Chapter Text
Usually, when it comes to solving mysteries, it is a good idea to stack evidence and write up potential scenarios in an effort to find the truth.
Unfortunately, in this case, there is no evidence. And no potential scenario.
There is simply no logical way this could have happened, unless this is some screwed up dream conjured by his horrible subconscious - yet somehow, over the course of the night, Ennoshita Chikara had ended up swapping bodies with Tanaka Ryuunosuke.
And this? This is a big problem.
"Ryuu! Hurry up! You're gonna be late for school!" There's pots and pans banging downstairs, no doubt Saeko's work - though Ennoshita remains unaware of why she isn't just barging into her little brother's room and forcibly removing him from it, instead of yelling at the top of her lungs and waking all the neighbors. Oh well. It must be tough, living next to the Tanakas.
He's at least grateful for this fact though, because it gives him some extra time to freak the fuck out before he has to go to school. As Tanaka Ryuunosuke. In Tanaka Ryuunosuke's body. Holy shit. He’s Tanaka Ryuunosuke. He collapses onto the bed with his head in his hands and prays that this is just a weird dream. At this point, Ennoshita kind of wants to just throw himself out a window, but that would solve literally none of his problems.
Okay. Hold up. It’s not as bad as he thinks. Probably.
Bringing his hands forward, he examines them – rough under the constant contact with volleyballs, no doubt. But they’re not all too different from his own – maybe firmer and drier, but not too different. And height-wise, they’re practically the same, so there’s no problems down that alley either. It’s not as much of a disaster as switching bodies with, say, Hinata. That would be worse. Sorry Hinata.
Also, it's not like Ennoshita doesn't know Tanaka either. They’re well acquainted. Not on this level, of course, but they’ve been aware of each other since first year. They're on the same volleyball team, have an incredibly similar schedule, and in every aspect, are probably considered friends.
But if he ever wanted to do any extra bonding with his friend, this was not the way to go.
“Ryuu! Come on!” Saeko yells again.
He looks up, watching the clock tick by, and feels cold sweat run down his forehead. Right. Reality. The real world.
Being Ennoshita Chikara, he can't fathom the possibility of skipping school, but attempting to act like Tanaka may be even worse. Ennoshita knows - and knows it well - that he himself is of a quieter sort. He has slowly grown content to linger in the shadows of bigger and greater people, feels pressured by too much attention and heightened expectations, works hard to achieve his goals even if nobody sees the effort he's put in. Quiet, unassuming, unremarkable.
All in all, he's really... not much. He blends in. He's actually kind of... boring.
However, Tanaka is the opposite. He lives for the spotlight, he's loud and boisterous - lets everyone know when he enters a room. He's bold and passionate, and wears his heart on his sleeve. Ennoshita hates to let people in, but Tanaka shows the world when he's happy, sad, angry; he bares to the world everything.
There is no way Ennoshita can last a second living as Tanaka in a public space. This is the full and utter truth. So how is he going to do this?
The door slams open.
"What the hell, I've called you like a thousand times," Saeko leans against the doorframe, frowning and crossing her arms. "I may be your reliable big sister, but you still gotta get your own ass outta bed, ya hear? What's up, huh? Why're you sitting there lookin' ... all down and shit? Something wrong?"
"No!" He snaps all too quickly, raising his arms in a gesture of surrender. "No, not at all, everything is fine."
Saeko raises an eyebrow, bracing a hand on her hip as the other taps impatiently on the wood by the door. "You sure? You look a little pale there. Getting sick, maybe?"
"I'm fine!" Ennoshita - in Tanaka's body, he continues to lament - shoots to his feet and salutes, feeling it an action fitting of his friend. "I'll be down in a minute, just let me get dressed. Okay?"
"So formal today," Saeko laughs, but lets it go. "Alright, but if you're late, Sawamura's coming after your ass. You know that, right?"
Ennoshita freezes. As the door closes, he feels his hopes of surviving the day close with it.
