There’s a word—NEET.
It’s generally treated as a synonym for hikikomori, but in reality, there’s an age restriction. Believe it or not, it’s a “profession” limited to ages 15 to 34.
Let’s say, hypothetically, I commit some kind of crime. Or I get caught up in some incident. According to my official records, I’m currently 14. I don’t attend middle school. In other words, I’m not a student. And I don’t even qualify as a NEET. Which means, if my name were ever to flash across the news ticker, it would read:
“—Unemployed, Tachibana Yuri-san—”
…Not funny. Okay, yeah, it’d probably say “unemployed” even if I were a NEET. But the fact that I’m even thinking about something this stupid just shows how much free time I have.
People say a student preparing for entrance exams should focus on studying—which is perfectly reasonable—but the thing is, I can’t even take proper breaks. I might look like a middle schooler, but since I don’t have Japanese citizenship, I can’t attend one. I became a girl, but if I go around saying “I’m actually Yuuji Tachibana,” I’d be blowing the cover on my carefully forged documents. That means I can’t even hang out with old friends.
If I carelessly go outside to play, it’s obvious I’ll get picked up by the cops (actually, I was once), so wandering around during weekday afternoons is out of the question. And maybe it’s because I’m a girl now, but shounen manga just doesn’t seem as fun anymore. Or maybe it’s because I’ve had way stranger experiences than manga could ever depict? Either way, after those life-or-death days, every cliché battle manga just feels so hollow. So manga has stopped being proper entertainment too.
Basically—I’m bored.
That’s when Ryou-nee made some dumb joke like, “Well then, why not say you’re helping with housework?” And so, I job-changed from unemployed to household helper.
Well, I’ve got free time anyway, and someone’s gotta do the chores on rotation...
Here’s what a weekday in mid-December looks like for me:
5:30 AM
The sun isn’t even up yet, but I’m on breakfast duty, so I have no choice but to get up. Back when I was a guy, I could sleep in a bit longer, but girls apparently have a lot more stuff to do in the morning. I kind of miss the days when all I had to do was wash my face and brush my teeth.
6:30 AM
I go to wake up Ryou-nee. Not because I want to—but because if she doesn’t get up, breakfast won’t get cleaned up.
“Come on, Ryou-nee. Wake up. It’s morning.”
Even when I call out to her, she’s still completely lost in her dreams.
Back when I was her younger brother, she used to wake up right away. But now that I’m her little sister, she’s like this. Sigh… Another illusion of mine crumbles today.
Up until five months ago, I looked up to Ryou-nee. Honestly, I think I worshipped her.
At just 14 years old, she became the de facto mother of us three much younger kids—then aged 11, 8, and 5—took care of us, handled cooking, laundry, cleaning, the whole household, and still managed to keep her grades up and get into a prestigious high school. Even after entering high school, she balanced academics and housework like some kind of superhuman.
On top of that (though I admit I was biased as her little brother), she’s beautiful, kind, and has a fantastic figure. If someone told me God made her while saying, “This is my ultimate onee-chan creation,” I would’ve believed it.
She’s got her flaws, but even those I thought were just part of her charm. That’s how deep my siscon was. But ever since I came back from the other world five months ago, that illusion has slowly started to fall apart.
First, her room got messy. Not like “you can’t even step inside” messy, or trash everywhere. But before, even though she worked hard behind the scenes, she kept all her girly tools—like beauty products and fashion mags—hidden. Her makeup was always perfectly put away too. Recently though, while the lids are at least closed, some things are just left out here and there.
One time I found a pile of underwear that she brought in from the laundry but didn’t even fold—just dumped there. I honestly doubted my eyes.
I wondered if something was wrong with her, but according to Hina: “Ryou-nee’s always been kind of sloppy.” Apparently, she just kept up appearances for the sake of her younger brother. Well yeah, not exactly a great influence otherwise. But if you’re going to fake it, at least let me keep dreaming to the end...
“Ryou-nee. You’re gonna be late for university. Come on, get up.”
I boldly rip off the covers. And there she is, in all her disheveled glory. Not naked, of course—just regular pajamas—but still, pajamas, so pretty thin. With nothing padded or enhanced, that natural curve… I might’ve gotten flustered in the past, but now? My only thought is: Wow, impressive.
“Geez, it’s cold.”
Ryou-nee grumbles as she slowly sits up. Back in the day, she used to greet me with a bright “Good morning, Yuuji” first thing.
“Yeah, yeah. It’s December. Winter. It’s cold. You’re up now. Don’t go back to sleep, okay?”
I turn on my heel and quickly leave the room to preserve what’s left of my respect for her. But—
“Wait.”
Ryou-nee hugs me from behind just as she speaks. What now…?
“Your hair’s nicely brushed, and your skincare’s spot on too. Have you finally developed some passable girl habits?”
She murmurs while touching my hair and cheeks. Seriously…
“I only do it ‘cause it’s annoying when you nag… fuhyahaha—”
“Oh dear, is this the bad mouth that says such unladylike things?”
She pinches my cheek and pulls.
“Hohoheha honha hohoha hiho?” (Is this room girly?)
