The clink of my pencil hitting the desk struck my ear every second, but that wasn't enough to mute the eager chats of everyone around me. It couldn't be helped, since it was the first day of high school. Yet, I didn't want to pry into anybody's conversation, even by accident. It was even worse when they noticed me looking at them creepily.
They were already trying hard to make friends, unlike me, who simply stared at the rectangular clock above the whiteboard. It struck half-past eight, thirty minutes later than the start of a regular day. Then again, it wasn't a regular day. We had just arrived from the opening ceremony and chosen our desks.
Where is the teacher?
A sudden blow of air grazed my ear, making me grasp my desk and jump forward. I turned around, only to see a girl smirking wickedly at me. She sat behind me, propping her head with her hand on her chin.
We stared at each other for an eternity, yet my mouth merely remained open with no words coming out. I eventually snapped my head away.
Who is she and what is she doing?!
She placed her hand on my shoulder. "Hey, don't be rude."
I'm the one being rude?!
"I was just trying to distract you. You keep hitting your desk with your pencil and your legs won't stop bouncing."
I had stopped hitting my desk thanks to her interruption, but I hadn't noticed my legs bouncing on the floor. They stopped doing so once I became conscious of it.
Why was she watching me, anyway?
"Hello? Aren't you going to say anything? At least look at me."
She keeps talking to me….
"Oh, are you mute? I'm sorry if I offended you, I swear I didn't mean it," she laughed nervously.
What should I do?
"I don't have anything against mute people, it's just that I don't know…"
She's going to believe that if I don't say anything.
As a last effort, I took my digital notebook out of my backpack and wrote on it as the girl kept talking. I made sure to write something short and concise to not take long and lifted the notebook in front of her, although I still didn't look at her.
"Eh? You're not mute? Then why aren't you talking to me? Am I that annoying? Or am I too ugly?"
I rushed to erase what I had written and wrote again, "No! I just… I'm not used to talking with people."
"Really? So, you're extremely shy."
"I guess so."
"That's weird; not in a bad way, of course. Does that mean you'll never talk to me or anyone?"
"I'll do it if I need to."
She took a little longer to reply, "I see. At least your handwriting is nice to look at. Most people will just type with the keyboard, including me," she giggled.
My lips curved up on their own. Luckily, she couldn't see my face.
It took me a couple of seconds to realize the conversation had come to a halt. I didn't know if she was waiting for me to say something and I didn't want to look back to find out.
She probably got bored already.
"Name's Emi, by the way. I hope we can be friends."
Her voice struck me once again, but it was the words that made my mind blank. However, I didn't feel rushed to reply.
I took my time to write, "I'm Keita. I hope that, too." I lifted my notebook to show it to her and glanced back to see her. She grinned at me once she read what I wrote. I snapped my head away again.
"Why don't we talk about ourselves?" she suggested. "Me first. I—"
"Good morning," the teacher greeted as he walked towards his desk in the front of the classroom.
Everyone stood up and replied in unison, "Good morning."
My brain took longer to process that I should stand up.
Showing no emotion whatsoever, the teacher placed his bag down on the desk and scanned the entire class in silence.
"Good. I hope you maintain that attitude longer than the previous generations."
He's not very nice, isn't he?
"I'm Dr. Akinori Tokugawa. You can call me teacher, professor, doctor, or Mr., whatever you prefer. Just make sure to call me by my last name only. Let's not waste any more time and take your seats. Except for you," he pointed at the guy in the front seat of the first row, "stay like that and tell us your name."
"Yes!" he shouted. "My name is Takeshi Abe, it's nice to meet you all. I like to—"
"There's no reason for me to know about your hobbies at this moment," Mr. Tokugawa interrupted. "Next."
Yeah, he's not very nice.
The rest of the row introduced themselves incredibly fast since they were simply saying their names out loud. I knew a lot of them would've loved to tell everyone more about themselves, but not me. I was grateful for not having to think about what to say like in elementary or middle school.
My heart pounded faster and faster as my turn approached. Before I realized it, the guy in front of me sat down. I jumped out of my chair without thinking. Even though I wasn't the most nervous I had been in my life, the breakfast in my stomach still insisted to come up. I tried my hardest to keep it where it belongs and spoke.
"I'm Keita Umehara. I…"
With no more words coming to my head, I hastily sat down. Why did I try to say more?!
"I'm Emi Araki," she promptly said. "I'm looking forward to working with everybody."
Compared to when she talked to me, she was remarkably serious. However, it was even weirder that the entire class had been filled with murmurs.
"Silence," Mr. Tokugawa ordered.
"Yes, my family owns a famous restaurant," Emi said to the class. "Is there a problem?"
"Araki, sit down."
"Yes, I'm sorry."
The introductions resumed. My heart calmed down, but I hoped they didn't make fun of me for my mistake. In fact, my heart calmed down so much that I got sleepy. I didn't find it weird, since I had barely slept the previous night because of the nervousness of the first day of high school.
The sleepiness had almost overpowered me in a matter of minutes. I stopped paying attention to the introductions and closed my eyes for a second.
"Araki," Mr. Tokugawa called. I opened my eyes but everything remained dark. "Araki, are you enjoying your nap?"
