Chapter 2: New Days
—
"What year is it?"
"It's 2009. Why?"
"Right, of course," Kotone said, not looking at Yukari. But then why does this say...? "Just wanted to be completely sure, since apparently I have the year wrong on this."
"Ah, I guess that makes sense." Yukari replied. Kotone knew, from the tone of her voice, that the brunette hadn't completely bought that, "So, I think I'm gonna go read a bit in my room. What about you? You're probably gonna hit the shower, right? You probably spent the whole day yesterday traveling—" Yukari stopped herself as she realized what she said might've come off as rude, "Not that you smell, or anything, just that it'd be what I'd do..."
"R-Right..." Kotone's face turned a shade of red that matched her eyes. The thought hadn't even crossed the boy-turned-girl's mind. She'd have to shower this body at some point or another. "But I don't know where the shower's at..." It was a flimsy excuse, even she knew that.
"I'll show you," Yukari said, and for the second time that day, Kotone was being led through the hallway by the brunette. It didn't take even a minute before she was standing in front of the bathroom, "There you go. There're already towels in there, so you don't have to worry about that." Yukari then walked away from the speechless Kotone, and left to her room.
"Fuck me..." Kotone muttered, entering the bathroom and locking the door behind her.
She spent what felt like an eternity just staring at the reflection in the mirror. This was her first time getting a clear look at her reflection; sure, she had seen it before in the monorail, where it was only clear enough for him to learn her body was different; the red eyes and red hair tied into a ponytail, the soft lips and smooth, pale, skin. If she wasn't inside of it, Kotone certainly would've likely fallen hard for this girl— hell, she was technically falling for her at that exact moment.
"Get a grip, jeez—" Kotone slapped her own face, her cheeks red, "This isn't normal..."
"No shit."
Kotone turned around in surprise at the voice in her head, confused. "What the...?" It was gone, but for a moment it seemed like someone had spoken directly to her. She let out a sigh, "Am I hearing things now, too?"
With a defeated look on her face, Kotone began reluctantly undressing, starting by undoing the ponytail and the big red bow. She took a painfully long time taking the uniform off, "Of all memories not to have right now, it had to be the ones about how to get this off..." Kotone groaned, fighting to remove the underwear. After what seemed like an eternity, she was finally victorious.
As her eyes glanced at his reflection in the mirror, her face once more became as red as a tomato. She couldn't help but stare at her chest, not too big but not small at all—
"Jeez— Control yourself, Kotone—!" she whisper shouted to herself, snapping out of her trance. She had been going by that name in her head since she learned about it. It might be the name of the girl whose body the boy was inside, but it was the only one she knew — and she found it nice. — She turned on the hot water and stepped under the shower in an attempt to empty her mind. This failed, of course, as the water streaming down her her skin only made the differences between this body and the one she was used to more apparent. "I just can't do this..." Kotone muttered, leaning her head back and closing her eyes. "It wouldn't be right, either..."
"Nothing about this is right, anyway..." a voice added inside her head.
"What the— again?"
"...ear me?"
"What...?"
"Can you hear me?!" the voice repeated, louder this time, a hint of both desperation and hope in it.
"Y-Yeah..." Kotone muttered, suddenly realizing that shouting at a voice inside her head might not be the best thing to do in the bathroom of a dormitory. The last thing she needed was for someone to hear her.
"Thank god..." the voice said, seemingly washed with relief. It had probably been trying to communicate with Kotone for a good while, if the voice's tone was anything to go by.
"Who are you?"
"I should be asking you that! But alright, I'm M̷i̴n̶a̵—" the voice was suddenly cut off as noise blasted in Kotone's head. She groaned in pain, falling to her knees. The pain vanished quickly and she stood up, leaning against the wall for support.
Kotone bit her lip in frustration. She wasn't going to be getting the answers she so desperately wanted, was she? Not if the universe, who seemed to be enjoying toying with her, had anything to say, at least.
"Fuck, I don't even know if there's actually someone talking to me or if I'm just crazy..." Kotone's frustration grew, and she just couldn't contain it anymore. In a burst of emotion Kotone punched the wall as hard as she could. "Fuck!" she groaned, her hand aching from the impact. At that point it was clear she wasn't going to be able to just take a relaxing shower. There were too many things going on in her head, making it hard for her to think straight. "Calm down..." she told herself, washing her hair. She decided to skip on cleaning the rest of her body, not in the right mood to do anything else at that moment.