Shit. Daichi. Volleyball. Volleyball practice is the least of his problems right now. What is he going to do? Spike like Tanaka?! He doesn't know how! Should he skip practice? But wouldn’t that make things worse?!
And he has to get dressed - where does Tanaka even keep his stuff? The room is a mess... shit, shit, shit, what classes does he have today? Does Tanaka pack his bag the night before or the morning of? Shit. Did he even do his homework last night?
"For fuck's sake, Ryuu, hurry up!"
Shit. "I have no idea what I'm doing!" He yells back, just because he really doesn't.
"Do you ever know what you're doing?!" Saeko shouts, "Just go with the flow! You're a Tanaka, you'll get by!"
That's the problem, he thinks. I'm not a Tanaka. I'm an imposter. I've lived my life peacefully and helped the elderly cross the road and did nothing to deserve this.
In a last ditch attempt to at least show up to practice looking presentable, Ennoshita shucks off his pants and tears off his shirt, getting into his P.E. uniform. All the while, he tries not to think too much about how different this body feels from his own. If he blushes at all while getting changed, he’ll know he’s a goner, so he speeds through it as fast as he can.
He's glad at least that Tanaka doesn't have hair that requires brushing. Maybe Ennoshita can just avoid all mirrors for the rest of the day and try and act normal. Haha. As if.
Though, as he's heading down the stairs, bag slung over his shoulder, he's suddenly struck with a thought even worse than waking up as Tanaka Ryuunosuke in the morning.
It's Tanaka Ryuunosuke waking up as him.
His concern, he discovers, was very well placed. If the early arriving members of Karasuno thought anything of what looked like Ennoshita Chikara pacing outside the gym at hell o’clock in the morning, kicking at grass and swearing, they didn’t say a single word about it. Ennoshita finds himself worried before his body swap partner even notices him.
“Morning,” he says, trying to sound casual. Tanaka swivels around and snaps his fingers.
"Hey En-uh, Tanaka! Tanaka. I need to talk to you, like, right now! It's urgent, top-secret stuff that nobody is allowed to listen in on! Especially you, Suga, go away!"
Oh, Tanaka. Subtlety expert, as always.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming, shut up," Ennoshita resists the urge to slap himself. … he's not any better, is he?
To be honest, meeting up with his own face at school was the last thing on Ennoshita's agenda, but he supposed it can't be helped. They were bound by useless fate and had no say in it, anyway.
With a forced spring in his step, he leaps forward and follows Tanaka around the side of the gym, grinning much too wide to throw off Suga's suspicion. Thankfully, the third year just shrugs it off as both of them being weird. One of the perks to being Tanaka, Ennoshita supposes.
Speaking of Tanaka, he suddenly looks entirely too relaxed about the whole situation, and Ennoshita doesn't know if it's just his face or if Tanaka is genuinely not freaking out for once. It's fine though. He can do the freaking out for both of them.
"What did you do?" Ennoshita grits out as soon as they're out of earshot. "Why am I in your body?"
"You don't know?" On a usually inexpressive face, Tanaka's astonishment is unsettling. Ennoshita shuffles his feet, and looks to the floor. There's no use yelling at him if he doesn't know either.
"I was hoping you knew something," he admits quietly.
"Shit." Tanaka says instead. "Holy fucking shit on a stick."
"I know." Ennoshita puts his head in his hands like he did that morning, groaning to himself, and groaning louder when he realises the voice coming from his throat is evidently not his own. Act natural. Who was he kidding?
"Well, this sucks." Tanaka supplies helpfully, hands on his hips.
Ennoshita sighs. "Tell me about it."
"Hey, come on," Tanaka tries, slightly more upbeat this time. Ennoshita grumbles, stubbornly not looking at his face. He's never going to get used to this. He hates it. A hand drops onto his shoulder. "We'll fix this, okay?" Tanaka shakes him. "I don't know how, but we'll fix it. We're gonna set things right, and you better believe it."
"What if we can't? What if we're stuck like this forever?"
"Don't you 'worst-case-scenario' me, Ennoshita Chikara. Think positive! It's too early for the world to end."
