Reina’s house was obscene. It dwarfed mine five times over, with a courtyard garden, open plan floors with a traditional Japanese style, and a large metal gate with intimidating lion sculptures atop them. Reina had smuggled me down to her home, covering my body from potential voyeurs with her school jacket. She unlocked the gate with her key and ushered me inside.

I stood in awe of the place while she put away her bag and coat. I only kicked off my shoes when Reina started walking away without me. “What about your parents?” I asked.

“They’re your parents too.”

With that cryptic statement said – she pulled me through the house and into what I assumed was her bedroom. It was fairly plain, with a bed, wardrobe, and desk. Books were placed on various surfaces, and a noticeboard that contained writings and photos from various times was hung on one wall. I nearly jumped into the wardrobe when I heard a voice from outside.

“Reina, are you home?”

“Yes mother.”

“Is Miyako with you?”

Reina looked down at me, I shrugged. “Yes.”

“Don’t take too long, dinner is nearly ready.”

“Yes mother,” Reina answered again. The feet shuffled away from the door. My poor heart was finally given a brief respite.

“Miyako?” I asked, a sense of recognition, like the one I felt earlier. “That’s feels like… my name.”

Reina kicked her feet to and fro, “It seems that our wish has inserted you into my life. What good would it be if you weren’t included?”

“So, by giving me a family – this god of yours just made me into your second sister?”

“That seems to be the case.”

“First problem.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t know how to be a girl.”

“That is a concern.”

“Like makeup… self-care… fashion, I’m no good at any of that. So this illusion will immediately fall apart when I accidently walk into the boy’s bathroom at school.”

“It’s not an illusion, you look every bit the part of my dear third sister.”

“You’ve accepted this very quickly.”

“I am very excited to have a sister.” If she was, she didn’t show it. Her face was a stoic as always. I sighed. This girl. I was practically a stranger even though we’d poured our hearts out to each other a few times. I hopped to my feet and paced around the room. I stopped by the cork board and took a closer look at Reina’s photo collection. There were some of her with friends I wasn’t familiar with, but others included… me.

There was one that really got my attention. In it three girls, two of them wearing cheap party hats – smile for the camera in front of a large cake. “Have you seen this?” I asked. Reina walked over and took a look.

“This photo – it was me and Hana at my sixth birthday party. It seems that we have a new addition.”

“Is that me? Are we twins?”

“We do look the same, I suppose we are identical twins.”

“Is it normal for one of the twins to have all of the style, grace and good manners?”

“Is it normal for one of them to be a schoolmate transformed into my sister by a Shinto god enshrined near my house?” She fired back.

“Are you sure you’re okay with that? Inviting me into your life like this?”

“You are a good person, aren’t you?”

“Why do you always answer my questions with more questions. The only person who makes that judgement is you, my testimony doesn’t mean anything.” I could trace the life of Miyako through the photos that Reina had taken, we visibly grew older before… Hana disappeared from them. I’d never met her – but it still made me feel sad. This is what her life meant to someone.

“I’ll turn you back if you are terrible and horrible. You are on probation. But… I don’t think that he would have helped you if you had a weak heart.”

I sighed. “Thanks.”

“For now, I see no need for you to act any differently. Your behaviour and manners have not changed, that is what everybody will be expecting of you.”

“Clothes, I need some clothes before your mother and father see me.”

“They’re yours too…”

“Shouldn’t I have a room as well, let’s go find it.”

We exited Reina’s room and crept around the house in search of my own quarters. “I think it’s over here,” Reina speculated, “we weren’t using this room for anything before.” She pulled open the door to reveal a room that was… pretty much my old room with a different floor. Unlike the simplicity of Reina’s room, mine was plastered from top to bottom with posters for various bands and festivals. I had a dresser topped by a large TV and sound system, and in the corner there was even an electric guitar and amplifier.

“I even get my own guitar. This is getting better by the second.”

“Hm, this is interesting.” Reina picked apart my room while I pulled open the wardrobe and looked for something to wear.

“What do you wear to dinner Reina?”

“I don’t have time to change, so I wear my uniform.”