—
It had taken just as much time, if not more, for Kotone to get dressed in her uniform as it had for her to take it off. She decided to let her hair loose, believing it'd be better to wait until it was properly dry before tying it up again. As she walked down the hallway to her room, she noticed the lights were out, "It's midnight already?" She had taken way more time than she intended to in the bathroom. As she stopped walking a thought made its way into her mind, Can the others move right now? Or are they coffins like everyone else? For the first time in a while, she had a question which she could find out the answer to.
She walked down to the lobby, where she remembered having seen Akihiko earlier, when she returned to the dorm. Instead of the white haired teen, or a coffin, however, she found a young child in striped pajamas, which looked like they came straight out of a prison film, sitting by the counter, looking at her with a puzzled and amused expression. "...you're early." the little boy said.
"What do you mean...?" Kotone asked, "Who are you...?"
"I'm... I don't know, actually." the child didn't seem too bothered by that, though, judging by the expression on his face, "All I know is that you shouldn't be here right now." the boy said. Although plagued with a feeling of dread like she had never felt before, Kotone couldn't help but empathize with the boy.
"You don't know, huh? I guess that makes it two of us," Kotone said, forcing a smile. The boy smiled back, chuckling.
The sound of a door being opened suddenly caught the two's attention, and for a second Kotone could swear she saw a look of both confusion and amusement in the little boy's face. The door in question was the entrance to the dorm, and there stood a blue haired boy with gray eyes.
"That's..." the little boy started, but stopped himself, "Never mind. You're finally here. The two of you." The way he said that last portion gave Kotone shivers. "Now, would you mind signing this?" he pulled some sort of contract out of thin, handing it to the blue haired boy, "It's nothing sketchy, I promise. It's just a confirmation that the both of you will take full responsibility for your actions."
Yuki, Makoto. The blue haired teen wrote — a name that seemed familiar to Kotone — handing the contract back to the boy, who instead of giving it to Kotone, simply made it disappear.
"Shouldn't I sign it too?" Kotone dared to ask, puzzled, "You said it involved me as well, didn't you?"
"What do you mean? You've already signed it." the boy chuckled as he walked back into the shadows, "Time brings an end to everything. You cannot escape, even if you close your eyes and cover your ears... And so it begins."
Wha—
The kid vanished within the shadows, leaving Makoto and Kotone alone in the silent room... not for long, though. As soon as the boy was gone, a voice shouted from the upper floor.
"Who's there?!"
It was Yukari; she was breathing heavily, and looked quite worried. Her eyes landed on Kotone and Makoto, as her hand touched something that resembled a gun. "Shiomi-chan?! Is that—?!"
Kotone stepped forward, very confused by the way the brunette was acting, "H-He's the other transfer student. Is... is everything okay?" she asked, worried the girl might end up doing something.
"Takeba, wait!" a voice Kotone did not recognize spoke from behind Yukari, and, as if they had been waiting for that exact moment, the lights came on all at the same time, revealing a red haired girl.
That must be Kirijo... Kotone inferred, remembering the name from her conversation with Yukari earlier that day.
"I"m Kirijo Mitsuru," she spoke to the boy, with a remarkable composure, likely from years of practice, after all she, in a way or another, was someone of importance "And these are Takeba Yukari and Shiomi Kotone. They will be second-years just like you," she then turned to Kotone, with a soft smile, "I apologize for not being able to introduce you to the dorm earlier."
"It's okay," Kotone stepped back, her cheeks slightly red, "Yukari showed me around and helped me out."
"So I heard," she nodded, "I'm sure the two of you still have some questions, but it is remarkably late, and classes begin tomorrow. So I ask that you wait just a bit longer. Takeba, would you mind showing Yuki to his room?"
"No problem, senpai," the brunette replied, taking a last glare of suspicion at Makoto.
The two walked up the stairs in silence, the two still uncomfortable due to what had happened earlier.
"So, here it is," Yukari broke the silence as the two arrived at the room at the end of the hallway, "Kirijo-senpai told you to wait before asking questions but... Anything you'd like to know in advance? I'm sure I didn't make the best first impression..."
"Sure..." Makoto said, looking back at the girl, "What's with the gun?"
It was a very direct, straight to the point, type of question, and although it should have been expected, it took Yukari by surprise. "Ah, i-it's just a model. For safety."
