Volume 1 – Chapter 2 – The Transferred Student™
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“Hey, hey, is it actually true?”

“Yeah, you and Sekuhara-kun used to be together?!”

“Oh. My. God! That’s so adorable!”

“What was the promise, what was the promise, come on, you can tell us!”

“Haha, well, how do I put it… He’s someone very very special to me. It’s our little secret~”

“HYAAAAA!”

It’s the beginning of the lunch break. A swarm of girls surrounded Gotou-san and is currently bombarding her with pajama party-style questions and girly overreacting. She doesn’t seem to be annoyed though. Rather, eager to openly talk about it, if anything.

“Jesus, were we also this cringy in high-school?”

“I wonder…”

Me and Saki are still sitting at the back and commenting on the current situation like some old hobos in a park spectating people passing by.

“Oh, by the way, Hiro.” Saki asks suddenly but calmly.

“Hm? What is it?”

“Aren’t you worried about those guys?” She directs her gaze at the three students standing a few metres away from us, looking at the two of us menacingly. Needless to say, they look like the typical, nerdy otakus that could only dream of talking to a real girl... Is it ironic for me to say that?

“Oh, them? Nah, let them be. That’s only natural for them to be pissed off at me.” I don’t let myself get carried away and remain unmoved.

“Why is that?” Saki asked, but before I manage to answer, the three nerds do it for me.

“Sekuhara, you bastard! Is one cutie not enough for you?! Die in hell!”

“Yeah, what's wrong with you mate, why are all the girls only ever looking at you and not us?! You have Mikazuki-san already!”

“Our life is but an endless torment. We shall all perish alone in this worthless world racing towards its bitter end.” They take turns at insulting me as if they had it all scripted beforehand.

“See?” I turn back to Saki.

“B-but… I’m not really a ‘cutie’ or anything…” Saki blushes in response to one of the guys’ comments. Did she really  just ignore everything else? Even if that’s the case, they’re right. She indeed is a cutie.

“Anyway, we shouldn’t worry about them. God, they’re still at it over there?” I say as I look forward, where Gotou-san is still under fire of useless flattery.

“Hiro, can I ask you something?” A troubled look appears on Saki’s face all of a sudden.

“During the homeroom… You were acting kind of… weird? Like, you suddenly became a different person. Also the way you were talking to her. It wasn’t like you at all. Is everything alright?”

I had the same feeling. When Gotou-san entered the classroom, I felt a bizarre energy flowing through me. In an instant I became brave, talkative, assertive. A total opposite of what I usually am. My mysterious behavior must’ve caught Saki off-guard. Can’t blame her. It was
a shock for me as well. I still don’t know what exactly happened.

“I know… But I can’t really explain it. It just… It just feels like I knew exactly what was gonna happen next. I know it sounds stupid, but back then something took over me. Like my hidden self tried to come up to the surface and make me believe I know everything” That vague answer is the only way I could come up with to summarize what I felt.

“That doesn’t sound very good… I’m worried about you.” She says in a compassionate manner.

“No need to. I have a feeling everything will become obvious once I meet Mai on the rooftop.”

I shouldn’t mention it just yet, but if it’s gonna make Saki a little less worried, I’m willing to take the risk.

“I have a theory as to what’s going on.”

“Really? What is it? I really don’t feel like staying here longer than I have to, it feels weird to be back at school after all this time…”

“But it’s a very, VERY stupid one. I don’t want you to think I’m some kind of a lunatic, so I first need to be 100% certain about it.”

“Will going to the rooftop make you 100% certain then?” I have a feeling I heard a bit of tsundere-like sass in her voice just now.

“Possibly.”

Seeing that Gotou-san is slowly crawling her way out of the raging crowd, I stand up from my seat as well. I smile at Saki gently to assure her of my sanity.

“All I can do is go and talk to Gotou-san. Don’t worry. I’ll be right back.”

“Be careful… I… I lo-”

“Hiro-kun!” Gotou-san calls out to me from outside of the classroom door while peeping back inside. She’s already managed to set herself free and was now waiting for me to join her.

“Coming!”

I walk past my anti-fan club that’s still cursing my very existence and start heading towards the staircase leaving Saki in unease.

