After all, Dad and Mom should both be outside right now, hmm… probably dancing.
After that, Mom also sent a message through the contact app: “Heat up the food in the refrigerator yourself when you get home.”
It seems she won’t be coming back for a while.
“Is this also a classic ‘parents not at home’ setting…?”
Xiao Chun Miura let out a silent sigh of relief.
At least she didn’t have to immediately face the existence of “parents who are still strangers”.
Clumsily taking off the round-toed leather shoes she had never worn before, Xiao Chun Miura neatly placed them on the floor at the entrance.
Looking at the few pairs of indoor shoes left inside, judging by the sizes, hers was probably the smallest pair.
“……”
After staring at those shoes for several seconds, Xiao Chun Miura didn’t even know where the sense of immersion came from. She imitated the routine a high school girl would follow when returning home, completed each step properly, and only then stepped out from the entrance into the room.
She looked up and examined the space inside.
This unfamiliar home had a fairly simple interior, with a cream and reddish-brown color scheme and minimalist furniture. It gave off a fresh and comfortable feeling.
……
After finding the refrigerator in the kitchen, Xiao Chun Miura was surprised to discover that there was actually curry inside.
Having never eaten curry before, Xiao Chun Miura often found herself craving it in games whenever the protagonist ate curry rice, but she never thought her first taste of curry would happen under such circumstances.
Honestly, the taste was unexpectedly good.
As she brought the heated food to her mouth, savoring the taste and texture identical to real food, Xiao Chun Miura evaluated it in her mind.
……Once people start to rest, their thoughts become sluggish.
Even more so after a full meal.
“Too lazy to think about anything else.”
Lying on the sofa in the living room, Xiao Chun Miura used her arm to block the bright white incandescent lamp on the ceiling.
The upheavals of the past few hours left her with no energy to consider anything else.
Kanzaki Sou, Kondo Haruka, Game World, System, returning to Reality, Work, Salary…… these words kept swirling in her mind, making her head ache.
“……”
“I can’t take it anymore. I just want to get a good night’s sleep.”
Talking to herself in the empty living room, her long hair draped over the sofa cushion from her shoulders, Xiao Chun Miura lay quietly in this unfamiliar home.
For many days to come—at least about a year—she would have to live here.
No familiar friends.
No real family.
At that thought, Xiao Chun Miura unexpectedly felt her nose sting.
Her eyes grew hot, and by the time she realized, tears were already sliding down her cheeks.
This made her sit up without thinking.
“……”
“Time to take a bath and sleep.”
***
Walking along the corridor to the inner side of the first floor, Xiao Chun Miura found the location of the bathroom.
The layout was similar to a hotel: the washstand outside, a shower room separated by a door inside, and a fairly large bathtub at the deepest part.
This part was the same as in her previous life, and after the freshness of the past few hours faded, Xiao Chun Miura finally felt a long-lost sense of familiarity.
Several cups were lined up on the washstand, and toothbrushes and toothpaste stood in each one. Xiao Chun Miura only wanted to take a bath and didn’t plan to borrow the family’s toiletries.
However, as she passed the washstand, she couldn’t resist glancing at the mirror.
What appeared in the Mirror was a strange girl with round glasses and long, straight black hair.
Her hair fell over her shoulders, and from its neat length and smoothness, it was clear she took good care of it.
On that youthful face, dark brown pupils were set in gentle eye sockets, and her nose looked a bit high; although her chin was slightly round, her lips were small and cute.
Xiao Chun Miura stared blankly for a moment, then the girl’s face in the Mirror also turned a little red.
***
—So this is what I look like now?
Her eyes moved under her bangs, the plump apple cheeks beside her side hair turning rosy. The pitifully adorable appearance made Xiao Chun Miura’s gaze freeze.
“—So cute.”
She couldn’t help but sigh from the bottom of her heart.
She raised her hand and cautiously touched her cheek with her fingertip.
A feeling that could only be described as soft and tender.
Yet, as she rubbed, it felt even more delicate and smooth.
Xiao Chun Miura’s heart skipped a beat, a strange, indescribable sensation rising within her.
Now…she had really become a living girl.
Such an unreal thing, in the quiet solitude of this moment, became painfully clear and striking in Xiao Chun Miura’s mind.
Her gaze unconsciously drifted downward.
When she saw the curves beneath the shirt collar, already slightly formed and rising, Xiao Chun Miura couldn’t help but tense her throat.
She swallowed involuntarily.
“……Phew.”
Calm down.
This is my body now, that’s true…but still, forget it.
“Bath, bath.”
Better hurry up, finish bathing, and rest.
Muttering to herself, Xiao Chun Miura pulled her arm out of the Uniform Jacket sleeve.
However, when it came to the next step, her hands froze.
Bathing.
Meant taking off her clothes.
Taking off clothes meant getting naked—this was just a bit too…
Xiao Chun Miura pressed her lips tightly together, staring at the girl in the Mirror who was about to remove her shirt, her pupils trembling.
Her gaze kept drifting to the curves beneath the shirt, pressed up by her chest.
“……”
“No, no. The System might be monitoring the entire world——”
Not knowing who she was speaking to, Xiao Chun Miura suddenly muttered to herself.
But after more than ten seconds, there was no reaction to her words.
“System? I’m changing clothes, so you absolutely can’t peek, okay?”
Just like a real high school girl, Xiao Chun Miura tentatively spoke to the empty air.
This kind of behavior, as she would put it, was called a battle of wits with the Air.
More than ten seconds passed again, and there was still no response.
“……”
So Xiao Chun Miura silently pinched the buttons.
—I’m going to take a bath, not do anything else.
Bathing means taking off clothes. It’s only natural.
It’s not like I’m taking them off because I want to look, I have no choice if I want to bathe.
—And since I’ve become a girl, sooner or later I’ll have to look at my body.
Getting used to it early is best.
……To convince herself, Xiao Chun Miura found all sorts of excuses and decisively unbuttoned her collar.
Then the second, third buttons.
Almost at lightning speed, Xiao Chun Miura undid all the buttons on her shirt.
“……!”
Then, she stared at her reflection in the Mirror, motionless.
The girl’s trembling fingers in the Mirror were still pressed on the buttons, not moving away. From the edge of the shirt, a large expanse of pale skin was already visible.
The overhead light from the washstand illuminated the lines of the girl’s collarbone, faintly visible in the shadow beneath the neckline; and because of that shadow, the curves of her chest were also clearly outlined.
Xiao Chun Miura felt her breathing grow a little rapid.
Without even a moment’s thought, she subconsciously placed her hand on that raised shadow.
“……Oh my god.”
The unfamiliar fullness and surprising elasticity struck her fingertips at once, making her shrink her hand back as if hit by a weak electric current.
Her racing heart pounded wildly, almost jumping out of Xiao Chun Miura’s throat.
This is…a girl’s…
The sensation was too overwhelming, forcefully reminding her of what she had become.
—For a long time from now on, I’ll have to live with this body.
The thought flashed through her mind, and after a brief moment of shock, a huge wave of embarrassment drowned her, making Xiao Chun Miura let out a silent scream.
To think she’d get so excited over something like this… Xiao Chun Miura wished she could find a hole and crawl in.
She spun around and turned her back to the Mirror, covering her face with both hands, her cheeks so hot they could fry an egg.
No more.
She couldn’t keep focusing on this.
If it went on, things would definitely get even weirder. She really would lose control.
She didn’t even dare imagine what might happen then.
“Phew…phew…”
Taking deep, heavy breaths, Xiao Chun Miura, now deeply aware she was a girl, took a long while to calm down toward her own body.
“Better hurry up and take a bath to cool off……”