So, if you've been keeping up with The Curse, The Curse 2 and The Unfortunate Experiences of Mike Cross, you'll notice a little universe there what with like a billion crossovers (Funky Rock in the Back Yard is also a part of said universe, but no crossovers there yet). Here's another tale set in that universe that I hope you'll enjoy.

This was inspired by the webcomics Happy But Dead and Building 12. If you've read those, you may see what I'm talking about.

~o~O~o~

“Yeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaah!” Harry shouted in my ear. I glared at him for a second, then went right back to playing Resident Evil 7. “C’mon, Kyo, this is gonna be great!”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah. I moved all the way from Japan specifically to live in a dorm with only four other people.”

He plopped down on the couch beside me. “At least one of ‘em’s Kimmy,” he said, turning his head to stare at Kimmy, who was unloading some of her stuff in the dorm lounge. She was definitely something to look at, but I wasn’t just gonna stare at her like Harry was.

I sighed and turned back to the game. The controller's battery was starting to die. I grabbed the charger cable and plugged it in, then got back to slaughtering fungus monsters in an old house in Louisiana.

Kimmy walked over to the couch and dropped onto it on the other side of me from Harry. “Ooh! There's a repair kit for the broken shotgun in this room.”

I turned to her. “But I like this shotgun,” I said.

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” She ruffled up my hair. It was getting kinda long, I should have gotten a haircut before I left Kyoto. People had already jokingly called me a girl. Even guys with longer hair than me. “Billy and Nigel are gonna get here at two, where’d you say you're gonna be?”

I grabbed my soda can and took a drink. “Campus science lab,” I answered. “Extra money for the semester to show up and take a harmless flu shot.”

“Dude,” Harry said as he grabbed the controller out of my hands, “that is really stupid. You’re puttin’ your life in some quack’s hands for a quick buck! Did you learn nothing about the US before you came here? Everything's a scam!”

I smacked him in the back of the head. “I looked the guy up, dumbass.” I took another drink. “He’s not shady at all, and the flu shot’s been specifically designed to have a placebo effect. You go in, get a shot, you don't end up with flu symptoms at all.”

Kimmy said, “That still sounds kinda iffy. You want somebody there with you?”

I shook my head. “I’ll be fine. Besides, a spare thousand just to spend on me? I’m jumping at that.”

“Dude. A thousand. This guy's payin’ you a thousand just to take a shot that doesn’t do anything? Sign me up for that.”

Kimmy smacked him on the back of the head now. “Shut it, doofus! It's bad enough the impressionable foreigner is falling for this.”

I laughed, then stood up. “Whatever. Be back in a couple hours.”

“Why’s it take so long?” she asked.

“Just a couple post-injection tests, but there has to be a fifteen minute incubation period.” I grabbed my dorm key off the coffee table. “See ya later.”

“I get half the grand!” Harry shouted after me.

---

I splashed some water on my face in the science lab restroom. Still had about twenty minutes until my appointment at one and now the doubts were kicking in. Like, were Harry and Kimmy right? Was I just a naive idiot for agreeing to this? If those two weren't the best (only) friends I had in the US, I wouldn't even be considering this.

But Kimmy’s folks had paid my immigration fees and Harry gave me a place to live until we decided to rent the last free dorm on campus together. They were all I had and their words meant a lot to me.

I stowed my reservations away, however. I’d agreed to this and so I was gonna do it. What was the worst that could happen? I get a little flu just before school started? I could live with that.

“Ah, Mr. Mitsubishi,” Dr. Falkner said as I walked into the room. It wasn't the first time he’d screwed up my name.

“Mizushima,” I corrected, “but I said you could just call me Kyo.”

He nodded. “Yes, yes, I’m sorry. Please,” he motioned to the chair in front of him. A simple school chair, I noticed. I guess too much manga made me think it would be an evil dentist’s office chair. I sat down in the chair and waited for the next step. “Good. Now take a deep breathe.”

“Why do I need to do that for a flu shot?”

He laughed nervously, which caught me off guard and made me miss it when he slipped the needle into my arm. I didn’t even feel him swab the area and before suddenly there was a stinging sensation in my arm. I scratched at it after the needle was removed, then he slapped a bandaid on it.

“There,” he said, “all done. Just wait here a little while, we’ll get the other tests and injections ready.”

“Other… Injections?”

He nodded. “Oh, yes, there are three other injections, all designed to affect a specific part of the immune system. When this is all done, you’ll be the healthiest young man on campus, Kyo.”

“And this is legal?”

“Perfectly,” he said through a cough. “Just wait here,” he repeated.

I sighed. Maybe this was a crock of shit just like Kimmy and Harry said.

---

Forty-five minutes and the three other injections later and I was more than exhausted. I trudged my way across campus back to the dorm almost as if I were wading through five feet of snow. My head was encased in a fog. My arms swung at my sides like dead tree limbs still attached by the smallest bit of bark. My feet were bricks.

When I got back to the dorm, I heard partying. That was when I remembered that Nigel Collins and Billy Denborough would have shown up. The other two people paying for the dorm rent that I hadn't met yet. Well, nobody had before today, but I was meeting them later than Harry and Kimmy.

“Wooooooooooo!” Harry screeched as I walked in. “Billy from Maine and Nigel from Crumpetland, meet Kyo Mizushima all the way from the land of the rising sun!” Harry was mildly drunk, which was to be expected. Sure, none of us were of legal US age to purchase or drink alcohol, but Harry was a harmless drunk, so his dad bought us beer every now and again. I was actually the crazy drunk.

Nigel was the closest to me. He wore his hair in a bowl cut that made him look like the ultimate Beatles fanboy. He wore a sweater vest and a pair of tan shorts, but something told me he didn't want to. My mom had picked out specific clothes for me to wear when I came to the US, it wouldn’t be a surprise if he’d suffered the same problem. Harry would tease him for it, that was all.

Billy was sitting on the couch upside down, with a pair of Cheetos stuck in his nostrils and a beer bottle in his hand. He didn’t look too drunk, but if he remembered what I looked like in the morning, I’d be surprised. He had a mess of dark, curly hair on his head that made him look like one of those short people in Lord of the Rings.

