. “You see, Miss Hyakushiki wants to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a lucky guy and…”

“Hitokoe!”

“What? If you want her help, she needs to know the truth.”

“Maybe she doesn’t want to be informed of her role in such an…aggressive way,” Konan said.

“Oh, come on, baby; I can…”

“Kay, Konan, you two can inform her,” Momoko said, causing Hitokoe to cry crocodile tears.

Kay then approached me and said, “Well, Kuro, Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and Miss Hyakushiki is eager to celebrate.”

“Is there someone she has in mind to celebrate with?”

“Yes, she’s invited one of the guards for dinner, but there’s a problem.”

“Okay, and that is?”

“Well, you see…I….I’m…”

“Don’t be so shy, girl! Just spill the beans already,” Hitokoe said, earning him a punch in the jaw by Momoko.

After sitting back down, Momoko sighed and said, “I’m just…a little too nervous to go through with it and…”

“And you want me to take your place?”

“You’ll be compensated for your troubles, of course.” Momoko then looked at the nervous look I was giving and asked, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I’m willing to help, but…well…it’s going to be interesting to see how long I will last. It’ll be my first time having dinner with a man…at least in a romantic setting…”

“Don’t worry about a thing, Kuro! I have it all planned out. Just a nice little dinner among the cherry blossoms with musical accompaniment by my Konan. It’ll be perfect!” Kay exclaimed, stars in her eyes.

“Shouldn’t you be hurrying this along?” Konan asked. “There’s not a lot of time left.”

Momoko looked at the clock and said, “Oh, no! You’re right!! There’s no time to lose, then.”

(3 hours later)

I now stood in the warden’s office by myself, and with the warden’s body. The long blue hair now cascaded down my head and ended at my lower back. Kay had dressed the body in a red dress held by spaghetti straps on the shoulders and exposed a fair amount of cleavage. Two gold bangles on my wrist and a gold necklace completed the look.

After waiting a few more minutes, wondering what laid in store for me, the door to the office opened to reveal a man in a guard’s uniform, whom I learned was named Hajime Sugoroku. He was completely bald, and had a cross-shaped scar under his left eye. From what Momoko had told me, he was one of the strictest guards in the prison and a model of efficiency. It wasn’t hard to see how she could fall in love with him.

“You wanted to see me, War…” Hajime stood in awe as he laid his eyes on my (Momoko’s) outfit.

If I’m being honest, I’m still not comfortable with people staring at me. Ever since I decided to stay a girl, I’ve had to deal with guys looking at me wherever I go. I try to remain inconspicuous, but sometimes I do get asked out and I promptly shoot them down. But I’m getting off-track here.

I answered Hajime, “Yes, I did. Do you remember what we talked about the other day?”

“You wanted us to have dinner together, right? Aren’t interoffice romances forbidden, though?”

“Who said anything about romance?” I asked, trying to hide a blush. “Is there anything wrong with someone just wanting to have dinner with a friend? Besides, I went through a lot of preparation just so…”

“Okay, okay. Forgive me, ma’am; shall we go?”

Taking Hajime’s offered hand, I gently led him to where we were going to have dinner. Luckily, because of Momoko’s long hair, Hajime didn’t notice the earpiece on my left ear. Through it, I could hear Hitokoe, Kay, Konan and Momoko observing the events from the broadcasting room. Momoko sounded cute using Hinata’s voice, but I still hoped she wouldn’t be mad at me for taking her place for the “date.”

Eventually, we made our way to a small garden with cherry blossom trees in full bloom. A small table was set up with special food prepared for the evening. Hajime held out a chair and sat me down on it before taking the chair opposite of me and removing his hat, revealing all of his bald head.

“I’m sure you’ll enjoy Shirou’s cooking; he’s constantly getting compliments from the others for his cooking.”

“I’m looking forward to it, then,” I responded, never one to turn down a good meal.

As we both began eating and talking about the goings on in Nanba Prison (Momoko was feeding me knowledge through the earpiece), I had to take special care to mind my manners, so as to appear to be a proper lady. Luckily, I’ve had a lot of practice with dining with producers as well as acting on the stage.

After a while, we heard guitar music play through the loud speaker. Momoko informed me that Konan was playing a song and to invite him to dance. The earpiece could only let me hear the people in the broadcasting room, not reply back, so I had no choice but to comply.

“Hajime?” I asked, catching his attention. “Would you do me the honor of joining me in a dance?”

Hajime didn’t say a word. He just stood up, took my hand and led me in a dance.

I’m sure Momoko could see the blush that was on my face, since after a while I could hear her say, “Don’t you dare try to take this to the next level! His first kiss needs to be with me, not someone pretending to be me!!”

“You have nothing to worry about,” I thought as the dance continued.

“Still, I didn’t think he’d be able to bust moves like that. You’d never guess the gorilla to be able to groove,” Hitokoe said.

“You shut your mouth!” Momoko shouted.

“All things considered, though, I think the evening’s going well,” Kay remarked. “I knew it’d be a beautiful night!”

“…you know, maybe I should be…”

“What are you four doing?!”

Hajime’s shout brought my attention back to the present, where I saw four men wearing prisoner outfits looking at us. One had black hair with red bangs framing his face, and he wore a black-and-white striped outfit with shackles on his wrists, ankles and neck. One had pink and blond hair arranged in a long ponytail, and wore a blue-and-white striped outfit, with his shirt tied around his waist, exposing his black tank top. One was a short man with long green hair in an orange one-piece uniform, with bandages all over his body. The final man was the tallest of the lot, with purple hair topped with a red Mohawk, wearing an orange one-piece jumpsuit.

