The weekend passed and a couple of ordinary days flew by. Club activities made the afternoons fun, but it seemed that education was boring no matter the school.
Kozue, Kawahara-san, and I sat on the bench in the same garden as always on break. We had already eaten and there wasn't much time left to return to class. No much progress about the swapping was made, but we tried to gather as much information as possible without swapping. However, we also chatted about other things.
"There'll be no school for a week?" I asked Kozue after she mentioned it, sitting beside me.
She nodded. "Kasen gives us an entire week of holidays for the Golden Week, starting tomorrow."
"That's nice. Shouldn't we take advantage of it and go on our date?"
She stared at me for a moment before turning her head and giggling. "I-I guess."
"But it has to be before Monday; I'm leaving town for our annual family camping."
"Oh, sure. It sounds fun!"
"It is."
"What about you, Kawahara?" Kozue asked her, while she sat next to her and wrote in her notepad.
"I want to organize everything about our research. And there's a chance that my parents and I will go out together."
Having finished her salad, Kozue stood up in a jump. "Awesome!"
She didn't see the person walking by in front of us, who accidentally pushed her towards me. Fortunately, she managed to grasp my shoulder and halt her fall before we touched.
Kozue immediately recovered her stance and apologized to the person who pushed her; there were no major repercussions.
The person walked away and Kozue nervously asked me, "Did we touch?!"
"I don't think so."
"You should wait a few minutes just to make sure," Kawahara-san suggested, having already started a timer on her phone.
"Sure…," Kozue sighed.
Not even five minutes passed and we began yawning. Kawahara-san instantly tapped on her phone.
"Uh oh," Kozue uttered.
I let out a deep long breath and looked down at the ground. "I've only read about music, not practiced. I'm not prepared to have another club meeting in your body."
"Yeah… I can teach you. I-If you want, of course!"
"That would be the best."
"But I don't own any instruments, I only practice here at school."
"You can come to my house," I said and Kozue's cheeks flushed. "But what are we going to do today?"
Kozue looked up to the sky and I stared down, both thoughtful.
"Why not swap bodies now and then swap back before the club activities?" Kawahara-san suggested.
"Nice idea!" Kozue shouted. "But…"
"Is there something wrong?" I asked.
"I don't know, I guess not," she giggled. "Should we sleep now?"
"There are only five minutes of break left. I suggest you do it in the classroom," Kawahara-san replied.
"Okay. Then let's meet after class at the stairs?" Kozue asked.
I nodded.
"Just a quick question," Kawahara-san interrupted. "How sleepy do you feel?"
"Well, I just feel like sleeping would be nice, but nothing too bad," Kozue answered.
"Same. The extreme sleepiness comes after a couple of hours," I added.
"Understood. Let's meet this afternoon, then."
Kozue and I nodded. She and Kawahara-san walked away together to their classroom and I headed alone to mine. Yawns wouldn't stop coming.
I arrived and saw Sae-san chatting with her friends. I thought of telling her that Kozue and I were about to swap bodies but decided it wasn't necessary.
I sat in my seat in front of Sae-san's and relaxed. My eyes began closing on their own. When someone tapped my shoulder.
"Hey, Koji-kun!" Sae-san said, sitting behind me. I turned around; her friends were already gone. "How was your break?"
"It was fine. And yours?"
"Was okay. Though it would've been better if we spent it together," she grinned while I couldn't help but yawn. She chuckled. "Was my pick-up line really that dull? Wait, is it because…?"
I nodded. "We decided to swap bodies before our club activities to avoid what happened last time."
"Oh, I see. Sorry for bothering you, then. And don't worry, I'll keep Suzuka company."
"Thanks."
It was obvious in her tone and expression that she was disappointed, but what else could I have done?
My eyes shut down in a blink and the bell chimed not even a second later. I opened my eyes and I already was in Kozue's body, feeling somewhat dizzy. Maybe we swapped bodies too fast.
