Chapter 4

I was going to throw the piece of paper with Akiro's cell number in the waste paper bin, but found I couldn't. Why would he give me his number? And why did he say he felt I would need to speak to him again? Just then I started feeling that same fuzzy, tingling feeling I had yesterday. Oh, no...don't tell me...

I ran for the girls toilets and locked myself in until the bell for school rang and I could hear that no one was in the girls toilets area. The mirror confirmed my suspicion...I was a guy again... what on earth?! What could I do? I had no guys clothes to change into... Should I message Mr Usui? He would have arrived home already. I didn't want to be a bother to anyone... Just then the door opened. I was certain that I was done for... whatever girl would see a guy in a girl uniform would be traumatized for the rest of her life...

What...?!

"Akiro?! What are you doing the girls toilets?!"

"I'm saving your ass and I could ask you the same, Akiro Suo. Here."

He tossed a bag at me. It contained a guy's uniform.

"Change quickly. I will keep the coast clear, but only for 2 minutes. Thereafter you are on your own."

With that he disappeared out the door. What just happened? Oh right! I quickly changed and went out, but didn't see Akiro anywhere. Did he joke when he said he was keeping the coast clear? I didn't see any girls in the area... How did he know I had changed back into a guy?

I couldn't concentrate during classes and couldn't wait for the lunch break bell to ring. I immediately rushed out to find Akiro, but got intercepted by some girls.

"Sou! Is it true? Are you and Igarashi an item?"

One of the school's papers got pushed into my hands. The front page article had photos of me and Akiro and the question – "A couple or not?" It stated that a reliable source had heard the two of us talking like lovers in the boys locker room... My face turned red. I wanted to kill Tako...

"Look how red his face is!" a girl exclaimed.

"Then it must be true!"

"Oh, that is so HOT! The hottest two guys in our school makes the perfect unobtainable duo!"

I couldn't believe my ears. The girls were getting all hot and bothered about two guys...being a couple?!

"I'm not gay," I said flatly and walked off, but then got intercepted again.

"Sou!"

This time it was a teary looking Kari. She grabbed my hand.

"I heard from Ayane that you had gone back home! I thought that my rudeness yesterday made you decide to leave! I'm so sorry!"

"Er...Ka...Miss Honda...no, that is not it at all. It wasn't your fault you got bumped. Don't worry about it," I said this while petting her lightly on the head with my free hand, hoping this was a comforting gesture and giving her the brightest smile I could muster.

"Oh!" she exclaimed and her face turned red. Then she ran off again. What was it with this girl and running off every time?

I just started my search for Igarashi when I had the fuzzy, tingling feeling. Not again... I ran for the boys toilets this time and locked myself in until after the school bell rang. My girl uniform was now with my bag in the classroom. I had no choice but to keep wearing the guy's uniform. I peeked out to make sure there were no boys around before dashing out of the boys room. I decided to run to the rooftop since there wouldn't be anyone there during classes and luckily I didn't meet any teachers on the way.

I did the only thing I could do. I messaged Akiro because he clearly knew something.

After what felt like eternity I heard the door open and Akiro stepped out.

"Oh, have you been waiting long?" he asked in a lazy tone, "I'm sorry, but I got ambushed by some girls on the way. You wouldn't think they would skipp class just to ask me if we were dating."

"Dating?! You mean you and guy me?"

"It seems like the human girls in this school fancy guys who like other guys. Perhaps something to do with desiring what they can't have or something like that... I don't get it though."

"Neither do I... and I already told them I'm not gay."

"Really? Oh well...I told them I liked you very much."

"What?! Why did you do that?!"

Akiro laughed softly.

"Since you are borrowing my powers, I felt I needed a reason to be close to you. If you go on a rampage or something I will be indirectly responsible for your actions. And since you refuse to kiss me again to reverse the 'borrow' you will just have to be my boyfriend. It is also an effective way of keeping unwanted attention of desperate human girls at bay...or so I had thought. A win-win situation I would say. He-he..."

