Chapter 4 Tropeognathus / Matabei Itou

Narumi and the Raptor were moving past the trees away from the school. Narumi, in her school uniform, may have stuck out obviously amidst the vegetation, but Etsudo's bluish scales surprisingly blended well with the woods.

"Morita." Narumi started. "I know this whole thing is completely insane, but we need to find Taiyo-san and Itou first, along with that third-year student to figure this whole thing out."

Etsudo gave a chuff as if trying to make a response.

Narumi continued anyway. "Morita, I think something happened to us yesterday. I think it has something to do with whatever that gas thing that hit us. I left Taiyo-san around there somewhere, he also changed into a dinosaur. And Itou seems to know what was going on before I approached him."

Etsudo raised a shrilling squawk. Narumi sighed, "At this point, I'm not surprised by the next dinosaur I see."

A little deeper into the woods, maple and sakura trees surrounded them, Narumi said, "I stopped Taiyo-san from going to school earlier. I told him to wait for me around here. I don't know where Itou is."

The spring wind breezed through the area, and Narumi spotted the concrete canal in the vicinity. She knew Kohaku was somewhere around here, but she did not see any massive dinosaurs around.

"Oi! Taiyo-san? Where are you?" Narumi called out, but all she got was silence for an answer. Behind her, the Raptor was still timidly inspecting her entire body, her legs together as she was not really clothed.

"Oh come on how difficult is it to find a giant dinosaur? Oi! Taiyo-san?! Where are you?" She called out again louder.

"U-Uchida-senpai?" A male voice appeared, and it was coming from a sakura tree. Some sense of relief emitted in Narumi and she turned to the direction of the reply, and Kohaku poked out of his head behind the particular tree. He was wearing his blazer, slacks, and shoes. He had his blazer buttoned up to hide his chest. And with him was Matabei Itou.

"Oh Taiyo-san." Narumi jogged over to him. "You're...normal again?"

"Y-Yeah." Kohaku nodded. "I uh..."

"Uchida!" Matabei said, "Oh thank god! I just saw him earlier and he was huge!"

"I know right!" Narumi did not wait and grabbed Kohaku's bicep pulling him out of hiding. She said over her shoulder, "Hey Morita! It's Taiyo-san and Itou."

The second the boys laid eyes on the Raptor, they went white.

"Shit! What the hell!?" Kohaku exclaimed, eyes darting back and forth between Narumi and the dinosaur. "Uchida-senpai! Get back!"

"Holy shit! It's real!" Matabei blurted out, stepping back.

Etsudo on her part let out a shriek, such an otherworldly shrilling noise that clutched the boys, a noise they had never heard before.

"Hey whoa, whoa no Taiyo-san wait!" Narumi moved in between the Raptor and the boys. "It's Morita, from yesterday, remember?" She looked back at the Raptor, "Morita see? It's Taiyo and Itou from our group."

Kohaku was taking a good look at the dinosaur that Narumi mentioned, his jaw hanging down. The sharp teeth, the talons on both of her hands and feet, it was all the traits of a carnivore.

Before any one of them could make a move, a sensation took hold of Etsudo. The Raptor's body trembled and it started to decrease in its mass. Her skull started to crack, her snout regressed back and flattened. Her sharp teeth turned back into human teeth. The tail shrunk back into her rear. The claws in her hands and feet grew back into her nails, her missing digits grew out again and they all snapped back into their original positions.

Matabei and Kohaku could only watch in shocking horror until it dawned on them that the Raptor was changing back into a girl in her birthday suit.

"Ah shit." Kohaku and Matabei turned around from Etsudo.

Etsudo instantly squatted down. Beads of tears formed from each eye and she let out a shriek, "What is going on?!"

"Jeez!" Narumi rushed forward to her with Etsudo's blazer in hand, covering up the gasping girl. Narumi scratched the back of her head, "We uh, we should probably take a moment."

There they sat. Narumi Uchida, Kohaku Taiyo, Etsudo Morita, and Matabei Itou.

Etsudo looking away with a timid face was sitting in seiza, clutching onto her blazer to cover herself. Narumi had lent her school blazer to Etsudo for more cover. Narumi had her sleeves rolled up and she sat next to her while Kohaku and Matabei sat opposite them.

