“Oh, good. It works.”
Gasping, you wrench your arm back and the angry orb disappears. Yours eyes shift from where it was, down to Umeso’s still outstretched hand, then back to the invisible orb. You press your arm against her hand.
“—owardly piece of— Oh good, you’re back! Now get the fuck out of my—”
You pull your arm away again and she disappears.
Grimacing, Umeso says, “Each time you do that she gets louder.”
“Oh, so you can still hear her?”
“All too well.” This does not seem to please her.
Alright, so you have an easy way to escape the orb’s yelling. And no reason to put up with it, frankly. You don’t want to permanently steal someone else’s body, but also, it’s the shouty orb who wants something, not you. The power is in your hands… and the rest of you, technically. Crossing your arms, you steel yourself and say, “Tell her I’m not going to talk if she’s just going to scream and curse at me.”
“She can hear you, and she is screaming louder now.”
“She can scream as loud as she wants—”
“I would really rather she did not.”
“—but I’m not going to talk unless she chills out.”
Umeso flinches, hands jolting up to cover her ears. “Please. It hurts.”
Despite how rude both these girls have been to you so far, the pain on Umeso’s face does earn her a bit of sympathy. But you’re also not going to give into terrorist demands. “I’m going to go break up with your boyfriend if you don’t stop torturing Umeso.”
A moment later, Umeso slowly removes her hands from her ears, sighing in relief. “Thank you.”
“She’s calmed down?”
Her lips quirk up at the sides. “No, she is trying to attack you. But she is much quieter now.”
“...Should I be worried about that?”
“I do not believe so. She keeps charging into your face, then coming out the back of your head.”
You breathe a sigh of relief. “Oh yeah, I can’t feel that at all.”
Fully smirking, Umeso says, “If anything, she seems to be the one in discomfort each time she does it.”
Stamping your foot, you talk louder than you probably need to, earning a few stares from passerby. “Ruem? Can we talk now? With no screaming?”
You offer your arm to Umeso again, and she grasps it. Soon after, Ruem the orb appears again, looking as distraught as a pair of floating eyeballs can look.
“Y-you’re a bully!! Why do you wanna hurt me so bad? I never did any—” She hiccups. “—thing to you!!!”
Despite how little she’s earned it, the orb’s pathetic tone does work on you. “Relax, I’m not going to break up with Radestro. …No matter how much I might want to.”
The Ruem sphere looks ready to fight again. It would be more intimidating if you didn’t already know she was harmless. “What do you mean you want to break up with him!? He’s the perfect man, anyone would be lucky to—”
“I mean, I’m just not into dudes, okay?”
“Oh.” Ruem stares at you in silence for a moment. “You’re one of those… lesbiabs?”
“Lesbians.”
You blink. That is the natural conclusion, isn’t it? Hm. There’s something pleasant about that word. Maybe it just rolls off the tongue. But it’s not accurate; there’s a fundamental misconception happening here. “Well, no, not exactly. …I’m a guy.”
“Oh,” Ruem and Umeso say.
More somber than you’ve yet seen her, Umeso softly says, “It seems like that would be unpleasant. My condolences.”
Ruem, on the other hand, is now a roiling ball of rage. “Unpleasant for ME!! A MAN is hanging around in my body!!!” She jolts closer to you, Umeso’s hand barely keeping up with her. “I bet he’s constantly getting his rocks off, the pervert!”
The accusations hit you like arrows, knocking you a step back. Ruem disappears, and Umeso’s eyes radiate pity. That almost hurts more. “We’re done here,” you say, wrapping a stranger’s arms around a stranger’s body as you will that body to flee. Charging through the grass, your boots hit the pavement of a nearby path and you rush down it, not caring where it leads as long as it’s away from Ruem. Despite her body’s appearance, you hadn’t expected her to be such a monster.
Emotions roil in your mind like a storm, louder and stronger than ever before. You’re actually finding it hard to hold back tears, something you’d never really struggled with in your old body. What is going on with you? Barely keeping it together, you tear through the school grounds, ignoring the stares of the rainbow-colored people strewn throughout. As long as you don’t run into them, they mean nothing to you right now. Flashes of thought streak through your head, but never stay for long. This body isn’t yours, but does Ruem really deserve it? You’re not a pervert. Stealing bodies isn’t okay though, is it? The last person to call you that was… your dad. You don’t want to keep this body anyway, it’s a girl’s body and you’re not a girl. You’re not a perver—
“Oohf!”
Your (stolen) body collides with someone else’s, and the both of you take a moment to avoid falling to the ground. As the storm fades from your mind, you realize that you weren’t so much avoiding running into people as they were moving out your way as you barrelled along. But one person had refused to move, and she’s staring down at you now with a mixture of anger and befuddlement while a crowd churns around you both.
