Privacy of the Mirror Image
The school building after hours was filled with the boisterous clamor of students dedicated to their club activities and the decadent, amber light cast by the setting sun.
Ryo, who was supposed to be the ace of the track team kicking up dust on the field, found himself standing for some reason in the shade behind the school building, where an old shrine sat quietly.
In front of him stood his classmate, Misaki.
A member of the literary club, she was a quiet girl who always seemed to be observing the world from behind a book, possessing a gaze that was calm yet somehow unfathomable.
“Ryo-kun, I’m sorry for startling you. But I just had to tell you today.”
Misaki’s voice was as calm as the sea during an evening lull. However, Ryo instinctively sensed a sharp scalpel named “curiosity” hidden deep within her eyes.
“You want to see the world from my perspective…? What the hell is that supposed to mean? Some kind of philosophical talk?”
Ryo asked, unconsciously stroking his own sturdy bicep.
His body was a masterpiece of “functional beauty,” honed by years of training. Thigh muscles that generated explosive acceleration, a broad chest that efficiently took in oxygen. To him, the body was nothing more than a “tool” for breaking records.
“No. I mean it in a much more physical sense.”
Misaki took a step closer to Ryo. The faint scent of paper and the clean fragrance of soap wafted from her, tickling Ryo’s nostrils.
“How you tread upon the earth, how you feel gravity, how you touch the world with those powerful fingertips… I want to taste it all directly with my soul.”
Misaki’s hand gently touched Ryo’s chest.
“It’s okay. Just a temporary swap. We’re just going to exchange our consciousness.”
“Exchange…? That sounds like some sci-fi—”
“Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Entrust your weight to me.”
Misaki’s whisper permeated his eardrums like an incantation. Ryo lost the will to resist and slowly closed his lids.
In the next instant, the world “inverted” at a terrifying speed.
“——gh, hah…!”
The air was forced out of his lungs as if squeezed by a massive hydraulic press. It was a gruesome yet sweet sensation, as if his consciousness were being dragged out through his throat and “re-incarnated” into another place through a narrow tube.
“…Ah… aah…”
When Ryo opened his eyes, the first thing he felt was a violently “low perspective.” The roof of the shrine, which he always looked down upon, was now at a height he had to look up to.
And in front of him stood himself.
The figure of “Ryo,” wearing a track team jersey, staring at his own palms in confusion.
“A success… isn’t it? As I thought, your body is ‘hotter’ than I imagined.”
His own gruff voice was emitted from the “self” in front of him. Ryo hurriedly looked at his hands. What he saw were not rugged fists, but five slender, translucent white fingers.
“Is this… Misaki’s… body?”
Trying to squeeze out his voice, Ryo was terrified to find his throat playing a trembling soprano. It was as if the instrument he knew as his “voice” had been replaced by a completely different, delicate string instrument.
He took a tentative step forward.
“Whoa…!”
Stumbling, Ryo leaned his hand against a tree trunk.
The gravity was different. In a man’s body, a solid skeleton and muscles acted as “wedges,” anchoring him to the ground. But this girl’s body was far too “light.” It felt precarious, like a rootless weed that might blow away with a single gust of wind.
Furthermore, with every step, long black hair brushed against his cheeks, and the fabric of the skirt stimulated his thighs gently yet persistently.
“What is this… My heart is so small. My breathing is so shallow…!”
Ryo (in Misaki) pressed a hand to his chest. There was no thick pectoral muscle like before. Instead, a soft but unmistakable weight—a pair of swellings—was felt against his palm. The skin on his fingertips was incredibly thin, transmitting even the minute irregularities of the tree bark to his brain with excessive resolution.
Meanwhile, Misaki, now in Ryo’s body, was trembling with delight. She struck her (Ryo’s) thigh hard, her eyes sparkling at the elasticity.
“Amazing…! Ryo-kun, you’ve always walked through a world so filled with ‘power.’ Just standing here, it feels like I’m ruling the earth.”
Misaki (in Ryo) gave a light leap. Ryo’s powerful spring tossed her consciousness high and sharp into the air.
“My gaze is so high. The sky is so close…! With this body, I feel like I could go anywhere.”
Behind the school at dusk, as the darkness quietly descended. While confined within the cages of each other’s “flesh,” the two began to inhale each other’s “life” more vividly than ever before.
It was a usurpation named “understanding.”
Ryo, within Misaki’s fragile but sensitive nerves.
Misaki, within Ryo’s strong but heavy power.
The two had taken an irreversible step forward.
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