Chapter 81: Kamishiro Souta (Confession)
“…How many people are you? What’s that supposed to mean? If that’s a joke, it’s a pretty bad one.”
Souta’s reaction to my confession was… lukewarm.
…Well, that figures.
Even I didn’t expect such an outrageous story to be accepted so easily.
“It’s going to be a long story, so why don’t we continue this in your room, Souta?”
Without waiting for Souta’s reply, I took off my shoes at the veranda of his house and went inside. You could say I was perfectly familiar with someone else’s house.
“Hey… what the hell…!?”
I turned the corner of the hallway, just as I remembered it, and slid open the door to Souta’s room.
“…It hasn’t changed at all.”
A bed and a study desk on top of tatami mats, a bookshelf, and a chest of drawers. The only new addition was a poster of a swimsuit gravure idol on the wall. Other than that, Souta’s room looked exactly like it did in my memories.
“Don’t just walk into someone’s house without permission…”
While I was quietly taking in the room, Souta finally caught up and grumbled at me.
“I’ve never once asked for permission to enter your room before, have I?”
“More importantly… Alice, you’ve never even been in my room before, have you?”
I brushed off the room owner’s complaint, walked in, and plopped myself down on the bed. Souta followed and sat on the chair by his desk. That had always been our usual arrangement.
“This feels nostalgic… Not much has changed since back when I was Ikuto.”
There was a bit of a manly smell lingering in the air, which I hadn’t noticed before. But it didn’t bother me for long—if anything, it felt nostalgic… even comforting.
“There you go again. Quit messing around by changing your tone. There’s a line between harmless jokes and things you just don’t say… If you keep this up, I’m seriously going to get mad.”
Souta’s tone was earnest. He thought I was making fun of Ikuto, who had passed away, and got angry on his behalf.
“…Thanks for getting mad. But… sorry. I’ve been lying to you this whole time.”
I let out everything that had been building up in my chest.
“At first, I told myself it was because I didn’t want to ruin your relationship with Suzuka. But really… I think I was just scared. You were my best friend, Souta. I was afraid you’d reject me… after my looks, my body, even my gender had all changed.”
As I continued interacting with Souta as Alice, the lies just kept piling up, and it became harder and harder to tell the truth. Honestly, if Hisui hadn’t figured it out, I don’t even know if I’d have the guts to come clean like this.
Even now… to be honest, I’m terrified.
“…Are you… seriously saying this?”
Maybe my tone didn’t sound like I was joking, because Souta pressed me for confirmation.
『Ikuto-san, if you’d like, I can explain the situation to Souta-san for you.』
Just then, Alicia jumped in to help.
Grateful for the offer, I decided to let Alicia explain everything. I linked Souta into our telepathic conversation.
『Nice to meet you. My name is Alicia.』
At first, Souta was startled by the telepathic message, but then he calmed down and listened quietly to Alicia’s explanation.
“So… Ikuto went to another world, became a Hero, fought the Demon King to a draw, then had his soul transferred into the body of a girl named Alicia and came back here… and you’re telling me to believe that?”
Souta looked completely bewildered by the ridiculousness of it all.
“What Alicia said is the whole truth. I haven’t lied.”
“Honestly, it’s hard to believe. So… can I ask you some things only Ikuto would know, just to make sure?”
“Go ahead. What do you want to know? The title of the first porno mag you found in the hills? The color of your favorite girl’s panties? Or where you hide your porn stash on your bookshelf…?”
I said that and glanced at the top shelf of the bookcase.
If things hadn’t changed, there should be a boxed set of encyclopedias tucked away in the far back of the top shelf. The actual books were probably stashed in cardboard boxes somewhere else… with that spot now being home to Souta’s secret treasures.
“Okay, fine… I believe you’re really Ikuto… so it’s fine.”
Souta pressed his fingers to his temple as he replied.
“…And if you really are Ikuto, that explains the little moments of weirdness I’ve been feeling… Wait, does that mean Hisui already knew about you?”
