“Yuuji!”
The voice belonged to a young man. Someone I knew well. He’d gotten a lot taller, though. I actually had to look up at him…
Ah, right. It’s not that he got taller—it’s that I got smaller.
The guy continued to look at me, but his expression quickly clouded over.
“Hey, Yuuki. What’s with the sudden sprint?”
Another guy appeared behind him. Well, of course he wouldn’t have come alone.
“Sawada-kun, Satou-kun, this is sudden, but… Happy New Year.”
“Oh, uh—yeah. Happy New Year to you too.”
““““Happy New Year!””””
Ryou-nee greeted the two who had suddenly appeared, prompting both groups to return the New Year greetings in unison.
These two were friends I knew very well.
Sawada Yuuki
Satou Yuuta
We just happened to be in the same first grade class in elementary school, and all three of our names started with “Yuu.” That was enough to get us going. After nine years together through elementary and middle school, we became best friends. Even though we were in different clubs, we always hung out. And in the end, we all chose the same high school—Matsukou (Matsubara High for boys).
Naturally, we’d all been to each other’s houses, so our families knew one another by face and name. (Except for my dad, though.)
I’d never told my family I’d been going to another world, but I did once tell these two: “Hey, I’ve been going to another world every Sunday lately.” Of course, they completely brushed it off at the time.
“So, Sawada-kun—what’s going on?”
“Well, uh… just now I heard Mika-nee call out ‘Yuu’… and I thought that idiot might’ve come back…”
His face darkened immediately.
Actually, that “Yuu” was me, standing right in front of him—but there’s no way I could just say that. And even if I did, no way they’d believe me…
Sensing the awkward atmosphere, Yuuta jumped in to change the topic—but he dropped an even bigger bomb.
“So, who’s the foreign-looking girl here?”
“Ah… this girl, she’s kind of… part of our new family, or…”
Mika-nee hesitated. She recognized them, of course—they were familiar faces. It’s easy to lie to people you don’t know well, but trying to spin a story in front of someone who’s been around forever is hard. Still, we couldn’t exactly say nothing.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Tachibana Yuri. Um… I’m Tachibana-san’s daughter.”
“You’ve probably seen stuff on the news, right? About that Eastern European country where there was a military coup last year and they even changed the country’s name. Well, she was a war orphan there, and due to various circumstances… I adopted her.”
“Dad, you forgot the most important part. Yuuki-ni, Yuuta-ni—Yuu-chan is actually Dad’s secret love child.”
“Hina! Don’t go blurting that out! I don’t care, but think about how Yuri feels!”
…Sorry, Dad. But thanks to that, we could dodge the awkwardness with the whole “secret child” cover.
We kept talking after that, and apparently these two are still looking for me. Their New Year’s wish was literally “Please let us find Yuuji.” The guilt I felt hearing that was beyond words.
After we parted ways with Yuuki and the others, we headed to the shrine for our own hatsumōde. And then, on the way home in the car…
“Hey.”
“If you want to tell them, then tell them. Making it public would get messy, but telling a neighbor or two? That’s no big deal.”
Dad answered before I could even finish my question.
He was right. They’re my best friends.
The moment we got home, I pulled up my old social media account. Thank god, it was still active.
And for the first time in two and a half years, I typed:
[Yo. Long time no see, best friends. Let’s talk.]
New Year’s night was freezing. Yesterday there might’ve still been shrine-goers, but tonight, no sane person would be out walking around.
“Ugh, so cold…”
I’d bundled up like I was going into battle, but it still wasn’t enough. The sky was a brilliant sea of stars without a single cloud—but that also meant the wind was strong enough to blow the clouds away.
“It’s cold… and they’re late. Maybe I should just head home.”
I was the one who called them out to meet here, and I’d shown up a full thirty minutes early. Still, here I was grumbling like they were the ones being unreasonable.
The truth was—I was scared.
I mean, suddenly becoming a girl?
Think about it—what if someone you knew suddenly showed up cross-dressing, down to the underwear?
Yeah… it’d be weird.
Looking back honestly, the reason I kept it a secret from them for these past four months was because I was afraid they’d reject me.