Even with my cheek stretched, I still try to protest.
“Of course it is. You still have a lot to learn about being a girl.”
My protests go ignored, and she lets go like I’m the one at fault for not understanding.
“Oh, right. I forgot. Good morning, Yuri. Thanks for waking me up.”
With a casual hug and that enchanting onee-chan fragrance I never smelled when I was a guy, she thanks me.
“…Ryou-nee. You’re messing with me, aren’t you?”
“Of course.”
The eldest sister heads cheerfully toward the sink. The fourth daughter (me) lets out a sigh. I glance at the clock—6:35. Five minutes today. Not bad.
Next, I headed to Hina’s room. Since light was leaking out from under her door, it meant she was awake, but if I didn’t go and wake her properly, things would get annoying later. So I knocked and waited for a reply before entering. As soon as I stepped inside, the first thing she said was: “Good morning, Yuu-chan,”—with a beaming smile.
“Good morning, Hina-nee.”
She hugged me tightly. It’s something I endure, because if I don’t let her do it now, it’ll just be more troublesome later.
“Still, Yuu-chan, haven’t you gotten super cute all of a sudden lately?”
“Are you trying to insult me?”
Hina suddenly claimed I’d gotten cuter. But still, I’m a guy. That doesn’t make me happy in the slightest. Well, maybe I should take it as a sign that my grooming has reached a level acceptable from a girl’s perspective?
“But you know, no matter how good your appearance is, what really matters is this.”
Saying that, (I) lift and show the part that's about the first letter of the alphabet in size.
“Ehhhhh…”
Hina protested, but I was absolutely confident I was right about this.
“Hina-nee, listen closely. Speaking from the perspective of a former guy: to a man, stuff like fine skin texture or long, upward-curling lashes really doesn’t matter that much. Also, expecting us to notice subtle changes in hairstyle? Impossible. What truly matters is the chest. No exceptions.”
After becoming a girl and getting trained by Hina-nee and the others, I was made painfully aware of how much effort women put into beauty. The driving force behind that effort is probably wanting to be attractive to men, but let me be blunt: demand and supply are completely mismatched.
“You’re so brutally honest…”
Hina chuckled wryly at me that morning. Now that I think about it, we never used to have conversations like this when I was still a guy.
“No, we didn’t. Yuu-nii didn’t pay much attention to grooming, and since you were a boy, we just assumed that’s how it was and didn’t say anything.”
“Honestly, like 80% of guys don’t care much about grooming beyond the bare minimum.”
Even guys don’t go around wearing worn-out shirts, but unlike girls, they don’t worry about things like shaving body hair. They don’t bother. The smooth, beautiful legs of middle and high school girls are the result of serious effort. Now I fully understand that.
For breakfast today, I made a hot sandwich stuffed with boiled eggs, lettuce, cheese, and bacon, along with a triple-bean salad using chickpeas, red kidney beans, and green peas. For dessert, I prepared a yogurt-banana mix.
As for drinks, our family style (excluding Dad) is that everyone makes their own.
It was just before 7 a.m. Ryou-nee leaves before 7:30, and Hina heads out shortly after 7:30, so we can’t take too much time enjoying breakfast—but we’re not in a rush either. With the TV news playing in the background, we made small talk until Dad sluggishly came down.
Bad timing.
“Yo. Morning.”
“Morning. Dad, I’m heading out now.”
“Good morning, Dad. Yuu-chan, I’m going too.”
See? This always happens. I’m not gonna complain about how adults live their lives, but if he just woke up 30 minutes earlier, he could have had an actual conversation with Ryou-nee and Hina.
As he sulked over being ignored, I gave him coffee. Dad always starts his day with black coffee. When he finished his first cup, I brought out the salad. Around halfway through that, the hot sandwich was ready. Dad’s now the only man in the house, and his portions are the biggest. I served him a slightly larger hot sandwich than the ones I made for Ryou-nee and Hina. Once he’d settled in a bit, I brought out dessert.
“Hey, Yuuji. You really are Yuuji, right? Your kitchen skills are so polished, it’s scary.”
He couldn’t help but sigh.
“Come on, Dad. It’s been ten years since Mom died, you know? Did you think Ryou-nee did all the housework by herself for ten years? We all pitched in. Any of us could do this much.”
Cooking isn’t just for women, seriously... Though, I guess Dad was born in the Showa era.
Afterward, I sent Dad off to work with a handmade bento (since he's picky and won’t eat properly otherwise), and finished up the laundry I’d been doing during breakfast. I hate winter laundry. The water is freezing, and the clothes fresh out of the machine are icy cold. Still, I carefully hang them up so they don’t wrinkle. Moms who do this all the time are seriously amazing.
Next was cleaning the house. That part is actually fun.
Our house is oddly spacious for a family of five. Trying to clean the whole place in one go is a pain. But since I’ve now got days in a row where I can do housework, it’s a different story.
I stopped trying to clean every room in a single day and split the tasks by day. A little bit every day, planned and paced. Daily cleaning means there’s always some small change to notice, and it keeps things fresh.
