Now over the fence, Matabei was on an adventure of his own. Looking for a dinosaur in the forest which was also his junior schoolmate. Getting a head start from Narumi and Etsudo, he trekked through the woods filled with sakura and maple trees.

Uchida said he was around here somewhere...maybe I should have waited for Uchida. Matabei thought, in his excited impulse he went ahead of Narumi and Etsudo to look for Kohaku, a dinosaur.

Though, his impulsive action was in a way, a blanket on his anxiety over the issue, especially what had happened to him prior.

----------------------------------------

It was last night, Matabei had reached his home situated in the neighborhood not too far from Soru Academy. He stepped into his house and took off his shoes. "I'm home."

However, there was no one to respond to him. Lately, his home had been repeatedly empty at this time in the evening. His parents would not be back from work until nine or ten at night.

"Only in a biotech company do I get pranked by a stink bomb. The smell better not be permanent." Matabei grumbled to himself and dropped his bag on the couch. "I better shower first."

Getting into the bathroom, Matabei took off his school uniform and stepped into the shower. The water rained down on him, he had no warning of what would come in the next moment.

It took hold of Matabei, causing him to hunch over. His core shook violently, he stumbled out of the shower. Without any control, he swung his hand across the sink toppling over toothbrushes and shampoo bottles. There were no words from Matabei. Instead, a primal sound came out from the bathroom. The door burst open and out came Matabei, still wet from the shower. He crashed into the opposite wall and he dropped to his knee holding his abdomen tight. He strained his head up and his eyes burst open, the sclera in his eyes was an animalistic blue. Matabei's muscles started to grow. His arms started to stretch out beyond human limits. His little fingers regressed into his palms. His ring fingers, however, bent backward and stretched out to a horrid length of four meters. In the process, a membrane stretched out from below his arms, from his ring fingers to his knees. His feet cracked into shape, his little toes grew back into his feet and the remaining toes stretched with the nails on all limbs turning into claws.

His rear grew out a short tail reaching nearly two feet long. His neck stretched out and his face cracked into it new form, his mouth expanded forward into a long narrow snout, and an arcing crest formed at the tip of the upper and lower snout. His teeth sharpened into needle-like fangs. His muscles grew and hardened, turning lean in its peak form far beyond human. A creature bigger than a human with folded wings. A wingspan of nine meters cramped up in the house's hallway.

Tropeognathus. A Pterosaur, a flying reptile, and the undisputed king of the skies in its prime. The Pterosaur perked his head up and he opened his beak. But what came out of his voice was an otherworldly sound instead. A squawk with a mix of hissing and snarling. He clamped his snout shut immediately. He tried moving his feet, all that did was force him to lean forward and place his hands on the floor. It felt incredibly awkward for him, having to walk on all fours to finally get to the bathroom mirror to see himself.

The response was a surprised caw from the Pterosaur. But after a pause, he slowly took a good look at himself. The beak, the wings, the body structure, he recognized it. It was the extinct flying reptile from the documentaries he had watched when he was a small child. He leaned forward, getting a closer look at himself in the mirror. Before Matabei could do anything, another sensation took hold of Matabei's entire body.

The Tropeognathus groaned out a caw sinking his head low, his body convulsed and the membranes in his wings started to shrink, back into his arms, his ring fingers shortened back to their natural lengths in the process. His claws were soon regressing, his limbs turning back to human and his tail disappeared into his rear. His snout shrunk back and his bones cracked back into their previous shape. The Tropeognathus was gone and an unclothed Matabei had returned. Breathing heavily, Matabei stumbled back onto his feet and looked at himself in the mirror.

"Wha?" Matabei wheezed. "What? What the hell?"

He brought his fingers up to his face, all was human again. "I uh...I think..." Matabei stammered, "I think that school trip did something to me."

The rest was history in hindsight, Matabei wanted to warn the others like Narumi, but it turned out Narumi had the same plan and now another student was a dinosaur already. Now all he had to do was find Kohaku Taiyo. How hard could finding a giant dinosaur in the woods be?

Apparently, for Matabei, it was a little. After a minute of trekking past the maple and sakura trees, he finally spotted something that sent chills. A footprint, showing three digits spread out and huge. And there was another footprint, identical to the first, followed by another and another, leading towards the canal.

But the trail got cut, and the footprints stopped to Matabei's confusion. And with it, was a school bag along with a male student's uniform placed together.

"What the hell?" Matabei muttered.

Feeling something was behind him, Matabei turned and his entire being turned white. Kohaku Taiyo, the Spinosaurus standing right before him.