"For you perhaps, but this is a disaster! I don't want to spend the rest of my life being known as a gay guy! No offense meant...I mean perhaps that is your preference after all... That reminds me, why am I changing all the time?!"

"Oh so you finally figured out something's up."

"Don't tell me you won't tell me?"

"I might...for a price?"

"What price?"

"If you play along with the charade for now I will tell you what I know."

I didn't like this, but what other options did I have?

"Okay... I'll do it."

"Glad to see you are so co-operative. Here's the thing, if you touch a girl you will change into your girl form. If you touch a guy, you turn into a guy. Simple."

"What? Is that it? But...that means I could never touch a person of the opposite sex if I don't want to change..."

"Unless you begged me to kiss you to reverse the borrow."

"Like I will ever do that!"

"Then that is how it will be. You will just have to put up with the switches and being my boyfriend until you change your mind."

I couldn't help but think that Akiro was enjoying this... what a bully!

The next couple of days went by in a blur. Now that I knew what caused the switch I knew to avoid skin on skin contact when I didn't want to switch. I sort-off started a juggling-act, trying to be Ayane as much as possible, but accidents happened in which case I had to find an excuse to touch a boy or girl depending on the situation. I started wearing gloves to minimise accidental contact. However, I soon discovered I would have to choose one. I could not be both at the same time and not have my grades suffer since both Sous' were in the same grade and attending half the classes as a boy and half as a girl didn't make my teachers happy either. Kari was very worried about me too, saying that I've changed since I'd been sick and she was upset that I lied about my cousin having gone back home. Things were becoming more and more complicated...

So I decided I would stick to being Akiro for now. I had my grandma sign a letter after explaining to her why I was doing this. Ayane would be kept home for the rest of the semester due to illness. I figured this would give me enough time to find a way to break the 'curse'. So far Mr Usui had not been able to find much on the subject other than what I already knew and Igarashi wasn't being helpful either.

He made sure to show up every day during lunch time to see what was in my lunch box and Today was no exception.

"So, what's for lunch today Sou?" he said and nonchalantly sat down next to me. Kari was also there. I somehow managed to 'befriend' her as Akiro and it seemed to work fine as long as I didn't let her touch me. So far she kept her distance even though I knew she had a crush on the 'guy' me. She often sent things back for Ayane or girl me. I didn't realise how much she cared.

"Hey, Sou! Stop spacing out already!" Akiro's voice interrupted my thoughts.

"Oh...here you go," I said and passed the bento box to him. I didn't have much of an apetite today.

"Not mushrooms again! Didn't I tell you I don't like those?" Akiro complained.

"I like them, so just leave them for me," I replied unconserned. At least this ensured there would be some left for me. Akiro had a huge appetite; I quickly learned to make triple the amount I usually did.

"Oh, and the riceballs are a bit too soft today...and the eggs..."

Something in me snapped. It was that time of the month for the girl me, so my mood wasn't the greatest lately. I wondered what all the gender changes was doing to my poor body...

"Then go and make them yourself tomorrow! I'm not your freakin' personal chef, so give me a break!" I shouted and got up and walked off, leaving a stunned Kari and Akiro behind. There were some girls milling about who quickly scrammed when they saw my dark expression. It was unbelievable how they still liked guys who were supposedly 'gay'. We still got so much attention that some of the straight guys got jealous. Go figure...

Just then the school bell rang, but somehow I didn't feel like attending class. Eventually I got to the roof and hid in a spot that could not be seen should someone come and check. It was a clear sunny day. I closed my eyes and fell asleep. I had all sorts of weird dreams about shadows and feathers and whispers that didn't make any sense.

Eventually I woke up. My head was lying on something very comfortable. Where was I? I remembered that I came to the school's rooftop... I opened my eyes and looked up into Akiro's face. His eyes were closed, like he was in meditation and I was lying with my head on his lap. I quickly sat up.

"What do you want?" I snapped. I was feeling strangely dazed and groggy and embarrased.

