Chapter 23
It's already been two weeks since the new semester began.
The weather was pleasantly cool, and it was still the relaxed beginning of the semester.
“Seriously, wow. How can your skin be like this? Not a single blemish, and it's so clear it's practically translucent.”
“I know, Bianca. Could you give us some tips?”
“Ah, well...”
Vita was in quite a predicament. During the break, the girls had completely surrounded him. He could even feel the boys, not just the girls, sneaking glances over here.
“I don't really have anything like that...”
At Vita's answer, the girls burst into giggles.
“You mean you were just born this way?”
“Ehh—no way.”
“Well, I guess Bianca really could be.”
His head was spinning. It felt nice that the girls were laughing with him, but...
‘Why am I getting tired?’
So when Vita awkwardly scratched his cheek, his deskmate Shasha stepped in to settle things.
“Hey, you guys! You're making Bianca uncomfortable.”
As if she were a manager acting as a celebrity's bodyguard.
Shasha seemed to think of herself that way too, because she had now begun directing everyone around them.
“All right, everyone! Ask one question each. Our Bianca is actually a very innocent girl, you know. And she's very shy.”
What did that have to do with being innocent? Of course, Vita couldn't agree with that description either.
“Hehe, how was that?”
Vita was startled. Shasha had lightly wrapped an arm around him from the side.
“I did a good job, right, Bianca?”
“…W-what are you doing!”
“Look at this.”
“Bianca really is so innocent.”
“She's so fun to tease.”
Shasha merely cackled as she watched Vita's face turn red.
“What's the big deal? We're both girls.”
Oh, right.
He was technically a girl now.
But he couldn't help being embarrassed, could he?
“Tch, jealous.”
“Then become a girl yourself.”
When the boys' muttering reached him, Vita's face turned red. Then, suddenly, the subject of the conversation veered somewhere strange.
“Hey, Bianca. You're Vita's twin, right? Then who's older?”
Vita thought for a moment, but the answer was obvious.
Even if the person in question was technically himself, calling someone big brother was really not his thing.
“I'm the older sister.”
“Oh, I see. Maybe because you're siblings... Bianca really does feel a lot like Vita.”
Vita Shamal's social circle was fairly small, but he was still well-known.
“Oh, Vita? That cute, innocent kid?”
“He really is cute. The way he always looks so confident, too.”
The words that followed made Vita a little depressed.
‘As I thought, girls see me as...’
In other words, they only thought Vita Shamal was cute.
It wasn't as though he particularly wanted to be cute.
It was just his appearance.
Vita had always worked hard to become more manly, he thought bitterly, when he spotted someone.
Apparently, the other girls had noticed Lu too, because they were whispering.
“What's with that guy?”
“He's, how should I put it, really... He looks incredibly cute.”
“His hair is pink and curly.”
What an idiot. He was conspicuously loitering in front of the classroom door.
“S-sorry! I just need to use the bathroom!”
Vita stood up. He barely managed to stop Shasha from tagging along, then escaped the classroom almost as if he were running away.
Lu was grumbling.
“Ah, sunbae. Why did it take you so long to come out?”
“You should've said something before coming out. More importantly, you...!”
Vita gave Lu a pointed look.
“Go around the corner. Around the corner.”
It would be a little troublesome if strange rumors spread for no reason. Lu went to the corner of the hallway, and Vita waited a while before following him there.
“What's going on? Why all of a sudden?”
“There's something important I need to tell you.”
For some reason, Lu looked extremely tense.
“I've been thinking it over, and I really should tell you.”
For a moment, Vita was puzzled.
“Okay, what is it?”
Lu wore an incredibly hesitant expression.
He was fidgeting and hemming and hawing like a puppy that needed to pee.
Then something suddenly flashed through Vita's mind.
‘Could this guy possibly...?’
No, seriously? There hadn't been any sign of it.
But no matter how he looked at it, only one thing came to mind, and Vita's expression stiffened.
“I never thought even you would do this to me, Lu.”
“…W-what?”
Vita said firmly.
“If you're going to regret it, don't say it.”
***
Ever since he had turned into a woman, Vita had already been through things like this several times.
-Could I get your number?
-Excuse me, could I get your number...
-Please go out with me!
None of it mattered. They were strangers, after all.
Refusing them was a little difficult in itself, but it wouldn't cause Vita any harm.
But you, right in front of me—my cherished junior Lu, of all people!
He hadn't expected this from Lu.
He was bewildered, yet for some reason, his thoughts were turning cold and clear. That's why Vita had spoken so firmly to Lu.
Even if he was going to regret it, he shouldn't say anything.