"Argh!" Matabei recoiled at the sight of the giant dinosaur, how he did not sense him coming was beyond him. Kohaku stepped back as well, letting out a snort.

"Oh, my God!" Matabei cried out and his eyes bulged. He tripped and fell on his behind.

The Spinosaurus, on his end, recognized who Matabei was. And if Narumi set out earlier to retrieve the others, he would guess that Matabei already knew the situation.

Before Kohaku could approach Matabei however, a massive sensation gripped the Spinosaurus. The dinosaur arched his back, letting out a groaning growl. Kohaku stepped away, he felt like his body started to shrink slowly and Matabei watched in awe. His sail started to regress, spines in his sail started returning to their original position. His snout was shrinking back and his sharp, conical teeth were turning back into human teeth. His arms decreased in muscle mass, the claws started to disappear and his human fingers came back. His feet were losing their scaly appearance, toes that had regressed into the feet were remerging and human feet were returning. His tail was shrinking back into his rear and his red scales were losing their color, human skin was coming back. Kohaku Taiyo was no longer a Spinosaurus, he was back in his sixteen-year-old human body. He quickly scampered for his uniform to cover himself up.

"What the?!" Matabei looked away. Now back in his uniform, Kohaku turned to him.

"Itou-senpai?" Kohaku asked with a frown, embarrassed by his naked state from earlier.

"Yeah, I know what's going on." Matabei said, "Narumi told me what happened to you."Narumi and the Raptor were moving past the trees away from the school. Narumi, in her school uniform, may have stuck out obviously amidst the vegetation, but Etsudo's bluish scales surprisingly blended well with the woods.

"Morita." Narumi started. "I know this whole thing is completely insane, but we need to find Taiyo-san and Itou first, along with that third-year student to figure this whole thing out."

Etsudo gave a chuff as if trying to make a response.

Narumi continued anyway. "Morita, I think something happened to us yesterday. I think it has something to do with whatever that gas thing that hit us. I left Taiyo-san around there somewhere, he also changed into a dinosaur. And Itou seems to know what was going on before I approached him."

Etsudo raised a shrilling squawk. Narumi sighed, "At this point, I'm not surprised by the next dinosaur I see."

A little deeper into the woods, maple and sakura trees surrounded them, Narumi said, "I stopped Taiyo-san from going to school earlier. I told him to wait for me around here. I don't know where Itou is."

The spring wind breezed through the area, and Narumi spotted the concrete canal in the vicinity. She knew Kohaku was somewhere around here, but she did not see any massive dinosaurs around.

"Oi! Taiyo-san? Where are you?" Narumi called out, but all she got was silence for an answer. Behind her, the Raptor was still timidly inspecting her entire body, her legs squeezed together as she was not clothed.

"Oh, come on. How difficult is it to find a giant dinosaur? Oi! Taiyo-san?! Where are you?" She called out again louder.

"U-Uchida-senpai?" A male voice appeared, and it was coming from a sakura tree. Some sense of relief emitted in Narumi and she turned to the direction of the reply, and Kohaku poked out of his head behind the particular tree. He was wearing his blazer, slacks, and shoes. He had his blazer buttoned up to hide his chest. And with him was Matabei Itou.

"Oh, Taiyo-san." Narumi jogged over to him. "You're... normal again?"

"Y-Yeah." Kohaku nodded. "I uh-"

"Uchida!" Matabei cut in, "Oh, thank God! I just saw him earlier and he was huge!"

"I know right!" Narumi did not wait and grabbed Kohaku's arm pulling him out of hiding. She called to Etsudo over her shoulder, "Hey Morita! It's Taiyo-san and Itou."

The second the boys laid eyes on the Raptor, they went white.

"Shit! What the hell!?" Kohaku exclaimed, eyes darting back and forth between Narumi and the dinosaur. "Uchida-senpai! Get back!"

"Holy shit! It's real!" Matabei blurted out, stepping back.

Etsudo, on her part, let out a shriek. Such an otherworldly shrilling noise gripped the boys in place. A noise they had never heard before.

"Hey, wait! No, Taiyo-san. Wait!" Narumi got in between the Raptor and the boys. "It's Morita, from yesterday, remember?" She looked back at the Raptor, "Morita, see? It's Taiyo and Itou from our group."

Kohaku was taking a good look at the dinosaur that Narumi mentioned, his jaw hanging down. The sharp teeth and the talons on both her hands and feet. It was all the traits of a carnivore.

