ACT II - The First Reveal II

Unable to move or do anything, I kept on observing Ria. She gave up on finding her plushie, and started shaking her hands in front of her nervously.

"I need to make a good impression, that I'm all cute and lovely and girly! I can cook so well, this is my place to shine! But I'm just so nervous, aaaaaahhhhh!!!"

Huh? What was she saying? Was that Ria from another dimension? Did I land on an alternate universe by touching the apron or something?!

She took a few deep breaths and stepped towards me, I flinched back by instinct, or at least that was my intention. The reality was that my point of view hadn't changed at all, and it made me feel like I was wearing a broken VR headset: no matter how much I moved, I'd remain at the same spot. It was extremely confusing…!

She took an apron, the same one I wanted to wear, and put it on. I felt like I was being worn by her, even though my vision hadn't changed a bit. I had no words to explain the sensations I was feeling. Was I the apron? I felt myself being wrapped around her slender body, but my vision was still seeing her from afar. I felt sick, but there was nothing I could do but to pray this madness would end soon!

Soon enough, her classmates started filling the classroom. They were all people I had been seeing around school, some with changes to their hairstyles. Was this the past? The future?

Some girls walked towards the window, it was really difficult to understand what they were saying because of the muffled effect on sounds, but I picked up the words 'economics class', 'first time', and 'so hype'.

So this was the past—Ria's first year!

A pair of twins entered the class, and Ria's panic visibly worsened. I recognized them, they were quite popular and also sometimes hung out with Seiten-senpai. I didn't know their names, but the girl went and stood nearby Ria and the boy of the pair went to my side and grabbed two aprons.

Ria, rushing, wanted to get her bag out of the way, but hit the girl as she moved it away. She yelped and bowed down, apologizing to her. She didn't seem to mind even a bit and turned to her twin and thanked him for the aprons. For some reason, their voices were more clear to me than the rest of the class. Was it because I was… The apron Ria was wearing? I still felt 'myself' being wrapped around her.

Man, this felt awful…! I wanted to apologize to her somehow, it felt terribly wrong feeling her body like this!!

I could even feel her heart beating against her chest. It was already pumping intensely when she first put 'me' on, but it had gone even more crazy when the twins made their appearance. Did she have a crush on one of them or something…?

Even that felt like a huge disrespect to her private life, so I tried to put any thoughts surfacing aside and just watch the scenes unfold.

The teacher entered the class and started giving instructions. Minute by minute, I was getting used to the phenomenon of seeing one thing and feeling another. Ria was doing her best to follow the instructions, but her hands were shaking really hard.

The male twin asked her if she was alright, and she answered with a shaking voice. "Y-yes… I'm just a bit nervous…"

He laughed. "Huh, it's just a class. No need for such anxiety." His twin giggled and patted Ria's back. "Nah, ignore him! It's okay to be nervous. Is it your first time cooking, Ria?"

She was about to reply, but it got cut by the teacher's cough begging for their attention. "Ahem, I'm not done explaining. Respect the class please. Save your chatter for later, Ria and you two."

The twins went back to cutting vegetables, looking amused by getting caught. Ria, on the other hand, was changing colors rapidly. At first, she was red from embarrassment, and then she turned as white as a sheet. If it was the Ria I knew, surely even the slightest scolding from a teacher would cut her heart sharper than the knife in her hand.

She recollected herself with all her might and cut the vegetables in a neat manner, but things only got worse from her from that point on. As she carried them towards the pot, she slipped and made half of the ingredients fall on the floor. The entire class laughed at her; the muffled effect made it so, so eerie that I wanted to run away. It felt like I was in a horror movie.

Poor Ria tried to collect the vegetables from the floor as everyone laughed at her. Even the teacher was laughing, though her laugh was out of pity rather than the mocking type that came from the students.

Thankfully, the twins offered her some of their share of cut vegetables so she was able to continue. However, her misfortune continued: This time, as she was deep in thoughts, she lost track of time and her vegetables turned a dark color, threatening to turn pitch black if she cooked them any minute more.

The scent of burnt vegetables filled the kitchen, alongside comments from the first years.

'How can you mess this up, it's just vegetables…'

'No way, did she make a mistake again?'

'She's more airheaded than she looks. Thought she was smarter.'

'Hahaha, let me get this on camera! The straight A's student fails home economics class…!'

Even the twins who seemed to have a more agreeable personality at first started to look at her with disappointed eyes. They didn't seem to want to be near Ria anymore, as if just by being near her, they were targets of the comments as well.

The teacher tried to calm the class down, and just as she approached Ria's side, I felt a sharp pain. The troubled Ria was holding her apron tightly, and her eyes were dark, brewing an intense storm inside them.

She was on her last straw.

"I…"

Her teacher tried to comfort her.

"Azuma, it's okay to make mistakes, let's just turn off the stove—"

"No, it's NOT okay to make mistakes!!!!!!"

Her loud and angry voice made the entire class go silent in an instant. It was only her shouting filling the entire space now, just like the way her voice would echo in the halls when she scolded a student misbehaving in current times.

"I am sick and tired of all of this, I do my best but it's never, EVER enough! I was just nervous, I was just NERVOUS!! I hate everyone, I hate each and all of you! Do NOT ever talk with me again!!!!"

She threw her apron aside and ran off from the classroom.

Her loud voice hurt my ears, and being thrown aside as the 'apron' really turned my world upside down.

At that moment, I felt an arm wrap my shoulder.

"Yooo, Yuujin-kun. Are you ready for some sick veggie cuttin' action?"

I gasped. It was Reo leaning on me. I must have looked very alarmed, so he questioned me about it.

"Huh? Everything alright there? Did I startle ya?"

"Oh, yeah… I was just deep in thought so you caught me off guard, haha. I'd be happy to cook together, just let me put this apron on real quick."

Trying to contain my deep shock, I put on the apron. It was true, I was this apron a few moments ago. Not only that, I had even seen a glimpse of Ria's past…

There was no doubt about it. The sweet and earnest girl that was Ria Azuma, once upon a time—had turned into the 'demon' we knew as the school president, through this very incident.

—

My own cooking class went on pretty smoothly. There were some mistakes and minor accidents happening around the class, but no one made fun of each other to the point it was like… Bullying. Plus, I even got to have a conversation with Reo, and learn some things about him; the fact that he enjoyed cooking, all about his favorite food, his least favorite food and the way he preferred wagashi over Western sweets, but how he wouldn't refuse any.

I even told him a bit about myself, and he seemed to be very interested in my 'healthy lifestyle', but he commented that he could never give up on sweets or stick to a training schedule. I smiled and reassured him that it felt impossible for me at first too, but things had found their way into my daily life naturally.

I should have been happy about getting to chat with Reo, but undeniably (and most understandably) my mind was only thinking about Ria and her incident.

Through the class, through my club activities and through my evening back at home, all I could think of was this Reveal. As much as I couldn't make sense of this supernatural event, I felt immensely thankful as I had caught a big clue on how to help Ria.

I decided to make the most of this bizarre situation and build a plan to get closer to her. I hoped this would help resurface her sweet and cute side, to me and to the entirety of the school…