"Yukinoshita-san."
"Yukinoshita-san..."
"Yukinoshita-san..."
..Oh right, I'm Yukinoshita.
"Y-Yes?" I answered hesitantly to the long due calls of Yukinoshita's classmates who had suddenly gathered around me.
"You sprinted out of the classroom before class begun, Yukinoshita-san. Is something bothering you?" Asked one of the girls from the pack.
Oh right, I just hastily escaped from class without any explanations whatsoever. Well, crap...
"No, no. That's... well, uh... nothing's bothering me." An awkward laugh that came out of my mouth followed my reply without realizing it. The case of me not being in my own body and was now inside another one's was totally not a bother at all.
I continued with an impromptu alibi. "It's just that I needed to do an urgent business that I forgot to do." I waved my hands to them to somehow enforce it.
"Ehhh... is that so?" They chorused themselves in a disappointed tone.
"How about your head, Yukinoshita-san?" A new girl inserted herself in the discussion.
"My head?" I asked. What about my head?
"Yes, you kind of slammed your head hard just a couple of hours ago. Did you go to the infirmary already? If not, we could still bring you there.."
"Oh... that's, that's fine."
They're still bothered by that, huh.
"If you say so.. by the way, Yukinoshita-san, where did you go exactl-"
"Okay, class. Back to your seats." Before I get to be attacked by another question, a save came in the form of a teacher coming inside the classroom. This left the girls having no choice but to scramble back to their seats.
"Thank goodness." I heaved a sigh of relief as my... as Yukinoshita's class began.
Some guys have probably dreamt of becoming a girl once in their life time.
No. I'm not actually joking here.
Be it a though, a wish or a spur of the moment.
Some had dreamt of becoming a girl out of curiosity.
Some had dreamt of becoming a girl out of lust...
Yeah, who would've guessed that?
While some had dreamt of becoming a girl because they wanted to feel like a girl.
Why do they want to feel like a girl, you ask?
Probably because they got enticed by the way a girl lives. Friendship, love, candies, perfumes, shopping and many more sweet stuff, all of those pretentious things.
They were attracted on a seemingly easy going life of their opposite sex. If some guys were not some happy go lucky bastard who had circles and circles of friends to accompany him in his journey to adulthood, that can and would apply also to girls.
What I'm saying is... if you become a girl... that doesn't instantaneously give you a base advantage in the social circle.
I'm not complaining though, it's not like I was aiming for a better position in society anyway. And it's actually convenient for me since even if I was no longer inside my own body, it still hasn't changed much. Even if Yukinoshita Yukino's body was now a temporary vessel for my soul.. my entity... my personality, whatever you may call it, I was still a loner and I'd like to stay as one. I was still Hikigaya Hachiman and Yukinoshita Yukino was still Yukinoshita Yukino. Swapping from Yukinoshita to Hikigaya didn't change anything for this body, in the end it was still true... the ever true face that Yukinoshita Yukino had earned throughout her highschool year... the fact that she was the Ice Queen.
Classes had come and gone so I took my chance to finally meet the other two wh ohad met the same unfortunate fate as I am. Thankfully the girls from back then went ahead home, any more of them would just irritate me greatly.
I traveled through the corridors trying to reach the clubroom. I would've reached it by now but my hands felt a little bit coldert than usual and my legs felt like they were lagging behind.
Speaking of hands, Yukinoshita's looked small compared to mine's. They were like two-thirds of mine's. So tiny and pale... like a figurine's.
But even if they were different from mine's, Yukinoshita's hands felt like I was born with them.
"Ouch..." A recognizable yet not so painful nudge was felt from my stomach. I had been staring at my hand for way too long that I had not been paying attention towards where I was walking.
In front of me was a squatted girl who was massaging her back, probably from pain. Awww.. cried the girl.
... I may have had crashed into her because of my carelessness.
The girl looked at me with widened eyes. "Uhmm.. I'm sorry, I'll help you stand up if it's something." I said to her while reaching out my hand so she can help herself stand up.
"I-I'm so sorry! Please excuse me." The girl stood up without my help and frantically fixed her messed up uniform, raised her voice and left before I can talk to her more.
"Errr..."
I was left there by myself to think what just happened before me.
What. the. hell.
Even if this was just a temporary thing and hopefully will be a temporary thing, I'd still got to say, it's quite the weird experience, being Yukinoshita that is.
