Archive of Our Own

The obnoxious morning announcement rang out through the room, unusually loud, even for its usual standards to Himiko’s ears. Usually her body would be fatigued, even through the hours of sleep she’d gotten, but this time she was strangely less tired - though only marginally better. The bed itself felt… Different somehow, too. Not as soft and comfortable as her previous one. Her clothes, too, seemed to be completely different from what she usually slept in. Her usual uniform softer and more comfortable, like those pajamas she used to have as a kid. 

With a yawn she finally pulled herself up, tiredly blinking open her eyes - and promptly exclaiming with surprise. This was not her room! That was not her voice! To make matters even worse, at the base of her bed stood one of those stupid monokubs. Her brain was still so groggy from her sleep, she barely registered which one it was. Besides, it really didn’t matter much. She never really liked any of them. 

“Good morning!” It announced eagerly, a sweet soft voice filling the room (though Himiko found it anything but sweet), “I’m sure you’ve noticed some changes. Welcome to the new motive! You and a lucky student have switched bodies. The only way to switch back is for a murder to occur. Have fun~”

Himiko only managed to stammer out a few jumbled syllables before the monokub was completely out of view, disappearing back through the floor or however they traveled around. She never bothered to question it. The silence in the room was unbearable. She must have missed something, because nothing was making sense. Whose room was this? How did they even do that? 

She pushed the covers off of herself and fumbled to the floor, clumsy with her new proportions. Much taller than she’d anticipated. With a breath, she looked down. Her thoughts formulated slowly, merging together as she observed, slowly moving each of her limbs. She wore a large comfortable shirt, pink in coloration with some kind of decal Himiko couldn’t read from upside down. Her undergarments were short, likely just some shorts that had been thrown on, barely visible from the oversized shirt. No socks and no other accessories. But her hair was long and blond with pink undertones, curling up at the sides. Messy, too. Just like that, she realized who’s body she was standing in. 

“Oh no…”

Miu Iruma. 

Similarly, in a room not too far away, someone else was going through a very similar revelation. 

Miu had woken as she normally did, a bit groggy but energized. Ready to stir up some new inventions! Sleep was for the weak, afterall. But she stood with confusion, nearly falling off of the bed with how much her head spun when she stood. Why the hell was she so exhausted!? A girl like her always made sure to get enough sleep! She needed it for a brain as big as hers. For one, she was almost fully clothed in what seemed to be a school uniform - definitely not her own, though. And secondly this was certainly not her room. Judging from the dumbass sparkly shit on all of the walls and all of the random bullshit that covered the floor, she had a feeling she knew just whose room this was, but before she could give it any further thought-

“Good morning!” An obnoxious voice rang through the room, much too eager for her liking. One of the god damn Mono-fucks, red and annoying as hell. “You’re one of the participants for our new motive! Switching bodies until a murder. Have fun~!”

Almost as quickly as it appeared it was gone, and not even before Miu could curse it out. Damn. Regardless, it had said something about a new motive? That would explain the strange morning. 

With a roll of her eyes, she gripped onto the bed and pulled herself up. Yup, definitely fully clothed still. God- how in the world did she do it? This had to be so uncomfortable! No wonder she felt exhausted as fuck. With a huff she looked down. Not a male, fortunately or unfortunately (more unfortunately. She would’ve jumped on the opportunity to mess around with a male’s body. But, whatever). Small and flat as fuck, though. Duh, she was in Himiko’s body, of course it was less than appealing. God she was short! How did she live like this all the time!? It would drive Miu mad. No high heels were tall enough to fix that. 

With a frown she shuffled into the bathroom, at least Himiko even bothered to take off her shoes before jumping into bed. 

Her hair was an absolute mess, frizzy and knotted together. Did she even bother to comb her hair in the morning? Was that why she was wearing a hat all the goddamn time? She grunted in annoyance, shuffling through the cabinets until she finally found a brush. The least she could do for her own sake was make herself look at least decent. She couldn’t bear to look as ugly as Himiko all day. She could add some spice into it! Now where in the world was that hat?

Himiko had spent a while shuffling through drawers in Miu’s room, attempting - and failing - to not be disgusted by everything she found. It was incredibly difficult. All she was looking for was a uniform! She barely changed her own clothes at all, finding it too difficult to take everything off and put it back on at the end of the day, let alone someone else’s clothes! 

By the time she’d finally found them (and in a closet that she hadn’t even spotted), she was almost certain all of her mana and energy had been used up. If she wasn’t so concerned about what Miu was doing with her body she would have just slept the entire few days away on her own. In fact, that almost sounded nice. But, alas, it was too good to be true…

Lifting out one of the uniforms from its spot she grumbled. How in the world was she supposed to get this on? 

With major struggle, she managed to fit on each part of Miu’s uniform, almost completely different from her own. Long socks were not her style, uncomfortable and itchy, she instead folded them down, making them at least somewhat more manageable. The boots were awful- almost as long as the socks and going almost all the way up to her knees. She didn’t even know what the straps were for or how to put them on, so she left them off, thrown somewhere off to the side. She’d find it later, probably… Miu’s room was only partially clean, so it was a bit of a coin toss if she’d even remember where it was. 

