Author's Notes

This takes place in the same year the gang went and returned from the Digital World. The English dub states that Takuya, Zoe, Koji and Koichi are in sixth grade, they are towards the end of their elementary school era. Teruo and Koichi went to the same elementary school, and became quite good friends after their initial meeting in the digital world in which nothing much happened, followed by them recognizing each other in the real world. They don't share classes together though. Takuya and Koji also go to the same school for this fic, but they have some classes, like history, together.

A bit choppy, but it works way better this way...I think so anyway. Enjoy, and tell me what you think.

The Twin Switch

They've traded places for the day. Only, they've picked the wrong day to do it.

Kouichi K/Koichi & Kouji M/Koji

'Are you sure about this?' Koichi asked, playing with the grown out strands of hair. 'Your hair's going to be stuck like that until it grows out.'

He snapped the scissors in the air for emphasis as he peered at his brother's reflection.

'It was the last time,' Koji said in reply, referring to the prelude to high-school regulation that had succeeded in forcing a shear to his trademark ponytail and consequently making the twins hairstyles barely distinguishable from one another...until the elder had point black refused to grow his out any more than it already was.

'Colour?' the elder twin persisted, combing through the other's hair gently before grabbing a bunch and carefully snipping away.

'Dye,' the younger said in a matter-of-fact voice.

'You've seen dye my hair colour?'

'Well...no, but I think if you mix blue and black strands, you should get the right combination. I mean, your hair does look part black, part blue.'

'I suppose it's a good thing Mum's not home today. That's going to take awhile.'

'Is that hair colour even natural?' Koji shifted slightly to look at his brother's reflection, only to be scolded by the said brother, still snipping away.

'Yes it is,' he confirmed. 'I'm not the one who uses conditioner. And if you don't believe me, just look at Mum. Same colour.'

'True.'

The two continued in a comfortable silence until the elder put down the scissors with a triumphant 'done.'

'Is there anything we've forgotten?' Koji wondered, untying the sheet around his neck as the other fetched the broom to sweep up the stray hairs.

'Don't think so. You remember everything right?'

'No, but you wrote it down for me, so I'm set.' To be honest, the elder had just talked too fast. He tended to do that when he had a lot to say. And when he was nervous.

'School?'

'Know the way, and know the people you know, seeing as there aren't too many.'

'True. You know way more.'

'Just stick to Takuya if you forget. He'll yell out the names when they're a mile away.'

'Okay.'

'The teachers on the other hand...'

'That's okay. I remember them.'

'And if anyone bugs you too bad, punch them. Otherwise just ignore them.'

'Do you want me to get you a detention?'

'That's true. But between 'me' and Takuya, you'll probably get roped in anyway.'

'Just my luck,' the elder twin commented dryly. 'Remember to read my literature essay before handing it in.'

'Why?' Koji asked curiously.

'Just in case the teacher asks you to read it out loud.'

'It better be readable.'

'What else would it be?'

Koichi vanished for a moment to dispose of the cut hairs and then returned with the other's book bag.

'Have you ever dyed your hair before?'

'Uh...no. It sounds simple though.

'I'll just start with dinner then.'

'You've forgotten your own hair. I've got black dye too.'

The twins were successfully impersonating each other and had gone off to their respective houses (after a brief alteration of expressions and tones in which Koji seemed to struggle more with than his apparently more easy-going twin) by the time their birthmother arrived at her apartment and found Koji sleeping in her other son's place. Perhaps it was motherly instincts, or perhaps it was the masks that fell in deep slumber, but it was quite apparent to her which twin was which, even if they both were dancing around in blurs of polka dots (she couldn't help but laugh at the mental image it produced).

And it didn't take a genius to figure out what the plane was. So she left the younger twin be, making a mental note to be home in time to make dinner (as she had a hunch he had inherited that trait from his father) and wandering off to call and check on the boy she raised.

Of course, she played along with the childrens' game, so it was about Koji she inquired when Satomi picked up the phone.

Koichi yawned slightly before stirring as the first rays of dawn flittered through the barely opened shutters. For a blurry moment, he wondered where the shutters had come from, before memory kicked in, along with a kind mental reminder that his brother, unlike him, was not a migrative sleeper and thus did not get the sheets tangled, nor himself in them. In fact, he could spend the night in his own bed and it would look exactly the same the next morning, save the obvious missing presence of a human between the sheets. It just so happened that his bed-making abilities did nothing for a bed that was already relatively neat.

