New Identity and School Uniform

Afterward, Minsu tried to go home, but Jiyeon held him back and told him to stay for dinner. In the end, he couldn't leave until he had eaten the dinner she cooked herself.

"Hahaha... Thank you for the meal, Jiyeon."

"It was nothing special."

I spent a happy Sunday chatting with unnie all day and sharing sweet snacks with her, but Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were quite difficult. My menstrual cramps were severe enough to hurt both my pelvis and lower back. And since unnie had to go to work, I had to lie alone in bed with a heating pack, feeling lonely.

'Having a period is supposed to hurt, but...'

I hadn't even been living in this body for very long, and now that I had experienced a period too, my own flesh felt increasingly unfamiliar. Could anyone really go about their daily life with pain this severe? It was troublesome, but failing to take care of myself could lead to serious problems, so I spent each difficult day managing my condition...

"Jia, are you all right?"

"Yes, it ended yesterday, and there was barely anything on the panty liner throughout the day today."

At last, my period ended, and I could look forward to a normal week. But after one week, I'd be entering ovulation again... I had only suffered so much last month because my body wasn't used to it, right? Right? But my optimism went up in smoke. The pain had lessened, but my temperature was still too high to be considered normal.

'It's much better than when I even passed out, but...'

Before I knew it, March had arrived and it was the start of the new school year. I went out for a walk around the neighborhood about once a week, but every time I did, I received puzzled looks from people nearby. I probably looked like a high school student, so they must have wondered why I was wandering around outside during class hours even after the school year had begun. So this was one of the problems that came with looking too young... Physically, I really had become young again, though...

'Still, staying inside all the time is a little...'

Thinking that, I decided to get dressed appropriately and go out today as well. Come to think of it, I had worn a skirt without safety shorts before... It was strange that I had ever worn one like that in the first place. I should just wear pants... Skirts were embarrassing, but at least they allowed air to circulate and felt cool. Pants, on the other hand, felt somehow... I had worn them before, but perhaps because my skeletal structure had changed, they felt even more awkward.

'Or is it more natural for me to be embarrassed because I haven't gotten used to skirts?'

But when I was a man, I had always worn long pants because my leg hair annoyed me... After thinking it over, I decided to keep things simple and wear jeans. I had disliked jeans, but now that I had a figure like this, I felt like dressing myself up in all sorts of ways. It was almost like customizing a female character in a game, but in real life.

'Since decorating the body right in front of me is much faster than waiting for VR games to advance by leaps and bounds.'

For that reason, I bundled up for the still-cold early March weather and went out. I was taking a walk past a high school far from home when I thought, Wow... Unlike the high school I attended, this place seems to have better facilities... Maybe that's because it's near a busy district?

"Hey, you, student!"

Student? I had even graduated from university. It was just after lunch, so maybe he was stopping students who had gone out to eat.

"Classes have already started. What are you doing out here without even wearing your uniform?"

A man's hand grabbed my shoulder. Was he calling me?

"I'm not a student here..."

"Anyone can see that you look like a high school student. What are you talking about? Get inside!"

The man took his hand off my shoulder, then grabbed my wrist and tried to drag me away.

"I-I told you, I'm not a high school student!"

"Then is there anyone who can prove it?"

Unnie was at work, and Minsu was the only person I could call... The teacher gripped my wrist tightly and refused to let go, making me both irritated and slightly afraid. I shouldn't judge someone by his appearance, but he looked a little... like the sort of person who would sexually harass someone.

"Ah, all right! I'll call someone, so please let go of this..."

My wrist hurt so much that tears welled up before I realized it.

"Oh, uh... I'm sorry, student."

I told you I'm not a student! ...I would be going back to school at the end of this month, but I wasn't a student yet!

"Mr. Minsu, I'm in front of OO High School..."

[Yes. Are you in trouble because someone mistook you for a student?]

"Yes, that's right... Please come pick me up."

[I'm on my way. Please wait just a little longer.]

After the call ended, I had to stand there awkwardly beside the teacher near the school gate. Then a female student came running out from inside the school, shouting. What was going on? Had something happened?

"You perverted teacher! I knew you'd do something like this!!!"

