Year of Swaps, 2015: August at the beach

“Come and get it!” I shouted as I prepared another plate of hot dogs next to the grill. I then prepared a plate of steaks to grill.

August has always been the best month for barbecue in my opinion. To me, it feels like an end-of-summer treat; a little something to help make the transition to the chilly and often busy autumn easier.

Because of that, it didn’t matter that I was stuck in the body of Tsukiumi, a woman with the ability to manipulate water in battle; much like Juvia, except Tsukiumi can’t turn into water. I was just happy to be here celebrating the end of summer, especially with my friends around.

“Hi, hi, everyone!” Kay announced as she approached the beach we had rented out for the barbecue. I noticed she had swapped bodies with Konan again, and was dressed in a red two-piece swimsuit that covered more of her body than the other bikinis the girls wore. There was a white cross on the top of her swimsuit that signified that it was a lifeguard’s uniform. “I hope everyone has a good time today, but be safe!”

“I must admit, you’re taking your role as lifeguard seriously,” Konan said as she approached in Kay’s body and a yellow and orange striped bikini.

“Of course I am! Several people depend on me keeping a cool head, so I’m not about to let the fact that all my friends are here get in the way of keeping them safe and healthy.”

“I’m proud of you, Kay,” Konan replied with a smile.

“Anyway, how’s the food, Mr. Kuro?”

“Well, I’ve got hot dogs ready. Steaks should be ready in about ten or twenty minutes.” I then turned to Karas and said, “Thanks for helping out, Karas.”

“No prob!” Karas said as he prepared a picnic table with snacks and drinks. “What fun is a barbecue if only one person does all the work? Speaking of, Draco said he’d be here in a few with plates and silverware.”

“This is turning out to be so much fun!” Kay said as she began to take a hot dog from the plate. “I wish we could end every summer like this!”

"You can say that again," Karas said. "I feel like I haven't seen you guys all summer. Maybe we should find some other ways to hang out in the last few months of the year."

“It’d be a fun experience, I’ll agree,” Juvia said as she approached, getting a little too close for comfort; her breasts touching my arm.

I have to admit, I did find Juvia’s behavior a little…odd this month. She didn’t really seem like herself. She was still interested in hanging out, and she didn’t seem too different from usual. However, she was constantly getting a little too close to me whenever we went out. One time, she arranged for just the two of us to have a picnic together. It was too much like a date for my liking.

“Sorry we’re late!” Draco shouted as he approached and set down the paper plates and plastic silverware. He seemed okay, but his companion threw me for a loop. She looked so similar to two different people that it was eery. Long reddish-brown hair, a blue bikini top with a lighter blue piece of fabric over where the cleavage would be shown and jean shorts had me thinking of both Cana Alberona and Flannery, two of Draco’s closest friends.

“Hey, Draco, who’s your new friend?” Kay asked.

“Um, how do I put this…” Draco said, nervous about something.

“Just tell them the truth,” the girl said. “My name is Cannaire, and you probably know me better as Cana and Flannery.”

“How’d you become fused together?” Noble asked, having come from a swim in the ocean.

“I was putting together a science project, and a power outage caused these two to fuse together,” Draco admitted, feeling ashamed of his screw-up.

“I’m never gonna understand all this science talk concerning body swapping and fusions,” Karas commented. "I'd much rather chalk it all up to coincidence."

“You can say that again,” Kay said. “Obviously, jutsu and magic are the only ways to effectively body swap. Right Mr. Kuro?”

“Yeah, whatever you say…” I said. I was paying less and less attention as I noticed Juvia walking toward a forested area of the beach, following a man with a white hood.

“Yo, Kuro, you okay?” Noble asked, starting to wave his hand in my face.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Hey, Noble, you mind taking over the grill for me? I’ve gotta check on something.”

"Wait! How long have they..."

"Just watch them for like five minutes, then put them on the plates and add the sauce. I'm counting on you!" Without even waiting for a response, I handed my apron over to Noble and ran off to see what Juvia was up to.

After following them for a while, I finally hid behind a tree as the man in the hood turned to Juvia and said, “Okay, come on. You’ve wasted enough time.”

“Please, just a little more!” Juvia pleaded. As she pleaded, I noticed she took on a somewhat different tone. It wasn’t too big, but I was still able to notice.

“This isn’t up for debate. You’ve held onto that girl for three weeks. It’s time to let her go.”

“You’re not talking about me, are you?” I asked, finally deciding to confront the two.

Juvia turned around with a shamed look on her face. “Brian, I…I’m sorry.”

“What’s going on, Juvia?”

The hooded man turned to Juvia and said, “Well, at least you’re still professional with your infiltration.”

“Infiltration? You mean…”

“That’s right; I’m not Juvia Lockser,” Juvia responded. “This is still her body, but she isn’t aware of anything that going on right now. My name’s Robert, and I serve as first mate of a pirate crew led by this man, Ruben.”

“O…kay. So, what are you doing possessing Juvia?”

Robert seemed to shift in place as he said, “Well, the th….thing is…um…”

“What he’s trying to say is he’s in love with you, so wanted to spend as much time with you as possible,” Ruben said, causing a blush to appear on both my and Robert’s faces.

“What?” I asked, unable to think of anything to say.

“No, no! Not with you, but with the person whose body you’re possessing at the moment!” Robert clarified.

“Then why spend all your time with me? You do know Tsukiumi’s possessing my old body for the month.”

“I know, but I…I don’t know…I guess I wanted some practice against you before I moved on to approaching the girl herself.”

“Well, you could’ve approached her when she was in my body. I know it’s a little off-putting when she uses language like “thou,” “thy,” and “thou lump of foul deformity,” but she’s really not a bad person.”

“Well, I might just have to do that in the future. But for now, it looks like duty calls.”

“That’s right, so let’s get moving,” Ruben said, using his right hand to reach into Juvia’s back and pull out the man possessing her. I quickly caught her before she hit the forest floor. Ruben turned to me and said, “You’d better not reveal what you have seen, or you can be sure we’ll be back to make sure you don’t talk. Understand?”

“Crystal clear, captain,” I told him.

Without another word, Ruben and Robert walked toward the other side of the forest. In the meantime, Juvia rubbed her head as she regained consciousness. “Wha…what happened? How’d I end up in a bikini in the middle of a forest?”

“I’ll tell you later,” I said. “For now, let’s join the others. A barbecue lunch is waiting for us.”

(With Robert and Ruben)

Ruben and Robert rowed their dinghy back to Ruben’s ship as he asked, “So what was the deal with that girl? Is her original body attractive at all?”

“Actually, that was a guy. He’s been body-swapping for nearly two years now.”

Sporting a mischievous grin, Ruben said, “Really? Please, tell me more.”