Ennoshita scowls. "It's because you're like this that I have to worry about everything, you know! Why are you so carefree? This has completely changed our lives as we know it! What are we gonna tell our parents? What are we gonna tell the team?!"
"Oi! Okay, okay, calm down," Tanaka places both his hands on Ennoshita's shoulders this time, as if to hold him firmly in his spot. "You know what we gotta do? We gotta tell 'em the fucking truth. No weird dancing around and shit. Just straight out 'I'm Ryuu, I'm Chikara' etc. Got it?"
"They're not going to believe us."
"They have to. If it were me and Noya, that would be a different situation..." Despite himself, he grins, and Ennoshita wonders if it's terribly narcissistic to appreciate it. Then Tanaka clears his throat. "But it's you and me, and we're different as can be. Knowing you, you probably already got my sister looking at you funny, 'cause you worry so much about everything."
"Hey!" Ennoshita protests, even though it's true. He doesn't want to feel chastised by Tanaka of all people, but somehow it seems that Tanaka's trying to reign himself in while he's in Ennoshita's body, which is ... surprisingly sweet. He supposes, luckily, that this means Tanaka won't be stripping during practice at least. That's one less thing to think about.
"So are you cool with that?" Tanaka asks, eyes flickering back towards the doors of the gym. "Telling them, I mean."
Ennoshita swallows, then nods hesitantly. "Yeah. Okay. But if it backfires..."
"... I'll take responsibility. Yeah, yeah, I know." Tanaka grins again, letting his hands fall back to his sides. "C'mon then, 'Tanaka', we've got a show to run."
Shaking his head, he follows Tanaka indoors, concerns significantly eased. Then his stress levels spike all the way back up as Nishinoya Yuu comes barreling towards him.
"Ryuu!" The libero screeches, "I have to show you this cool new app I got on my phone! Daichi says I gotta be quick because practice is starting and all, so hurry!"
"Um," Ennoshita attempts to interrupt, but Nishinoya already has him by the arm and is pulling.
"Cut it out, Noya," he hears his own voice say, before he registers it coming from his left. They both look over at Tanaka, in Ennoshita's body, confused.
"I got something to say," Tanaka tells Daichi, who opens his mouth to say something, then decides not to, and motions for him to continue. "I'm Tanaka." He announces, much too calmly. "Tanaka Ryuunosuke."
The hand clamped around Ennoshita's wrist loosens. "Bro?" Noya questions, tipping his head like a curious bird.
Ennoshita nods. "I'm Ennoshita. We - that is, Tanaka and I, we - switched bodies. Somehow. I don't know."
"Huh?" Daichi blinks, confused. "HUH?!"
"Interesting!" Suga makes his presence known, recommencing rolling the volleyball cart into the corner. "And you're sure you have no idea how this came about?"
Ennoshita and Tanaka both shake their heads.
"Didn't make any bad wishes? Commit any crimes? Did something to be ashamed of? Nasty thoughts?"
"Suga!" Tanaka blathers, embarrassed.
"Suga!" Daichi echoes, coming to his senses again. "What's going on?"
"That's what I'm trying to figure out here," Suga explains all-too-calmly. "Somebody's got to have their head screwed on properly."
"Suga, there's no way, these things aren't real," Daichi reasons, "They're pulling our leg. Is it April Fools today? National Prank Day?"
"Ennoshita wouldn't." Suga replies curtly, stepping over to pat Ennoshita on the head - or in this case, rub his hand over his now-shaven head, which is an entirely foreign sensation is Ennoshita ever felt one. So this is what it feels like to be Tanaka.
"Ennoshita wouldn't!" Daichi repeats like it's an epiphany. "And that's the perfect reason why he would! Because we wouldn't suspect him like that."
"Er, I ... I don't think so." Asahi, by the sidelines, who has remained silent the entire time they've been talking, looks more worried than Ennoshita feels. Everyone turns to face him and he jumps.
"Um, but say... it was the truth..." Karasuno's ace begins, fingers sliding nervously through his hair. "Wouldn't that be a bit of a problem...?"
