All That Glitters... Causes Body Swaps (Corpse Party)

Patience is Key.

| Morishige |

The bushes proved to be an excellent hiding spot. Mayu and I both had plenty of room, and we managed to hide there without being seen. Just up ahead, I saw Mochida and Kishinuma talking about who knows what... And the class rep was arriving from the opposite direction.

Kishinuma must have told her to meet them here. Marvelous.

I continued to observe them carefully, making sure I didn't miss my chance. When the time was right, I had to create a diversion by texting Kishinuma...

Which would lead to the panic... Which would lead to our debut.

Heheh.

I leaned in a little so I could listen to their conversation.

"Oh, there she is!"

"Calm down, Yoshiki. Jeez..."

Kishinuma crossed his arms and glared at Mochida. I'm glad it wasn't me for once.

"I'm sorry, Satoshi. You'd do the same thing if Nakashima was here--"

Mochida's face went red within a second, and he looked at the ground.

"Well... Whatever! Let's just... Get Shinozaki's attention."

Yes. Do that.

Kishinuma stopped looking irritated and beamed. He was in complete agreement.

He waved his arms around like a fanatic, and I had to suppress the urge to laugh.

"SHINOZAKIIIII! OVER HERE!"

The class rep looked over to them and rolled her eyes in response to Kishinuma's antics.

"Pipe down, Kishinuma. Mochida's probably going deaf because of you."

The blond delinquent crossed his arms and sighed in irritation.

"Whatever. Okay, do either of you see Morishige or Suzumoto?"

Mochida looked around and shook his head. He looked disheartened, and I felt somewhat bad for him. I couldn't let it get in the way, though... Because everything was going just as I hoped it would.

"Not at all... I hope nothing happened..."

The class rep laughed and playfully elbowed Mochida.

"Don't worry about them! Morishige is smart, and he wouldn't let himself or Suzumoto get hurt!"

I'm flattered. Really... But hurry it up.

Mochida and Kishinuma seemed to agree, because they both just nodded.

There was a moment of awkward silence, and I took that as my opportunity to divert their attention.

I pulled out Mayu's phone. I was prepared.

Send Message to: Kishinuma Yoshiki
KISHINUMA!! Something... Something terrible has happened!

Message From: Kishinuma Yoshiki
What?! What happened?!

Send Message to: Kishinuma Yoshiki
No ti--

Bingo. Cut it off. That surely would make it seem like I wasn't able to finish my thought.

And it worked very well.

Kishinuma buried his hands in his hair, and he started pacing back and forth.

"Guys! Suzumoto... She said something happened!"

As expected, Mochida panicked.

"OH NO!! WHAT DO WE DO?!"

The class rep approached them both and tried to get them to calm themselves.

"Hey, it's alright... We'll figure something out!"

"How can you be so sure?!"

"Yeah, Yoshiki's right! We don't even know what happened!"

I began to tune them out. They were plenty distracted, and I gently shoved Mayu.

She nodded at me, and I knew she was ready to snatch the bag.

I stood and charged at the class rep as fast as I could. I managed to knock her down and keep her pinned, despite my small stature.

"NICE TRY! You can't hide anything from me... You said so yourself. I'm smart."

The class rep's eyes went wide in terror. I don't know why she was so scared... We were only trying to get our bodies back.

"Morishige-kun! I... Let me explain!"

I shook my head and laughed.

"No need. We'll just be getting our bodies back, now. MAYU!"

She ran out of the bushes and grabbed Shinozaki's bag. She shook it until the shiny object fell out. She grabbed it and smiled.

"Got it!"

I nodded and let Shinozaki go.

"Wonderful. Let's go."

Both of us began running off until the others were too far to see or hear us. I asked Mayu to let me see the object--since I picked it up before--and hoped it would work.

Once she placed it in my hands, I blacked out completely. I couldn't hear anything, either.

Please... Did it work?

I really hoped I was in my own body again.