As the ceremony came to a close Ren was in a daze, the sounds and voices of those around him fading into the background, until he and the other students were quickly shuffling out of the auditorium. He hoped once the tours were over he would wake up from whatever nightmare he was in. Back in high school as a second year? Body-swapped? It had to be!
But for a dream this realistic, wouldn't he recognize the school to some extent? And why did he completely change his face and give him this false name? He tried to bang his fist against his head, pull at his earlobes, and even thunked his forehead against the wall to try to sense anything different, but they all felt just as real and painful as you'd expect.
Not paying any mind to the baffled expressions on his concerned class peers' faces he tried to think of a new strategy. He was afraid he had to admit to the truth: it wasn't a nightmare. He was in somebody's else's body, somebody else's life.
He didn't pay much attention to the tours, just hoping they would be over so he could go 'home' and find a way to track down wherever he must be. He didn't realize halfway through the dorm tours then, that he wasn't going home anytime soon.
"You can't be serious. A boarding school?"
"Didn't you ride the shuttle here?" Said a student standing beside him, secretly snacking on a granola bar.
"Well....yeah I suppose." He lied, because he didn't remember that either. So he was trapped, possibly miles from wherever this body used to live if the shuttle was any indication. When could he leave? What was he going to do...
He paused. He was distracted. The school was giving him a...strange feeling. He couldn't quite place it. The group began to move, and Ren and the granola munching boy followed suit.
Then he finally noticed it.
"Hey," Ren whispered to the granola cruncher, who had just finished his bar. "Is this an all boys school?"
He didn't know why he didn't notice sooner. There wasn't a single woman in sight, not even the teachers. Something like this should have sprung out immediately, since a crowd of boys act very different to a crowd of boy and girls, or even just a group of girls.
But....here it was different. Ren had never seen a group of boys this tempered. Was this school just extremely strict?
"Disappointed?" The granola boy responded while checking his phone. "I didn't find out too till I got accepted. Fucking lame asses not pointing it out on the form." Suddenly the group began to separate. We were at an intersection.
"I'm group C. Nice meeting you." Granola boy tightened his red cap. "But hey, at least they're a bunch of cute boys around." He said one final time before leaving.
Ren had already stopped listening as he was struggling to find the paper he had earlier telling him what group to go to, but those words gave him pause.
'...huh?' Ren was just a bit shocked at the sudden-ness. It wasn't surprising to discover they were gay, but no one had ever spoken to him about it like that before, so casually and open like they were friends.
Ren found his paper, he was in group B, and hurried off before they left him behind.
...
Eventually all the tours ended, and Ren finally got a moment to himself in his new room. At least, mostly anyway. Kakeru Yaruno and Kanaseki Hino were his roommates; Kakeru keeping to themselves and Kanaseki giving him a nice big friendly smile before going out somewhere else. Ren needed to go out too: he had to find a device with the internet. He didn't know how he ended up in this body, but if he could maybe search up his name and login into his social media then he might be able to figure out a little more about his situation. Where was he if he was here? Maybe he's in a coma or even dead... would that mean he's a ghost haunting this kid's body? Who even was this kid?
Ren tried their phone and the laptop, but whoever this body belonged to had passwords on everything, no fingerprint lock, and Ren hadn't the foggiest idea what they could be. There wasn't much written down either to go off of, not even a sticky note. Ren recalled a computer lab somewhere in the tour, and wasted no more time thinking about it and headed out. It was near dusk when he left the dorm; the day went on long and he spent way too long trying to open the damn things up.
The path back to the main building was quiet. The yard surrounding the path was sprawling and open, an open courtyard with lots of flora and a lake just down a hill not that far off. Ren's thoughts must have been in a faraway place for him to miss all this. It was a nice view.
_____
He made his way into the school, as any students he passed were walking the opposite way. By the time he made it to the computer lab the halls were desolate. The lab was just as empty, and he understood why when he tried to login in on one of the 20 year old computers, giant brick like monitors.
