Chapter 15 - The Blossoms of Mecchen House (cont.)

I declined her offer and sat next to Jamie and Nathan, who were both slightly taller than me. I felt like such a kid at the adult table. Sumi still watched me though, with her hand resting on her chin and her richly-toned eyes lingering.

In my attention to Sumi, I didn’t notice until I looked over that Reiko was watching me as well. She was dressed in her school uniform already, the only one at the table so attired. Ms. Ishida set out the last of the food and plates with Nathan and Jamie’s help. Reiko looked over at Jamie. Jamie stared back and passed a plate to Reiko. She took the plate with a stiff motion but said nothing.

Ami gave me a look and said, “You sure shrank a lot. When did that happen?”

“When I went to Katsumi’s door.”

“Figures…”

Ms. Ishida sat and smiled around. After giving humble thanks, we ate. Nathan looked around at everyone eating. I smiled back at him, and he looked glad. Miki and Tara both gave him big smiles.

Miki told me, as Katsumi walked in wearing something loose and light, “Nice clothes.”

Katsumi smirked and gave a dramatic, “Well, thank you.”

“I was talking about what Kelly is wearing.”

“I know. See… those are my clothes as well. I picked them out.”

“In that case, you showed an incredible amount of restraint. I didn’t know you had it in you.”

Katsumi narrowed her eyes. “I am not completely obsessed with all things frilly and feminine.”

“Right, just making sure every boy in the vicinity is clad in such things.”

“Point?” She folded her arms and smacked her way onto the nearest chair.

“Just stating a fact. To review. You go on a spaz-out the moment they show up. You call that whole meeting of the House to get everyone to vote. You lose. You get them to agree to dress up pretty for you. You soften them up a lot and glue things onto them. You get your way in everything and yet, are you happy?”

“Of course not.”

“Why?”

“What is this even about? I’m not happy because none of this most recent stuff is my doing. I have my standards about boys turning into girls. They’re taking too long, and the changes are blink-and-you-miss-them. I saw this one shrink in front of my door, and it was like a sudden edit. Where’s the art in it? It’s a mechanical process.”

“You’d do it over?”

Katsumi laid her hands across the table. “I’d do it right. It’s like Nina told me once…”

“Your friend the so-called ‘demoness’, Nina?” Miki dipped into a bit of her egg.

Katsumi poked her fingernails into the table. “The one you all met. But as she said, it’s all about potentials. You three have the potential to be perfect little girls. Or blinking beauties. Or anything else…”

Miki chimed in again with, “That’s all you could come up with? Wow, are you losing your touch?”

I had to wonder if one of Miki’s sports was teasing Katsumi.

Katsumi’s fist closed on the table. “Point is these are plenty of potentials. But all this just feels like a machine trying to reproduce something. It annoys me. It’s one of the several things that annoy me…”

Miki grinned a bit. “Do tell…”

Katsumi didn’t elaborate but simply said, “And yet, I can't complain about the end result. But I could do it a lot better than these changes. I’d do it like a painting. If I ever meet the person or thing responsible for changing you three, then I’d give them a lesson or two in how to do it right.” A bit of air fluttered past my cheek.

Sumi smiled. “I love when you get fired up, muffin. And what’s that lovely smell I detect on you?”

Katsumi’s squirmed a bit in her seat. “Nothing. Just something new I was trying. Herbal soap stuff.”

Mami showed up at that moment, her flaming hair a set of damp embers, and held a box up to show. “Need I ask whose box for ‘Massive Melons - Bust Enhancement Soap’ this is?” She looked right at Katsumi, whose eyes were wide and face was the brightest shade of red. Sumi giggled and Jamie smirked.

Katsumi flailed at Mami. “Gimme! That’s for… someone I know.”

Mami chuckled, playing keep-away. “Oh, please. Don’t even bother trying that excuse. When someone throws stuff away and it’s embarrassing, they should be careful not to leave it on the top where it can easily be found.”

“Green shorts!”

“Broken record.”

“Don’t think I won’t use the green shorts.”

“We already talked about this. That one is too good for you to give up, and you know it. But I’m willing to be fair. You buy me lunch in class today, something with seafood, and I’ll give you this.”

“Deal!” She grabbed for the box. Mami still kept it away.

“You’ll get it back after lunch.”

“You told everyone here that it was mine.”

She smiled. “Nope. You just did. I merely implied it could be.”

Katsumi had her arms at her sides and hands balled up in disgust. “Grr. You better give it to me at lunch, and if you show it to anyone in or around class then the deal is off!”

I had to wonder how often something like this happened. I asked Ms. Ishida quietly, but Katsumi caught me asking and said, “Too often!”

