Chapter Twenty-Eight


Red moon, red moon...
Cleanses the sinful and makes them anew...
Shining brightly in the night sky,
waiting for the souls...
Who will be born again tonight?
Who will be born again tonight?

-Akai Tsuki (Disgaea)


"This is Tsukino Natsuki and he will be joining us for the rest of the school year. I hope you all get along," the teacher told the class, trying to get used to his new panda suit.

"Just take the empty seat behind Hakuba Saguru."

Hakuba stood up from his desk. "Over here, Tsukino-san," he said.

"Ah... thank you," Natsuki smiled.


"Where did you transfer from?" Aoko asked, dressed in a red panda suit.

Once the lunch bell had rung, she had practically sprung up from her seat to race over to Natsuki.

"I- uh- I'm from Beika," Natsuki stammered.

"Beika...?" Aoko repeated.

"I have a friend who's also from Beika! She transferred a while before you did!" she smiled.

"O-Oh? Who is that?" Natsuki asked.

"Well, her name is Yukihisa Ruri. Have you heard of her?"

Natsuki shook his head. "I don't believe I have."

"Hmmm... oh well. Hey, why don't I introduce you to my friends?" Aoko grabbed Natsuki's arm.

"The one you sit behind is Hakuba Saguru. He's a detective from London!" she said, allowing Natsuki and Hakuba to nod at each other.

"Pleased to meet you, Tsukino-san," Hakuba smiled.

"Natsuki is fine," the shorter boy smiled back.

Hakuba was dressed in donkey suit.

"Aren't you going to introduce me?" a silky voice asked.

Akako appeared behind Aoko and was smiling. Akako was wearing the regular assigned uniform.

Funnily enough, Natsuki didn't feel any different from when he was a girl. Just some "wow, she's pretty." No declaring of love.

"This is Akako-chan," Aoko said, turning to Natsuki.

"Akako-chan, this is Natsuki-kun."

"A pleasure to meet you," Akako outstretched her hand.

Thinking it was a gesture to shake her hand, Natsuki did just that.

When he was done, Akako seemed puzzled, almost.

"There isn't anything else you want to do?" she practically choked out.

Natsuki tilted his head in pure confusion. "No...?"

"I see," Akako turned on her heel and walked out of the classroom, a trail of boys following after her.

Natsuki watched as she stalked out of the room.

"What'd I do?" he asked.

"Nothing. And that was what was wrong," a familiar voice cackled.

Natsuki spun around to come face-to-face with Ekoda High's very own menace. Kuroba Kaito.

"K-" Natsuki started to blurt out Kaito's name but managed to catch himself.

"Hello. And who might you be?" he asked, clearing his throat.

"Kuroba Kaito. Magician-in-training. A pleasure to make your acquaintance," Kaito smiled, bowing low.

"Nothing's a pleasure when you're around," Aoko snorted.

"Oh, Aoko! You wound me so!" Kaito fell back, one hand on his chest, another on his forehead facing upwards.

"You are such a drama queen!" Aoko crossed her arms.

Natsuki couldn't help but laugh a little. It was a helpful thing, to see that Ruri's friends were doing just fine. And slightly healing, oddly enough.

"Hey, by the way, what's an animal you like?" Kaito called as he was chased around the room by Aoko.

Thinking a bit before a slightly evil plan started to form. "I guess I like fish, why?'

Natsuki almost burst out laughing as he watched Kaito's face pale.

"F-Fish? Isn't there something else?" the poor ichthyphobic magician stuttered.

Deciding not to carry on any further, Natsuki nodded. "Rabbits."

"That I can do," Kaito mumbled, before engulfing Natsuki in a cloud of blue smoke.

When the smoke cleared, Natsuki was wearing a fluffy bunny suit. Not the sexy one with fish-net stockings. The fluffy one.

"Not too bad," he commented.

"Geez, you could at least let the new student off!" Aoko scolded.

"And lose my trickster credibility? No way!" Kaito stuck out his tongue.

Natsuki laughed as Aoko chased Kaito again. Even if it was a different body and things may be a little different, at least Ruri was back with them.


Kaito watched from the corner of his eye as he watched the transfer student laugh.

When Natsuki had first been introduced, he thought that Ruri had come back.

Everything was so similar. Even the voice. It was almost uncanny.

He remembered going to Ruri's house that first night she didn't come to school. No one had been there. Not even something to tell that anyone had even gone into the building.

When he had gotten that call two nights ago, he felt as if he was going to cry. Simply hearing Ruri's voice had been such a relief. At that point, Kaito had been ready to start searching for his missing friend, even if he had to sacrifice a KID heist he had been planning.

He would have to call Ruri tonight to see why she hadn't come back yet...


Hakuba glanced over at Natsuki as he and Aoko chatted. He had been quite shocked to see the resemblance the transfer student had with Ruri. It was almost suspicious.

Especially with the timing. Ruri goes missing, and then within 48 hours, a look-alike appears? At the same school as a transfer student? There was no way that was a coincidence. If anything, he suspected Ruri was playing a very elaborate joke on them.

Hakuba would have to keep an eye on this new student.


Aoko looked at Natsuki's face as he went on about moving and all that.

It really was impressive how much he looked like Ruri. More like creepy, actually.

Was it actually someone different? Or was it Kaito somehow rubbing off on Ruri?