The skirt was fine, she supposed, not unlike her own. The top of her uniform, too, except for all the strange added additions. What even were these strange bands for? Why was it covered in spikes!? And the circular ring that was supposed to go in the center of her chest, what was it even for? She left it off, discarded with the other two on the ground. She didn’t even know what was for what. It sounded like too much of a pain to deal with.

The gloves were uncomfortable, not protecting her fingers but covering her hands. How was this supposed to do anything for her? There were so many other better options for gloves out there… But that wasn’t even touching on the choker, which she’d elected to put carefully on the desk, it was practically barbed wire! It was so uncomfortable and sharp against her neck. There was absolutely no way that was safe to be wearing! There was an alternative one in all black and no spikes, but… It sounded like such a pain to wear. And even imagining it around her neck made her want to choke, so she didn’t even touch it. 

Finally, though, she grabbed the goggles. Without her usual mage hat, her head felt barren and strange. The goggles weren’t a perfect replacement, per say, but they did at least go on her head. Even if they were a bit tight…

Finally, finally , she made her way over to the door. She was starving and breakfast would at least give her some of her mana back so she could function just a little bit more.

After almost tripping a good three times on her way out, she finally managed to get out into the main dorm area. It was quiet, she was probably awake at her usual time, which was much later than most. It was particularly strange not having to go down the stairs, but incredibly welcome. There were numerous times she’d debated just passing out on the staircase instead of just going to her room instead. Besides, there was no way she would’ve made it down the stairs in these shoes. 

The walk itself was slow and uneventful. Other than perhaps one other individual outside who didn’t bother to talk to her (she didn’t even acknowledge them. Conversing sounded even more of a pain), nothing was strange. Stepping into the dining room, though, she realized this was going to be much more difficult than she expected. 

“Himikoooo!”

She nearly jumped out of her skin, did they already know? Did she want them to know? But when she turned her head, she was surprised to find herself - or well, her body - running past her, tray of food in hand. “Stop chasing me you little shit!” She demanded, yelping with surprise as she nearly crashed into Himiko - or well, Himiko in Miu’s body.

The two of them locked eyes for just a moment - albeit with a bit of difficulty (was she really that short? Himiko wasn’t used to being this tall…) - before Miu (or at least, Himiko assumed it was Miu in her own body) pushed her to the side and out the doors of the dining room, sending her glares of anger and hatred as she departed. Maybe even mouthing a ‘fuck you’ as she went. No, almost certainly mouthing a ‘fuck you’ and so much more. 

Himiko, meanwhile, stood in shock as the dining room doors closed behind her, leaving the room terribly quiet. Tenko was now staring at her with a dejected sigh. “What’s wrong with Himiko today?” She questioned aloud, likely voicing her concerns to Himiko- or well, Miu technically, she supposed. “She’s not like herself… Do you think one of the boys got to her!? I mean- she even called me a ‘little shit’ at the end! Was it something I did?”

She shrugged, shuffling to the side and over to the kitchen. Was Tenko really that clingy? She’d never really noticed it herself, always too tired or unbothered to notice. She had mostly just assumed she did that to everyone, but clearly she wasn’t acting that way to Miu. It was almost a relief being able to breathe for once. 

Entering the kitchen, she grabbed what she’d usually grab for breakfast. Something sweet and sugary, more mana for the day. It was a shame Kirumi wasn’t around anymore. She’d always made the best pancakes with the right amount of sweetness and a simple drop of whipped cream on top. She missed them dearly. Regardless, what she was having today would suffice. As long as she didn’t have to make it and it tasted good and sweet, she was okay with it. 

She sat back down at the table, instinctively in her usual spot next to Tenko, who barely seemed to notice, but did give her a somewhat unusual look for just a second. “Having something sweet today?” She observed curiously. 

“Uh-” Himiko hadn’t even considered that, what did Miu usually have for breakfast? “Yeah.” It was so strange hearing Miu’s voice instead of her own. Even as Himiko tried to speak the way she usually did, her voice seemed just a little bit too loud for her liking. Miu was always too loud…

Tenko nodded, “Just like what Himiko would have!” She announced loudly, making her hair stand on end. If Tenko didn’t know, it sure felt like she did. However, Tenko didn’t sound accusatory, so Himiko elected to stay quiet. She didn’t want to know how Tenko would react to them switching bodies… “I just don’t know, Miu-” she continued, “-she had something so… different today. Not that that’s a bad thing! Just- she woke up so much earlier than usual- and I was planning on making her pancakes even though I’m not that great at cooking!”

Himiko nodded, only half following along. She was still much too tired and Tenko was just always filled with too much energy, not unlike Miu. Her eyes trailed along the room, it was so empty compared to usual. Sure, she usually woke up later and it was mostly empty by then anyway, but today it was more than empty. “Where is everyone?”

“Huh? Oh! Right, they’re out looking for the new motive and exploring the school. I was waiting for Himiko.”

Himiko nodded once more, “Right.” She continued to eat in silence. Like usual, but just a bit off with everything. It felt like she was holding the utensils wrong, or that she was slouching way too much - even compared to usually - but Tenko didn’t mention anything else. She just rambled on like usual. 

