Chapter Text
Monday morning. A devastating scream echoed through the Toyama household.
Asuka jumped out of her bed and slammed the door to her sister’s room open.
“Onee-chan! What happened?” she asked, genuinely worried about the girl before her, who sat on the ground, mortified. Her expression only worsened when she saw Asuka standing in the doorway.
“W—WHO ARE YOU? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME???” Her shoulders stiffened and her hands were trembling a little.
Asuka was taken aback. What had happened to her sister? Did she have a bad dream?
“Are you still asleep or something? Look, it’s just me.” She wanted to place her hand on her sister’s shoulder, but the latter slapped it away, much to Asuka’s annoyance.
That’s it! She’s lost it!
“Kasumi!”
“Get away from me!”
“KASUMI!”
The girl on the ground looked up, giving her sister her full attention, but also showing a confused face. “I’m not—”
That’s when she turned her head and saw herself in the mirror, a pair of big purple eyes looking back at her. She stood up and got closer. Her hands ran through her brown hair; it only reached her shoulders and was straight and smooth.
Her body was slender and she felt light on her feet. She did a little twirl and continued eyeing herself in the mirror.
“Jeez, Onee-chan, what is up with you? Did you hit your head somewhere?” The girl turned around, still acting a little strange.
“Uhh, yeah, maybe...I don’t remember…” She let out a sheepish laugh. Asuka put her hand to her mouth.
“Amnesia?” Her sister nodded. “I think so.”
“I’ll get Mom.” With that Asuka stormed out of the room giving Kasumi(?) some time to process her situation.
Because she was, in fact, not Kasumi. However, for now, she let this girl (who, apparently, was her younger sister) believe she was, just so she could gain some information and maybe find out what exactly was going on.
Pretending to have amnesia was actually the perfect plan. I really got lucky with that, huh…
Only a moment later, Asuka came back, accompanied by her mother.
“Kasumi, dear! How are you feeling?”
Kasumi(?) shifted around a little. What was she supposed to answer?
Kasumi’s mother got closer and placed a hand on hers.
“Do you know who I am?” There was sorrow in her eyes. Kasumi(?) didn’t want to hurt this woman, plus it had to be her supposed mother, that much she could tell from the circumstances.
“Mother…?” The woman let out a breath and smiled. The girl felt her hand being squeezed. Not a bad feeling, if she was being honest.
“Kasumi!” Kasumi’s mother hugged her tightly. Kasumi(?) let it happen. This situation was strange to her, but she wouldn’t go out of her way to hurt innocent people. She didn’t know this woman, but the woman knew her, or at least the body she was in right now.
Kasumi’s mother let go and warmly caressed her daughter’s cheek.
“We’ll have to get you to a hospital.”
White walls and the smell of antiseptic. Kasumi(?) hadn’t been to a hospital in a long time. She wondered how often the real Kasumi had come here already. Judging by her family’s reaction, it probably wasn’t a lot.
Finally, it was her turn. She was led into a small room and greeted by the doctor.
“Amnesia, you say?” His voice was monotone and emotionless, but not in a bad way.
“Alright, uh, Toyama-san. What do you still remember?” All eyes were on her. She didn’t like the attention, but it was something she had to bare for a moment.
“Um, my name is Kasumi Toyama. This woman here is my mother and this girl is my sister. I’m fifteen years old and my birthday is July 14th. I think that’s about everything.”
Obviously, that was all a lie. She had just repeated all the details Kasumi’s mother had mentioned to the nurses already.
Her real name was Arisa Ichigaya. She lived with her grandma who had a small pawn shop. Though, she was also fifteen years old, her real birthday was October 27th.
“Hmm…” The doctor reviewed her answers, but his expression remained unreadable.
“That’s not much. Your mother mentioned something about you hitting your head. Elaborate on that.” Arisa let out a sigh. There was no way they were going to find anything that could prove her condition.
“Well, I’m not sure...I woke up and my head hurt a little.”
“A little?”
“Yeah…” The doctor stared at his notes again.
“We’ll do a check-up.” With that he called a nurse and Arisa was brought to a different location.
After a bunch of examinations, she just wanted to go home. Her real home would’ve been ideal of course, but even Kasumi’s home would be fine.
To everyone but Arisa’s surprise, no trace of any injury had been found on her body. The doctor couldn’t really explain the amnesia and concluded it had to be something of psychological nature.
Exhausted, they all returned home. Arisa slammed herself on Kasumi’s bed, which was surprisingly comfortable. At least, she wouldn’t have any trouble sleeping.
Still, a lot of things swarmed around her mind. How did it come to this? How was this even possible? When would she get her own body back? Was this Kasumi in her body now?
Suddenly, Arisa sat up. What would Kasumi do in her body? What if she was some sort of delinquent? She became increasingly worried about her grandma and her reputation and her grades...and her bonsais!!!
“Tonegawa~” she mourned out loud and let herself fall back again.
Speaking of Kasumi, Arisa practically knew nothing about her. Maybe she could find out what kind of person she was by going through her stuff? She was laying in her room which should be full of Kasumi’s personality. Arisa knew her own room was.
Slowly, she got up and sat down at the desk. Digging through someone’s stuff didn’t feel good to her, but it was necessary. Though, if she tried thinking about Kasumi going through her own stuff, a shiver ran down her spine. Who knew what she would do with that information?
This actually gave her even more motivation to search Kasumi’s room. If worse came to worst, maybe Arisa could use a little blackmail. With that in mind, she began her search.
Several hours later, Arisa broke down on the bed again. Her first impression of Kasumi wasn’t all that great. Kasumi’s school work and grades were below average. Her hobbies and interests seemed questionable at best. The only thing that wasn’t completely terrible was her wardrobe and the overall state of her room.