Kimmy was sitting on the couch beside Billy, but rightside up and somewhat more sober. Honestly, only Billy and Harry appeared to be drunk. Kimmy just looked buzzed and Nigel looked like was doing his best to avoid the beer. Maybe he was a light drinker and didn’t wanna pass out on his first day in the dorm. Maybe he was a nasty drunk and didn’t want us to see it. Either way, he seemed to be the best one to try and strike up a conversation with.

“So, you’re the other immigrant here,” he said. I didn’t remember where he told us he’d come from, but he sounded like one of those stuffy British people you always saw on TV. “No one bothers you about your accent, do they?”

I shook my head. “Not really. I spoke a lot of English back home whenever I was talking to people over Skype or a game. Sorta knocked my accent out of me.”

He nodded. “So I see. Or, hear, rather. How long have you lived here?”

“Not too long. Last semester of high school, is all.” I laughed. “Still wore my uniform a couple weeks before I got used to just wearing street clothes. The US is a lot more loose than Japan is.” I took a drink. The beer was helping to clear out the fog, but only by replacing it with mild intoxication.

Harry slapped me on the back, which ached thanks to the shots. “You shoulda seen Kyo the first few weeks. Girls kept trying to get him to Engrish everything up!”

I laughed nervously, this time. “Yeah. They kept telling me they thought it was sexy. It didn’t work.” I took another drink, this one almost in shame.

“He coulda got with some hot girls, though. The only one he’s ever gone out with is Kimmy over there.” He pointed, Kimmy waved. I just rolled my eyes.

“Yeah, here, I had girlfriends in Japan.”

Nigel said, “I dated a Japanese girl, once. It didn’t last long. She decided my brother was the better of the two of us. I don't stay home when she's there.”

Harry slapped Nigel on the back now. “Don’t have ta worry about ‘er now.” He emptied a fresh beer bottle. “You’re here now and by the end of the term, we'll all have girlfriends!”

Kimmy shouted, “Except for me!”

Harry nodded. “Right, right, she’ll have a boyfriend.”

As Harry, Nigel and Kimmy started to laugh (and Billy started to do something incoherent thanks to the Cheetos), I started to feel queasy. I hadn’t even finished one beer, so I knew it was because of the injections.

“I’mma go pass out on my bed,” I said, handing my beer to Nigel. I stumbled down the hallway to my room, suddenly grateful that I’d picked one of the rooms on the ground floor.

I shut my door behind me and nearly collapsed onto my bed. I was too weak to even take my clothes off. The room was spinning, but that could have been the alcohol. All I could manage to do was grab the blanket and pull it over my arm. It took no time for me fall unconscious.

---

There were voices in the hallway. I could make out what they were saying, but not who they were. Probably still zonked out on the injections. I still wasn’t strong enough to get up, or even to move my limbs. Everything felt like jelly. They were still talking, and then my door opened.

“Dude, Kyo’s got a girl in his bed,” one of them said. The voice sounded deeper than anything a human could make, but that was probably just me. I think it was Harry.

“Is Kyo the British one or the girl?” another voice asked. By process of elimination based on what they asked, I assumed that was Billy. His voice sounded unnaturally high pitched, but the one time I’d spoken to him on Skype, he sounded like a normal northeastern US resident. “Or… Wait, that’s the Japanese guy, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Why’s there a girl in his bed?”

“I dunno, but she’s hot.”

“Where’s he at?”

“I heard water running down the hall, he’s probably in the shower.”

Another voice entered the conversation, this one sounded like a wounded chipmunk on drugs. “What are you two doing looking in Kyo’s room?”

“There’s a girl in his bed,” the one I thought was Harry answered.

“What?! Where’s Kyo?”

“In the shower.”

“No, he’s not. I was just in there, and I think I woulda noticed.”

“Then that would… Mean…”

A fourth voice came in. “What the bloody hell is everyone standing outside Kyo’s room for?” The bloody hell told me that was Nigel, even though he sounded like a rusty nail being dragged along a chalkboard. “Why is there a girl in Kyo’s bed?”

---

I was poked and prodded by everyone, but mostly by Kimmy, who was still wearing a towel wrapped around her chest. Apparently, one of her friends randomly swapping gender from male to female was weird enough to prompt immediate action. Granted, why she was poking and prodding me, I didn’t know. Just touching me wasn’t gonna tell any of us why I had suddenly swapped gender from male to female, especially since I already knew the why.

If it wasn’t those injections, I was gonna be very confused.

On the upside, I was still wearing the shirt and jeans I came home in (the day before; I’d slept approximately seventeen hours), so nobody was seeing me naked or anything. Didn’t stop Harry from staring, but I couldn’t help that. I’d probably stare. I’d probably take my shirt off and examine myself if nobody was in here.

Not for “Ooh, I have boobs now, gotta touch!” purposes. The idea of fondling myself was in no way appealing to me right now. I didn’t want to touch anything that was new on me, I wanted to change back, but I wouldn’t be able to do that until I went to talk to Dr. Falkner again.

Billy wasn’t poking me so much as he was poking around my room, but that was mostly because he was checking out my anime collection. At some point, I’d have to tell him they wouldn’t work in his US DVD player, but that could wait.

Nigel was leaning in the doorway, also staring at me. I wondered which one of them was already picturing me naked, but the answer was probably Harry. He had probably already been doing that when he saw me in bed. Again, I could not blame him.

From what I could see in my mirror, I was nothing exceptional to look at. If I was back home in Japan, I’d be just another face in the crowd, just another girl in a nation among many. I could see a slight resemblance to my mom, but other than that, I looked absurdly generic. My new boobs weren’t outrageously large, my face wasn’t exactly pretty, I just looked like the female twin I didn’t have.

“Can you stop now?” I asked Kimmy, who was trying to force my left eye open further than it could be. “I wanna get outta here and go talk to that doctor.”

She grabbed me by the face. “I have to study this,” she said, almost robotically.

“This is extremely uncomfortable,” I said, as much as I could with her keeping my face neutral.

Harry pulled Kimmy away from me. “C’mon, Kimmy, he’s gotta get going.”

“What did you do yesterday?” Nigel asked.

“Experimental flu shot,” I answered.

“Oooh, I had a cousin who did that,” Billy said, “grew an extra nipple.”

