Something within Kayla's mind whispers to her in her own voice that the Dictaphone is hers, now. It would be so easy to keep it for herself... "Rika and Mizuru no longer..." she starts when she stops, and slaps herself. "W-what am I saying? They trusted me enough to share this, and I've already strained that trust just doing this much!" she says to herself and quickly hands the black and silver device back over to Rika. "God, this thing practically wants a new master!"
"...Wha?" Mizuru asks, confused. "Are you trying to say we're unworthy of having it?"
"No, just... I think this thing is kinda like the One Ring from The Lord of the Rings. It'll tempt the hell out of someone to keep it. Can we agree that we keep this away from Barnes? Last thing we want is some giant chimerical version of her lording over everyone in the world because she can..." Kayla answers.
"Really? I mean, I suspected this kind of power would find its way into other people's hands sooner or later, but to think it would be that tempting..." Rika says. "And agreed on the keep away from Barnes thing."
Before the girls can get into it too much further, the bell rings signalling the end of lunch. Considering the (now to Rika and Mizuru's eyes) shark anthro Kayla knows of the Dictaphone and what it can do, Rika makes her the third person to be able to notice changes made by it from now on. Perhaps they can do something with it together if they can resist the temptations it may bring to any one of them, though it by no means excludes some otherwise crazy stuff.
Kayla takes a moment to go over her memories corresponding to her changes, especially regarding her current schedule. She has swimming practice later today, which she's greatly looking forward to, but it seems she's heard some... unsavory rumors being spread about her and Mizuru. "Are we really that much of a threat to her? Or is she just that mean?" she mutters to herself on the way to class, guessing Vanessa is behind this. It's no secret that she marginalizes anyone else that could possibly become popular, if not outright demonizing them to make herself look better.
Disturbingly for Kayla, several students seem to go out of their way to avoid her. Sure, she's a little taller than Vanessa now and partly a great white shark, but wouldn't her fellow students be used to her being like this? She's also pretty sure she wouldn't behave any differently than as a human, so perhaps it might have something to do with a new rumor being spread she hasn't heard yet. Right now though is art class, and Ms. Carleton has other things for her to focus on instead.
In their own class, Rika and Mizuru are also noticing some rumors floating around. A few whispers about Mizuru and Kayla being the result of horrific genetic manipulation, a couple murmurs of them being part of something that should be rightfully wiped from the gene pool, ridiculous stuff like that. Rika is strongly tempted to use the Dictaphone to quash these false stories, but holds back at her friend's insistence. "Let's hear out all these claims first, then do something about them." Mizuru suggests during biology class.
Still, Rika has it in her head to give Vanessa some unexpected competition for her precious title she can't so easily besmirch with lies and misinformation. The Japanese girl isn't sure where it came from, but it's refusing to leave her alone until she does it. "Can I go to the bathroom?" she asks the teacher, who nods. Rika leaves and heads for the nearest girls bathroom, locking herself within a stall. Certain of her privacy, she records, "Wendy Barnes, Brooke Ryder, and Tamara Jenkins are 16 years old and match the description of them in my mind currently. Mizuru and Kayla don't notice this change. This change is permanent, and this recording shall be cleared once the change occurs."
A few minutes after invoking the change, Rika returns to class, no one the wiser about the presence of a 6'1" 16 year old Tamara in class. New memories flood in to her mind as she sits down beside Mizuru again. Vanessa doesn't have the iron grasp over the school in this reality that she did before because Wendy offers a choice between the two, and is mostly immune to her sister's tactics to crush the competition. Her friends both being taller than Vanessa certainly helps. This has done little about the rumors regarding the anthropomorphic bat and shark in school, however.
Rika, Mizuru, and Kayla are reunited in PE, and are joined by Brooke and Wendy in addition to Tamara. Interestingly, they're the only ones willing to change together in the change room. "Hey, have you girls heard the latest load of crap Vanessa's spouting about you? She's claiming you two are literally inhuman!" Brooke says casually while topless, in the middle of switching bras.
"...Okay... Not sure I follow..." Mizuru admits, also changing tops.
"She's spreading the rumor that you're psychopathic monsters merely biding your time." Wendy answers.
"W-what? But that's not true at all!" Kayla voices, a little scared of the rumor.
"Like Brooke said, it's a load of crap. It's rare that my sister's rumors hold so much as a grain of truth to them."
"Still, this one's harder to defend against, I mean everyone would expect a psychopath to want to lie and deny it when confronted. Who's going to admit they're a monster?" Tamara remarks, having finished changing.
Rika sees the point, and figures to come up with a change to stomp this nasty rumor out... after class. Using the Dictaphone in front of Brooke, Tamara, and Wendy might be a bit risky, especially as she'd rather not explain it to them. At least they don't share this class with Vanessa... She finishes changing and puts her belongings including a hopefully well enough hidden Dictaphone inside a locker before they leave the change room for the gym.
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