"That's just great, isn't it?" She sighed. While it did give her a little glimpse into the girl named Kasumi, it also didn't give her much more than that.
Arisa was tired. It was late. She decided to leave the situation at that and went to sleep, but even she couldn't brace herself for what the next day had prepared for her.
The first thing that came to Arisa's mind when she woke up was the lack of noise. She was awake, yet there was no alarm ringing. Did she oversleep?
She turned in her (technically Kasumi's) bed and tried to spot a clock. The closest one she could find was the alarm clock next to the bed, however one close look revealed, that a) it was around 6AM, so she didn't oversleep and b) the alarm wasn't turned on anyway.
Well, 6AM was a bit early for her standards but who knew what Kasumi was used to. Still, waking up without an alarm was kind of hardcore and Arisa respected anyone who could pull that off.
Regardless, she decided to 'rise and shine' as everyone loved putting it and maybe examine the things outside of Kasumi's room.
She slipped into the hallway and was stung by a devastating realization. She had no idea what the house looked like, where all the different rooms were and where she had the best chances of finding something useful. She didn't even know where the bathroom was.
"You're up early." Arisa spun around to see Asuka standing in the doorway of her room, rubbing the tiredness from her eyes.
"Ah, um, good morning…Nee-san," she responded, still not sure what Kasumi’s sister’s name was. Based on Asuka's sad and sleepy stare, she felt that she was about to find out.
"You...really don't remember…" She tilted her head downwards. Arisa was pained to see Kasumi's sister like this, even if this girl was essentially nothing but a stranger to her.
Asuka raised her head again. "You always call me Aa-chan, remember?"
Her eyes weren't watery, yet Arisa felt the girl was close to tears. This somehow didn't stop her from making it worse.
"Aa-chan, yeah, it's short for…" She waited for her to complete the sentence. Asuka gulped and held back her disappointment.
"Asuka," she almost whispered. Arisa felt her heart snap in two. Asuka… She couldn’t even imagine how painful it must be to her, seeing her own sister like this.
“O—Okay, then…” Arisa wanted to say her name again, but she thought it would feel forced at this point. Instead she asked, “Where is the bathroom?”
Asuka’s mood stayed gloomy as she pointed to the door at the end of the hallway. Arisa hesitantly smiled and slowly walked down the hallway.
She shrieked when she saw her—or rather Kasumi’s—face staring back at her in the mirror. That was something she still had to get used to.
Arisa was about to use the toilet, when a realisation, that should’ve been obvious, hit her. This wasn’t her body. Would it be weird for her to do such things like pee or shower while having Kasumi’s body? Well, it’s not like she could just turn off her body functions.
Besides, hygiene is important, no matter whose body you’re occupying. Kasumi would understand, right? She’d probably do the same for Arisa’s body…Wait…
Another hit at her self-consciousness. Kasumi could see her body, no, she would have to see her body at some point. What would she think? Would she judge her? Would she think she’s ugly? Arisa’s thoughts gave her no peace.
Well, at least Kasumi is a girl, like me… Yeah, at least it wasn’t a boy who she had switched bodies with. She couldn’t imagine that.
She took multiple deep breaths in an attempt to calm down. Her heart was beating too fast for her liking. Plus, she still had to pee.
Maybe I can close my eyes? Arisa shook her head and realized how stupid that sounded. It would also not solve the problem that she still had to...touch herself...in certain areas.
Her cheeks turned flaming red and she frantically shook her head to get rid of her thoughts. It wasn’t anything dirty, on the contrary, she was keeping Kasumi’s body clean. Yes, exactly!
Having come to that conclusion, Arisa stood in front of the toilet and pulled down her pants.
“What was taking you so long, did you forget how to pee?” Asuka greeted her when Arisa came out of the bathroom again.
“Sorry…” was all she could say. She could only hope Kasumi’s sister couldn’t see how red her face still was.
Asuka gave her a grumpy look, then went inside the room Arisa had spend a solid twelve minutes in, just to use the toilet.
In the end, it hadn’t been that bad, but Arisa couldn’t hold back her embarrassment. She felt like she had violated Kasumi’s privacy. If she ever found the girl, she would wholeheartedly apologize to her. But would Kasumi do the same?
Arisa caught herself overthinking again and decided to focus on something else. That’s right, she wanted to snoop around the house a little. If anyone caught her, she could just claim she was trying to remember something. Besides, Kasumi lived here, it shouldn’t be suspicious for ‘her’ to roam around and examine things.
The first room she found was the living room. It was connected to the kitchen, where Kasumi's mother was cooking breakfast.
“Kasumi! You’re awake? Breakfast isn’t ready yet…” Arisa shook her head.
“That’s fine. I’m not that hungry right now.”
Kasumi’s mother showed an apologetic smile and continued cutting vegetables. Arisa thought about inconspicuously looking through the room, but with Kasumi’s mother there, she felt it was too risky.
Instead she came up with a better way to dig up information on Kasumi. Since she (supposedly) had amnesia it would only be natural for her to ask a lot of questions, right?
While Arisa obviously didn’t want to have a situation similar to that with Asuka earlier, she’d have to bear it. Maybe Kasumi’s mother would be happy to know her daughter was trying to reclaim her memory.
“Say…” Kasumi’s mother looked up.
“What is it, dear?”
“It’s about...me. I know who I am on paper. Kasumi Toyama. First year of high school.” She paused to see if Kasumi’s mother still had her attention.
“But I don’t really know the real me. I mean, I can’t remember what I was like before...before I forgot. I thought maybe...you could tell me…” Arisa held her breath. How would the woman behind the counter react?