Thanks to the mirror, I could see the frightened look on my face. “Well, I don’t have any extra nipples…” I scratched at my shoulder. “I think…”

Harry asked, “Can I check?”

Kimmy and I both shouted, “No!” One of us was suddenly glad the other one was female, and I’m not sure if it was me or her.

I stood up. There was a tiny bit of a balance difference, but it wasn’t difficult to compensate. I remembered from high school that girls had a lower center of gravity than guys did. The wider hips were a little weird, and of course the sensation of jiggling breasts hanging from my chest was 100% new. With any luck, I’d go talk to Dr. Falkner, get whatever I needed to get changed back, and be rid of all this within a day.

Without luck, I’d sue his ass and venture down a path toward coming to terms with womanhood. Not quite a win-win, but at least there didn’t seem to be any lose in there anywhere. Not immediately, anyway.

“You wait on me,” Kimmy said, “I’m going with you this time.”

“Yeah, I’ll go, too,” Harry almost squealed. “He’ll probably change you back if you’ve got friends with ya.” He turned to Nigel and Billy. “You guys coming, too?”

“Whoa, wait a minute,” I said, doing the almost universal slow down motion, “you guys don’t all need to come.”

Nigel shrugged. “Not like I’ve got anything better to do.”

Billy added, “Besides, I could watch your ass all day long.”

Kimmy glared at him, and her look was pretty much mirrored on my face.

---

“Now, now, Miss Mitsubishi,” Dr. Falkner said.

“Mizushima,” I corrected again. “Look, why is this permanent and why wasn’t it listed as a side effect?!”

Dr. Falkner handed me a clipboard with the paper I’d signed yesterday. He then pointed at a line on the paper. “There.”

The subject, ________, where I had signed my name, is completely aware that an unexpected and permanent change of gender is the topmost side effect, having occurred in 98.2% of all rat tests.

I looked up from the clipboard. “I don’t remember that being on there!”

He patted me on the shoulder. “Now, now, Miss Mizushima,” he said it right that time, “the paper didn’t change, and that’s your signature.” I wanted to punch him for being right. “This was accounted for in your payment.”

Harry asked, “A grand for growing a pair of boobs? Granted, that does seem like most girls pay for boobs as opposed to getting paid for them.”

I turned to him and growled. I sounded like a monster. I turned back to Dr. Falkner, who shook his head. “Again, Miss Mizushima, it appears you didn’t read the whole of the waiver.” He pointed to another line on the paper.

Due to the (relatively) minor chance of gender change, the subject will instead be paid three times the standard $1000 (one thousand dollar) amount.

“Relatively minor? How in the hell is ninety-eight percent minor?!”

Nigel was fiddling with some beakers by one of the tables. “That does seem a rather… Inaccurate reading of the situation.”

Billy took the clipboard from me. “Lemme take a look at this,” he said, after grabbing it. He then added, “My dad’s a lawyer.”

Kimmy put her arm around me for comfort, like my mom used to do when I was a kid. It wasn’t hurting, exactly, but it still seemed kinda weird. I wasn’t exactly in any discomfort anymore than I was outrageously pissed off at myself for not having read the waiver, even though this seemed to be working in my favor.

Still, I woulda thought a 98% chance of becoming the opposite gender would have at least entered the conversation before I was handed the waiver.

Billy handed the waiver back. “Sorry, Kyo, it’s airtight.”

Dr. Falkner nodded. “Adjustment will take a little time, Miss Mizushima, but you seem to have a good pile of friends to help you. You’ll receive your check in a couple days. Now, if you’ll excuse me, the university would rather I get my equipment out of their lab as soon as possible.” His gaze fell upon Nigel. “Stop that!” Nigel set the beaker down. “That’s an experimental cure for blindness, please don’t mishandle it!”

Harry started laughing. Kimmy smacked him in the back of the head.

---

I dropped onto the couch back at the dorm and sighed. “So. I’m a girl for good, I’ve got three thousand dollars coming and classes start tomorrow. Somebody tell me what to do next.”

Billy sat down beside me and turned on his Xbox. “Get your ass kicked on Halo 5?”

I glared at him. “I suck at Halo.”

He nervously pulled the controller away. I didn’t even notice him putting it in my hand. “I didn’t know that.”

I sighed. “I know. I’m just… Yeah. I don’t play Xbox back home.”

Harry sat on the other side of me and put his arm around me. Not in any flirty or romantic way, but like I was still his gaming buddy. That was nice of him. “I’m going to suggest that you get your ass kicked on Halo 5. C’mon! We’ll make a drinking game out of it! Remember when we did that with Undertale? You kept making friends with the monsters, and I had to drink every time I killed one!”

“Dude, you’ve beaten Undertale?” Billy asked.

“No, Kyo did. Well, on the no-kill route. I killed everything.”

I shouted, “I’m not getting my ass kicked on Halo 5!” Harry and Billy both recoiled in surprise and scooted to the very edges of the couch. I dunno if it was just because I was smaller than I used to be, but I now realized we had a much larger couch than I thought we did. The five of us could actually sit on the couch with a little room to spare.

Nigel held up a game case. “Halo 4?” he asked.

I stood up. “I’m just gonna lock myself in my room for awhile. You guys do what you wanna do.” I walked past Kimmy, who hadn’t said anything since we got home. She watched me walk into my room with a disappointed look on her face, and I couldn’t tell who she was more disappointed in: Them, or me.

~o~O~o~

My door opened and closed, but I wasn’t looking at who did it. It wasn’t long before Kimmy came into view and answered the question anyway. She opened my curtains, exposing the room to the sunlight of midday outside. I covered my head with my blanket and turned back around to face the door.

“Nope, you don’t get to do that,” she said, pulling the blanket off of me and forcing me to sit up. My hair flipped around me, only bringing to mind that people made fun of me for my long hair when I was a guy, now it looked normal. “Get your sorry ass up, we’re going shopping.”

“Why?” I asked. That voice still wasn’t something I was used to. Granted, I’d only been hearing it for two hours.

“Because you need new clothes and a distraction.” She pulled one of my unopened cardboard boxes in front of me and sat down. “Now let’s get going.”

I yawned. “I’m already a girl, I don’t wanna be a crossdresser.”

She didn’t look amused. “You’re a girl, so you wouldn’t be crossdressing. You’re basically crossdressing by wearing boy clothes.”