Finally, Himiko was done. She stood from her spot, but- “Oh! I’ll get this for you, feel free to meet back up with the others!” Tenko grinned, taking the plate. 

Himiko nodded, “Thanks,” pushing the chair away from her and hastily exiting the room. Tenko seemed to be muttering to herself as the door closed, but Himiko didn’t bother to stay and listen. She was too tired to even consider going and joining the rest of them. So instead, she made her way back to the dorms. Instinctively, she began walking up the stairs until she stopped halfway up- right, she was Miu now. She had to go to Miu’s room. Not her own.

With a tentative pause, she opened the door. It was strange entering a room that wasn’t her own. It felt like she was trespassing. Still, she entered anyway and made an immediate beeline towards the bed, flopping down on her face. Instantaneously, she regretted it. The stupid goggles pressed in against her forehead painfully. With a groan she flipped onto her back, staring at the ceiling. How in the world was she going to sleep in this stupid outfit? And why did Miu even wear this thing anyway? It was so uncomfortable… 

Before she could get comfortable, though, there was an aggressive and angry knock at the door, loud and echoing through the room, followed by hasty rings of the doorbell. With a yawn she made her way over, nearly tripping over a collection of items as she struggled to the door. She didn’t bother guessing who it was before she flung open the door with much more strength than she’d anticipated. She still wasn’t used to having so much height. 

She wasn’t prepared, though, to lock eyes with herself. She could barely see her eyes in the first place! Miu for certain, was under that hat. It wasn’t positioned right on her head - not that Himiko usually bothered if it fell off to the side, but still - and there were much too many unnecessary accessories that Himiko wasn’t even aware she’d owned. (Had she even owned them? She hadn’t exactly looked through the drawers in her bathroom sink…) She looked uncomfortable and angry, arms on her hips and standing on her toes. Anger seemed to bubble up in the forefront of Himiko’s mind. She should have expected Miu, but she still didn’t like it. 

“Just what do you think this is about, fuck face!?” She demanded. It was so strange to hear her own usually tired voice completely unwavering and strong. Yelling, even. 

Himiko, though, was at a loss for words. “It’s not like this is my fault…!” She managed to mutter back, placing her hands by her sides uncomfortably. She wasn’t used to this new uniform, either. It felt like she should be doing something other than standing there. 

Miu squawked in surprise, leaping into the air. Did Himiko really have that much energy inside of her? She felt like collapsing. “D-Don’t accuse me!” She spat back, placing an accusatory finger against the center of her chest. “I just want my fuckin’ body back! There’s no way I’m gonna be able to do anything in this. You’re just as flat as I expected!”

Himiko gasped, she didn’t care much but the insult was still unappreciated. It was like Miu always had some kind of insult up her sleeve when she saw Himiko. It was unprecedented! “W-Well!” She stammered back, fumbling with her words as she desperately searched for something she could maybe use in response. “Your room is a mess!”

Miu gave an offended expression, “My room is wonderfully organized. Yours looks like a dump! You’re probably just too dumb to understand my genius organization.” 

Himiko narrowed her eyes, her room looked just fine! If anything, she didn’t use it enough! It was Miu that was a mess. 

“W-Whatever! Just let me inside, we have to talk,” Miu spat, practically shoving Himiko back into the room with an impressive amount of strength. There was no way she was usually that strong, right? She walked through the room with ease, avoiding the piles of stuff, but stopping in front of the straps Himiko had discarded earlier. She looked at them with annoyance, huffing loudly. “Maybe it’s so messy because you keep throwing shit everywhere!” She snapped, picking them up and tossing them onto the bed with an annoyed grumble. 

Himiko ignored her, closing the door and following, eventually sitting on the bed. She watched as Miu walked about the room, “We gotta do something about this!” She grumbled. 

Himiko yawned, leaning back against the bed. Despite her earlier annoyance, it was so comfortable she could almost fall asleep. 

“Hey!” Miu snapped, suddenly right in front of her and much less threatening. Her small frame was tiny compared to her own, voice nowhere near as angry and demanding as she probably thought she was. “I am not going to die like this,” she continued aggressively, though she had to admit, it was more cute than threatening. “I’m not trusting your fucking ass in my body for the rest of your life!”

Himiko sat up at this point, frowning, “I think I should trust you in my body even less!” She exclaimed, “I hope you haven’t done anything dirty.”

“With your flat ass? No way!”

Himiko frowned, crossing her arms. Was that supposed to be a good thing? “Fine. I’m not staying in your body for the rest of my life, either. So what do you suggest?” She grumbled, “You’re the inventor, afterall.” 

“E-Exactly! W-Which is why,” Miu trailed off, her gaze flickering about her room, “Fuckin’! I don’t know! But I don’t want to stay with you all day. I have things to do!”

“Hey!” Himiko exclaimed back. She definitely took offense to that one! What was wrong with her? “Why can’t we just tell them?”

“Fuck no! I’m not telling them that you’re in my body. That ruins the whole thing!” Miu snapped. “It’s a motive for a reason! I can’t have me dying in your pathetic body and letting you keep my gorgeous self. Dying like this would just be a disgrace!”