Kasumi’s mother froze for a moment. Hearing that was hard, however she didn’t fault Kasumi for her request. If it helped her regain her memory, she’d do anything.
“Of course, my dear.”
Arisa grabbed a chair and sat down at the counter. Part of her couldn’t believe that her plan worked so flawlessly, but she didn’t have time to continue thinking about it. Her full attention belonged to the woman who would (hopefully) tell her anything she needed to know.
"From the moment you were born, you were always spreading happiness, wherever you went. You had such an innocent mind and so much energy, you didn't even know where to put it. You had so many dreams and ideas you told me about." She smiled.
"Like that one time you wanted to turn Asuka into a mermaid, so she would win her swimming competition. Of course, Asuka kept telling you that was impossible, but you never gave up trying." She chuckled.
"There was always so much love and creativity inside that little body of yours and it only got more as your body grew. Everyone loved being around you. You had so much charm and compassion."
That made Arisa rethink everything she had thought about Kasumi before. Sure, it was her mother talking about her own daughter, of course she wasn't going to say anything negative.
But also, it gave her a warm feeling. Arisa had a suspicion where Kasumi had all that love from. Her mother couldn't be more proud.
"I really hope we'll get you back soon," she said in the softest voice the teen had ever heard.
"Yeah, me too."
Before any of them could say anything else, Asuka appeared, still a bit grumpy, but maybe she just wasn't a morning person. Arisa could totally get behind that.
"Oh, Asuka! Breakfast is almost ready, could you wait just two more minutes?" Kasumi's sister nodded and sat down at the table.
Arisa moved the chair back to its original position and sat down, facing Asuka.
"So, you remember anything yet?" Arisa didn't expect her to suddenly ask a question.
"Uh...not really." There wasn't much she could say. She figured she would have to do some research on amnesia, so she could know how to 'naturally regain’ her memory again.
She quickly stopped that train of thought though, when she saw what Asuka was wearing.
"Hanasakigawa uniform…"
"Eh? What did you say?" Asuka's eyes lit up.
Oh no .
"Oh, I only noticed your uniform. It's cute." Did she manage to save herself with that? Judging by Asuka's reaction the answer was no.
"You remembered the name of your school… and the uniforms. Of course you did, it was practically your only reason why you wanted to go to Hanasakigawa instead of Haneoka…"
Yeah, that sounded like the girl Arisa saw in Kasumi's school notes. With those grades, she could never even set foot in Haneoka. Though, who was she to speak, she barely went to school in the first place.
"Speaking of school, you're not thinking of going, are you?" Arisa looked up to meet Asuka's stern gaze. It was clear who was the responsible one in this household.
"Going to school with amnesia? Yeah, as if I—" She stopped. It was true, Arisa wouldn't do something like that. But what about Kasumi? Even if she's lost her memory, her personality should still be the same to a degree.
And from what she'd heard, she could pretty much guess what Kasumi would think in such a situation.
"As if I wouldn't go to school because of something like that! I mean, my body is healthy, there's no real reason why I shouldn't go to school," she managed to save herself.
Asuka groaned. "No reason? Your missing memory is not a reason to stay at home? Are you kidding me?"
She was 100% done with her sister and Arisa felt the same way. Going to school with amnesia was a thing only idiots would do. That's why she was certain, she would meet Kasumi at school that day, albeit in Arisa's body.
"But Aa-chan, maybe I'll remember something when I go to school. We can't let this go to waste." Asuka shook her head and remained stubborn.
"You'll have plenty of chances to go to school. I just think it's too early. Do you even know the way?"
"We can go together." Arisa flashed her a big smile, hoping to imitate a little child, trying to convince their mother to buy them candy. To her surprise, it worked; Asuka gave in.
"Yes!" she cheered. It was weird to play such an excitable character, though it wasn't really hard to pretend to be an airhead.
Arisa finished her breakfast in record time and went to Kasumi's room to get ready. She opened the wardrobe and found a familiar looking uniform inside.
At last, something Arisa was actually familiar with. She put on the uniform and looked at herself in the mirror.
The uniform was the same, yet it looked so different on Kasumi's body. She looked like…a girl, a regular teenage girl, still in the middle of growing up. Not many curves graced her body, but she wasn't a flat board either. A solid middle ground.
Meanwhile, Arisa's body was not nearly as cute as Kasumi's. Her chest was big and attracted too much attention. She was short and looked squished, due to her chubbiness. Not the complete opposite of Kasumi, but different enough to make Arisa feel very self-conscious.
Oh, what she would give to have such slender thighs… She let out a sigh. It wasn't her intention to stay in this body for too long. She needed to find Kasumi, so they could change back, preferably fast.
She grabbed Kasumi's school bag and went downstairs, where Asuka had already been waiting for her.
"We're off!" both girls said, as they opened the front door.
"Have a nice day and be careful!" they heard their mother respond.
Arisa made sure to memorize the way to school as well as she could. It wasn't too bad, actually. They only had to get to the train station and from there, Arisa could manage.
Just before they had to split up, Asuka grabbed her sister's wrist.
"Please, don't push yourself. Call mom if anything happens." She paused. "You don't remember our phone number, do you?"
Arisa shook her head.
"Ask the teachers, they should have it in their records. But just in case—" she pulled out a notebook and started writing. "Here." She tore the page out and gave it to her sister.
"Thanks." Arisa put the paper into her pocket. She was ready to go when suddenly, Asuka hugged her.
Arisa was startled, but didn't resist. Kasumi's sister needed it, she wouldn’t refuse her. The hug lasted a few moments.
“Come back soon,” Asuka whispered, holding back tears. She looked at her sister for a last time and left.
