"Woah? So Kratos is a woman here!?"
"...Hasn’t it always been that way?"
Yuri responded to my shock with confusion as she handed her PSP.
I had been checking the gas in her collection. Apparently, nothing much had changed. Many of the gas from my old world still existed here. But if there’s one thing that's different, it's that so of the character genders had been swapped.
It made wonder how Yuri would react if I told her that the original Kratos was a bald, half-naked man.
After I’d had my fill, I returned the console to her.
"Thanks, Yuri. Your ga collection is huge. If I had this many gas on my PSP, I’d have brought it to school too..."
"...I’ve been a fan of the PSP for a long ti. I—It’s a collection I’ve built up ever since I bought the console."
"Oh? So you’ve been taking good care of it, huh? Do you have any other consoles at ho? Or do you prefer gaming on PC?"
"If the ga’s on Steam, I usually play on my computer. B—But I also have a Switch and so other consoles for exclusives."
"Then you must have tons of gas on your PC. Digital gas don’t take up room in your bedroom, after all~"
Our conversation continued smoothly, without any awkwardness or discomfort.
Especially since we shared the sa hobby. It felt like we could keep talking forever.
I was even surprised at how much she understood everything I was saying. She might really be a gaming maniac.
But—that only made my heart ache more when I rembered that my own collection was gone. If I still had it, I’d be proudly showing it off to Yuri right now...
"Umm... Ren, you really like gas, don’t you?"
"Isn’t that obvious?"
"I—I’m not trying to say it’s weird for a guy to play gas or anything, it’s just... would you—"
"What is it?"
Yuri stopped mid-sentence. I looked at her. She had gone stiff, staring straight ahead.
It seed we had reached the school gate—where two girls were standing, clearly waiting for soone.
They looked over at Yuri beside . At first, they seed surprised—then, upon noticing I was with her, their expressions turned sharp.
Yuri, clearly the target, was trembling.
Were they Yuri’s friends... or not? They were wearing the sa first-year uniforms...
"...Sorry, Ren. I’ve got sothing to take care of. Let’s part ways here."
"Sure...?"
Waving goodbye, Yuri walked toward the two girls. As soon as she reached them, they imdiately bombarded her with questions.
"Yuri! Why were you walking with a guy!? Since when did you get the skill to talk to them!? Don’t tell you’ve betrayed us~?"
"I—I just happened to et Ren on the train..."
"You even know his na!? Share so of your luck with !"
Do they not realize they’re speaking way too loudly? I can still hear them, you know...
Thankfully, they did seem like real friends of hers.
But do girls in this world normally act like that? It reminded of how and my friends used to tease each other when we caught soone interacting with the opposite sex.
Just then, a hand tapped my shoulder.
"Morning, Ren. Glad to see you're out of the hospital. Feeling better now?"
Speak of the devil—and he appears.
"Morning, Kaito."
My best friend—his na is Kaito. Even though we don’t share the sa hobbies, he’s a good guy to be around.
But now, I’m not so sure we can still be friends.
"Are you really Kaito?"
"What are you talking about? Did the hospital stay ss with your mory or sothing?"
From the way he talks and his voice—it was clearly Kaito. But why...
"Why are you wearing makeup?"
"Huh? Isn’t it normal for guys to wear makeup? Okay, maybe I went a bit overboard, but it’s still within the bounds of normal. Besides, it’s not against school rules, right?"
Hearing Kaito’s answer, I looked around at the other male students.
Just like he said, in this gender-swapped world, guys do wear makeup... but none were as intense as Kaito.
I put my hand on his shoulder.
"As your friend, I’m giving you honest advice: don’t wear makeup tomorrow. Seriously, it looks terrible on you."
"Aren’t you being a little too harsh on your friend who’s been with you since middle school!? If it looked that bad, why didn’t you say sothing sooner!?"
Crushed by my words, Kaito seed to lose what little confidence he had left in his makeup. I watched him pull out a wet wipe—and begin wiping his face.
With his makeup gone, he looked more like the friend I used to know. Though... he still acted a bit “feminine.”
At least now—I felt like I could be friends with him again.
"Geez~ And you’re the sa guy who told I looked cute just a week ago. Were you just ssing with ? What happened to that kind, gentle guy everyone talks about..."
"I don’t rember anyone calling kind or gentle."
What I do rember is being labeled a geek in class for playing too many gas.
But—this is an alternate world. I’ve apparently never gad in this world, so what’s my reputation here? Was Kaito actually telling the truth?
Also, it felt like I’d been getting more attention lately. Girls I recognized from my grade would glance at as they walked by.
I thought it was just casual glances, but don’t tell ... I’m actually popular here!?
While I was deep in thought, Kaito leaned in with a mischievous grin and whispered:
"By the way, it’s rare seeing you walk with a girl—especially an underclassman. Ren, don’t tell you’ve finally taken interest in dating?"
"If getting a girlfriend were that easy, I would’ve been dating long ago and wouldn’t be hanging out with you."
Yona was the first person who ca to mind when I thought about dating.
I still rembered her marriage proposal yesterday and how she confessed her feelings to .
It’d be a lie to say I didn’t regret turning her down, but if I had accepted her while she was drowning in guilt, I’d always wonder if her feelings were genuine.
But if I tried dating soone else, I don’t know if I could. In this world, I’m infertile. If my future partner finds out, she’ll surely be disappointed.
"Too bad you’ve got a point... Besides, it’s hard to find a girl that matches our standards. Most girls in our class are immature, noisy, and pervy. Who could put up with that~"
Are you sure you’re not describing us when we hang out?
Kaito was definitely biased. Yona and Yuri weren’t that bad. I thought both of them were pretty decent.
Though the first caused a lot of trouble, and the second was pretty shy.
We kept walking and talking as more students arrived.
The school building hadn’t changed. Our uniforms hadn't changed. Even the subjects we were going to study today hadn’t changed.
Eventually, we entered the classroom, and I saw all the familiar nas of my classmates.
They were all the sa.
I might be feeling a little sentintal here, but... I know that aside from all that, everything had changed.
And I’m the only one who realizes it.
"So then, what was the real reason I ended up in this world?"
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