"You were out like a rock. Do you realise that it is already after school?" Akiro asked unperturbed by my outburst.

"What?" I looked at my watch and realised that hours had already passed. The sun was already starting to set. It felt like I had only slept a few minutes and like I could sleep much longer.

"Oh...Mr Usui's not going to be very happy..." I said getting up slowly. I was unstable on my feet.

"I had already explained to him and told him I would take you home."

"You did? And he left just like that?"

So much for protection...

"I am more than capable of protecting you from other demons," he said as if reading my mind.

"Besides, I wanted to speak with you."

"What about?"

"About earlier today..."

"Oh, you mean lunch-time...don't worry about it. I am just having a bad-hair day..." I said trying to wave off the issue.

"Still...it was rude of me to insult you. I didn't realise you made those things yourself... I am sorry."

I stared at Akiro and realised soon after my mouth was hanging open.

"What is that look for? I'm not the ass you believe me to be. I have my reasons you know."

"Really? Like what?"

Akiro laughed softly.

"Perhaps I will tell you one day."

"Huh, cryptic as always...since you won't tell me why don't you tell me how to get around this curse I am under?"

Akiro suddenly pulled me close to him.

"Oh, so are you ready to plead for a kiss?" he asked with his face very close to mine.

I immediately pushed him away.

"Get real! I'm not kissing you, it is...just wrong!"

Why was my heart pounding like mad? My face felt hot too.

"I'm a guy at the moment, for goodness sake!" I added, trying to convince myself that was the reason.

Akiro laughed and looked out over the rooftop. The last rays of sunlight was busy dying away.

"Are you not at least curious to know what powers you borrowed from me?" he asked without looking at me.

"Powers...oh you mean apart from being a guy and an ass?"

"Your smart-mouthing is going to get you in a lot of trouble one of these days, Sou," he said looking at me with a calm expression. It struck me that he was actually very attractive, especially when he smiled gently like that. Hang on, what was I thinking?!

"Um...so okay, what special powers am I supposed to be in awe off?"

As I was saying that, Akiro changed. Two very long beautiful black wings spread open on his back. His black hair lengthened too. I had forgotten...he was a black-winged tengu, so did that mean I could fly too?

"You can."

"Stop reading my...!" I started saying, but he had suddenly come close to me and I was struck completely dumb by his beauty. If I had thought Akiro was attractive in human form, this completely overshadowed it. His eyes were dark and the shape of them reminded me of a bird of prey, but his features were inhumanely beautiful. His skin was pale and perfect and his lips...

"You know the black book says lust is a sin."

I was pulled out of my thoughts and realised I had been staring at him like a real idiot.

"I AM NOT LUSTING AFTER YOU PERVERT!" I shouted at him.

"It's just...I've never had a chance to look at a demon close-up before...well, one that wasn't scaring the life out of me and wanted to chomp on me ten seconds later."

"You mean you have not seen Mr Usui and Yukiya in their demon forms?" Akiro asked in surprise.

"Not their true forms, only that their eye colour changes sometimes... the demon that attacked me the other day was the first one I actually saw in true form..."

My recollection of it biting into my neck made me shiver.

"I didn't mean to make you recall an unpleasant memory...I want to replace it with something new. Here, take my hand."

I hesitated for a moment but then took Akiro's hand. When I did so I could feel power waking up inside me and I could feel it manifest itself into wings on my back. I looked and sure enough, there were two pure white wings on my back and I could control them. I flexed the one open and then the other.

"This is so...AWESOME!" I couldn't help but exlclaim and in the process ended up hitting Akiro with my one open wing.

"Hey, hey! Watch your wings!" he said, but he didn't sound angry. I then realised I was still holding Akiro's hand.

"Oh...um...if I let go of your hand...will they disappear?"

"No...I just helped awaken what is already in you. You should be able to do this yourself from now on. This is part of the power you borrowed from me. You are able to duplicate anything I can do...to some extend."

"Really? Wow..."

Before I could say anything else, Akiro pulled me righ over the side of the building.