Arisa felt a breeze pass by. She didn’t know what it meant to have siblings or parents that weren’t so busy with work all the time. It all felt so...invasive.
This wasn’t her sister being worried about her . She didn’t even know Arisa existed. And just when she had come into Asuka’s life, the latter wanted her gone. Not that Arisa loathed her for that, but looking at the situation from this point of view made her feel worthless.
She took a deep breath and stared at the big school gate in front of her. The only thing she could do now is hope to meet Kasumi and somehow get her body back.
The girl started walking, her pace slow so she could look around and hope to find her own face. As she kept observing her surroundings, a very important question crossed her mind. Which class did Kasumi go to?
Mild panic rose inside her. Would it be weird to ask someone if she went to their class? Yes, definitely. And what about Kasumi? Did she know Arisa’s class? She could only hope she did.
Her hands started trembling. Calm down, calm down! Why was she like this? This wasn’t even such a big deal, why was she getting so anxious about it?
“Toyama-san? Are you okay?” Arisa didn’t register the question. Only when she felt a hand on her shoulder she finally reacted.
Meeting her gaze was a girl she didn’t recognize. She wore a ponytail and smelled like...bread?
“Toyama-san, I almost didn’t recognize you without your ears!” The strange girl let out a giggle.
“Ears?”
“You know, those thingies you usually have on both sides of your head. Everyone’s been calling them cat ears because that’s what they look like.”
Arisa had no idea what she was talking about. Cat ears? With every new information she learned about Kasumi, Arisa became more and more confused about the girl.
“Oh yeah, those! I, um…” Should she tell this girl the ‘truth’ about her amnesia? She did seem to be Kasumi’s friend or classmate—or even both—, so she could probably trust her, right?
“You see, the truth is…” Arisa went on to tell her the same lie, she’d told Kasumi’s family.
The girl was surprised, but very understanding and (oddly) supportive.
“Whoa, that’s crazy! I thought stuff like this only happened in fiction!” Arisa shrugged.
“Yeah, me too. But here we are.” She wanted to ask her for her name, now that it wouldn’t seem weird anymore, but the girl was faster.
“By the way, I’m Saaya Yamabuki. You probably forgot me, but that’s okay. We’re only classmates after all.” Arisa bowed before her.
“Thank you for your understanding, Yamabuki-san.” Saaya raised her hands and insisted it wasn’t a big deal.
“You don’t have to go that far, Toyama-san…”
Before any of them could say anything more, they heard the bell ring.
“Shoot, class is about to begin! We better hurry!” Saaya said. Arisa responded with a nod and both girls ran to class. They made it just in time.
Saaya showed her Kasumi’s seat and quickly mentioned the teacher’s name. “Our first class today is English.”
Arisa could cry, that’s how thankful she was to her. She almost envied Kasumi for having such a great, responsible friend. Though, even having a friend would be a good start for her.
Arisa couldn’t keep her focus during lessons. It didn’t help that she only went to school to take her exams, but studied at home the remaining time. How could one even concentrate with so many people around?
The bell rang and it was finally break time. Arisa sighed and leaned back in her chair. All this social interaction made her exhausted.
“So, I guess this all explains why you were absent yesterday,” she heard Saaya from behind her. The girl sat down at the desk behind Arisa, who turned around to face her.
“Here.” Saaya handed her some notes, probably from class. Arisa thanked her and put them in her bag. Not that I need them…
But Kasumi probably did. That’s when she remembered, why she had come to school in the first place. I have to find Kasumi!
“Um, sorry, do you mind if I head out for a bit? There’s...something I need to check.” She expected Saaya to ask some annoying questions, so she was pleasantly surprised when her classmate replied with, “Sure, go ahead.”
She flashed her a brief smile and quickly left the classroom. Saaya really was the perfect friend in a way. Focus Arisa!
Classroom 1-B was just a few steps away. The door was open, since it was still break time. She took a deep breath. Her palms were sweaty but she had to ignore that for a moment.
Anticipation rose inside her body, along with nervousness and fear. What if Kasumi wasn’t there? What would she do then? Question after question crossed her mind and caused her legs to tremble.
Pull yourself together! You don’t know what’ll happen. Well, that was actually the scary part.
After hesitating for so long and making the students around her stare in her direction, she finally took a step forward and took a peek inside the classroom.
At first glance she couldn’t see anyone that resembled her. Not that she knew what she would look like from such a different angle. She looked around multiple times, but didn’t find what she had been looking for.
Disappointed, Arisa was about to go back when a student approached her.
“Are you looking for someone?”
“Ah, um, yes…” She glanced inside the classroom again. “Is Ichigaya-san here?”
Arisa’s heart felt as if it could burst any minute. It was most likely only her perception, but the student took ages to give her the highly anticipated answer. However, it wasn’t something Arisa had even been prepared for.
“Who’s that? Is she in our class?” Arisa felt her soul leave her body. Of course, she had been at school for what, one day, maybe two? Of course, no one would remember her or even know of her existence. How could she have thought it would be any different?
“Ichigaya? I think I heard that name somewhere before…”
“Isn’t that the student representative that didn’t show up on the first day?”
“Oh yeah, now that you say it...But is she in our class?”
“Hm, I don’t know.”
“Wait, could it be that crazy girl that suddenly appeared today?”
A wave of hope washed away Arisa’s existential crisis as she listened to the student talking to her friends. “W—What crazy girl?”
The students turned towards her once again.
“Oh you’ll know when you see her. She doesn’t seem to be in the classroom right now, though. Let’s just say, she really attracts everybody’s attention.”
Great, so much for my reputation.
“O—Okay...I guess, I’ll come back later. Thank you.” Arisa turned around and entered Kasumi’s classroom again.