Before any one of them could make a move, a sensation took hold of Etsudo. The Raptor's body trembled and it started to decrease in its mass. Her skull started to crack, and her snout regressed and flattened. Her sharp teeth turned back into human teeth. The tail shrunk back into her rear. The claws in her hands and feet grew back into her nails, her missing digits grew out again and they all snapped back into their original positions.

Stolen novel; please report.

Matabei and Kohaku could only watch in shocking horror until it dawned on them that the Raptor was changing back into a girl in her birthday suit.

"Ah, shit." Kohaku and Matabei turned around from Etsudo.

Etsudo instantly squatted down, her arms covering her chest. Beads of tears formed in her eyes and she let out a shriek, "What is going on?!"

"Jeez!" Narumi rushed forward to her with Etsudo's blazer in hand, covering her up. Narumi scratched the back of her head, "We uh... We should probably take a moment."

There they sat. Narumi Uchida, Kohaku Taiyo, Etsudo Morita, and Matabei Itou.

Etsudo looking away with a timid face was sitting in seiza, clutching onto her blazer to cover herself. Narumi had lent her school blazer to Etsudo for more cover. Narumi had her sleeves rolled up and she sat next to her while Kohaku and Matabei sat opposite them.

"Okay." Narumi started off the conversation, "There's no question about it, something happened to us at GenaTech."

Etsudo was still shaken up by the situation they were in, keeping silent. Narumi saw this and turned to Kohaku.

"You uh... how did you change back? How long was I gone till you were a dinosaur no more?" She asked him.

"Around ten minutes," Kohaku answered short and simple.

"How'd you do this?" Narumi asked him, this time Etsudo eyeballed him as well.

Kohaku gave a pensive look, he tried recollecting, "I just stayed here, was just thinking how to change back? How to be human again? Something like that? About a minute later it happened."

"Just like that?" Narumi leaned over, before nudging Etsudo. "Just a moment ago, were you thinking the same thing?"

Etsudo's head perked up now, giving a small nod for her answer.

Narumi brought a hand to her chin, she began reflecting on the previous night. Both of them were thinking about the same thing, and so was I last night.

"Alright we got to do something about this," Narumi said, "Morita, do you know the other guy that was with us? The third-year student."

"This is not happening." With a whimper from Etsudo, her eyes were becoming glassy. "This is a nightmare... What's happening to me?"

Narumi, Matabei, and Kohaku watched her struggle. Narumi had an uneasy look, unsure of how to console Etsudo in such a situation especially since no one had ever experienced a situation where they could turn into dinosaurs.

"Morita. Do you know who the other guy is?" Narumi asked again, trying to converse with Etsudo to cease the waterworks. Etsudo still had a shaky breath, wiping the tears on her face.

"It's Kurosawa-senpai," Morita answered.

Narumi then stood up, she said, "Alright we need to get to him in school."

"And how exactly are we going to do that?" Kohaku stood up with her and asked.

"I...um...ugh..." Narumi was stumped.

Etsudo, still having a couple of tears rolling from her eyes, listened to the three. Sobbing about her dire crisis was not making things any better, she needed to get a grip.

"Guys?" Etsudo tried to speak up.

Narumi and Kohaku turned their attention to her. Etsudo said, "Kurosawa-senpai's family owns an auto shop. I heard it from the teachers. He often skips school to work there."

"Great, but we don't know if he is actually in school or skipping classes at home now." Kohaku pointed out and started avoiding Etsudo's sight, "And we don't exactly look decent now."

Etsudo's face heated up. Narumi rubbed her temple, "Oh, crap. We can't go anywhere like this."

"Uh, Uchida-san?" Etsudo asked. "Do you have your phone with you? I can make a call."

"Really? Who?" Narumi asked. She pulled out her smartphone from her skirt pocket. Now she noticed the number of text notifications she's getting from Ryouko Asaki. Ignoring them for now, she unlocked her phone and handed it over to Etsudo.

"I can call my family's chauffeur. She is at my family's company office right now. She can fetch me home." Etsudo said and started dialing.

"A chauffeur? Wow, talk about resourceful Morita." Narumi remarked with a little sass. Kohaku on his end, was silently eyeing the two, not having anything to add to the conversation.

"Shit, the school's going to chew us up if they know what's going on." Matabei chuckled while shaking his head.

"Oh, God. Tachibana-sensei." Etsudo said, her hands covering her face.

"We'll... I don't know. We will figure that out later." Narumi pinched her brows.

While Etsudo was on the phone with her domestic helper, Kohaku picked out another factor. He called for Narumi, "Uchida-senpai."

"Hmm?" She turned to him.

"How do we know we won't just change again?"

