The back of my eyelids grew warm and bright. Morning. Still half-asleep, Ryou threw off the futon like always. …Something about the air felt different. Their arm moved smoothly. Not the usual thick arm wrapped in muscle. Thin. Soft. "…Huh?" Their voice was strangely high. A light, airy sound they couldn't believe came from their own mouth. They bolted upright. Their field of vision was higher. About five centimeters higher than usual. No, wait—they'd just shifted to the edge of the bed. Had their body… shrunk? "What the… what the hell is this!?" Frantically, they looked at their hands. Unfamiliar, pale, slender fingers. Nails that used to be short and stubby were now neatly shaped into perfect ovals. Their arms had a soft roundness that hadn't been there when they were a man. A bad feeling settling in their chest, they staggered to their feet. They approached the polished steel mirror hanging on the wall. One step. Another step. Standing before the mirror, Ryou was speechless. Staring back was a girl they'd never seen before. Large blue eyes. Long, thick lashes that fluttered up and down with every blink. Soft, honey-colored hair flowing gently down to the middle of her back. A white blouse and a blue skirt. The leather vest and trousers they'd been wearing until yesterday lay in a baggy heap on the floor. This isn't me. This is absolutely not me. "[scared]UWAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!" Ryou's scream echoed through the morning quiet of the Steam Caravan inn. After standing frozen before the mirror for a while, Ryou steeled themselves. No point holing up in their room looking like this. First things first—get to the guild. Hunters were supposed to gather at the guild. Maybe someone there would know something. But. Ryou looked down at the skirt they were wearing. Some stranger's skirt. A girl's skirt. The calves peeking out from the hem were slender and smooth—they felt like they might trip at any moment. "…Can I even walk in this?" Well, not like I have a choice. Hesitantly, they stepped forward. The hem of the skirt fluttered. A breeze around their thighs like nothing they'd ever felt before. It was unsettling. The inn corridor they usually strode down with powerful steps felt strangely wide today. Even their footsteps had changed—not the heavy thud of sturdy boots, but the light click-clack of dress shoes. The innkeeper Hilda, a former hunter, came walking from the far end of the hall. She blinked at the sight of Ryou. "…Ryou, is that you?" "[surprised]Wait, you can tell?" "Course I can. I've heard screams like yours five times just this morning. And seems like everyone's in the same boat." Hilda shrugged, looking exasperated. "Anyway, go take a look outside. The whole town's in absolute chaos." With that, Hilda retreated to the back. The whole town, in chaos. Ryou caught their breath and hurried to the inn's entrance. —And then they burst out onto the street and froze. This wasn't the hunter town of Bergheim that Ryou had known until yesterday. No—the town itself was the same. The stone buildings, the massive beast-bone archway towering in the center—all unchanged. But the people in it were completely different. "[crying]Nooo! Give me back my beard!" The voice was that of a lovely young girl, but the one screaming was a hulking, muscle-bound giant of a man. His two-meter-plus frame was bent double as tears streamed down his face like a waterfall. Beside him, a white-haired old woman sprinted past at full speed—in a young man's body. "[excited]Woo-hoo! Being young is the best! I'm not even out of breath!" A plate flew through the air. Apparently someone had thrown it because they couldn't control their hands properly. "[angry]Hey, who did that!? Think you can just throw stuff 'cause you're in my body!?" "[scared]I didn't mean to! My hand just moved on its own! This body won't listen to me!" From all over town, shouts of rage, screams, and laughter blended into a chaotic, jumbled chorus. Sitting on a bench was someone who looked every bit a ten-year-old boy—but spoke with the tone of a stern drill instructor. "…This is what happens when you lack training. Even in this body, I shall perform one hundred push-ups—" But even as he spoke, his arms trembled violently, and he collapsed helplessly onto the bench. Ryou just stood there, mouth agape at the sheer absurdity of it all. "[whispers]What the hell is this…" So it wasn't just me. No, that's not it—this is way beyond that. The entire town has gone insane. Anyway. The guild. Ryou broke into a run. The skirt tangled around their legs, making it twice as hard to run as usual. And the hair. This long, fluffy hair whipped wildly behind them with every stride. Annoying beyond belief. Absently, Ryou grabbed a handful of their own blonde hair, caught in the corner of their vision. "…Pretty color, though." Not the time for that. They ran and ran, finally bursting into the Fergana Hunters' Guild headquarters at the center of town. Inside was even more insane. The assembly hall was overflowing with hunters. Men who usually had fierce, rugged faces and women with sharp, piercing eyes—today, every single one of them wore someone else's face. Some sobbed in the body of a policeman-like giant; others strutted around bossily in the body of a tiny girl. "[serious]Quiet! Quiet, please!" On a raised platform at the front of the hall, guild receptionist Melvi was shouting at the top of her lungs. She was one of the few who hadn't changed in all this chaos. Behind her prim glasses, her eyes were desperately trying to suppress the confusion. Known for her meticulous nature, this was the first time Ryou had ever seen her raise her voice like this. "[serious]Everyone, please listen! Early this morning, an emergency directive came down from the guild's upper echelons!" The murmuring quieted, just a little. Melvi cleared her throat and read aloud from the parchment