Himiko’s frown deepened, “Nyeh… Then we stay with each other the entire day.”

“Ugh! Weren’t you listening? I just said I didn’t want to spend the entire day with you!” 

“Yeah? Well I don’t want you doing something stupid to me.”

They both stood (well, Himiko sat) with their arms crossed, staring pointedly at each other through glared eyes - though Himiko’s were a bit more tired and less threatening, despite her being in Miu’s body. 

“Fine, we’ll spend half the day-”

Bing bong!

The doorbell rang throughout the entire room, echoing across the walls and leaving the room with a dead silence. It took them a brief moment to register what had just happened before either of them reacted. 

“Shit!” Miu finally squealed, “You have to answer the door! I’m not gonna let it look like I willingly - or unwillingly - let you into my room!”

Himiko frowned, about to retort before she nodded. Fine. It’s not like she wanted Miu making a fool of herself in her body either. “Whatever,” she agreed, approaching the door. As she went she tried her best to put on some kind of facade, more confident and less like she was going to topple over at any second. To her surprise, it almost seemed to work. 

“You better act like a super confident and gorgeous genius!” Miu snapped from somewhere behind her. It sounded like the closet door was being opened, she must have stepped inside to hide. 

Himiko finally reached for the door, “Shut your mouth! I’m opening the door!” She yelled, pleased with how aggressive her voice sounded (she wasn’t used to having such power!) before swinging open the door - with only a bit less speed than she did previously. When she did, though, her heart dropped. Shit.

“Miu!” Kiibo exclaimed with a grin, looking somewhat pleased with himself for whatever reason. It wasn’t that she dreaded seeing him, just… She really hoped he wasn’t expecting anything. “It’s good to see you doing okay. Tenko mentioned that she saw you earlier, but I was getting worried. She mentioned you were much quieter than usual.”

Himiko could only nod.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I came by! Well, while we were exploring the new areas of the school, I… Well, I overestimated my strength and I believe I happened to break a few minor parts. Would you be willing to conduct some repairs?”

Himiko couldn’t say ‘no’! Miu did repairs all the time! They were specifically trying not to blow their cover. She swallowed harshly, okay. She could always confront Miu later… “S-Sure!” She stammered, glancing behind her at the not so empty room behind her. 

“Is something wrong? You seem to be acting differently than usual,” Kiibo pointed out, expression shifting to concern. 

“Uh- nope! Perfectly fine!” Himiko exclaimed, grabbing onto Kiibo’s hand and dragging him out of the way, closing the door behind her. Admittedly, she didn’t want to be seen in Miu’s room either. The two of them had never merged well, and she really didn’t want to be the one to have to explain that - or well, she didn’t want Miu to be explaining it either. “Let’s just get going!”

Miu didn’t stay in the depths of the closet for long. Through the crack in the door she could hear Himiko and Kiibo’s conversation. She had to stifle a laugh as she listened to them speak. She told Himiko to be a gorgeous genius, not some timid ass bitch! Not to mention, she was going to have a horrible time repairing Kiibo. She would have to go back and repair him entirely herself once she got the chance. Which, while annoying, wasn’t affecting her right now. It was kind of funny to hear her stumble over her words, though, even if it did mean she was messing up Miu’s own reputation. It was fine, she could probably find some shit to get back at her. 

However, that did leave her alone in her own room for the time being. Somehow she’d have to wait until there was no one in the dormitory before leaving. On the other hand, she also didn’t really care. She could just make up some bullshit story about how Himiko was going insane or some shit. It wouldn’t be that hard to do, she was literally in control of Himiko! Besides, she wasn’t the one that would have to deal with the aftermath. That shit would be Himiko’s problem. 

With a slight mischievous grin she exited the room. She’d been tempted to grab some of her stuff and take it with her, but she didn’t want any of her shit in Himiko’s room either, just in case they happened to switch bodies too soon. 

The main dorm area was, thankfully, empty. She made her way over to Himiko’s room, opening the door. Then paused, she was kinda curious about how Himiko’s was handling repairing Kiibo. The idiot was probably unable to even tell the difference between a wrench and a screwdriver! Ha! Maybe she’d even help out, if just for her own reputation. She couldn’t have her gorgeous genius ass self looking stupid as a rock. 

“Himiko! There you are! I’ve been looking for you,”

Oh shit. She’d forgotten about Tenko. The one detrimental hole in her plan. She turned to Tenko, tempted to just rush inside. But Tenko grabbed her arm and pulled her forward, though her grip still seemed incredibly loose. 

“Are you okay?”

Miu sputtered, okay. Um. “Yeah, duh!” She eventually snapped after coming to her senses. 

Tenko gave her a strange look but nodded nonetheless. “Well alright then, I was just a little worried,” she paused, but then a bright grin reappeared on her face. “Well, since you’re doing fine now, why don’t you hurry up and come with me! You’ve got that magic show you were gonna do for us.”

