When Yaegashi Taichi arrived at school the next morning, he headed directly for the clubroom on the fourth floor of the Rec Hall. This was because, on his way there, he had received an email from one Kiriyama Yui that read “Meet in the clubroom as soon as you get here! MANDATORY.”
He and Nagase had only switched bodies just yesterday. Surely anyone in his shoes would have been on edge.
As soon as he entered the clubroom, he spotted Nagase Iori sprawled out on the couch, looking utterly zoned out. Her usual sparkle was now dark and cloudy. She must have been exhausted. She seemed... empty, somehow.
“Morning, Nagase... It is you, right?”
A question he ordinarily wouldn’t dream of asking someone first thing in the morning.
“Hiya, Taichi. At least, I’m guessing you’re Taichi.”
What a bizarre conversation.
About a minute or so later, a third person arrived at the clubroom.
“Sup, Ao—” Nagase stopped short.
Aoki Yoshifumi had entered the clubroom looking white as a sheet and ready to pass out at a moment’s notice—much like he had a few days prior.
“Y-You okay, buddy...?” Taichi asked hesitantly.
“Oh, yeah, totally... NOT!” On the outside—excluding his pallid complexion—Aoki looked to be his usual lanky, goofy self. His attitude, however, was completely off.
“You wouldn’t happen to be... Yui, by any chance...?” Nagase asked with a tone of forced cheer.
Kiriyama Yui had switched bodies with Aoki just three days prior. Had the same thing happened for a second time?
“That’s right! I’m Kiriyama Yui! God, I hate this... I can’t take this anymore...!” [Aoki] (Kiriyama) shuddered.
No matter how much she professed to be Kiriyama on the inside, it was hard to believe when she looked so much like Aoki on the outside. Hell, for all they knew, it could have been Aoki acting like a girl for a laugh.
That said, it was obvious this was no joke. Her sentiments were clearly the genuine article.
“Just calm down, Kiriyama. We know it’s you in there. We believe you.”
But Taichi’s words of encouragement fell on deaf ears. Evidently [Aoki] (Kiriyama) just couldn’t take it anymore.
“I mean, what kind of sick joke IS this?! Why does it have to be with Aoki?! Why do I have to end up in this gross body?! Why can’t I trade with Iori instead?!”
“Is that really the part you should be upset about...?”
Short answer: no, it wasn’t.
“Mornin’, y’all!”
Then a fourth person entered the clubroom—and the three of them froze.
“Gotta say, I’m not stoked about this whole situation first thing in the morning, y’know? Wait, huh? What is it? What’s wrong, guys? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or somethin’.”
This easygoing comment was delivered in a deep and commanding voice belonging to the one and only Inaba Himeko. In all the time they’d known each other, Taichi had never heard Inaba talk that way. It was rather reminiscent of... Aoki.
A split-second later, the door slammed open with a loud BANG as the fifth and final member of the CRC arrived, gasping for breath.
Someone piloting [Kiriyama Yui] swallowed hard and shouted—
“I... I admit it! You guys were telling the truth! I... I’m in [Yui’s body]!”
“I thought it was...” Taichi began.
“Limited to...” Nagase continued.
“Two people...?” Taichi finished.
Due to the current state of emergency that had taken the form of a three-way body-swap—Kiriyama as [Aoki], Aoki as [Inaba], and Inaba as [Kiriyama]—the CRC unanimously agreed they would be skipping first period as a group.
□■□■□
At lunchtime, Taichi, Nagase, and Inaba were all called into the staff room. All five members of the CRC had turned up late to class that day after missing first and second period without an excused absence.
“Look, you know how it is. I know none of you really need this lecture, but I gotta at least pretend to do my job here. Just act like I’m grilling you, okay? I’m gonna eat my lunch. I got soba today, see. Can’t let it get soggy!”
The three of them stood there as Gotou “Gossan” Ryuuzen, the physics teacher who served as advisor for Class 1-C, painstakingly peeled the cling wrap from his cafeteria-bought to-go bowl.
“I’m hungry too, you know...” Nagase muttered next to Taichi.