My face felt like it was on fire due to our unexpected audience. I’m usually good at staying in character, but I was caught unaware.

“Not those three again,” Momoko growled under her breath.

“Who are they?” Kay asked.

“Prisoners 1315: Jyugo; 1311: Uno; 1325: Nico and 1369: Rock. They escape from their cells all the time, so there’s rarely a dull moment in the day” Hitokoe explained.

“I’m waiting for your answer,” Hajime said, a growl entering his voice.

“We were bored, so we wanted to take a look around,” Jyugo calmly said.

“Is that our warden?” Uno asked. “I thought she was pretty before, but damn; she’s a knockout now!”

“Shut your mouth before I knock you out for real!!” Momoko growled.

(Let me just say right now how bizarre it is to hear Hinata’s voice sound so angry.)

“The cherry blossoms are so pretty!” Nico exclaimed. “I’ve never seen anything so pretty in my life!”

“That food smells tasty!” Rock said as he approached the table. “I bet Shirou cooked it; this is too good to have been cooked by any other person.”

“I’m so sorry, Supervisor!” a boy with long light blue hair said as he approached. Behind him was a tall Japanese man with a goofy smile on his face and a headband designed after Japan’s flag on his forehead. “Yamato got us lost on the way over; otherwise we would’ve got them.”

“At least we got here in time to admire the cherry blossoms,” the tall man, who was now identified as Yamato, said with his ever-present grin. “Come, Seitarou; let’s sit and admire this sight for a while.”

As the new arrivals continued to interrupt the proceedings, I could hear Kay and Momoko argue about how to fix the evening. Each thought they were responsible for ruining the night; something I felt guilty for, as well.

“Hajime will never want to spend time with me again!!”

“This was supposed to be the perfect date; how did things go so wrong?!”

Deciding enough was enough, I crushed the wine glass to get everyone’s attention. “Seitarou, Yamato, I want you two to put these four back in their cell and have them partake in daily calisthenics until further notice effective tomorrow.”

“Aw, come on!” the four prisoners whined before I cut them off with a glare, balled my fist as if preparing to punch them and asked, “Would you like to add hard labor on top of that?” When they shook their heads no, I yelled, “THEN GET THE HELL BACK TO YOUR CELLS AND LEAVE US ALONE!!”

Without word, the six intruders left, leaving me and Hajime alone.

Taking a calming breath, I asked, “So, Hajime, is there something else you’d like to do?”

“Actually, I should be getting back to Building 13,” Hajime said, putting his hat back on. “I don’t think those two are going to be enough to keep Cell 13 in check.”

“No!!!” Kay and Momoko screamed at the same time. Luckily, Hajime didn’t hear it, so I responded with, “Oh…pity, I would’ve liked us to spend some more time together.”

“Well, maybe when things get less hectic, we can. For now, though, best to keep our relationship professional. Until next time, Warden!” With that, Hajime soluted and went back to his post.

“Why didn’t you keep him here longer?!” Momoko said as she walked over to me. Kay and Hitokoe followed close behind. “You were having such a good time, and Hajime was just starting to like me as a person!!”

“Actually, I’d say tonight was a success,” I responded with a smile on my face.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, from what you’ve told me, he’s been more relaxed tonight than he’s ever been around you. Plus, did you hear him at the end?”

“Oh, yeah!” Kay said, now smiling wide. “That’s definitely a sign of success!!”

“Gotta say, it’s quite a remarkable show you put on to get him to say that,” Hitokoe remarked.

“What are you talking about?” Momoko asked.

I leaned down and said, “He said he’d like to spend more time with you…in a non-professional level. They may not have been the exact words, but it is what he meant.”

Momoko suddenly got a large blush on her face and stammered, “He…he did…you mean he…he might be in love with me…”

“Ooh, steady, girl; don’t wanna give the girl a burn. Her face is so pale, a blush like that would leave a permanent tan,” Hitokoe said, earning him a punch from Momoko which left him sprawled on the floor.

“So, did you enjoy yourself, Kuro?” Konan asked, causing me to sit back down in the chair. “Actually, more than I thought I would.”

“Great!” Kay said as she ran up to me. “Because I have a whole lot of other ideas for parties!”

“Parties?”

“Yeah; I’m going into party planning because I love seeing friends getting along with each other. Would you be able to help me out with testing out the services I plan to provide?”

“Don’t you think your services would only cater to one specific taste if you did that?” Konan asked.

“I know, Konan; that’s why I’m asking all my friends! Noble, Draco, all of them!”

“I wish you luck in your future endeavors, Kay, but could I have my body back now?” Momoko asked.

“Oh, um…”

“What’s with the um?” Momoko and I asked at the same time.

With a sheepish smile, Kay responded, “Did I forget to mention that the swap lasts for 12 hours?”

“WHAT?!?!?!” Momoko yelled.

Kay immediately got to her knees and begged, “Please forgive me; I don’t know any other methods of swapping that would take a shorter time. If I did what I normally do, you wouldn’t be able to go back to normal for at least a month.”

Momoko sighed and asked, “Well, this is just perfect; what are we supposed to do in the meantime?”

Looking at the empty plate, I said, “I could go for some more food. It really was delicious.”