Even though I had slept like a baby the previous night, sleepiness struck me not long after I introduced myself to the class. My mind drifted away as I complained to myself about why people were always only interested in my family's success. Once again, I had to prepare myself mentally to talk with fake people and receive fake compliments who had the goal of taking advantage.

Everything had become dark before I realized it. Only hearing my name woke me up.

"Araki," Mr. Tokugawa called.

I opened my eyes. Somehow, I had remained sitting upright on the chair. However, there was a different guy sitting in front of me. We exchanged glances for a second before he continued to stare at something behind me.

I turned my head to take a peek at what he was looking at. Mr. Tokugawa stood still next to a girl, who hid her face between her arms that lay on her desk. Mr. Tokugawa should've been angry at her, but his face showed no emotion. I wasn't interested in what was happening, so I merely turned to face the front of the classroom again.

"Araki, are you enjoying your nap?" Mr. Tokugawa asked.

My mind remained blank for an unusual amount of time until Mr. Tokugawa spoke again. "Did you rest well, Araki?" he jested.

My brain finally ignited and the gears started spinning. I snapped my head back to see that the girl sitting behind me was me. Mr. Tokugawa was standing next to me behind me and had been calling me.

I looked down to inspect myself and saw a blue tie instead of a ribbon. My chest had become completely flat and I was now wearing a pair of dark-blue pants instead of a skirt.

A scream came out of my mouth before I could even think. Pressure started to crush my body as everyone stared at me in silence. My breathing became harsh and heavy. I looked at me, who now stood next to Mr. Tokugawa.

"You… you…," I quivered.

No words would come out. They were stuck beneath a lump in my throat despite trying my hardest to spit them out. Left with no choice, I grabbed the pen and the digital notebook from the desk, just to see the last thing Keita had written for me. "I'm Keita. I hope that, too."

I'm… Keita?

I shook my head and erased the words to write, "You are me!" and show the notebook to me standing in front of me.

She read it and asked, "Emi?"

I nodded frantically.

"You are also me," she added.

My hands shook uncontrollably as I held the notebook. Keita is in my body.

"What is happening here?" Mr. Tokugawa asked. "Is this some kind of excuse for falling asleep in class?"

"No," Keita answered. "I did fall asleep, but it's true that I woke up in Emi's body. I'm Keita."

"And… I'm Emi," I breathed.

Being unable to speak normally was becoming frustrating. Even though the sentences were formed in my head, sudden fear prevented them from coming out. It was also annoying that my eyes wouldn't obey my command to stay focused on another person's eyes. My entire body had life on its own.

Long story short, we ended up in the principal's office. We explained to her that we swapped bodies and she believed us right away thanks to the CTCT disease being well known. She called Keita's parents and my mom, who worked as a teacher in Kasen—the high school we were at.

Mom arrived a minute later. She knocked on the door before Mrs. Asuka—the principal—asked her to come in.

"Did something happen?" Mom wondered. She frowned at Keita when she realized he and I were sitting on one of the two sofas in the office.

"Yes, something peculiar happened," Mrs. Asuka chuckled. "Suzuka, your daughter swapped bodies with one of her classmates: Keita."

Mom snapped her head towards us. "What?!"

I jumped out of the sofa and approached her. "I'm Emi," I said. For the first time since we had swapped bodies, I didn't struggle to talk.

She stared at me in shock before brushing her face with her hand and laughing nervously. "This is peculiar indeed. I should call your father."

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Asuka asked. "I didn't want to bother him while he's working."

"I know, but he should know about it. Plus, it'll be funny to see his reaction."

Mrs. Asuka smirked. "Alright. I already called Keita's guardians; they should be here in twenty minutes."

"I should call Koji now, then."

She took her phone out of the pocket of her skirt and searched for Dad's contact, who answered the call within a second.

"Hey, there's a funny problem," Mom giggled. "…It'll be better if you come and see it. I'm really sorry for interrupting your work. …Kind of. …Great. …Love you." She put the phone back in her pocket. "He'll be here in fifteen minutes."

"Good," Mrs. Asuka replied. "Why don't you return to class and I'll resume my work until then?"

"You want us to go to class with our bodies swapped?" Keita asked.

"Missing the first class isn't a good way to start high school," Mom answered. "And it won't be that bad, just pay attention to class for fifteen minutes. You'll even forget that you're in another person's body."

"Well said," Mrs. Asuka smiled. "My recommendation is that you swap seats."

Keita and I glanced at each other. It was obvious we were both against the idea. Having swapped bodies was an amazing excuse to skip class, yet I preferred that over Mom's and Dad's scoldings.

"Fine, we'll go to class," I breathed.

"I will too," Mom added.

"I'll call you in fifteen minutes," Mrs. Asuka said.

I approached the door, but fear stopped me from walking through it. What is happening?! This is annoying!

Mom slapped my back. She smiled at me and opened the door to gently push me toward it. We stepped out and Keita followed us behind. How can she be so calm?

Keita and I split from her at the stairs and walked in silence back to our classroom. We knocked on the door and Mr. Tokugawa allowed us to come in. I should've expected everyone to stare at us as we did. The only thing I could look at was the floor as we headed to our seats. As Mrs. Asuka suggested, we swapped places, which allowed us to use our stuff.

On the other hand, Mom was far from right. I never forgot I was in Keita's body. The constant pressure of being observed was something I was used to but, for some reason, it had become a hundred times worse. I could only assume it was because of Keita's shyness.

It was already hard to pay attention to class in my body, so it was impossible to write down a single word during the entire fifteen minutes, which felt like an hour.

