"[scared]Oh crap, my clothes are gonna rip——!" A deep voice I'd never made before echoed across the junk-strewn field at dusk. Until just moments ago, I had definitely been a girl. But now, the voice coming out of my mouth was unmistakably male. I glanced to the side. A petite girl stood there. Smooth black hair, big eyes, small lips. Her school uniform skirt hung way too large, and the fabric around her shoulders was baggy with extra material. "…Okarun?" The girl stared down at her own body, trembling violently. "[crying]M-Momo-chan… why am I…" Even her voice was a girl's. My heart pounded. My mind went blank. What just happened? I tried to recall the fight we'd been in moments ago. It was Friday after school, and we'd come out to exorcise a yokai like always. This junk field northeast of Kamikoshi Town took a good forty minutes on foot from the station. A notorious spot, piled high with discarded toys and appliances. "I'm getting a seriously bad vibe from this place." I'd said that to Okarun back in the classroom after school. The sunset streaming through the window had dyed the occult magazines on the desk a deep orange. "[serious]The junk field, huh… Yeah, lately there've been more yokai sightings reported around there." Okarun — real name Takakura Ken. The biggest alien otaku in our class, who can't stop once he gets going about UFOs. He always wears that green tracksuit-like outfit, and his hair's a mess. But his face is actually pretty good-looking, and he's decently popular with the girls. …Wait, why am I thinking Okarun's face is good-looking? No, that's not the point. "[excited]Let's go! It's gotta be an amazing yokai, I'm telling you!" I stood up with a clatter. Okarun looked a little troubled, but in the end, he followed. The usual pattern. I'm Ayase Momo, and my spiritual sensitivity is off the charts. Using the spiritual power my grandma taught me, I can see yokai and fight them. The small scar on my left temple is a badge from battling a yokai when I was little. I look like an ordinary high school girl, but I've actually taken down quite a few yokai. Kamikoshi Town — a small town of forty-two thousand people in the Tama region of Tokyo. But in reality, its yokai appearance rate is three times that of the surrounding areas. There's a ley line intersection called "Ley Knot" beneath the town, and that's apparently the cause. Which is why we end up going out on yokai exterminations all the time. "[whispers]The air feels heavy today." I'd felt it the moment we arrived at the junk field. Mountains of discarded dolls and stuffed animals. Their shadows stretched out creepily in the twilight. This place is also crawling with small insect-type yokai called Junk Bugs. The danger level skyrockets after dark, so we had to wrap this up fast. "[serious]It's here." I focused my spiritual power and stared deep into the pile of scrap. With a clatter, an abandoned refrigerator moved. What emerged from it was a monster over two meters tall. Its upper body was a white torso like a mannequin's, and where its face should have been, countless doll faces were stitched together like a patchwork. Every face was twisted — crying, angry, distorted. Its lower body was a writhing mass of melted plastic dolls. Its right arm was a giant pair of scissors, its left arm shaped like a sewing needle. "It's the Shemale Collector!" "[scared]Why… why am I the only one thrown away…" The yokai's voice sounded like many children's voices layered together. "…Then I'll dress you up, too." In that instant, the yokai attacked. "[excited]Okarun, the usual pattern!" I shouted as I used my spiritual power to levitate the scrap around us. Broken TVs, twisted bicycle parts, a busted microwave — they all rose into the air, wreathed in pale blue light. "[serious]Got it!" Okarun moved. Super-high-speed movement. With Turbo Granny's power dwelling inside him, he raced around the yokai at a speed the eye couldn't follow. All you could hear was the *shoom, shoom* of his passage, with only a fleeting glimpse of his silhouette. "[angry]Take this!" I hurled the psychokinetically charged scrap at the yokai. A TV slammed directly into its chest, scattering sparks. A microwave crashed into its scissor-arm with a dull thud. But the yokai wasn't just taking hits. "[scared]Don't throw me away…" *Shing!* The scissors slashed through the scrap right beside me. A tin doll split clean in two and scattered. The sewing needle came down flashing, gouging small craters in the ground. Still, our combination was perfect. "[excited]Okarun, it went your way!" "[serious]I've got it!" Okarun circled behind the yokai with super-high-speed movement. In the moment the yokai was distracted by him, I gathered my spiritual power to its maximum. I felt the power throughout my body converging. The tips of my hair stood faintly on end. Pale blue light overflowed from my fingertips, concentrating in my palms. "With this—" The finishing blow. That's what I thought. The yokai suddenly laughed. "[crying]Then you too… I'll dress you up!" Dress-Up Curse. A curse the yokai unleashed with its last vestiges of power. A flash of light, pink and blue intertwined, spread out in an eighty-meter radius. It was so dazzling I shut my eyes. A sensation of something racing through my entire body. Warm like bathwater, yet at the same time, chillingly cold. And then I realized. My chest felt light. The weight I'd always carried was gone. Instead, I was taller. My shoulders were broader. "What the heeeeeeell!" My voice was deep. A man's voice. Looking down, my white T-shirt was stretched to bursting. My jeans were ridiculously short, exposing my ankles. I looked at my hands — they were large, with veins standing out. And between my legs— "[scared]Oh crap, my clothes are gonna rip——!" Which brings us to now. "[crying]M-Momo-chan… why am I a girl…" I looked to the side, and there stood