A harmonious bell chimed through the school's walls.
Suzuka blinked her heavy eyelids open and raised her head from her arms. Classmates chatted around her and walked out of the classroom.
Sleep had waged war on her all morning, and in the end, her body waved the white flag. But why? The previous night was rough, sure, but she had never felt so drained.
"Kōji."
A blonde girl that Suzuka didn't recognize called out a name that meant nothing to her—stranger still, she did it while staring right at her.
"Did my beauty petrify you?" the girl smirked, hands on her hips.
Suzuka raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"
"Don't 'huh' me. This magnificence is all thanks to Rem, as always."
The dark-haired girl sitting in front of Suzuka giggled. She lowered her head to type on her phone.
"Getting more clients?" the blonde girl asked her.
She nodded. "Thanks to you."
"Don't be so modest, the makeup is your doing." She glared at Suzuka's bangs and fixed them while scolding her. "Get up already. I can't believe you forgot your ID and then fell asleep on the first day back. You're lucky it was Ms. Nishime's class."
A jolt of realization sparked through Suzuka. She hadn't dozed off in Ms. Nishime's class. The classroom looked the same—familiar desks, that fruity scent—but the sunlight hit her face wrong. She used to sit by the door. And the trees outside… had they always looked like that?
She lowered her head to see dark blue trousers instead of a skirt. A golden tie hung on her chest instead of the female uniform's bow.
She pressed her hands to her chest.
Flat.
She jumped up from the chair, pushing it against the desk behind it. Even a shoulder bag replaced her backpack.
What on earth was happening? Was it some bizarre nightmare? Had she accidentally eaten expired food that sent her tripping? She patted her arms and her flat chest—they felt all too real.
"You good?" The blonde girl raised a brow. "You're acting weird."
Suzuka tried to catch her breath, but a familiar voice interrupted her.
"Kōji."
The girl who called her stood at the door—deep voice, dark-haired, and tall. She was Suzuka. Suzuka was seeing herself.
"Do you have a minute?" The fake Suzuka's smile trembled.
She couldn't be mistaken—she was staring at herself, right down to the unsettling smirk she never realized she wore.
The girls beside her widened their eyes. They stared at her before she walked toward the door. As soon as she reached it, the fake Suzuka grasped her wrist and pulled her away.
They rushed down the stairs and through the corridor under everyone's gaze. The fake Suzuka moved her head in all directions until stepping into the laboratory. She pulled her deeper into the room, away from the glass door, before letting go of her wrist.
The fake Suzuka turned around. Suzuka had to raise her head to look her in the eye, something she hadn't needed to do in a while.
"Who are you?! Why are you me?! What did you do to my body?!" the fake Suzuka questioned.
"I am you? You're me!"
Suzuka shivered at the sound of her own voice—clearer, higher, and definitely not hers. No amount of throat-clearing could bring her old voice back.
"If I am you, that means you're Kōji. How is that possible?"
"As if I knew! Do you know how weird it was waking up with…," he glanced down, "…this?"
"Yes, yes I do."
He opened his mouth, but no words came out. After a prolonged pause, he looked away.
"You have no idea what's going on either, then." He scratched his arm. "I'm sorry for yelling at you. Name's Kurei. Nice to meet you."
Suzuka, baffled by his sudden grin, gave a polite bow.
"Araki, class 3-C."
"I supposed that when I…. Wait, Araki? You're the rich girl from Ōshitsu?!"
"Does that matter now? I'd like to get my body back."
"Right. How about…?" Out of nowhere, he bowed at the level of his waist. "Please give me back my body!"
"Asking for it won't work!"
He stopped bowing. "Who knows? At least we should try."
Suzuka's thoughts fizzled out. Nothing about the situation made sense, and expecting a normal solution felt pointless—she couldn't think of any.
The two stood in silence, Kōji's hands on his hips and Suzuka's arms crossed. The weight of a gaze from outside the door further hindered her thoughts.
"Let's recall what we've done today so far," she said.
"Good idea." He hummed in thought. "I didn't do anything special after waking up. Well, maybe I stayed in bed a bit longer than I should've and had to hurry to get ready. And maybe I forgot to pack my ID because of that, and had to rush all the way back home to get it. I even bumped into…. Nothing!"
His cheeks flushed at once—in Suzuka's body.
She sighed at the realization. "Have you seen your face?"
"You mean your body's face? I haven't."
She slid her hands into her trousers' pockets but found nothing more than money and a card.
"You're not carrying your… I mean, my phone, are you?"
He patted his cherry-red blazer and dark-blue skirt. "Doesn't seem like it. I dashed out of the classroom 'cause I had to use the…"
His eyes connected with hers.
"Nothing, I said nothing!" he claimed, shaking his hands in front of him.
