Chapter 1
‘I must win this time…!’
This was the only thought in my mind from the very beginning.
But this time was no different.
“Winner, Carlisle-!”
Once again, Vita had lost—in the captain’s match, representing his dormitory.
The event was kendo.
Of all the events, it was the last.
You could tell without even looking.
Unlike the opposing stands, where cheers and jeers mingled, the stands behind him had gone quiet with disappointment.
‘…I only let my guard down.’
Vita bit his lip.
Because defeat had no place in his vocabulary.
But just how many losses had this become already?
Vita’s head spun.
‘…No, no.’
There was no way I could lose. This couldn’t be real.
The talent I had always believed in couldn’t possibly be ordinary.
‘Get up. Again.’
He kept repeating it to himself, but his body wouldn’t listen. In the end, Vita collapsed.
“I was holding back, though.”
At the sound of that bastard’s voice, Vita clenched his teeth.
‘Damn that bastard.’
The nerve of him, acting so relaxed. Strutting around just because he’d won once by luck.
Ah, wait. It wasn’t only once, technically?
Damn it, damn it!
Vita was simply furious.
After all, a loser has nothing to say.
***
Vita Shamal’s life so far had been one long road of success.
“Vita’s first again this time?”
“Seriously, that’s cheating.”
“It’s not like Reindeer Dormitory wins every time for no reason.”
Vita belonged to Reindeer Dormitory, marked with a stag emblem.
And in last year’s evaluation, it had taken first place overall.
Vita’s pride swelled.
‘Yes, that’s right. Praise me even more.’
He had the skill to deserve it, after all! What could he do about being so good?
A model student of impeccable conduct, and even good at sports.
Talent, effort, and an innate competitive spirit all came together here, but of the three, his competitive spirit was undoubtedly the greatest influence.
[I won’t accept this, not again-!]
From a young age, Vita had hated losing. He was the sort who couldn’t stand losing even the most trivial bet.
He always ended every contest with himself as the winner.
[Heh, I won.]
[What was that? Do it again! I gave you a rematch.]
[Mm-hmm, not doing it-]
At times, that competitive spirit did have its childish side.
Vita’s fixation on competition, however, stemmed from a certain aspiration.
‘The embodiment of cuteness, Vita.’
That childhood nickname had been a severe trauma.
[Huh? You’re a boy?]
[You weren’t a girl after all.]
[Urk… I’m not!]
He was constantly saddled with similar nicknames related to cuteness.
He was a little short, and actually had a cute appearance. Add his innocent personality, and he had plenty of experiences like that.
So, in a manner of speaking, Vita had always admired manliness.
‘Look down on me for being small, and I’ll stomp that smug nose flat-!’
Better to become a macho man than look like a little girl.
Thus, Vita’s worldview was firmly set.
Naturally, ‘manliness’ meant an attitude that never lost to others. An attitude that never backed down.
Shed tears only three times in a lifetime, and in love, his ideal was devoted, single-minded love for one woman!
Well, yes.
Vita was a proper man.
His competitive spirit was intense as well. It was the ceaseless desire for self-improvement born from that competitiveness that had led Vita Shamal here, to Saint Antiope Academy, where outstanding talents gathered.
Vita had almost always placed first. Always, that is.
At least, until last year.
Everything changed after a transfer student arrived.
“Winner, Carlisle-!”
“Carlisle, wins-!”
No, again?
“Carlisle’s first again this time.”
Swimming, kendo, ball games, written exams.
Vita kept losing across every imaginable event. He had become a perennial second-place finisher.
‘No, this can’t be…’
Vita was so dizzy he could barely think straight.
That guy was always first, and Vita was always second.
The humiliation often made Vita spring upright from sleep, trembling all over.
‘Please, make it stop-!’
And then came the incident that lit the fuse on his growing inferiority complex.
A month ago.
[I-I like you-!]
Vita had confessed to his longtime crush. To Emily Swan, famous as the academy’s flower.
[Um… I’m sorry.]
And was rejected immediately.
[My type is someone a little more manly…]
Crack-
Those words struck both Vita’s longstanding complex and his pride at once. To make matters worse, he heard a rumor that Emily Swan—the girl who had rejected him—liked that transfer student, Carlisle Schultz. Furious, Vita took to his bed.
‘…Damn that bastard. How dare he take my Emily.’
It was that guy’s fault, no matter what. Emily was an innocent girl. She must have been gaslighted.
