Kasamatsu and the 7 Miracles
Chapter Three: Different
The first thing to register in Kasamatsu's mind was an odd sound. Tapping and rattling – the more he focused on the sound, the more distinct it became. 'Is it someone typing on a keyboard?' He guessed, slowly reaching up to rub at his head which throbbed painfully.
The next thing was that he remembered was getting clubbed on the head, just after… Kasamatsu shot up from wherever he was (at least it felt like a soft bed), and make a strange gasping-choking noise. The split-second he sat up, his head ached unpleasantly and suddenly his vision began to spin, so he closed his eyes as he let the nausea pass. A faint sigh pulled his wandering thoughts back his problem and Kasamatsu opened his eyes. His gaze was met with a woman, more particular – the school nurse. She appeared surprisingly young, with long, soft and silky looking blond hair.
"Akashi-kun, you shouldn't move around so much. You took a pretty hard hit to your head again."
'Again…? Wait- Akashi?!' Kasamatsu stood up hastily, only to be pushed back onto the bed gently. "You don't understand-" Kasamatsu tried to explain, but got cut off by the nurse.
"I know," She stated, pushing her glasses up her nose as she shook her head, as if disappointed. "I won't call your parents, since I know how much you hate it, Akashi-kun."
Kasamatsu did not know how to react to that. He sat there, gradually absorbing the information and feeling highly uncomfortable, but at the same time also very curious and confused. He cleared his throat, "I- I am fine now."
The nurse paused in her movements, tilting her head. "Akashi-kun?" She asked, hesitant.
"Yes?" Kasamatsu narrowed his eyes, thinking of how Akashi looked before this whole crazy and pretty much impossible incident.
"Ah, nothing." She shook her head, averting her gaze from him quickly. "Hopefully I won't see you soon." She offered a thin smile, moving to the door and opening it a second later.
Kasamatsu took that as his cue to get out and stood up reluctantly, not wanting the action to send his head spinning once more. He slowly walked out of the nurse's office, not entirely sure of what was going on exactly, but he decided that he would go to the washroom to confirm his suspicions.
He stepped into the boys' washroom and kept his eyes glued to the tiled floor. Fearing what he was going to see, Kasamatsu stopped in front of the row of sinks and squeezed his eyes shut. Releasing a breath he did not even know he was holding in, Kasamatsu opened his eyes and looked into the mirror.
Red and gold heterochromatic eyes stared back at him, and in a matter of seconds, Kasamatsu started to panic, 'How did this happen?! Why? Where is my real body?' A billion questions rushed around his head as he leaned against the counter, gripping the edge of the sink for support. 'That Akashi-brat must know… Those things he said to me, it couldn't be a coincidence. He must have done this.' Thought Kasamatsu, staring at a reflection that was not his own. He reached up and poked the soft flesh of his – Akashi's – cheek, and sighed.
By force of habit, Kasamatsu ran his fingers through the red strands of hair and decided that he would go and find Akashi. He left the bathroom and looked around, only just noticing that the school appeared to be pretty much empty, telling him that school had been over for quite a while now. He glanced up and noticed that he was also still on the first floor, making him move faster because he was close to the student council's room.
Kasamatsu walked down the hallway in a fast pace, heading in the direction of the student council room, stopping only momentarily to check just how late after school it was. 'Nearly 6 o'clock.' Kasamatsu nibbled on his – Akashi's – bottom lip and picked up the pace. Soon enough, he reached his destination and grabbed the handle, turning the knob.
The door swung open with ease, Kasamatsu's heterochromatic eyes instantly landing on his very own body that lay on a couch. Kasamatsu felt odd, staring at his own body, sleeping soundly. He shakily walked over to his body, staring at his slumbering form. Stiffly, Kasamatsu reached forward and touched his own face, feeling the soft, warm flesh of his cheek.
A hand suddenly gripped his wrist in the blink of an eye, making Kasamatsu flinch back. "What are you doing, Yukio-san?" Hearing his voice, cold and angry, sent a chill down his spin.
Kasamatsu frowned, "I think I should be asking you that, Akashi." He retorted lowly, averting his eyes as he tried to pull his – Akashi's – wrist away from – well, himself.
"Hm, yes. You are probably very confused right now."
"… A bit of an understatement."
"However," Akashi started icily, his voice practically dripping with poison, "Because of how we are different, yet somewhat similar – now that I've come to realize – I have a feeling that I will use you more often."
"Wh- What do you mean by that?"
"It is exactly as it sounds."
"…"
"I can switch back."
"I- I see." Kasamatsu nodded, "How?" He asked, frowning as he watched Akashi stand up and stretch. The first year in his body moved towards him, a smirk on his face.
"It is just a simple kiss." Akashi said, shrugging as if it were no big deal.
"Simple, huh?" Kasamatsu drawled out, flatly. He could feel his cheeks burn at the idea and his following question, "C- Can you switch us back?"
"Hmm…" Akashi hummed out, making Kasamatsu twitch in annoyance. He agreed, eventually. "Alright, but just know that when I need you, I'll come find you." With that, the first year intruding on Kasamatsu's body closed the distance between them.
Kasamatsu watched his very body move in closer, his own hand touching his – Akashi's – cheek and lean in close. He could feel his warm breath ghost over his – Akashi's – lips, just before the connection was made. Kasamatsu felt a bit weird, kissing himself, yet not himself. When he pulled away, he found that he was back in his own body, staring down at Akashi.
"That concludes business." Akashi stated rather formally, looking at Kasamatsu with an aloof expression.
