Chapter 26
After Carlisle came to nurse him and had just left.
Thump- thump-
His heart was pounding rapidly.
Having realized something, Vita was terribly flustered.
Because it was impossible.
‘Really, I…?’
No, I mean.
To that Carlisle guy?
This was impossible.
The emotion he had just felt was something like that.
Had he somehow become completely a woman?
Vita was left speechless. His face went pale, and his body was so stiff he could not move. Something close to a hollow laugh briefly formed on his lips before fading away.
Am I crazy?
Unless his mind has stopped working…
[…I like you, Bianca.]
It must have been after hearing those words. Vita felt as though his head had short-circuited.
He couldn't think straight.
Yes, perhaps.
Ever since his body had transformed into a woman's, hormones must have been at work. If the secretion of those hormones had gradually changed something and brought him to this point, he could understand it a little.
But still, this…
This wasn't it. He didn't know exactly what wasn't, but it absolutely wasn't it.
Vita lay blankly on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
None other than Carlisle Schultz—and a man at that.
“How could I possibly see him as a romantic interest…?”
Saying it aloud made it feel even more real, and Vita let out a hollow laugh.
After all, Vita Shamal's true self was undoubtedly a full-fledged man.
“Yes, I'm a man…!”
As Vita said those words, his gaze dropped. Down below his chin, that was.
Two rounded mounds came into view, feeling utterly foreign.
Vita simply wanted to turn away from reality, so after taking a needless deep breath, he reached out and touched his chest.
Squish-
“Ngh…”
It was so soft. It even had a subtle springiness to it.
Blushing, Vita sat up again and checked another place.
The smooth, flexible curve of his hips flowing from his waist.
He was even more speechless.
By then, Vita had gone limp and was standing directly in front of the mirror.
His auburn hair cascading down, his amethyst-like eyes.
A slender jawline and pale, translucent skin.
Delicate features, slender arms and calves.
At this point, Vita could no longer deny it.
“I've become a woman…”
With a dazed expression, he finally admitted it.
That he was a woman now. That he had truly become one.
He had realized that he was no longer Vita Shamal, but Bianca Shamal.
“How did this happen?”
He had no idea.
Vita clutched his head.
Thinking about it, he had recently been gradually adapting to a woman's way of life.
At first, the foreign sensation in his upper body had been quite uncomfortable, but at some point he had gotten used to it.
And so, in that moment, Vita suddenly grew afraid.
“Am I really going to become a woman if this goes on…?”
He sucked in a hollow breath. Lately, his condition had definitely been a little strange. Perhaps he was being affected by female hormones.
Of course, transforming into a woman had been unavoidable, and living as one was not actually so bad…
“No, no—!”
Vita shouted loudly before covering his mouth. Had he just made a complete spectacle of himself?
He would go back soon. He was only going to live like this for a little while.
Perhaps he had unconsciously thought that way all along.
His original personality was not pessimistic at all. He had not simply despaired over the result of becoming a woman. He had tried to adapt.
But now it felt different.
‘…What have I been doing all this time?’
Vita once again realized just how serious the situation was.
A sudden tension seized him.
This wouldn't do anymore.
His mental state had been strange lately. Vita soon made up his mind.
‘Was it Baumkuchen Hospital?’
It was time to make use of the information he had heard from Lu before.
A doctor at that hospital was researching cases related to gender transition.
Moreover, that research had recently achieved meaningful results.
Beep- beep-
After the ringing sounded for a moment, the other party answered the phone.
-Hey, sunbae?
-Are you free tomorrow? No, you're definitely free!
After unilaterally saying what he wanted to say, Vita hung up. He then sent the time and place in a short text message.
“Haa—seriously…”
He needlessly ruffled his hair.
His face was still hot, and his heart kept pounding even more intensely than the heat in his face.
Vita Shamal was troubled.
Very much so.
***
The next day after school.
Vita came to a building with Lu.
It was an impressive-looking hospital. It also appeared to be enormous.