"Okay." Narumi started off the conversation, "There's no question about it, something happened to us at GenaTech."

Etsudo was still shaken up by the situation they were in, keeping silent. Narumi saw this and turned to Kohaku.

"You uh...how did you change back? How long was I gone till you were a dinosaur no more?" She asked him.

"Around ten minutes." Kohaku answered short and simple.

"How'd you do this?" Narumi asked him, this time Etsudo eyeballed him as well.

Kohaku gave a pensive look, he tried recollecting, "I just stayed here, was just thinking how to change back? How to be human again? Something like that? About a minute later it happened."

"Just like that?" Narumi leaned over, before nudging Etsudo. "Just a moment were you thinking the same thing?"

Etsudo's head perked up now, giving a small nod for her answer.

Narumi brought a hand to her chin, she began reflecting on last night. Both of them were thinking about the same thing, and so was I last night.

"Alright we got to do something about this," Narumi said, "Morita, do you know the other guy that was with us? The third-year student."

"Ah this is...not happening..." With a whimper from Etsudo, her eyes were becoming glassy. "This is a nightmare...what's happening to me?"

Narumi, Matabei, and Kohaku watched her struggle. Narumi had an uneasy look, unsure of how to console Etsudo in such a situation especially since no one had ever experienced a situation where they could turn into dinosaurs.

"Morita. Do you know who the other guy is?" Narumi asked again, trying to converse with Etsudo to cease the waterworks. Etsudo still had a shaky breath, wiping the tears on her face.

"It's Korusawa-senpai," Morita answered. Narumi would have to take it if Etsudo was not answering.

Narumi then stood up, she said, "Alright we need to get to him in school."

"And how exactly are we going to do that?" Kohaku stood up with her and asked.

"I...um...ungh, dammit." Narumi was stumped.

Etsudo, still having a couple of tears rolling from her eyes, listened to the three. Sobbing about her dire crisis was not making things any better, she needed to get a grip.

"Uh..." Etsudo tried to speak up.

Narumi and Kohaku turned their attention to her. Etsudo said, "Kurosawa-senpai's family owns an auto shop. I heard it from the teachers, often he skips school to work there."

"Great, but we don't know if he is actually in school or skipping classes at home now." Kohaku pointed out and started avoiding Etsudo's sight, "And we don't exactly look decent now."

Etsudo's face heated up. Narumi rubbed her temple, "Oh crap, we can't go anywhere like this."

"Uh, Uchida-san?" Etsudo asked. "Do you have your phone with you? I can make a call."

"Really? Who?" Narumi asked. She pulled out her smartphone from her skirt pocket. Now she noticed the number of text notifications she's getting from Ryouko Asaki. Ignoring them for now, she unlocked her phone and handed it over to Etsudo.

"I can call my family's chauffeur. She is at my family's company office right now. She can fetch me home." Etsudo said and started dialing.

"A chauffeur? Wow, talk about resourceful Morita." Narumi remarked with a little sass. Kohaku on his end, was silently eyeing the two, not really having anything to add to the conversation.

"Shit, the school's going to chew us up if they know what's going on." Matabei chuckled while shaking his head.

"Oh god, Tachibana-sensei." Etsudo said, her hands covering her face.

"We'll...ah I don't know we will figure that out later." Narumi pinched her brows.

While Etsudo was on the phone with her domestic helper, Kohaku picked out another factor. He called for Narumi, "Uchida-senpai."

"Hmm?" She turned to him.

"How do we know we won't just...change?"

A brief moment of silence set the tension back in. The daunting fact remains, something inside them could just come out and start causing a heap ton of trouble, intentional or not.

"You said keeping it human was the only thing in your mind and then you became normal again right?" Narumi said, "Well, maybe we have to keep that in our heads to stay that way. That's all we got now."

Kohaku's eyes drifted down, giving a distant expression.

"Uh...U-Uchida-senpai?" Kohaku called for her another time.

"Yeah?"

Kohaku lifted his head, looking her in the eye. "Um...t-thanks for helping me out...and I'm sorry I doubted you before."

Despite the circumstances they were in, a brief moment of gratitude towards her was something she deserved at least.