Saaya was chatting with some other classmates, but waved when she saw her friend.
“So, any success?” Arisa shifted around a little.
“Not quite. I’ll have to try next break.” Saaya gave her a reassuring smile, filling Arisa with a warm feeling.
“I wish you the best,” she replied.
“Thanks.” Arisa’s cheeks turned light pink. Maybe things would turn out okay. With Saaya by her side, she was ready to believe that they would.
Classes went by rather quick, while Arisa had been busy drowning in self-pity. This experience had been the perfect example to show how lonely Arisa’s life was, in contrast to that of Kasumi. Arisa had no friends or even classmates that remembered her.
She thought of all the lunch breaks in middle school that she had to spend on her own. Yes, this had been the beginning of her life as a shut-in. Making friends was tough, especially for someone who never learned how to do it properly. Arisa’s solution had been to just avoid people altogether.
As long as she didn’t interact with anyone too much, she lived without problems. Her loneliness didn’t bother her that much, as long as she didn’t have to see all the people that weren’t lonely around her. Only now she realized how stupid that actually was.
I made everything even worse…
Now she didn’t even know how to properly interact with the people around her. Maybe the body switch happened to highlight all these problems and make Arisa change her behavior while it wasn’t too late. But was it possible for her to just change like that?
That was something she had yet to find out.
The bell rang and it was go time. Saaya gave her a thumbs up paired with an encouraging smile. Arisa nodded at her and headed straight for the classroom next door.
A stream of students hindered her from entering immediately and by they time most of them left, not many students remained. Arisa inspected them from afar, but couldn't find the face she's been looking for.
Figures .
If Kasumi wasn't in her classroom, she could be anywhere. Arisa didn't know her well enough to know all the potential locations she could've went to. Still, she had to try.
And so, her big search began. She wondered whether it would be necessary to check all the rooms at school, but decided against it.
She went out into the courtyard first. It shouldn't be too hard to find someone in such a big open space, right? But even after looking for so long, no crazy girl in sight.
Next spot she searched was the roof. At first, Arisa questioned whether the roof was even open, but she had to try at least.
To her surprise, the door knob twisted smoothly, allowing her to step outside into the warm breeze that many students clearly enjoyed.
The rooftop was bigger than she expected, but it was easy to oversee. Arisa scanned through all the faces she could spot and was disappointed to have found nothing again.
Where could Kasumi be? She started wondering, if the crazy girl those students had been talking about was someone else entirely. Arisa went up to the fence that surrounded the roof area and stared down at the courtyard.
The wind made her hair flutter softly and she payed attention to how warm the sunlight felt on her skin. Was it time to give up?
Arisa concluded no, because a particular scene caught her eye. A little circle had formed around a single blonde student. She could swear, she had already been down there, in the exact same spot, but she could continue overthinking this while running.
There was no way she was going to miss this chance. She skipped over multiple steps on her way down and almost tripped every single time. In that moment, she didn’t care about all the people that were staring at her and ignored their complaints as she pushed them out of her way.
Out of breath, she arrived at the scene, but her view was blocked. Arisa took a deep breath and went up to the circle of students to fight her way through. Surprisingly enough, it wasn’t as hard as expected and she stumbled forward only to fall down into the middle.
The first thing to come into her view was a pair of legs, only centimeters away from the tip of her nose. She made the mistake of looking up and was graced with the view of unfortunately familiar underwear, paired with an unfortunately familiar pair of eyes meeting her gaze.
Arisa shrieked and pushed herself away from the girl, with a burning face. She just looked herself under the skirt...Did it count as harrassment when it was her own body that she violated? Maybe it was better for her not to know the answer.
While she remained on the floor shivering and failing to calm down, she almost forgot the other glaring issue.
“Whaaa!!!” she heard her voice shout out and cringed internally. Arisa forgot that that was how others heard her. She snapped out of her embarrassment and stood up. Kasumi could blow their cover any second and she had to prevent that at all cost.
But as she looked back at her own body standing in front of her, she froze.
“What are those?!” Now Arisa knew what Saaya meant with ‘ears’. Two weirdly triangular hair buns sat on top of Kasumi’s—or rather Arisa’s—head. But they had no time for that. She could question it later.
Arisa leapt forward, grabbed Kasumi’s hand and began running. Lucky enough, the crowd let them pass through with only so much as a surprised face and maybe a startled hum.
She didn’t know where she was taking them, but she knew it had to be a place where no one could see or hear them. And so, the girls kept running until they couldn’t anymore.
The place they ended up was the sports field behind the school. It was occupied by the softball team, but it was far enough away and too focused on their game to even notice the two.
Arisa needed a moment to catch her breath before she turned to the girl laying next to her in the grass. Seeing this hairstyle the second time made it even worse. She cleared her throat.
“So, I’m assuming you’re Kasumi Toyama. Is that correct?” She stared down at the girl who still had trouble breathing. That one was on Arisa; she had the worst stamina.
A weak hum came from the laying girl, who opened her eyes to look back at Arisa. Seeing herself in such a position made Arisa feel all kind of things, most of them emotions that didn’t exist. Did Kasumi feel the same right now, looking at her own face?
Kasumi answered that question by caressing Arisa’s cheek and smiling.
“Whoa, I never realized how cute I looked.” The (currently) brunette grabbed her arm with so much force, Kasumi yelped out from the pain.
“Hey, be careful, it’s your body after all!”
“Yes, but it’s you who will feel the pain,” Arisa replied and pushed harder.
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry! I was joking!” She released Kasumi’s arm again and turned away.
Yep, just what I expected. A whole idiot.
