Ippo Makunouchi wakes up one morning to discover he's become a girl—and he's not the only one. At the Kamogawa Boxing Gym, the entire crew has been transformed: Takamura is now a stunning beauty, and a frantic blonde researcher named Marie from Italy's Florence Institute of Curse Studies arrives with a confession. A cursed trophy in the gym's basement has unleashed a gender-reversal curse on everyone present, and Marie's power alone can't undo it. To break the curse, they must heal the "sorrow"
Hajime no Ippo: The Gender-Swap Curse Chaos - Waking Up as a Girl!? The Cursed Trophy and the Italian Girl's Apology
"Gah—!?"
The instant I woke up, a voice so high it didn't sound like mine tore out of my throat.
I sat up on the futon. It was the usual morning. The light slipping through the gap in the curtains, the sound of Mom making breakfast in the kitchen—everything was supposed to be exactly the same as always.
And yet, something was wrong.
My body felt light.
No—lighter wasn't the word. The sensation was thin. My shoulder width, the thickness of my chest, the hard knobby feel of my knuckles when I made a fist—all of it was slightly off.
"What the...?"
My voice was wrong.
I put a hand to my throat. The neck I touched was slender and smooth. Not my usual thick neck. If anything, even my fingertips felt thinner.
I had a bad feeling about this.
I kicked off the covers and stood, and the hem of my pajamas hung way too loose. The sleeves were long too. The pants—the waist was so slack they were about to fall off.
I crept over to the full-length mirror in the corner of the room.
A girl I didn't know was standing in the glass.
"UWAAAAAAAH!?"
It was a scream.
No—too high, too cracking to call a scream. The girl in the mirror was clutching her mouth and staring wide-eyed, just like me.
Long black hair flowed past her shoulders, down to the middle of her back. My usual short hair was nowhere to be seen. The face... definitely had traces of me in it. The gentle eyes, the slightly drooping brows—the shadow of me was still there. But the jawline was round, the skin pale, the lips small and red.
And then, my chest.
Two soft swells pushed up against the fabric of the pajamas.
"W-why... why the hell..."
I touched my chest with trembling hands. Soft. It was definitely there. It was my body, but it didn't feel like mine. The sensation under my fingertips was telling me this was real.
My heart was pounding.
"A dream...? Yeah, it's gotta be a dream. Maybe I hit my head at practice yesterday."
I pinched my cheek.
It hurt.
I looked at the mirror again.
The girl with the long black hair was staring back at me, looking like she was about to cry.
"...You've gotta be kidding me."
My voice was still high—clear as a ringing bell.
Somehow, in the middle of all the chaos, I managed to get dressed. White T-shirt, jersey pants—the usual getup. And yet the chest of the T-shirt was tight. No, not tight—the shape clearly didn't fit anymore. The jersey waistband was loose too; if I didn't cinch the drawstring tight, they'd slide right off.
(What the hell is going on...)
The me in the mirror was, by any measure, a girl.
My height had shrunk too. I used to be 168 centimeters, but now I was barely 160. My limbs were thin, and my muscles had vanished completely.
(My boxer's body...)
I clenched my fist and took a light stance.
The sound of cutting air was strangely light. My center of gravity, my foot width—all of it was off.
"Damn it..."
Even my muttered voice was a girl's voice.
For now, I decided to head to the gym.
Kamogawa Boxing Gym was about a fifteen-minute run from my house. Past the shopping street in Kamogawa Ward, a little way along the riverside road, there's a two-story wooden building.
The morning shopping street still had most of its shutters down. I could see the owner of the greengrocer, Yaotatsu, lining up crates of vegetables out front. As I ran past, he gave me a puzzled look for a second.
(Well, yeah. Some girl he doesn't know is running by.)
I ran with my head down, trying to avoid people's eyes.
My chest bounced. With every step, the two weights jolted up and down—it felt gross, and embarrassing, and there was nothing I could do about it.
(So this is... a girl's body...)
By the time I reached the gym, I was out of breath.
The wooden building was the same as always. The weathered "Kamogawa Boxing Gym" sign on the wall. The photos of past champions taped to the entrance door.
I opened the door.
"Chairman! Takamura-san! It's terrible!"
My voice echoed through the gym.
In that instant, every eye in the place stabbed straight into me.
The gym was quiet.
Nobody on the ring, nobody at the sandbag.
Instead, in the center of the gym, two girls I'd never seen before were standing.
One was a beauty with black hair down to her waist. Sharp eyes, a high nose, a toned body. She wore a white shirt and jeans, but the shirt was stretched so tight across her chest the buttons looked ready to pop.
The other was a blonde woman standing beside her, face pale. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and her emerald-green eyes were glistening. She looked barely twenty. White blouse, navy skirt, a small leather bag clutched in her hands.
"...Who the hell are you?"
The black-haired beauty spoke in a low voice.
Something about that voice was familiar.
"Uh... Takamura-san...?"
"Huh? How do you know my name?"
The beauty—Takamura—crossed her arms and glared at me. The gesture was pure Takamura. And yet her body was, by any measure, a super-sexy woman, and crossing her arms lifted her chest, making her cleavage stand out sharply.
"Takamura-san, why are you a woman!?"
"Hah? A woman? Me?"
Takamura looked down at her own body.
"...Oh."
"'Oh' isn't the right response!"
"No, this is amazing. I'm crazy hot, aren't I?"
Takamura grinned and lifted her own chest with both hands.
"H-hey, what are you doing!?"
"What? I was just thinking they're heavy. These things weigh a ton. I'd get stiff shoulders running with these."
"Is this really the time!?"
Takamura cackled at my retort. Even that laugh, high and feminine as it was, was pure Takamura in the way she laughed.
"So who are you, anyway? Don't recognize your face. New trainee?"
