The Clandestine Event

The afternoon sun filtered between the tall buildings of Central City, but for Leo, a fifteen-year-old boy with a life as ordinary as his appearance, the world seemed to exist only inside his own mind. Considered by others to be the archetype of a harem protagonist without him even knowing it, his story was actually much more macabre than he or anyone else in his world could ever imagine.

"How strange... The atmosphere in the class is totally different now."

Submerged in the depths of his own mental labyrinth, his steps echoed softly on the asphalt while the warm afternoon breeze played with the strands of his jet-black hair. His mind, like a roaring river during a thaw, was completely absorbed in a single recurring topic: the methodical and, in his eyes, intriguing change that had permeated every corner of his classroom over the last month.

Before, the dynamic of Class 2-B was as predictable as the school schedule. Miki, for example, was synonymous with silent rebellion, a figure who radiated an aura of constant defiance. Her gaze, often icy and evasive, seemed to proclaim a fierce independence.

But now...

"It's strange how she clings to me," Leo murmured with subtle confusion. "But it's cute."

Miki was like a lap dog, glued to his side with an almost childlike devotion. Her eyes, once sparkling with an untamed fire, now watched him with a mix of longing and dependence that endeared her to Leo, though he didn't fully understand it. Her way of clinging to his sleeve or seeking his approval with small, shy smiles was such a marked contrast to her old attitude that Leo found it, in a way, adorable.

Then there was Ingrid, the embodiment of seriousness and discipline. As the star member of the library committee, her presence always commanded a near-reverential respect. Her sober-framed glasses framed a sharp, intelligent gaze, and her dark brown hair was always pulled back in an impeccable braid that symbolized her internal order. But in recent weeks, Ingrid had undergone a disconcerting metamorphosis.

"I guess she's just more sociable now, right?" Leo self-convinced himself in the face of Ingrid's extreme change. She maintained her neat appearance, yes, but her words and actions had taken on an unexpectedly... lewd tone. Suddenly, whispers loaded with double meanings slipped in between her explanations of the Dewey Decimal system, and her "accidental" touches in the hallways left Leo with blushing cheeks and growing confusion. He thought, naively, that perhaps Ingrid was simply discovering a more fun side of herself.

"But I think Erika's was the most radical."

Erika was the very summit of the school hierarchy. Her beauty was as undeniable as her aura of inaccessibility. But after "that" change, she had become incredibly accessible.

"It was surprising to discover she was such an anime fanatic when it seemed like she wasn't interested in it in the slightest," Leo murmured with a silly smile on his face.

Overnight, Erika had cast aside her distant elegance to reveal an overflowing passion for video games and otaku culture. Now, conversations with her stretched for hours, debating the latest season of her favorite series or theorizing about the most effective strategies in an online RPG. For Leo, it was like having found a kindred spirit in the most unexpected places.

"...And then... there's this Emma..."

However, it was the change in Emma, his childhood friend, that generated a more complex and contradictory feeling in Leo. He vividly remembered the days when she cowered under the weight of school bullying, always seeking his protection with a pleading look. Her feelings for him had always been an open secret, a shy warmth that Leo treasured without fully understanding. But the new Emma was a completely different person.

"Emma has become really popular, I'm happy for her... though I feel a little lonely," he thought with a mix of pride and nostalgia.

With newfound confidence and a magnetic presence, she had become the most popular girl in the class. Her sudden "relationship" with Leo filled him with cautious joy, though sometimes the way her eyes analyzed him, with a cunning he didn't remember in the old Emma, sowed a seed of doubt inside him that he preferred to ignore.

However, what Leo couldn't know was that his perceptions, however strange, barely scratched the surface of a much more perverse reality.

At the beginning of the school semester, while he was recovering from a cold that had kept him home, a clandestine event of "possession" had taken place in a hidden location in the city. Men of various ages and backgrounds gathered for a sinister event: to live out school life once more, but in the bodies of the female students in his class. Consuming a powerful possession drug, each one chose Leo's school as their stage.

This is how Miki was possessed by a boy who, confused and scared after taking the drug, chose the first body he found. Ingrid, with her serious appearance and sensual body, was the target of a man who sought to have fun by suggestively mocking others. The popular Erika was taken over by an otaku who, fascinated by her resemblance to his favorite video game character, appropriated her body to live out his hobbies.