The girl came running over while shouting, and the police arrived at the same time. Huh? The police? Was I going to be taken to the police station as a delinquent student? What?!

"Hey, you! Get away from that pervert!"

Since she was pointing at me as she spoke, she must have been talking to me...? I had no idea what the girl was saying, but I moved away a little anyway. Once I put some distance between us, the police arrested the man, and the girl ran over to me, asking if I was all right as she looked me over.

"Uh... I was just mistaken for a student, so I called an acquaintance who could clear things up and was waiting for him..."

"Don't lie. He sexually assaulted you."

"Uh... Sexually assaulted me?"

I tilted my head, not understanding what the uniformed girl meant.

"What? Did he already gaslight you?"

"Uh... I don't really understand what you're saying..."

"That bastard fondled your shoulder and even grabbed your wrist and tried to drag you away!"

Well... That was true, but did it really count as sexual assault? Ah, right. I was a woman now... To a third party, it could look as though a teacher who already seemed suspicious had finally grabbed a passing female student to have his way with her. The teacher was probably feeling a little wronged...

"Kim OO, you're being arrested on the spot for sexual assault. How many times has this been now? You keep targeting minors."

"...? Isn't he a teacher at this school...?"

"No. This man is a sex offender with nine prior convictions. It's a good thing we found you before he could abduct you."

What? He wasn't really a teacher—he was an impostor criminal? Then what did that mean for me...? As soon as I thought that far, I realized that I really had been sexually assaulted, and fear began to rise inside me. I could excuse the shoulder, but grabbing my wrist had definitely crossed a line.

"H-Hic... Then I..."

"Are you all right? Calm down. You're safe now."

Being comforted by a schoolgirl in uniform made me feel like a pathetic adult, which left me feeling strange... Though with the way I looked now, perhaps it wasn't that much of a problem? When I had been a man, I had been sexually harassed by middle-aged women and elderly people too, so perhaps I'd unconsciously come to think it was okay. Once, a middle-aged woman on a bus had grabbed both my hands tightly while they were holding a pole and said something incomprehensible... Seeing the genuine madness of someone grabbing a middle schooler's hand and pulling that kind of crap scared me too, so I had yanked my hand free and immediately gotten off the bus.

'Ugh, I had to walk quite a way because I got off one stop early even though I still had another stop to go...'

Another time, I was riding the subway somewhere during rush hour. An elderly woman who wasn't holding a handrail pretended to stumble toward me when the train lurched, then grabbed my butt. Wow... Fuck... Even now, it was absolutely disgusting. If our genders had been reversed, wouldn't everyone around us have subdued the old woman immediately and surrounded me to protect me? It had been a crowded train, so there was no way I could have lied about it.

'She did apologize and say she was sorry, and maybe she really did grab me by accident because she was in a hurry. But if our genders were reversed, wouldn't she have been arrested immediately?'

And it had happened near a station with subway police, too... Ugh... There was really no answer to this. I wanted to see Minsu as soon as possible...

"Ms. Jia!"

Minsu had hurriedly parked near the main gate and came running toward me.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, I... I'm fi-ne..."

The girl who had cut me off pointed at the man being led away by the police and told them that I had been sexually assaulted and nearly abducted.

"Th-That bastard...!"

Minsu saw the man and grew angry, while the man was startled and quickly turned his head away. Apparently, they knew each other...

"Ms. Jia, we should speak with the school."

"Pardon?"

What did he mean? It had happened just as lunch ended, so the school probably couldn't have responded in time... I was the victim, yes, but would it really be right to make an issue of something like this...?

"Uh, I'm all right..."

"No. This man already has nine prior convictions, and he kept standing outside the school trying to abduct minors. You nearly became his victim today."

"Th-That..."

My body was trembling with fear; now that I understood how close I'd come to actually being victimized, I was terrified. A police officer, Minsu, the female student who had witnessed the incident, and I then headed to the teachers' office. I wasn't even going to transfer to this school, yet I was visiting its teachers' office first... It was a little embarrassing.

"By the way, what school do you attend?"

"Uh, well..."

That wasn't something I could answer... What was I supposed to say?