a lovely, beautiful girl. Black hair falling to her shoulders, large eyes glistening with tears. Pale skin, slender arms and slender legs. Okarun had always had androgynous features, but now he was completely a girl. And an incredibly cute one at that. My heart throbbed. What is this? Why did my heart just skip a beat looking at Okarun? And just seeing him makes my face flush. I want to protect him. I want to hold him. Wait, what am I thinking?! "[whispers]Momo-chan… isn't your face red?" "[angry]Sh-Shut up! You're the one making weird faces!" I yelled. But my voice was so deep and gruff, it didn't come across like me at all. I'd meant to cover my embarrassment. But with the way I was now, it just sounded like some scary old man, which made it even more mortifying. Okarun looked troubled, too. Just moments ago he'd been a good-looking guy, but now he was staring straight at me with the face of a girl I wanted to protect. Neither of us knew what to do, so we both fell silent. The evening wind blew, making the junk piles clatter. "[serious]A-Anyway… let's assess the sit-chi-ation." Tripping over my words in a weird way, I started examining the spot where the yokai had vanished. I pushed through the scrap heaps. A broken refrigerator, a rusted bicycle, a tattered sofa. And then. "Ah." I found it. Only the left arm of an old doll lay there. A small arm with pink hair attached. The surface was cracked and terribly dirty. But the moment I touched it— Images flooded my mind. Over thirty years ago. The entranceway of some house. A little girl, hugging this doll and crying. A moving truck was parked outside, and a woman who seemed to be her mother was calling, "Hurry up." "I'm sorry, Marine…" Tears streaming down her face, the girl set the doll beside the entrance. Then she ran to the truck, got in, and never came back. The doll was left all alone. "[whispers]Pretty Marine… that's my name." A voice echoed directly in my head. It was the voice of a young girl. "If you do not destroy my main body within seven days, your bodies will remain as they are." The vision vanished. "[scared]Seven days…?" I looked at my own hands. Big, masculine hands. If this was only for a week, and we couldn't change back— "[serious]Momo-chan, look at this." Okarun pointed at the underside of the doll's arm. There was a faint engraving. *1987 — Toy Luminous Co.* "[serious]This company went bankrupt in '92. Probably, a huge amount of unsold stock was illegally dumped. That resentment solidified and became this yokai." Okarun's knowledge about this stuff is amazing. He's read mountains of occult magazines, so he's really well-versed in yokai origins. Now he's explaining it in a cute girl's voice, but inside, he's still the same otaku. "[excited]Then we should be able to figure out a solution! Let's start investigating tomorrow!" I said it, putting on a brave front. But inside, I was panicking. (*Seven days… just one week? If we can't change back by then, we'll stay like this forever?*) Just thinking about it made me shudder. And we have school tomorrow. How am I supposed to explain this to everyone in class? "[sad]…I don't think this is going to end with just us." Okarun murmured quietly. "After all, the curse was unleashed in an eighty-meter radius. It's possible someone else might also be…" A chill ran down my spine at those words. If that were true. If it had even affected our classmates. This was going to be a disaster. "[serious]Anyway, let's head home for today. The Junk Bugs multiply once it gets dark." We left the junk piles behind. The whole walk back was awkward. I mean, walking beside me was Okarun in the form of a lovely girl. Normally we'd just be walking shoulder to shoulder, but now, every time I saw that figure, my heart pounded. Why? I'd been aware of Okarun for a long time. But I'd thought it was just trust in him as my partner for yokai extermination. But ever since a little while ago, it's been different. I feel like I want to protect him. Is it because Okarun became a girl? Or because I became a guy? I don't know. But it feels like feelings I'd had all along suddenly got much bigger. "[whispers]…Why did I end up so small?" Okarun said it quietly. "[serious]Can't be helped. It's a yokai's curse." "[sad]But like this… I can't go on yokai exterminations with Momo-chan anymore." "[surprised]Why not?!" "Because I feel like my strength has weakened. And besides… I can't protect Momo-chan anymore." So that's what it was. Okarun had thought of protecting me as his role. But now he'd become a girl, and our positions had been reversed. "[gentle]I don't need you to protect me, you know." I said it. I meant to say it in the gentlest voice possible, but with this deep, gruff voice, it inevitably sounded forceful. "…Besides, this time I'll protect you." After I said it, I froze. What am I saying?! "[embarrassed]I-It's not like I meant anything deep by that!" When I yelled to cover my embarrassment, Okarun laughed a little. "[gentle]Yeah… thanks, Momo-chan." And that smile was so cute again. My heart tightened. No good. If I keep looking at him, I'll start feeling weird. I turned my gaze forward again. Streetlights were flickering on one by one, and the residential streets of Kamikoshi Town were being swallowed by the twilight. "[serious]Tomorrow, we're definitely finding a way to change back!" In front of Okarun's apartment, I declared it. Second floor of Corpo Minazuki. A little light leaked from the window. His mom must be on the night shift again today. "[gentle]Yeah." Okarun gave a small nod and went up the stairs. The hem of his skirt fluttered. I watched him go, then turned on my heel. On the way home, I thought. Seven days. Just seven days. But what if we can't change back? What if other classmates have been affected, too? I checked my watch. It was already seven at night. Friday wasn't over yet. What kind of