 

 

As I open the rooftop door, which for some reason weren’t locked (becasue why would you lock the rooftop door in a place where stupid ideas and depression reign supreme?), blinding light of the summer sun reaches my pupils. The very same sky I saw that morning remains intact. Like really, even the clouds are the same. It looks like someone was too lazy to make another version of the ‘sky.png’ or something. 

On the opposite side of the roof, clenching her hand on the steel net stood the transfer student, Mai Gotou. The overly enthusiastic, ‘perfect’ girl coming back after years of absence to fulfil the promise that she made with ‘me’ long ago.

“You’re finally here.” She says without turning around.

“...” I decide to remain silent and see how the dialogue develops. I’ll let her take the lead for now.

“What’s wrong? Aren’t you happy that we meet again at last?” She lets go of the net and approaches me slowly. The tone of her voice doesn’t really suit her actions and what she’s saying. It’s very friendly, almost as if she was talking to a child. You could feel the affection and care she felt for ‘me’. Which, needless to say, was utterly bizarre.

“How could I not be? This is the best day of my life.” I make sure to sound as dull and ironic as possible to hint the sarcasm. However...

“You haven’t changed a bit, Hiro-kun.” She says softly and innocently. Her eyes sparkle while they gaze deep into mine. She’s either even more dense than me, or… she’s also up to something. Let’s play it va banque.

“... I see you still have that hair clip?“ Using my degenerate instincts and what she’s mentioned up to this point, I make a guess that her hair ornament must be something that she holds dear.

“How could I not be wearing it? It’s the symbol of our promise after all!”

Bingo.

“You gave it to me so that I wouldn’t forget. Right after we made our promise that we’d eventually meet again and…”

Was I correct?

“…?” Her pause caught me off guard.

The wind suddenly became stronger, lifting Gotou-san’s hair and making it look like it was some over exaggerated emotional moment.

“… Get together.”

Why must I be right all the goddamn time lately? But now that I’ve confirmed a part of my theory, it’s time to go on the offensive.”

“… Gotou-san.”

“Yes? What is it, Hiro-kun?”

It’s showtime, that’s what it is.”

“Could you cut the crap already?” 

“...Huh?” Her affectionate expression changes to a completely confused one instantly.

“First you’re running late for school with a toast in your mouth, then you bump into me, call me a pervert even though it was clearly not my fault, appear out of nowhere again as a transfer student and finally try to convince me that not only do I know you, but also that we’re bound by the ‘red string of fate’ or some other anime-esque bullshit and are destined to be lovers?” I lash out with all I got at once.

“I- I don’t think I understand what you’re getting at…”

“Do you really think I’m stupid enough not to notice what’s going on? The guy that spent so much time watching shows where this kind of stuff happens all the time, that he could literally write an entire light novel that’s all about making fun of all those cliches?

“Hiro-kun, are you okay? You seem like you don’t feel so good…”

“You think that’s funny? Suddenly finding yourself god knows where, discovering that your girlfriend became a different person, that you’ve essentially gone back in time and have no idea why?”

“…”

“Tell me, ‘Gotou-san’... Who you REALLY are?”

“Wh- what do you mean?! I’m Mai! Your Mai!”

She won’t give in so easily, huh?

“Okay, let me break this down for you. Where am I? What’s going on here? How is this all possible? I’m warning you.” I get right up in her face as I make sure to intimidate her to the point of breaking. “Who are you working for? What is your plan?”

“I-I really don’t know what you’re talking about… I-it must be the Sun, right?! You’re overheating, right?! Come on, let’s just go back inside!”

“I’m not done yet.” I stop her in her tracks immediately. She begins shivering and sweating heavily. My victory’s close. “Tell your boss, wherever he, she or it is, that I will not be playing their stupid games, got it? I’m done with this cliche bullshit! And if you don’t want to talk, you leave me no other choice… But let me warn you one more time.” I put my mouth by her ear and whisper sinisterly. “All of you, who are responsible for this, get away from me and my girlfriend. I’m not a gentleman. I won’t hold back because you’re a girl.“

Gotou-san froze in place with her eyes glued to the ground and fists clenched. There we go, you’ve had enough yet?

