Seraph Squad Gender-Bender Panic! ~The Day My Girlfriend Became My Boyfriend~ - Hugging Didn't Work!? The Great Skin-Ship Verification Operation

Wednesday. Karen's footsteps echoed through the training wing corridor. They walked with deliberately long strides, as if trying to shake off the strange heaviness that had clung to them these past few days. And yet, the sensation of Ryou's gaze on their back made the nape of their neck prickle. Ever since they'd returned from the underground, an invisible wall seemed to have formed between them. That embrace in the basement—no, Karen had just caught Ryou when they'd almost fallen. That was all. But the memory of Ryou's large eyes, glistening as if wet in the lamplight. The feeling of their breath, just barely brushing Karen's cheek. Every time Karen remembered, the center of their chest grew hot, and a tangled, strange feeling swirled inside them. "Good morning, Karen." A voice like a ringing bell sounded from behind. Karen flinched and stopped in their tracks. "M-Morning!" Turning around, Karen saw Ryou standing there, their waist-length black hair swaying. The sunlight made it shimmer and shine. Their eyes, long and narrow yet gentle, now seemed to waver with a hint of awkwardness. "...You're okay?" "Wh-What do you mean?!" "No. I just... wondered if you felt weird about yesterday." "Weird about what?! It's not weird at all! I mean, that was because you almost fell over!" "Right. Yeah. If that's all it was, then good." Silence fell between them again. "What are you two doing so early in the morning?" A low voice, like the cracking of stone, resounded. Turning around, they saw a hulking giant of a person—Instructor Yui. Their bulging muscles strained against their training tank top, thick veins standing out on their arms. "Instructor! Good morning!" "Good. Follow me. We need to talk." With just those words, the instructor turned on their heel and walked away. Their back still seemed, somehow, a little lacking in its usual energy. In a corner of the training grounds. On an old wooden desk, the bundle of notebooks found underground was spread out. "I'll say it once more. The phrase carved into that cursed box." The instructor folded their thick arms and looked down at the two of them. "When feelings intertwine, a rain of kisses will fall." At those words, Karen's cheeks flushed bright red. Ryou looked down too, their ears crimson. "So, today we will test this phrase. Specifically, you two will begin testing with 'physical contact.'" "Huh? Physical... what exactly?" "Holding hands. Putting your arms around each other's shoulders. Hugging. We will try each one and see if it breaks the curse." "Whaaaaaat?!" "W-Why do we have to..." Karen's voice cracked. Their head was spinning. Holding hands. Arms around shoulders. Hugging. All things they could have done with Ryou without a second thought up until yesterday. But now, it was with Ryou in a girl's body. "Do you have a problem with this? You two had the best coordination even in drills. You're the obvious choice." "Th-That's not the issue...!" "No. Do it." The instructor pulled over an old chair from against the wall and sat down heavily. Their attitude was purely that of a spectator. "Um, so... first, hands?" Ryou spoke timidly. The two stood facing each other in the middle of the training ground. The late morning light streaming through the window cast the shadow of Ryou's long eyelashes onto their pale cheeks. "Right. Hands. Yeah, hands." Karen swallowed hard. Slowly, they raised their right hand. Ryou, hesitantly, also extended their pale, slender fingers. Their fingertips touched. In that instant, Karen's chest tightened sharply. Ryou's hand was small, and just a little cold. But the spot where they touched grew gradually warm. (Ryou's hands were this small...?) Until now, their palm had been larger than Karen's. Now, it was completely enveloped in Karen's hand. Karen looked at Ryou's face. Their large, dark eyes were trembling with anxiety. The moment those eyes met Karen's, Ryou's pale cheeks flushed a soft cherry-blossom pink. "Ryou..." "...Wh-What?" "Your hand... is warm." The words came out in a hoarse voice that even surprised Karen. "...Your hand is warm too, Karen." Ryou's eyelashes trembled softly. It felt like time had slowed down. The sound of Karen's own heart was so loud, they felt like they could hear Ryou's heartbeat too if they just listened closely. —But nothing happened. They moved in front of a mirror and held up their joined hands. Still a man's body. Ryou was still a girl. "...It's not working." "Yeah... it's not." They hastily let go of each other's hands. A faint sweat had formed on their palms. "Next. Arms around shoulders." The instructor's merciless voice rang out. "Sh-Shoulders..." How were they supposed to do that? Karen timidly raised their arm, trying to put it around Ryou's back. But right now, Karen was in a man's body, and Ryou was in a woman's. Their heights, their shoulder widths, everything was mismatched. "Huh? Like this?" "Wait, Karen, your hand is—" "What? Oh, sorry." "No, I should... maybe more this way?" With awkward movements, Karen placed a hand on Ryou's shoulder. Instantly, Ryou's slender shoulder flinched. "Ah, sorry." "I-It's fine. I'm okay." Both of them bright red, they froze in a strange posture, looking pointedly away from each other. Their touch was hesitant, as if handling something fragile. "You can't really call this putting your arm around me, Karen." "Well, it's just, you know..." Ryou let out a soft laugh. Drawn in, Karen laughed too. "Ahaha, what is this?" "We're so weird." Still in their awkward pose, they shared a quiet laugh. How many days had it been since they'd laughed like this? "Is this the time for laughing?! Next, try hugging!" The instructor's single shout blew their smiles away. "A... hug..." "A hug, right." They faced each other again. A hug. Extending their arms and embracing the other person. That was all it was, put into words. But the Ryou standing before them now was a petite, delicate girl with glossy