Preparation ✧ 2

I think my request for switching bodies had gotten stuck in traffic, because while the switch did happen... it only happened on the day we left Tarrin for Birann. Not when we had arrived back in the village, not when discussing our plans with our parents, and certainly not when organizing our bigger suitcase for the circus.

I leaned back on the bus seat and let out a deep, big sigh. I regretted asking for a switch if it meant I'd get to experience hell on earth. Being stuck in one place, unable to move my body for roughly five hours? Having to meet a lot of new people in one day?

I shut down my eyes in anguish. I couldn't think of a worse recipe for me. On the bright side; it was not too late, I definitely could hand things to Rai any moment now… Yes…

Hey, the one in charge. You listening? Please, make us switch before we arrive in Birann. I know you hear me. Hey. Hey. Hey—

“Mimi, please… it's too early in the morning. Can't you just make yourself comfortable in your seat and sleep a bit?”

“Excellent idea, actually. If I sleep, not only will I not have to deal with the torturing boredom of the bus, but we will also wake up with you in front. Surely.”

“Well I… cannot guarantee that, but I'll definitely take the sleep.”

Yeah, our body was groggy thanks to Rai being a kid full of beans again. All the sleep we had missed out on just because of her excitement. Gods, I needed to figure out a solution for that—fast. I could already imagine her getting all worked up because of her fantasies of showing off our country to the troupe and spending more time with that unstable Nilsu.

“I should definitely get some sleep in our system before you take over.”

“...hmph.”

Who knows when we would get an opportunity for a proper rest session again, and not only because of her excitement; as the following days would prove to be busy for sure. Thankfully, I didn't have any particular troubles falling asleep unlike my easily excitable counterpart, and soon enough I had snoozed away most of the road.

When a fellow passenger nudged my arm, informing me that we had arrived at Birann, I immediately noticed two things.

One was that the weather was extremely hot. Two was that it was still me who was fronting.

…person in charge, are you pointing and laughing at me right now?

I attempted to wipe away the sleepiness from my eyes with a rough rub and stepped out into the bus terminal. I found a shadowy corner, and sat down to find the scrap of paper the Director had given us with the address of the FHN Office. She had offered that someone could come pick us up from the terminal, but we frankly didn't need such a thing. If anything, we could comfortably ask for directions after all. Ugh, if I had known it'd be me that's fronting, I would have taken on the offer…

Not to mention… Hah… remember how I described the day as hellish earlier? I guess the weather wanted to add to the description, with the intense heat.

“What an immersive ‘Welcome to Hell!’ experience…”

“Don’t call Birann like that! It’s a lovely place!”

“Any place that’s this hot deserves that title…”

I grumbled and took out my water bottle, nearly emptying it in one go. That was when I realized that I was rather hungry as well. Dragging our suitcase, I went towards the nearest food kiosk. I ordered some iced coffee alongside a sandwich, and also inquired about what was the easiest way for me to reach the address written by the Director.

“Oh, the FHN Office! Actually, my cousin works there.”

…what did you want me to say about that? What about how to get there.

“Mimi, tell them ‘woah, really?’ and show some surprise.”

Here began the first acting of the day, I suppose.

“Woahh, really. What a coincidence.”

I didn't feel like moving my facial muscles much, but the kiosk employee didn't seem to mind.

“Right~? For that reason, I know the shortcut. If you asked people they'd tell you to take the bus number 855, and while it is indeed one way to go there, if you just walk a little bit from here and take the tram, it will be easier.”

Oh, the tram. I liked Birann City’s tram system. It felt rather fancy. I took my coffee and sandwich, and left the kiosk with a thank you.

The iced coffee was my only lifeline right now…

“Rai, what is this heat. Literally why.”

“I don't know, I guess there are spring days like this…?”

“I miss winter already.”

After I finished my modest meal, I set out to catch the tram. I kept on cursing inside, I had found the worst timing to wear this long sleeved black sweater. It was fairly cool in the village when we left it, so I thought wearing a lightly textured yet long sleeved sweater was the best choice.

I felt intensely jealous of all the people inside the tram wearing suitable clothes for the weather.

“Rai, you have no idea how lucky you are to not perceive this weather right now.”

“Just a little bit more, and we can change clothes when we get to the Office. You should be able to somewhere in there, no?”

“I mean, I sure hope so…”

I lowered my face onto my hands. I was starting to feel real bad. So many factors had come together to make me feel uncomfortable as all hell. I wouldn't even be surprised if I developed a headache on top of all of this.

I just wanted to go to the place we would stay in… and lay down on the bed… and sleep for 15 hours minimum. Alas, my reality was that I had to go visit the Office for the medical checkup thingy.

“Do we even need that with our Aberrance… what do I even say.”

“Perhaps they just need it to collect data, so you'll be asked some questions?”

I had to stop myself from groaning loudly, as I didn't want to have people stare at me in the middle of the tram. ‘Asked some questions’. Talking. I did not want to talk. The switch looked like it wouldn’t happen anytime soon either…

Accepting my less than ideal fate, I dragged the suitcase to the FHN Office. Before entering, I examined the place. It was not the largest building, with around 5 floors. It had sky blue painted walls with white decorated bits for the windows. I also realized that I didn’t know any architecture terms to describe what I was looking at… Well. I never said that I was the best narrator.

“Aww, what a cute building! Cities really have amazing architecture.”

“Here comes the city glazer… Well, it is cute though. Not bad.”