'Geez these are ancient, I don't think you could even play browser games on here...'
Ren sat down and turned it on and was dismayed. There was also a password needed for these things?!
Ren laid his forehead on the desk and loudly sighed. Was this a bust? He walked all the way here too...
The sound of voices outside the room alerted Ren and he sat back up. Walking over to the door he listened in.
"First day and there's already idiots that can't follow the rules. Oi!" Someone shouted in the hall with the clatter of a door opening on the other side. "Caught ya! You: you're breaking your curfew! Get your asses back to your dorms unless you want to be sent to study hall by the student council's rule enforcer...!"
Ren paled. Hold on, there's a curfew?! Shit, if they caught him in here he'd get in trouble!
Just as he started to panic, the footsteps approached the door. Ren sucked in a sharp breath.
The door opened harshly and a student entered. The room appeared empty. Ren had dived around the row of computer desks and hidden just out of sight around its corner, heart racing.
The student stood in the doorway with narrowed eyes as he peered in and looked around. A bead of sweat trailed down Ren's neck. Maybe he would just leave...?
"Senpai? Why are you just standing there?"
"I thought I heard a sharp inhale..." they replied. Ren squeezed his eyes shut. Shit, there was no way he was going to leave now if he heard that!
"Doesn't seem like anyone's been here though? I don't smell anything..."
'Yeah you're probably right. It was probably this school's shitty AC, lol. Let's finish meeting up with the other patrol and..."
The students close the door and their voices muffled. Ren heard their steps and voices growing quieter. As soon as he thought they were far enough Ren raced to the door and peeked his head out before heading as quickly as he could back to his dorm. He made it out of the school and started to make his way back to the dorm through the path next to that lake. He was almost there. He should ask his roommates what time the curfew is next time.
"Hey you!"
Suddenly Ren was grabbed from behind. He turned to a group of two students staring down at him.
"It's nearly past curfew, freshman! Already breaking the rules aren't we?"
Crap, he got caught by them? Realizing it now, he was quite short. Much shorter than he was in highschool, cause he sure didn't remember his highschool seniors being so gigantic!
Ren sighed. Well he just had to be honest now, even if he got a trip to study hall. The biggest one in front looked like the leader, so Ren looked him straight in the eye and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to break curfew. I was just looking for something I lost in the school and lost track of time. I understand if I'm in trouble..." Ren apologized earnestly, awaiting punishment.
"The dorm...? Oh... so you were looking for something, really? Is that really it? Doesn't look like you brought anything back from the school though..." The one in front said with a sly grin.
"Yeah, how about you empty your pockets?" One of the lackeys chuckled.
"Well, I never actually found what I was looking for..." Ren answered slowly. He didn't have anything to show, what he was looking for was information after all, but he couldn't explain that he went back to the school just to look up himself because he forgot his phone password.
"So you're refusing?" The student sneered. "This all seems suspicious, are you hiding something? Actually I don't think that would be enough. You could be hiding something in your clothes...! why don't you strip down so we can be sure?"
Ren froze at their suggestion. Did they think he had cigarettes on him or something? Was this a boarding school rule to do checks for contraband? Eventually he sighed in resignation. Well whatever, he was acting a little suspicious so he might as well comply.
Ren started to pull out all of his pockets then pulled off his jacket and handed it to the student begrudgingly so they could check it themself, looking down and closing his eyes with a scowl. Because of this he missed the mischievous grins on one of the two students' faces. "That's it? You could be hiding it somewhere else. How about in your pants?" They snickered.
Ren hesitated, but soon obliged with a huff. "Alright." and quickened his pace, pulling off his shoes and taking off his pants. Better to do it quickly before someone noticed, though there was no one around he could see. Ren stood there holding out his pants now only wearing his white undershirt, small boxers, and socks.
The two students stared at Ren's bare pearly skin with a flush of pink and stopped snickering. They started looking around with a dubious look then beckoned toward Ren urgently. "Your shirt too...?"