“This is definitely the right place, right?”
“Probably.”
Across from the hospital, hidden in a flower bed,
the two whispered like operatives carrying out a secret mission.
Today's plan was as follows.
-I'm going straight to the hospital. You and I are going together.
-Oh…really? But what does that have to do with me?
-Where are you going, Lu?
It had nothing to do with him. Vita had grabbed Lu and brought him to the hospital anyway.
“Help me just a little.”
“No, why?”
“You're all I have!”
Lu's face turned red.
“No, sunbae. That's the kind of thing that could cause a misunderstanding…”
Lu was dumbfounded, but he eventually agreed anyway. One way or another, Lu was the only person who knew the truth about his senior. He felt sorry for him, too.
Vita had searched for information about the hospital the night before. By coincidence, it was much closer than he had expected, and he supposed the only thing to do was face the problem somehow.
‘Why did it have to be…!’
The application deadline had already passed. The clinical trial that was practically his only hope.
“By the way, sunbae. What on earth is with your clothes?”
Unlike the previous few times, he was dressed like a man. At Lu's uneasy question, Vita answered solemnly.
“What do you mean, why? I'm simply being faithful to my original identity again.”
“Did something happen?”
“No, not at all.”
Though he said that,
his face was slightly flushed, and his expression was flustered.
Lu thought to himself that there was definitely something going on.
Just recently, his senior had been acting so very feminine.
“Now, all of a sudden? I thought you were practically the epitome of femininity…”
Smack-
Lu had another bump on his forehead.
“I'm serious. I am.”
Just as he said, Vita was truly serious right now.
“I'll settle this today. I'm going back to being a man.”
His violet eyes shone with what seemed to be a determined resolve.
In Lu's experience, it was a very bad sign whenever his senior wore that expression.
Sometimes, excessive competitiveness meant that he would not hesitate to use any method or means at all.
‘That's why he took the drug.’
Sigh, well.
What could Lu do? It was the word of his senior, who was like the heavens to him. He had to follow along.
“But how will you do that?”
“Just watch.”
Lu was quite uneasy at that solemn expression.
They had come here out of nowhere, and the clinical trial they wanted had already closed its application period.
And Lu's anxiety was not unfounded in the slightest.
“Hey, students! Why are you doing this?”
A short while later, the two of them were absurdly lying on the hospital lobby floor.
Under a dazzling chandelier, the sight of two students lying on the white marble floor drew whispers from the surrounding people. A security guard wore a flustered expression.
“What's going on over there?”
“Hmm, no idea…?”
Lu wanted to die of embarrassment. All he wanted was to hide.
‘I don't want this either. This crazy senior…’
The people around them continued to murmur.
But when he turned to the side, he saw his senior, Vita Shamal, holding his ground stubbornly.
[What are you doing, Lu?]
Looking back on it, Vita had been the first one to lie down.
[Lie down next to me.]
Only then did Lu realize.
‘It was a brute-force plan!’
The reason Vita had brought him here was because it would be embarrassing to do this alone.
Even if he could sometimes be socially awkward, once Vita Shamal decided on something—once he decided to settle a contest—he was completely fearless!
“Could we perhaps meet the lead researcher? Dr. Rosa.”
After he had asked at the information desk and been cleanly rejected,
the two, armed with shamelessness, had lain down in the lobby to stage a protest.
“Good grief.”
It had already been thirty minutes. The guard, who had been pressing a hand to his forehead, soon received a call.
“Yes, yes… But they're just children… It would be difficult to drag them out by force…”
The two of them were small, after all, and would look like minors at a glance.
Vita and Lu did not know what was being discussed, but it seemed instructions had been given.
“Yes. Understood!”
Then several more people appeared around them.
“Sorry, kids, but could you just leave nicely?”
“Do you like candy? Want something even tastier?”
How dare they treat them like children? He would absolutely hold out here!
It seemed they intended to drag the two of them out by force.