She sighed. Of course, this had to happen to her and of course the person she had switched bodies with had to be a total disaster of a person. Well, it could’ve been a lot worse, but Kasumi was bad enough already, so Arisa didn’t want to undermine her trouble.
“Jeez, you’re a lot meaner than I thought,” the (currently) blonde complained, still rubbing her arm.
“Your grandma said all these nice things about you, I got really excited to meet you! And now…” She let her shoulders drop down and sighed, trying to look Arisa in the eye, who wouldn’t turn her head more.
“Did you tell her? That you’re not me, I mean.” She still wouldn’t look at her.
“Well, yeah. What else was I supposed to do?”
“You idiot ,” Arisa replied harshly. She faced Kasumi again and glared at eyes full of hurt and confusion. She didn’t even want to imagine how that conversation went.
“Hi, my name is Kasumi and I’m in the body of your granddaughter and I have no idea how much that could emotionally impact you because you’d think I’m delusional and would be worried sick hearing something like that but I don’t care because my head is entirely empty, tehee!”
“That’s so mean! Was that the wrong thing to do?”
“Of course, you moron! Who in their right mind does that?!” Kasumi frowned.
“Well, what did you do?”
Arisa was about to say ‘I lied to them,’ before realizing how bad it sounded. She adjusted her wording before replying.
“Your family thinks you have amnesia. I didn’t tell them anything about our body swap, not that they would’ve believed it anyway.”
“Huh…” Kasumi went quiet as she had nothing to say for herself. To her it seemed Arisa knew what she was doing, though Kasumi didn’t know it was only an illusion.
“Sorry…” was all she could say to that. The girl next to her relaxed a little.
“How did granny respond to you? Did she send you to therapy yet?” she asked jokingly. Kasumi shook her head.
“No, not at all! From the start, she believed everything I said! Well, that’s what it seemed like, at least.”
Eh??? How is that possible?
Kasumi didn’t seem like the type to lie, so she had no reason to doubt her answer, yet Arisa couldn’t wrap her head around the idea of her grandma just...going along with such a bizarre situation.
At least, she didn’t get hurt by Kasumi’s words. She started questioning whether she had done the right thing with Kasumi’s family or if she should’ve told them the truth, as well.
There wasn’t much she could do now though. Her family firmly believed Kasumi lost her memories and it was also made evident by her behavior. If Arisa claimed to be a different person now, it would only backfire.
“Then it’s fine, I guess…” Arisa averted her eyes and got embarrassed. “S—Sorry for yelling at you…”
Kasumi beamed like a puppy, whose owner just got home after a long day of work. She couldn’t hold herself back and embraced Arisa from behind.
“Wha—! Wh—wh—what are you doing?!” Her face turned full crimson and she tried to get herself out of the embrace, but failed. Kasumi’s grip was just too tight.
After a few tries, Arisa gave up and let herself be hugged. Just this once , she said to herself. Little did she know, this wasn’t the last time Kasumi would pull a stunt like this.
While the crazy girl was still stuck to her back, Arisa felt her warmth. She also picked up her scent, which was really just Arisa’s usual shampoo. And then there was also...her chest. Just thinking about it gave her whiplash.
“Okay, okay, enough hugging already! What are we, a married couple?” She grabbed Kasumi’s arms and entangled them, pushing them backwards.
“Aww, that was such a nice moment though~. Do you not like hugs?” Arisa turned around to see Kasumi make a face she could only describe as ‘cursed’. She squinted and turned back.
“From you? No.”
“Ehhh~? That’s so mean…”
“Whatever.”
It’s not like they were close friends or anything. They were essentially strangers, who just happened to be thrown into the same situation. Anyone could’ve taken Kasumi’s or Arisa’s spot for all they knew.
Speaking about their situation, they both had gotten off track.
“Let’s talk about something that actually matters,” Arisa took the lead.
“How do we get our bodies back?”
Kasumi sat up and positioned herself in a way she could look at Arisa’s face. Her expression was enough of an answer, but she still replied verbally.
“I don’t know.”
“Me neither.” Arisa crossed her arms and sighed. What did she expect? To her surprise, Kasumi was the first one to propose an idea.
“Maybe we could look up something on the internet?”
“And you think we’ll find something of value on there?”
“We won’t know until we try it.” She had a point. The internet was possibly the best place to start. Arisa doubted there would be any books on this topic in the library.
“Fine.” Kasumi cheered and pulled out her phone, which was actually Arisa’s.
“Wait, you want to do it now?” Arisa asked to which Kasumi shook her head.
“No, I thought we could exchange numbers to keep in touch.”
“That’s...actually a good idea,” she admitted. Too bad, she hadn’t considered it at all and forgot Kasumi’s phone at home.
“Sorry, I don’t have your phone right now.”
“That’s fine, you just have to give me your number.”
“...Wait, if it’s my phone, shouldn’t you just call your own number?”
You could see the gears inside Kasumi’s head spin. After a moment, she let out a sheepish laugh and started typing something into the phone. However, Arisa was also facepalming herself internally, as she could’ve called Kasumi anytime and didn’t have to go through the trouble of coming to school and interact with people.
Turns out, they were both idiots.
“Alright, I sent you a text. Please, reply when you get home,” Kasumi said. Arisa nodded.
“Of course.”
With nothing left to say, the two kept sitting on the grass and watched the softball team play their game. Arisa wondered why Kasumi was being so quiet, as she felt like the girl was the talkative type, but still very much welcomed the silence. The last day had been so hectic and stressful, she had been in need of a time-out.
A few minutes passed before the bell rang and they had to get back to class. After they split up in the hallway, Arisa entered the classroom and was greeted by Saaya giving her a knowing smile.