Ren grit his teeth as he started to loosen his tie. "Wouldn't a pat down be more effective...?" he asked. Ren shivered as a strong gust of wind blew past. Wasn't this a bit much? It was still April!
"No no, we'll need to inspect everything more closely." The student continued. "We should take you with us before we hand you your slip."
Ren finally paused and looked at the two students. Seriously, they were making him do all this but were going to force him to go back into the school with them?
Ren then noticed their smirkish grins, and felt a wave of contempt. They were just fucking with him! Ren let go of his tie and crossed his arms to glare at the two students and stood his ground. "Hey, I was just looking for something I left behind, why are you butting in my business anyway? I've proven I don't have anything on me so just give me the slip or let me go back to the dorm already."
Ren was sure he dealt with jerks before in his original self, so assumed a few tough words and they'll retreat like wounded dogs. But Ren forgot the most important variable: intimidation. And unfortunately for Ren, Takeshita Akira had no such distinction.
Ren ended up slammed against an oak tree, the big, now suddenly terrifying, doofus breathing down his neck.
"Think you can talk down to me?! You're the one skipping curfew and talking back to your seniors! I bet the teacher wouldn't oppose your expulsion before the week is over!"
Ren wanted to say that he'd actually prefer that so he can find out where his real self is, but the senior had already locked up his neck, preventing him from speaking. Ren could only stare weakly.
"Hm, scared aren't you?"
The senior student ran a finger down Ren's back, and a cold shiver ran down his back. Was this an intimidation tactic or another way to bully him?
"But you know," They continued. "We don't have to tell anyone. We can settle this real easy, if you'd-"
"Hey stop that! What the hell are you doing?!"
Ren's vision had already begun to cloud up, but he could still see the senior's face widen in terror, before him and his friends fled in the opposite direction. Ren fell to the ground, dizzy and coughing.
"Hey!" The voice called out again. "Damn it..." the voice from before crouched down before him. "You alright?"
He looked up at him. A boy with cloudy sky blue and milky brown, windswept hair, leaned down towards him with an extended hand.
"What were you doing out so close to curfew?" He said worriedly. "You know these rules were put in place for a reason. Alphas in this school are ruthless, so even if you're a beta you shouldn't take them lightly."
'Huh? What does that mean?' Was Ren's first thought. 'Is that the school code or something? Do they call the seniors Alphas? Weird but.... I guess this is a boarded school, things might be different.'
Ren quickly stood up and tried not to fall back down.
"D-Don't worry about me! I can handle a few dickheads."
"Are you sure? I mean... they were making you strip down."
Ren froze and looked down at his bare legs and half opened shirt, and turned rose pink.
"N-No! it wasn't anything serious really!" Ren said flusteredly, beginning to back away, picking up his bag as he went. He didn't know how to explain that he just thought it was part of inspection!
"Don't say that." The boy persisted. "This is serious. Those Alpha seniors were probably thinking of really hurting you, you need to be more careful." He stood up as well. "Let me take you to the Infirmary, it's just down-"
But Ren had already picked up his shoes and was walking away. "No, it's alright! I just need some ice and a rest- in fact, I don't even need the ice! I don't need any ice, it-"
A gust of wind suddenly blew past, and Ren's pants flew out of his hands.
"Huh? Ah...! N-No!" Ren shouted, and began to chase after them.
"Hold on, wait a minute!" The boy shouted after him. In response Ren ran after the pants faster, dropping his shoes behind him.
The pants went flying towards a long fence that looked out over the lake and over the fence. Ren grabbed the fence with both arms and shot upwards to grab them just before they flew down.
Ren sighed in relief. He almost lost his pants! Ren looked down and saw why the fence was there, as the terrain after it led down a steep slope. Turns out, the view was so great because of how large the distance was.
"Hey, be careful!" The boy behind him shouted. Ren turned his head to say something.
Then Ren's foot slipped off the fence and he fell, backwards...down a very large hill.