Gun Princess Royale - Book 3 - Princess of the City (web version)

Chapter 3 - Part II

– II –

I returned to my bed...no, to Ronin Kassius's bed...kicked off my sandals, and then slipped under the covers.

After tapping the bedside lamp to turn it off, I lay in darkness, exhausted and hollow as I looked up at the indistinct ceiling.

And sometime later, I fell asleep.

When I woke up, slivers of morning light intruded into the room around the edges of the curtain drawn across the window wall that separated the enclosed balcony from the apartment.

Without needing to look at the clock on the bedside table, I knew the time was seven fifteen in the morning. That was thanks to Mirai's wetware.

I wonder if I can use it like a daily planner?

Lying on my back, and this time regarding the grey ceiling above me, I realized that I'd never thought much about Mirai's wetware beyond its capacity to interface with weaponry. I knew now that Ghost could use it to project himself into my senses, namely my hearing and vision, allowing him to interact with me on a more human level. But what else could I do with it? That is, what other special talents did the wetware possess?

And what hidden talents did I possess?

Lifting an arm before me, I turned it over slowly and thought of the Angel Fibers running through my body.

Can I do more than sprout wings?

I dropped my arm down across my belly under the sheets, and noticed they were still neatly spread over me, indicating a distinct lack of tossing and turning.

I guess Mirai is a heavy sleeper.

Or maybe I was so tired that I literally slept like a log.

On the other hand, considering the twin peaks on my chest, I doubted Mirai could sleep on anything but her back, so other positions were not an option for her.

Shaking my head in annoyance at the aforementioned constraints imposed upon me by her huge bust, I then began to wonder what the day held in store for me.

How long before Erina or the Cat Princess discovered I was here and broke down the door?

But what would come after that?

I was aware of what I was doing – looking ahead so as not to dwell in the past. Was I running away from accepting the truth? No. I had for the most part acknowledged there was no going back to my life as Ronin Kassius. And yet, as I lay on Ronin's bed, in Ronin's apartment, a place that was decorated with purchased tributes to his – and my – goddess, I began to ponder life after Mirai.

What if I asked Erina to make a male body for me?

The possibility was enticing in subversive way, but as soon as I entertained it, I felt an unpleasant emptiness within me.

It was hollow sensation that I understood well because there was a precedent for what I was contemplating.

Clarisol val Sanreal.

Even if Erina made a male body for me, only a copy of my mind would occupy it.

I would still be stuck inside Mirai, and my copy would need to adjust to being male.

Erina had said it wasn't possibly to superimpose my neural map onto a male brain after spending so much time adapting to Mirai's female brain, so there was the likelihood that my copy would suffer from gender dysphoria or perhaps behavioral disorders.

And yet...

I frowned to myself.

...why haven't I suffered from gender dysphoria?