A Sweet Exchange

Written by: SyrinxSilenus

Date of creation: May 17, 2021

No Beta!

Prologue:

They say the lake by the Ryuzaki vacation house was cursed.

Locals whisper that it messes with time, fate, and maybe even your love life—especially if you're dumb enough to fall in.

Echizen Ryoma didn't believe in ghost stories or weird countryside legends. Curses? Magical water? Please. The only thing he believed in was winning—and not getting distracted by awkward things like, say, a shy girl confessing her feelings while they were waist-deep in fish-infested water.

But of course, that's exactly what happened.

They were knee-deep in the lake, two teens flailing around like contestants on a low-budget survival reality show, when Ryuzaki suddenly blurted it out.

"I—I like you, Ryoma-kun!"

Ryoma froze. A fish slapped him in the face before diving back into the water, followed by an ominous rumble of thunder, as if the sky itself muttered, "Uh-oh."

He blinked. "What?"

Her face turned an impossible shade of red before she shouted again, "I s-said I l-like you, R-Ryoma-kun!"

There was a painfully long pause before Ryoma replied, "I'm sorry," his brow furrowed. "I don't have time for silly crushes."

Her expression fell as she forced a smile. "O-Okay, Ryoma-kun. I u-understand."

It was painful to look at her. He didn't mean to hurt her—it was just the truth.

Ryoma nodded, turning his back on her as he futilely tried to catch a fish. "Let's just get some fish and head back to the house."

But as soon as he bent down to dip his hand into the water—

BOOM.

Lightning struck a tree nearby. Ryuzaki jumped, slipped on a rock, and flailed like a headless chicken. Ryoma, on pure instinct, lunged to catch her—forgetting that he, too, was standing on slick, mossy stones.

What followed was less of a fall and more of a slow-motion disaster:

Ryuzaki screamed.

Ryoma yelped.

Their hands scrambled for anything to grab—each other, maybe the air—and in the chaos, their faces collided.

Cue: the most tragically timed accidental kiss in history as they both tumbled into the lake.

And just like that, the universe decided, Yeah, that's enough nonsense for today.

SPLASH.

The lake swallowed them whole.

Ryoma somehow managed to drag Ryuzaki out, soaked, sputtering, and barely conscious. Everyone else panicked. Ryoma sulked—and pretended nothing weird had happened.

But the real chaos began the next morning.

Ryoma woke up feeling... off.

He stretched and yawned, then froze mid-motion, like someone had hit the pause button on a remote—because the sound that came out of his mouth was very girly.

His clothes were soft. His body was… squishy?

Ryoma bolted upright like a springboard, and something long and unfamiliar slapped him in the face.

Hair.

He grabbed and pulled it.

Ouch!

"What the hell," he muttered—and stopped. That voice again. High and soft. Definitely not his.

Panic rang in his brain like a thousand alarms.

He looked down.

Yep. He was wearing the pinkest pajama top known to mankind, like Momo-senpai and Kikumaru-senpai had decided to dress him up as a Barbie doll in his sleep just to embarrass him and get a few laughs.

"Nope. No. Absolutely not."

He leapt out of bed, stomped over to the mirror—and froze.

Staring back at him, with wide, horrified eyes—

Was Ryuzaki Sakuno.

Ryoma screamed like a banshee.

To be Continued…