Miu froze. What? But- why? Last time it went so badly, how would this be a good idea? “Sorry- what…? I don’t remember agreeing to that,”

“Aw come on! You were so excited about it, really determined to redeem yourself,” Tenko insisted, Miu had a feeling Tenko was more excited about it than Himiko. “It’s a smaller show, remember? It’ll only be a select few of us watching, so there’s no fear of messing up. It’s gonna be fun, and I’ll be there to support you the entire time!”

Miu couldn’t sputter out any kind of response before she was being dragged away. It felt like seconds before they’d made it to the room, Himiko’s ultimate room or whatever, full of ‘magic bullshit’. Unfortunately for Miu, that gave her no time to prepare. They both entered the room, more or less, Tenko eagerly announcing their arrival, as if it couldn’t get any worse as she shoved her into the room. “And here comes the amazing Himiko!” Clapping followed, more eager than she’d expected. Was this really only a small handful of people? This sounded like so much more. 

But god, Miu wished her arrival was always announced like that. Maybe she’d keep that in mind for the future… It was just a shame that it was Himiko’s name being said rather than her own. Whatever, that didn’t change the fact that she didn’t understand how any of these contraptions worked. If she was able to take a good look at them she might be able to figure it out, but just watching like this wasn’t doing anything, and she would need a few minutes to not mess anything up. Everyone staring at her certainly didn’t help any more, either. 

“I- at least give me a chance to warm up!” She snapped, coming to her senses. Get them out, then that gave her an opportunity to either bolt or actually figure this shit out. Which, of course she could do! She was the gorgeous girl genius Miu Iruma! Just… Stuck in Himiko’s body. “I’m not ready.”

Tenko nodded vigorously in agreement, “Oh, right! Um… everyone out? I’ll bring you back in in a second!” She encouraged, leading the small crowd out. A few individuals gave her strange looks, though. Shuichi, in particular, seemed to be staring at her in confusion. Analyzing her every move. It made her feel very exposed. 

“That means you too, Tenko,” she quickly corrected herself from calling Tenko something less than pleasant. She’d rather be kept in one piece. With Himiko’s form, Tenko could probably snap her clean in half if she really wanted to. She was lucky she’d made it out alive the first time from just that morning. 

Tenko frowned for a moment, but evidently, Miu’s stare was convincing enough and she stepped outside. 

Finally- she breathed a sigh of relief the instant the doors shut behind them. Okay, she could finally take a look at these stupid contraptions…

Himiko was at a loss. Kiibo had just dragged her along the entire school campus, seemingly unaware of how quiet she was being. He was blabbering about whatever they’d been doing earlier that day, but Himiko was paying him no mind. She didn’t know anything about doing repairs! What in the world was she going to do? 

With Miu’s lab just in front of them, Himiko supposed she had no choice but to go along with it. Kiibo had stopped chattering, finally, as the doors opened revealing the much too confusing and overly pink room. Even just looking at it made Himiko’s head hurt. 

“Alright! I already told you what’s wrong, so I’ll just lie down now and let you get started right away,” Kiibo explained, as if that was at all helpful, as he made his way over to the doctor-esque table in the center of the room and took a seat.

Swallowing thickly, Himiko made her way over to the table. Next to it, on a tray, lay dozens of instruments for working with machines. All of which Himiko didn’t know the names of. In fact, there seemed to be multiple copies of some of them, which only worried her further. “Oh no…” She muttered to herself, struggling to mask the concern on her face as she looked between Kiibo and the endless tools she had lying in front of her. 

Kiibo’s eyes, however, widened. “Oh no… Don’t tell me the damage was worse than I realized!”

Himiko opened her mouth, not finding the words. “N-No! I-I can totally do this!” She continued frantically, reaching into the piles of tools and scrambling about until one fell into her hand. Some kind of screwdriver? Maybe? Oh god- she could totally figure this out. Staring down at Kiibo, she tried not to bite her lip as she reached down with the screwdriver, placing it into one of the spots. Kiibo made some kind of noise, but didn’t outwardly protest, either, so she continued. She went around Kiibo’s ‘stomach,’ slowly removing the screws holding the plate together.

When she finally removed the last one, the plate opened with a satisfying ‘pop!’ Uncertain on where to put it, Himiko let it fall to the floor instead with a loud clang.  

“How does it look?” Kiibo asked, staring up at her with wide and worried eyes. 

“Um-” Himiko sputtered, staring down in confusion. What was it supposed to look like? All she could see was a wide selection of endless wires of all different colors and sizes, stretching all about his body. Along with that were gears and other strange contraptions, all moving about in awkward ways. None of it looked right! “-Not bad…?” She squeaked out. 

Kiibo seemed to start to say something in return, but Himiko couldn’t let that happen, so she grabbed at another tool and went in. She had no idea what she was doing, but surely something would do something, right? So she went, screwing and unscrewing things, fiddling with wires and acting like she was doing something… God- she just needed to make it seem like she fixed something! 

But as she pulled at another tool, reaching down into Kiibo’s chest, she snagged a wire and- 

BZZT

Sparks began to fly from the thing. Himiko only had enough time to yell with shock and jump backwards as Kiibo’s body began to spasm for just a moment when-

His eyes went dark, mouth agape. 

Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no-!

Tears began to collect in the corners of her eyes, and she spun around in a panic. “I can’t do this!” She yelled, running out the door and away from the scene of her own crime. 

