"Please welcome our new classmate -- Kaya Yoshino!"

I waved weakly at the class, seeing a sea of unfamiliar faces blinking my way with curiousity.

Despite that I had gone to Kohaku Junior High and that this school was Kohaku Senior High -- thus most of the students were simply graduates from Kohaku Junior High, the same school I had went to --, I still did not recognise many faces.

Probably because I skipped most of my classes in junior high anyways.

"Howdy..." I said, trying to put on a smile, "nice to meet you all..."

Blinks of confusion and the teacher coughed, "anyways, Kaya, I've heard about your case. We're all very happy to have you joining our class after returning from America. The principal organised specifically for you to join the same class as your sister, Saya, to help you transition easier into the school."

"Ah... did he...?"

The image of the principal cowering behind his desk when I was still in my old body and was first called into his office flashed into my mind.

Guess he's not such a bad guy after all.

"Yes," the teacher smiled at me, adjusting his black framed glasses, "in fact, we arranged a seat for you in the class right next to Saya as well...! Um, where's your sister by the way...?"

"She said she lost something so she went back to try to find it."

The teacher frowned, "oh, no wonder. Saya's normally always the first to be in the classroom in the morning so I was wondering where she was."

I strutted off to where the teacher had pointed to where I should sit, immediately slumping into my seat and leaning back against the chair with one arm hanging over the back of the chair looking as though I was trying to take up as much space as possible, and the whole classroom froze for a few seconds.

...

Oh shit!

I keep forgetting this isn't my old body!

Old habits die hard...

Quickly, I stopped leaning back on the chair, reaching for my bag to grab my notebooks out and assuming a proper sitting posture, pretending llike nothing had happened.

"Ah, hem..." The teacher coughed, peeling his eyes away from me. "Anyways, let's begin today's lesson..."

The door to the classroom slid open.

"Sorry, I'm late...!!"

It was Saya standing at the door, breathing in wild puffs, her cheeks flustered.

"Oh, there you are, Saya," The teacher laughed it off, "Don't worry about it, I know that you're not the type of person to be usually late."

"Yes..." Saya breathed, brushing strands of hair away from her face that had a sad frown on it, "It's my fault, Matsuda-sensei..."

"Nonsense, we all make mistakes!" Matsuda-sensei said, "Please take your seat, Saya. Your sister has already explained everything."

"Thank you..."

Saya strolled quietly to her seat, sitting down with that same sad frown on her face, and I blinked, staring at her.

I wonder why Saya looked so sad.

Seeing her sad made me feel depressed as well.

I guess I'll ask her about it at lunch.

~x~

The bell announcing lunchtime rang and students all around the classroom began moving around, some going to the cafeteria to buy lunch, some shuffling to their bags to get out their homemade lunch.

Now's my chance to talk to Saya!

I glanced besides me at Saya's desk, looking at the sad frown that was still disturbing her pretty face.

Opening my mouth to say something, the view of a girl's school uniform came in between Saya's desk and mine, blocking my view.

"Ayo~" Ueko greeted with a wide smile, "Let's eat lunch, Kaya!"

I glanced up at the girl with blonde hair and emerald green eyes, trying to think of an excuse to get out of it.

Before I could even reply however, more students swarmed over to my desk, faces of people that I had never ever met.

"Kaya! Do you want to eat lunch with us? We have a spare seat on our table!"

"Hey Kaya! What was America like? Could you please tell us!"

"Kaya, eat lunch with us instead! We have an extra seat over here too!"

Oh fuck, who the hell were these people?!

Did they even know Kaya or were they just people that have never met Kaya and wanted to befriend her?

I had no clue so I didn't even know how to act around any of them.

Saya had been completely blocked out now by the crowd that was forming around my desk, so the only person I knew here was...

"S, Sorry...!"

I stood up from my desk, placing my elbow on top of Ueko's shoulder in front of the crowd.

"I already agreed to eat lunch today with Ueko so..." I told the crowd, trying to smile apologetically.

"Ah, is that so..."

"Shame..."

"I wanted to hear about America..."

The crowd started slowly dispersing and Ueko glanced to her side at me, staring at my elbow on her shoulder.

I breathed a sigh of relief, not noticing Ueko's stare for a few seconds.

When I noticed it, I almost reactively jumped in shock, quickly removing my elbow from her shoulder.

What the fuck, Takeru...!

That was such a guy thing to do...! No girls places their elbow on their friend's shoulder like that...!

Thank god no one else seemed to notice!

"S, sorry, Ueko! I didn't mean to...!"

Ueko chuckled, waving her hand, "It's okay, I wasn't bothered by it, I just thought it was funny, that's all!"

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"Anyways, let's go grab lunch now, shall we!" I said, trying to change the topic.

"Ah sis...!"