“Ruem?” The anger takes over her expression. “What is wrong with you?”
Even if she’s still glaring at you, seeing Kittpey again makes your heart feel light. She’s mean, but she and Ruem are friends, right? She’ll comfort you, right?
Tears start to dribble down your face despite your best efforts, and Kittpey’s eyes go wide. Voice the barest bit softer, she says, “Seriously, what’s wrong?”
Whatever haphazard dam you’d erected inside breaks. Throwing your arms out, you fall into Kittpey and cling onto her for dear life as a torrent of emotion washes through you. Everything from the last 24 hours, whatever awful thing happened when you died, and years of trauma before that all come to the fore, as you babble incoherently and cry into your supposed friend’s clothes. When you first pressed against her, you dimly noticed Kittpey go rigid, and stay that way for a while. But eventually her arms wrap around you, supporting you physically and emotionally, and it just makes you cry all the more. You knew she was nice deep down! Somehow you knew it.
As the flood of your emotions becomes a trickle, Kittpey pushes you away, but keeps her hands on your shoulders. Ducking her head to look you in your downcast eyes, she says, “Are you together enough to walk?” Sniffling, you nod. “Good, follow me.”
Perhaps not trusting you to do so, she grabs your wrist and pulls you along. You mostly stare at your feet as you go, not wanting to deal with the stares that you have no doubt your theatrics have drawn. Dimly, you realize that the way she’s grabbing you has to be uncomfortable on her end. Not giving it much thought, you pull your arm, shifting her grip so that you’re holding each other’s fingers. As warmth begins to form there, you remember your mistake with Umeso and try to pull away. But Kittpey grips harder, thwarting your attempt. Confused, you look up at her, but she’s not looking back, apparently focused on guiding you wherever it is she’s going. You smile.
Eventually, the two of you push through the front door of the building you know houses the dorms, then turn left. Soon enough you’ve entered your — Ruem’s room, and Kittpey is guiding you to sit on the bed. She plops down next to you, her thigh pressing against yours. …Why are you taking note of that?
“Ruem, look at me.”
Your eyes snap up from Kittpey’s thigh to her eyes, staring at you in concern. None of the harshness you’d encountered that morning exists on her green-skinned face. She’s actually really cute, you realize, with a large lose, high cheek bones and perfectly applied makeup. Dammit, now’s not the time for that!
Kittpey’s hands press against the sides of your face and she glares at you, but with compassion this time. “Girl, talk to me. What is going on with you?”
Where do you even begin? So many things are wrong with you, and that’s before you were killed and ended up in a girl’s body. But you have to give her something, right? Do you tell her that you’re not actually Ruem? Your breath hitches; she might recoil if she finds out it isn’t her friend she’s comforting right now. So that option’s out! But then what…?
Her hands press a little harder against your face. “Sorry!! I just, um… someone was mean to me earlier.”
“Someone?” Her eyes narrow. “Mean how?”
Trembling, you say, “They called me a pervert.”
It startles you to realize, with complete certainty, that the glares Kittpey sent your way this morning were completely devoid of malice. The look on her face now, meanwhile, radiates murderous intent, and it’s legitimately terrifying. Her nails press into your face for a moment before she pulls them away, flexing them in her lap as though testing her ability to strangle.
“Who called you that?”
Oh. Even if you wanted, you can’t just say… “W—well I don’t quite remem—”
“Don’t you dare try to save them, Ruem,” she says, pointing a finger menacingly. “Who said it?”
Think, think. You can’t blame the actual culprit, not without risking Kittpey’s anger turning on you, but you’ve got to give her something. Radestro taking the heat wouldn’t bother you, but it was also hardly believable. Maybe you could just… vaguely describe your old self? “I—I don’t know their name, but they were tall and lanky, with long dark hair. Looked kinda like a recluse—”
“Umeso!?”
Wait, fuck. “No!! No that’s not—”
Kittpey leaps to her feet, prompting you to desperately grab her hand. There’s those warm tinglies agai— focus!!
“Please, Kittpey, listen! It wasn’t Umeso!” She’s still eyeing the door, rage on her face, so you press on. “I—I can’t explain who it was right now, but please, I don’t need you to go beat someone up, I need you to comfort me!”
That seems to cool her fury immediately, as though it’d been dumped in the ocean. She looks back at you with wide eyes, emotions passing over her face too fast for you to recognize them. She sits back down. You pull her into a tight hug, nuzzling your face against her shoulder. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
“Who are you?” Kittpey mutters, almost too softly for you to hear.
Pushing down panic, you pull away. “I’m Ruem, obviously!”