Rem-san was sitting in front of me, while Hashimoto-san stared at me at my left, but she snapped her head away as soon as I looked at her.
Yasue-sensei arrived and vigorously greeted us, "What's up, students? Are you ready for P.E today?"
Wait, P.E?
The majority of people replied somewhat energetically and began to stand up.
"Yasue-sensei! Can I have five minutes with the class before heading out?" Tsuga-san asked.
"Oh, what for?"
"A brief announcement and a memorandum need to be delivered to the class."
"Didn't you have time for that in homeroom?"
Tsuga-san bowed. "I'm very sorry! I just found out myself as well!"
Yasue-sensei sighed. "Sure, don't worry. I'll see you all in the gymnasium in ten minutes with your clothes already changed."
Oh no.
"Yes! Thank you, Yasue-sensei, We'll be as quick as yourself!"
"Ha! I want to see that," Yasue-sensei laughed and stepped out of the classroom, closing the door behind him.
Tsuga-san walked to the front of the room and, suddenly, everyone's gaze was on me.
Why's everyone staring at me?
"Psst!" Rem-san uttered in front of me, looking back. Then she moved her head, signaling I should also walk to the front.
Confused, I stood up and headed next to Tsuga-san while trying to hide my bewilderment with a smile.
Tsuga-san began speaking to the class from behind the teacher's desk. "As you all know, the Golden Week is about to start and, like every year, Kasen will give us an entire week of holidays!"
Everyone clapped, so I followed them, still trying my best to smile as Kozue would.
"The principal simply wants us to take care during this long weekend and to stock up the most energy we can because, only two weeks after this break, the Club Fair will take place!"
Everyone clapped less energetically as if just hearing the words Club Fair made them tired.
"I know, I know, but let's give our best!" Tsuga-san giggled. "That was the announcement, thank you for listening. We'll now proceed to hand you memorandums so your guardians will be aware of it. Please head to the locker room and change after receiving it, then head to the gymnasium."
Tsuga-san gave me half of the papers he was holding. Then he walked to the left side of the classroom and began handing out the memos. I did the same on the right side.
There were no further problems while doing it and I only recognized Kawahara-san, who was staring at me creepily.
As people received their memorandum, they walked out of the classroom to change clothes. That made me calm down since I was no longer going to need to change in a room full of girls.
Tsuga-san and I finished handing the memos. The room was empty, so we also headed out. Just then I realized I had to walk along with him to the locker room.
I hope he doesn't talk—
"How was your break, Kozue-san?"
Dammit.
"It was good, the usual," I smiled. "And yours?"
"That's great! Mine was okay, it would've been better if we had spent it together," he smirked.
I couldn't help but stop smiling and expose my dull expression. Really?
Probably panicking from my reaction, he quickly continued, "W-We should study together more often, don't you think?"
"Sure! Group studying with everyone was fun last time," I replied.
"I-It really was," he nervously giggled; I could see his internal pain on his face. He suddenly took out his phone and showed me the screen. "By the way, I reached one hundred followers on SnappingToChat!"
So he's one of those people.
"That's awesome!"
"I know, right? Do you want to appear in one—"
"No," I innocently smiled.
"I didn't even finish saying it, but that's fair. I guess not everyone is made for public recognition."
That's not the reason, but I agree with him.
We arrived at the locker room not long after and he stepped in the male side. I slowly approached the female side, peeking out of the corner to recognize the perimeter. Fortunately, it was empty, so I headed in.
The next problem appeared immediately; what was Kozue's locker? And more importantly, what was its combination? There were no clues at all and she had never told me about her locker—unless the combination was the same as her phone password.
I looked around for any sign, but it was hopeless. Time was running out.
Will Kozue reply if I send her a message? Or maybe I should ask her friends for help, but I don't know if she has told them about the swapping.
"Hey, Su-chan, why are you taking so long? Were you enjoying alone time with Tsuga-kun?" Hashimoto-san teased, coming out from behind some lockers along with Rem-san. They were already wearing a white t-shirt and blue shorts for P.E.