He'd fixed up the bed (neater since he normally messed it up more), before pulling up a mental image of what his brother's handiwork 'should' have looked like.

He had just completed the finishing touches on the bed when his father rapped on the door. 'Koji, time to get up. And don't spend too long in front of the mirror.'

Koichi had to stifle a laugh at his brother's fascination with his hair, even when it was short. He only spent four minutes in the shower tops, and he'd be in front of the mirror for at least half an hour.

Rummaging in the closet for a clean shirt, he wondered how "Koichi" was doing that morning.

Koji was, in fact, getting ready for school, and for the first time, not being shoved out the door by his father or dog. Tomoko had already left for work, leaving breakfast and a brief note.

Koichi's school happened to be a bit further than his own from their respective houses, and he noted with some amusement that his biological clock had not noted the change, which meant he'd have to run...which the real Koichi had done on several occasions when having slept in or doubled back for an assignment he had forgotten or the likes.

He grabbed "his" stuff, locked up, and raced off to school. But it was only after he reached the water fountain and one of his brother's very few friends within school grounds, he noted wryly he had also forgotten to pack lunch.

Less than an hour, and he was already impersonating Koichi to a "T". So far.

'One of these days, you are going to wind up being late,' Teruo laughed.

'I hope not,' Koji responded automatically, envisioning the strict teacher that took his brother's homeroom. Luckily, he hadn't earned the said brother a detention for his tardiness.

The bell rang on cue, and the two separated with a wave to their respective homerooms, Koji counting his lucky stars he hadn't been asked about some random book along the way. Koichi had given him a rundown along with the warning, but the world of Japanese novels was too big to be contained in a few minutes.

How those two managed to do it, he would never understand. He had nothing against a good book, but give him a game controller over that any day.

'Hey, Koichi!'

Koichi almost jumped out of his skin at the sudden and unexpected greeting, but managing to restrain himself for a single reason: he was "Koji", and Koji was more likely to retaliate with a jab than an impersonation of a scared rabbit (although it was reversed should someone wake them prematurely)...although, since it was Takuya doing the shouting, he would presumably be used to it by now.

Although...how did Takuya manage to see through him that fast? Oh yeah...the haircut.

'Don't you have school today?' he asked curiously, oblivious to Koichi's internal panic.

Outwardly, he rolled his eyes in his best "Koji" imitation. 'Try wearing those goggles once in a while,' he muttered, marching a head and hoping the bluff worked.

A pause, then: 'You cut your hair Koji?'

A silent sigh of relief. 'Obviously.'

The brunette jogged up to his fast pace, then matched him step for step with a slight skip at intervals. 'Ready for the entrance exams?'

He twitched slightly, remembering Koji hated those sorts of tests with a passion, where questions from random areas of study were drawn into a single paper. He himself rather enjoyed them though, so he was going to need to be extra careful to not slip up.

It was harder to be Koji than he expected.

'Wandering up to cloud nine?' Takuya's amused voice reached his ears.

'Hardly,' he snorted automatically. 'That's your job.'

...okay, maybe not so hard. It still felt rather awkward though.

That made him wonder how his brother was holding up in his shoes.

'No comment about my being on time for once?

Well, how was he supposed to reply to that without getting into an extremely awkward position? Hopefully, it wouldn't be too out of character for "Koji" to ignore the comment.

The first half of school passed without a hitch...relatively. The only problem had been science; the teacher had unexpectedly sprung a test on them, and it was only when Koji, who rather enjoyed science, had submitted the test in his brother's name with full confidence of a good grade, that he remembered that his brother did not by any means like the subject and purposely downplayed his intelligence when it came to any sort of assessment. When questioned by those not related to his school community as to the reasons for doing as such (as he obviously knew the material), sometimes commenting to the appearance of his grades manuscript with a low mark littering an otherwise perfect report, he pointed out calmly that it looked more normal than the alternative. The school community however believed that science was Koichi's weak point, although they did tend to comment that the boy failed to act to his full potential. Point was, he hadn't done the test in accordance with that.