Vita curled up his body and activated his hardening technique!
“No, sunbae. That makes you easy to carry, you know?!”
“Oh, right.”
After hearing Lu, Vita turned over again, just as Lu had done.
The security guards were honestly dumbfounded.
‘What on earth are these kids doing?’
But following their superiors' orders, they moved anyway.
“Kyaaah—!”
Vita suddenly screamed, deliberately making himself sound like a girl.
“Don't touch me—!”
Lu and the security guards stared blankly at Vita.
How shameless, using a woman's weapon like this!
Vita's conscience pricked him.
But what else could he do? He had sent multiple emails and made multiple inquiries. There was still no other way.
‘Please, I beg you. This is my only way.’
This might not change anything, but he had to try.
Amid all the commotion, a voice rang out.
“What's going on over there…?”
Vita's complexion brightened.
A beautiful doctor in a white coat stood there, the same woman he had seen in the photographs. It felt as though heaven had helped him.
***
“Now, sit down.”
Her skin looked remarkably smooth.
A fragrant steam rose from the teacup on the table.
Vita fidgeted before cautiously opening his mouth.
“Are you really Dr. Rosa?”
“How do you know my name?”
Long silver hair and feminine features.
Her eyes were red, but somehow gave off a warm feeling.
The female doctor smiled gently.
“You came looking for me?”
“Um, well…”
As Vita had learned, she was even the hospital director's daughter. Information about her was widely known because of her highly acclaimed research achievements.
She was beautiful enough already, and she was talented as well.
Vita unconsciously looked at the name tag on her coat. Was she really that person?
“Ah.”
The female doctor suddenly asked Vita,
“I'm Rosa Baumkuchen. What's your name, student?”
Perhaps she was curious what kind of story lay behind this cute protest, and that was why she was sitting face-to-face with him now. He was a small, adorable female student, so he did not look dangerous either.
At her kind attitude, Vita gave his name.
“My name is Vita Shamal. Um, and… until a few weeks ago, at least…”
He felt awkward about confessing that he had originally been a man.
‘I suppose I have to work up the courage.’
Since this doctor's field of expertise was gender transition, she might understand him.
Lu was outside. There were only the two of them here.
“Please listen without being surprised.”
Vita somehow found the courage to confess everything that had happened.
The changes over the past few weeks, and the fact that he had become a woman.
Even his increasingly strange mental state. He explained that all of these changes had been caused by an unidentified drug.
‘Please, give me an answer…’
To be honest, if even this doctor did not know, Vita's future looked bleak.
But his concern seemed to be unfounded. The female doctor wore a shocked expression.
“Ah, just a moment…”
Then she urgently called someone.
“I found it, Charon!”
Charon was a man's name. Could he be her boyfriend?
“No, the new drug! You know, the one that disappeared during the Phase One clinical trial.”
She said that they had been searching for it all this time, and that he seemed to be one of the subjects.
As Vita listened, he grew increasingly excited. Hope was beginning to bloom.
“Yes, really! It's unbelievably lucky.”
Her face was filled with a smile.
She seemed to have forgotten he was there for a while, because the call continued for quite some time.
“Yes, me too. I love you, Charon.”
After the doctor hung up, Vita cautiously asked,
“I guess he's your boyfriend?”
“Um, yes. We're getting married soon.”
“Ah… I see.”
She gave a shy-looking smile.
Vita became a little envious of the man dating a woman like her.
Even seeing something like this proved that his true self was a man—not a woman, absolutely not.
“I should explain everything first.”
After taking a sip of tea, Vita heard her say,
“The drug you took, Vita, was made by us.”
The female doctor named Rosa suddenly bowed her head deeply.
“So I'm truly sorry. That should come first.”
“No, it's okay!”
Vita was startled and stood up, but
when he thought about it, it was true that everything was not okay.
The explanation continued.
Baumkuchen Hospital had been researching gender transition for several years, and the drug developed in the process was what people called the ‘red pill.’