Carlisle here, Carlisle there.
He couldn’t stand it any longer.
Vita happened to be a member of the academy’s discipline committee, too, so since he and the free-spirited Carlisle often clashed, he came up with an excuse.
-You know climbing over the academy wall is forbidden, right?
-Oh, I didn’t know.
-You really are hopeless. Take off your rank insignia and fight me.
-……?
In the end, Carlisle, who had found it a nuisance, gave in to Vita’s pestering and accepted the contest between them. The date was set for a week later.
‘This time, I will win!’
Vita burned with fighting spirit. He trained in seclusion over and over. To truly win, he used every means at his disposal. He even got some mysterious medicine. He’d heard it helped with temporarily boosting stamina.
Is this okay for a discipline committee member?
‘…I’m really pathetic.’
But he wanted it so badly that he decided to beat the guy at least once, even if it meant resorting to such a shortcut.
That very night, Vita took the medicine.
Even if it had no effect, so be it; if it did, all the better.
‘Still, if possible, I hope it works…’
This time, for sure!
I will beat that guy.
‘This time, I’ll definitely beat you…!’
Then, as Vita closed his eyes, he felt a strange sensation. His anticipation began to build.
‘Ahh…’
Could this chilly sensation be…?
Could it be the effect of the mysterious medicine?
There was a strange, unfamiliar sensation somewhere in his upper body. It tickled, and Vita soon opened his eyes.
Then his thoughts froze. He wondered if he was seeing things.
“…?”
Once Vita confirmed what he was actually seeing, he was left speechless.
What was this?
He had the overwhelming feeling that something had gone terribly wrong, and his mind went blank.
***
Saint Antiope Academy.
This academy, with a rather long history and illustrious reputation, was a high school brimming with romance, a gathering place for elites.
It was autumn, with fallen leaves everywhere.
Around this time every year, the area was crowded with new students.
Amid scenery dyed in autumn colors, the faces of the teenagers listening to their guide were filled with excitement.
“The academy is quite large, isn’t it?”
“Yes, upperclassman-!”
“I like how loud you are. Here at Antiope Academy, with generous investment from numerous prestigious institutions…”
It cultivated outstanding students in mind, character, and body alike.
Vita nodded at the guide’s explanation.
Ah, those were the days.
He knew that excitement and pride all too well. He had served as a guide just last autumn.
His term was over now, but hadn’t he been on the discipline committee too? There was probably hardly anyone who knew the academy as well as he did.
But something else was more important right now.
The situation was quite a mess.
Vita crouched at the edge of the road. It wasn’t for no reason that his face felt hot.
‘This is so humiliating.’
There was definitely something awkward about his current outfit.
He had been smaller than average even as a boy, but now he was even smaller.
The hoodie he was wearing hung far too loosely on his body. Black sunglasses covered his eyes as well.
A suspicious sight by anyone’s standards.
So it was hardly strange that the new students over there noticed him and started whispering.
Of course, Vita felt so aggrieved he nearly cried. There was a reason for this suspicious getup, you know?
Yes, that’s right.
Because he had become a woman.
It was unbelievable, absurd even. The first time he saw himself like this, he had been utterly dumbfounded.
‘W-what is this…’
Even so, what had briefly left Vita Shamal spellbound was…
‘Is this… me?’
To be honest, at the time, it had felt like meeting his first love. If only the girl reflected in the mirror hadn’t been him.
Flowing red-gold hair and amethyst-like eyes, skin as flawlessly white as snow.
Her lips even looked cherry-colored and moist, or something?
Cute and pretty.
She had it all!
Her build was a little on the small side. She was probably just under 160 centimeters tall?
Of course, if she was under 160 centimeters, Vita would have to round up. Being small was unacceptable to him.
Well, fine.
Pretty was pretty.
“What the hell is this?”
Vita stood there blankly, then irritation began to rise.
Could this possibly make sense?
What kind of medicine had he taken for this to happen?
But where was he? Saint Antiope Academy.
Since students of all kinds gathered here, the teachers were all exceptionally capable as well.
So Vita went to a teacher he was usually close to—the school nurse—to ask for an assessment.
An awkward silence descended.
“Hmm… well. Physically speaking, you’re completely female?”
Vita was somewhat taken aback.
“What? That can’t be…”
Of course not. Something had gone seriously wrong.
His appearance was certainly female now, but was he really, physically speaking, a completely normal woman?
Thus, Vita was left dumbfounded and speechless.