Saya's voice stopped me just before I was about to head for lunch with Ueko and I glanced over, seeing Saya sitting at her table with a girl with hazel brown hair.

"Ah... you've already got a friend to eat lunch with..." Saya glanced disappointedly at Ueko besides me, "I, I was going to ask if you wanted to eat lunch with me but it's okay..."

"Really?" I said, "Then, let's just all eat lunch toge--"

"It's okay, sis!" Saya shook her head with a smile, "Please don't worry about me and go eat lunch with your friend. I'm sure they missed you a lot since it's your first day back. You don't have to worry about me all the time, sis."

Dammit.

"If you say so..."

"Also, sis, your lunch is in your bag by the way. I made it for you last night so you don't have to buy lunch at the cafeteria."

What?!

Saya made my lunch!

It was the first time that I would be bringing my own lunch to school.

Normally I only ever extortioned my food from whichever kid had the best looking lunch, or at least that was back in Junior High when I still had no morals.

"Ah really!" I laughed in a sheepish joy, reaching into my bag to grab the lunchbox, "You're the best, Saya!"

Saya giggled, then waved at me cutely as I left the classroom with Ueko.

What a great sister Saya was.

It made me feel like I should try harder to be a better sister too for Saya's sake... Hang on, I'm not even her sister!

Ueko chuckled besides me, interrupting my thoughts.

"What?" I asked, eyeing her suspiciously as we walked down the corridor.

"Oh, it's just that I thought you seemed like you changed a lot since you came back, Kaya," Ueko said, "But, you still care about Saya a lot, just like you did back then."

"Well of course, she's my sister after all."

I glanced at Ueko besides me.

This girl seemed to really know Kaya a lot.

It might be a good idea to try to get some information about Kaya from her.

That way I can figure out why I suddenly woke up in Kaya's body...

We ended up outside of the school building, sitting on the grass near the school oval.

"Oh man, I'm so hungry, I can't wait to eat..." I said, opening the lunch box that Saya had made for me.

It was katsu and rice, steam floating up into the air when I opened the lid.

God damn, it smelled so good.

"Kaya... your skirt is showing..."

Hearing Ueko's words, I blinked, then glanced down to see that I had been sitting with my legs wide apart.

In the distance in front of us, I could see guys out in the oval staring between my legs with a red face.

"Wh, what the fuck are you looking at?!"

I stood up from the grass, raising a fist and the guys quickly looked away, some even fleeing.

"Jesus..." I sighed, sitting back down, "Some people, huh?"

"R, right..." Ueko laughed.

Munching down on my food, I wanted to shed tears of joy from how good Saya's cooking was. I could tell how much time and effort Saya had put into it just from eating the food.

I wish I could eat Saya's cooking every day...

But there were also things that I needed to do before that.

The reason that I had dropped out of Junior High in the first place...

To become the number 1 yakuza in all of Japan.

"Kaya..." Ueko suddenly said from besides me.

"Hm?" I replied back in between bites of my food.

"Do... do you remember... the reason why you went to America in the first place?"

I stopped eating, glancing up at Ueko who had only just unwrapped her sandwich.

"Did I tell you the reason?" I asked her.

She nodded her head, smiling gently, "It's such a long time ago but... Two years... I was just curious if you still remember the reason that made you decide to go."

I stared at her blankly for a while, until I suddenly realised that she was waiting for me to respond.

Shit...!

How the hell would I know that...?!

Why Kaya had decided to go to America...?

All I knew from what I had heard was that Kaya had left for America two years ago and that she hadn't even contacted Saya once during those two years -- I was still angry at Kaya just thinking about it.

"Um..." I tried to think of something to say. "Yeah, two years is quite a long time, huh...?"

"That's why I wasn't sure if you still remember," Ueko said, then glanced down at her sandwich, "But I guess you probably wouldn't forget something like that. I mean... after that happened..."

'What happened?'... was what I wanted to say.

But obviously I couldn't say that.

All I could do was nod and finish the rest of my katsu and rice in silence, hoping that she would keep talking.

She didn't.

I had to wait 10 minutes more for Ueko to finish her lunch since I had finished mine within a minute.

We never ended up talking about that topic again, and instead I was forced to chat to Ueko about the latest korean dramas she was watching online.

Before I knew it, lunch was over and I was sitting back down at my desk, waiting for the next lesson to begin.

What the fuck?!

Maybe I should had just kept pushing the topic!

I kept enduring the other shit she was talking about because I thought she would eventually turn the topic back to what we had originally been talking about.

I sighed, feeling my head pound as I slid the empty lunch box back inside my bag.

I really wanted to smoke a cigarette...

Huh.

What's this?

I glanced at a keychain with some kind of cat doll attached to it sitting at the bottom of my bag.

...

What an ugly looking keychain.

I felt like I was getting bad luck just looking at it.