"A bit, yeah," Tanaka agrees. "Why do you ask?"
"Well... it doesn't matter how you got there... the issue is, what are you gonna... y'know... do about it..?"
Daichi looks at Suga, and asks, much too loudly, "They're telling the truth?!"
Suga shrugs, "I don't know why you didn't believe them the first time, but yes."
Tanaka snaps his fingers. "Back on track! We swapped bodies and now we don't know what to do. We'd like to swap back, of course. Preferably sometime soon! Any suggestions?"
Noya raises his hand. "What if you both hit your head really hard against something?"
"No!" All the third years yell at the same time, one louder than the others.
"Hit your heads against each other's?" Nishinoya amends, seeming to miss the point.
"No!" The third years yell, quieter this time.
"Sorry, Noya," Ennoshita says, apologetic even though it was a stupid idea to begin with. "I don't think that will work."
"Tanaka shooting down one of Nishinoya's ideas? Seems like there's a first for everything." It's Kinoshita's first comment when he strolls through the door with Narita, and Ennoshita automatically stills in place. How is he going to talk to his friends like this? They'd never let him hear the end of it, especially since they're the only ones that know that he might... no. Nope. Not heading down that train of thought today.
"They swapped bodies, Tanaka and Ennoshita." Suga tells them like he'd tell them the daily weather forecast. Kinoshita's eyebrows shoot straight up and Narita covers his mouth in surprise.
Ennoshita sighs. "This is gonna be a long day..."
Despite his worries, practice actually runs relatively smoothly. The fact that both he and Tanaka are wing spikers helps, and it's thrilling to have a little more power behind his spike than he's used to.
Ennoshita is still low-key freaking out about the whole situation, but he tries to make the best of it. Channeling Tanaka's energy is tough, but he does have the body for it now, and it gives him an idea about why Tanaka's a regular and he isn't.
Tanaka Ryuunosuke is simply built stronger, faster and better, and being in Tanaka's body has proven that to him.
"What's got you lookin' so miserable?" He hears before he sees Tanaka plop down beside him, expression curious. "Does it suck that much to be me?"
Ennoshita manages a smile. "Not at all. I just have all this energy and nothing to do with it."
"Mm, that's what running around screamin' is for." Tanaka yawns. "Are you always this tired? Holy shit. Do you even sleep?"
"I may be an insomniac?"
"What do you mean 'may be'?" Tanaka shoves him with a huff. "Take care of yourself, future captain."
"Who're you calling future captain?" Ennoshita shakes his head. "And anyway. We still have to find a way to change back."
"Mm." Tanaka says, then without hesitation, "Kiss me?"
"W-what?!" Ennoshita splutters, then looks around, wide-eyed. Nobody seems to be paying them much attention, but he wouldn’t count on it. There are ears everywhere. "What?" He hisses, much lower this time, desperate to keep their conversation private.
"Y'know," Tanaka at least has the gall to look sorry for suggesting it, but it doesn't offset the determination in his voice. "Usually when some kinda curse or magic thing happens, isn't the rule to kiss to break the spell? I mean," he starts to ramble. "It's not like it would be that weird. It's just like kissing a mirror, yeah? Since you're me, and I'm you. If it works and we change back, we can forget about it. No big deal."
Yes big deal, Ennoshita thinks but doesn't voice this thought. Tanaka has a point, even if it's one Ennoshita isn't too fond of. Mainly because he'd rather they not forget about it. But he's still too far in denial land to even consider what this would imply.
Instead he stands up, mouth set in a straight line. "I'll think about it." He says. "Get back to practice."
“Yeah okay.” Tanaka grins up at him, naturally dissipating any odd tension that had formed. Even in Ennoshita’s body, he seemed to have that effect on people. With one steady motion, Tanaka rocks to his feet. “Say, I’ll race you to the net. How do you feel about being beaten by your own body?”
Ennoshita rolls his eyes and smiles back, lips quirking in challenge. “I’d say don’t count on it, Chikara.”
“Oh, Ryuunosuke. You are on.”