"Emi Araki, Keita Umehara, Mrs. Kozue, please head to the principal's office," Mrs. Asuka said through the speakers.

I stood up without hesitation and walked out of the classroom, not even looking at Mr. Tokugawa or knowing if Keita was coming with me.

Only a few steps into the hallway, Keita grasped my shoulder to stop me. "Are you okay?" he asked.

I hadn't noticed it had become so hard to breathe. I had to take a moment to breathe deeply and make sure my heart calmed down.

Still not looking at Keita, I tried my hardest to ask, "Do you… always feel like this?"

"I'm used to it, so I'm actually not sure," he laughed.

I glanced at him. It still was extremely weird to see me from another body. I merely looked away and continued walking.

We stepped into the principal's office just to see Mom standing in front of Mrs. Asuka's desk.

I approached Mom and asked, "Where's Dad?"

She stared at me for a second before answering, "He should be here any second—"

Someone knocked on the door and Mrs. Asuka asked them to come in. It was Dad. He had just taken a step into the office when I ran to him.

"Dad! Dad, please fix this now!" I screamed.

Confused, he asked, "And you are…?"

"I'm Emi!"

He remained silent and squinted his eyes before opening them wide. However, the door behind him was pushed open and hit him.

"I'm so sorry!" the woman entering the room apologized. "I saw the door open and…. Wait. Koji? Suzuka?"

"Yōko?" Dad asked.

"What a surprise!" Mom smiled as she approached Ms. Yōko.

"You bet!" she grinned.

They know each other?

Another woman suddenly appeared from behind Ms. Yōko. "Hey. Long time no see," the woman smirked.

"Tazuko. Why are you both here?" Dad wondered.

Ms. Yōko answered, "Mrs. Asuka called us because our son is in… trouble? I didn't understand what she was trying to tell me very well."

Keita approached her and said, "Mom, it's me!"

"Eh?"

"Yeah. Looks like our kids have swapped bodies," Mom laughed nervously.

"Eh?!"

Dad chuckled. "Don't worry, Suzuka and I went through the same thing when we were in high school."

What?

"Oh, that's right," Mrs. Tazuko replied. "Yōko and I were confused about your names for a while until we saw you were the first couple with the CTCT disease."

What?!

"You lied to me pretty good," Mrs. Yōko added.

Mom bowed. "We're very sorry about that."

"Don't be, it's totally understandable why you did it."

Mom stood straight and they smiled at each other.

"I understand you haven't seen each other in a long while," Mrs. Asuka interrupted, "but we should solve your kids' situation quickly not to waste any more time."

"I agree," Dad replied. "Emi, how long has it been since you swapped bodies?" He looked at Keita in my body instead of me.

"I'm Emi," I said.

He looked at me. "Right. How long has it been?"

"Like… twenty minutes?"

Keita nodded.

"You need to wait ten more minutes then."

Mrs. Asuka suggested, "You could return to class in the meantime—"

"No!" I yelled. I didn't mean to, but it came out on its own. Everyone stared at me in surprise. I needed to say something else quickly. "Dad, did Mom and you swap bodies too?"

"We did."

"It's a long story," Mom giggled.

"We have time," I said.

And so I convinced them to tell us about how they were the first-ever couple to swap bodies. Although quite shortened, it still made for more than ten minutes of story.

It sounded like they were far from finished, but Mrs. Asuka interrupted them. "It's time you swap back to your own bodies."

"How do we do that?" Keita asked.

"Oh, we haven't explained that," Mom replied. "You just need to touch each other's skin and wait a couple of minutes until you feel sleepy."

Keita and I glanced at each other. It was very simple, yet my body was insistent to feel weird about it.

"But we didn't touch each other before," Keita said.

"Are you sure?" Mrs. Yōko questioned.

He nodded.

"I touched your shoulder," I added, "but it was over your blazer."

"That's true," Keita replied. "And you also blew air in my ear."

Everyone looked at me in confusion. My cheeks felt warmer. Why are they making it weird?!

"Anyway," Dad coughed. "There have been cases where people swap bodies even if they touch over their clothes. And there have been people that could swap bodies with more than one person; that was the case of three of my colleagues at my former job."

That sent a shiver down my spine. Swapping bodies with one person was already far from enough and doing it without even touching directly was going to make it harder to prevent it from happening.

"That sounds like an interesting story," Mrs. Asuka said, "but please tell it another time. They should touch each other as soon as possible."

"Yes," Dad replied. It was weird seeing him being scolded.

Keita and I stared at each other. Although I could keep eye contact with him longer than before, it was still hard and frustrating.

He started to extend his arm forward slowly, but I wanted to get it over fast. I grasped his arm and let go after a couple of seconds. No matter how I thought about it, it was a weird situation.

Thankfully, Mrs. Yōko broke the ice. "Now what?"

"Now we wait a couple of minutes until they fall asleep," Mom replied.

I wanted to hear more about Mom's and Dad's swapping stories, so I took advantage of the silence to ask, "Mom, you never told grandma and grandpa that you could swap bodies?"

"Not until a few months after we stopped swapping bodies."

I realized I hadn't asked about the cure, so I did. "When was that? What did you do?"

Her eyes suddenly opened wide. "It's kinda funny, now that you ask," she giggled.

I don't like where this is going.

"It happened during high school prom. It was lively, but it also was bittersweet because we were all going to be headed down different paths. Anyway, the mood became perfect for your father and me to have our first kiss. We stopped swapping bodies after that."

My blood grew cold and my jaw dropped. "Are you saying that the cure to stop swapping bodies is…"

"A kiss," Dad continued.