Who the hell would wear something like this?

Maybe I should chuck it in the bin after school.

I closed my bag, just as the teacher was walking into the classroom, ready to begin the next class.

Glancing to my side at Saya sitting besides me, I could see that she still had that same sad frown on her face, looking unfocused as the teacher began the lesson.

~x~

"How was your lunch, sis?"

"Yeah, it wasn't too bad..."

I was thinking about what Ueko had said during lunch, walking next to Saya on the way back home under the orange afternoon sunlight.

Did something happen to Kaya before she went to America?

An accident, perhaps?

Something that then made her decide to go to America?

...

Does any of this even help me figure out why I am in her body...?

I sighed, shaking my head, walking in silence with Saya for a moment before I realised she was a lot quieter than usual.

"A, ah, sorry...!" I quickly said, "I've been spacing out the whole day. Just trying to get used to going back to school in Japan, hahah...!"

Saya continued walking quietly besides me.

Is she upset at me?

Did I forget something?

Oh shit, the lunch...!

"I forgot to mention how great your lunch was, Saya!" I said, "It was literally the best thing I had ever eaten in my life! Seriously! I can't believe you made it! Thank you so much for making that for me!"

"R, really...?" Saya said quietly, raising a hand to her blushed cheeks, "I'm glad you liked it so much, sis..."

"Yeah! It was super good!" I said, glad that she seemed a bit more happy, "Ah, but you don't have to force yourself everyday to make it for me! I don't want you to overwork yourself!"

"It's okay, sis... if you like it, then I can cook for you everyday..."

Saya trailed off her words, going quiet again and we walked silently for a while more.

"Saya...? Is something wrong...?" I asked her. "You've been looking a bit out of it the whole day..."

"It's just..." She sighed, "I lost something really important..."

"Oh, you mean that thing you were looking for in the morning?" I asked her confusedly.

"Yes..."

"Right..."

Saya stopped and I stopped too.

She turned to look at me looking as though she was about to cry.

"I... I lost the keychain that you gave me, sis...!" She suddenly blurted out, "I, I'm so sooo sorry, sis...! I was too scared to tell you the whole day...! I didn't want you to get upset at me...! I can't believe I lost it...! I'm so stupid...!"

Tears flowed down her cheeks the more she spoke, and I was just having a panic attack over here.

"U, um...!" I stammered.

Even facing an entire gang along as a yakuza wasn't as stressful as this current situation.

At least I knew what I was supposed to do when facing an entire gang of yakuzas alone.

But I had no experience with what I was supposed to do here.

"Pl, please don't hate me...! I'm sooo sorry, sis...!" Saya cried. "E, even though you had went out of your way to buy it for me, I can't believe I lost it...!!"

"C, calm down, Saya...!" I stuttered the only words I could think of, "We can just buy another one, right...?!--"

"Nooo...! It's not the same...! Y, you got that one for me when we were kids and I had it for so long...! How could I lose it...! I'm such an idiot...!"

"Maybe it's still at home...! H, hey, I know! I'll help you look for it! What does it look like...?"

Saya sniffed, "I, it's got a cat attached to the end..."

Wait.

That sounded familiar.

I spun my bag around, rummaging around like a madman.

And there it was!

At the bottom of my bag!

Thank god I didn't throw it away!

"Is it this one...?"

I pulled the keychain out from the bottom of my bag, showing it to Saya.

"Yes, it's that one!!" Saya almost screamed, "H, How come you have it, sis?!"

"I, I don't know...! It was just at the bottom of my bag...!"

I handed the keychain to Saya and she stared at in disbelief for a moment, before attaching it to the end of her bag.

"G, geez...! Mum must had cleaned our bags and placed it in the wrong bag..." Saya said, still sniffing as she wiped at her tears.

I glanced down at my bag, then up at Saya's bag. Oh right, she was right, we had the same bag. I didn't even realise.

"Well... I'm just glad that's over..." I laughed shakily, feeling relieved. "See, you didn't lose it. It was just there somewhere."

She sighed, patting her palms on her face, "Y, you probably don't remember anymore, sis... you gave me that keychain when we were six years old... no wonder you don't remember what it looks like..."

"Hahah... oh wow, it's been that long, huh..."

"I've been wearing that keychain on my bag ever since... I guess I would say it's kind of like my good luck charm!" Saya laughed, "And now it feels like you've given it back to me once again!"

I laughed too, "Yeah, you really scared me there for a second..."

I can't believe I had been planning on chucking it in the bin.

"Thank you, sis."

Suddenly, Saya leaned in to me, tip toeing on her toes, and I felt something warm and soft on my cheek.

Before I knew what was going on, Saya leaned back away, smiling at me.

"D, did you just..."

"Let's go home now! I wonder what mum cooked for us for dinner!"

"H, hey, Saya...!"