Why I Became a Girl

Chapter 6 - Difficulty Spike

I stepped into the cafe and glanced around. A girl at a circular table with two other girls waved at me. I went over and joined them.

"I guess I'm last, huh?" I said as I sat down.

"We all came early."

I glanced around at the girls. We all more or less had the same age. I'd seen pictures, but seeing them in real life was a bit different.

First, I examined Minami. She intrigued me the most. She was the very first swap — meaning, she had Kaeru's original body, and Kaeru's original name was Minami. She had originally been a lonely child, her parents working constantly. Kaeru had been born into a busy household with a stay-at-home mom and two siblings. Minami loved having all the familial love after the swap, but I wondered how she kept it a secret.

Next, Fuyuko, Minami's original body. She loved the empty home she swapped into. She played various instruments, and being able to practise at home without bothering anyone made her happy. She had the most subdued style of all the girls.

The chain continued on to Yuka, Fuyuko's original body. She came directly before me. Yuka had an extremely traditional beauty, similar to Natsue. It suited her quite a bit, the foreigner who wanted to fit in more. After the first two swaps, Kaeru picked up on the pattern and started preparing for them. Yuka had a fit body thanks to that, just like me.

Then there was me, Kiyumi, in Yuka's original body.

With all the swapping, things were hard to keep track of. I tried not to think too much about the past and focused on who they were in the present.

Everyone went to different schools, aside from Minami and Fuyuko. For the others, Kaeru had chosen a relatively far-off place to attend before the swap. The less people around who knew her, the less trouble the body's new inhabitant would face.

As we exchanged greetings, I ordered some strawberry crepes and an iced coffee. We spoke in code whenever we touched on topics related to swapping, in case anyone was eavesdropping. The following conversation has been translated for convenience.

"You seem to be adjusting well," Minami said. "If I didn't know you used to be a boy, I wouldn't notice."

"My friend keeps drilling in how to act," I replied. "She has a lot of fun teasing me."

"I wonder how Kaeru's adjusting to being a boy," Fuyuko said.

"It's gotta be way easier, right?" Yuka said. "What do you even need to learn to be a boy?"

"Hiding erections?" Fuyuko offered.

I agreed with Yuka. "I'm sure it's a hundred times easier to go from being a girl to being a guy."

"Have you found anything you like about being a girl?" Minami asked. "Any possible reason why you became one?"

I shook my head. "Not really, but there's still a lot to learn, I think. Like, I didn't even touch makeup until yesterday."

"Do you think Kaeru will be a girl again after her next swap?" Fuyuko asked the others.

"Maybe she'll swap with an animal," Minami suggested. "If she becomes a frog, she'll really be Kaeru."

"Don't jinx it," I said.

Though people considered me a girl after the swap, they also still considered Kaeru a girl, even though she had a boy's body. My swap was permanent, but hers might not be. She didn't have to fully commit into being a boy, and from what I'd heard, Kaeru preferred being female.

With that in mind, I said, "I hope she goes back to being a girl. It's what she likes, and I want her to end up happy after it all."

"If she does swap in university, will it be her last swap?" Yuka asked.