I groaned. “Okay, fine, I’ll buy clothes. But nothing outwardly feminine. I’m physically a girl, but I’m still mentally a guy.”

She smiled. “Fine. Nothing outwardly feminine.”

---

“I should have known you’d do this,” I said. The bra she was making me try on was bright pink with lacy edges. The good thing about it was that I didn’t have to reach behind me to put it on, it was velcro in the front. It felt weird to have something holding my boobs in place, but it was at least comfortable. “There, how do I look?” I asked.

She nodded approvingly. “Now I just need to go find you some panties to go with it, and you’ll be golden.”

I grabbed her by the arm. “Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaait just a second there…” I made sure she was nowhere near the changing room door. “Underwear is underwear, I don’t need panties when my briefs fit just fine.”

She glared at me. “You’re getting panties and that’s final. Your clothes won’t fit right over briefs.”

I sighed. She wasn’t going to give up. She hadn’t given up since we got to the mall. At first, it was just shoes. Nothing too girly, though she’d tried to get me to try on high heels, which I avoided like the plague. Then it was a jewelry store, where I touched and looked at nothing, then it was the lingerie store.

I let go of her. “Fine. But if most of what we buy here today is pink, I’m stealing your underwear because I know it’s mostly black and red.”

She let out a pbft noise. “Please, a lot of the stuff I wanna get you is blue, you’ll be fine.”

“Why does that not comfort me?”

She just smiled and slipped out of the changing room. I sat down on the seat in the back and looked at the reflection of the girl in the pink bra and boy jeans. I woulda been nervous to talk to this girl, but then I was generally nervous around girls. Back home, I could talk to them, but dates were few and far between. In the US, I’d gone out with Kimmy exactly once, and had been completely dateless since because talking to American girls seemed… Harder… Than talking to Japanese girls.

I leaned back, thrusting my chest out further than I’d intended. I remembered seeing girls do that, arch their backs, in most of the hentai I… Borrowed back home. They typically did it to turn a guy on, or something, most certainly not what I was doing. The idea of being alone in a small room with a guy was in no way appealing to me.

Just the fact that I lived with three guys kinda creeped me out. I knew Harry wouldn't make any unwanted advances, and Nigel seemed to be turned off from Asian girls, but Billy was an unknown quantity. He didn’t seem bad, though.

I sighed away the thoughts. The guys were trying to help me, not take advantage of me. Though I was honestly very happy they were back at the dorm and nowhere near me. I had no idea how I’d take that.

Kimmy walked in with the panties to match the bra and a smile on her face that scared me more than anything I knew in this world. “Off with the pants.”

I rolled my eyes. “If I didn’t know you were straight, I’d think you were getting off on this.” i wiggled my pants off. It felt so very different wearing guy jeans now, like almost everything else. I blamed my bigger ass. “Who am I kidding, you are getting off on this, aren't you?”

She shrugged. “A little. I grew up with four brothers, I didn’t have a sister to do this with.”

“A doll didn't cut it for you?” I asked as I pulled my briefs off.

“You wouldn't believe how hard it was to put a sundress on a GI Joe “

I jabbed the air with my finger. “Nowhere near as hard as it’ll be to get a sundress on me, so don’t try.”

She laughed. “Don’t worry. You’ll ease yourself into dresses, like I did. I didn’t wear my first dress until I was twelve.”

I pulled the panties on. They felt… Weird. Cotton for girls seemed lighter and softer than cotton for boys. Either that or my skin was more sensitive. Or both. Actually, probably both. The image in the mirror of the girl wearing nothing but her underwear sighed.

I went to pull the underwear off, but Kimmy stopped me. “Nope, just lemme take the tags and pay for those. Best to let your breasts get used to a bra, seeing as you're gonna want to keep wearing one.” She reached down and picked up the briefs I’d been wearing. “And I’m gonna throw these out.”

I sighed yet again, probably the thousandth time in ten minutes. It was disturbing how different all this was. How was I ever going to adjust to being female?

---

“How well do they fit?” Kimmy asked.

I stepped out of the changing room. The shorts felt weird, but they were tiny. “I thought we agreed on nothing outwardly feminine?”

She shrugged. “No choice there. Girl shorts always emphasize our butts and our legs. Same with pants.”

I looked at myself in the mirror by the dressing rooms. My ass was the last thing I wanted to emphasize right now, but I had to admit that if the girl in the mirror wasn't me, I’d probably be staring at that ass every time I saw it. I turned and looked at a different angle. “Is this the last pair of shorts you want me to try?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I think we're done with clothes for right now. You’ve got a pretty good wardrobe now, really.”

Pretty good didn't begin to cover it. I didn't exactly have too many clothes, but I had more types of clothes than I did before. Luckily for me, even the things that I thought would look too girly, like the blouses I was forced to buy, were very plain and androgynous. My regular tee shirts actually looked more feminine, or at least emphasized the feminine parts of me.

I didn't relish tossing out most of my clothes when we got back to the dorm. I could hang on to the majority of my shirts. They'd be big on me, but not uncomfortable. My old pants, however, would have to go. I wondered if any of the guys would want my old clothes. I wondered what they were doing now.

“Hey, Kyo,” Billy said.

“Hey, Billy,” I responded. Then my brain kicked into gear. “What the hell are you doing here?!” I semi-squealed.

He shrugged. “We got bored of playing Call of Duty, so we came here.”

“We?!”

“Yo! Kyo!” Harry shouted as he made himself known. “Ooh, you look adorable in those shorts,” he said. I wanted to smack him, but I held off. We weren’t exactly the only ones in the store and odds were good if I hit him, we’d be kicked out or at least be the subject of interest from the rest of the people around. I didn’t see Nigel right away, but I was certain he was there, too. “Where’d Kimmy go? To try on a matching outfit?”

I facepalmed. “I would hurt you if I thought it would make me feel better.” I handed the both of them a couple bags each. “Make yourselves useful and carry the bags.”

Billy laughed. “Wow. We just got here and we’re being ordered around by the girls.”

I glared at him. So help me, if my life was an anime, my eyes would be solid white half circles tilted at an angle with dot pupils and a dark shadow would be covering my face. Odds are good my face probably looked like that now anyway, really. “Look, it's… Only sorta my fault that I needed to buy all new clothes, so please shut yer yap about it.”

