Chapter 10
Surprisingly, after coming to Hyunwoo's house, I rarely felt any dramatic effects from the changes to my body.
Maybe it was because Hyunwoo was quietly making all sorts of accommodations for me.
Whenever I fumbled because using chopsticks had become difficult, Hyunwoo would pick things up and feed them to me, and help me reach anything that was too high.
It was only my first day, yet I was already causing Hyunwoo so much trouble that I had to wonder if this was really okay.
'I don't know...'
Why would he take me in after I'd changed so much, go out of his way to accommodate me despite the enormous inconvenience, and treat me so kindly?
At one point, I even asked Hyunwoo directly.
Why was he doing this much for me?
I knew that "because you're cute" alone couldn't explain this level of attention.
The answer I got was truly something else.
"You don't expect something in return when you raise a cat or dog, right? You just raise them because they're cute, that's what I'm saying."
Hyunwoo didn't bother hiding his smile, as if he couldn't help finding me cute, and gently stroked my head as though I were a pet.
Though I quickly pulled away because it felt strange, now that I thought about it, it hadn't felt bad.
Maybe it had something to do with the changes to my body, but I seemed to really like being loved now.
And that was eerily in line with my old wish, when I'd prayed and cried out inwardly that I wanted someone to lean on.
'Maybe, in the end, everything got better.'
At least for me.
As that thought crossed my mind, I quickly turned on the shower and shook my head around, trying to rinse the shampoo from my hair.
Water sprayed from my heavy hair.
It flew into the wall like a whip, cracking against it with a sharp smack!
"Minseo?! Are you okay?"
My attempt to shake off those stray thoughts was enough to drag Hyunwoo, who'd been watching TV outside the bathroom, into it.
In the end, our eyes met while I was completely naked, just as I was born.
'Well, I wasn't born looking like this.'
The moment I met Hyunwoo's eyes, I felt my cheeks grow a little hot.
As if embarrassed by the fact that Hyunwoo could see my body, I was trembling before I knew it.
'Why? This isn't even my original body. And there's nothing strange about a friend seeing it, is there?'
If anything, reacting awkwardly here would hurt Hyunwoo, who'd accepted me as a friend and as a cute little critter.
I wasn't foolish enough to make my relationship with Hyunwoo uncomfortable for such a ridiculous reason.
'As naturally as possible. As naturally as...'
I calmed my slightly trembling arms and gave Hyunwoo a faint, meaningless smile.
Deciding that covering myself with my arms would only make the scene even stranger, I didn't bother to cover up and stared straight at Hyunwoo.
"It's nothing. I was just washing my hair and splashed water on the wall."
Hyunwoo seemed just as flustered, unable to easily tear his gaze away from mine.
This strange feeling I was experiencing toward Hyunwoo must have been a basic sense of embarrassment that had taken root as my body became female.
That feeling of getting self-conscious just because someone was staring right at me.
It was strange how my cheeks were turning bright red, as if they were about to burst, even though Hyunwoo wasn't specifically looking at my body.
Right now, all I could do was hope the thick steam would hide the fact that my cheeks were red.
"Ah... Is that so? Well, that's good."
As if my answer had brought him back to his senses, Hyunwoo walked backward and closed the bathroom door for me.
I felt the surroundings grow quiet, as if I'd been sealed away alone in another dimension.
I could see the steam gathering into a single mist and drifting around me.
The white mist seemed to gather around me, then began to feel as if it were sinking deep into my heart and comforting me.
'Soft and warm... my gentlest refuge.'
I didn't really know why that thought came to me, but there was only one thing in my heart I could compare this mist to.
Hyunwoo.
The way he held me warmly, comforted me, and accepted me as I was felt so much like him.
Suddenly curious, I walked a little toward the sink.
'What kind of expression am I making right now?'
With that curiosity in mind, I lifted my gaze toward the mirror above the sink.