She really hoped it was just a practical joke. Ruri still hadn't called since that night she tried to contact everyone and make sure they knew she wasn't dead.


Natsuki sincerely hoped that he didn't slip up somewhere. Being identified as Ruri would make life a whole heck of a lot harder. He knew that Kaito, as KID, was already waist deep in the B.O. stuff, but he really didn't want to put them in more danger.

Even if-

"2nd years please head to the changing rooms for P.E."

Oh god no.


How would you like to be in a changing room full of good looking guys and not be out of place? Physically, that is. You'd think it'd be awesome, right? Wrong. As a girl, even if you thought about something sexy or lewd, no one would know. Why? Because girls don't have a beacon that likes to alert everyone. Guys though...

Natsuki tried his best not to look anywhere besides the floor.

Sure, it was probably every fangirl's dream to be stuck in a room full of good-looking guys willingly undressing in front of them, but holy heck, if 38 years of being a single virgin and 21 of those years being spent as a anime-fan was saying anything, Natsuki was NOT mentally prepared for this.

He also silently thanked Ai for making him buy boxers. Panties would not have looked good.

"Hey, transfer student, you ok?" Kaito asked, making Natsuki jump.

"Uh, yeah, thanks," Natsuki managed to say without stuttering and looking directly at the half-naked teen.

"Hurry up, boys!" the teacher shouted.


Hakuba had tried to keep his mind out of the gutter as he inspected Natsuki from a safe distance.

His chest was flat, whereas Ruri had a nicely developed- ...nevermind. The point was, Natsuki was definitely a boy. Even the slight bulge in the crotch area attested to that fact.

The only weird thing was... Natsuki's chest was neither broad nor strong looking. Not masculine in the slightest. His figure was so similar to Ruri's that Hakuba had to catch himself (twice) from going off into la-la land.

"I thought you were straight," the irritating (he thought) voice of the damned (still his opinion) magician pierced his thoughts.

"I am," Hakuba shut his locker with a little more force than necessary.

"Then how come I see you checkin' out Natsuki over there?" Kaito leered, a shit-eating grin spread across his face.

"I was merely checking to see if he was truly male. I don't believe I was the only one to think Tsukino-san was Ruri-san," Hakuba turned to face the brunet.

Kaito's grin disappeared, and even Kaito had taken on a serious face.

"Have you heard anything from Ruri, by the way?"

Hakuba shook his head. "Not since two nights ago."

"Same. I wonder if she's all right," Kaito sighed, before walking out of the locker room.

Natsuki was already outside, waiting with the rest of the guys.

He was surrounded by boys who seemed (to Hakuba's opinion) to be wearing some lewd faces (they weren't).

"Geez, take it down a notch," Kaito crossed his arms. "It's not like he's actually Ruri."

Hakuba breathed in and managed to calm himself down. This wasn't like him.


Even if he had teased Hakuba about it, Kaito himself was starting to feel a little protective of the look-alike.

Seeing Natsuki get along with all the boys made his anger bubble. Kaito slipped on his most perfect smile and walked over to Natsuki.

Draping an arm along the shorter boy's shoulder, he started to insert himself into the conversation and try to drive the other boys away.

"Is there something I can help you with, Kuroba-san?" Natsuki asked.

"Well, not really! I just wanted to come over!" Kaito smiled. "And just Kaito is fine."

"O-Ok..."


Kaito and Hakuba watched as Natsuki raced down the track. He was fast for someone so short and meek.

"3.2 seconds!" the coach yelled as Natsuki ran over the white line. "A new record! Good job, Tsukino-kun!"

The coach clapped Natsuki on the back.

"You should join the track-and-field team!" he laughed.

"Ah, thank you, but I'm really not interested," Natsuki said, smiling.

"Not bad, Tsukino-san," Hakuba said, smiling as Natsuki came over.

"Oh... thank you Hakuba-san," Natsuki flashed a dazzling smile.


I really didn't intend to break the record, Natsuki thought. I didn't think this body would have more muscle strength...

He was currently hiding from the track-and-field team, who, as predicted, wanted him for as a sprinter.

"You ok?"

Natsuki spun around to face Kaito.

"Kaito-san... you surprised me," Natsuki sighed.

"Geez, they really want you, huh?" the magician laughed, watching the team run down the halls.

"I know a way to get out. Want my help?" he asked.

"Oh, thank you!" Natsuki grasped Kaito's left hand and smiled.

Kaito's heart did a little flip at that. "A-Ah, sure."

"Just follow me."

"Un!"


"So? How did everything go at school?" Ai asked over the phone.

"Fine. I don't think they suspected anything," Natsuki sighed in relief.

"Well, fine, but have you found a place to stay?"

"N-Not yet..." Natsuki mumbled.

Ai sighed. "Come to Beika and we'll see what we can find."

"Yeah, ok... sorry," Natsuki said, before hanging up.


I AM SO PRODUCTIVE THIS WEEK! :D So proud of myself. Anyway, the next chapter will probably come out sometime this weekend. Oh, and did I mention that I'm super excited for Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer? I'm totally aware it's a spin-off but can you imagine designing a house without monetary limitations? Even designing your own little Main Street! C'mon, that sounds so cool! I can't wait. Also, that same week (20-26) will be my dad's birthday, so there may not be an update. Sorry! DX

NEXT CHAPTER: FINDING A HOUSE

DFTBA GUYS! :D