For some reason, Lu looked confused. Then he blurted out, almost as if he were confessing.
“The thing is... To be honest, I've been debating whether I should tell you...”
Lu Milione had been thinking to himself.
Lu had an eccentric personality and tastes, the ability to dig into whatever caught his interest with considerable persistence and tenacity, and an overtly exceptional talent for the sciences.
That meant he knew more than most people. And recently, he had come across some information.
[There might be a way to turn back into a man.]
But he had hesitated a little.
The moment he said this, his senior's life would change again. Hadn't Vita only just barely managed to adjust to it in his own way?
“Then don't.”
Yet that reaction only strengthened Lu's resolve.
His senior was definitely heading down the wrong path.
[I'm going to become manly!]
Where had that Vita Shamal gone?
“Do you know what, sunbae? I can't just sit back and leave things like this anymore.”
Vita, unaware of the circumstances behind this, was momentarily flustered.
What? Your feelings?
Looking at him again now, Lu...
He had a surprising amount of presence, didn't he? Had he always been like this?
But Lu's next words were completely beyond Vita's expectations. He spoke with an extremely serious expression.
“I found it, sunbae.”
“…Found what?”
“A way to go back!”
What, seriously?!
“Why are you only telling me now!”
Vita grabbed Lu and shook him back and forth in an instant.
“I mean, well...”
But Lu also wore an extremely aggrieved expression.
“It wasn't certain yet, and you seemed to be enjoying this new life of yours in your own way.”
“Ha, seriously. What do you mean, enjoying it?”
Vita was dumbfounded.
“You weren't enjoying yourself? You were all smiles. In class, and outside the academy too.”
Smack-
“Ow, ow, why did you flick my forehead?”
“Are you seriously going to be like this too? Things are hard enough these days.”
Lu scratched his head at Vita's reaction.
“Hmm, but why did you tell me not to say anything if you were going to react like that?”
-If you're going to regret it, don't say it.
Remembering what he'd just said, Vita suddenly flushed.
Apparently, he had gone and completely misunderstood the situation on his own.
“Wow, amazing—!”
Lu also seemed to realize only now what Vita's words had meant, and began snickering.
“You've really become a woman. I got a little goosebumpy just now...”
“Shut up. Now.”
Smack-
Only after getting one more flick to the forehead did Lu finally shut his mouth.
He rubbed his reddening forehead, lips pushed out in a pout.
“…Still, forehead flicks do hurt a little.”
And then they continued the conversation.
Vita had asked him before.
[See if you can find out a little.]
Lu was a real expert at this sort of thing. Vita was sure that someday in the future, he would work for some information-handling agency.
‘He's in the sciences, after all. And he's talented.’
Of course, Vita had also searched for information whenever he had the chance, but he hadn't found much.
“To put it simply, sunbae, I found a paper written by a famous doctor...”
In other words, just like Vita,
there were more than one or two people whose gender had suddenly changed, and research into the phenomenon had progressed quite far.
“They've even reached the second phase of clinical trials...”
The conversation continued. What Vita heard next was clearly a huge breakthrough from his perspective.
***
After receiving the information Lu had discovered,
the two began bickering while chatting.
“No, sunbae. So what did you go and do?”
“I told you, Lu. I just went out and had a good time, okay?”
Though the two had always been fairly close as senior and junior, they often clashed over all sorts of subjects.
They had even once debated for several uninterrupted hours when choosing their favorite anime character.
But Lu felt especially uneasy today.
It had happened about a week ago.
His senior had suddenly gone to Wizney Park for fun.
[I'm getting ready, so I'll tell you all about it when I get back.]
Hadn't his senior said exactly that? At the time, Lu had been so jealous he could have died.
‘But after going, he clammed right up?’
Lu could only be dumbfounded.
He'd said he'd brag about it, but barely said a word, and whenever Lu asked what had been good, he kept changing the subject.
“Then, sunbae.”
Lu had one last question.
“Was it really Carlisle Schultz who went with you that day?”
There was a rumor that they had been seen near the fountain downtown. But Lu found it hard to believe.
After all, that was the rival Vita himself had hated and tried to beat. So it was really strange.
These days, his senior Vita seemed to be spending inexplicably more time with that punk than with Lu himself.
“You know you're acting strange, sunbae?”
Lu posed the question.
“W-what is...?”
That timid, guilty-looking reaction was unlike his usual senior too.
In the end, Lu could only sigh.
“No, never mind.”
Still, even so.
There was no way he could ask whether Carlisle Schultz was blackmailing him. His senior was too proud for that, and Vita seemed capable enough of handling things himself.