Everyone still didn't approach me like it was always been, that I'm content with but somehow... it felt different than when I was myself.
It's not like before when everyone just didn't realize I was there in their vicinity and thus not minding me at all... this time it felt like everyone else was getting repelled away. Not like an octupus camouflaging to safety from its predators but like a shark being evaded by a school of fishes in fear of getting eaten by it, it somehow felt like that.
Without me realizing it, I had reached my destination... the clubroom. I stood there before the closed door. Beyond this door would be Yukinoshita Yukino stucked inside Yuigahama Yui's body and Yuigahama Yui who would then be stucked inside Hikigaya Hachiman's body.
Oh well, I'm opening the door now.
"Ya... Yahallo!" Yuigahama exclaimed as she stood up fro mthe sound of the door opening. To be honest, I'd really never considered the possibility that there would be a day in my life that I would see myself doing that kind of greeting but it seemed like life was very unpredictable like some people said.
"I'm back." I said to the both of them. Yukinoshita and Yuigahama were sitting beside each other. Both of them were staring at a laptop on top of the table before them.
"Welcome back, Hikigaya-kun." A calm Yukinoshita Yukino greeted me while sipping a cup of tea. Yuigahama Yui sipping a cup of tea with a poise of a well- mannered lady.
Yeph, life is totally unpredictable.
"What are you two doing?" I asked the two of them.
"We were bored of waiting for you so we decided to play some Othello on the laptop."
"Othello? Why Othello?"
"It's the only game in this computer that has a two player option."
"I see... score?" I asked Yukinoshita
"Three and O."
"Oh..." Well that was to be expected, after all it was Yukinoshita versus Yuigahama after all-
"In favor of Yuigahama-san..." Yukinoshita continued.
Yes, of course you would win. No need to point it ou-
"Wait, really?" Yuigahama won? Three times? How?
"I know right? How.. how can I lose?" A dejected Yukinoshita averted her gaze from us and just continued to sip her tea in defeat.
"Haha..." Laughed Yui. And it wasn't with a concerned expression at all. It wasn't the laugh that was made to ease Yukinoshita with her defeat but it wa a laugh that shouts "I won? I won?! I won!"
"Yukinoshita, swap with me." I hastily said to Yukinoshita. I wasn't good at Othello myself but curiosity of how Yuigahama had beaten Yukinoshita had taken over me.
"S-sure." A surprised Yukinoshita nearly spilled her tea she moves out of her chair to make room for me to play.
"Do you want to restart, Hikki? Hrn, hrn." A really boisterous smile came from Yuigahama who was staring at me like a predator seeing a new prey.
"Nah, I'll just continue where Yukinoshita left off. Am I black or white?"
"You're black, Hikigaya-kun."
"I see." I said to her.
Hrmmm... as I finished assessing the current board situation, I came with a conclusion. Not good at all.. not so good at all. Yukinoshita was lagging behind Yuigahama in terms of board.
"Let's go, Hikki!" Seeing as I was finished with preparing, Yuigahama prompted me to actually play the game.
"Yeah, let's."
Aside from meeting the two... wasn't I forgetting something here? Like something really important?
"What?.. I lost? Five times?!" Cried Yuigahama as she bites her lips in defeat.
That's right, I won.
Five times. In a row.
It seems lik that streak of hers was just a fluke.
"Haha, three to five." I said to Yuigahama with arms crossed to assert my dominance. Hmmm.. hmmm.
"Would you like some tea, Hikigaya-kun?" Yukinoshita, even with Yuigahama's body, still remembered to pour me some tea after the intense heat of our battle.
"T-thanks." I said to her as a reflex as she took a chair beside me and watched me take a sip. The three of us were now seated beside each other.
"Hikki, you need to exercise your body more. It was a real pain to move this morning, you know." Complained Yuigaham who was then stretching her arms as far as they could.
"It's not like I'll need it with my chosen lifestlye anyway."
I wouldn't need a strong body to be a househusband, you know.
"It was the same for me. Yukinoshita doesn't have the greatest of stamina around here too." I continued.
"I was also in the same case as you two. I felt really heavy whenever I try to walk." Yukinoshita, upon hearing us, replied. Her tone was as if she was returning the favor of indirect insults back at Yuigahama who started it all.
"What? Yukinon, I exercise regularly, you know!" Protested Yuigahama.