“Did you take care of your business?” she asked provocatively. Arisa became flustered without exactly knowing why.
“Um, yeah, I guess I did.” She cleared her throat and averted her eyes. Did Saaya see her with Kasumi and started making assumptions? Maybe.
In the end, it didn’t really matter. Soon, Arisa would get her body back and forget that all of this even happened. Her life would just continue as if nothing happened. At least, that was what she was hoping for.
Everything she did in this moment would be on Kasumi’s account, so what Saaya thought of her wasn’t something Arisa was too concerned with. She could burn down the school and it would have no consequences on her life as Arisa Ichigaya. Not that she wanted to do that anyway. Inconveniencing Kasumi right now wouldn’t be beneficial to her.
Besides, the shame and guilt from her actions would still be her burden to carry. She couldn’t push that onto Kasumi. But why was she thinking about that in the first place? Kasumi may was an airhead, but she still had a good heart. Arisa had no intention on sabotaging her life and she knew Kasumi felt the same.
They both tried their best to act like one another and to not let the people around them worry too much. It could’ve been a lot worse than this.
Before she knew it, classes were over and Arisa could go home. Thank god, Kasumi wasn’t in any clubs, especially not a sports club. She really wouldn’t want to exercise after being so exhausted from all the social interaction.
At the school gate, Arisa stopped. Should she be waiting for Asuka? The two of them didn’t even discuss if they were going to be going home together or not. And of course she didn’t have Kasumi’s phone to text her.
Lucky for her she didn’t need it. Asuka appeared only seconds later, hugging her sister tightly.
“Onee-chan, are you alright? Did anything happen?”
“No, I’m feeling fine. Thank you, Aa-chan.” Arisa gave her smile which made her seem to relax again.
“Thank god!” She let go of her sister and they started walking to the train station. Arisa took a last glance at the school gate and saw Kasumi hiding behind the brick wall.
The girl waved at her and Arisa waved back, but the former hid again when Asuka turned around.
“Is something the matter?”
“Ah! Uh, no, not at all,” Arisa blurted out and shook her head. They continued walking and Arisa decided not to look back anymore.
Kasumi must miss her family. Of course, Arisa also missed her grandparents, but a bond between siblings was a bit stronger than that. She got an impression of how close the sisters were, so she could only imagine what Kasumi was going through.
On their way home they talked about their day. Asuka told her how she skipped swimming practice just to be able to go home with her and about other shenanigans that had happened at school. Meanwhile Arisa only complained how boring her day was and that she didn’t really remember anything important.
When they got home, Arisa went upstairs to get Kasumi’s phone. She had some trouble finding it, but in the end found it hidden underneath some papers on Kasumi’s desk. It had a cute chilli-red phone case around it with lots of star stickers.
She unlocked the phone and was met with more notifications she had ever received on her own phone. Most of them were from mobile games Arisa considered a waste of time, but if Kasumi wanted to do that, she wouldn’t stop her.
Another fraction were texts from her friends and family. She saw Asuka had sent her a few videos about star constellations with a text saying, ‘These used to make you feel at ease, I hope they still do’. She also got some texts from Saaya, asking why she hadn’t been at school, though some other people she didn’t recognize asked her the same.
The rest of the notifications was from social media. Apparently, Kasumi was subscribed to a few channels on a certain video platform and also had some accounts on popular social media sites.
Arisa felt stupid for not thinking of Kasumi’s cell phone, when she wanted to know what the girl was like. Her phone contained so much personal information, she didn’t even have to do all the digging through her room. She paused for a moment and tried remembering if she had anything embarrassing on her phone she didn’t want Kasumi to see.
There were a few things that came to mind, but it wasn’t anything too bad. She could live with Kasumi knowing these things. Thinking of Kasumi, Arisa checked to see if she could find her message anywhere.
Unknown number: Hiiii, it’s Kasumi! ＼(≧▽≦)／ 12.24PM
That didn’t prove difficult. She wondered what to name the contact, since naming it ‘Kasumi’ would be weird, since it’s her phone, but naming it ‘Arisa’ would make herself feel weird. She concluded there would be no way around it and saved her number as ‘Arisa Ichigaya’.
Me: Hey, Arisa here. I wanted to let you know, that I arrived at home. I will soon begin with the internet research. 3.32PM
Arisa wanted to put down the phone, but was surprised to find that Kasumi had already sent her a reply.
Arisa Ichigaya: Okie-dokie! (⌒▽⌒)☆ 3.32PM
She didn’t know whether she should be impressed or concerned by her fast reply. Probably both. She put down the phone, for real this time.
It was time to get to work. Arisa looked around the room in hopes of finding a laptop, but couldn’t see one. This only left her with the option to use her phone.
While it wasn’t too terrible or horribly inconvenient, she would have prefered a laptop since she’d have a better overview over the information she would find.
And so Arisa jumped back on Kasumi’s bed and grabbed her phone again. She opened the search engine and started typing.
A few results came up and she skimmed through the sites. Most of it was talking about existing fiction, but the ones that referenced real life body swaps only told you how to achieve a swap, not how to undo it.
Arisa continued reading and tapping and swiping, but nothing seemed to be of use. The internet could be so unhelpful sometimes. She decided to visit some forums, as those sometimes contained exactly the information you were looking for. Maybe, she would get lucky.
After having gone through a bunch of threads, it turned out she wasn’t as lucky as she wished to be. The users were discussing all kinds of supernatural occurrences, but switching bodies was only mentioned once in a half-sentence.
With a loud groan, she let herself fall on her back. It wasn’t like she’d had much hope for this from the beginning, but since Kasumi had believed it to be at least somewhat educational, she let herself be convinced by that.