So Lu changed the subject to lighten the mood a little.
“It's just that I do feel a little hurt.”
“Huh, hurt?”
“You barely spend any time with me these days...”
They were fellow otaku, and both shared the complex of being pointlessly cute despite being guys.
That common ground had made them quite close.
But ever since his senior Vita had turned into a woman, things had somehow changed.
As he said it, his genuine hurt welled up, and Lu ended up shouting.
“Is this really all there is to our relationship?!”
“What sort of relationship do you two have?”
A voice suddenly came from behind them.
When Lu and Vita turned around, a tall shadow approached.
It was Carlisle Schultz.
He looked slightly disheveled, as though he had just finished exercising, and was smiling.
“There you are, Bianca.”
Carlisle brazenly approached Vita and hugged him tightly, as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
“H-hey...!”
Even with Lu standing right there,
Vita was so flustered that he immediately slipped out of Carlisle's arms.
Carlisle chuckled.
Then he pulled Vita back into his arms and kissed his forehead,
sending Lu a silent warning over Vita's shoulder.
As if to say, Don't even think about it.
Lu Milione was simply dumbfounded.
‘No, this is ridiculous.’
In any case, there was no point reacting to such a misunderstanding. Lu's type was a more voluptuous, glamorous woman, so a senior who had turned into a woman wasn't his type at all. He had known from the start that the person inside that body was a man.
But that wasn't what stunned Lu most.
No, was this for real?
What he was seeing was unequivocally a woman's reaction—his senior's, no less!
“What are you doing, seriously!”
His face was flushed bright red,
and even though he punched Carlisle with his fist, it looked utterly nonviolent, more like an adorable little gesture.
‘Wasn't he being blackmailed...?’
Lu realized for sure that it wasn't.
The two of them looked so well-matched standing together, like a handsome man and beautiful woman.
And it suddenly struck him how strange it was that his senior Vita really had become a woman.
‘What is this...?’
Lu's consciousness shot straight off toward the Milky Way. Of course, Vita didn't notice his junior in the slightest.
***
Well, anyway.
These days, Vita was definitely spending a little more time with Carlisle Schultz. He had lost the contest, after all.
Carlisle surprisingly hadn't demanded anything in particular, but Vita always stayed on guard in case he suddenly changed.
Anyway, the academy rooftop now felt like their shared hideout. They always spent lunch there.
Yesterday, today,
and probably tomorrow too.
And more importantly,
Vita himself had finally stopped going out of his way to avoid Carlisle Schultz.
It was simply a change of heart that had come after the day they had spent together at Wizney Park, a day that had felt like a strange dream.
There was no need to say anything more; it was a simple fact.
‘It's not as though I like this guy anyway.’
Vita thought about it in the simplest, clearest way.
Well, then, fine. To be honest, the time he spent with Carlisle was surprisingly not so bad.
Maybe it felt like being friends?
So it had naturally become normal for them to spend every lunch break together like this.
On the rooftop hideout they shared, Vita was currently sitting on Carlisle's lap.
Tap-tap-
Carlisle Schultz definitely had more common sense than one might expect.
Even though he talked about making Vita his slave and whatnot, he hadn't demanded anything particularly unusual. This was apparently what he considered unusual.
“Ngh...”
Of course, Vita found it highly objectionable.
Could anyone in their right mind possibly sit on a man's lap?
But when Carlisle Schultz said just one thing—
-I'm already being pretty lenient with you.
Vita couldn't argue with that.
In the end, Vita went along with it like this. It was the result of their contest, after all, and a fairly harmless demand.
Of course, it never ended with just an embrace.
“Ngh...”
Carlisle casually touched him again today and chuckled softly.
“…Why are you touching my belly fat?”
Vita's face reddened.
“Because it's really soft.”
“So what? That doesn't explain why you're touching it!”
Whenever Vita chattered like this, Carlisle would silence him—with his own mouth, that was.
“Mmph... mmph!”
This sort of petty bickering had become their daily routine. And they spent an awful lot of time pressed together exactly like this.
“Ha, Bianca.”
After a brief kiss, Carlisle sighed deeply and pulled Vita against him. He felt Vita's body stiffen.
“Why are you so cute?”
Since Vita was sitting on his lap, a tight hug brought the soft female body into Carlisle's arms all at once. He found it satisfying.
“Stop spouting bullshit...”
Even as Vita said that, Carlisle could see the small ears in his line of vision turning red, and he chuckled.
As the two of them spent these relatively peaceful days together,
an unexpected incident befell Vita Shamal.