I pilfered the wardrobe for the girl’s uniform from my school. “Give me a hand with this. I need a crash course on how to be a good lady.” Reina pushed past me as I laid it out of my bed. A white bra and set of underwear were thrown on top.

“Don’t forget these, you will regret it.” I flashed back to how it felt up at the shrine and shuddered, I didn’t want to feel that again. Even if it meant putting on a bra. I hesitated as I started to pull off my jacket and shirt.

“Uh, should I do this in front of you?”

“While it may save you from embarrassment, I should point out that I would have to be a rather prolific narcissist to find my identical twin sister attractive.” Completely deadpan.

“You never know, some people are like that…”

“I will close my eyes if you wish.”

“J-just turn around, and I’ll say if I need help.”

Reina turned around and I went about the business of stripping off my old clothes. The jacket’s sleeves were so long now that they covered my hands, but it wasn’t so much that it was unusable. The other pieces of my uniform were a total write off. There was no way I could wear these anymore. Not to mention that it would break the uniform code to wear trousers as female student. With every piece I removed the more I slowed.

I was suddenly aware of the fact that I was now a girl. I looked down at my own breasts with a forlorn gaze. This was just way too inconvenient. I poked my nipple with a finger just to see. Yep, that’s really damn sensitive. I noticed that I had another mole on the top of my right breast. For some reason I found that really interesting.

“I hear you sighing, is something wrong?”

“No. I’ll hurry up.”

If I was still a man, and if it wasn’t me, I’d say that I was pretty hot. Should I be pleased about that? It meant that all the boys would be looking at me… I pulled on the panties (I wasn’t even going to look down there) and tried in vain to get the bra on to little success.

“Reina, can you give me a hand with this?”

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Reina took the straps from me and hooked up the bra, it applied a light pressure to the skin. “As much as I enjoy skinship, I will not always be here to do this for you.”

“Yeah, I’m useless. I get it.”

The rest of the uniform required no assistance. I dusted off the long skirt and looked at myself in the wardrobe’s mirror. I looked the splitting image of Reina, in some of the latest photos I had my hair done up in some kind of bun to make me stand out. God knows if I was capable of doing that now, I left it as is.

“That should be acceptable.”

“There’s no way they’re going to buy this. I even talk differently to you!”

“Do not worry sister. We must merely stay the course – agree to everything they say, and we can get through this meal with minimal suspicion. As far as mother and father are concerned, you’ve always been here.” I rolled my eyes, there was no room for argument as she powered out of the room and towards the dining hall.

Reina slid the door open. The dining room was western styled – with a long table and modern leather chairs. There was a large landscape art piece on one wall, surely a creation of Reina’s father. A middle-aged woman wearing a traditional dress sat at the head. “There you are! Did you both have a nice day at school?”

Reina was correct. It seemed that her wish really had altered everything. Her mother greeted us both as if nothing was amiss – even though a stranger had moved into her home.

“Yes mother, the student council is keeping me very busy.”

I grappled with my own answer, flickering halfway between imitating her style of speech and sticking with my own. “Yes, we uh… we had a good practice session.” It was good enough to satisfy her.

Me and Reina took our seats. My heart skipped a beat as her eyes landed on me, “I do wish you’d picked a different club Miyako, there are too many boys in that music club of yours.”

“I’m not the only girl there. Saaya would have their heads if anything bad happened.” I wasn’t lying. Saaya was a complete hard-ass. Any monkey business on her watch was asking for trouble. I tried to calm myself down with some deep breaths.

Reina tapped her cheek with an extended finger. “Miya is much stronger than me – she could probably fight them all and win.”

“I’m a guitarist, not a martial artist…”

Our newly shared mother bristled at the thought, “Don’t suggest things like that Reina.”

“My apologies.”

“Dinner should be ready, go fetch your father.” Reina’s mother stood from her seat and retreated through a set of sliding doors to what looked like a kitchen. Reina was on her feet before I could ask and shuffling through the door.

“I’ll be back in a moment.”