A brief moment of silence set the tension back in. The daunting fact remains; something inside them could just come out and start causing a heap of trouble, intentional or not.

"You said keeping it human was the only thing in your mind and then you became normal again right?" Narumi said, "Well, maybe we have to keep that in our heads to stay that way. That's all we got now."

Kohaku's eyes drifted down, giving a distant expression.

"Uh... U-Uchida-senpai?" Kohaku called for her another time.

"Yeah?"

Kohaku lifted his head, looking her in the eye. "Thanks for helping me out... I'm sorry I doubted you before."

Despite the circumstances they were in, a brief moment of gratitude towards her was something she deserved at least.

Narumi gave a smile, "Sure thing. And thanks for not blowing me off completely."

"Um, everyone?" Etsudo said to them as she hung up the phone. "My driver is on the way, she'll be on the road to school soon.

"Then we should go now," Matabei said.

"Dinosaurs and cutting classes, just what the hell is next huh?" Narumi added, taking the lead in heading back to the main road.

----------------------------------------

Approaching the main road, Narumi burst out of the forest, taking a step onto the asphalt scanning her left, taking another step she checked her right. No one by the school gate to spot them, lucky for them. Kohaku came out to join her, followed by Matabei. Etsudo hid behind a tree, still embarrassed by her apparel.

A long, black sedan soon rolled up the hill slowly towards them. Narumi turned her head to Etsudo, who gave a nod in response.

The car stopped and out came a woman. Her short black hair was gelled back and she sported a chauffeur attire. This was Hana Fujio, the chauffeur of the Morita Household.

"Ojou-sama." She bowed, noticing the heiress by the tree. But as Etsudo stepped out, Hana got taken aback.

"It's not what you think, Fujio-san." Etsudo quickly said.

Hana, looking confused, laid her eyes on Narumi, Matabei, and Kohaku. Considering Kohaku was lacking a shirt underneath his blazer, it was sending the wrong message to Hana. But she had to believe Etsudo's words.

"Yeah, what she said." Narumi gestured at Etsudo.

"Fujio-san, can you take us home please?" The heiress asked, shyly scampering into the front passenger seat.

"This would be so much easier if we knew where that third-year student was," Kohaku said.

"Yeah. But we have to stay together in case anything happens to one of us," Narumi said, looking back at Kohaku and Matabei for a second. She made a bow at the chauffeur and made her way around the other side of the car. The boys joined her sitting in the back.

In the car, Kohaku sat in the middle with Matabei and Narumi by his sides. It was an awkward ride out of the school zone with Kohaku having to rub shoulders with the two. Etsudo at the front had panic in her eyes, like she was trying to wake up from this nightmare.

On the front side of the car, Hana was focusing on the road but took the opportunity to question Etsudo.

"Ojou-sama, who did this to you?" she asked her.

"It was an accident, Fujio-san," Etsudo said, holding onto her covers like a lifeline. She did not like lying, but she was not going to divulge the fact that she had just changed into a dinosaur. Hana, whilst a little unsettled, elected not to press the matter.

Narumi, at the back, eyeballed the boys on her left, Kohaku's eyes looked pensive as if trying to be composed in this mess. Matabei was looking understandably restless in his seat.

"Uchida-senpai," Kohaku whispered, breaking the silence.

"Hm?" Narumi turned to him and whispered.

"Uh...does anyone else know about yesterday?"

"No." Narumi shook her head.

"No one knows then. Okay"

"Well, she didn't believe me anyway."

"Wait, you told someone?" Kohaku said.

"Y-Yeah, I told my mother, but she didn't believe me." Narumi made a subtle sulk, "But I suppose I shouldn't expect her to believe something this crazy."

Matabei then leaned over, invading Kohaku's already tight space. He whispered so the chauffeur could not hear. "What did you change into last night, Uchida?"

"I don't know. I'm sure it's a dinosaur but I don't know what exactly." Narumi shook her head, "What did you change into, Itou?"

"A Pterosaur."

"A what?" Narumi asked, not catching what Matabei said.

"A Pt-" Matabei clammed up not wanting to let Hideji listen in on them. He leaned further in on Kohaku, much to the freshman's discomfort. Matabei whispered. "A Pterosaur."

The silence from Kohaku and the raised eyebrow from Narumi told him they had no clue what he was saying.

"Forget it, I'll explain later," Matabei said, leaning back on his side of the seat.

Kohaku then turned to Narumi, "Tachibana-sensei. She will want to know why you three left school during her lesson, either way, Uchida-senpai."

"Tch, dammit." Narumi brought a thumb to her mouth to nibble on. With the growing situation at hand, she had to admit, they would have to come clean to an adult sooner or later.