Even with my family—if I’d already been independent and living on my own, maybe I wouldn’t have told them either.
“God, I suck. I’ve just been dragging my feet like this for four months, pretending everything’s fine while they kept worrying about me.”
They’re probably the only ones still looking for me after nearly three years. Everyone else has likely moved on, written me off as part of the past. Honestly, I’d have done the same if the roles were reversed.
That’s why this is my moment of atonement. Tonight, I’m going to apologize. Starting tomorrow—
“Hey! Yuuji, you here?”
“You’re late! I almost froze to death out here!”
The park I called them to was dark, but at least it had streetlights. For the first time in two and a half years, I stood before them again—this time, as myself. They looked confused, of course. I don’t blame them.
“Wait, weren’t you the girl we saw earlier today—?”
“Sorry about earlier. Yuuki, Yuuta—it’s me, even though I look like this now. I’m Yuuji.”
I cut off Yuuta and reintroduced myself.
“Eh? Seriously, you’re Yuuji??”
Yuuki looked like he had five question marks floating over his head.
“Yeah. It’s really me. Long story short, I spent the last couple years traveling to another world… and somehow turned into a girl.”
My explanation was absurdly vague, but Yuuta picked up on it immediately.
“Wait, is this about that thing? Back in first year of high school, right before Golden Week, when we were all talking about plans and you said, ‘I’m going to another world’—you were serious??”
“Wow, you actually remember that? Yeah, that was real. Except for the day we went to watch baseball together, I was in that world pretty much every day during Golden Week.”
“No way! You’re talking about that time when I told you, ‘April Fool’s is over, man’? That was for real?”
Man, I’ve gotta hand it to them—they really remembered something from over two and a half years ago.
I'm impressed.
"By the way, Yuuji, did you really turn into a girl?"
"Too bad I can't prove it by stripping, but yeah—it's real."
"You don’t have to strip, just let me touch your boobs a little!"
"Hah! I knew you'd say that. Go ahead and try it—I'll punch you for real."
"Nah, I don't think it would hurt even if you did hit me now."
"You shouldn’t underestimate me just because I’m small. In terms of strength, I’m stronger than before."
That’s probably true. Even though I’ve gotten weaker, I can still use touki (battle aura) in this world, which puts my physical ability above that of the average adult male. Just a little while ago, I tested my strength by princess-carrying my dad (who's just under 80 kilos), and it wasn’t difficult at all. That alone suggests I’m physically stronger than the old me.
"Yeah, but looking like that, it’s hard to believe."
"Wanna test it then?"
I pointed to a table nearby, part of the park's facilities—an arm-wrestling table. I took off my gloves and coat.
"All right, bring it on."
"Just so you know, I’m not gonna—"
"Huh? What’s wrong?"
"No, it’s just… your hand is really small and soft…"
"Shut up!"
But seriously, I really had gotten smaller. I used to be taller than these guys…
"Yuuta, be the judge."
"Got it. Ready... go!!"
Yuuki put in his strength—but as expected, it was nothing.
"Hah hah hah. Yuuki-kun, I don’t mind if you use both hands!"
"Don’t mock me! Watch this!"
He took the bait and used both hands... but I could still hold out. I let him mess around for a bit, but it was cold since I had taken off my coat. Time to end it.
"Ugh... I lost... to a little girl..."
"I’m not a little girl. I’ll be attending high school this April, so at least call me a teenage girl."
"Wait, you're going to high school? I mean, can you even go? What about your family registry and stuff?"
"Didn’t you listen earlier? Legally, I’m now Tachibana Yuri. According to the records, I just turned 15 last month. Nothing weird about me entering high school in April."
"How the hell did you get into the family registry?"
"Don’t say too much about it. I don’t really know how, but supposedly there’s enough genetic similarity with my dad—well, the Tachibana family—for it to be plausible I’m a secret child. The story is, I was born in Eastern Europe—the place Dad mentioned earlier—and was a war orphan without a family registry, having been a street kid."
"Isn’t that basically illegal?"
"Told you not to talk about it too much."
"Oh ho, so you’re letting us in on your secrets, huh? If you don’t want us spilling the beans—"
"You can tell, if you want. But it's actually in your best interest not to."