I was left alone with my thoughts again. I rubbed my legs together and pulled down on the black skirt that I was wearing. How the hell did this happen? A few hours ago I was having a good time with my friends in the clubroom, and now I was playing imposter in somebody else’s family. The door opened again, and Reina entered the room alongside and older man with grey tipped hair. “Oh, you came home together?”

“Yes father, I went to watch Miyako play after our meeting adjourned.”

“And did you do your hair differently today? This old man can’t tell you two apart like this, you know how my eyes are,” he chuckled before sitting at the head of the table.

“I uh, took it down when I got back.” Reina took the seat next to me. Part of me wanted to show up at school tomorrow with my hair matching Reina’s, just to mess with people. But the princess bangs weren’t really my style. Our mother came through the doors and began to lay out the table. It was a nice change from the past few weeks where I survived off of my own subpar cooking and the occasional microwaved snack.

We said our thanks and began to eat. There weren’t any more words shared while we did so. The room settled into a silence that for them was comfortable, but for me was profoundly worrying. I was waiting for the moment when one of them pointed a finger at me and asked who I was. But it never came – I completed my meal and rested my hands in my lap without it ever happening.

“That was delicious mom,” the old man smiled. She bowed her head with a smile of her own. “Miyako, how is your club? I barely get to hear about it these days.”

It took me a moment to compose my backstory, I had to assume that the events of the past few weeks had still occurred as is. “We were going to do our first show outside of school, but we had to cancel it, somebody had a… family emergency. Hopefully we can organize something else soon.”

He nodded along with my story, “Reina, how’s the council?”

“There isn’t much to be done usually. All of the clubs have settled in after the first month. We’ll be very busy when the festival approaches…”

“I bet you have a lot of admirers.”

“Yes. But I feel that they exaggerate the importance of being the president sometimes.”

“Some things never change – the student president at my school always had a gang of followers with them. But I do suppose it helps that they were good looking.” The father was vain to the extreme and obviously took pride in his daughters.

Mother looked us both over, “Would you be so kind as to share the bathroom tonight? I have an early morning tomorrow.”

“Of course,” Reina accepted without my asking.

“Thank you.”

The sweat that covered my body was purely nerves. I needed that bath badly. The meal adjourned with dad wandering back into his studio – and mom cleaning up the dishes. Reina led me to the bath after I picked out some clothes to sleep in.

“What the hell? This is like a full bathhouse.” As if to only illustrate further how well-off Reina’s family was – the bathroom wasn’t a bathroom at all. The utility room had enough space for a bench in the middle, a large cupboard to store our clothes, and the usual machines that I’d expect like a dryer and washer. I felt like I’d snuck into the bathhouse down the road.

Reina quickly slipped off her uniform and placed it into one of the wicker baskets. I couldn’t even feel embarrassed at this point – I was living Kei’s dream and I couldn’t even get excited. I really had turned into a girl… I still hesitated to take off my own. Reina pulled open the doors and stepped into the bathroom proper.

After a moment of introspection (and self-admiration) I took off my own clothes and put them into the basket next to hers. I felt naked. More naked than a naked person would normally. The comfort that I experienced in my old body was gone now – I felt like a stranger. But not enough to make me feel repulsed or unpleasant, it was the kind of discomfort that I felt would get better over time. I wasn’t stupid, I knew that questions of identity weren’t a laughing matter. I wondered if Reina’s deity had changed me to feel like a girl.

Maybe I’d feel unhappy at that if I could.

I stepped into the bathroom. The bath itself was larger than my old one. There was a toilet, a bidet, and a pair of taps on the left wall. Reina was sitting in front of one of them, filling a plastic bucket with hot water. The bath had been left running. Sometimes I’d forgo getting into the tub if I were feeling tired – but I was in high class company now. The rinsing and cleaning meant that the water was clean enough to share if time was limited anyway.

I grabbed a seat next to Reina and my own bucket, imitating her process. I filled it with hot water and poured it over my body – rubbing it down with soap. I felt better – but it was impossible for me to hide my discomfort at being naked with my classmate. Not to mention the fact that I was feeling up a mostly identical copy of her body, which was also my own body.