"She's a patient who suffered from a serious illness, so she hasn't started school yet."

Minsu answered the student for me. It wasn't a lie, though he had only given her the bare facts...

"Wow, she's totally a sickly beauty! What was wrong with her? She doesn't seem to have any visible injuries."

"Um... It's difficult to talk about, so could you step back a little...?"

"Oh, sorry..."

The girl seemed to realize only then that she had been clinging tightly to me—or perhaps she remembered that I had just gone through something frightening. She apologized and walked a little farther away.

*

Wow, who is that girl? Wow... She looks tall, and what an incredible figure... She's beautiful...

"Hyunwoo, what are you looking at?"

"Huh? Uh, well... Look over there."

"Wow, is she a transfer student? She's really pretty~"

The girl clung to me while staring at her through the window without looking away. I suppose the girl was attractive enough to make even another woman fall for her at first sight.

"Um, classes have started, so could you step back a little?"

"The teacher isn't even here yet. What's the problem? Didn't you hear what happened earlier?"

"Hear what?"

What was she talking about? I had slept through the entire time in the classroom after lunch, so I had no idea what she meant.

"No way, you slept the whole time? Even though you're sitting by the window?"

"Uh, I did sleep..."

"That pig bastard who came to our school pretending to be a teacher—the one who looked like he was good at sexually harassing people."

"Uh... What about him?"

"He wasn't even a teacher to begin with. Apparently, he forged his credentials and came to the school!"

What? So he was just a filthy criminal? And the fact that he had come to a school meant he had come specifically to commit crimes against minors... Ugh, I felt like I was going to throw up.

"Anyway, he shamelessly stood by the school gate pretending to be a teacher, then grabbed a passing female student and tried to take her away."

"When did that happen? How is the rumor already spreading...?"

"About ten minutes ago? The police came too."

Our school wasn't even a particularly bad one, so why had something like this happened...? When I looked out the window again, the girl was nowhere to be seen. She must have gone into the school.

'Wow... She really was beautiful... Even prettier than Sooyoung right in front of me...'

"What are you thinking about with that lovestruck look in your eyes?"

"W-What?"

Me? I had a lovestruck look? What was he talking about? And why was Sooyoung looking at me with an annoyed expression?

*

After entering the teachers' office, I received endless apologies from the teachers and was taken to the nurse's office to make sure I hadn't suffered any other injuries. Minsu later returned after discussing the matter with the police at the teachers' office and even the principal's office, and his face looked extremely gloomy.

'Is he blaming himself again for failing to protect me?'

It wasn't Minsu's fault that he had been busy, and he was the one who had come to rescue me... Was he blaming himself too much?

"Everything has been settled, and Ms. Jia will receive compensation soon for the psychological and physical harm she suffered."

"Compensation...? I was startled, but I don't think I suffered much physical harm..."

I said that with a bewildered expression, but in Minsu's eyes, I probably just looked like a girl who was still trembling with fear...

"Unnie must be very worried...?"

"We'll pick up Jiyeon at the hospital when she gets off work."

"Yes..."

Unnie was my legal guardian (and my guardian in practice too), so she should know about something like this. To suffer something like that before I had even started attending school... I began to feel a little sad.

"...Jia was victimized again?"

We drove to the hospital around the time unnie finished work, and we heard her voice tremble with anger as Minsu told her what had happened.

"It wasn't anything serious. I was only mistaken for a student."

"How can you say it wasn't serious? Your shoulder and wrist were touched. That is still unquestionably sexual assault."

Since the other party had been a genuine criminal, I couldn't even make excuses that it hadn't happened. It wasn't my fault in the first place, and I was the victim. After we went home, the three of us ate dinner together, and once Minsu had left, unnie told me all sorts of things.

"Jia, should I buy you a personal safety alarm? Seeing men keep approaching you and trying to do horrible things, I think you need one."

"I-I'm fine. If anything happens, I'll call Mr. Minsu right away. If he doesn't answer, I'll call the police too."

Even so, carrying a personal safety alarm felt a little too much like treating me as a child...

"But it is true that I've been through dangerous situations, so I'll carry one..."