It was an acceptable answer, although Makoto was not convinced, "I see."
"A... Anything else?" Yukari asked, opening the door to the blue haired boy's room and handing him the key, part of her hoping the answer would be 'no'.
"...say," Makoto began to say. This isn't like me, to butt in into others' business, but... "About that girl..."
"Hm?" this got Yukari's attention. She herself had a couple of questions floating around her head regarding Kotone. She'd never pose any of them, since she'd hate to come off as rude, but...
"Never mind. I can ask her tomorrow."
"Ah, right..." Yukari felt a hint of disappointment, but nodded, "See you tomorrow."
Makoto nodded, and entered his room, not taking his time and immediately getting into bed.
"Ah... I forgot to ask about that kid."
—
Kotone didn't get much sleep that night, questions began echoing in her mind whenever she closed her eyes and tried to get some rest. She got up way earlier than the rest of her dorm-mates, and walked down to the lobby, where she looked for something to keep her mind off her situation.
"There isn't much, but this should work..." she muttered to herself, having opened a couple of drawers, "I just might be able to make something with this."
Cooking, she decided, would be the task responsible for keeping her busy until sunrise. "Meat, rice... nothing I'd call "breakfast", but I'm not gonna be picky..." Kotone tied her hair up, doing her best to style it like it was when she woke up in the train. She put her headphones on her ears and began working on making a decent meal out of the few ingredients that were there.
"I never felt, like, so miserable..." she muttered along with the music, her worries dissipating as she focused on the task at hand, "I never felt like thinking this could last forever..." She lost track of time as she prepared herself a meal, not noticing when someone stepped down the stairs into the lobby.
Mitsuru Kirijo had woken up early like usual; she was used to being the only person to be up in the dorm at that hour, so the distinct smell of food coming from the first floor caught her attention. The last time she remembered someone using the kitchen this early was before a certain someone left.
"Ça sent bon," she commented to herself.
"C'est bon d'écouter ça."
Mitsuru was taken off guard, she didn't expect the girl to have understood what she said, but she couldn't help but smile at that. "What are you cooking?" she decided to ask, the girl having peaked her curiosity.
"Eh... There wasn't anything really "breakfast"-like, so I decided to make myself lunch in advance... It's nothing more than rice, meat, and some beans that were almost expired that I turned into soup."
"Soup...?"
"It's tasty, trust me," Kotone said, looking down so the older girl wouldn't notice the slight blush on her cheeks, the distance between them having shortened considerably.
"I'll take you at your word..." Mitsuru said, "But isn't this quite a lot? Are you making this for the whole dorm, perhaps...?"
"E-Eh...?" Kotone stuttered, looking at the amount of food she had packed, realizing it might look like too much for a normal person, "...n-no, this is all for me..."
"A-Ah, I see..." Mitsuru stuttered, she held back on any further comments regarding the quantity of food, "...say, how do you eat it?"
"Hm?"
"How do you eat it?" Mitsuru repeated the question, "I mean, is there any specific way to eat... this?"
"Oh, I mean, it doesn't really have a "right way" to eat, but I personally pour a bit of the soup onto the rice and eat it with the meat..." Kotone then stopped herself for a second, as an idea made its way into her mind, "...you wanna try it?"
Mitsuru pondered for a moment and decided to accept the offer, "Just a little, if you don't mind."
"Not at all," Kotone brought the recently made food to the dining table placed within the lobby, "I'm hungry, so I'll eat too." She put rice in a plate, putting some of the meat next to it, and poured a bit of the soup on top of the meal; she did that twice, one plate for her, one for the other girl. The two remained silent as they began eating.
"This is..." Mitsuru took a first bite and was impressed with how good it tasted. She didn't expect such a mix of ingredients to make for such a good meal, "C'est très bon..."
"Thanks," Kotone continued to dig in, eating with a haunting speed, "I think it's the first time anyone's ever eaten—"
"Kirijo-senpai? Shiomi-chan? You two are already up?" Yukari interrupted, descending the stairs followed by Makoto, who still looked half-asleep, "Hm, what's with the smell?"
"Shiomi made this, and fortunately I woke up early enough that I caught her in the act," Mitsuru explained, getting an embarassed glare from Kotone.
"The way you say it makes it sound like I did something wrong," Kotone muttered, as she stood up to pack her lunch.