Kittpey laughs, and the sound is like music to your ears. “No, I know, I’m just—” Her expression sombers, voice shaky. “Ruem, we haven’t talked like this since we were kids.”
“Maybe I missed it.”
She stares at you in shock. “Did you really?”
“...Yeah. A lot.” Your stomach twists in knots as you look into those gorgeous yellow eyes. Ruem might have been wrong to call you a pervert, but you sure are a liar. What will happen between Ruem and Kittpey once you give this body back? Will Ruem break her heart, put those walls back up between them? What had caused that to happen to begin with?
Kittpey rises to her feet again, much calmer this time. “I have a class to get to. Will you be okay without me?”
“I think so. Do I not have a class, though?”
She presses a hand to your shoulder. “Don’t worry, if they ask, I’ll tell them you’re sick.” Were you two in the same class, then? You wonder if it’s as boring as the first one. Maybe it’s best not to find out yet.
“Thank you.”
She smiles, then heads toward the door. “Get some rest. I’ll check in later, okay?”
“Okay.”
And then she’s gone. Your heart feels a little heavy. She’s the only person who’s been nice to you since you got to this world, even if it took her awhile to get there.
Stretching, you let out a yawn, and realize you’re actually quite tired. Crying like that really took a lot out of you. Maybe you’ll just close your eyes for a few minutes…
~~~
You see her again. The girl from your last dream. Though this time, you’re floating far above, yet just as far away. She is speaking to someone, someone you can’t see, and she does not seem happy about it. You can’t see her face, but her body language makes it clear. If only you could speak to her yourself; you’d do anything to make her happier, you think.
Her conversation comes to an end, yet she doesn’t move. You wish you could move, but you can’t. Maybe you could try to speak? You open your mouth, but before you can say a word, she tilts her head up and locks eyes with you. Once more you feel your physical self start to dissolve as you stare, transfixed. She opens her mouth to speak—
~~~
—but then you wake up.
Kittpey sounds like such a nice friend who missed the closeness of when they were kids and I love that T-T
Rip Umeso for a) having to put up with Reum, and b) having to be the only other person who knows what's going on xD
excited to see more whenever it comes!!!
Okay, i was right Ruem is a total bit*h, she doesn't deserve that body, she doesn't deserve Kittpey, or even Umeso helping her. She's clearly so self centred and horrible that she doesn't have any friends, Radestro probably doesn't deserve her either, he may be a tool, but unless he's like Ruem he deserves better.
I feel so damn sorry for our main character here, they didn't do anything wrong and are trying so hard to deal with everything, stuck in an unfamiliar place with people she doesn't know trying to act like a person who frankly is absolutely terrible. I really hope they tell Kittpey, they need a friend, someone who can teach them the things they need to know, and hopefully help poor Usemo in the process, i cannot begin to imagine how agonising being saddled with Ruem as a headmate might be, especially since she probably hasn't shut up or calmed down at all since she ended up there...
I hope they can shove Ruem into the body of a space cat or something like that to get her away and teach her a valuable lesson on how to be a better person...
I just want to let you know that this comment made me really happy. I love that you find these characters interesting enough to have so many feelings about them, and I love that you told me about it. This is the sort of comment I adore reading on my work (i mean tbh i enjoy all comments that aren't hate, but this is a great one). Thank you for reading!! <3
Wow, poor mc, and poor kittpey, they deserve a closer friendship with ruem than they have
I’ll guess Ruem might be a bit more pleasant when not dealing with the crisis of someone yoinking her body, but… still not good first impression. (MC needs to try to find her class schedule...)
Kittpey seems like a nice girl. You can see that Ruem wasn't a good friend to her.
But she instantly helped "her" when "she" was in distress.
Here is hoping that our MC can eventually find a solution a become a true friend to Kittpey. Umeso seems like a nice girl too ...
As for Ruem, well she can watch until she learns humility.
I was not ready for this chapter to end--I need more, lol!! Ruem is such a pile of poop! I agree 100% with MorningStarlight, she needs to be shoved into the body of a space cat (or rat) and be forced to watch everything from afar! Right now I have 0% empathy for her because she is "blaming" our main character who did absolutely "nothing" wrong. He thought he was murdered/annihilated--how his essence ended up in Ruem I don't know. And he is really trying his best. He even tries "thinking" the right things in the midst of a confusing, unknown, and probably terrifying situation! I feel so badly when he says he "stole" a body. I don't think you are stealing something that your are infused into without your knowledge or consent! Ruem was the one being careless with her "own" body. And from what I have witnessed so far, she does not deserve Kittpey or Umeso as friends. But I think "they" deserve this "better" version of Ruem as a friend!!
And yay Kittpey--love her SO much!!