Luckily though, the tests weren't marked straight away, which left him enough time to explain the twin switch to the science teacher. After all, it was against regulations to receive grades of assessment from another's work. Technically speaking, it was against regulations to actually do the test in someone else's name, but that could be easily rectified. Of course, the result had been a "detention" for the elder twin to make up for the test the next day, so he, Koji that is, wasn't entirely sure how his brother would feel about that. Likely though, for the same reasons regarding the subject itself, he wouldn't mind the black mark. And after having spent the day in his brother's shoes, he understood more as to why.

Though a pre-warning would have been nice, he thought to himself, digging through the backpack for his lunch...before remembering he hadn't packed anything.

'Skipping lunch again?' That was Teruo, who had joined him some time after fifth period and one of the few people within the school that Koichi was on normal speaking terms with. And he called him a loner; he interacted with far more people on a daily basis than his quieter and more sensitive twin. 'Or forgot.'

'Forgot,' the other mumbled, remembering to keep it out of what Takuya called' grumbly-annoyed' waters.

Walking home was...interesting, to say the least, if only because he wasn't used to the constant company. Takuya was chatting nonstop about something or other; he had lost the conversation topic a few minutes in. School had been interesting too; it was remarkable to him how many different people his brother interacted with on a daily basis without breaking the boundary into 'friend. He knew his brother to be a little socially awkward, but it seemed to only apply in small groups when there was nothing to dilute experience; the Digital World was high up on that list. And he noted with some amusement that the bigger, scarier guys had run like chickens the second they spotted him.

Which reminded him-he face palmed his head and hoped his brother hadn't run to his school's version.

Luckily, Takuya hadn't noticed the un-Koji-like behaviour.

'Hey,' the brunette said suddenly, jiggling the soccer ball he held. 'Want to play?'

'No,' he replied, remembering "Koji" detested soccer. Which was a shame really; he liked it.

'We ought to call Koichi and get him to play,' he continued. 'Zoe probably won't play either, but JP and Tommy...'

'Train pass,' was all it took to stop the blubber.

'And Tommy's hanging out with Katsuharu and Teppei,' Takuya sighed. 'A one-on-one isn't going to be nearly as much fun.'

By then, they had reached the point of divergence, so he just flicked a wrist in farewell and headed down one road, leaving the other to holler his own farewell and follow another.

Once out of sight, he flexed his wrist. That had felt extremely weird.

The good part though was that he was learning a lot more about his brother, including some cute embarrassing facts that the other had not mentioned due to their very embarrassing nature. Like his reputation amongst the female population.

Of course, that meant his brother would be learning more about him as well.

If he had learnt one thing by the end of the day, it was outliers always suffered some sort of exclusion. What sort usually depended on the environment, but he felt that he had come a long way in understanding his brother's mentality. That effort it took to fit in a little more, though for a most part, it was still an entirely awkward situation. There were a couple of people in which there was a mutual sense of artistic intelligence (Teruo was one), but having only one or two people with whom you felt comfortable with was something he had not expected from his easy going brother. The school Koichi simply did not match with the post-Digital World one. He could even go so far as to suggest that it was the pre-Digital World Koichi at school, again except in the presence of a few select people.

He realised then how little he knew about his brother. His, Koichi's, teachers had asked him three or four times if he was feeling okay, and even "his" friends (though he hesitated slightly in using the term as apart from the meeting in the Digital World that had led to the friendship with Teruo, the other relationships seemed purely academic related) had commented. When he had unwisely grumbled in Teruo's presence, he pointed out that the others weren't used to the "other" side of "him".

He wondered briefly why, before remembering how his brother was in crowds and attributed the paradox simply to his split between being uncomfortable in the horde and simultaneously fearing exclusion thereof, resulting in him being stuck somewhere in the middle. It also explained the 'thank you for being my friends' comment; another unconscious similarity that had presented itself in two different ways. Although he preferred the more expressive; easier to work with, easier to remedy. After all, that situation only takes someone knocking down the first domino, and things fall into motion from there. As far as his school was concerned, that person was Takuya, although the real truth was a tad more involved .His brother's situation involved far more picking of individual threads and the current term (which had commenced only two weeks prior) was the last of their elementary school life. It was probably more worth simply concentrating on the entrance exam and starting of with a new slate in junior high school.

But that was over, and now he sat on the kitchen table, sorting through his things as opposed to his brother's to make sure something didn't get mixed up in the swapping over (family get-together night, a school one only because it was the one day in a long time that all three parents didn't have late and/or conflicting hours). Extracting the list from a history book, he looked at the after-school section, and inwardly chucked at the second item. 'Wait for Koji to call.'

