Johnny smirked, “I’m glad I only have a crush on your sister.” What an opening gambit. A mastery over words that would make the most talented wordsmiths cower in despair. I had to stop myself from slapping him silly.

“Ugh.”

He shrugged, “What? You would have gotten mad at me if I said… you know.”

“And you never thought about saying nothing at all?”

“No.”

I slapped him on the back, “Exactly. That’s your problem. You never know when to say nothing.”

“That shit’s crazy. Getting turned into a girl and everything. The other day it all just came back to me suddenly.”

“I know. Hopefully everyone else remembers too.”

“Why? Wouldn’t you want to keep it a secret?”

“Not when it starts impacting other people Johnny. You all forgot stuff because of me, and it might have been important.”

“Trust me, I didn’t lose anything important.”

“Can you say the same for Shinsuke, Kei, Saaya or Matoi?”

“I guess I can’t.”

“Yeah. So it’s only right that I get them back for them.”

None of the other classmates at school had started anything with me, and I strongly suspected that their own memories were not returned. They didn’t think of me normally – and I rarely interacted with them, so for the sake of appearances those people still thought of me as Reina’s sister. I don’t think divine power was needed to make that happen. The average school senior had the memory of a goldfish.

It did make things easier, even if it went against the whole point of me making the request in the first place. I wasn’t too bothered to go and find God again and ask him to undo his spell on everyone around me. The people who had memories and experiences with me, ones that mattered, they’d be able to differentiate between the two lives I’d lived. Johnny had cackled like a hyena when I walked into the clubroom that day.

“The album release is coming up, you nervous?”

“Yeah, of course I am. I’m the one singing on it!”

“Is it as embarrassing as sharing your notebook with us though?”

“God no.”

“Well, there you go. It’s nothing to worry about.”

“I’m not worried about me. It’s just that if it doesn’t sell that well, Shinsuke’s going to be in trouble again.”

“If it blows up, it blows up, don’t start carrying all of that responsibility on yourself. You’ll drive yourself crazy thinking about it.”

“Hard not to keep thinking about it when Shinsuke’s ass is the one on the line.”

There was a knock on the door. Kei entered the room with a head of steam and took his usual seat with a huff, “I must be going crazy or something.”

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Why?”

“For some reason I started thinking that you used to be a guy.”

“Same,” Johnny chuckled, “Hey. I think we’re experiencing a collective delusion.”

“Or as I like to call it, observable reality.”

“What the hell are you two talking about?” he asked. “It was super vivid, like a memory coming back to me. And now I’ve gotten myself tangled up over whether it’s true or not. How would that even happen?”

“Magic.”

“I’m just messing with you man, that shit is real. Unless you think it’s a coincidence that we all remember the same thing.”

“What the fuck man. Are you joking?”

“Listen Kei, if I told you how all this shit happened, you wouldn’t believe me for a second. So can we just leave it at that – some shit happened, I got turned into a girl, whatever.”

“Seems like more than just whatever to me, this is like, world changing info you’ve got in your head right now. The vindication of an entire religious movement.”

“Yeah, which is why I’m going to keep it between us. Imagine how much trouble we’d cause coming out with this, even if people believed us.”

Johnny leaned into the table, “Yeah. That’s how these things stay under wrap right? When one of those guys goes on TV and says that he was abducted by aliens, do you believe them?”

Kei was fast on the trigger, “No, they’re lying.”

“Oh come on!”

I piled on as well, “Just because God is real doesn’t mean that aliens are real.”

“When the invasion comes down, you’re gonna’ be crazy upset that you doubted me. Mark my words.”

Kei shook his head, “I’d bet money on that never happening. Not in a million years.”

“Is Shinsuke coming down?” I asked.

“Yeah, in a sec. He needed to talk with the teacher.”

Speak of the devil. Shinsuke came through the door at his usual laid-back pace and sat down at the table with the rest of us. He took a moment to take off his bag and get his bearings. “I have a headache.”

“Tell me about it,” Kei echoed, “But coming in here when Johnny’s in his conspiracy theorist mode isn’t going to help any.”

“I remembered a bunch of things; I don’t know what any of it means though.”

Johnny gave him the cliff notes, “It means that Miyako wasn’t a girl a few months ago, or even related to Reina at all. It’s all crazy stuff.”

“So did they all happen?”

“I don’t know,” I explained, “I’m going to go check out my old house after school and look for some other… personal effects to see if they’re around. Hopefully they are.”

“And if they aren’t?”

“What do you mean if they aren’t? Not much to do about it, as upsetting as it may be.”

Shinsuke seemed a little ruffled by my answer. But it was true – was there anything I could do short of just paying tribute in my own little way? I didn’t think that God was so disrespectful of the dead that he’d snap my Grandmother’s body and soul out of existence.

“Anyway, lets get back to band stuff, shall we? This isn’t the supernatural research club.”

Johnny kicked his legs under the table, “I heard they got disbanded last week. The council got on their case for not doing anything. Shame they didn’t stick around for a little longer, could have told them about all this shit.”

“The album’s coming out next week, so Kashiwagi is going to be driving me like a mule until it comes out. That being said he wants all of us to make an appearance on the last stop of this media tour.” I knew that Shinsuke wouldn’t like the idea of being asked questions, but we had to do it at least once.

“Wait, so all five of us?”

“Yeah, Matoi included. It’s a regional morning show. They love this kind of variety act. It gets pretty good ratings. A school band releasing their own album is right up their alley, they bought it hook line and sinker.”

“And the leading lady beat a guy’s ass…”

“Obviously that has something to do with it. Kashiwagi can’t go two minutes without using that to get his teeth into people. You can have the girl who set the country on fire, but you have to promote our little album at the same time. They usually take the deal.”

“Ruthless.”

“You have to be. Kashiwagi isn’t very successful but he knows that much. It’s about making use of what you’ve got, and a little bit of luck on top of that. We need to know if you’re all down to come along with us. It’ll be early Sunday morning, so don’t stay up too late if you want to come.”

Kei and Johnny agreed on the spot, but Matoi already had plans for the day so he’d have to miss out. Shinsuke was the real enigma, not only was he the shyest member of the club, but he also had to worry about his asshole parents grounding him for some reason or telling him to stay home. “I want to do it,” he said, “I’ll try to get permission.”

“Really?” I asked.

“Yeah. If this is the last act of the club I have to be there for it, at least once.”

“Good man,” johnny smirked. “You’ll knock ‘em dead, I’m sure.”

“First order of business, Johnny, I know you don’t have a best, but please wear your nicest clothes.”

“Hey!”