"It's me! Makunouchi Ippo!"
"Whaaat!? You're Ippo!?"
Takamura leaned in and stared hard at my face.
"...Ahh, now that you mention it, the eyes are Ippo. What the hell, you turned into a girl too?"
"'Turned into'—don't say it like that! Why is this happening..."
"How should I know? I'd love to know."
That was when it happened.
"Um... excuse me—"
The blonde woman timidly approached me.
I looked at her properly. Her long blonde hair swayed silky in the light. Her emerald-green eyes looked ready to spill tears, and her long lashes were trembling. Her skin was translucent white, and her features were unlike any Japanese face.
"Are you... Makunouchi Ippo-san?"
"Y-yes. That's me."
"Thank goodness... I got to meet you..."
Marie pressed a hand to her chest in relief.
"My name is Marie. I came from Italy. I'm a curse researcher."
"A curse... researcher?"
I tilted my head.
"Yes. I belong to an organization called the Florence Institute of Curse Studies. There are only about eight hundred of us in the whole world—people who specialize in researching curses."
Marie looked me straight in the eye.
"And... well, I don't know how to apologize. The reason you've all been turned into women... is because of me."
"...Huh?"
It took a moment for the meaning of her words to sink in.
Marie bowed deeply.
"Last night, I was examining an old trophy stored in the basement of this gym. That trophy had a very powerful curse sealed inside it. I thought I could handle it safely. But... with my power, I couldn't control it."
Her voice was shaking.
"The moment I touched the trophy, the curse went out of control and spread to everyone who was in the gym. It's a gender-reversal curse. That's why your bodies have become female."
"A curse..."
I looked at my own hands. Thin, white fingers.
"I can't believe it. A curse, of all things..."
"I don't blame you for not believing. But your body has already changed. This is a physical transformation caused by a curse—something medicine can't fix."
Marie's emerald eyes fixed on me, dead serious.
"I put you through this. I'm truly sorry."
She bowed deeply once more.
I couldn't say anything.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't angry. My body had been stolen overnight. My body as a pro boxer, my identity as a man—all of it.
But the girl in front of me was apologizing with a face like she was about to burst into tears.
"...I can't believe it,"
I said slowly.
"But it's already happened, so I've got no choice but to believe it."
"Ippo-san..."
"So—can this curse be undone?"
Marie bit her lip.
"...I'll be honest with you. With my power, I can't undo it right away."
"What?"
"This curse can't be lifted unless the 'sorrow' sealed in the trophy is healed. That's the kind of curse it is. But I still don't know exactly what that sorrow is, or how to heal it."
"Then we can't go back to normal!?"
"We can! I will restore you, I promise!"
Marie grabbed my hand in both of hers.
My heart jumped. Her hands were small, warm, and soft.
"I'll take responsibility. I won't go back to Italy until this curse is broken. I won't give up, no matter what, until you're all back in your own bodies."
Her emerald eyes, brimming with tears, held a fierce determination as she looked at me.
I was overwhelmed by that gaze.
"...All right. Then I'll help too."
"Really!?"
"I want to go back to normal just as much as you want to fix this."
I said it and gently pulled my hand free.
Marie's face lit up.
"Thank you! Ippo-san, you're such a kind person."
"I—I am...?"
I looked away, embarrassed.
(What am I getting all fluttery about, having a girl hold my hand? She's the one who turned me into a woman.)
"Hey, hey, don't go forgetting about me."
Takamura wedged herself between us.
"Takamura-san..."
"This body turned into a beauty—if I don't enjoy it, that's a loss. Looking for a way to change back is fine, but until then, I'm still me. Takamura Mamoru, world champion."
"You got cursed, and that's all you have to say? How are you so calm..."
"Calm? There's nothing to be bothered about. This body's light, easy to move, and best of all, looks amazing."
Takamura put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest.
"If anything, I want to see how strong I can get in a woman's body."
"You don't need to test that!"
Just then, hurried footsteps came from the locker room at the back of the gym.
"Oi, Kimura! You gotta see this, seriously!"
"Shut up, Aoki! Did you look in a mirror!?"
Two beautiful girls came bursting out of the locker room.
One had shoulder-length black hair worn loose, with a feisty look about her. The other had slightly longer brown hair tied back, with a gentle, easygoing air.
Both wore Kamogawa Gym training gear, but nothing fit. The sleeves hung loose, the waists were baggy, and the chests were stretched tight.
"Aoki-san!? Kimura-san!?"
"Huh? Who're you... wait, that voice—Ippo?"
"Yes! It's me, Ippo!"
"No way! Ippo's a girl too!? I mean, so are we, but still!"
Aoki looked down at her own body and made a disgusted face.
"Damn it... the physique I worked so hard to build... all gone..."
"I shrank more than ten centimeters. What are you gonna do about that?"
Kimura sighed too.
"But man, Kimura—even as a girl, your face is still your face."
"So's yours. Even as a girl, you've still got that weird face."
"You wanna go?"
"Go ahead and try. Think you can land a punch in a girl's body?"
The two of them took light stances and started shadowboxing at each other like they were playing around.
Watching the scene, I held my head in my hands.
(Why is everyone adapting so fast...)
"Everyone, I'm truly sorry!"
Marie bowed deeply to Aoki and Kimura too.
"My name is Marie. I'm the one who turned you into women. I'll take full responsibility until the curse is broken."
Aoki and Kimura exchanged a look.
"A curse, huh..."
"Honestly, I can't believe it, but here we are."
"Guess we've got no choice but to believe it. There's no other explanation."
Aoki scratched his head.
"Well, for now—curse or whatever, until we're back to normal, we're still us. Even if we can't box, we just do what we can."
"For an Aoki, that was actually a decent thing to say."
"Shut it."
Seeing my friends like that, my heart
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