He ruffled my hair. “I’m just playin’ with ya.” He looked around. “Where’s… Kimmy?”

Harry smacked him on the head. “Yeah, her name is Kimmy, and she’s clearly… Somewhere.” Harry looked at me. “Where is Kimmy, anyway?”

I shrugged. “I dunno. She was just here.”

As if on cue, she came out from around a rack of clothes, holding a pair of dresses by the hangers in one hand and picking through more with the other. She didn’t even look like she realized we were still here. I rolled my eyes. It would be just like her to do that.

I walked over to her and grabbed the dresses she was holding. “These are for you, right?”

She laughed. “Duh. I know better than to try and force you into a dress.” Something told me she wanted to add for now to the end of that. “You almost ready?”

I rolled my eyes. “I’ve been ready. You’re the one poking through dresses.”

Harry put his arm around me. I wanted ti punch him. “C’mon, Kimmy, we’ve gotta go pick up Nigel before he does something stupid.”

She asked, “Okay, when did you get here and what's Nigel doing?”

“Like five minutes ago, when Billy showed me his secret hole into the changing rooms. Saw this hot brunette babe getting changed into some tight shorts.” He looked down at me and realized that I must have been the girl he was talking about, because he took his arm off of me and stepped to the side. “And Nigel’s uptown, standing on the roof of the Ford dealership pretending to be a jumper.”

Kimmy’s eyes widened. “What the fuck, Harry?!”

“Hey, I told him that was optional and would only get him five extra bucks. He was only supposed to be up there shouting British obscenities.”

I smacked him in the back of the head with Kimmy’s purse after I grabbed it from her. “There are no words for how stupid that was.”

“I didn’t tell him to jump!”

“Just shut up and let’s go get him,” Kimmy said. “We may need a new fourth roommate.”

“He’s not gonna die, don’t worry.”

“I was talking about killing you.”

---

The police had been called to the dealership by the time we got there. I tried to make myself as inconspicuous as possible, tried to make sure nobody saw me. On the one hand, there were dozens of people out watching the whole thing. On the other hand, I didn't recognize most of them, so I thought it was generally okay.

Nigel was being hauled into a cop car when we made our way through the crowd. I was pretty sure somebody fondled my ass during our crowd walk, but I wouldn't have been able to tell who or even if, seeing as the amount of people there would have led to a lot of unwanted ass touching.

“Oh, hi, guys,” Nigel said, sounding as friendly as a Brit normally would. “Thirteen hundred and I walk free today.”

The cop turned to us - to me, specifically - and asked, “Is this young man your responsibility?”

I sighed. “He’s our roommate.”

The cop nodded. “He’s getting off with a slap on the wrist for now, but a second time and he goes in a cage.”

Harry asked, “What was the thirteen hundred for, then?”

The cop uncuffed Nigel. “Damages to the Ford dealership storefront.”

I looked over at the building and saw exactly what he was talking about. There was a section of glass broken out, looked like a car had gone through. “That's only thirteen hundred dollars?” I asked.

Nigel answered, “That's my portion. The driver who ran into the building trying to break my fall has to pay the rest.”

I turned to Harry and glared. “He’s in the country a day and you damn near get him killed.”

He raised a finger. “I said optional.”

Kimmy said, “You did that to Kyo when h-she moved here, too, remember?”

I had completely forgotten about that, mostly because it was intensely stupid and nothing really happened. All Harry had asked me to do was wear a sign on the front lawn of the high school with “Will work for Fruity Pebbles” written on it. Honestly, it had been pretty funny and I had been the one to come up with the Fruity Pebbles part. We had both been drunk at the time.

“That was nowhere near this bad,” I said.

“I’m interested in what happened there,” Billy piped in, suddenly getting out of the car.

“Later, right now we just should go before Harry tries to talk another one of us into doing something stupid.”

---

I was sitting in the center of the couch. Nigel to my left. Kimmy to my right. Billy and Harry playing foosball behind us. And Nigel was just plain kicking my ass on splitscreen Star Wars Battlefront. He was the Empire, I was the Rebels, I was losing horribly on some tropical beach planet.

“C’mon, Rebel scum!” he shouted. I pulled away from him, because he was damn near shouting straight in my ear. I did my damnedest to get him, but I wasn't exactly succeeding.

A ping pong ball suddenly flew over my head. I glanced back and saw that Harry and Billy had switched from foosball to ping pong at some point. I sighed and turned back to see that Nigel had taken me out yet again. Regenerating health didn't seem to matter when he was wiping the floor with me.

“Ugh!” I groaned. “How the hell are you so good at this?!”

He smiled. “Practice, love.”

I jabbed a finger at him. “No ‘love’ crap, even if it is just a British term for ‘member of the opposite sex’.”

He backed away a little. “Sorry, just slipped out is all.”

“I know, I know, just make sure it doesn't again.” I grabbed the controller I’d apparently dropped at some point (probably when the ‘love’ comment happened, because Kimmy was stifling giggles) and got back to getting my ass thoroughly kicked. Granted, I’d never been great at first person shooters, but apparently I was worse than I thought I was.

After about my two hundred fourteenth death, I just handed the controller to Kimmy, who proceeded to kick Nigel’s ass. I got up and walked over to Harry and Billy, who had switched from ping pong to pool. When we moved in, I didn’t think we’d have enough room for all three tables, but Harry had proved me wrong and the lounge had basically become our all-purpose game room.

I grabbed one of the other pool sticks and just stood off to the side. I wasn’t going to jump in, I’d wait until their game was finished and challenge the winner. It looked like Billy was doing better, but Harry had a lot of open balls he could get.

Harry knocked the six ball into the corner. “While we were at the mall, I heard about this lake party going on across town. Anybody wanna go?” he asked.

“Why?” Kimmy asked. “Just so you can see Kyo and me in bikinis?”

Billy laughed. “That’s one upside.”

“For you,” I added. “I’m not parading around in underwear.”

“It’s not underwear,” Harry said.

“It only covers exactly what my bra and panties do, it’s basically underwear!” I covered my breasts with my arms. “You have no idea what it’s like to have guys stare at these.”

“I’m with Kyo on that part!” Kimmy called out.

