Behind the round glasses are the unusual pink eyes studying my face.
Right, she must know me— or rather, the former user of this body.
Even after I managed to stand straight, her soft hands were still clasping mine. As if afraid he'd go anywhere. Unfortunately, well, he did. Now what's left is me.
A few minutes pass, and my head gets a little cooler.
The pink girl asks if there's anything she can do. Recommending to see the nurse, even offering to carry me herself. Looking at her thin arm, I don't think that'd ever work.
"I could get someone to help," she says, her tone straining.
I have no idea who this babe is. We seem close, though. Yet the memory I got never introduced her. For now, I guess, we just make do with what we have.
We are at a high school building, yeah, that's about right. And based on her clothing— white coat and blouse with a tiny necktie— a good chance she is a student here. Her pretty and young face, with little help from makeup, supports that idea.
Her hand tightens around my finger. Her eyes are glossing, reflecting a poor image of his (my) face.
And we might be more than friends. Neat.
Our hands are getting sweaty and sweatier. She doesn't look like she's going to let go any time soon. Maybe if I act more like how she wants, she might finally let my skin breathe.
"Don't worry, I just had a headache," I say. This is better than just saying I'm fine.
She pauses, scanning up and down once. Making sure I'm telling the truth. Her mouth presses firmly.
Still not convinced? I give her a smile.
That works. Seeing that, she sighs and returns a smile— one that doesn't reach her eyes. She turns her head to the door just a few steps away from us, and back to me as if for final confirmation. "Well, if Sunbae says so…"
She lets go.
Shortly after, we begin to move.
I follow her to the door. 'Special Class,' so the tag on the dark wooden wood says.
So if I have this right… This is the place the former user wanted to enter. For an interview with students, right? Huh, okay. Why did they put me here at this exact time? What do they expect from me? Who even are they? God? A funny god, maybe.
Everything is still a mystery to me.
Maybe, if I stick around a while longer, I could have my answer. Maybe if I go in, I'd meet the person who brought me here.
"Sunbae?"
Oh.
The pink-haired girl, whose name I have yet to get, has been holding the door, waiting.
Sure.
I'd play for a while longer.
I enter.
The room is too spacious for the little furniture it has. In the center of the room, a couple of long ruby chaise longues; seating between a white long table, while facing away a large window set with elastic-bloody drapes. The other four-fifths of the room are nothing but plain air, marble floor, and white wall. It's like I'm in some kind of an experiment room.
Then these girls must be the subjects.
Only one girl turns to look at me. She has a long, layered brown haircut, hiding her pale skin as much as it can. Her cute thin bang settled on her tiny face. Cowering behind it, wide emerald eyes.
Next to her, a black-long haired asian beauty. A Japanese, perhaps. Laptop on her lap. Her fingers ran around the keyboard, and her face glued to the screen. I can't get a good look at her face because she doesn't bother to show it to me.
On the same side of the couch but slightly further away from the last person, a petite girl with abnormally long red hair. They are spilling from the sofa. She sits with her bare feet up on the mattress, even sitting and stepping on some of her hair. Because of this posture, her underwear almost shows. Luckily (for her), her skirt is long enough. And just like the girl next to her, this one, I can't get a good look at her face, too, since she's covering it with a bulky black game console.
And then the last girl is dead. Silver hair. Her eyes closed, her long white eyelashes standing up. Both fists above her tummy. Her pale corpse uses most of the couch to lie on. Her tranquil look was facing up to the ceiling. Is no one going to call someone to take off this body? Oh, hold on, her chest moves up and down. I was wrong. She is just asleep.
These girls have the same uniform as the pink-haired girl, except the sleeping silver-haired girl, who has a white hoodie instead.
All right… I'm done staring. Now what?
"Sunbae, these are the girls."
The pink-haired girl steps into the view, waiting for a reply.
"Yeah, they look good."
"Look… good?"
They are pretty. Oh, of course, including you. Five of you. You all are out of the world— my old world. Look at those eyes. That doesn't look like contact lenses, like back where I came from. I can tell they have been there ever since you were born.
Yes, surely this is another world now. I had a suspicion it was so when I gained a fragment of this body's memory, but now, after seeing this, it confirms it. Unless these people are cosplaying.
Now that we're addressing the memory… Didn't it also say that he's the third smartest student in the Center— the city we're at? That's why he's here, trying to tutor these girls. Then, am I supposed to pretend to be that? That would cause quite a lot of trouble. I wasn't much of a student even back then. After all, before I inherited this body, I was nothing but a…
Nothing but a… Hm, that's funny. Who was I?
Have I forgotten?
No. I must still be in shock right now. It'd make sense, since I just woke up from a different body, after dying, of course. That was a few minutes ago.
Minutes? Is that the right time gap since then?
"Sunbae," a tug to my sleeve, "How about you take a seat?"
I find myself moving. And sit on the different side of the couch from the girls. The pink-haired girl takes the space beside me. Just close enough.
The asian beauty steals a glance with her deep, dark eyes, and returns to her laptop's screen, all the while still clanking her keyboard.
"So who is this man, chief?"
The pink-haired girl replies, "It's Sohee, not Chief."
Ah, her name. So the pink is Sohee. Pink hair-eyes-lips girl: Sohee. Got it.