Yukari chuckled, amused and surprised to see Mitsuru Kirijo of all people teasing someone, "Anyway... it's good that we met up with you two, I was looking for Shiomi-chan to show her the way to school, since I thought you'd be busy."
"Well, I don't have anything pressing to do right now, actually," Mitsuru stood up, "I was about to head to school as well."
"A-Ah, then we can all go together." Makoto and Kotone felt a hint of discomfort in her voice, but didn't speak up. Whatever problem these two had was none of their business.
—
The ride to school was nothing special, although the fact that the school was in an area of its own did get Kotone curious, making her wonder if the city was built because of the school rather than the other way around. For some reason that line of thinking felt right to her, so she assumed she was right. The school itself was remarkably big, at least for Kotone, that is, since the other three didn't seem bothered. I feel like a country guy in the big city for the first time, Kotone thought.
"It really is big..."
"Hm?!" Kotone stopped walking. The voice was back. "W-Who are you...?" she muttered in an incredibly low voice, not wanting to draw attention to herself.
"Y-You can finally hear me again..?"
Kotone just nodded, picking up the pace and continuing after the other three students.
"Oh— Thank god...!" the voice sounded relieved, like it was so close to reaching its breaking point, and this simple fact kept it from doing so.
Kotone wanted to ask more questions, but the worry that she'd be heard by someone and that they'd start to ask her questions prevented her from doing so at that moment. "C-can you wait...?" she asked, barely making any noise.
"Considering how long I've been waiting for you to listen to me? Suuuure..." there was a hint of playfulness, yet genuine discomfort in the voice, but Kotone appreciated the patience nonetheless.
"I recommend the two of you going to the teacher's office," Mitsuru's voice brought the red eyed boy-girl to reality, "It'd be quicker if you two went directly to look for your homeroom teachers."
"Uh, sure," Kotone had missed a bit of the conversation, it seemed, but she was able to infer that the "two" referred to herself and Makoto, "But I need to... uh... use the bathroom first, so... well, excuse me."
Kotone took this opportunity and quickly walked away from the other three, almost going into the men's room by accident in her hurry, but thankfully the voice in her head was quick to point that out before anything embarrassing happened.
"Thanks..." Kotone muttered as she entered a stall, feeling a slight sense of deja vu.
"I can't have you messing my life on the first day of school, now, can I?"
"...huh? Your life?" Kotone froze, realizing what this meant, "Then you're..."
"Yup! I'm..."
"...the real Kotone?"
"Minako!"
"...what?"
"What?"
The two were silent for a second, confused.
"Wait, your name isn't Kotone?"
"I thought that was your name!"
"If it ain't your name then why would people accept me going around calling myself Kotone? It's your body, isn't it?"
"That... is a good point, yeah..." Minako admitted, "I guess neither of us know what's going on after all..."
"What do you mean by 'after all'?" Kotone pointed out, feeling slightly offended.
"Sorry, sorry... I just... Part of me thought you maybe knew what was going on and were pretending not to so you could live my life."
Kotone let out a loud sigh and leaned back, "That's really fucking stupid."
"I guess you're right," Minako chuckled nervously, "You don't seem like that type of guy..."
"I'm not even sure what type of guy I am..." Kotone pressed her legs together, looking down.
"Oh... sorry."
"It's okay, it's not your fault. It doesn't seem like either of us is at fault anyway."
"You're right..."
The two remained in complete silence for a bit, neither quite sure how to progress the conversation, until an idea came to Kotone.
"Say, can you hear me like this?" Kotone closed her eyes and tried speaking to Minako with her thoughts.
"Yup, why?"
"We can't stay here all day, can we? We gotta go to the office like Kirijo instructed so we can find who our homeroom teacher is," Kotone stood up and opened the stall, "Knowing I can still talk to you like this makes it easier to talk to you without having to worry about other people listening in."
"That's... actually a great idea!" Minako sounded genuinely impressed, though Kotone didn't think it was that big of a deal. Anyone would've thought of that, she assumed.
Kotone left the bathroom and almost bumped into another woman, "A-Ah, I'm sorry—"
"It's alright," the woman was visibly older than Kotone, — well, technically she was older than Minako. Kotone wasn't sure how old he himself actually was before all of this happened. — leading her to assume the woman in question was a teacher.