“The purpose of the drug was good.”
It was meant to help people escape a false reality and face the truth.
“People can't choose their sex at birth. The purpose was to help them find the gender that suited them.”
“No, wait a moment!”
As he listened, Vita felt that something was strange.
“Then are you saying that I'm better suited to being a woman…?”
No, there was no way.
“That can't be, right?”
He had spent his whole life steadily trying to become more manly. How could that possibly make sense?
“Listen first.”
At the gentle admonishment of the woman, Vita fell silent for the moment.
“There are feminine men, and there are women who are the opposite. It happens sometimes, though rarely. In cases like these, wouldn't it be right to give people the chance to choose? That was the purpose of the research.”
As the study of magic gradually advanced and society became more technologically developed,
things that had been impossible in the past sometimes came to pass.
“Well, anyway. I thought the purpose was good, but…”
However, before the drug had been commercialized, a problem occurred during the clinical trial stage.
A single dose of the drug had leaked out.
They were still investigating how it had leaked, but they did not know the cause.
After learning the whole truth, Vita was left speechless.
Then why had it been that one?
His luck was unbelievably terrible.
“I can go back, right…?”
At Vita's dazed question, the doctor mercifully gave a slight nod.
“It'll take some time, but you can go back. I promise we'll take full responsibility and compensate you.”
How irresponsible.
But the drug had originally only been administered to volunteers, so there was not much he could say.
“It's confusing, isn't it…?”
Suddenly, Vita's hand was clasped in a soft hand.
“Y-yes?!”
The touch was so soft that Vita became flustered, and the beautiful doctor said,
“I know very well, too.”
Vita did not understand why she said she knew very well, but it was not comforting in the slightest.
***
[I'll be sure to contact you. Once the preparations are complete.]
He had learned the whole truth.
And, incredibly fortunately, he could return. From Vita's perspective, it was practically the best possible outcome.
But after returning, Vita fell into a panic.
‘No, that can't be.’
‘The “red pill” supposedly works according to the user's inclinations.’
If his inclination had been closer to that of a man, absolutely nothing would have happened.
The real problem was this.
-Eek, really?!
-Hmm, of course. It doesn't have that kind of effect…?
Vita's question had been about physical arousal—whether the drug had any aphrodisiac effects.
After hearing the doctor's conclusion, who had pondered it very seriously, Vita realized the truth.
In other words,
he had indulged in the act purely of his own will, without any outside influence or effect.
That was impossible.
That act—the embarrassing, lewd act in which a man and woman shared their bodies—he had indulged in it of his own free will.
“I'm crazy…”
Vita despaired in that moment.
Truly, from the bottom of his heart.
-Your body is totally lewd. And very sensitive.
The bastard had been right. This body was hopelessly lewd and far too sensitive.
It was simply that he found it too difficult to accept that truth.
“Ngh… ugh.”
Vita groaned for a long time before cautiously opening his phone.
-Are you okay, sunbae?
He had been in a panic, so it was not strange that a worried text had arrived.
And Carlisle Schultz had also
sent him quite a few messages.
-How's your body?
-Should I stop by today too?
-I'm going to my part-time job, so tell me if you need anything.
Please stop contacting me.
Vita stared at the phone screen with a flushed face before abruptly closing it. Then he grabbed and tugged at his hair.
“No, I can't, I can't.”
Because he could not accept it.
His mind was too confused, and after repeating those words over and over, he eventually fell asleep. He was suffering from severe mental fatigue, and his physical condition was no better.
He slept deeply, unaware of the world, though he flailed around when Carlisle appeared in his dream.
And at the same time.
“Aren't you sleeping, miss?”
“Yeah, I should. I'm nervous for some reason.”
Due to health-related circumstances, she would be attending the academy for the first time this semester tomorrow.
Vita Shamal's unrequited love, and the female student who liked Carlisle.
Emily Swan was lying in bed.
She was looking at her phone.