I couldn't make unnie worry even more... If I kept it in my bag or clipped it somewhere, it should be fine. After all, if someone covered my mouth, I wouldn't be able to shout...

*

After that, I became afraid to go outside, so I spent a week at home recovering physically and emotionally. On the day it happened, as time passed and my senses gradually returned, I realized that I had no idea what might have been done to me. Minsu had come running right away, but it had still taken him some time, and I might have disappeared and suffered the same things as the victims in the news. Thinking about that made me cry and feel terrified, so I clung to unnie and sobbed for hours.

'Today is the day I receive my new identity...'

I went to court with Minsu, completed all the legal procedures and paperwork, then went to the local community center and received my new resident registration card. It bore the name Han Jia, and the number on the back had changed from 3 to 4. My new identity was that of a pitiful girl who had lost her parents and then suffered from a serious illness for a long time.

'It is true that I suffered from an illness, but it wasn't for that long...'

I would have to get used to my new identity so that I wouldn't run into any trouble. It felt strange that even my birthday had been changed... My legal age was also considerably younger than my actual age... My new birthday was April 17. It wasn't very different from my original birthday. Besides, I had never celebrated it, nor had I given or received birthday presents from people around me.

'Under normal circumstances, this would be a terrible thing, but since I have to throw away everything related to my old identity anyway, it actually feels rather comfortable...'

Minsu is calling. It must be about transferring schools, right?

[Hello, Ms. Jia?]

"Yes, Mr. Minsu."

[I think B High School, the closest one to your home, would be best. What do you think?]

"I'm fine with that. Is it within walking distance?"

[It's about one kilometer away... You should be able to walk there in about twenty minutes.]

"Thank you for arranging a nearby school for me."

[You can start attending next Monday, and Jiyeon will accompany you on your first day.]

"Thank you for letting me know. I'll treat you to a meal sometime when you're free. Hehe."

So I really had to go to school starting next week... I was going to attend high school again. I didn't want to study...

*

"Jia~ Unnie's home~"

"Unnie!"

I had missed unnie so much that I ran straight over and threw my arms around her.

"Our cute Jia, shall we go get your school uniform fitted?"

"Th-Then we should."

A school uniform...? Wouldn't the skirt cling tightly to my figure...? Pants might be better... But skirts would be more convenient in summer, and it was a coed school too...

"Would it be possible to get the uniform pants instead?"

"Probably, but wouldn't it be a shame to cover up those legs with pants?"

So my legs really did look pretty even to other people. I was happy... but I also felt strange. Pants seemed somehow ill-suited to this appearance, and they would fit tightly around my legs too, which seemed even more awkward—especially around the crotch... Let's just wear the skirt!

"Then I'll get the uniform skirt. When should we go have it fitted?"

"Let's go right now. I already called them."

Already? Unnie was unusually energetic today.

*

"Welcome~ Are you here to have a school uniform fitted?"

"Yes. My younger sister is transferring here."

"Then let's take your measurements~"

Having a stranger take my measurements was still one of the things I hadn't gotten used to. My body was sensitive overall, and as she measured me, she touched me here and there, making strange sounds escape me.

"Hngh..."

"Oh my, you must be rather sensitive. Please bear with it just a little longer."

"Yes... Ngh..."

The employee who had finished taking my measurements looked surprised when she checked the numbers and said, 'Oh my, I've never seen a student this big before~' Well, I suppose that made sense. A second-year high school student would probably have finished growing, but my measurements... felt a little unrealistic.

'Well, I'm an adult, but... not physically.'

But why did unnie look so incredibly proud? Hmm... I didn't really understand. Was she thinking something like, My family is this exceptional~? At least I had become part of unnie's family, so if she was happy, I was happy too. Hahahaha...

"The high school is coed, so the boys who end up in the same class as her are going to have a hard time~"

"My little sister certainly grew up well, didn't she? Hahaha~"

Ahem. Sorry, boys of B High School... If you even turned your face slightly, wouldn't the girls make a fuss and ask where you were looking? Just imagining the school life ahead made my head spin. In reality, it was true that my face looked sickly, so I would probably receive protection in all sorts of ways... And my skin was so pale that any slight difficulty showed on my face. This body really made it hard to hide my emotions...