Kotone's glance shifted from the auburn haired woman, to the blue haired boy standing beside her, "Yuki?"
"Oh, you two know each other? Wait, then... Are you Shiomi Kotone?" the teacher asked, getting a nod from the red haired transfer student, "That's great, you were almost late. We have a morning assembly meeting just about to start. I'm Toriumi Isako, your homeroom teacher."
"Oh, nice to meet you, Toriumi... sensei."
"Come on, you two," Toriumi began walking, "It'd be a shame if you two were late on the very first day."
Makoto and Kotone followed the woman, neither particularly paying attention to anything she might be saying to the rest of the students she found around the halls.
"Say, Minako, can I ask you a question?"
"Sure, shoot."
"How does it feel?"
"H-huh?!"
"I mean, it must suck having me be in control of your body."
"Oh, you mean that..."
"...what did you think I was talking about?"
"N-nothing... Anyway... It's... weird," Minako's voice didn't show it too much, she seemed to be trying her best to sound like she wasn't being affected as much as she truly was, maybe because she didn't want Kotone worrying about her, but there was an inherent sadness and frustration within her words, "I can feel my body moving, but I can't... do anything."
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay, it's not your fault."
The two remained silent for the rest of the walk and throughout most of the morning assembly as well, with Minako occasionally speaking up to voice her boredom. Kotone wasn't entertained either, but she used that opportunity to get some shut eye time, since she was still very tired from the day prior.
"Hey..."
Kotone heard the whisper coming from behind her, yet decided to ignore it. Hoping the person was either asking someone else, or would get a clue and shut up.
"Hey."
"What?" Kotone asked, annoyed.
"You two came to school with Yukari, right?"
"Two?"
"Makoto is right next to us, dude," Minako pointed out.
"Ah, you're right."
"Yes...?"
"Do either of you know if she has a boyfriend?"
Seriously...?! Kotone sighed, annoyed, and turned to face the boy behind her, "No idea."
"Really? I thought—"
"I hear someone talking," one of the teachers in the auditorium spoke up, "It's someone in Ms. Toriumi class."
This is why I didn't want to talk...
The rest of the meeting went by surprisingly quickly. It didn't get more interesting or anything, but the lack of people trying to disturb her allowed Kotone to relax quite a bit. Once everyone was dismissed, Kotone, Makoto, and the rest of their class followed Toriumi to the second floor, where their classroom was. Toriumi asked both Makoto and Kotone to stand in front of the class and present themselves to the rest of their peers, and despite neither being particularly interested in doing so, they followed her instructions anyway.
Minako attempted to have Kotone adopt a cheerful and friendly tone when speaking, probably so she'd sound more like Minako herself. Kotone understood why she wanted that, but the best she could muster was a "I'm Shiomi Kotone, nice to meet y'all", which Minako was quick to complain about.
"Seriously? You couldn't at least act like you were interested?"
"Look, I'm sorry—"
"Also, what's with the y'all? You should at least try to sound more formal!"
"I get you, but—"
"More importantly— The way you refer to yourself is all wrong!"
"...huh?"
"You've been talking about yourself like a guy would."
"N-Now that you mention it, I didn't notice that..."
What Kotone got out of their conversation was that at this point it was too late to change up how she acted. She would have to deal with whatever comes of it later, she decided.
"This is going to be a long day..." Kotone muttered to herself.
—
Author's Note:
So, uh, hello there.
When I started this I didn't really want to have any author's notes, however I felt like I needed to explain some choices I made, cause some people might be confused.
First of all, Mitsuru; I've been trying my best to stick to the original aspects story, disregarding some really stupid changes the localization did (like characters saying each other's first names all the time despite that just not being how Japanese people go about it), however I decided to maintain Mitsuru being able to speak French from the localization. In case y'all didn't know, in the original Japanese, Mitsuru speaks English every now and then, rather than French, but that'd be a little weird for an english story, so I'll keep her being able to speak French.
More importantly; in regards to how Kotone refers to himself/herself, she/he utilizes ore, more commonly and widely used by men in less formal situations, rather than the expected watashi that most girls use (it isn't unacceptable for girls to use boku or ore, but it is very uncommon).
Anyway, I was hoping this chapter would be out in November, but I just wasn't satisfied with the amount of ground I covered in the story, but here it is. Still a bit unsatisfied, but that's on me for writing so much dialogue