Hagiwara's Body Has a Mind of Its Own

To cross the divide between death and life is something many people wouldn't even dare to imagine.

But Hagiwara Kenji, a bomb disposal officer who considered himself perfectly ordinary,

was favored by a god, or maybe the god simply thought it would be amusing.

And so Hagiwara Kenji had his mind stuffed with scenes from the four years his childhood friend had lived without him. After witnessing the dazzling fireworks at the Ferris wheel, he was casually sent back.

Matsuda carried Hagiwara back from the stairwell. He seemed to be in terrible shape, at least physically:

Unable to walk, covered in injuries, unable to speak, emotionally fragile.

But~ Kenji-chan is actually doing great! Kenji-chan is coming to comfort lonely little Jinpei-chan. Don't worry, Jinpei-chan. I promise I won't leave you again.

But Hagiwara soon realized that his body seemed to have a mind of its own.

Faced with the familiar congee Jinpei-chan brought him,

Hagiwara: Wow, it's Kenji-chan's favorite flavor. I want some.

Body: Trembling all over, vomiting, limbs ice-cold.

Faced with the familiar scenery outside,

Hagiwara: What a familiar view. It feels like I haven't seen it in ages. I missed it.

Body: Hyperventilating, pale, trembling.

Jinpei-chan is about to go out.

Hagiwara: It's okay, Jinpei-chan. Go to work. Kenji-chan will wait for you to come home.

Body: Agitated, sweating and crying, wanting to forcibly keep this person here.

And so Hagiwara, whose mind was actually perfectly fine, or so he thought, could only tremble under the care of his classmates and the watchful eye of a therapist.

After regaining some control over his body, Hagiwara tried to correct the way other people saw him. The result was... the more he tried, the worse it got.

Hagiwara, who had originally been allowed to go out but ended up locked back in his room because of his own actions, said he was doing just fine.

Matsuda believed that night in autumn was the most important day of his life.

He had found the person who had jumped from a moving car and disappeared for three years.

Even if that person looked awful, truly awful,

desperation, emptiness, and gloom seemed to define him.

It didn't matter. Matsuda had patience, time, and hope.

After all, this time, someone had promised not to leave again. "Right, Hagi?"

Hagiwara had a hard time after coming back. The physical stress responses he suffered from time to time made everyday life a struggle.

Wasn't he supposed to be the one comforting Jinpei-chan? Instead, Jinpei-chan was the one taking care of him.

Three years had passed, and Jinpei-chan had grown more and more mature. He'd become such a dependable police officer.

The scene of the Ferris wheel exploding was still vivid in Hagiwara's memories.

So Kenji-chan absolutely had to save his wonderful Jinpei-chan.

The price for the god's gift had been set in secret long ago. How much of the mental illness born from misunderstanding was real, and how much was not? (chuckles)

Don't worry, everyone. Hagiwara's physical condition will recover completely.

The early part will be rough for Hagiwara and Matsuda, but from the middle onward, things will get lighter. The main pairing is HagiMatsuHagi, with no side pairings. Feel free to ship either way, or both as switches. Matsuda may seem more dominant in the first few chapters, but things will even out later. I mainly want to write a somewhat different Matsuda, because in the pairing stories I've read about these two, Hagiwara tends to be the highly controlling one, all dark and gloomy, so I wanted to try a version where Matsuda is the more controlling one.

Though, in reality, they're both incredibly controlling. There may be scenes where they both lose it (?) In short, they're both a little crazy.

Theme: Exploring the connection between the soul and the body