Ms. Ishida gave a nervous smile and offered a gentle, “It’s not unusual…”

Mami flattened the box and tucked it in a pocket. She looked around the table. Her eyes lingered on me. Her mouth dropped open a moment later.

“…You shrunk. Are you trying to change when I don’t have a camera around?”

Katsumi folded her arms. “I got a photo soon after.”

“Cool. But I was taking them with the intent to sell them to you. So, I guess this happened a little while ago? …and I’d recognize that shirt anywhere.”

“Yeah. It’s Katsumi’s", I admitted. Jamie looked me over and so did Tara.

She smiled. “I have tons of clothes you can wear, Keli-kun. I have some outfits near your size. I even have the perfect Juri-chan outfit for you!” I gave her a smile in return and said, “It’ll be nice to have a variety of choices for clothes.”

She spun her chopsticks in her hands. “Yay! Clothes sharing between girls!”

Mami grinned at Katsumi. “I can’t believe you didn’t make him wear a blouse and skirt. Amazing amount of restraint.”

“Yeah yeah yeah… You better give me that box back after lunch.” She sat back down and pierced her food with her chopsticks.

Jamie showed remarkable improvement with chopstick handling. Nathan was the best though. His hands moved precisely from one item to the next. He didn’t eat too much. Jamie’s mouth was puffed up with food like a chipmunk. He rubbed at his pen-mark nose and then slowly swallowed. Miki looked concerned.

She asked Nathan, “You okay, buddy? I have some soy sauce if you’d like a little flavoring. It’s really good with it.”

Nathan drew the plate close again. “Oh! I’m so sorry. I just… I guess my stomach is smaller, and it takes less to fill me up now.”

Jamie said, after finally swallowing that load in his mouth, “Mine feels like it’s bigger than ever.”

I teased him, “You always ate a ton of food.”

He shrugged and sipped his juice, but I saw a subtle smirk on his face.

Katsumi nibbled, closed her mouth between bites, and glared at Mami. “You know I could use ‘green shorts’ if I really wanted to. At the very least I could use the part involving the geyser, right?”

Mami shook her head. “If you use any part of that bit of blackmail, then it’s all invalidated.”

“But no one would know any of the other parts… why not?”

“It’s just the principle of it.”

“That stinks.” Katsumi chewed carefully and sipped often.

Reiko finished up and turned to Ms. Ishida. “I have an early club meeting, so I’m leaving soon. If you want me to pick up any groceries after class, please tell me now, Ms. Ishida.”

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She smiled back at Reiko. “I had a few items I needed, but I figured maybe our guests could help out with that later.” She looked to us.

Reiko nodded. “They should be of some use, beyond eating and making noise.” She glared at Jamie, who swallowed another large portion of egg and looked back.

Her gaze shifted to me and, for a moment, Nathan. “But at least some have shown themselves not to be utterly worthless.”

Jamie hid a sneer behind a sip from his cup. Sumi gave a wave to Reiko which resembled playing piano keys in the air. She bowed back.

Sumi added an off-hand comment, before she left, “You look very pretty with your hair down, like you had it last night.”

[https://i.imgur.com/5HkW742.jpg]

[Reiko, courtesy of HandofMidaz]

Reiko fingered the tie in her hair which held half of it tight and the other half loose. She didn’t look back as she left. Sumi stretched her neck and sighed. She downed her glass of juice and looked to Katsumi. “Now, marshmallow, let me tell you, you’re a soft treat no matter how you are up-top. You’re like the perfect spicy tofu. You hear?”

Katsumi hid her face. “Umm… I’m not sure.”

She leaned closer to Katsumi. “Aww, lollipop. If you’re not careful, then I’ll have to remind you just how beautiful you are.” She winked and laid her arms across the table. Katsumi, after cutting into her omelet a little, said a soft, “I guess.”

I sipped at my juice. It tasted like a blend of fruits. I looked down at it. It looked like liquid paint and yet I didn’t even notice when I drank it. Of course, the omelet also just looked like a specially-drawn, yellow circle with brown flourishes. It tasted as pleasant as the juice. Even the white static of rice had a nice flavor. I kept it separate from the natto, but it did go nicely with the pickled cabbage.

Tara asked if anyone wanted a refill of juice. Jamie rocked his empty glass while chewing.

As she refilled it, Ami asked me, “Did you tell your friends what I told you?”

Nathan and Jamie both looked at me and I asked her, trying, “About… your room?”

“That I’d like to be around when you tear apart my room again. So, I’d prefer you all waited ‘till I got back from class.”

