Chapter Four — The Walk to School

The doorbell×玄関のチャイム rang.

“That must be Mei. Right on time,” Mom said. She gave Amelia a schoolbag. “Have a good day at school!”

Amelia and Mei started to walk to school.

“Yuhi and I had another big fight last night,” Mei said. “I was so angry that I had nightmares×悪夢 all night. You were in my dream too, Hana.”

“If you and Yuhi fight all the time,” Amelia said, “why don’t you break up×（恋人と）別れる with him and find another boyfriend?”

Mei stopped walking. She looked at Hana carefully. “Yuhi is not my boyfriend. He’s my brother×兄弟! You’re not Hana. Hana knows that Yuhi is my brother. Who are you?”

Amelia felt scared. “You’re right. I’m not Hana. My name is Amelia. I’m from Australia. I woke up in Hana’s body. I don’t know why.”

“Oh! That’s why…” Mei’s eyes got big. “I had a strange dream about Hana last night!”

“What did you see?” Amelia asked.

“In my dream, I saw a cave×洞窟. There were drawings×絵、描いたもの of strange animals on the walls. An Australian man and a Japanese woman were there. The man had a crystal ball×水晶玉 and the woman had a magic mirror×魔法の鏡. In the crystal ball, I saw Hana sleeping in her bed. In the mirror, I saw a blonde×金髪の girl sleeping too. Then Hana’s dog Koro barked and jumped on Hana’s bed. He wanted to help her. Then there was a bright light. I woke up.”

“The blonde girl was me!” Amelia said. “I woke up in Hana’s body. But where is Hana? Is she in my body?”

“I don’t know where Hana is,” Mei said. “And I don’t know what magic they were doing.”

Amelia rolled up her sleeve. “Look at this. I found this scar this morning. Hana didn’t have this yesterday.”

“No!” Mei looked at the scar carefully. “It looks like… a dog scratch×犬のひっかき傷! In my dream, when Koro jumped on Hana’s bed… maybe he scratched×（うっかり）ひっかいた her by accident×偶然に、うっかり!”

Mei and Amelia could see the school now.

“Who can we ask for help?” Amelia asked.

“Mr. Sato, the history teacher, knows about old drawings and Australia,” Mei said. “Let’s ask him first.” They walked quickly to the history room.