‘Fascinating!’ he thought, ‘does this run on magic? Some kind of propulsion spell? Maybe it’s a golem that follows the operator’s commands through that wheel there!’ His brain was running a mile a minute trying to figure out the magical workings of cars… until the other side of his new memories kicked in and informed him that they had an engine, something mechanical that worked with the other machinery of the car to make it go.

His curiosity faded and he frowned deeply. ‘Everything here so far is so mundane… there’s no magic, no wonderment. The gods must have been very angry to send me to such a world.’

“What’s wrong, Em?” Brian asked.

‘Hopefully this ‘school’ thing is more entertaining. Hopefully I’ll be learning about whatever passes for adventuring in this world. I need to find my next epic quest, and earn my way back into the gods’ good graces!’

“Em?” Brian asked again, a bit louder.

‘Who is he talking-- oh, right…’

“Yes?” he asked, looking over at ‘his brother’.

“What’s going on? You’re spacing out hardcore. Nervous about your first day in fifth grade?”

“Me, nervous? Hah. As if something so simple could make the legendary hero lose his will!” he boasted, folding his arms in a confident pose within the confines of his seatbelted position.

Brian looked incredibly confused. “Uh, whatever you say sis. You sure you’re feeling alright?”

“Definitely,” he nodded. 

“Alright then... “

The rest of the journey passed in relative quiet, with the only conversation being that from the talking rectangle - the “radio”?

Some sort of discussion of local politics between two rival kings vying for power, or something. Hazuri couldn’t be bothered to pay close attention.

He was far too busy taking in the sights passing by outside the vehicle. Buildings of all sorts of strange construction passed by, nothing like he had known in his world. The most impressive were the buildings seemingly made entirely of glass.

‘Perhaps there is some wonderment here, after all. How can one build a tower of glass and have it stay standing without magic, after all?’

The building that part of him recognized as his school came into view, and shortly after, they were pulling up to the curb.

“Have a good day, Em,” Brian said.

‘I guess this is my cue to get out.’ He released the seat belt and opened the car door through a bizarre moment of muscle memory. He grabbed his satchel and purse from the back seat, and then Brian pulled away, leaving him at this strange place alone.

“Em! Hey, Em! Emmaaaaa!” a girl shouted. It took a moment to remember she was calling him.

“Huh?” He turned towards the sound of her voice.

“Em! I missed you!” the girl rushed him, sweeping him into a hug.

“Ack!” He squeaked, freezing.

“Huh? What’s the matter, Emma?”

“N-nothing,” he stammered. “I’m alright. How are you…” he searched his mind, trying to recall her face. “...Olivia?”

“Alright, now I know something’s up, you never call me my full name. Spill.”

He looked around to see what he had spilled, but saw no such messes. “What?”

Olivia fixed him with a puzzled stare. “Alright, come with me. You and I need to talk.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him quickly away from the growing number of other students. 

He stumbled along after her, still not quite used to his new proportions. ‘You’ve made a mess of it now, Hazuri!’

“Okay girl, what’s going on? You seem out of it this morning. Are you that nervous about starting the year?”

“Nervous? Me? No! Never!” he laughed nervously.

“Okay, if you’re not nervous, how come you called me Olivia? You haven’t called me that since we became friends in kindergarten!”

‘Shit, I don’t know, what did I really call her? I mean, what did you call her, Emma!’ He tried to reach out to his memories, scrambling for something.

“S-sorry, Liv,” he stammered. “I guess I’m more nervous than I thought.”

She frowned. “...Sorry, I guess I’m being weird too. I just finished reading this book about body snatchers and I was worried. Silly, huh?” she nervously giggled.

“Y-yeah, silly,” he agreed. ‘Am I a body snatcher? Did I steal this girl’s life? Is she trapped in my head with me?’

He followed numbly after Liv to class, trying to sort through his conflicted feelings on the matter of being alive, but perhaps at the cost of a young girl’s life.

=====

Classes in this world were incredibly boring. That was the conclusion he arrived at after sitting through “Modern History”, which couldn’t possibly be modern if he’d never heard of any of these places, “Science” which all sounded ridiculous, and now he found himself walking into something called “Gym”. 

As had become his standard for the day, Hazuri followed Liv to this class as well.

His time in the “Girl’s Locker Room” was a trial of his fortitude. He very nearly turned and ran when he saw where he was. He still felt like a grown man, after all, and being surrounded by children changing was a taboo in his world. He hoped it was one here, too.

Thankfully, by keeping his eyes up on the ceiling, he was able to preserve everyone’s modesty - and avoid feeling like some kind of criminal.

On his way out of the locker room with the girls, he caught Liv shooting him a weird look, though she said nothing.

