Thank you, to my sweet reviewer Guest (I'm loving the mystery), glad you are enjoying this story. I'm dedicating this chapter to you, cause you're awesome :) And the rest of you, don't be shy, I can handle the truth. Nothing can be more disheartening than my supervisor's comments on my thesis lol.

Chapter 3

First thing Ray sensed was a comfortable warmth, which stood in stark contrast with the intrusively bright light penetrating his shut eye lids. When he opened his eyes, he was met by an intense glare of sunlight. Naturally he pulled his hand to his face to block it, and instinctively rolled to his side. It was then that he noted how firm and uncomfortable the surface was, that he was lying on. His eyes met the label of a half empty bottle of gin.

It would appear he had passed drunk outside somewhere. He never was a big drinker, typically getting the famed "Asian blush" after a single beer. Confused and disoriented, he sat up in order to get a better view of his surroundings. This made his stomach curl and he had to hold back the vile that was creeping up, trying to force its way to freedom. Short of a disgusting burp, the contents remained in his stomach.

He was lying on a concrete construction, that itself towered about two meters over a cement-tiled roof top, amongst a sea of buildings. In the distance he could barely make out the familiar river and rolling hills. He experienced momentary relief in knowing that nobody else could see him in this state, followed by abrupt panic when he realised, that he had no idea how he had gotten here and more importantly, how the fuck his skin had turned white. He briefly considered aliens, as all things considered, they seemed like the most logical cause. Then he recognised pimped up cargo pants and thermal tank top. There was only one person he knew who dressed like a 90s rapper that got lost in an alpine sportswear store.

Well, that was slightly more comforting, but why was he in Kai's body? Ray's surprising calmness in this situation was thanks to stories of the souls jumping bodies being a prominent feature in his village's mythology. He knew that these were not random or irreversible. There was always a cause and a solution. He could leave it up to chance, but the fastest way to return to his body would be to figure out why they had switched in the first place.

Hoping that Kai's possessions would provide an answer, he looked through Kai's fanny pack. There, he found a plastic bag containing a toothbrush, his face paint (priorities, eh), a pre-flip phone aged Nokia (so that bastard had lied about not having a cell phone, seemed he just didn't want them to contact him), a pack of Kai's favourite brand of cigarettes (a nasty habit he had picked up a while ago, to the distaste of the others), and a suspicious looking bundle of cash. Multiple 10,000 yen notes, tied together by a simple rubber band. Ray counted at least 20 of them. A theory was starting to take shape in his mind. Next step would be to confront Kai about it, whom Ray concluded was lying in his very own room, confused and asking himself how he got there. He wasn't all that familiar with the town, but he knew that he was in the business district and that Tyson's place was nearby. The easiest would be to find it and make his way towards his apartment from there.

He jumped off the construction, leaving behind the gin bottle. Surely a detox would do Kai well. After landing softly on his feet, he was surprised to learn he had been sleeping on top of a gently humming generator. It was a lot less loud than one would expect. He scanned his surroundings. There was bound to be a door that would lead downstairs. It didn't take him long to locate it amongst the lines of laundry spanning across the rooftop. Oddly enough though, he felt compelled to wipe his hands on his pants after touching the handle. A brief thought shot through his head, attempting to reason this behaviour as "traces of everyone who touched this will remain on my hands". The same compulsion was repeated after he pressed the button to summon the elevator. Despite his own pants surely being dirtier, especially after having slept on the floor, this "fix" provided relief. Ray had never suspected Kai of being a germophobe. It made no sense to him, as the guy frequently slept outside and had never before shown any qualms about eating street food with his unwashed hands or using public restrooms.

When he left the building, he noticed another peculiarity. It was rush hour, the streets were packed with honking cars and shouting people, yet it seemed quieter than one would expect. As he was waiting to cross the street an ambulance rushed by, and not just did its siren sound less shrill, it's volume and pitch picked up significantly when it passed him by, only to gradually fade again. Despite the surroundings being quieter overall, this effect made Ray soon overwhelmed by his sense of hearing. It was hard to estimate distances of cars and people as the input to his ears was uneven. It wasn't until he retreated into a quieter alley, that he could sort out his thoughts and reflect on what he had just experienced.

Clearly, Kai had a hearing problem. Problem was an understatement. The dude was almost deaf, and the left ear way worse off than the right. Ray didn't even register when someone called out to him. To be fair, that could have also had something to do with him not being used to reacting to Kai's name. This someone tapped his shoulder and he spun around to come face to face with… himself.

But not like he was used to seeing himself. The face was his but not quite, despite the stuff that he couldn't quite place his finger on, he noticed the scar on his chin being on the left side now.

"Well I'll be damned. I thought I just look bad in pictures, but this is the real me. What a blow."

"Ray!" His clone called out, smiling softly and throwing his arms around him. This was definitely not Kai. Based on the reaction it was…

"Max?"

"Yup."

"So, you're involved in this too." Thanks to this new development, the neatly packaged theory that he had come up with to explain their switch was tossed out the window.

"Tyson … meet …, but he … late, as usual." Max explained. His voice sounded more muffled than Ray was used to, and he couldn't quite make out every word, but he got the gist of it.

"At least some things never change." He joked.

Max mumbled something, but since a car passed by in that moment, Ray was unable to make out any of the words this time.

Kai hadn't told them of his disability, so clearly this was something he wanted to keep to himself. Maybe he was embarrassed. Maybe it made him feel vulnerable. Whatever the reason was, it wasn't Ray's place to tell the others, so he chose his words wisely:

"Could you repeat that, I am still getting used to Kai's ears."

Instinct compelled him to look at Max' lips, and this time he had no problem. It made him wonder if all the times Kai had given them the usual "I don't care", he was trying to mask that he didn't hear what they had said.

"Oh, tell me about it. Tyson's vision is trippy. The way he sees colours is entirely different to how I am used to."

"Dude, that's because you're colourblind." Tyson shouted, loud enough for even Ray to hear him.

Max was taken aback by this revelation. "Nah, no way… I mean…" As much as he wanted to deny it, it slowly dawned on him. "Holy shit, is this how everyone else sees the world?"

"Yup."

"My favourite shirt and pants are two different colours?" Mind blown.

"Yeah man." Tyson was holding his stomach, laughing. "That explains your terrible fashion sense."

Jumping back and forth to read their lips was exhausting, no wonder Kai clicked out. Maybe, like Max, he was unaware of how much his sensory perception differed from normal. But if Kai and Max were unaware, maybe Ray was too. That thought spooked him.

The two of them turned away from each other and were now looking at him expectantly. He made a guess.

"Yes… let's go."

It appeared he had guessed correctly. They made their way inside. Tyson's grandfather was standing in the garden, Kendo sword in hand, rehearsing a drill with the day's first class.

"T-bone is still sleeping." He informed them.

It seemed Kai had inherited Tyson's body clock. Tyson himself was chewing on his lips, the inner conflict reflected on his face. Ray deduced he was probably debating whether he should run up to his grandfather and tell him about the whacky occurrence, but thankfully resisted. While grandpa was no doubt trustworthy and just open minded and fond enough of the new age dogmas to maybe believe them, dealing with the group of students could only be bothersome.

As expected, they found Kai in Tyson's bed. Amusingly enough, despite being stuck in Tyson's clumsy body, the way he was lying, straight and orderly, his arms neatly tucked next to his legs, was undoubtedly a manifestation of his true self.

"Kai, wake up!" Tyson shouted.