She squinted at him, but before she could say anything, the reflection on the cabinets' glass called her attention. She approached one and stood on tiptoe to see the faint reflection of her face: red hair with bangs, green eyes, and slightly puffed cheeks. She saw a guy imitating her frown and head tilt to a tee.
"What are you doing?" Kōji questioned.
"Come and see."
She moved aside for him to stand in front of the glass. He slowly walked to it. As soon as Suzuka's face's reflection appeared, his jaw dropped and his cheeks burned. He snapped his head away and covered his face with his trembling hands, muffling his scream.
"Are you serious?!"
He opened his fingers just enough for his eyes to meet hers, though not for long.
She found herself mesmerized by her own face's expressions, unsure how to respond. Was that really how others saw her? She hated how it made her cheeks warmer, yet she couldn't tear her eyes away.
She shook her head. "I'll recall what happened in the morning."
"What? Why?!"
…
Suzuka—controlling her own body—strolled past the fountain at the entrance along with dozens of students. Fifteen minutes remained for the opening ceremony in the morning. Although she didn't plan to arrive so early, she couldn't afford to arrive late after all the sacrifices she'd made.
She couldn't help but slow down to admire the three-story building in front of her: her new education institute for the next year. It took years to achieve, though she did so at the cost of…
BAM!
Someone crashed into her from the front, throwing her to the ground. With nothing but the cold pavement to cushion the fall, the hit knocked the oxygen out of her lungs. Her backpack stabbed her spine, though that spared her from hitting her head.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she tried to steady her breath; the world around her spun for a brief second. A redhead guy with emerald eyes lay above her. She didn't understand the flushing of his face until she felt something pressing her chest. She looked further down and saw his right hand resting on it.
The guy jumped off her and stuttered.
"I-I'm very sorry, I wasn't seeing w-where I was going!"
His fingers fumbled gathering the stuff that had fallen out of his shoulder bag, dropping some of it again. His cheeks flushed a brighter shade of red. His gaze stayed low, avoiding her eyes.
"Are you okay?" he worried.
"I am. Let me help you."
"There's no need! It was my fault. I'm done already anyway."
He stood up and put on his bag. Still not looking at her, he extended his hand out to her. She grabbed it, and he pulled her up.
"I have to run. Sorry again!"
She stared at him as he sprinted off in the opposite direction from the building, limping slightly on his left leg.
…
Back in the laboratory, Kōji—controlling Suzuka's body—covered his face with his hands again.
"Was it really necessary to say all of it out loud?"
"In case I missed something. Why are you blushing so much? It was an accident, even if you enjoyed—"
He snapped his hands away.
"That's not the point! What about everyone else who saw us?"
"They don't care."
"They stared at us the whole time! They're gonna think I'm a pervert and ruin my reputation. It's only the first day back and the year's doomed already…"
"I'll deny whatever rumors they spread."
"They won't believe you."
Her brows lowered.
He sighed and smiled. "Sorry. Thanks for the help, I'll leave that for later. Any ideas after recalling everything? I don't think you missed anything."
His words sounded genuine, yet Suzuka couldn't understand his reactions even though she was seeing her own body.
"I can only think of replicating the incident," she answered.
"No way. I'm not gonna touch…. Yeah."
"You're controlling my body. Technically, I'd be touching my own boob. Morals won't be an issue."
"But it's my boob now! Wow, that sounded weird. That's not the only problem. My friends are definitely spying on us from outside," he murmured.
They must've been the silhouettes Suzuka saw through the glass door earlier.
She added, "If it might fix this, I'd deal with the discomfort. But it's true that the fall was quite painful and made my uniform dirty, so I'd rather avoid that."
After a short staredown, Kōji closed his eyes and sighed.
"No, you're right, we should at least try. Maybe we can start with less strength. Try pushing me by my shoulders."
"Are you okay with that?"
"Go ahead."
Suzuka lifted her hands, targeting his broad shoulders. She'd seen her reflection a thousand times, yet never realized her resting face looked so… bitchy.
She shoved him with enough force to send him several steps back.
He rocked on his heels but didn't budge.
"That was way weaker than when I bumped into you," he said.
She looked down at her hands, clenching them into fists.
"I didn't plan it to be."
"Do it harder. The closer to what happened, the better. I hope."
Suzuka looked back at him. She raised her hands again and pushed him with all the strength she had. He stumbled back a couple of steps, yet it still wasn't what she expected.
"Hopefully that's enough," he said. "Who knows how long we'll have to wait, so let's leave for now; we can't be here out of class."
Suzuka sighed. "Anyone would think we're crazy if we told them."
"Including my friends." He began scratching his arm over the sleeve of his blazer. "How am I gonna explain something this ridiculous?"
"You don't think they'd believe you?"
The scratching intensified…
…and stopped abruptly.
"Let's see if we get our bodies back by the end of the day. Just follow my lead for now."
He said that and headed to the door.