“Still,” Harry said as he sank another ball into the pocket, “hot day, lake’s the closest thing we have to a beach in this town, it could be fun. Besides, I know from having overheard it myself, there’s going to be a strip poker game going on. Plenty for the guys and the girls to look at.”

“How do you know that?” I asked.

“The guy I talked to at the mall… Lou Gehrig, or some shit like that.”

“Lucas,” Billy corrected.

“Lucas, like I said. Says he’s handling the strip poker game personally.”

I shook my head. “You guys can go, I’m staying here where I can prepare for tomorrow without having to worry about anybody staring at me.” Almost as if to tempt fate, I saw a reflection in the window of Billy staring at my ass. “You guys staring at me is still creepy, but understandable.”

I saw Billy’s reflection move away. “Nobody was staring.”

Kimy laughed. “I wasn’t even looking back there, and I could tell you were staring at her.”

“What’s your first class?” Nigel asked, finally joining the conversation.

“Gymnastics.”

Kimmy almost literally jumped up from the couch. “You never said anything about that!”

I recoiled slightly. “You’ve known for like four months that I was gonna try to do gymnastics and programming.”

“Gymnastics and programming?” Billy asked.

Kimmy ignored him. “I’ve had a lot of things on my mind! You should have reminded me when we were shopping earlier! You have nothing gymnastics ready!”

I recoiled further away. “Is there specific stuff?”

“Yes! Sports bras, athletic shorts, athletic tops! There are many things we need to buy you, now!”

I think my left eye twitched a little. “Do we have to do this now?” I asked in a tiny voice.

“Dude, I’m totally going with to see Kyo trying on workout clothes,” Harry said.

“I’m coming,” Billy added.

“I don’t have anything better to do,” Nigel responded.

“Then it’s settled, we go!” Kimmy shouted, grabbing me by the arm. We were out the door before I even had a chance to say anything.

~o~O~o~

“Kyo Mizushima, eh?” the gymnastics trainer asked as I walked into the gym. “Didn’t your admissions paperwork list you as male?”

I laughed nervously. “That was a friend playing a joke on me. See, I’m still not great at the English writing part, so I asked this friend to fill out my paperwork, and she filled out male information because ‘Kyo’ is ambiguous in Japanese.” It was only a complete and total lie except for Kyo being unisex. I prayed it would work.

The trainer sighed. “Next time your friend wants to play a joke, make damned certain it's not on official documentation.”

I nodded. “Right.” I rubbed at my arm like a five year old. “Is everything in order?”

She nodded. “Get changed, exercises begin in ten minutes.”

I walked across the gymnasium to where the locker rooms were. After a brief second where I nearly walked into the boy's changing room, I found myself in the girl’s locker room, which was an experience. There were a dozen other girls there, all in various states of undress. None of them noticed me yet, which was comforting. I was just dead certain it would be obvious I used to be male.

I found a secluded part of the room and an unused locker. I’d changed in front of Kimmy, but these people were strangers, so I kept my distance. Luckily, it didn't take me too long to get changed. I’d already practiced in my room at the dorm, with the door locked and hopefully nobody putting holes in my walls to watch. No longer did I think women taking so long to get dressed was more than a sexist myth.

“Hi there,” a voice said. I pulled my shirt over my head and saw a little redhead girl with green eyes and a warm smile on her face. “I came around here to find a secluded spot. Guess you did, too?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Kinda shy around others.” I sat down and pulled my workout shorts on. “I’ll be done in a second.”

To my surprise, she was already taking off her clothes, despite my being shy. “It's okay, I’ll just turn around,” she said.

I sighed, then picked up my shoes and set them in the locker. The cement of the locker room was cold, but not uncomfortable. I walked out of the room back into the gymnasium and did my best to mentally prepare myself for doing exercises as a girl. Just what few I’d done since last night were odd, to say the least.

There weren't many male gymnasts there, only four compared to eight female. I wondered what the other girls in the locker room had been changing for, but then I realized they could just as easily be going for a jog after a class. I really needed to stop over thinking certain things.

I took my spot in the line up and waited for the trainer to get us started. Nobody else looked nervous, which made me think I was the odd one out. Was I destined to feel this way for the rest of my life? Would my parents just forget their lonely, sad dau -

Aaaaaaaand then I remembered that my parents didn't know they had a daughter. Great. Another thing to worry about for later.

“Alright, kids,” the trainer said as she walked up to all of us, “this will be the toughest course of your life, and none of you will make it to the Olympics.” That sounded like a challenge. “But I promise you, you will kick every other school’s ass when it comes to college gymnastics.”

Well, that sounded like a pep talk, somewhat. We each proceeded get started with flexibility exercises. Twists, stretches, it was like going to a Yoga class, but without all the zen stuff. I planned on spending the entire two hours of class doing just exercises, because I didn’t think I was ready for anything else. I watched others do the balance beam, or vaults, or mid-air spins with the trampoline.

The girl from the locker room finished up the uneven bars she was doing and landed on the floor beside me. “You just gonna do exercises?” she asked as she took a drink of water.

I shrugged. “I’m a little off-balance today,” I said. Not a total lie, which was becoming my mantra today. “I’ll probably get started with actual gymnastics tomorrow.” I wasn’t even the only one settling for exercising, either. There was a guy and a couple girls on the other side of the gym that were just exercising. Granted, if I didn’t know better, I’d say they were flirting as well, but I couldn’t tell. “Thanks for asking, though.”

She sat down beside me. “No problem.” She reached out for a handshake. “I’m Kristie.”

I shook her hand. “Kyo.”

“That’s a pretty name. Where are you from?”

“Japan. I moved her a few months ago and finished out high school here.”

“Your English is good. Like, really good.”

“I had a lot of American friends before I moved here, so I got used to it pretty quickly. Thanks.”

She started to mirror my exercises. “Sorry for being kinda pushy as far as talking to you. I just moved to town, and I don't know anybody except my cousin. And I got here so late this morning that I didn't have enough time to stop by his dorm and see if he had room for me to stay.”

I shook my head. “It's okay. I’m not as nervous around people outside the locker room. I’m actually kinda outgoing when not changing clothes.”

She sighed in relief. “Oh, thank God, I was worried you were getting annoyed with me.”

“Don’t worry.”