Narumi gave a smile, "Sure thing. And uh...thanks for not blowing me off completely."

"Um, everyone?" Etsudo said to them as she hung up the phone. "My driver is on the way, she'll be on the road to school soon.

"Then we should go now," Matabei said.

"Dinosaurs and cutting classes, just what the hell is next huh?" Narumi added, taking the lead in heading back to the main road.

Approaching the main road, Narumi burst out of the forest, taking a step onto the asphalt scanning her left, taking another step she checked her right. No one by the school gate to spot them, lucky for them. Kohaku came out to join her, followed by Matabei. Etsudo hid behind a tree, still embarrassed by her apparel.

A long, black sedan soon rolled up the hill slowly towards them. Narumi turned her head to Etsudo, who gave a nod in response.

The car stopped and out came a woman. Her short black hair was gelled back and she sported a chauffeur attire. This was Hana Fujio, the chauffeur of the Morita Household.

"Ojou-sama." She bowed, noticing the heiress by the tree. But as Etsudo stepped out, Hana got taken aback.

"It's...It's not what you think, Fujio-san." Etsudo quickly said.

Hana, looking confused, laid her eyes on Narumi, Matabei and Kohaku. And when Kohaku was lacking a shirt underneath his blazer, it was sending the wrong message to Hana. But she had to believe Etsudo's words.

"Yeah, what she said." Narumi gestured at Etsudo.

"Fujio-san, can you take us home please?" The heiress asked, shyly scampering into the front passenger seat.

"This would be so much easier if we knew where that third-year student was." Kohaku said.

"Yeah, but we have to stay together in case anything happens to one of us." Narumi said looking back at Kohaku and Matabei for a second. She made a bow at the chauffeur and made her way around the other side of the car. The boys joined her sitting in the back.

In the car, Kohaku sat in the middle with Matabei and Narumi by his sides. It was an awkward ride out of the school zone with Kohaku having to rub shoulders with the two. Etsudo at the front had panic in her eyes, like she was trying to wake up from this nightmare.

On the front side of the car, Hana was focusing on the road but took the opportunity to question Etsudo.

"Ojou-sama, who did this to you?" She asked her.

"It was an accident, Fujio-san." Etsudo said, holding onto her covers like a lifeline. She did not like lying, but she was not going to divulge the fact that she had just changed into a dinosaur. Hana, whilst a little unsettled, elected not to press the matter.

Narumi, at the back, eyeballed the boys on her left, Kohaku's eyes looked pensive as if trying to be composed in this mess. Matabei was looking understandably restless in his seat.

"Uchida-senpai." Kohaku whispered, breaking the silence.

"Hm?" Narumi turned to him and whispered.

"Uh...does anyone else know about yesterday?"

"No." Narumi shook her head.

"No one knows then. Okay"

"Well, she didn't believe me anyway."

"Wait, you told someone?" Kohaku said.

"Y-Yeah, I told my mother, but she didn't believe me." Narumi made a subtle sulk, "But I suppose I shouldn't expect her to believe something this crazy."

Matabei then leaned over, invading Kohaku's already tight space. He whispered so the chauffeur could not hear. "What did you change into last night, Uchida?"

"I don't know. I'm sure it's a dinosaur but I don't know what exactly." Narumi shook her head, "What did you change into, Itou?"

"A pterosaur."

"A what?" Narumi asked, not catching what Matabei said.

"A pt-" Matabei clammed up not wanting to let Hideji listen in on them. He leaned further in on Kohaku, much to the freshman's discomfort. Matabei whispered. "A pterosaur."

The silence from Kohaku and the raised eyebrow from Narumi told him they had no clue what he was saying.

"Forget it, I'll explain later." Matabei said, leaning back on his side of the seat.

Kohaku then turned to Narumi, "Tachibana-sensei. She will want to know why you three left school during her lesson, either way, Uchida-senpai."

"Tch, dammit." Narumi brought a thumb to her mouth to nibble on. With the growing situation at hand, she had to admit, they would have to come clean to an adult sooner or later.

But not right now at least.

It was not long till the black sedan took a turn into a road up a hill. Following the road, the sedan stopped before a metal gate with brick walls on both sides creating a perimeter around the Morita estate with the manor at the centre. The gates opened, the sedan drove in and pulled to the front of the manor.