“So, we have a deal?” I back up a bit to finish the ‘negotiations’. But, contrary to my expectations…

“...” She’s shivering again and looks like she’s about to break down crying. She then proceeds to touch her face as if looking for something that’s gone missing.

“…!”

Her eyes. These weren’t the eyes of someone who’s the mind behind a great operation. Nor of someone who’s been hired by one to fulfill important duties. These were the eyes of somebody that doesn’t know who or where they are. Lifeless, yet twitching in terror. Dry as a desert, but with moisture swelling up rapidly. Not only did she suddenly start acting differently… She ‘felt’ like a completely different person.

“...excuse me…”

“Huh?”

“...Excuse me!”

“Whoa?!” She pushes me to the side and dashes towards the rooftop door.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?!” I immediately rush after her and manage to catch up right before she escapes the rooftop.

“Oi, oi, oi, oi, oi, what was that?” I grab her by the wrist and in a manner of a 90’s school delinquent pin her to the wall with the ultimate Kabe-don technique. Man, I’ve always wanted to do that.

“…!”

“What did I say just now? Speak! Who the hell are you?! What is this place?! Are you deaf or just supid?!” 

It felt like her mind went completely blank. Like she was in a dream and wanted to run desperately, but simply couldn’t. I can’t fall for those cheap tricks though, that might be a part of her plan. I’ve made up my mind to settle this here and now.

“p-please… stop… I’m s-s-sorry…”

“OI! ANSWER ME! Have I seriously been Isekai-... Huh, what was that?” Out of nowhere, something of a pale purple color came flying before my very eyes. What was that? A piece of clothing? A ghost? Just my imagination? I quickly look around to spot the mysterious object. But it was nowhere to be found.

“That was stran- …!”

A familiar pain. Dull sensation that makes your legs lose all the composure and make you fall on the ground instantly as it slowly gets more and more severe. You guessed it. I just got kicked between my legs.

“W-wait! Ah, damnit!” Without hesitation, Gotou-san spotted her chance while I was distracted. She escaped my grasp and went running down the stairs frightened.

“Shit!” I try to stand up as fast as possible. At this rate I’m gonna lose her…

After a few tormenting seconds, I finally manage to withstand the spreading pain and dash after her.

 

 

“Damn, where is she?!” I run down the stairs chasing the suspect that has just put a stain on my masculinity. Unfortunately, all I can see is
a crowd of unnamed, NPC-like high school students. I scan the corridor once again, but to no avail. “Great, and now what?”

Gotou-san is nowhere to be found. She did have quite a head start, but I didn’t expect her to gain so much distance. Guess I’ll just have to get back to classroom and tell Saki about what happen-

“Oh, sorry I didn’t notice you. Hey, haven’t you seen a girl with long, pink hair with a daisy-shaped hair clip? She should’ve been passing by a moment ago?” Before me stood a short girl into which I bumped by accident while looking around for Gotou-san. She had greenish-silver hair tied into a large braid. The one you’d usually associate a Dead Anime Mom™ with. She had it decorated with numerous ornaments which in combination with her broader than usual shoulders, gave off a very peculiar, but somewhat familiar feeling. She sure was cute though.

“Sorry, but no, I haven’t. What happened, you look like your whole life depends on finding her! Have you already forgotten about Saki? How cruel of you, Hero~”

“That’s not what I mean! It’s just, I have to ask her someth-” All of a sudden I noticed that this girl just called me in the most cringe-worthy way possible. And that there is only one person that loves to annoy me with this nickname.

“Wait, what did you call me…?”

“No way~ Don’t tell me you don’t recognize your dear friend? You really are a cruel heartbreaker, Heeeero~”

Nononononononono, okay, that’s too much. There’s no way.

“Ok, I can understand that Saki looks different and that something incredibly bizarre is happening all around, somehow, but you suddenly transforming into a girl is just… No, it’s not happening…” I say in disbelief. Hayato, though, corrects me quickly. Or at least I guess it’s Hayato?

“Oh, no no no, you got it all wrong!”

“Huh?” A sinister shiver goes down my spine as I hear Hayato’s devilishly playful voice.

