Alkimia ~the Craft of Love~

23. Who is Alcyone? (Alcyone + Naga)

Without understanding my current situation, I stand there looking lost. A sudden ringing phone startled me. I am not the only one startled, it seems.

"I will go get it," the woman tells us and leaves the kitchen to answer the phone

In the silence after that, I observe them as they observe me without saying anything. The boy wipes his forehead with a tissue. There is still blood smeared on his forehead. Why is nobody trying to clean his wound?

The woman comes back into the kitchen with a confused question, "Who is Alcyone?"

I raise my hand and answer with a voice that is not my own, "Me,"

The woman widens her eyes in surprise. After that, she hands me the wireless phone silently. I do not take notice of the students' surprise. I answer the phone to hear my voice asking me, "Alcyone, how are you feeling?"

"My body feels quite heavy," I answer while furrowing my eyebrows, "Excuse me, who is speaking?"

It is quite weird to hear my voice laughing cheerfully, "This is Naga. I am in your body right now whilst you are in mine,"

I do not know what to think after hearing that. Taking a look at the students, I guess what my voice says is true. There is no way they will call me Naga if I am not him, is there?

"Why don't you ask Melissa to hand you a mirror?" my voice suggests while humming lightly

"Excuse me," taking my voice's advice, I ask aloud, "May I request a mirror from Melissa?"

As I don't know who the name belongs to, I ask all of them. The woman who is beside me moves her arm and pulls out a mirror to hands it to me.

I look at her rather than at the mirror as I should. How did she do that?

"Alcyone? Are you still there?"

I have unconsciously dropped the phone away from my ear. Putting the phone back on my ear while accepting the mirror with a silent gratitude, I take a look at my reflection.

An expressionless Naga is looking back at me. I see. We really have exchanged bodies.

To see Naga being this expressionless is quite saddening. Naga is a cheerful boy. It will be best for him to never lose his smile.

"What do you think?" my voice, Naga in my body, asks me with curiosity

"I don't understand," I reply simply

"I thought about telling you yesterday," Naga tells me with a sigh, "But, because I don't know if this will happen or not---"

By my next blink, the scene changes.

"--I decided to withhold the information," Naga's voice tell me through my phone

I have returned to my room. How is it done?

"Oh," Naga's voice is still heard through my phone, "Conan, what happens to your forehead?"

I take a look at the mirror and confirm I have returned to my body. How is it done?

"I guess my magic is finally working," I listen silently to Naga's voice as he answers someone's question, "Anyway, Alcyone, I notice the time when I called you. Let's meet up at school asap. I will do my best to explain to you over there,"

I glance at the clock and nod my head, despite Naga unable to know what I do. I voice my answer for him, "I agree. Let's get ready and meet up at school,"

"See you later!" energetically, Naga tells me and ends the call

When I look through my call logs, Naga has called two numbers, with the second number answered. Assuming it's Naga's own phone number and the home number, I saved them to ask Naga about it later.