But, as if mocking me for being so small, the mirror showed only the high ceiling instead of my reflection.
"......"
It didn't make me feel very good, so I grabbed the towel Hyunwoo had set out on the doorknob and started drying myself.
Maybe because my body had gotten smaller, it didn't take as long as I expected.
My hair, though, was already long enough to reach past my waist and down to my butt, so no matter how much I dried it, it felt like water kept seeping from it.
In the end, I rubbed my hair with the towel until the whole thing was soaked through. Only then had I managed to get enough of the water out that it no longer ran down onto my body.
Then I went to get the patient gown that should have been lying on the floor outside... The patient gown...
'...Huh? I'm sure I took it off here earlier.'
Since Hyunwoo had brought me here as I was, I was still wearing a patient gown.
I didn't have any other clothes to wear, and I hadn't brought any luggage at all, so if I didn't wear that...
"Hyunwoo. D-did you see the patient gown I left here...?"
Since no one besides Hyunwoo could have touched it,
I started asking him where my patient gown had gone.
I was already wearing nothing but the patient gown because I didn't have any underwear that fit, and if even that was gone, I'd have to live in this house naked.
No matter how close I was to Hyunwoo, I wasn't shameless enough to live and bump around naked in this body.
"Huh? Oh... You were discharged, weren't you? I returned it to the hospital. While you were washing up."
So that was what the sound of the door lock at the entrance had been, while I'd been agonizing over how women were supposed to wash and then finally washing however I could.
It was true that continuing to wear a patient gown after being discharged would count as theft.
Since it was the hospital's property, I did need to return it.
"But I don't have any clothes..."
Saddened by Hyunwoo's choice, which would have been perfectly rational and reasonable if I'd had something to wear, I asked him for help, unable to see any suitable solution.
When I trailed off and stared at Hyunwoo, flustered, he stood up as if he had no choice and rummaged through his closet.
'...Don't tell me. He has clothes for little girls?'
As I began to genuinely worry about my friend's tastes, I could do nothing but hold my breath and watch what Hyunwoo did.
But what emerged from the closet was surprisingly sensible and normal, yet also extremely bizarre.
An outfit that made me wonder if he really meant for me to wear it.
Hyunwoo's T-shirt.
Hyunwoo handed me only that one item, and I stared at him as if to ask whether he was serious.
"...You want me to wear this?"
"There's nothing else. I don't have a hobby of collecting clothes for little girls."
"Yeah..."
'I thought he might have his little sister's clothes or something.'
I didn't particularly want to wear women's clothes, but that still seemed a hundred times better than forcing myself into Hyunwoo's clothes that didn't fit.
The difference in our builds, too.
A height difference of fifty centimeters meant that if I put on Hyunwoo's clothes, the T-shirt would surely slide right down my body.
"Just in case you're wondering, my little sister only comes over once in a while. She doesn't leave clothes here."
As if he'd read my thoughts, Hyunwoo explained the situation simply and clearly.
He made it clear that this was the only clothing he could give me.
'Though I figured it wouldn't fit.'
For now, I tried pulling the T-shirt Hyunwoo had given me over my head.
Contrary to my expectation that it would slide off because of the difference in our builds, it caught on my shoulders and stayed in place.
It covered me down to my thighs well enough that I could tell it was serving its purpose as clothing.
"......?"
Wondering how it could fit at all, and why it fit me so precariously, I looked at Hyunwoo, and he answered.
"That one's from when I was a kid. Sorry the neckline's so wide, but it's all I've got right now."
Just as Hyunwoo said, the neckline dipped low enough to reveal my collarbones, making it a pretty precarious look, but I was still grateful I wouldn't have to expose my body to him.
Even if you're friends, you don't go walking around the house naked or show yourselves to each other.
And the fact that I'd somehow become more easily embarrassed after changing into this body played a part, too.
"Thanks."
Only then did I regain my peace of mind and manage to give Hyunwoo a sincere smile.