I raised my head when I realized my face was buried between my arms on the desk. Mr. Tokugawa stood in front of me with his arms crossed and stared at me.
"Did you rest well, Araki?" he jested.
Why is he looking at me while calling Emi's name?
A cold breeze suddenly brushed my legs. I looked down just for my view to be obstructed by two bumps emerging out of my chest beneath a blue ribbon. Below, I could see my knees exposed by a skirt. Something swung behind my head when I lowered it, so I reached for it. It was a long and silky bunch of hair.
I jumped out of my chair, almost pushing Mr. Tokugawa.
"What do you think you're doing?" he scowled.
"I'm sorry," I stuttered, "I—"
The guy sitting in front of me screamed out of nowhere. The voice sounded familiar, but it was hard to tell since it was a scream. I looked at him yet didn't believe what I was seeing. He turned around to look at me in terror; he was me.
"You… you…," he quivered. Not saying anything, he turned around and wrote something in my notebook. He showed it to me, "You are me!"
You are… me?
"Emi?"
She nodded frantically.
"You are also me," I added.
The notebook shook intensely as she held it in front of her.
"What is happening here?" Mr. Tokugawa asked. "Is this some kind of excuse for falling asleep in class?"
"No," I answered. "I did fall asleep, but it's true that I woke up in Emi's body. I'm Keita."
"And… I'm Emi," she breathed.
I stared at her, but her eyes wouldn't stop moving around. Why is she behaving like that?
"You shouldn't be joking about things like this," Mr. Tokugawa said. "Are you telling the truth?"
"We are," I answered and Emi nodded.
Mr. Tokugawa closed his eyes to take a long breath and sigh. "Go to the principal's office. You know where it is, right?"
"I don't," I replied.
Emi quickly wrote, "I do."
We stepped out of the murmuring classroom together and headed to the stairs two rooms away. I walked a couple of steps behind her and we exchanged glances as we reached the second floor but said nothing. Emi—in my body—stared at the floor when I felt the need to start a conversation.
"It seems like we have the CTCT-disease thing," I laughed nervously. "Have you heard about it before?"
Since she didn't bring my notebook with her, she took a while to reply, "Yes."
The conversation ended and she hadn't even looked at me. I didn't know what else to say, so we stayed silent until we arrived at the principal's office. Emi raised her arm to knock on the door but froze before doing so. She moved aside to let me knock. Is it because she's in my body?
I approached the door and knocked. Mrs. Asuka promptly answered.
"Come in."
We entered the room and closed the door. She sat behind a desk with folders and papers spread all over it as she worked on a computer. We had just seen her at the opening ceremony, where she gave a speech, but standing in front of her was even more imposing.
She stared at the screen and typed on her keyboard for a while. She then pivoted in her chair to look at us.
"I'm sorry, I'm a little busy since it is the first day and it just started. What do you need?" she smiled.
Emi and I glanced at each other. I knew she was going to struggle to talk, so I replied to Mrs. Asuka.
"Emi and I swapped bodies."
Mrs. Asuka stared at us, still smiling. She started to hit the desk with her nails while switching her gaze between Emi and me. Finally, she let out a long sigh.
"The teachers just got to their classes and this happens; it's going to be a long day. What's your name?" she asked me.
"Keita Umehara."
"Okay. Keita, I'll call your guardian. It'll be faster if you give me their number."
"Sure."
I patted my left thigh to look for my phone, just to remember I had left it in my backpack. To my surprise, I found it anyway. I took it out of my pocket and realized it wasn't my phone. I also remembered that I wasn't even in my body.
"What's the matter?" Mrs. Asuka wondered.
"I needed to check my contact list because my parents recently changed the phone company of the house, but I just remembered that I'm not in my body," I laughed nervously.
"Oh. Does that mean the contact information they filled is outdated?"
"No, it's been a while since they changed it, I just can't remember it yet."
"You should memorize it, it could be critical in certain situations."
"I will, I'm sorry."
"Don't worry, I'll look for their number on my computer."
Out of nowhere, Emi extended her arm in front of me, holding my phone already unlocked.
"Thanks," I said. "Mrs. Asuka, I'll look for it now."
"Splendid. In the meantime, I'll call your mother to my office, Emi. That means her class will be alone for a while, but I don't want to waste your father's time if it isn't necessary."
Wait. She knows Emi's name even though she didn't ask for it. And what does she mean her class will be alone?
Mrs. Asuka pulled a short, standing microphone from behind the screen and pressed a button on its base.
"Mrs. Kozue, please come to the principal's office as soon as possible," she spoke into the microphone.
I could only assume she had used the speakers throughout the entire school to make the announcement.
While waiting for Emi's mother, I gave my home phone number to Mrs. Asuka. The call lasted less than a minute, yet it was enough for Mrs. Kozue to arrive at the office. She knocked on the door and Mrs. Asuka asked her to come in.
"Did something happen?" Mrs. Kozue wondered. She frowned at me in confusion when she realized Emi and I were sitting on one of the two sofas in the office.
"Yes, something funny happened," Mrs. Asuka chuckled. "Suzuka, your daughter swapped bodies with one of her classmates: Keita."
Mrs. Kozue snapped her head towards us. "What?!"