Why I Became a Girl

Chapter 4 - Shopping Trip

The four of us gathered in the nearby shopping mall.

I'd seen Amana's casual outfits before, and I was obviously familiar with Rin's, but Natsue's were new and unexpected. She wore ripped jeans and a baggy hoodie over a graphic tee, completely different from my image of her.

Amana rubbed her chin while appraising me, then nodded. "Very cute."

I wondered if I was supposed to be happy about being cute. I didn't do anything to achieve it. All the credit went to Kaeru. She prepared the body, clothes, and hair.

The two girls dragged me to a clothing store.

"We'll both pick two outfits for you," Amana explained. "Then, you can pick one for each of us!"

"I don't think I'd be very good at picking outfits," I replied.

"Then, you can give us an idea, and we'll pick clothes to fit it."

"Hmm."

What sort of clothes did I want to see them in? For Amana, I'd pick something very different from her usual style. For Natsue, I didn't really care that much. It was harder to decide.

"Let's go!" Natsue said, taking Amana's hand and heading into the store.

I sighed and strolled towards the changing rooms to wait. Rin joined the girls in looking through clothes.

Amana returned first. She handed me folded clothes with a wide-brimmed sun hat on top. "I have to see you in a dress!"

"Do you really?" I asked before stepping into the changing room.

Obviously, I had never worn a dress before. It had a zipper in the back. After stripping and pulling it on, I did my best to zip it, but could only get it halfway.

"I bet she picked this knowing this would happen."

I opened the door and peeked out. "You have to help me zip it."

Amana happily joined me in the changing room. She brushed my hair out of the way and finished zipping the dress.

"They make special tools for this," Amana explained, brushing my hair with her fingers and putting the hat on my head. "Hmm, I think it'll look better if you take off your socks. This sort of thing should be worn with bare feet and sandals!"

I obediently took my socks off, but didn't have sandals. I turned and admired myself in the mirror.

The dress was loose and airy, with summery colours. Mainly yellow, with some browns and whites. The hat matched.

Amana lifted my wrist. "Put a hand on the hat. Yeah! Imagine there's a strong wind ruffling your dress and tossing your hair and you need to hold your hat down. Picture yourself at the edge of a river getting your feet wet. Ah, a beautiful scene!"

If I thought of it not as myself, but as a different girl, then I could agree. I still had some sort of mental block with "this girl" being "me." How could this beautiful girl be me?

Amana tugged on my arm. "Let's show the others!"

We stepped out of the changing room. I kept my hand on the hat and looked at the waiting Natsue.

"So this is your taste, Amana," Natsue said, glancing over my body and making me self-conscious. "I've never seen this kind of Kiyumi. Very interesting."

My gaze turned to one of mistrust. She had started dating Kaeru when Kaeru was Kiyumi. Did she still feel lust towards this body? "Stay loyal."

Natsue laughed. "You don't have to worry about that! Here."