Wait it out

"Fine, a little bit of golf, we do the coin thing, then I can go home, right?" You really did want to go home, but curiosity won out for now.

"Whatever you'd prefer, Coinbearer."

"Just John is fine. Or... Jane, because, well. Just, why Coinbearer?"

Alice shrugs. "It's what Emilia calls anyone with a coin. If you were cooking food, I'd call you chef, if you were lecturing I'd call you teacher. But you flip a coin, so I call you Coinbearer, Jane."

You shudder lightly each time you hear that name you chose. It really cemented the reality of your new body by having a name for it.

You wait while Alice pays for the game, watching her carefully. She's rather pretty, you think to yourself. Surely she doesn't have to be babysitting you all day, she'd have better things to do. Maybe with something a little more interesting than that black dress she wore... you fidgeted a little on the bench, feeling a bit of heat on your cheeks. Clearly, your mind and attractions functioned as they always have, now that you weren't so fixated on your own self.

Alice returns with the putting gear, and the competition begins! Kind of. After a couple holes, Alice has a commanding lead, and the gorilla that keeps eating your ball on hole four wasn't helping things.

"Kinda funny, don't you think?" Alice offered as she watched another putt of yours swing far right and into the machine for the gorilla obstacle to spit it right back out at you. "Just moments ago you were hitting baseballs effortlessly, and now here's this little neon-green ball going zero miles an hour and you can't get a clean shot. The fact that your magic baseball talents don't even remotely translate to putt-putt is almost cruel."

"Shut up. Just... mark me down for eight or whatever and let's keep going."

The minutes flew by as the two of you snarked back and forth at one another. Alice's sarcasm and dry humor was equally infuriating and disarming, as for a time you forgot altogether that you currently weren't the same person you woke up as. She was right, though, putt-putt was not your thing.

It was the perfect time sink, though. Alice handed you the backpack with your clothes and then motioned toward the restrooms. "It's a ghost town around here, so nobody's going to notice if you're different, they're going to just think you're somebody else. Just flip the coin, get changed, and then let's see your swing again."

You nodded and headed toward an open bathroom, slipping inside. It wasn't the cleanest facility, but you were just comfortable enough to be able to take off your attire completely, standing on top of your shoes instead of the cold tile floor. You pulled the coin out of your pants pocket, and held it briefly in your palm, taking a deep breath. "Okay, here goes..." You turn it over in your palm.

Nothing.

You check the time, it's been an hour and five minutes. Alice said an hour exactly, right? Your breathing quickens as you try again, flipping it over in your palm. Still nothing.

Did you already break your coin? Are you stuck like this forever?

"Urgh!" Frustrated, you slam the coin down on the countertop by the sink and let go. It's Mars-head up, and before you even realize it, you're back to your old self! Taller, with all the correct parts! Shorter hair! With your face that... hmm. You looked in the mirror carefully at yourself. It was nice to see your reflection, but you were suddenly missing the newness of your alternate body, even if it had been a source of distress for a while now.

Shrugging it off, you changed into your normal clothes once more, stuffing your other outfit into the backpack. You stroll out of the restroom with a big grin, and marched right to the batting cages. This really wasn't so bad at all, you thought.

Donning a helmet and taking a bat, you tried medium-high speed again from the pitching machine. That sensation that things were slowing down a bit returned, albeit only slightly. It was enough, though--you connected with eight pitches, fouling two. It might have been just random dumb luck, but didn't feel like it. It definitely felt like it was easier, somehow.

"Alright, slugger," Alice said as she typed something on her phone. "If you're good, then I'll take you home, I have work to do."

You nod, still smiling. The smile never left the whole way home. You didn't even remember if you and Alice talked during the whole drive, your mind was too preoccupied with the newfound skill you had. You remember reading somewhere that baseball tryouts for your school were in a week. Your school's division wasn't top tier among colleges, so just a few coin flips stood between you and probably a guaranteed spot in the starting lineup. If you made the team, that could be the start of a wonderful new trajectory that didn't involve sitting behind a desk all day once college was through...

Alice stopped in front of your apartment building, and then snapped her fingers in front of your face to break you out of your daze. "Hey, space case. You with me?" You nodded dumbly, realizing you had been daydreaming all the while. "Good. I'll drop off some things in the morning. Kind of a care package to get you started. After that, Emilia and I are out of your hair for a while unless you call us because you need something related to your whole situation. As for that favor, Emilia will call you when she's ready on that front."

You nod a little bit. "Yeah, sure, uh. No problem. I always have my phone on me, so whenever is fine."

"Good. Have a nice afternoon, John. And definitely spend some time getting used to your new self, I imagine it'll make everything easier in the long run for whatever your plans are." Without waiting for a proper goodbye from your end, Alice drove off, leaving you alone once more.

You entered your apartment, which was in dire need of a cleanup. It wasn't like garbage was everywhere, it was just cluttered and disorganized. Not exactly the best place to think and collect your thoughts... which was probably why it was again so difficult to decide what to do. You could just spend the rest of the day as yourself, just playing games and forgetting about that paper you have to write that is due tomorrow. But also, it wouldn't be long before you could flip that coin again and try spending some quality alone time in your new body. Hell, you could take that body for a stroll and see what all your friends were up to with a new perspective! Your boldest thought would be to tell one if your closest friends about this, just so you didn't have to keep it all to yourself.

You kind of did need to keep it to yourself, though... magic isn't considered real by most, and at best you'll confuse and frighten people if they were to find out the truth. Who knows how your friends would respond, who they would then tell, and then before you know it you're more lab experiment than college student. Whatever you chose to do, you should consider some discretion.