“Alright, boys and girls… today we’re going to be playing Dodgeball, boys versus girls!”

“I can’t believe we have to actually play on our first day!” one boy whined.

“Come now Ted, you’re all fifth graders now, you know how each new year works, you’ve already had typical first days in all your other classes, you really wanna pass on having a fun break to play a game in gym?!” the man in a “COACH” t-shirt asked emphatically. 

The class seemed to be in agreement that doing anything besides more first day lessons was desirable. 

When ‘coach’ called for everyone to line up, Hazuri took a spot near Liv, and waited to see what would happen next.

A shrill blast unlike any he’d ever heard sounded, and everyone ran for the line of large red balls.

‘What in the twelve hells is this all about?’ he wondered, taking a cautious step back.

As soon as people reached the balls, they immediately began hurling them at one another, some making a solid slapping impact against skin, others flying off harmlessly nowhere near anyone. Occasionally he could see a boy or girl catch a ball, and the one that threw it would sulk off the court.

A red ball came screaming in his direction, and for the first time since coming to this world, he felt a familiar sensation. Suddenly it was like he could see the trajectory of the ball approaching him in slow motion. He reached out and snatched it from the air like a lazily drifting balloon.

The moment it was in his hand, he pulled his arm back to throw it, and yet again the familiar sensation of the System engaging allowed him to perfectly target a student. He hurled the ball, watching as it hit one student, ricocheted off that student to hit another, and then ricocheted again to hit a third.

The gym went silent as the eyes of the remaining players turned to him.

“Yay!”  he cheered girlishly, grinning at his success. Right until he realized nobody was clapping or cheering with him. 

‘Ah, crap…’

=====

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” the coach was saying to a woman in a similar COACH t-shirt.

“Am I in trouble?” he asked, fiddling with the hem of his shirt.

“What? No, Emma. You can go get changed.” The coach pointed towards the locker room, and he quickly jogged over to get changed and move past this embarrassing event.

“That was so cool, Emma!” one of the girls said as he returned to the locker room. 

“Oh, thanks,” he smiled.

“Yeah, you showed those boys!” another girl said.

“It was nothing, really!” He could feel his cheeks warming from all the praise.

“Do you think you can teach me to throw like that?” another girl asked.

“I don’t think so, um, it was mostly luck,” he lied.

“I never knew you were so cool, Emma,” a sporty-looking girl said. 

“Oh, I’m actually pretty warm,” he assured her. She looked at him funny.

“Hey,” Liv grabbed his arm gently, “can we talk after you get changed? Alone?”

“Um, of course Liv.” He hurried to get changed, not wanting to keep her waiting… or be around the girls in this room any longer than necessary.

=====

“What the heck!?” Liv asked as soon as they were out of earshot of other students.

Hazuri flinched.

“What’s going on with you? You’ve been weird all day! Is this a new thing? Are you trying to seem cool cause we’re fifth graders now? Are you trying to get Jordyn to notice you?”

The questions came fast, and he felt his cheeks coloring at the implications of the last question. “No,” he spat out when he finally managed to find his voice, “just the same old me!”

He knew it was a bad lie the moment he said it. Even a literal child wouldn’t be fooled.

“Nuh-uh. You’ve never been good at gym, then you did whatever that was in there, plus the fact that you’ve barely paid attention in classes which is so not you, and getting my name wrong… you really are a body snatcher from Jupiter, aren’t you!?”

“I-I-I can explain,” he stammered, not sure why this girl had him so easily on the defensive.

‘Get a hold of yourself, man! She’s a child!’ he thought, chastising himself. 

‘But she’s my best friend, what if she hates me now?’ another voice piped up in the back of his mind. He shushed it and tried to shove it back down.

“Okay, I’m waiting,” Liv said, hands on her barely existent hips.

“Okay so, um, I’m not from Jupiter. I’m from Aelight… and my name isn’t Emma, it’s Hazuri. I am - or, I was - the legendary hero of my people, destined to defeat the Demon Lord and return the world to everlasting peace.”

Olivia stood there in complete silence, staring at him for an uncomfortably long pause.

“So like… is this some kind of joke or…?”

“No, it’s not a joke, please believe me!” he begged.

‘Why do I care so much if this girl believes me? Just because she’s my friend-- er, Emma’s friend…’

“Okay,” Liv said around a giggle, “so if I believe you… what happened to Emma?”

“Um, I don’t really know. I guess it’s… like she’s in here too? Sometimes her memories and mine get mixed up… and sometimes she just starts doing stuff and I don’t know how. Like getting dressed this morning, or changing for gym.”

“Okay, well, ‘Hazuri’, can you let me talk to Emma real quick?”

“Uh, I can try? Hold on.”

Hazuri closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath.

‘Emma? Are you in here?’