To Miu’s surprise, it only took her a few minutes to figure everything out. All of these dumb things were dumber than she thought. It was all a bunch of bullshit, after all! No magic at all, not that she expected any. She’d even grabbed a cape lying around just for the hell of it. It looked extra, and that’s exactly what she wanted. 

With the confidence of the genius herself, she swung the doors back open. “Well, what’re you all waiting for! Get in here!” She exclaimed with a laugh, making her way back up to the front of the room, letting her cape flow behind her as clearly as possible. Even without her womanly features, she could still get people to stare at her with the same jealousy as her own body would! 

When she turned around, however, she was horrified to find everyone giving her concerned stares. “Eek-! W-What!? Did I do something wrong?” 

Everyone stared between themselves, but Tenko was offering her a concerned smile. It didn’t look good on her. Shuichi, however, was the one to speak up. “Uh, no… We were just… Worried,” He explained, though he still seemed somewhat doubtful. 

“Oh,” Miu replied, glancing away with embarrassment. Duh, of course. She couldn’t mess up something as simple as walking up to the front of a room. “W-Whatever! Just- get in your seats. This is gonna be the show of a lifetime!” 

The show couldn’t have gone worse if Miu had tried.

The first damn trick was cards. Easy enough! All she had to do was remember the damn card the first asshole she picked chose. And yet, when she flipped the card over to the audience with the utmost confidence, she only got empty stares. It was not the same card. 

Frantically, she tried a second time, and yet, the same thing happened! What?

“It- T-That was just a fluke!” She exclaimed, tossing the cards off to the side. “God damn it, my next trick will be better, you’ll see!” 

Next she tried the thing with the damn birds. It should’ve been easy, they were just some damn birds in a cage! And yet, as she was trying to pull the sheet off, the birds went flying! But not in the way she wanted, no, they went flying at her! And then the next few minutes were spent trying to save her damn ass from some birds. 

“Whatever-! Birds are just- they don’t like me or something,” Miu stammered, face beginning to turn red from frustration. 

By the time she was getting to the last trick, two people had left and Miu was practically sweating with nervousness and frustration. It was disgusting as shit, but whatever! It wasn’t her body anyway. They could all judge Himiko all they damn wanted. Her last trick was that damn box full of swords. That one should’ve been easy enough! She knew all the inner workings. 

“Alright, listen up! I know those last few were… Not my best, but this one will be the best, you hear me!? Save the best for last!” She announced, pointing aggressively into the crowd. “I need a volunteer! Someone get up here and get into this thing!” 

No hands went up, though she could see Tenko in the back tentatively raising her hand. Regardless, Miu ignored her. Shuichi was sitting right there, and Miu wanted to see his dumbass face when she did the trick right. So, she stared right at him, “You! Yeah, you! Get up here,”

“M-Me!?” Shuichi stammered, fumbling as he was pushed to his feet. “Isn’t the person-”

“Yeah! You’ll be perfect for this. All thin and shit,” Miu continued, swinging the door open and motioning for Shuichi to step inside and completely ignoring whatever comment he was going to make. 

“Um- O-Okay?”

His hesitant steps were just too slow for Miu. This was already taking way too much time as is. So she lightly pushed him into the box and slammed the door shut. “Alright you dumb fucks!” Miu wasn’t giving a shit anymore. This was a complete waste of her time. She was too tired to keep up the damn facade any longer when it wasn’t helping either of them and only making her day worse. “Watch with amazement as I stab these swords into the box and miraculously miss Shuichi with the power of ‘magic’ and big-ass brains!” 

Confident as could be, Miu picked up one of the swords sitting beside the box. From within she could hear Shuichi’s muffled yelp of surprise and concern. “Don’t be a wimp!” Miu laughed, stabbing the first sword into the box with satisfaction. Hell yeah! This was kinda fun. With another chuckle, she lifted up another sword and stabbed it in. With no reaction from Shuichi, she continued, with more confidence and flourish this time, only with two swords instead of one. 

Not to her surprise (she didn’t have any doubt in her mind that this would go well, of course!), things were going perfectly, and they were almost down to the final sword. 

“See? Just look at how cool I am and how good this trick is!” She laughed, lifting up the last one. Having only so much room left, she let out a shout as she shoved the sword into the box and-

“Ack-!”

Miu stopped in her tracks at the sound. Then she swallowed and chuckled, “W-What the fuck was that?” She snapped, trying to hide her concern as best as possible. “Don’t scare me like that!”

All she got in response was another pained, “Ow-”

And then she saw it, from the bottom of the box was seeping blood. 

Oh no. No-

No, she wasn’t about to be a murderer! She couldn’t die like this! 

Oh god-

Taking a step back, she practically stumbled off the stage, falling over herself. People around her were beginning to stand and chatter, frantic yelling as some rushed forward towards the box. Even from where she was now, she could practically hear the faint ‘Help’ from inside the box as people began to struggle to pull the various swords out. 

Breaths picking up, she turned and ran. “I-I can’t fucking do this!” She yelled, slamming the doors shut behind her as she raced down the hall. 