"Before we begin, I want all of you to stop what you're doing and listen," Sohee asked.
Click. Click. From the console game. The red-haired girl can't listen; her ears are plugged. Music spilling out.
Clank. Clank. Keyboard. The asian beauty did hear, she just didn't want to stop.
Fuu… a girl is asleep. She either listens in her dream or does not.
The only girl who stops is the brown-haired girl. In fact, she stops so well that she becomes a statue. In other words, she is not breathing.
We both realized that.
"Nelly," Sohee leans forward to the statue girl, "breathe."
Nelly. Brown-hair, emerald eyes, shows little to no skin: Nelly. All right.
She breaks free and starts doing so. Her whole body turns sideways, away from me. She might not like me very much.
"Soh, Sohee…" Nelly's voice, slipping past her hair. "Is he…"
She speaks, but I can't hear anything. Neither does Sohee, based on her concerned face.
"I can't hear you, Nelly."
The asian beauty, instead, raises one of her hands while the other is still typing. "Nelly asked the same question, chief."
The said person nods, ever so slowly.
"I told you to stop calling me that, Shizuka."
That to the asian beauty. So she is indeed Japanese. Black long silky hair, dark eyes, laptop: Shizuka. Okay, two more.
Sohee sighs, watching the girls. "You guys aren't going to stop, aren't you?"
No one gives her a reply.
Her face turns to me. Our eyes meet, and stay for a while. She nods.
Huh, is she expecting something? I'm sorry, Sohee, right? I don't know much about this world yet, but if you're sending me a message via telepathy, I can't hear you. Can you hear me?
She raises her eyebrow.
Yeah?
"Sunbae?" She tilts her head.
I guess that's a no.
Oh, I get it. All right, all right. You want me to talk, is that right? Fine then, I did say I'd play a little while.
"I think," I say, "I'm to be your new tutor."
Click. Clank. And then no more. They stop.
Huh. That wasn't, like, a spell, or something, wasn't it?
Either it was magic that froze them, or what I said was a slam to their head.
Sohee looks satisfied, though, nodding with a slight smile.
The red-haired girl takes it off. Her earphones. And lowers her game console. Deep red eyes, like a dragon portrayed in high-budget movies. Her anger is pointed at Sohee and me.
"You forced me to come so I can listen to this joke, Sohee?"
So she was listening?
Sohee replies, "What's the joke?"
A tiny sharp finger jabs at me, "No, man, ain't that the rule?"
Whoa, now, let's not be quick to judge gender here. For all I know, I could be an XX haver. Let's see… okay, nevermind. There's something between my legs.
"There has not been a rule that states so," Sohee says, "I think you're mistaken about something. He's not a teacher, as the school promises to be all female. Sunbae's here as a tutor."
"Why'd school send us a tutor now?"
"That is because we're out of teachers already. You people keep kicking them out after a month."
"Fine. I'll take that. But there ain't never a man. Never supposed to. You know how they are. Look at him. Guessin' he already has two or more plan all so he's chance to fuck one of us. "
Looks like someone has had a bad experience with a man before. I'm not speaking for every man out there, but she is not entirely wrong. About me, mostly. Ever since I saw how she is sitting, my eyes have been subconsciously settled on the area of her skirt. Hoping for a chance, it shortened oh-so-suddenly. A man's still a man, after all.
"The F word, Varrie!" Sohee raises her voice, "Need I remind you we're still in school? Do you want me to take you to the disciplinary teacher again?"
Is that her name? That is quite unique. Red-hair, dragon, games: Varrie. One more to go.
"Tch. 'Kay, ain't no one here likes to hear what I gotta say anyway. Sohee, my answer should be obvious."
She groans and plugs her earphones back in. Oh, and also she puts her legs down. Dang.
Shizuka raises her hand. Both her hands now.
"Shizuka."
"As much as Shizuka hates to be on the same side as Varrie is, she is in sort of an agreement with her. Also, Shizuka is going to write a complaint letter about Sohee and send it to the school. She thinks bringing a man up here is wrong. Maybe this time the school will listen and make a change in the person in charge of her. She is kind of bored with Sohee now."
She is Shizuka, right? Why is she speaking in a third person?
Sohee crosses her arms, "Really? Okay, Shizuka. With Shizuka's failing grades and low attendance scores, Shizuka still thinks the school wants to hear a student like Shizuka complaining? And to let this Shizuka know, Sunbae being here is already approved by the School Administration. So I have done nothing wrong."
Woah. Sohee is kind of a pro at handling these girls. Maybe this is why she was put in charge of them.
"Sunbae?" Shizuka scans me. "Ah, senpai…"
Hm? Sunbae is not a name? I had a feeling it's not, have I heard of that word before somewhere? So it is a seniority title after all.
Shizuka gives me a little smirk.
"So, Sunbae? What do Sunbae think? Should Shizuka be grateful that Sunbae has come here to try to be Shizuka and friends' tutor?"
Sohee cuts in, "Of course you do. He was a top student in the Center a few years ago. The school did a lot to have him come here."
Yeah, about that...
"Is that right?"
"That is right."
Sohee, if you try any more, protecting the former user of this body's honor, I might feel bad for you. He's gone now, I'm sorry— well, not that you'd believe it if I told you that. He's dead, and now you've got me.