Arisa stared back at the screen she was holding over her face. She had scrolled down to the end of a thread, where a box for her own comment had been prepared for her. Commenting might help her get an answer. Or better yet, opening her own thread.
Looking through all the forums, Arisa tried picking the most promising—meaning, one that was serious about the topic, but tried to take reality into their equation. In the end, she settled for a forum which discussed unexplained supernatural experiences and seemed to fit her criteria for seriousness and groundedness.
She quickly made an account and typed in her question.
A.I. asks: “Hello everyone, I’m new on here, but I have an unusual situation on my hand. A few days ago, I woke up in the body of another girl I hadn’t known before. Coincidentally, we go to the same school and when I met her she was occupying my body. My question is: How do we get our bodies to switch back? I will appreciate any help I can get.”
Now she had to wait. Her only hope was that it wouldn’t take too long for someone to reply, or that somebody would reply at all since there was no guarantee for that.
In the meantime she went downstairs to see if she could help with any chores. She was used to helping her grandma all the time, so this might be a good way to pass some time.
“You want to help me with dinner?” Kasumi’s mother asked a little surprised.
“Yes, if that’s okay.”
“Of course it is.” She looked around wondering what Arisa could help with. “You can help me cut some vegetables. Here.” She gave her a knife.
“Thanks,” Arisa replied and got to work.
An hour later, dinner was done. Arisa took out the dishes and placed them on the table, while Kasumi’s mother called Asuka to eat with them. Kasumi’s sister came downstairs and the three of them started eating.
They didn’t say much and when everyone was finished they all split up again and did their own thing. Kasumi’s mother went to wash the dishes, even though Arisa suggested she’d be the one to do that. Asuka layed down on the couch and turned on the TV.
Back upstairs, Arisa grabbed her phone and hoped to see some replies to her question. She reopened the browser and clicked on her thread, which was still only consisting of her question. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t disappointed, but the only thing she could do was wait some more.
She thought of something she could do to pass the time, when she remembered that she wasn’t alone in this. Maybe Kasumi had managed to acquire some leads. It couldn’t hurt to ask.
Me: Hey, did you find anything that could potentially help us yet? 6.09PM
Arisa Ichigaya: Hmm, not yet, but I’m still looking! ∑d(°∀°d) 6.10PM
Another fast reply. Well, at least she didn’t have to wait for one this time.
Arisa Ichigaya: What about you? (*^‿^*) 6.10PM
Me: Yeah, me too. Not much so far… 6.10PM
So Kasumi was just as smart as her in this regard. Maybe she was too impatient. Arisa tried taking a step back. How did this happen in the first place? What if the answer she was seeking was rooted in the beginning? Wasn’t that a common thing with situations like this one? She could’ve sworn she’s seen this type of solution in fiction before.
Could she perhaps analyze some fiction? Even if it didn’t apply to the real world, it had to be stemming from somewhere, right? Besides, trying didn’t cost them much. It’s not like they would die from it.
With that idea in mind, Arisa opened a new tab and began her search, now from a different perspective. She searched for literature that dealt with the idea of switching bodies (or minds for that matter). Some results came up and Arisa skimmed through them. She didn’t intend to read every single book she could find on the subject and instead looked for a summary.
“I need something to write,” she muttered to herself and stood up to get a pen and a sheet of paper. Properly equipped, she got to work.
Arisa didn’t know how long she’d been working on this, but in the end she had a list of various books and their individual solutions to the body switch (if there even was one in the book and it wasn’t blamed on random magic). There were some solutions that overlapped each other, but not enough to call it a definitive one.
She looked at the time and noticed how late it has gotten. It was time to call it a day. Arisa began making herself ready for bed. She didn’t leave the light on, when she undressed, so she’d see as little of Kasumi’s body as possible. Otherwise, she felt like she was violating her privacy, but that was a breakdown she had already went through.
In her pajamas, Arisa got into bed and checked her phone one last time. One notification immediately caught her eye. Someone had replied to her question on the forum. Excited, the girl went to check out the comment.
LocalWitch replied: “I’ve heard of this before, though this experience is not common. The soul only parts when the mind desires it. If two people wanted to exchange bodies, they would need a lot of will and zero doubt in their heart. This is a lot less common than one would think. What’s throwing me off here, is the fact that the two of you didn’t know each other. Maybe it was your unconscious that saw the girl, but for her to do the same at the exact same time...I call that a miracle.”
Arisa scrolled down. That was all well and good, but how could she undo that?
“Or maybe there’s another explanation, I don’t know your situation. I can only assume from what you have told. Now, how you got into the situation is something you can’t change anymore, it happened and you want to know how to obtain your body back. I can’t tell you much, but one thing is certain: It did not happen without a reason. And that reason will play a huge part in reversing your situation.”
So far, this was a lot more detailed than Arisa anticipated. Of course, she hadn’t counted on a two-liner saying something like, ‘Do this and you get your body back for sure,’ but a comment of this extent was more than she could’ve ever hoped for.
“Your best shot is trying to find out why this happened to you two. Try finding similarities between you, especially regarding the moment the switch happened. What was the cause? If you can find it, maybe you can reverse it. For example, maybe you two were yearning for something the other had in the moment. The solution would be to obtain it for yourself and then the switch will be undone. I can’t give you any guarantee though, as this has never happened to me or anyone I know personally. It would be nice of you to share your experiences along the way and maybe post about the actual solution to your problem, if you find it. Good luck!”
This was the end of the comment. Arisa let the words flow around her head and tried to make sense of them somehow. Similarities between her and Kasumi...there were a few that came to mind, but nothing she would deem relevant.
She was too tired to continue thinking about it. She would show this to Kasumi the next day and then they could think about it together.