Ms. Ishida added, “And you’re tired… and you have another excuse not to do it.”

Ami sighed. “It’s difficult. The objects in that room have a life to them.”

Jamie frowned. “It’s called mold.”

“I mean the objects themselves. They have an existence. There’s a living spirit in every object.”

I’d heard of that philosophy before, but Jamie looked incredulous.

Ms. Ishida sighed. “But you and them would be so much better off if they were organized. You’re not doing a service to them if you leave things in such a state. Please, Ami.” Ami drooped but bowed her head.

“Alright. You can organize things, but you can’t throw anything away until I can sift through it.” That sounded like telling someone to shape the sea into a tower with just a bucket and make it stay.

Jamie muttered a soft, “Oh joy…” as he finished the last of his rice.

Nana joined us a moment later. She was dressed in an oversized, gray nightshirt that reached to her knees and had bunny faces on the sides. Her hair looked a little damp but drier than Mami’s. What struck me though was, since we were now roughly the same height and body shape, I would look just as cute in the same nightshirt. I also had to wonder where she got such an outfit and why she chose to wear it right then, but the possibility of me in that adorable getup vibrated through my thoughts.

I felt a strange shiver down my back. When it passed, I didn’t feel any different at first. The air curled intimately around me like someone passed a pocket fan over my body. I tried to grab at where it seemed to be. Jamie looked at me funny.

I flashed a smile, sat up in my chair, and set my legs together.

That didn’t feel right at all. I knew what it meant but I couldn’t move. I sat there till Jamie leaned forward and waved a hand in front of my eyes. Nathan noticed next and gave me a pat on the shoulder. I rocked a little.

I’d never had a fear of castration, but I’d never thought about it seriously.

It took a good minute to realize everyone was staring at me.

The words finally emerged from my mouth, like a broadcast on a distant PA, “I think… I’m a girl now.”

Ms. Ishida leaned forward with a concerned look. “You mean…”

“I mean I feel weird.” My brain felt like it had to go in long loops to form words. I took a deep breath and tried to stand.

I spread my legs and gripped the chair to stabilize myself before standing. Something opened up like an awakening flower. My underwear felt loose and stretched in all the wrong places. That same something felt the seams along the cloth in an exposed band. I blushed as I stood. I felt like everyone could tell something had changed in me, as though I had a wound sliced into me and all my insides were showing.

Ms. Ishida came over to support me. I looked at her and she rubbed my shoulder. She uttered a soft reassurance, “Let’s go sit you on the couch.”

She took my hand and walked me carefully around the table. I couldn’t look at Nathan and Jamie, but I could tell their eyes were on me. All eyes were on me. I felt hot and embarrassed.

She led me carefully to the hallway-facing couch and asked, “Would you like me to sit with you?”

I gave a careful nod. Things were quiet and still here, but I could hear some murmuring from the kitchen. I still felt warm with embarrassment.

Ms. Ishida clutched and rubbed my hand. She asked, with a slow, comforting tone, “Would you like some tea? A warm pad?”

Though both sounded nice, I told her weakly, “I’d just like you here for a little bit.” The sound I made felt more like words I had actually spoken.

She nodded and put one arm around my shoulder. I sat there, trying to make sense of it all.

When I was asleep, I knew my visage in the mirror. Though warped by art style and pretty-boy gentleness, it still looked recognizably like the face I could always remember. And just a short time ago, despite shrinking, my hair and eyes changing, and softness spreading over my body, I still felt like myself.

Now, my every expression seemed to be a foreign body language, and these girls spoke it. It was like a female language. My roommates didn’t know it yet. But knew they would soon. In that language, Ms. Ishida and I were two young women sitting together, one comforting the other.

I struggled with these thoughts as Reiko emerged from down the hall with a book bag over her shoulder and her hair clenched tight into a ponytail. She gave me a look. Ms. Ishida left her caress of my hand for just a moment to wave and wish her a good day of class. Reiko paused to look at me, then bowed her head to Ms. Ishida, and left.

That was the most excitement for several minutes. There wasn’t much to do but sit there and think. Ms. Ishida seemed content to just stay with me. When we first met, she was, I’d estimated, four inches shorter than me and now I seemed to be that much shorter than her. My mind lingered on things like that. I curled a bit of shirt with the fingers on my free hand.

What was I expected to do? Yell out and cry again? Break something else? Feelings seemed to flow inside me like a sea at night. One surged up like a wave. I now shared the same sex as every girl I’d met, seen, or imagined. I was in a house for girls. A house for those like me. Sure, I looked even less developed than Katsumi. But where it seemed to count, I was a girl.