But not right now at least.

It was not long till the black sedan took a turn into a road up a hill. Following the road, the sedan stopped before a metal gate with brick walls on both sides creating a perimeter around the Morita estate with the manor at the centre. The gates opened, the sedan drove in and pulled to the front of the manor.

"Thank you for dropping me off, Fujio-san. You can go back to the office now." Etsudo meekly whispered. She got out of the car and rushed into the house.

"Uh, thank you." Narumi awkwardly opened the door and got out followed by the boys. Hana, still in the driver's seat, gave them a wary look before driving out of the Morita estate. Narumi, Kohaku, and Matabei gawked at the size of the house.

"Oh, man." Matabei's jaw hung at the sight of the manor. "Check this place out."

Narumi remembered her texts from Ryouko, she pulled out her phone and checked Ryouko's messages.

She checked the first text. "Narumi-chan?! Where are you?! Are you skipping school with Morita and Itou?! What's going on?!"

The second text, "Tachibana-sensei is going to eat you alive! Where are you?! Respond! Narumi-chan!"

And the last text, "Good luck, Narumi-chan. I don't know if I can help you now."

Narumi pursed her lips. We. Are. Screwed.

"Uchida-senpai?" Kohaku got her attention.

"Ah, yes. What is it?" Narumi put her phone away and turned to him.

"Itou-senpai was going to talk about yesterday at his home."

Matabei then said, "Yeah, as I was saying. I was a Pterosaur, Tropeognathus actually. At least I think so."

Narumi gave Kohaku a look, and he returned it to her. The crickets in the background told Matabei they were clueless about the name.

"Ugh." Matabei groaned, pulling out his phone to search for the name over the internet. The image of the extinct animal he had turned into the previous night came up. He showed the picture to Narumi and Kohaku. "Look at this."

"Oh, it's a flying dinosaur." Narumi recognized the general appearance of the animal.

"It's not a dinosaur, it's a reptile. A pterosaur." Matabei corrected her.

"Uh huh, okay." Narumi studied the image, a giant flying Tropeognathus with wings spread out over the sea. "Tro...Tropeo..."

"Tropeognathus." Matabei corrected her again.

"Yeah okay. Whatever." Narumi did not care for that, it was too much effort to familiarise these complex dinosaur names.

A sudden growling behind them got Narumi spooked, the sound of a dog growling. Narumi, Kohaku and Matabei spun around. A male German Shepherd stalked them, teeth-baring and barking.

"Morita! You never said anything about having a dog!" Narumi exclaimed.

The dog kept on barking, his eyes trained on Narumi.

"Senpai!" Kohaku stepped in front trying to get the dog's attention. Narumi stepped away from Etsudo's dog. But unfortunately, she slipped on her footing and she fell back. As her rear impacted the ground, she let out a sound. A growl, nothing like a sound that a human could possibly make. It was loud, almost like a trumpeting snarl.

Narumi's growl went through Kohaku, Matabei, and the dog. Her eyes widened, and her hands instantly covered her mouth. The dog was now whimpering, his tail behind his legs and ears lowered. Etsudo, now wearing a pink top and black shorts, came out of the house.

"Ah, Weyland!" Etsudo rushed towards her dog, holding him and rubbing his neck. "It's okay Weyland, it's okay."

Etsudo turned her dog around and she shooed him away, unaware that Weyland was running away because of Narumi.

"Geez it's real, you have it in you." Matabei was gawking at Narumi after the growl she had let out, Narumi quickly got on her feet.

"You just made a dinosaur noise, senpai." Kohaku pointed.

"No, I didn't." Narumi protested.

"You just made a dinosaur noise," Matabei added.

"No, I didn't."

"Yes, you did," Kohaku said.

"No, I didn't!"

"Yes, you did," Matabei said.

"Shut up! This is stupid enough as it is!" It was already embarrassing for her that she slipped and fell on her butt. But what troubled her the most was that the growl she had just made reminded her that a Tyrannosaurus Rex was hidden inside her.

Etsudo joined them, "Guys, please come inside."

The four of them settled down in the living room. It was pretty grand to put it at least, every furniture and appliance spoke of luxury.

Etsudo sat on the couch and Narumi joined her. Kohaku stood by the side and Matabei was enjoying every single piece of rich aspects of the place.

"Kurosawa-senpai works at his family's auto shop?" Narumi searched for the address in her phone.

"Yeah." Matabei nodded.

"Then we'll find him and figure this whole mess out... Assuming we're not too late," Narumi said.