I heard a whistle blow and saw everyone getting up to return to their spots. I followed suit and stood on the spot I’d taken at the beginning of the period. The trainer walked up and nodded.

“Good first day. Wednesday, we start the real work. Just remember that today was the easy day.” She walked between all of us. “You’ll be pushed to your limits with this course, just know that. That's all for today, class dismissed.”

---

I sat down at a table in the food court and bit down into probably the best cheeseburger I’d ever tasted. I didn't actually think it was possible that a college cafeteria could have a better burger than Kimmy could make. (She really was an amazing cook.) I savored the taste of the juicy beef and the insanely fresh (like right out of the oven) bun. Then there was the Swiss cheese and the bacon and I figured I had a new place to eat whenever I was between classes.

I heard my text tone go off. I reached in my bag to grab it and respond just as the battery died. I thought I charged the damn thing, but I guess all the weird yesterday made me forget. I sighed. Well, whoever wanted to talk to me would have to wait until I got back to the dorm and plugged my phone in.

“D’ya mind if I sit here?” a voice asked. Why was I never paying attention to anything? I looked up from my tray and saw Allison Cross standing at the table. “I’m mostly trying to avoid being seen by my boyfriend and you picked an out-of-the-way table.”

I nodded. “Yeah, go ahead.”

She sat down and positioned her chair so that the wider food court had no sight of her. “Thanks. He was so great the other day, then I’m out with him last night and he’s a pain in the ass. The only fun part about it was tricking my sister into admitting she had a crush on a guy.”

Funny, when I met Allison at high school, she had a younger brother and no sisters. Then again, we’d only ever really talked during slow classes or at lunch, much like we were doing now.

Come to think of it, she probably didn't even realize who I was. “Um… This is gonna sound weird, but, you probably don't recognize me from high school.”

She had a mouthful of french fries. “No, but I don't remember a lot of people from high school.”

“My name’s Kyo, I was a mid-semester transfer student.”

She sort of stopped doing anything mid-bite of the sub she’d bought. “Kyo the Japanese kid who beat everybody at Call of Duty multiplayer at the end of school party?” she asked through a mouthful of food.

“I didn't beat everybody,” I said. “Harry kicked my ass in the second round.”

“Weren't you a boy?”

“Uh… Yeah.”

She gave me a thumbs up. “Welcome to the better side of the gender fence.” She crammed more fries into her mouth. “My brother made that journey when he got possessed by a succubus.”

“I guess that explains why I didn't remember you having any - ” Her words finally made it to the hamster turning my brain wheel “Wait, what?!”

She nodded. “That’s a whole… A whole story, though. What happened with you?”

“Poor ability to read a liability waiver and an experimental shot.”

“Wow. Did they pay you at least?”

I nodded. “Check should come in a couple days.”

“Cool.” She took a sio from the soda she was drinking. “Got a boyfriend?”

I felt myself blush. “Uh, no. I don't honestly know if I like guys.”

“Do you like girls?”

I shook my head. “I don't really feel attracted to either gender right now.”

“Make sense.”

I sighed. “Yeah. Sense.” I took a slow bite of my cheeseburger. “So, does guys becoming girls happen a lot to people you know?”

She gulped down another bite of sub. “Only a couple times. Once, I helped this guy become a girl. She's a lot happier now.”

“Helped?”

She nodded. “I’m a magical girl. It's not generally looked upon fondly to help people that way, but my order didn't say no.”

“A magical girl? Like straight out of anime, transformation sequences and everything?”

She nodded. “Yup.”

“Could you help me turn back into a boy?”

She shook her head. “If you were changed by Earthly means, then your magical aura is still that of a male, even if you look female.”

“I don't just look it, I’m genetically female now.”

She took a sip of soda. “Yeah, but your aura is still male because you were changed by science instead of magic. I could change your aura to female, but the only way I know how to do that is to rewrite your whole past.” She munched down on her sub again. “Why don’t you ask the people who changed you to change you back?”

“Didn't seem like an option, what with the waiver and all.” Come to think of it, I really hadn't even asked. I felt like an idiot now. “So, there's nothing science can do except give me equipment that doesn't work, and nothing magic can do except make it so that the people who remember me as a boy forget the boy and remember the girl.”

“Sounds like it,” she said through a mouthful of my cheeseburger. I didn't know or care when she grabbed it, the whole thing was just getting me depressed. I had the fries still, at least. “You gonna be okay?” she asked.

I sighed. “I can't say I outright hate being a girl, but I’m not fond of how I got myself in this situation.”

“Are you crazy unhappy with being a girl, or just indifferent? I know bras were kinda a big deal for Mikey, but she's also pretty big.”

I shrugged. “More indifferent, really. I’m still me, and my friends all treat me the same, even if Harry wants to see me in a bikini.”

“Ugh… He sounds creepy. Why don’t I remember him?”

“I remember one time he tried to hit on you at lunch and you decked him with a right hook.”

“Ooh! Him! I actually do remember him.” She scratched the back of her head. “Is he single?”

I sighed.

---

I dropped my bag off in my room and plugged my phone in. Still not enough battery to read that text I got earlier, but that wouldn't take long. After changing into my “lounge around the dorm” clothes of a pair of tight shorts that Kimmy forced me to try on and a red tee shirt, I opened my curtains and looked outside. This school was absurdly peaceful.

I walked out into the lounge, where Billy was playing Halo 5. He looked very into it. “Hey, Kyo,” was all he said. Oh well, nothing about my clothes was a good thing.

I sat down on the couch next to him. I’d played a Halo game exactly once when I pirated a copy of the first one years ago to see what a friend of mine was so excited about. I didn't see any real problems with it, but I wasn't that impressed by it, either. It looked terribly generic. I liked Marathon though, by the same developer. That was a decent game.

“You wanna play?” he asked, holding out the controller. “I don't mind.”

I shook my head. “Nah. I’m kinda tired from all my exercises today.”

He went back to playing. “You get a text from Harry earlier?”

“I got a text, but I didn't know who from. What did he say?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. I didn't read it, that's why I asked.”

I rolled my eyes. That just made sense. I got up and walked into the kitchen. I grabbed a bag of popcorn and let the microwave do its work. When I had a bag of buttery goodness done, I poured it in a bowl and walked back to the lounge. Every few seconds, Billy would reach into the bowl and take some, then he’d get back to shooting aliens.

