“ Good morning! …Good morning… Good mooooorning. Good morning. Mornin’. Moooooorn. Goooooood. Mmmmmm. ”
No matter what Chiaki does, it’s just impossible to adjust to Hajime’s voice coming from her mouth. She mumbles to herself on her way into the Reserve Course wing, trying the new lower register properly on for size, and finding it… unnatural. Thankfully, Hajime has grown past the voice-cracking stage of puberty, which means the idol in his body could never reach high notes if she tried – but that means that she’ll really have to practice not using her usual cutesy tone and slang while acting as him.
On the other hand, unlike Hajime, Chiaki’s always been mindful of what she says and does, almost to a fault. Anyone that bothers her as she walks with a quick hello or some other greeting receives a very in character response, usually a passive nod of the head; a challenge presents itself when a boy comes up to her side frantically asking about last night’s homework, but thankfully, it’s only a sheet of math problems that Chiaki understands.
That said, they’re difficult math problems. She never knew Hajime was such an advanced student… or, perhaps, all Reserve courses were cursed with such rigor?
Eventually, she’s able to break away from the crowd of socializing peers and sneak behind a bit of fence; the aforementioned shack Chiaki had spotted while she was walking, and it seemed to only be a few meters from the edge of the schoolyard, though it was somewhat disguised behind decorative bushes. She approaches, of course, but becomes more apprehensive of the small, shady building with each step.
Rule-breaking is one of her biggest fears, and trespassing on forbidden school property is certainly a rule she’s breaking. Not only that, but the little derelict shack… almost looks scary. At least, scary, because she’s alone.
With a tight grip on the strap of Hajime’s schoolbag, Chiaki turns her head to look back and in both directions, hoping her newfound height will give her a well enough vantage point to spot her own lilac head of hair approaching the shack.
Hajime— Or, Chiaki takes one deep breath to prepare himself to leave her room again, finding some solace in the quiet of her dorm room. He has all he needs (he thinks) and stands up straight before swinging the door open. It wasn’t too bad, there weren’t hordes of people hanging around as it grew later in the morning, and most people hanging around seemed more interested in their own affairs than Chiaki’s. Good. This was good, he would be able to slip away unnoticed then. For Chiaki, approaching their agreed meeting place in Hajime’s body would be kind of odd, but not too significant. Hajime being in Chiaki’s body however, it was definitely strange. Stranger than most would accept, he’s sure.
For that reason, he doesn’t waste any time. He’s quick, not rushed, but quick enough to weave amongst his fellow students without stopping for much more than a returned hello in her now slightly monotonous voice. As he grows nearer and nearer to his destination, the people start to thin out much more, and before he knew it, he was able to duck away past a particularly pretty garden display and make his way out towards the older, broken building.
Out of the eye of Chiaki’s classmates, Hajime picks up into a bit of a jog, knowing that she’s likely been waiting for him at this point. It didn’t seem right to leave a girl, especially a seemingly sheltered one, in such a risky location for too long. When he finally spots her hanging about, looking just about as anxious as he imagined, he waves to grab her attention and slows into a calm stride.
“ Chiaki, sorry— I got caught up with some of your friends. “
He apologises gently, still finding himself looking her, or really himself over. “ We shouldn’t waste too much time standing around... Here, follow me. “ He thinks back to the window he had mentioned earlier, funnelling all his focus into finding them some privacy before they got caught.
He eyes each window suspiciously, face twisting in concentration. In their silence, he looks to the ground and scoops up the remnants of a stick, a somewhat sturdy chunk of wood that he felt would do just right. With a quiet grunt, he throws it at one of the windows, grinning when he sees it dislodge a bit. “ There— That’s the one. I’ll go first. “
Hajime turns to look at Chiaki again, hoping she had no qualms with climbing through little windows and getting a little bit dirty. With a quick look over the wall in front of him, he breathes in and lifts his foot to push against one of the bricks that had been knocked in, enough to wedge his toes there and give him a vantage point to push himself up. He hoped Chiaki didn’t mind the prospect of chipped nails, because there was no way they were coming out unscathed from this. Hajime wasn’t particularly gentle either, gripping the bricks up higher with too much roughness.
He was able to pull himself up though, pushing on the window a few times before just giving up and forcing it in with his elbow. Chiaki wasn’t quite as strong as he had hoped, but for her physique, he felt actually quite... Nimble. Climbing the wall had been a breeze, and without lanky limbs to hold him back he was easily able to tug himself into the half-open window frame, onto the stacked up equipment inside.
He disappeared only for a moment before poking the upper half of his body out, looking pretty happy with himself.
“ Alright, it’s safe! Now you. “
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