Neither girl stopped running, not until they finally reached the dorms. Frantic as could be, they reached for the doors, but-

Thud! 

“Oh, fuck!” Miu yelped, stumbling backwards. 

In the same beat, Himiko fell backwards into the grass with a groan. “Ow…”

Rubbing her eyes, Miu blinked, staring down only to find, staring back at her, her own face looking… Well, alarmed. “Ugh, it’s you,” 

Himiko stared up at her, eyes wide. “O-Oh! Miu…” 

“What the fuck are you doing here?”

“I-I really messed up, Miu!” She exclaimed, tears brimming in the corners of her eyes. It was humiliating, really, to see herself in such a state, even if it wasn’t really herself at all. 

Miu was about to scoff in her face. How was that her problem? But then she stopped, Himiko was still in her body, after all. This was her problem. “W-Well… Spit it out, then! What the hell did you do?” She snapped, “It better not be something stupid.” 

“I-It’s Kiibo! I-I did something and now he’s- he’s- not working!”

“W-What!?”

Miu was not going to let that slide. Inactive was probably kind of like murdered, right? She couldn’t let that happen. So, off they went. Along the way, Miu admitted to having really messed up Himiko’s magic show, too. She was horrified and worried about Shuichi, but they were already on their way to Kiibo, so there wasn’t much of a choice. Besides, Miu was worried that if Kiibo got any worse, he would somehow blow her lab up! Quite literally. 

“Ugh- your legs as so fuckin’ short and annoying! Can’t even run in these things,” Miu huffed. 

“Y-Yeah!? Well, your boots are so annoying, too. It’s impossible to walk in them,” 

“Whatever, we have work to do, so just shut your mouth,”

When they finally stepped inside her lab, however- “Oh my god-” Miu stopped in her tracks, seeing the damage that had been done. Kiibo was not in good shape, but at least her lab seemed relatively undamaged? And the sparking had really died down. 

Rushing up to really inspect things, she was almost surprised by the lack of damage. It didn’t seem like much at all happened. Motioning for Himiko to stay back - she couldn’t have her gorgeous body ruined! To her surprise, it really only took a few minutes. It was really easy, actually. And before she knew it, she was reattaching the front panel once more. 

“See, that was easy as can be!” Miu announced, poking Kiibo in the chest. “But I shouldn’t have trusted that someone like you-”

“Wow, Miu,” Himiko began from beside her, seemingly completely ignoring Miu’s previous comment, her eyes were still locked on Kiibo, who’s eyes were beginning to open again. “That was amazing…” 

To Miu’s surprise, there was no hint of sarcasm in her voice. “W-Well, whatever!”

“Huh? Himiko? What are you doing here?” 

“Hee-!”

“Uh-!”

Kiibo looked between the two of them inquisitively, eyes narrowing slightly as he inspected both of them. “Don’t tell me…”

“We swapped bodies!” Miu blurted from under the judgemental stare of Kiibo’s narrowed eyes. “It’s part of the motive…”

“Oh,” Kiibo paused, and then- “Oh! I see. That really explains a lot… Although, I wonder how they managed to get that to work… Oh well. In that case, thank you… Miu?”

Miu shrugged, “Sure. I wouldn’t have had to do this if Himiko hadn’t messed everything up, though.” She rolled her eyes.

“Hey!” Miu chuckled, but Himiko continued. “Don’t we have to check on Shuichi still…?”

Thankfully, after a bit of brief panic from Kiibo after hearing what Miu had done during the magic show, they were able to easily find Shuichi being patched up and helped by various students. Motives were explained and apologies (tentatively… If somewhat forcibly, too) were given, too. 

Finally, after plenty of chaotic hours together trying to figure everything out, they were on their own again, wandering through the courtyard as the sun began to set and nighttime was just a few hours away. Even more strangely enough, Himiko found herself less annoyed by Miu than before and maybe even enjoying her presence. And, even more strange, Miu seemed to be having similar thoughts, though it was much harder to tell. At the very least she was insulting Himiko less, and that seemed like a win. Or maybe some hidden messaging. 

Miu huffed, kicking her feet against the ground as they walked. “This day was bullshit,” she muttered. “I mean, what kind of shitty motive even is this?” 

Himiko shrugged, staring at the ground as she walked. “I dunno, I don’t think it was that bad,” she insisted quietly, pausing to shift their direction over towards one of the benches. “I mean… I kind of like what you did to my outfit, even if it’s not what I would wear.”

“W-What?” Miu sputtered, not expecting the sudden compliment. “I-I mean-! Of course, someone like me can even make someone ugly look beautiful!” 

Himiko smiled, “Nyeh… You think I’m pretty?” 

“T-That’s not at all what I’m saying!” 

Sitting down against the bench, Himiko chuckled, “You can just admit that you like me, you know!” She insisted, kicking her feet, only to give a disappointed frown as she realized her legs were too long to do so. 

Miu rolled her eyes, but she, too, sat down, and, almost without thinking about it at all, kicked her feet. “No way! I don’t know what you’re playing at, but it’s not funny.”

Himiko shrugged. “You’ll see,” she insisted. With another long pause she yawned, leaning back. Honestly, it was kind of nice not having that lingering exhaustion with her the entire day. She’d felt oddly energized. Or, well, more so than usual, at least. “This was kind of fun, actually.”