“Don’t you worry, I’m still a guy! But boy, I have to tell you, those skirts are sooooo comfortable! Plus, I got kinda tired of being the ‘buff dude’ ya know? I really enjoy this new style, it’s always nice to try something new. You should give it a shot too! We can trade clothes in the bathroom if you wan-”

“No, my god, no, stop! And how can you be a guy, even your face looks like a girls’!” My disbelief and denial continues. Nothing seems to make sense anymore. 

“Well, if you still don’t believe me, you leave me no choice~”

“What do you-“

Before I can express my uncertainty about his actions, Hayato grabs my hand and puts it… under his skirt. Soft, yet firm. Familiar, yet unknown. Interesting, yet sickening. Ah, there’s no doubt. I’m touching my buddy’s manhood. We stand there, amongst tens of  unaware students, in a position that even the best lawyers in the country would have trouble explaining. Seconds pass by as if they were eons. Muscles in my hand have frozen in terror, unable to let go. Our eyes met… They were dead. Lifeless. Corrupted by the darkness that embraced us both slowly with its ice-cold veil… 

The long-awaited sound of the school bell breaks the illusion and we snap back to reality at last. I withdraw my hand immediately.

“I, uh… might’ve gone a little too far there… Sorry.” Hayato said.

“Yeah, um… Ma-maybe let’s just pretend that didn’t happen?”

“And don’t talk about it ever again?”

“Yeah, I’m cool with that.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“Great, cool…”

“Right, totally cool.”

“Yeah.”

“Now I can’t get married~”

“STOP, for good taste’s sake! Just stop!”

“Sorry, couldn’t resist~ Anyway, who's that girl you’re after?” 

“I don’t know who she is, but I have a feeling she knows what’s going on here.”

“Hm…”

After our conversation finally began resembling a normal human interaction, Hayato looked out the corridor window.

“It really is as if we went back in time to high school, isn’t it? Quite nostalgic, I have to say.”

“We were still in high school like literally a few months ago.” 

“I know, I know… but still, it’s weird.”

“Yeah, but we have to figure out what’s going on. I don’t think I can get used to your new… style.” No matter how long I look at the new Hayato, there’s no way he’s the same person. Nearly all of his muscles were gone and he was noticeably shorter. Plus you don’t just grow like 40 centimetres of hair in one night! Well, at least now I’m sure that at least, he’s still a guy… But at what cost?

“I look so cute though! Check out this awesome braid! And this hair colour! I’m kinda sad that my muscles shrunk, but oh well, I don’t feel like going back to my usual self for now~

“Eh…”

“…Hey, did you say that that girl had long pink hair?” After a few seconds of silence which I used to calm myself down from all the shock
I experienced over the last 5 minutes, Hayato calls out to me again.

“Yeah, why?”

“Isn’t that her down there on the school grounds?”

“Where?!” I rush towards the window as fast as I can to confirm Gotou-san’s identity. And indeed, she’s just exited the building and was now nervously looking around, presumably for a way out of the grounds.

“Got her” The chance is not yet lost.

“So it is her after all! Quite a nice catch, my dear, threesome-ing friend~”

“Cut it out! We gotta grab Saki and go after her, let’s go.”

“Oh, Saki-chan’s here too? Yay!”

“Just go!”

“Okaaay~”

 

 

We dash through the school corridors skillfully dodging all the students that were heading back to their classes along our way. Damn,
I shouldn’t have been skipping the gym. I can already feel the fatigue building up inside my body. Hayato, on the other hand….

“What’s wrong Hero, why are you slowing down?” He says as he takes me over with a smug smile on his face.

“Excuse me for not being a goddamn body-builder like you!" I somehow spit out those words while maniacally gasping for air like a moron that decided being able to do 20 push-ups in a row is impressive enough, so he decided to give up on working out.

“Slo- slow down… You don-don’t know the way!”

“Ah, right! Sorry!” 

“Thank god…”

Hayato slows down after hearing me beg for my life in panic. It looks like even though our bodies are now different, our muscle memory and stamina didn’t change much. Meaning I’m still a skinny muscle-less nerd and Hayato, somehow, is still a ripped gym monster… that looks like a fragile little girl. Almost as fragile as my heterosexuality when I look at himWHAT? What?

