"What's going on here! Who are you, and why are you in my brother's bed?" The Itsuka family is in turmoil today, as Kotori brings Yoshino home.
She was going to visit her dearest brother for a chat, but when she opened the door to his room, she found a beautiful girl fast asleep on his bed.
"What's all the noise about, Kotori?" The beautiful girl got up and yawned widely, expressing her dissatisfaction with her younger sister yelling at her and waking her up.
"Wait! My voice." Before she could finish speaking, she noticed her own abnormality.
"What is this!?" The girl looked at the two lumps on her chest, which were larger than Kotori's. Hmm! No, why do I have two lumps on my chest?
"It's gone, it's gone." She quickly reached down for something familiar from the past. Now, she couldn't feel it at all.
"Who exactly are you?" Kotori stared at the strange girl before her. Although she sensed the girl was thinking something rather inappropriate, she'd never seen a girl touch her breasts or genitals as soon as she woke up. Could she be a pervert? What to do? Where was her brother?
"It's me! Kotori, it's me." The girl anxiously pointed to her face and said to Kotori.
"Who are you? Could it be...!" Kotori scrutinized the girl before her, looking her over carefully. She noticed a striking resemblance between the girl and her brother!
"Are you... Shido?" Kotori asked, voicing her disbelief. Upon receiving a nod from him, Kotori's entire worldview crumbled.
Half an hour later, Kotori calmed her still-shaken heart. Looking at the strangely beautiful girl before her, she sized her up. She was indeed beautiful, on par with Tohka. But the fact that this beautiful girl was actually her brother made Kotori honestly want to give him the middle finger. Absolutely insanely beautiful.
"So you had a fever, then took a nap. And that's how this happened!" After more than an hour of explanation, Kotori reluctantly accepted the young lady's answer.
"Could they have gone to Thailand?"
"I didn't go anywhere!"
The young woman said angrily, "I'm devastated too! Couldn't you have comforted your brother properly? And you're making fun of me like that! I never intended to cut off my brother. He ran away from home. I'm so sorry I didn't take good care of your feelings, brother. I'm so lonely without you. Please come back soon!"
"Then let's go get a check-up first!" Kotori opened another lollipop and asked the young lady while eating it.
"Hmm! We should go take a look first. Finding the cause might solve the current situation." Shido thought with anticipation, but would there be any room for maneuver?
The two arrived at Ratatosk base, a top-level medical facility.
"What? How is that possible?" Shido said angrily, looking at the old doctor in front of him.
"The results are correct. Your body is that of a normal woman. Your chromosomes are XX, and apart from slightly higher estrogen levels, there are no other problems," the old doctor said calmly, showing the young woman the results.
"How is that possible? How could a man turn into a woman in a single day? And there are no signs of any modification or surgery." Kotori analyzed the results report.
"Could it be the work of elves or the power of elves?" A chill ran down Kotori's spine at the thought. Elves capable of gender-swap—this could be a catastrophe for humanity in some sense! It seems she needs to be on guard.
With this in mind, Kotori left with the distraught Shido.
"Commander, who is this?" Reine, holding documents, encountered the Kotori sisters and glanced at Shido curiously.
"Sigh! Lingyin, this is my stupid older brother."
Hearing this unbelievable answer, Reine's eyes widened in disbelief. Her son (husband), whom she had given birth to with such difficulty, had turned into a girl? How could this be? It was beyond her expectations. Completely unprepared for such a change, Reine was stunned, but to Kotori, it was perfectly normal.
Anyone who knew that this young girl was just a boy a few days ago would probably have this same expression!
"I am Shido, Itsuka Shido. Commander Reine." Shido scratched his smooth little face and said helplessly.
A slightly calmer Reine led Kotori and Shido to a coffee shop.
"What do you plan to do in the future!" With the situation irreversible, and no way to change it, Lingyin asked Shido with a slight sense of unease. She cared deeply for her former husband, Shido, whose child had now become a girl. Even Takamiya Mana didn't hold as much weight in her heart as Shido.
She's a little worried that Shido might do something rash and commit suicide, ruining all her years of planning.
"Is this really irreversible?" Shido asked, looking at the two bulges on his chest with a troubled expression.
"Even if you can recover, it won't be a quick process. Now you should think about your future. You probably can't use your male identity anymore; you'll have to live as a woman. The choice is yours: say goodbye to a mundane life. Come work at 'Ratatosk,' or choose a female life and live a mundane one. But the Spirit Conquest will definitely not stop you." Kotori ruthlessly exposed Shido's current predicament, and she felt that doing so was the right thing to do. The only way to stop Shido from running away from his current problems was to make him accept his current identity.
"Your choice?" Kotori asked Shido with a serious expression.
"I...I...I don't know, I don't know what to do." Shido's eyes were filled with tears. Why was he so miserable?
"Shido," Reine said, pulling Shido into her arms to comfort her as she looked at her pained and conflicted expression.
She knew Kotori was doing it for Shido's own good, so she didn't stop Kotori. Her greatest wish was for Shido to live happily and joyfully, even if he couldn't acknowledge her as his father.
"Kotori, I've made up my mind."
Shido cried in Reine's arms for a while, then quieted down. The atmosphere between the three of them instantly turned cold, and they remained silent for a long time! Shido raised his head and looked firmly at his sister, saying...
"Say what you're absolutely right! We'll support you, after all, we're all one family," Kotori said, pressing her advantage.
"I'm going to start living as a woman," Shido said firmly to Kotori.
"Yosh~! As expected of my brother, uh! No, I should say sister." Kotori breathed a deep sigh of relief as she saw that the confusion in Shido's eyes had disappeared.
"So, a new life needs a new name?" Kotori nodded and said.
"Then! How about calling him Li Gou Dan?"
"Pfft! Are you out of your mind? Or, Kotori, did you pick up the wrong lines?!"
Looking at his sister who had suddenly gone crazy, Shido couldn't help but complain.
"Then, let's call him Nobita Nobi!"
"Do you really want to bully me?"
"You're only just finding out now!"
"....."
Finally, Reine stopped the two from their 'pleasant' interaction.
"Let's call it Shiori! Itsuka Shiori!" Reine suggested the name she wanted to give.
"Thank you, Reine." Shido looked at Reine with tears in his eyes. Shido, who had been 'shocked' by Kotori's naming ability, finally saw a normal name.
"Tch~! Fine! From today onwards, your name will be Itsuka Shiori." Kotori pouted unhappily, seemingly quite unhappy that she couldn't name Shido.
"Then, I'll leave the data changes to you, Lingyin."
"Um!"
After saying that, Kotori left with Shido... no, I mean Shiori. Reine watched their retreating figures and sighed deeply.