Instead of waiting for dust to build up and going nuclear on the weekend, I now deal with the light, everyday dust. That means each session takes less time, and I have energy left to clean smaller, overlooked areas. I’m always discovering new “fields” of cleaning to explore.
After about two hours of cleaning fun, it was just past 10 a.m. I’d reached a good stopping point, so now it was time for entrance exam study.
Starting today, I’m working on prep for Kasumizaka High, my safety school. Basically, I’ll just be working through past exam papers.
Kasumizaka’s past exams are as tough as ever. Unlike public high schools, which use the same entrance exam for everyone regardless of academic ability, private schools can make their own, so difficulty varies. Still, Kasumizaka’s difficulty is ridiculous. Even when I took it three years ago, I only felt like I got half right. Still, I passed. Rumor has it that getting just over 30% correct is enough to pass on the waiting list.
…After solving a past paper and checking the answers, I was scoring about 40%. W-well, I guess I’ll cut myself some slack today.
It was just before 1 p.m. I warmed up the breakfast leftovers and the scraps from Dad’s bento prep to make myself a quick lunch. Long live solo meals. No one complains no matter how lazy I get with it.
Quick meals are easy to clean up too. From prep to clean-up took just 30 minutes, after which I moved on to my daily fitness check.
The place was the same athletic park where I did my summer fitness tests. After warming up, I did the same events as before. I can now consistently run the 100m in under 11 seconds. But I still can’t break the 2:50 barrier in the 1000m. For the long jump, I can sometimes break 7 meters.
Compared to my time in the other world, my physical abilities are laughably weak—but in this world, I’m already at a level where I could aim for the top globally.
Should I live my life as a female athlete? Apparently tennis is the most profitable sport for women, but while I may have outstanding physical abilities, I don’t have any technique. It’s not like I’m guaranteed to succeed. Besides, I’m not doing this for money.
This is purely an experiment. According to the research Ryou-nee did, I’m undeniably a human female, genetically speaking. And based on this physique, I shouldn’t be capable of producing such top-tier records. So I must be drawing on some kind of supernatural power. Most likely, it’s what that other world called touki—which, in this world, would be something like kung fu energy. In short—ki is real.
Q.E.D.
After wrapping up my ki verification, I returned home just after 3:30 p.m. It was time to bring in the now-dry laundry. I grumbled internally at being a former guy folding bras and panties, and before I knew it, it was past 4:30.
Hina would be getting home soon.
With that, my housework assistance time came to an end. Hina was in charge of dinner today. Until then, I’ll go back to being a student prepping for entrance exams.
"Yuu-chan, dinner's ready."
It was just before 8 PM. Dinner is usually ready around 7, so did she go all out with something fancy today?
As expected, the meal was quite impressive—no, this was feast-level. And even Ryou-nee and Dad, who aren’t always home, were here today.
"Hina-nee, is today some kind of special occasion?"
"...Yuu-chan, are you seriously asking that? Today’s your birthday."
"...I lost track of the date and didn’t realize. So it’s my birthday today, huh..."
In that case, which birthday are we celebrating? My actual age of 18? Or my registered age of 15?
"Wait a second! If it’s my birthday, then according to the Tachibana family rules, I should be exempt from housework for three days: the day before, the day of, and the day after!"
"Oh? Was there such a rule?"
Ryou-nee feigned ignorance.
"Well now, since Hina put so much effort into making this meal, let’s eat it before it gets cold."
Even Dad started ignoring me. I’m probably supposed to be the star of the day, right?
Despite being treated like that, I will clearly state: Hina’s cooking was excellent.
"This just doesn’t sit right with me—"
Even though it was my birthday, I was made to do housework. Sure, I have the most free time, so it’s the logical choice. But that’s not the point.
"It’s your fault for not noticing, Yuri."
Ryou-nee chuckled as I grumbled in the bath.
Women take longer baths—because there’s more to do. Here too, there were many struggles I never knew about when I was a guy. In this world—at least for women in Japan—everyone does this stuff. No wonder there are so many beautiful women.
Now that I think about it, people might assume "other world = beautiful people," but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. They just didn’t have the tools for beauty care over there.
In that world, sadly, there were plenty of women covered in grime, or with unkempt hair. Only nobles or wealthy merchants could afford to spend time and resources on their appearance. But even so, things like beauty serums are vastly superior in this world. That’s why there are more attractive women here. Reality didn’t match the fantasy.
By the way, unlike that summer long ago, I no longer receive detailed girl training. I’ve been deemed fully qualified now. That’s why even when I bathe alone, it takes a while, and before I realize it, I end up sharing the bath with Ryou-nee, who came in later.
Once I’m out of the bath, all that’s left is to go to bed—or so I’d like to say, but I’ll flip through my notes one last time to memorize a few things.
Today was just another normal day. Sure, it was my birthday, but otherwise it was nothing special. Before, I might have thought of it as a boring day, but not anymore. These kinds of days are precious in their own way.
At the very least, it’s far better than those days in the other world, where at sunrise I had to plan how to kill enemies, and at sunset, prepare for night raids.
I wonder... is that other world now enjoying peaceful, uneventful days like this too?
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