"Huh? What’s that supposed to mean?"
"It’s pretty simple. Genetically, I’m no longer the same person as Tachibana Yuuji. Legally and scientifically, I’m now recognized as a blood relative of the Tachibana family under the name Tachibana Yuri. Biologically, I’m fully female. The family registry is also officially acknowledged by international agencies. There’s no objective evidence anywhere that I’m the same person as Yuuji. So if you go around saying, 'That girl is actually Yuuji,' people are just gonna think you’re an idiot."
"...Yeah, fair enough."
It had been two and a half years. But those nine years together since elementary school tore down any awkwardness in no time.
When I asked half-jokingly if they thought I was gross now, they said stuff like, “Your obsessive data-nerd phase was grosser,” and “Pretty girls get a free pass.” I shouted at them to shut up and started swinging, and they whacked me right back without hesitation. It felt refreshing.
Before I knew it, we were deep in conversation.
They told me a lot about the past two years. I couldn’t help thinking how great it would’ve been if I could’ve gone to high school with them. But even if I had come back as the old Yuuji, we wouldn’t have gone to the same high school.
I, in turn, talked about how I first ended up in another world, how I couldn’t get back, and how I eventually returned here.
When I explained that the weird strength earlier came from fighting spirit, they asked me to teach them. I didn’t know if they could use it, but I gave them a crash course. They also seemed interested in magic.
"Hey Yuuji, try using magic for us."
"Didn’t you hear earlier? I only managed to do it once last August."
"From what I heard, you only tried it a few times in September through November, right? Come on, try it again—it’s been a while."
"I don’t think it’ll work, though…"
Even as I said that, I decided to give it a shot, just in case. First, I focused on my breathing. I could barely feel it in this world, but once I thought I’d gathered some energy...
"Gather, magical power—Light Source: Light!"
…
Whoa. It actually lit up, even if just for a moment. And it seemed a bit brighter than before. Yuuki and Yuuta's eyes went wide.
"Hey, Yuuji… was that…?"
"Yeah, magic. Hang on—lemme try again."
Somehow, the flow of energy had felt good just now.
Maybe...
"Gather, magical power—Light Source: Light!"
Same spell, but this time I imagined it being as bright as possible. And lo and behold—a dazzling flash, brief but bright enough to sting the eyes.
"Hey! I thought you couldn’t use magic?"
"That was the case. But somehow, today it worked."
"Why? Come on, Yuuji, you love this kind of analysis. Compare today with August. What’s different from the times magic didn’t work?"
What was it that let me use magic this time?
Outdoor setting? No, I tried that in November too.
Clothing? In August I wore light clothes; today I’m in heavy winter wear. Nope.
Weather, temperature, time of day? None seem relevant based on past attempts.
That leaves...
"...Hmm. Maybe it’s whether I’m on my period?"
It’s the fourth day, bleeding’s mostly stopped. That August day, it technically started at night, but still—close enough.
Just as I was thinking that, someone smacked me hard in the head. Hardest hit of the day—not joking, it really hurt.
"Are you freaking stupid?!"
"Yuuji, um, so… you’re really, uh… that."
Yeah... If I were still the me from five months ago, I’d probably react the same way. It’s been four cycles already, and our house is full of women, so I guess I got desensitized.
"That was totally my bad. Sorry. I mean, you know how it is—our house is like a girls-only zone."
At home, if Dad (or I when I was male) wasn’t around, it wasn’t weird to see pads flying through the air. I’ve even caught one that was tossed my way. I live with Ryo-nee and Hina, so I have a pretty good idea of their cycles based on bath times or underwear changes. So menstruation became just a normal thing—but man, familiarity really does dull the edge.
"I gotta say… you really did turn into a girl, huh?"
"Yeah. Not that I’m happy about it."
We kept talking about school plans and stuff until I noticed the date had changed. When I touched my cheeks, they were ice cold.
"It’s getting late. I’m gonna head home."
"Yeah, probably best. You do look like a girl now—shouldn’t stay out too long."
"See ya, Yuuji. 'Til next time."
"Yeah."
I turned my back and raised my hand in farewell.
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