Kimmy came home an hour after I did, changed into her own lounging clothes and plopped down beside me for some popcorn. I’d made at least three bags since the first one. I was hungry, Billy was hungry, Kimmy seemed to be hungry. At least we all ate popcorn, because I didn't want to make anything else.

Nigel sauntered downstairs from his room. He looked like he’d been sleeping. “Is that for anyone?” he asked. I held the bowl out for him to take some. He then sat down on the floor in front of the couch so he didn't have to reach around anybody.

An hour after Kimmy got home, Harry walked into the room. “Hey, why are you guys just sitting around, we’re like fifteen minutes away from dinner!”

There was a collective, “Wha?”

He sighed. “Dinner, my cousin, did none of you read my text?”

Me: “My battery died.”

Nigel: “I was asleep.”

Billy: “I ignored it.”

Kimmy: “I was in class.”

Harry groaned. “C’mon! This is important! My cousin's moving in with us because she couldn't get housing registered in time and we have like fourteen extra rooms.”

Nigel asked, “Why are there so many extra rooms? Was this just a superfluous building?”

Kimmy shook her head. “No, my dad bought the building and we get free reign of it so long as we pay rent.”

“So do I give my rent money to you then?”

“Guys!” Harry shouted. “Enough with the rent, just get your asses ready for a nice meal at Outback Steakhouse.” And then he shut the door behind him.

I set the popcorn bowl on the coffee table. “I guess I’ll get dressed.”

Kimmy got up after me. “Ooh, I want you to try something and this is the perfect opportunity.”

“You're not gonna make me wear a dress, are you?”

---

It wasn’t a dress, it was a skirt. It was a skirt and a tank top. I didn’t look ridiculous, but I felt weird. “Why am I doing this again?” I asked as I put on a pair of sandals. That was my choice, at least. Actually, so was the tank top. The skirt almost reached my knees. “It’s just a cousin of Harry’s, why do I need to wear a skirt?”

Kimmy gave me a sideways glance. “Because why not?”

“Because I was a boy a couple days ago and this feels weird?”

“I had you try on skirts at the store yesterday, how is this weird now?”

“I tried on one skirt yesterday, and it was under protest, remember?”

She nodded. “Yeah, but still. That skirt was shorter than this one, too.”

“Don’t remind me.” I fluffed my hair a little bit. “Have you ever met this cousin of Harry’s that’s apparently moving in with us?”

“I think I met her once. I don’t remember much about her, other than she’s more normal than Harry is, but so is everybody else.”

“You overestimate Billy and Nigel.”

She giggled. “Already separating yourself from the boys, huh?”

I blushed. “I… Sorta. I was never as goofy as those guys can get. And I still don’t feel like I belong to the female crowd.”

She giggled some more. “Keep your legs together while you wear a skirt, you belong more than some of the sluts in my creative writing class.” She shuddered. “So help me, I swear every guy had his eyes on a girl’s chest instead of his own paper.” And then she added, “And none of the girls they were staring at was me.”

I giggled this time. Probably the first time I’d actually giggled. “So, you’re jealous of girls who flaunt themselves to guys when you won’t?”

She groaned. “I know, it’s stupid and embarrassing and believe me, I’m glad you’re not a guy anymore, because then I’d have nobody to talk to about this.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Huh? You talked to me about plenty of stuff before. And to Harry.”

She nodded. “Yeah, but how many other girls do you see me hanging out with? Back in high school, there was a joke going around the locker room about which one of you two I had in my mouth and which one was doing me from behind.”

Oh… Wow… “Girls were really saying that about you?”

She sat down on my bed. “It’s not like I wasn’t expecting it, or anything. When you hang around a couple guys, there’s obviously gonna be locker room gossip about you. Hell, I’m guilty of spreading some myself.” She brought one leg up and hugged it to her chest. “It never really got to me, but it also kinda did.”

I sat down beside her. “So, me being stupid and not reading a liability waiver… Gave you the female friend you wanted?”

She shook her head. “Not wanted no. It gave me the female friend I needed. I grew up with brothers, my mom was the only other girl in the house, so I didn’t have much in the way of female companionship growing up. I talked to other girls, but they were never quick to befriend me for anything other than my dad’s money.” She laughed. “That’s the worst part of being a rich girl, even though my dad never wanted to flaunt our wealth, everybody knew anyway.”

I put my arm around her. “Sorry.”

“For what?”

“For everything you’ve had to deal with.”

“Please, you went from guy to girl thanks to a medical experiment, I have nothing on that.” She returned the embrace. “But it’s kinda nice having a girlfriend to talk to, y’know?”

Because my mind had to take me there, I asked, “You mean that in the friendship way, not the romantic way, right?”

“Duh! As close as we are, boys are always the better partner in bed. I’m not against lesbians or anything, but I could never do that. If somebody’s grabbing my boobs or my ass, I’d rather it be a guy.” She pulled away. “Wait, you don’t mean in the romantic way, do you?”

I shook my head. “No. I was talking to Allie Cross earlier, neither gender is all that appealing to me right now. I’ll deal with dating when the time comes.”

There was a bang on my door. “Stop being girls and get your asses out here!” Harry shouted. “We’re five minutes late!”

I sighed. “Yay, my first public showing in a skirt, this sounds so exciting,” I said with obvious sarcasm.

---

Nobody said anything as I walked around in a skirt. Good. I was certain my moments of being worried about people thinking I was a crossdresser weren’t behind me entirely, but I was at least getting used to going out in public in girl clothes. Granted, like sixty percent of the trip was in Harry’s car, but still.

I’d been to Outback Steakhouse exactly once, and it was exactly how I remembered it. Wood everywhere. Wooden seats, wooden tables, wooden this, wooden that. All of us followed Harry to where we were gonna sit, and my eyes nearly burst out of my skull in shock.

“Billy, Kimmy, Nigel, Kyo; this is my cousin Kristie. Kristie, the British guy is Nigel, the doof with the curly brown hair is Billy, the girl in the tan vest is Kimmy and the girl in the tank top is Kyo.”

Kristie - the girl I met in my gymnastics class, Kristie - stood up. “Hi. Kyo and I have met before, though. We had gymnastics together.”