in her hand. "[serious]Last night, the elder dragon Miravolte descended upon Mirror-Song Mountain. In the process, the dragon's reverse scale shattered into fourteen fragments, scattering across the entire Valtland region. Those closest to the reverse scale's power have had their bodies and minds—swapped with one another." A wave of uproar spread through the hall. Ryou looked down at their own hands. So that means… this body I'm in now belongs to someone else, somewhere out there. And the owner of these delicate hands is standing somewhere right now in my body, as a man. "[serious]To return to your original bodies, you must gather all fourteen fragments of the shattered reverse scale and bring them into contact with the 'True Core Scale' in the elder dragon's chest. This is the greatest crisis since the founding of the Fergana Hunters' Guild!" A moment of silence. The next instant, the assembly hall erupted into even greater chaos than before. "[angry]Fourteen fragments!? We don't even know who dropped them where!" "[scared]Mirror-Song Mountain!? That's a five-star danger zone!" "[crying]I'm fine staying like this… a one-star body is so easy…" The hunters' shouts flew back and forth. In the middle of the pandemonium, Ryou was desperately holding down the hem of their skirt. For some reason, every time the wind blew, the skirt kept trying to flutter up. This was no time to be worrying about a stupid skirt. Not during something this important. But. Flutter. "[angry]Dammit, quit it!" As Ryou muttered curses at their skirt under their breath, Melvi's voice rose even higher. "[serious]Furthermore, the guild will not force anyone. However, continuing your activities as hunters in this state is impossible. Can you wield a greatsword or a bow in an unfamiliar body? The weapons you used to swing around with brute strength—" Ryou's heart jolted. Greatsword. (That's right… my greatsword!) Before they knew it, Ryou had bolted out of the assembly hall. They couldn't listen to Melvi's speech anymore. Can I still swing my greatsword? Two kilometers from the town's south gate. The guild training grounds—the Renvalt Exercise Field. Ryou stumbled into the vast grounds, big enough to fit three Tokyo Domes. They grabbed their beloved iron greatsword, propped up against the training ground wall. "…Heavy." They used to lift it easily with one hand. Now it took both hands just to get it off the ground. They took a stance. The moment they tried to swing it overhead— Slip. Their upper body was dragged forward by the weight of the greatsword. "[scared]Whoa!" Their legs tangled, and they fell hard, landing square on their backside. "Ow…" The shock of reality hitting them hurt far worse than the bruise on their lower back. I can't do it. Because this isn't my body. Ryou bit their lip. Nearby, another hunter was crying over their bow. "[crying]I can't nock it… my fingers are shaking, I can't even draw the string…" Elsewhere, a hammer user had smacked themselves in the head with their own hammer and was groaning. "[sad]This body… I can't judge distance at all…" Ryou stood up again. So what? Everyone's in the same boat. But does that mean I can just give up? Ryou took their stance with the greatsword once more. Heavy. Even so—I'll swing it. Their right foot dug in—and slipped across the ground. A nasty clang rang out as the greatsword gouged into the earth. They fell. Face-first into the dirt. Sand filled their mouth. "…Tch." In a girl's body, covered in mud, sprawled out spread-eagle. The stares of the surrounding hunters stung. Pity. Mockery. But Ryou stood up. They'd stand up as many times as it took. That was the kind of hunter Ryou was. —But. Before they knew it, it was evening. In the end, they hadn't managed to swing the greatsword properly even once. Dragging their skirt—filthy with mud and sweat—Ryou trudged back from the training grounds to the guild headquarters. Their whole body ached. Bruises from countless falls covered them everywhere. "Ryou." A cold voice. Receptionist Melvi stood at the guild entrance, arms crossed. "I heard. You couldn't even swing your greatsword properly." Ryou said nothing. Melvi pushed up her glasses and spoke flatly. "[serious]Can you complete quests in that body?" "…If I put my mind to it." "[cold]You can't. I told you, didn't I? Right now, you're not even one-star. You can barely walk properly. Your star rank is revoked." Straightforward words. But that's exactly why they pierced so deeply. "[cold]If you were a three-star hunter or above heading to Mirror-Song Mountain, that'd be a different story. But that's not where you belong right now." Ryou's words caught in their throat. Two years. They'd risked their life on quest after quest, finally climbing to two stars. And now, in a single day, it all went back to zero? "…Fine." With just that, Ryou turned their back and walked away. They didn't want to hear another word. They walked to the town gate. Maybe getting outside would help them calm down, just a little. Ryou leaned their back against the gate's stone pillar and looked up at the sky. The sunset dyed the whole town orange. The distant mountains floated as silhouettes. That was the Vilgen Range. At its northeastern edge, a solitary peak rose higher than all the rest. Mirror-Song Mountain. Where the elder dragon Miravolte dwelled. Right now, I'm not a hunter. I'm just a girl who's lost her star rank. I hate relying on others. But—if I do nothing, I'll be finished as a hunter. Ryou gripped the hem of their skirt tightly. Tears blurred their vision, just barely. But they couldn't afford to cry. "[serious]I will get my body back. No matter what." They declared it to the setting sun. Ryou dragged their greatsword—the one they'd left propped outside the gate. Scrape. Scrape. Too heavy to carry, they had no choice but to drag it across the ground. Even so. Hunter Ryou set off, alone, toward Mirror-Song Moun