Miu glanced over at her, eyebrow raised. “Fun? Seriously? You have got to be joking.”

“No, I really did! Seeing you do all that robot stuff with Kiibo was kinda fun, and I like being tall…”

Miu huffed, crossing her arms. “You would like that, wouldn’t you? Shorty,” she muttered. But, after another long pause, she hesitantly spoke again. “I mean, I guess looking into your magic tricks was kinda fun, even if it was all a bunch of bullshit. It’s harder than it looks.”

“They’re not tricks!” Himiko whined, and Miu almost cringed from how obnoxious her own voice sounded. Damn, was that always how she sounded? “It’s real magic! That’s probably why you sucked at it so much…”

“Yeah yeah, whatever you say,”

Himiko stared at the sky, watching as the clouds gently went by and trying to find any shapes within them. Maybe it was unprecedented, but she kind of liked spending time with Miu. It was different from spending time with Tenko. Unlike Tenko, Miu was willing to fight back with her words and wasn’t afraid to say what was on her mind. She didn’t agree all the time, which, admittedly, got kind of annoying when she wanted genuine feedback. It was nice to have someone who could speak their mind freely, even if she could be a bit… Overly blunt at times. She kind of respected Miu, too, for what she did. Other than her constant dirty jokes, she did still have some genuine talent hidden beneath. There was no way she could understand how Kiibo worked on her own, even with an infinite amount of time! It just sounded exhausting. Not to mention, even though she could be a bit strange, Himiko did kind of like how she looked. Her hair curled strangely, but it was a nice pinky-blonde and felt almost silky beneath her fingers. Her clothes were annoying to get on, but there was some fashion to them that she had to respect, even if it wasn’t her style…

“Hey, Miu?”

“Yeah, what?”

“Can we hang out again tomorrow?”

That made Miu turn, looking shocked. A genuine surprise that Himiko hadn’t seen from her all day. “W-What? You want to spend time with me?”

Himiko shrugged. “Yeah.”

Miu glanced away, face turning almost as red as her hair. “I-I mean…! I might be kind of busy, but… I guess so.”

“Nyeh, great,”

Miu sputtered under her breath, glancing down at the floor. Dare Himiko say it was kind of cute. She glanced up at the sky, standing abruptly from her spot. “It’s getting late! I’m ready to go to sleep.” She huffed.

“Sounds good,” Himiko pulled herself up from her seat, practically dragging herself forward. Today was as exhausting as it had been fun. Sleep sounded fantastic.

The walk was quiet, but the distant chirping of birds and the crashing of exisals working on some part of the school filled the space enough to not leave any empty silence between them as they stepped inside. 

Without much thought, Himiko found herself walking towards Miu’s room, but when she stopped in front of the door, she was surprised to find Miu standing behind her. “Uh, what are you doing?” Miu accused. “I thought we were sleeping in our own rooms.”

Turning, Himiko hummed. “Did we agree on that?” She questioned, pushing the door open with a soft click. “Nyeh… I don’t wanna go up the stairs… That sounds like a pain.” 

“Well, too bad! Because-” Miu’s words were cut short as Himiko was already walking inside. With a defeated sigh, she rolled her eyes and followed along. “Whatever…”

Himiko made her way over to the bed almost immediately, letting herself flop backwards onto her back as she struggled to fling off Miu’s uncomfortable boots. “It’ll be like a sleepover.”

“S-Sleepover?” Miu echoed, also fiddling with Himiko’s shoes. “I’ve… Never had one.”

Himiko glanced over, eyes widening as much as they could in her already tired state. “Really? It’s fun,” she insisted. “We could tell stories or something and share our deepest darkest secrets.”

“I don’t wanna do that with you!”

Himiko shrugged. “Oh well. Maybe truth or dare? No… That sounds like a pain, too…”

“What!? No way, that’s way more fun than the other shit! Let’s do that,”

To both Himiko and Miu’s surprise, it was a surprisingly fun-filled night for the both of them. Even with their styles clashing a bit, they still managed to find fun games to do, and before Himiko knew it, Miu was blabbering on and on about whatever gossip she could think of about anyone and everyone. Himiko was more than happy to sit back and just listen as she half-assed some kind of fort for them. Miu would ultimately complain about its construction, of course, but that was for later. 

Miu would eventually do Himiko’s hair - technically her own, so she was pretty good at it (though she blabbered on the entire time about how this was for her own good whenever they found themselves back in their own bodies, Himiko still enjoyed it regardless), and Miu even willingly did her own hair (technically Himiko’s). 

At some point throughout the night, however, Himiko had fallen asleep and Miu was left talking to herself… Whatever. 

Maybe, just maybe, she dimmed the lights but not fully turning them off, recalling that Himiko had admitted that she wasn’t a big fan of the dark at some point during their conversations. And maybe she even found a nice soft blanket for Himiko to use, too. But that was probably just Himiko’s bad memory playing tricks on her and definitely not Miu’s doing. 

Well, whatever it was, it seemed like they had more fun days ahead of them, at least while the motive lasted…