“…Yeah.”
“…Figures. That explains why Yuna and Hisui got over your death relatively quickly… So, out of the four of us childhood friends, I was the only one left in the dark?”
“N-no! It’s not like I was deliberately excluding you…! Honestly, I hadn’t planned on telling anyone outside my family, but Hisui figured it out on her own…”
“…I didn’t think you were the type to be that cold. Aren’t we basically family? Did you really think we’d go blabbing something that could hurt you?”
“It’s not that I thought that but…”
There were a lot of reasons why I hadn’t told them. Things about Suzuka, and Hisui’s feelings toward me… Plus, I figured if things got awkward after revealing the truth, it’d be better to just start fresh as Alice and build a new relationship.
But in the end, those were just selfish excuses that completely ignored how Souta and the others felt.
“Do you even realize how much it hurt us when you died?”
Images of the two of them at my funeral flashed in my mind, making my chest tighten painfully.
“If you’d still been a guy, I’d have punched you right now.”
“…I was ready for that. I don’t mind if you want to hit me.”
“Hitting you… kinda feels wrong now, though.”
I had figured things couldn’t go back to how they were before, but hearing it out loud still stung. I could understand why Souta hesitated to hit a girl… but that just made it feel all the lonelier.
“…Well, whatever. The important thing is… you made it back alive.”
“…You’re really going to forgive me?”
“It’s not even about forgiving or not forgiving. I’ve been saying it from the start—our relationship isn’t so fragile that something like this could ruin it.”
“…Souta…”
A warm feeling spread through my chest.
Souta really was my best friend.
“…Still, is there anything I can do to make it up to you? I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Don’t just casually say ‘whatever you want’ with that body, you know… I’m fine, but if this was some trashy manga, you’d be in trouble…”
“…Come on, I’d only say that to you… Besides, I don’t mind something a little lewd. Like letting you… touch my chest or something…”
“S-screw that… Besides, that body belongs to Alicia, right? You shouldn’t just let people touch it without permission.”
“…Y-you’re right… sorry.”
Now that he said it, it made sense. I’d gotten so used to this body that I’d been forgetting it was originally Alicia’s.
“…Sorry, Alicia.”
『You don’t have to apologize, really. Like I’ve always said, this body belongs to you now, Ikuto-san. Even if you wanted to have children with Souta-san, I wouldn’t mind at all…?』
“…No, I care about this… and you’re clearly not serious, so give me a break.”
I’m not into guys.
The reason I felt like I wouldn’t mind letting Souta do something a little lewd was because I knew firsthand just how badly we both used to crave it. It was more like offering a little charity to someone who didn’t have anything, that’s all.
It’s absolutely not because I’m trying to get Souta’s attention or anything like that.
“Yeah, I can’t do it either. No matter how cute you are… you’re still Ikuto on the inside…”
…Still, hearing him say it so bluntly… kinda stings.
“Coming from the guy who couldn’t stop gawking at my panties earlier…”
“T-that’s because I didn’t know it was you, damn it!”
“So what, now that you know I’m Ikuto on the inside, you’re not interested in my panties anymore?”
“Guh… that’s…”
I get it. Even putting aside who’s inside, it’s just a sad fact of being a guy—seeing a girl’s panties is always gonna trigger curiosity, no matter what.
“Like I said before… if you honestly want to see, I wouldn’t mind showing you, you know…?”
I could hear Souta gulp audibly.
We’d talked about it before—how a man’s dreams were packed beneath a girl’s skirt. The memories of those dumb conversations with Souta came rushing back.
And on top of that… it was a school uniform.
It was the outfit we were most familiar with in everyday life, which only made its erotic impact all the more devastating when viewed through a certain lens. Yeah, I get it—he probably feels weird knowing it’s actually his old male best friend under there… but the sheer visual impact of it all was hard to resist.
“…Y-yes… I want to see.”
…Why the hell are you speaking formally?
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