“Haaa… Haaa… Je- Jesus Christ almighty… I ca- I can’t breathe….”

“Phew, that was a nice lil’ jog!”

After running some more and, in my case nearly dying, we finally reach the classroom where Saki should be waiting for me to come back from the roof.

“Huh? What’s going on?” Another out-of-the-ordinary sight has me baffled.

“Wasn’t this just a lunch break? Why does everyone seem like they’re…”

“…Going home.”

Before we manage to enter the classroom we get stunned by the unexpected stream of people chatting and leaving through the door with all their stuff packed up. Inside, only one person was still sitting still.

“Saki! What’s going on?!”

“Hiro! You’re back!” Small tears appeared in the corners of her eyes that were running circles around the whole room in confusion.

“Why is everyone leaving, wasn’t this just a normal lunch break?”

“I-I don’t know… I was just looking through my stuff to see if I had something to eat and when I was done people were already saying ‘bye’ to each other and heading out…”

“Guys, look…” Hayato said weirdly quietly to both of us.

“Huh?”

“What? But how? I don’t understand…”

“Me neither…”

Hayato once again pointed at the window. This time however, there was no need to get closer to see what he meant. The Sun… was already setting. Just after what we thought was the lunch break.

“What’s the time now? Quick, do any of you have a phone or something? I command in panic, for some reason forgetting that I probably have a smartphone on me as well.

“It’s… What the hell…” Hayato said in disbelief.

“What? Show me.” I grab Hayato’s hand that’s holding his phone and look at the time displayed.

“6 PM?! That’s impossible! I’m almost sure it was merely past 12 when I left the classroom!”

“Hiro, look at the clock.” Saki points towards Hayato’s phone, so I take one more look at it… Not only was it bizarrely late. The time was also ticking at a stupidly fast pace. The minutes were passing by literally in front of our eyes.

“Okay, we don’t have much time, but-”

“Haha, that’s nice! Because it’s literally-”

“Shut up, Hayato, not now!”

“Buuu, don’t bully me like that~”

“Should we just… go home like the others?” Saki proposed, stopping my and Hayato’s little quarrel.

“Tch, I don’t think we have any other choice. We’ll look for Gotou-san tomorrow.”

“Look for her? What happened, weren’t you talking on the roof just now?” Right, I didn’t even get a chance to tell Saki what happened because of this mess.

“Yeah, but things got a little complicated.”

“Co-complicated…? What do you mean?”

“Don’t worry, Saki-chan, it seems like they fell out with each other a bit.” Hayato rescues me from all the possible consequences of my vague summary.

“I’ll explain it to both of you later, but for now, let’s just head home… or at least the place where we regained our consciousness. My… current surname was the same as the one written on that house.”

“You mean Chikakane?” Hayato asked.

“Yeah, not really… I’ll explain that one too. When the time is right.”

“I swear, you're making all those puns on purpose!”

“God, give me strength… Let’s go.” I ignore him and head for the classroom door.

“Hey, wait, you guys know where to go?”

“We met this morning in front of a house with the same surname as Hiro’s surname seems to be… But we don’t know why it’s different from normal and what neighbourhood we're in…” Saki explained briefly. 

“But we do know where the house is. We should get there in 10 minutes or less. Although in our current situation, I guess it’d take like
3 hours…” 

“Where did you wake up, Hayato?” Saki noticed that Hayato didn’t get a chance to share his experiences with us yet.

“Right in front of the school building among a big crowd of students. Soooo, I don’t really know where my house is, haha.”

“That’s okay, you’ll sleep in ‘mine’. And I’m guessing Saki’s home will be the one next to it.”

“Huh? How do you know?” A perfectly sensible question from Hayato. My answer, on the other hand,  was the opposite of that.

“Let’s just say I have a feeling.”

Saki is now the Childhood Friend™ character, so if I’m the Protagonist™, she must live next door. That’s the law. Or at least everything that’s happened until now would suggest that that’s actually the case.

As the clock struck 7 PM, the three of us finally got out of the classroom and started heading ‘home’.

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