The door slammed in the next room and I knew it was time to reap what I’d sown. I let out a defeated sigh as I pulled down my headphones and closed my laptop before heading to the living room.

It was as if I had just walked into a wolf den. There he stood, right in front of me, grinning from ear to ear as he sized me up. Troy, the bane of my existence, also known as my roomie. Right behind him were the minions he hired for his nefarious scheme, his sister and his girlfriend.

“Cain! There you are! Ready to become adorable?” She was definitely his sister, alright. She had the same evil grin as she sized me up and down, probably already thinking of creative ways to embarrass me.

“Hey, Cain.” Kelly, his girlfriend, at least gave me a friendly smile, although I felt a bit of pity in it. “How did you even get yourself into this?”

“Hey, Kelly.” I returned the smile -- “Hey, Miranda.” -- and frowned at the evil twin. “He roped me into a bet, and, well, I lost.” I shrugged.

“Do I want to know what kind of bet?” Kelly’s smile shifted into an I'm-trying-not-to-laugh expression.

“He thought he could balance three beer glasses on his head after emptying them!” Troy laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. It was rigged from the start. But still, a loss is a loss, and it wouldn’t be very manly to skip the punishment for losing.”

“You do know that the punishment is to cross-dress you as a girl, right? That’s not exactly manly,” Troy pointed out.

“Well, sometimes the manliest thing to do is to not be manly for a while… or something! I don’t know! Can we just get this over with?”

“Of course, of course, let’s get you changed then, princess.” Miranda held up her hand the same way someone would escort a princess. But I scowled at it and reentered my room on my own.

Troy seated himself on the throne (my chair) to get a good view of the gladiator (me) fighting head-on with the beasts (the two girls). In the meantime, Miranda pulled all sorts of girly clothes from her bag while Kelly unpacked her make-up supplies.

And then, the battle began.

They started by stripping me into my undies before tossing all sorts of girly clothes at me. It was horribly embarrassing, but as a man, I endured.

“It’s really convenient you are this short. You will be an adorable tiny girl!” I scowled at Miranda making fun of my height.

I always hated being so short. Even most girls, Kelly and Miranda included, were taller than me. Since I was so short, I might as well have been born as a girl, right? It would have made more sense. But no, I was a stupidly short guy, and people always made fun of me for it.

Like right now. I knew Troy all too well to think he didn’t pick this sort of punishment game because of my height.

“Alright, I know what we’re missing. Here, wear this.” Miranda presented me with a bra.

I stared at it for a second before shooting a glance at the girl herself.

“It’s padded. It’s gonna make you a bit curvier.” She smirked. “Don’t worry, I’ll let you keep it after the fact. I bought it just for you, I don’t need padded bras.”

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Of course, she didn’t. Padding those two chest monsters would have been an overkill of overkills. Honestly, how did she even manage to grow them so big? I bet other girls had to be super jealous.

I sighed and snatched the accursed piece of lingerie out of her hands and strapped it around my shoulders, but found it impossible to connect the little hooks at the back. Kelly had to help me out. How did girls do it themselves? I had no clue. I mentally added inhuman flexibility to my list of typical girl traits.

“Alright, next up is this.” Miranda pulled out a white hoodie with… with fox ears? I had no idea those even existed.

“Oh! We’re making a foxgirl?” Kelly exclaimed in joy. I could only let out an annoyed grumble. Those two were enjoying this a bit too much.

To round out the outfit, they made me wear white stockings and a white skirt to go along with the hoodie.

But the battle was still far from over. Next up, they noticed the ugly hair growing on my legs and unfortunately were equipped with the tools to quickly get rid of it.

It hurt like heck. I screamed as the hair got torn from my legs. Not that I would miss it, but it was still painful.

“Dang, you screamed like a girl! Already getting into the role?” I shot a glare at my tormentor, but before I could come up with a decent retort, she tore off another one of the torture devices.

Luckily, nothing lasts forever, and after a few minutes of excruciating pain, I found my legs to be clean and smooth. Honestly, I thought all the pain might have even been worth it. After all, my legs were beautiful now. Who wouldn’t want to have beautiful legs?

Lastly, make-up. I didn’t know jack squat about make-up, but Kelly was an expert. Lipstick, mascara, blush, eyeshadows… yeah, I hadn’t bothered remembering anything. After all, I wouldn’t ever need to put on make-up on my own.

With that done, the two girls and the observer looked me over. It was really uncomfortable having people ogle me like that. I scowled and crossed my arms while looking away.

“Well, god damn. If I didn’t know it was you, I would have asked you out,” declared Troy as he nodded sagely.

“A job well done.” Miranda mimicked wiping sweat off her forehead.

“Super cute,” Kelly added.

It made me feel extremely awkward. What were they saying to a man like me? Were they trying to hurt my pride? To humiliate me? Well… too bad! It didn’t work! Even though it was awkward, it actually felt pretty nice being praised like that. Yup, they were only boosting my manly ego!

“Come on, take a look at yourself!” Miranda grabbed my arm and dragged me in front of a mirror.

The sight stunned me. It was as if a completely different person stood before me. The ugly old me had gotten replaced by a cute girl. How did that happen? I thought magic didn’t exist. Were those two secretly witches? They must have been because my breath got caught in my throat. I couldn’t breathe. They were using their magic to suffocate me now.

A hand landing on my shoulder broke the vile spell. “Infatuated with yourself?” Troy smirked at me.

“Shut up…” I looked back into the mirror, this time remembering to breathe. So I breathed and breathed. Faster and faster as my eyes darted around the figure in the mirror. I had no idea why, but I felt extreme panic well up inside me. Just as I thought I would begin screaming, someone tugged on my arm and I broke the line of sight with the mirror.

“Cain! You alright?!” Kelly asked, looking worried.

I took a second to calm down, putting a hand on my forehead and closing my eyes. I took a deep breath and finally answered, “Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Are you sure…? That was, uh, a pretty extreme reaction.” Even Troy looked worried for some reason.

“Well, imagine if you were suddenly turned into a girl. It probably wouldn’t be pleasant for you either.”

“Um… I guess?” Troy scratched the back of his head as the two girls exchanged looks.

“Let’s just get this over with.” I shook my head. “So what’s the route?”

He continued staring at me for a second before clearing his throat. “You’ll cross the bridge, and head to the square. Take a selfie with the statue there and then head back. Oh! And buy the groceries on the way back, we’re running out of milk.”

“Again? Ugh, alright…”

“Don’t worry, I’ll come with you!” Miranda grinned at me.

“Wait, what should we call you? Since you’re a girl now, you need a girl name,” Kelly asked.

“Just call me Aster, for now.” I waved her off.

The trio stared at me for a second.

“What?”

Since I’d known I would be participating in this punishment game, I had thought about a girl name I would be using. Just thinking ahead, avoiding any awkward situations. And also, I wouldn’t want to get stuck with a name I didn’t like, right?

“Nothing, let’s go, Aster!” Miranda smirked and grabbed me by the hand before dragging me outside.

Even though I’d picked that name myself, it sure felt weird to be called that…