But Emma's story was the most complex....

The man possessing her had recently been in the body of a girl named Willow, using her talent to become a popular idol. In that body, he had lived alone in the house that was once the happy home of Willow's family, after his friend, in the body of Willow's mother, married a boy with a ridiculous name and left. With the body's father dead and Willow's sister hospitalized in critical condition, the path seemed clear. However, he was suddenly attacked with a strange drug by unknown people who forced his soul to abandon that body. Disoriented and adrift, he arrived at this possession event, and to survive, he integrated himself without anyone noticing, taking over Emma's body and using it for his benefit, subtly manipulating the talented Leo and gaining popularity.

"I still don't understand what caused the change in so many people, but... I think at least it's something positive."

Unaware of the truth and absorbed in a whirlwind of memories and reflections, Leo did not notice the slow approach of a black van, whose engine barely emitted a threatening murmur. Nor did he notice the shadowy figure that silently detached itself from the vehicle and moved with surprising agility towards him.

"¡¡¿Mmmmmmm?!!"

It was only when a strong arm wrapped around his waist and a cloth soaked in a sweet and pungent scent covered his face that reality burst into his reverie with chilling violence.

(What is this?!)

The surprise paralyzed him. He tried to scream, to struggle, but weakness quickly spread through his limbs. The light of dusk blurred, the sounds of the city became distorted, and within a matter of seconds, darkness enveloped him completely.

An undetermined amount of time later, Leo woke up.

"W-what... what happened?"

His voice was barely a hoarse whisper. The air was heavy and smelled of dampness. He opened his eyes with difficulty, his sight slowly adjusting to the gloom. He was in a cell, or at least that's what it looked like, with cold, dirty bars that enclosed a narrow, gray space.

Panic seized him. His heart pounded hard in his chest, a frenzied drumming that threatened to break his ribs. He tried to get up, but his head was spinning.

"No, no, calm down," he told himself, trying to regain his composure, taking a deep and shaky breath. "Breathe. One, two..."

As he calmed down, his eyes scanned the cell. At first, he only saw shadows, but as his sight adjusted, he realized he wasn't alone. Other people, of various ages and genders, lay or sat on the floor; some were unconscious, while others looked at him with the same scared eyes he felt he had. Everyone was in the same situation, and judging by the lack of uniforms or prisoner clothing, they had been captured at random, just like him.

Except for one exception...

"But what the—!"

Leo exclaimed, his voice a mere choked whisper of surprise. His eyes, slowly adjusting to the gloom, stopped on a figure that stood out from the rest with an illogical and disconcerting calm.

"Mmm~♪"

Among the group of scared and confused prisoners was a silver-haired girl with shoulder-length hair. Her mysterious and tranquil white eyes were fixed on her task, oblivious to the chaos around her. She wore an impeccable maid costume and was comfortably lying on a cushion that she seemed to have brought with her. She hummed cheerfully, with sound blockers in her ears, as she ate an apple with one hand and wrote in a notebook with the other, as if she were in her living room and not in a prison cell.

Incredulity seized Leo, leaving him with his mouth agape as he tried to make sense of the scene.

"Hey you, what do you think you're doing?!"

It was then that a man, irritated by such behavior, stood up abruptly. His face, furrowed with fury, turned red as he shouted.

"Mmm~♪"

The "girl," in contrast, did not react.

As if the world around her didn't exist, she simply continued to hum.

"YOU BRAT!!"

The man, even more furious at being ignored, approached her with aggressive steps, ready to force a reaction from her.

"A-Argh...! W-what is... this?!"

(Ka-pow!!)

However, when he got within a few steps of her, he suddenly lost all his strength. His furious shout turned into a choked gasp before he fell stunningly to the floor, unconscious.

"......."

"......."

"......."

Fear and confusion seized the others, who watched the scene with wide, disbelieving eyes. The girl, at that moment, momentarily looked up. Her tranquil, white eyes scanned the frightened faces around her. With an innocent look, and in the midst of the silence that had taken hold of everyone, she asked:

"Is this your first time...?"

The entire cell was plunged into a stunned and uncomfortable silence, a new layer of terror and mystery on top of what had already consumed them.