"Thank you for dropping me off, Fujio-san. You can go back to the office now." Etsudo meekly whispered. She got out of the car and rushed into the house.

"Uh, thank you." Narumi awkwardly opened the door and got out followed by the boys. Hana, still in the driver's seat, gave them a wary look before driving out of the Morita estate. Narumi, Kohaku, and Matabei gawked at the size of the house.

"Oh man." Matabei's jaw hung at the sight of the manor. "Check this place out."

Narumi remembered her texts from Ryouko, she pulled out her phone and checked Ryouko's messages.

She checked the first text. "Narumi-chan?! Where are you?! Are you skipping school with Morita and Itou?! What's going on?!"

The second text, "Tachibana-sensei is going to eat you alive! Where are you?! Respond! Narumi-chan!"

And the last text, "Good luck Narumi-chan. I don't know if I can help you now."

Narumi pursed her lips. We. Are. Screwed.

"Uchida-senpai?" Kohaku got her attention.

"Ah yes. What is it?" Narumi put her phone away and turned to him.

"Itou-senpai was going to talk about yesterday at his home."

Matabei then said, "Yeah, as I was saying. I was a pterosaur, Tropeognathus actually. At least I think so."

Narumi gave Kohaku a look, and he returned it to her. The crickets in the background told Matabei they were clueless about the name.

"Ugh." Matabei groaned, pulling out his phone to search up the name over the internet. The image of the extinct animal he had turned into the previous night came up. He showed the picture to Narumi and Kohaku. "Look at this."

"Oh, it's a flying dinosaur." Narumi recognized the general appearance of the animal.

"It's not a dinosaur, it's a reptile. A pterosaur." Matabei corrected her.

"Uh huh, okay." Narumi studied the image, a giant flying Tropeognathus with wings spread out over the sea. "Tro...Tropeo..."

"Tropeognathus." Matabei corrected her again.

"Yeah okay. Whatever." Narumi did not care for that, it was too much effort to familiarise these complex dinosaur names.

A sudden growling behind them got Narumi spooked, the sound of a dog growling. Narumi, Kohaku and Matabei spun around. A male German Shepherd stalked them, teeth baring and barking.

"Morita! You never said anything about having a dog!" Narumi exclaimed.

The dog kept on barking, his eyes trained on Narumi.

"Senpai!" Kohaku stepped in front trying to get the dog's attention. Narumi stepped away from Etsudo's dog, but unfortunately she slipped on her footing and she fell back. As her rear impacted the ground, she let out a sound. A growl, nothing a human could possibly make. It was loud, almost like a trumpeting snarl.

Narumi's growl went through Kohaku, Matabei, and the dog. Her eyes widened, and her hands instantly covered her mouth. The dog was now whimpering, his tail behind his legs and ears lowered. Etsudo, now wearing a pink top and black shorts, came out of the house.

"Ah, Weyland!" Etsudo rushed towards her dog, holding him and rubbing his neck. "It's okay Weyland, it's okay."

Etsudo turned her dog around and she shooed him away, unaware that Weyland was running away because of Narumi.

"Geez it's real, you have it in you." Matabei was gawking at Narumi after the growl she had let out, Narumi quickly got on her feet.

"You just made a dinosaur noise, senpai." Kohaku pointed.

"No I didn't." Narumi protested.

"You just made a dinosaur noise." Matabei added.

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did." Kohaku said.

"No I didn't!"

"Yes you did." Matabei said.

"Shut up! This is stupid enough as it is!" It was already embarrassing for her that she slipped and fell on her butt. But what troubled her the most was that the growl she had just made gave her a reminder. A Tyrannosaurus Rex was hidden inside her.

Etsudo joined them, "Guys, please come inside."

The four of them settled down in the living room. It was pretty grand to put it at least, every furniture and appliance spoke of luxury.

Etsudo sat on the couch and Narumi joined her. Kohaku stood by the side and Matabei was enjoying every single piece of rich aspects of the place.

"Kurosawa-senpai works at his family's auto shop?" Narumi searched up the address in her phone.

"Yeah." Matabei nodded.

"Then we'll find him and figure this whole mess out...assuming we're not too late." Narumi said.