"Right." Kasamatsu said nothing more, still finding what happened to him ever since lunch time on the highly strange side. 'All I wanted was to live a normal life, which included the normal, everyday lifestyle I am accustomed to… Switching bodies was definitely not on the list of 'normal'…'
It is now the next day, and despite having mildly disturbing nightmares of Akashi using his body to cause indestructible damage to everything (causing Kasamatsu to sleep past his alarm clock), he still managed to make it to school on time.
The steel-blue eyed teen was mildly breathless when he stepped through the school gates. He stopped jogging and moved into a slow walk in order to get his breathing back to normal. He noticed that most of the students were already in their classes, ready to start the school day, leaving just a few stragglers behind. Cool air rushed into his lungs, oddly enough making him shiver. Kasamatsu looked up, eyeing the sky which had turned from bright and clear to grey and cloudy in a matter of minutes.
Unable to keep his eyes off the dangerous-looking storm clouds, Kasamatsu tripped up the stairs. He managed to catch himself before falling, pausing momentarily to look around just to be sure that no one saw what had happened, before he proceeded on. Feeling his cheeks still burn from the embarrassment, Kasamatsu swung the door open, nearly having a heart attack when he heard a sharp gasp of pain from the space next to him.
"Oww." A mop of blue suddenly filled Kasamatsu's vision, causing him to blink and realize that with the mop of blue was attached a shorter teenager, most likely a first year. The blue haired boy pushed the door away from his face, a thin trickle of blood coming out of his nose.
Kasamatsu stared, feeling somewhat had, "Sorry." He apologized as he helped move the door out of the way, so the blue haired teen could move from his spot and get inside the school.
"It's alright, senpai. You didn't notice me." The boy murmured, casting his gaze skyward. "No one sees me." He added, quietly.
"I- I see you. Now, I mean." Kasamatsu stated, blinking at the way the blue haired tilted his head with his matching blue eyes widen for a second. He smiled after a moment, causing Kasamatsu to make a face of confusion. "Ah, your nose – it's bleeding."
"Ah." The teenager reached up and touched the wet trail of blood. "I'm going to go to cl-"
"Are you sure you don't need to go to the nurse's office?" Kasamatsu asked, watching the blood trickle further down the pale skinned teen's face. "You know what, let's go." Kasamatsu grabbed the bleeding boy and dragged him to the nurse's office. He knew he was missing class by now, but he did not care because he felt sort of responsible and bad for hitting a first year in the face with a door.
They arrived at the nurse's office, Kasamatsu getting a sense of déjà vu from when he was in here last, inside of Akashi's body. They nurse greeted them and began to attend to the blue haired teenager's bleeding nose.
"What happened?" She asked, staring at the boy curiously, shifting in order to push her glasses up her nose as they threatened to slip off.
"I walked into the door. But I was helped by…" The first year trailed off, looking up at Kasamatsu questioningly.
Kasamatsu seemed not to understand for a moment, until the questioning gaze finally clicked in his mind, "Kasamatsu." He offered his name, feeling a tad stupid for not getting it at first.
"By Kasamatsu-senpai." The first year repeated his name, turning back to face the nurse. She began to busy herself with wiping away the drying blood with a moist napkin.
"Your nose has stopped bleeding for now. You are free to go to class now." The nurse smiled, brushing her bangs out of her face after she tossed the red-stained napkin into the garbage can, along with her latex gloves.
"Thank you." The blue eyed boy offered his thanks, sliding off of the medical bed and heading straight for the door.
Kasamatsu followed behind him, raising his eyebrow at the nurse who had just given him a look that made him feel uncomfortable. The nurse caught his gaze and smiled again. She pushed her bangs out of her face once more and sat at her desk. "You should hurry to class, Kasamatsu Yukio-kun."
"R- Right." Kasamatsu nodded, closing the door on his way out. The steel-blue eyed third year stopped short of walking into the first year in front of him.
"Thank you, Kasamatsu-senpai." He said, whirling around, about to head to class.
"Oh, no problem…" Kasamatsu fell silent, realizing that he still did not know the blue haired teenager's name.
The shorter male smiled and responded, "Kuroko Tetsuya."
"Kuroko." Kasamatsu repeated, nodding slowly. "Well, y- you should get to class now. You don't want to get into too much trouble." He added quickly.
Kuroko nodded, "I will. See you, senpai." He spoke before disappearing down another hallway.
Kasamatsu began to make his way to class, thinking about the nurse who had given him that odd look. The day before, when Kasamatsu had been trapped inside of Akashi's body, she had also given him that same strange look. He thought it was weird, and found himself wondering if she knew anything about the whole body-swapping ordeal.
Kasamatsu entered his classroom, the teacher pausing in his explanation. All eyes landed on him, causing Kasamatsu to feel extremely awkward. He lowered his gaze to his shoes, stepping towards the teacher. "I'm sorry I'm late, sensei. I stopped to help a first year." Kasamatsu explained softly before maneuvering past the desk to sit at his desk.
The teacher gave him a brief nod, saying that he should try not to be late as much, before continuing on with class.
Kasamatsu tried his best to pay attention to class, but his mind and thoughts kept on drifting back to the blond nurse. He rubbed his head, feeling a headache coming on, when I thought suddenly struck him, 'How did she know my first name…?'
Awh *u* Thanks for reviewing, guys~
And to answer (one) of guests' questions: yeah, I post it on my account over on AO3 xD As for the other questions – we shall all have to wait and see, I suppose~
~WinterAssassin~