The humour changed to commercial horror as ne noted the next item. Didn't Koichi know he couldn't cook an edible meal no matter who's life depended on it? Or start the preparation?

Luckily, Tomoko made it home soonafter and spared him from that chore.

The phone call actually came later than usual, but they had agreed on the time. And the conversation was short and sweet; they were meeting in person in a couple of hours in any case.

The five arranged themselves comfortably in the Kimura's living room, twins together on the floor while the married couple took the love seat. Tomoko took the last remaining seat, the rocking chair that had once belonged to her own mother.

Both wins were silent, suddenly awkward as to how they were going to reveal the fact that they had swapped places for the day. In the end, Koji, impersonating his brother still, grabbed said brother's wrist and dragged him into the elder twin's bedroom.

Five minutes later, they emerged, back to their right identities. Except for one minor detail.

'You forgot the hair colours,' Tomoko laughed, starting both sons. 'So, how'd it go?'

They stared at her in shock, then at each other.

'H-how'd you realise?' Koichi stuttered finally.

The single woman laughed again. 'You can't fool your mother honey.'

Kousei, suffice to say, was rather dumbfounded, staring between the son he raised and his other one. 'You...and him-'

They nodded in sync.

'I'm a horrible father,' the man groaned, prompting his current wife to drape an arm over his shoulders.

'It was probably just mother's instinct,' Satomi comforted.

'Or the fact that they can't pretend to be each other when they're asleep,' Tomoko continued.

'True,' he noted. 'Koji normally locks his door.'

'Koichi doesn't have a lock on his door.'

'Oh,' Koji exclaimed suddenly. 'Before I forget, I got you a detention.'

All four occupants stared at him.

'Me?' Koichi asked, pointing at himself.

'Yeah, to make up the science test today.'

He stared a moment, blinked, then groaned. 'I take it you explained then?'

'Well...I kinda had to. You would have gotten into a lot of trouble otherwise.'

'True.'

'Next time, pick a day where there is no danger of assessments of any sort,' Tomoko said.

'Yes Mum,' the two replied in unison.

'And wash that dye out of your hairs. Koichi, show your brother where the bathhouse is.'

'Now?'

'Unless you want further mixups at school, yes. Now.'

'Is this going to be a regular occurrence?' the twins' father asked, as the boys themselves slipped out.

'Somehow I doubt it...and I'm having a talk with you two when you get back.'

That last comment was directed to the twins, who were almost out the door.

'Koichi?'

Apparently, Takuya was confused.

'Can't you tell us apart?' Koji grumbled, straightening his bandana. 'And what would he be doing here at this time?'

The brunette cocked his head in confusion. 'You look a little different than yesterday. Anyway, did you study for the test in history?'

The younger twin paused. 'What test?'

'The one on the feudal era during second period. Why are you asking me anyway? You're the one who pays attention in class.'

Had his brother mentioned that. Nope, he hadn't.

'Koichi, I am going to kill you...'

'Why?' Takuya stared at him, before it clicked. 'He tricked me! I was right the first time.'

'What?'

'Yesterday, I thought that was Koichi at first, but he just told me to try wearing my goggles. So I figured you looked different because you cut your hair. But you switched places.' There was a pause, then: 'I can't believe I fell for that.'

'You got further than Dad did. It took Mum telling him before he realised.' He frowned slightly. 'What gave you that impression anyway?'

The brunette scratched the back of his head. 'The hair to be honest.'

'Scratch that. You didn't do any better.'

'O c'mon. That counts.'

'No it doesn't. The only reason Dad didn't pick that up was because I told him I was going to get it cut.'

'You did what?' Teruo gaped at the older twin as they stood by their usual spot beside the water fountain, waiting for the bell to ring. 'And you both got away with it?'

'Relatively,' Koichi replied, a little pink. 'I got a detention because of that science test, yesterday and we got a bit of a lecture from Mum, but that's about it.'

'Neither of you got your wires crossed?'

Now that he mentioned it...

Koichi face-palmed his head in disbelief.

'You forgot to tell him something.'

'Yeah, that he has a history test in second period. He is going to kill me.'

'It won't be that bad...will it?'

'We're talking about Koji here. He hates "pointless" history about as much as I hate science.'