The real point of issue was my chest. The weight of them was already starting to wear me down a bit, and it was weird handling the object of every schoolboy’s misguided affection like it was just an everyday thing. The mystique of the breast had been robbed from me in an ironic and roundabout way.

I daren’t even pay attention to downstairs. I could deal with not knowing because I didn’t feel it like I did with my chest. How could you describe the feeling of wanting to feel bad, but not being able to? That was the feeling that I was experiencing.

“Would you like me to go?” she asked. “I can wait outside for you if you don’t feel like it.”

“Shouldn’t I be asking that? You’re sat naked next to a classmate.”

“No, we are sisters. We do this all the time if mother asks.”

I didn’t know what angle to approach this fundamentally flawed argument from. I was Hideki, or Miyako, but Reina had made certain that I’d stay as Hideki as possible. So technically I was the same person she was speaking to the other day when I was still a boy. In the end I gave up.

“How much shampoo should I use?” I asked, squeezing out the usual amount for my old, shorter hair. Reina reached over and squeezed it more, and more, until it nearly spilled out of my palm. “Okay, Jeeze, hold on!”

I washed my hair while Reina jumped into the bath, she didn’t stay in for long – waiting until I’d finished my own scrub down to give me a turn. Reina walked back through into the utility room to dry herself. After soaking for a few minutes and washing my face I stood and climbed out again, “Should I let this water out?”

“Yes, mother will run it again.”

I reached into the bath and pulled the plug. Reina was already dressed when I went to grab my own clothes. I quickly put on the underwear and bra (myself this time) and slipped on a white shirt and some sporty shorts. I looked into the mirror and frowned at myself. I liked Reina’s hairstyle when it was on somebody else and not me.

“Reina, do you think you can do my hair?”

“Hm, you’ll have to learn how to do it yourself eventually.”

“Just humour me.”

Reina found a set of hairbands (that must have been mine) and set about trying to wrangle my hair into submission. Easier said than done – the held-up style that wrapped it into a bun at the back but kept the bangs straight was not so simple to emulate. “Mother will be annoyed if we take too long.”

“Do your best, we can try again tomorrow.” Reina’s attempt was serviceable, but she’d wrapped it too low meaning that the bun was laid on the back of my neck, rather than the back of my head like it should have been.

“Good enough.”

“Mother, we’re finished!” Reina shouted.

“Okay!” A response echoed.

We left the bathroom and ended up back in my new room. I sat on the bed while Reina picked around the place. She pilfered my drawers, flipped through my magazines, and fiddled with the knobs on my amplifier. It was okay, I’d done the same to hers earlier.

“So, you think there’s anything else I need to know? If I show up to school tomorrow and I have a boyfriend, I’m going to fight you.”

Reina smiled glibly at the implication, “Romance is a good thing, the essence of youth.”

“Romance is the last thing on my mind right now.”

“Just be yourself Miyako. The person that you were is mostly the same, isn’t she?” I looked around the room at all of my belongings and couldn’t argue. She was right – I still had the same hobbies at least. It was likely that my attitude, of being slightly less… refined than Reina was still the case. I’d argue that it was almost tomboyish judging by my wardrobe. I wondered how my new parents felt about that. We were nearly identical in every other aspect, but sometimes you just couldn’t account for the power of nurture versus nature.

“It would have been nice if this god could fill me in a bit though.”

“Mother’s name is Natsume, and father’s name is Gorou. I never call them that, of course.”

“Does your father have any brothers?”

“No, our grandparents just liked the name.”

I was getting the distinct impression that everybody in this family was a little strange. I kicked my feet up and laid on my bed. It was also strange how I had a normal, four post bed in a traditional Japanese mansion and not a futon. Questions for another time perhaps.

“We should probably get so sleep; I’m totally wiped out.” The emotional and physical turmoil of the day had finished me off. Reina put down the magazine she was holding and nodded.

“I will wake you in the morning. Have a good night Miyako.”

“You too Reina.”

She turned the lights off as she left. I closed my eyes but sleep didn’t come easily.