Doma Residence, basement.
"Did the results come in?"
"So it really wasn't a body swap..." Sogo Doma murmured as he looked at the data Shaqiang had sent to his phone.
"Not a body swap?" Yukinoshita Haruno froze. "Then what was it?"
"Um..." Sogo Doma nodded. "Judging from Mai-san's physical examination results—meaning Nodoka Toyohama's body as it is now—the current Nodoka Toyohama is the original Mai-san. Their DNA structures haven't changed; only their appearances have. The same goes for Utaha and Yukinoshita."
"Could you put that more simply?" Yukinoshita Haruno suddenly felt that she really hadn't studied enough.
"In other words, they didn't swap bodies. Their appearances just turned into someone else's..." At that, Sogo Doma sighed. "What a shame."
"A shame?"
"Yeah~!" Sogo Doma nodded again. "If it wasn't a consciousness transfer, that meant the degree of cellular aging was still the same as before. They'll live however many years they were supposed to live—they can't achieve immortality..."
"..." Yukinoshita Haruno understood, but still broke out in a cold sweat. "Could you stop constantly thinking about the Doma Family's research?"
"Fine, then just take it as some ethical issue that can no longer be realized..."
"An ethical issue?"
"Mm..." Sogo Doma nodded. "If a daughter and wife swapped souls, then who would the master of the house's wife be? The soul, or the body? That's a question!"
"..." Yukinoshita Haruno's eye twitched. "I'm suddenly thinking the Doma Family never should have researched consciousness transfer!"
"Heh heh..." Sogo Doma merely sneered. "If it had been a simple consciousness transfer, then with my research, I might have been able to restore their consciousnesses without even treating the illness. But now..."
"Huh?"
"The problem now is that their bodies are still their original bodies—they've merely changed appearance. Even if consciousness-transfer research succeeded, we