black hair down to their waist. The image of holding that body in their arms replayed over and over in Karen's head, threatening to overheat their brain. "...Here I go, Karen." "Y-Yeah." Ryou took a step forward. A nice scent reached Karen. Like sun-warmed, freshly laundered cloth—Ryou's scent. Karen steeled themselves and reached out their arms. They wrapped them around Ryou's back. Ryou's slender, almost fragile body fit perfectly in their arms. Ryou's hands hesitantly touched Karen's back. —Thump. It felt like all the blood in Karen's body had boiled over at once. They could feel Ryou's heartbeat through their own body. It was so fast. "Ryou." "Karen." Their voices, calling each other's names, were trembling. That was when it happened. A rustling noise came from beyond the wall. "...Keep your voice down, I said." "Can you see? Can you see?" "Ah, they hugged!" Several hushed voices could be heard. Karen and Ryou sprang apart as if shocked. "Wh-Who's there?!" A group of candidates came tumbling in through the training ground entrance. They were all red-faced, trying to stifle their laughter. "Oh man, oh man, we saw that! Steamy stuff first thing in the morning!" The loudest voice among them belonged to a candidate in the form of a slender, beautiful girl—Yamada, who had originally been a chubby, jolly man. "Yamada! No, this is an experiment!" "An experiment? For what?" "We heard that physical contact is needed to break the curse, so—!" "Physical contact?! Nice, nice! We wanna try too!" As Yamada yelled that, the other candidates also raised a cheer. "Me too!" "Me too!" In the blink of an eye, the training ground turned into an impromptu "Break the Curse" physical contact convention. Everywhere, candidates paired up, held hands, put their arms around each other, and started attempting clumsy hugs. "Alright, hug! ...Huh? Nothing's changing?" "Same here. Not going back at all." "That's weird. Do we need to squeeze tighter?" The initially cheerful voices gradually began to take on a note of anxiety. Not a single person was returning to their original form. The laughter dried up, and an awkward silence began to fill the training ground. "You lot!!!" Instructor Yui's roar made the air in the training ground tremble. Everyone's movements stopped dead. "What are you playing around for?! I said this is an experiment! Anyone who doesn't get back to normal will have their training tripled, and I'll give you plenty of personal attention!" The candidates scattered like baby spiders, fleeing the training ground. On their backs, the shadow of anxiety clung far more clearly than any smile. Afternoon. The air in the training ground was thick with the smell of sweat and steel. Karen's hand, gripping a wooden practice sword, should have been holding Ryou's hand just a while ago, but now it felt as clumsy as a stranger's. "Yah!" Trying to strike a candidate acting as their opponent, Karen lost their balance. The male body had a higher center of gravity, and their arm swing was too forceful. With a loud thud, they landed hard on their backside. "Damn it..." How many times had they fallen now? Their body wouldn't listen, as if it wasn't their own. Their strength control was a mess, and they got winded immediately. "Karen, are you okay?" Ryou ran over and took Karen's arm. Their small hand gripped Karen's sweat-dampened arm tightly. "No good. It's totally no good. I can't fight properly in this body." Still sitting on the ground, Karen hung their head. A sharp heat pricked behind their eyes. "I want to say we'll manage somehow if we just laugh it off, but... this, at least, doesn't seem like something we can laugh off." Their voice trembled. Without a word, Ryou knelt down beside Karen. Then, they gently reached out and touched Karen's left ear. "—Huh?" Ryou's slender fingers were softly touching the star earring. The matching, tiny star earring. The one Ryou had given Karen on the day they arrived at this base, the day they moved into the dorms. "It's okay, Karen." Ryou's voice was a little rushed, as if trying to hide their own anxiety. "Let's practice together. I'm still not used to this body either. So, if we do it together, I'm sure..." For just a split second, Ryou's finger touched Karen's earlobe. —Thump. Karen's heart leaped, far more intensely than it had during the hug earlier. Ryou's face was so close. Their gentle eyes sparkled brightly, as if they had gathered particles of light. Why hadn't Karen noticed until now? Just how beautiful Ryou was. "Ryou." "What is it?" "...Thank you." Hot words welled up from deep in Karen's chest. But they were different words, words for which "thank you" wasn't enough. After dinner. As the sky shifted from deep blue to indigo, Karen led Ryou through the Evergreen Grove and arrived at the shore of Mirror Lake. A small lake at the southern edge of the base. The water reflected the color of the sky, as still as a mirror. The wind crossing the lake's surface gently stroked their cheeks. "What did you call me out here for?" Sitting on a bench, Ryou tilted their head curiously. "There's something I wanted to ask. ...This." Karen pointed to the earring on their left ear. The same star earring glinted on Ryou's ear as well. "You gave it to me on the day we moved into the dorms. Why... me?" Ryou looked a little surprised, then dropped their gaze to the lake. "...That day, you were really nervous, Karen. But you kept smiling the whole time." Was that true? Karen had been anxious, lonely, on the verge of tears, but smiling was all they could do. "Watching you... somehow, it cheered me up. Seeing you smile, all alone in a place you didn't know." Ryou's voice melted into the quiet of the twilight, incredibly gentle. "So I wanted to say thank you for that smile. That's all." Ryou said. Their eyes, catching the sunset, glowed softly. Karen felt

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Episode 3

Name: Seraph Squad Gender-Bender Panic! ~The Day My Girlfriend Became My Boyfriend~
Author: Novelia

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