What?
"You haven't even changed," Rem-san added.
They approached one of the dozens of lockers and Hashimoto-san quickly spun its knob. It soon was unlocked, but she left the panel closed.
"Come on, or we'll be late," she said.
"Yes, sorry," I nervously giggled.
I approached the locker as they kept staring at me. I lifted my arm to pull the panel open, but I couldn't do it. I didn't know what was inside and I didn't want to invade Kozue's privacy.
I sighed. "Look, I don't know if Kozue has told you about it, but I'm not her. I actually am—"
"Araki-kun," Hashimoto-san finished my sentence.
"She told you."
"A few days ago," Rem-san said.
"Then why didn't you stop me? Was it some kind of trust test?"
"We were just teasing you. We were going to stop you if you actually tried to see inside," Hashimoto-san replied. "But you need to change clothes, so we have a problem."
"I know. How did you know it was me? We haven't even introduced ourselves properly."
"It's pretty obvious. We've known her for years, after all," Rem-san answered. "And it would be weird to introduce ourselves like this, so let's wait."
"Close your eyes," Hashimoto-san requested.
"What? Why?"
"Just close them."
I sighed and closed my eyes.
"Lift your arms."
"Are you really going to do it?"
"We have no other choice."
My heart started pounding as I raised my arms. Then my button shirt was pulled from the bottom to the top until it was off, but I still felt something on my skin. I guessed it was a tank top.
"Wow," Hashimoto-san uttered. "Hey, Rem, look at this. Did they grow?"
"They did! She must be very happy about it."
The tank top was suddenly pulled up a little.
"And look at her abdomen! Has she been exercising?" Hashimoto-san questioned.
"You're right! I'm so jealous."
Suddenly, they began touching my stomach and I unconsciously stepped back.
Kozue is extremely ticklish!
"We're going to have another problem soon if you keep doing that," I said.
"Fine, but don't you wanna see?" Hashimoto-san asked teasingly.
"No."
"Boring."
Not even a second later, they unbuttoned my skirt and it fell down in an instant. Though the shorts underneath were still on.
"Look at her muscular legs!" Hashimoto-san shouted.
"Stop it," I said. They both laughed.
Your friends are quite dangerous, Kozue.
"We'll leave everything ready for you to come after the class and open her locker to change," Hashimoto-san said. "We'll hide her underwear, so you'll simply need to grab the clothes we just took off you."
"Sure, thank you."
"You're not gonna look more than you need, right?"
"No."
"And you're not gonna spy on the other girls, right?"
"I won't, I promise."
"Good, we'll believe your word. Now, lower your arms and extend them."
I kept following their instructions and we finished changing my clothes and shoes after two minutes. We quickly headed to the gymnasium that was just a couple of steps outside the lockers.
"By the way, I'm guessing Su-chan already told you about it, but please be very careful with her ankle," Rem-san said.
"I will, don't worry."
"There you are. Where were you?" Yasue-sensei questioned as we arrived.
"We're very sorry, Su-chan had some problems with her clothes, but we helped her to fix them," Hashimoto-san answered.
He sighed. "Sure, nice of you for helping her. Now join the warm-up or cramps will rip your body later in the class!"
"Yes, sir!" Hashimoto-san and Rem-san replied like soldiers. Then we walked to the center of the court where everyone was doing arm circles. We stood at the back.
The class then continued as I expected. My balance was a little off since Kozue was a lot shorter than me and I was already kind of used to Kozue's strength. Her upper body was weaker than mine, but her legs were much more agile.
What I didn't expect at all was how weak and prone to pain her ankle was. It was unnoticeable when walking but, as soon as I tried to make an extra effort, it would shut down.
However, I managed to survive through the class and successfully change clothes without seeing something I shouldn't. The rest of the day slowly went by and Kozue and I swapped back to our own bodies for our club activities.