Seraph Squad Gender-Bender Panic! ~The Day My Girlfriend Became My Boyfriend~
Overnight, every cadet at Fort Mirage woke up in someone else's body—literally. Thanks to a cursed Seraph relic cracked open during a routine patrol, the entire 7th District has been scrambled: girls in guys' bodies, guys in girls' bodies, and one very buff, very horrified drill instructor. Chaos reigns in the barracks as cadets try to navigate uniforms that no longer fit, voices that crack in all the wrong places, and training routines never designed for their "new" anatomy.
For Karen, waking
Seraph Squad Gender-Bender Panic! ~The Day My Girlfriend Became My Boyfriend~ - When I woke up, I had become me!? The Volume of Great Panic from the Morning
"...Huh? Wha—?"
Her voice sounded wrong.
Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Karen sat up in bed. Monday morning. Outside the window came the sound of wind threading through the Evergreen Woods, and somewhere in the distance, the pounding footsteps of cadets on their morning run. Fort Mirage's mornings were always like this.
But today, something was off.
First of all, her pajama sleeves were too short. And there was this weird drafty feeling around her chest...
"Wait, what the hell?"
She looked at her hands.
Big. Knobby. Not her hands at all.
"You've gotta be kidding me."
She leaped out of bed. The impact of landing felt way heavier than it should have.
She ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror.
"—GYAAAAAAAAAAAH!!"
A man stared back at her from the glass.
Close-cropped black hair. A sharp jawline. A faint shadow of stubble. Broad shoulders, a thick neck. His eyes were a little fierce-looking—but if you looked closely, they were round and brown.
"Wait, is this... me?"
The voice was deep. That vibrating feeling in her throat every time she spoke was just plain wrong.
She cautiously lifted the front of her pajama top.
Nothing.
Her chest was flat.
"Hold on, hold on, hold on—then what about down there—"
She peeked inside her waistband, and nearly screamed again.
There was something there. Something that definitely shouldn't be.
"Wh-what is this?! I'm a girl! I'm eighteen!"
In full panic, Karen grabbed her uniform and bolted out of the room. Nothing fit—the jacket sleeves stopped well above her wrists, and the cargo pants left her ankles bare.
The hallway was already chaos.
"WAAAAH! My thing is GONE!"
"KYAAAH! Who's this hot guy?! Wait, that's ME?!"
"Everyone calm down! —Okay seriously, what the hell is this?!"
Screams and shouts flew from every direction. Everyone had transformed into something completely different from yesterday.
Through the chaos, Karen spotted a figure standing at the far end of the corridor and caught her breath.
It was a girl she'd never seen before.
Petite, delicate, with glossy black hair swaying down to her waist. Large dark eyes that shimmered as if wet, a soft, smooth face, and slender legs emerging from a uniform skirt that made Karen feel... something.
*Thump.*
Her heart made a strange sound.
"...Ryou?"
Her voice cracked.
Her face burned.
Yes—that serious expression. Those narrow but gentle eyes. The tiny star-shaped earring glinting on the left ear. That was unmistakably her best friend, Ryou.
But Ryou was supposed to be a guy. Taller than her. Deeper voice.
And yet now, *she* was the taller one. Looking down at the top of Ryou's head, she felt this overwhelming urge to protect her.
"...Karen? Is that you?"
Ryou spoke hesitantly. Her voice was high and clear, like a tiny bell rolling.
"Yeah... I think so. I'm... not 'me,' but—I'm Karen."
"I see. It seems I've ended up in this body too."
Ryou said it while looking down at herself.
Then she dropped her gaze.
Her ears were bright red.
*Thump. Thump.*
Her heart was so loud.
Why? Ryou was her best friend. Having her by her side was the most natural thing in the world. She'd never once felt anything like this before.
"H-hey, Ryou—"
"Wh-what?"
Their eyes met.
Ryou's big eyes wavered with anxiety.
*Cute.*
The moment she thought it, Karen felt her face burn even hotter.
"...Never mind! A-anyway, let's go check on everyone else!"
"O-oh. Right..."
The two of them awkwardly looked away and started walking down the hall.
Fifty centimeters apart.
Normally they'd sling an arm around each other's shoulders or clap each other on the back—but now, Karen couldn't bring herself to touch Ryou. Something told her that if she did, it would be bad.
At the end of the corridor, in the dormitory entrance hall, more than a dozen cadets had already gathered.
Everywhere she looked, people were panicking over each other's transformed bodies.
"I was a girl until yesterday! Why am I all muscle now?!"
"Does anyone know how to fix this?!"
"Hey, who were you before?! I can't tell at all!"
Pure chaos.
This base was AVO—the Allied Vanguard Organization's 7th District. A frontline base for fighting the Seraph, enemies that poured through dimensional rifts called Veils. One of fourteen districts worldwide, Fort Mirage housed nearly four hundred personnel. The cadets like Karen were chosen from youths between fourteen and twenty—future warriors, essentially.
Training here was harsh, but Karen loved this place. She had her comrades, the instructors were strict but kind, the cafeteria food was good, and weekend trips into Tachibana City were fun.
But right now, none of that mattered.
"ALL OF YOUUUU!!"
A voice like grinding stone echoed through the hall.
Everyone froze.
Standing there was a giant of a man, easily six feet tall.
A rough, short-cropped black cut. Sharp, strong-willed eyes. Bulging muscles straining a training tank top to its limit. Thick arms with veins popping, fists clenched like boulders.
But the instructor badge glinting on his left chest—that, she recognized.
"I-Instructor Yui...?"
"Quiet! For now, that name is fine!"
Instructor Yui—real name Yui Sakamoto. Twenty-eight years old. Head training officer of the 2nd Platoon, nicknamed "Demon Yui" for her severity.