Yuigahama, I'm pretty sure Yukinoshita was referring to something else that was heavy.
Minutes passed as we tried to settle down from it all. "Hey... weren't we supposed to think of a solution for our problem here?" Yukinoshita asked us out of the blue.
"Yes but I still haven't come up with anything, yet." Without even spending time to think, Yuigahama quickly replied.
"How about you, Hikki?" She turned the question to me.
"No... not a thing." It wasn't like I forgot about it... it's just that the clues were scarce so I really haven't come up with anything yet either.
"It's not like we had anything that connects to a solution after all." I said to them.
Hrmmm.. well, we might as well start with what we were doing before we swapped bodies... that might give us something to work with. "What were you doing before this all began?" I asked the two.
"I was just relaxing on my desk inside my class." Said Yukinoshita.
"I was about to enter the classroom." Said Yuigahama.
"You?" They both asked me.
Let's see... let's see.. MAX COFFEEE... school.. then Yukinoshita's classroom. That's about it.
"I was just drinking my coffee and was about to enter the school then I found myself suddenly inside Yukinoshita's classroom."
"Sitting on the desk... entering her clasroom.. drinking MAX COFFEE..." Yukinoshita recited the three events we pointed out.
"Hrmmmm..." We simultaneously thought deeply trying to make something of the three.
"Hrmmmmm..." We thought harder.
"Hrrrmmmmmmm..." And harder.
After a long pause, we sighed at our fruitlessness.
"I don't think any of these connects with each other, no?"
"Yeah, I don't think so too.."
"Just try..." I said to them. Quitting now isn't an option. The afternoon is drawing to an end and we still haven't come back to normal yet. I mean, how do we get home?!
After a few excruciating minutes of digging through our brains for an answer, we all sighed at the same time again and finally gave up on trying to make a sense of it all. "Hey... can't we get someone else to help us with this?" Yuigahama suggested.
"Well, that is an option but... don't you think they'd just think of it as something foolish?" A concerned tone coated Yukinoshita's voice.
"That is true... well, what else can we do?"
What else can we do?
That question echoed through my head more than before for I was getting a little more desparate by the minute.
What if... just what if we...
"Can.. can we try redoing what we did?" I finally suggested.
"What?"
"Yukinoshita... go sit in your desk inside your classroom."
"Eh? Uh... sure." Without anything else to come up with, we went through with my idea.
I wanted to try. It didn't make sense why it would change us back but right now, anything would do.
We all walked our way towards Yukinoshita's now empty classroom. There she sat herself in her desk while Yuigahama and I stood before the classroom door, waiting for something to happen.
"Yuigahama... why do you look like you're hiding?" I curiously asked Yuigahama. Turns out I was the only one standing before the classroom entrance while Yuigahama only pokes her head to see inside.
"I am hiding, Hikki."
"Hiding from what? Did you saw any ghost just right before we swapped bodies?"
"I don't know, maybe yes.. maybe no..."
"Whatever." Was all I can say from Yuigahama's vague answer.
Half an hour passed for the three of us yet nothing happened. Yukinoshita peacefully sat on her chair but nothing happened. Nothing at all.
...on to the next person, I guess.
"Yukinoshita, you can stop now. It's Yuigahama's turn." I prompted Yukinoshita to stand up and join us again for we were going to the classroom of Yuigama and mine's.
"Okay, let's go."
We reached our classroom and had left Yuigahama to do her thing while Yukinoshita and I watched from the corridor.
"I should just walk through, right?" Yuigahama asked us nervously.
"Well, that's what you said." I replied.
"O-Okay, here goes nothing!" And with that, Yuigahama entered the classroom.
Seconds passed as Yuigahama paused herself. "So?" I went closer to her.
"Nope, nothing." Yuigahama scratched her head as she returned witohut anything happening.
"It's my turn now, huh. Come to the school ground... also, let me buy a can of MAX COFFEE."
We were at our third and last scene to reenact. It would take time to theorize another possible solution if this would fail.
With an opened can of MAX COFFEE in one hand and curiosity inside my head, I went on with it.
Gulp.. gulp... gulp.
As I had put a mouthful of the drink inside my mouth, I felt something... something coursing through my body... something.. that something is called "disgust."
"Ha...eh... ha..." I gasped for air as I spat the MAX COFFEE to the ground before I can even swallow any of it.