The moment I stepped inside, a bright faced woman greeted me. It almost terrified me.

“Hello! Are you one of the new performers of the Circus?” She was speaking in Lartican, possibly assuming I was a foreigner. I didn't want to risk sounding like an idiot, I wasn’t the best with foreign languages, so I simply replied in Salen language.

“Uh… um, yes. I am here for the health check up.”

She left her desk and walked towards me.

“Ah, you're the one from Tarrin village! I was informed about you. I'd love to know more about your Aberrance later on!”

That was great and all, but I didn't want to say even one more word…

She leaned towards my suitcase and told me that she could get it to the place we would stay in, but I said I would like to grab a change of clothes first.

“Ah, certainly. Very hot day today, is it not? Though, it'd be a shame if you had to drag this around the whole day, so please pick an outfit and then leave it to me.”

She said that there was a bathroom I could use to change on the second floor, and the medical checkup room was on the third floor. I picked up a simple white t-shirt from my suitcase, as well as some personal belongings we would prefer to keep with us and shoved them inside a small handbag.

Going upstairs, we realized that the building was rather active. There were a lot of office employees going here and there, and surprisingly a considerable portion of them seemed to be Regulars. While it was possible some didn't show it on the exterior, such Aberrance types were rare, so it seemed like this office wasn't more different than the population of the outside world.

“I wonder if the Regulars actually care about the cause or just happen to be here because of the salary?”

“Eh, doesn't matter. The fact that they are here makes them a million times better than the folk that thinks they'll contract Aberrances just by hanging out near them.”

She chuckled, her bittersweet tone not escaping my ears.

“Indeed…”

She always cared so much about the people surrounding her, wondering about them. I, on the other hand, couldn't be bothered to even perceive the employees around me but just concerned myself with getting the hell out of my clothes as soon as possible.

With the change of my sweaty and suffocating sweater, coupled with the cold water I had splashed generously on my face, I felt like I was reborn. I even felt slightly more invigorated to go see the doctor. Though of course, just wanting to get it done and over with was the major motivational point.

Taking myself to the third floor, I walked past various rooms that had nothing to do with our destination. While I was starting to wonder if I was somehow in the wrong place, I realized that the last room towards the windows of the floor had its door open.

I glanced at the nameplate on the door: Dr Moti.

Indeed, this was the room we were looking for, as stated in our little address paper. I took a peek inside, and saw that the doctor’s desk seat was empty. Two more steps forward, and I came eye to eye with an individual sitting on the other side of the room. While this unexpected encounter had made me flinch, this person who seemed to be a young man around our age didn't show one bit of a reaction.

He coolly spoke up, with a voice that seemed to carry the air of a mix of all four seasons at once. He spoke in Salen language, not bothering with Lartican.

“Dr Moti got an important call and said he would be back soon.”

As I tried to decipher the reason for the chills in my body, I simply nodded and explained that I was here for the checkup.

“You're a new member of the circus?”

I sat down, feeling slightly awkward in the presence of this mystery individual. It was not very common for me to feel like this, but something about him seemed to evoke this response. Perhaps it was because he didn't carry the vibe of ‘acting’ that most people did.

He sounded completely honest, as startling as a sudden summer storm.

Once again, I nodded to confirm his deduction. He sighed and averted his gaze towards another side of the room.

“Hope you won't hate it as much as I do.”

…what?

It wasn't my thing to pry into other people's business, so I remained silent and started waiting for the doctor. Something about him reminded me of myself in some ways, so I knew not to try to initiate a further conversation.

Rai, on the other hand, was quite literally stomping inside our brain from curiosity.

“Who is he? I have never seen such a beautiful man in my entire life. I didn't know such a person could exist…!!!”

Right, well. I kinda skipped over explaining the appearance part, however I had to agree with her on this regard. Rather than looking like a common person you'd see around in daily life, he looked like he was some sort of walking and breathing work of art.

He had shoulder length ashy brown hair, slightly curving at the ends. His indifferent expression couldn't hide the innate harmony of his facial features. His eyes were of an indescribable hue, I could not perceive the exact color from where I was sitting.

“When are you going to mention… the… the… uh, what were those called again?”

Ah, those. Putting his almost frustratingly pretty face aside, perhaps the most striking feature of his were the… antlers coming out of his head? They looked like tree branches, with small blossoms and leaves coming out of them.

He probably could tell me glancing at him, trying to figure out his features, but he didn't seem even one bit fazed.

“He's probably used to it… he must be stealing the show everywhere he goes. Wow…!”

Rai was genuinely throwing a ruckus in our mind. Even though she was currently confined in our mental realm, I could imagine her eyes being widened like big ol’ balls of wonder and her jaw dropping. She always loved looking at beautiful people, but it was the first time she was this moved by a man.

That made perfect sense, I mean… even I was fascinated.

Trying to ignore Rai’s demands that I talk to him and learn more, I started observing the room instead. It was spacious and comfortable, and there were a lot of pictures on the wall. Aberrants of all ages and Divergence types made for quite the colorful collection of photos. The walls were of a calm creamy color, so it made for the perfect clear canvas to display these cheery photos.

The doctor's desk was very messy, which made my eyes twitch. I intensely wished to tidy it up… As I sighed to myself, I noticed a framed photo. I was sitting close enough to pick up the general composition—and I had noticed something most interesting.

The photo, which depicted three people, had Director Emery in it.