She had once been a stunning beauty, proud of her glossy black hair tied back in a single ponytail. Feared by cadets, but admired by many girls for her strength and beauty.
But now.
Instructor Yui was, by any measure, a ripped man.
"Uh, Instructor Yui... are you, um, okay?"
"Do I LOOK okay?! I'm like this—like THIS—!"
Yui cut herself off, catching sight of her reflection in the mirror on the wall.
Her face twitched.
Then her fists began to tremble—
"AAAAAH! My face! My body! I took such good care of it until yesterday!!"
The scream was closer to a wail.
The image of the demon instructor crumbled audibly to pieces.
"Um... Instructor, please calm down—"
"How am I supposed to calm down?! I've lived twenty-eight years as a woman, with a certain amount of pride—"
"Instructor! Everyone's watching!"
Ryou looked around, startled.
The cadets were staring, mouths hanging open.
Yui cleared her throat and forced her expression back to neutral.
"...A-anyway! We're assessing the situation! Everyone, assemble in the Mess Hall! Anyone not there within five minutes gets double training, and I'll enjoy every second of it!"
At that command, people finally started moving.
The cafeteria—officially the Mess Hall—was in an uproar.
A place that should have been filled with the smell of breakfast was now a melting pot of anxiety and confusion. At the two-hundred-seat tables sat a mix of familiar and unfamiliar faces. Or rather—they were all familiar comrades, but their faces and bodies belonged to strangers.
"Alright, alright, everyone settle down!"
A particularly bright voice rang out from behind the counter.
Its owner was a middle-aged man with thinning, naturally curly hair bouncing as he moved.
But that apron—she recognized it.
"Miki-san?!"
"Hm? Oh, Karen! Well don't you make a cute boy!"
Hasegawa Miki. Forty-five years old. The head chef who kept this base fed.
Normally a gentle, motherly woman with brown hair in a messy bun, she was now a cheerful old guy with crinkled, smiling eyes.
"Man, I woke up this morning, looked in the mirror, and here I am! What an experience, eh!"
Miki slapped his belly and laughed heartily.
A few cadets giggled along with him.
"Miki-san, you're not panicking?"
"Panicking won't do a thing! When you're in trouble, eat! Today I went a little fancier than usual—salmon chanchan-yaki set meal!"
The tray thrust toward them did indeed smell of fragrant butter.
Karen found herself taking it without thinking.
"Miki-san, you never change."
"Of course not! My body changed, but my skills didn't! Now eat up and calm down!"
Miki's unshakeable attitude lightened the room's atmosphere, just a little.
As expected of the base's resident mom. With this person around, things would somehow work out.
Once everyone was seated, Instructor Yui spoke again.
In her hand was a fifteen-centimeter cube made of some obsidian-like material.
"Listen up. This is the cause."
The cafeteria went dead silent.
"Last night's exercise—one of the platoons recovered it from the North Gate警戒 area. A curse box left behind by a Seraph—an Anchor type."
A curse box.
The Seraph were invaders from another dimension that had appeared suddenly fifteen years ago. Their forms varied wildly, and they were said to feed on human emotional energy. The large ones called Anchor types left behind nasty traps like this after being defeated.
"Someone accidentally opened it in the middle of the night."
Yui's gaze swept slowly across the cadets.
Several of them flinched.
Karen felt a vague sense of guilt—or maybe not.
"The moment it was opened, a black mist of Flux was released. Its effective radius was about two hundred meters. Nearly everyone on base was afflicted with the 'gender reversal' curse while they slept."
Flux. A supernatural energy that leaked from the Veils. People with aptitude could absorb it into their bodies and use it to fight. The cadets and Vanguards, Karen included, all trained to handle Flux.
But the Flux from the curse box was apparently pitch-black and exceptionally nasty.
"H-how do we turn back?"
Someone asked in a trembling voice.
Yui showed everyone the inside of the cube. It was densely carved with ancient script that squirmed like worms.
"The key to breaking the curse lies in these characters. However, we haven't deciphered them yet. So—"
The instructor drew a deep breath.
"We'll investigate the archives stored in the old research facility in the base's underground sector. Accompanying me from the 2nd Platoon: Karen and Ryou. That's all."
"What?!"
"Us?"
They spoke at the same time—and then, at the same time, their eyes met.
*Thump.*
There it was again. That tight squeeze in her chest.
"Is there a problem? You two showed excellent coordination in the exercise. Besides, Ryou's calm judgment and Karen's drive are exactly what we need right now."
Put that way, there was nothing to argue.
Karen glanced at Ryou's profile beside her. Ryou was looking down, expression complicated.
Then it happened.
*Tap.*
Ryou's slender, pale fingers brushed the back of Karen's hand—just barely.
"...It's okay. I'll protect you."
That small voice seeped deep into Karen's ears.
*Thump. Thump. Thump.*
Her heart was so loud, she was sure everyone could hear it.
*Protect*, she said.
"I-I don't need protecting, you know!"
"...Oh. I see."
Another awkward silence.
Strange. Until just yesterday, this kind of air had never existed between them.
Was it the curse?
Or had it always been there, and they just hadn't noticed?
Karen looked at the back of her hand. The spot where Ryou's fingers had touched still felt warm.
What was this feeling?
"Alright—we'll figure this out! I'm definitely turning back to normal!"
Karen deliberately raised her voice bright and loud, shaking off the mood.
Ryou smiled too, looking a little troubled.
And so, Fort Mirage's new day began—amid unprecedented chaos.
The nature of the curse, and the new feelings awakening deep in their hearts. Neither had an answer yet.
Outside the window, the wind sweeping over Shion Hill rustled the treetops of the Evergreen Woods.
As if quietly watching over the strange, slightly bittersweet days about to begin.
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