"Is something happening, Hikigaya-kun?" Yukinoshita with a concerned face came closer to me.
"Are you sure you haven't bought an expired one?" Asked Yuigahama.
"Oh come one, I just saw the guys refill the vending machine stock a day ago. It can't be."
"Hey..."
"Whapff?" I spoke with a new batch of the drink flowing in my mouth. I can't back out now. But still... damn, why is it so sweet?! I'm getting dizzy just from taking two sips form it.
"Hey... Hikki, Yukinon... aren't we supposed to do it with our bodies instead?" Yuigahama scratched her temples as she said those words to us.
I spat back the drink as I could no longer take any of it without my face twisting from disgust and instead pondered on what Yuigahama just said to us. After a short pause, Yukinoshita and I looked at each other with wide eyes as we realized what Yuigahama said.
"Uhh.."
"Yeah.."
Following what Yuigahama said, we repeated the things we did but this time I was the one who sat on Yukinoshita's desk, Yukinoshita was the one who tried to enter the classroom and Yuigahama was the one who drank the MAX COFFEE. But even after that, nothing still happened. We came back to the clubroom defeated.
"Wow, Hikki. This thing is amazing." Yuigahama exclaimed before chugging a can of MAX COFFEE down her throat.
Well, at least Yuigahama has found a new drink for herself.
"So, what do we do now?" Asked Yukinoshita.
"I don't know." I dejectedly said back.
"Well.. we can't just go home like this, you know."
"Yeah, no need to mention that."
Yukinoshita and I sighed in synch while Yuigahama continued to drink her heart out.
I fear if we still won't come up with an answer by the end of the afternoon, we'd resort to trying different, more eccentric things. Like the"falling down the stairs... ending up kissing with each other and fainting soon after" thing! (1)
"Hey... what are you guys still doing here? Go home, the school's closing." A voice not belonging to any of the three of us appeared out of the blue. It belonged to Hiratsuka Shizuka. She stood before the clubroom door.
"Sensei!" I stood up.
"Hiratsuka-sensei!" Yukinoshita followed me.
"What?!" It seemed that raising our voices caught her off-guard.
"Help us!" Yuigahama stood up too but that didn't end just there. She then ran off to where Sensei was and actually hugged the damn teacher.
"What... what!?" Sensei became flustered as Yuigahama disguised as Hikigaya enclosed her with her two arms.
"We switched bodies... the three of us did!" Cried Yuigahama while rubbing her head against Sensei's lower torso.
"Come again?" Sensei asked with a clueless expression on her face.
"I'm Yuigahama Yui! Yukinon's in my body while Hikki's on Yukinon's!" She said that while pointing at us one by one.
"Hikigaya... what bullshit are you talking about?"
"Sensei, I'm right here." I raised my hand to catch Sensei's gaze. Well, I am Hikigaya Hachiman after all.
"Don't tell me you're in it too, Yukinoshita?" She asked me.
"If you wish to talk to me, face right here, Hiratsuka-sensei." Yukinoshita calmly said as she raised her hand just like I did.
"I don't even..."
"Sensei!" Yuigahama continued to hug Sensei like there was no tomorrow. It made Sensei pause for seconds until...
"OUT!"
She screamed at the top of her lungs.
"It was a nice try. Yet it seemed like a nice try wasn't enough." Yukinoshita said as the three of us walked towards the entrance of the school.
"It was expected that she wouldn't believe us. After all, who would?"
"Yeah." No one would.
"Well, it seems like we can't stay here. Let's go to another place." I said to them. But where? That's the question.
"Yeah, let's go."
"Hikigaya-kun, what about staying over a-"
Before Yukinoshita can finish her words, a bright flash of white entirely covered my vision. It was like the flash of light that attacked me before I was injected to Yukinoshita's body but one thing was different about it this time, this time there came an extra headache with it. And not just a weak headache.
A spiking pang came to my head. I became delirious, for me everything was white even after the moments that I closed my eyelids.
While my vision was being impaired by a bright white light, my head on the other hand felt like it was being carefully and simultaneously pricked by a thousand needles, rusty, rough needles.
I felt like screaming from it all, I wanted to curse to ease the pain but it seemed like I didn't have any control of my body at all.
All that was left for me to do was faint and fall to the ground.
(1) the body swapping antics of Shiraishi Urara and Ryu Yamada. That scene was their first ever body swap.