Chapter 4: Sentiment

The next morning, I awoke peacefully. There was no blaring alarm, no urgent phone calls, nothing to jar me from sleep. It was the first time in recent memory such a thing had happened. My eyes opened slowly, prompted by a gentle light, and I was greeted by an unfamiliar ceiling. Despite myself, I grinned.

Sitting up in my half-rice-grain bed, I stretched and sighed to myself. The pitch of which reminded me of the other recent change, a fact which somewhat soured my good mood. The jury was still out on that one, and I didn’t yet know how to feel about it.

Nothing is forcing me to get up, so why not stay in bed for a while? When was the last time I let myself do that?

All Amar had told me was that someone would come to get me in the morning. I didn’t even know when the morning was or how long the days might be, for that matter. There was the voice assistant thing, so I could probably ask what time it was, but if there were any microphones or cameras in here, it might look odd if my first instinct was to ask about the time. After all, I was supposed to be a blank slate. It took a moment longer before I made the obvious connection.

“Shit! Goddamnit!” I was beyond upset with myself.

There was the turmoil I was experiencing over my recent discovery at that precise moment, but there really was no excuse for my outburst. If cameras or some isekai equivalent were watching me, they would have seen me freak out the moment the door had closed, ask about a pair of objects, then touch myself all over before getting into bed. There would definitely be suspicions raised.

“Damnit!” My palm smacked my forehead.

Well, there’s no use worrying about it now.

Crawling out of bed, I walked to the middle of the room. If the cat was already out of the bag, then there was no point in being uncomfortable.

“Shower?”

My somewhat questioning command was answered with a -Shwing!- as a section of the wall near where the toilet was slid away, and a strange metal ring came out. Curious, I went up to inspect it. The ring was set at about my waist height and had several holes around the inner part. One side had a hinge and a hook to open, letting me step easily inside.

This must be some sort of shower, but how the hell does it work?

Since the only apparent way to use this thing was by going into the ring, I did that. Once the door-bit clicked shut behind me, there was a soft -ding!- followed by a blast of warm steam.

“Geh!” Despite my exclamation, it was not actually scalding. Rather, it felt like a particularly muggy day; not comfortable, but not extremely uncomfortable. A moment later, a low constant vibration crawled across my skin. It was ticklish but not particularly uncomfortable. After a few minutes, the vibration abated, and the ring went up and down while shining warm light on me. When it had finished, whatever liquid I had been covered with was gone.

-ding!- The same soft ding sound, and the ring’s door part unlatched. I stepped out feeling clean but conflicted; I was far from refreshed.

Some sort of sonic shower? I get that it would save water, but come on now.

There was something to be said about the feeling of hot water splashing down on your body right after waking up. Without it, my morning felt somehow lacking. Not that I couldn’t get used to it, though. However, what was about to happen would be a far bigger hurdle than a disappointing “shower.”

I made my way over to the part of the wall where the toilet came out and steeled myself.

“…Toilet.”

The now-familiar -Shwing!- noise answered me, and the bidet-looking toilet bowl revealed itself. Following the shower betraying my expectations, I took a moment to examine the particulars more thoroughly. The bowl was shallow and did not contain very much water; in fact, there was none. While this would pose no problem for liquid waste, I wondered how it handled solid.

No, a single high-pressure jet of water should be able to flush anything. Or maybe it uses airflow. Not like sitting here debating how the damn toilet works is going to get me anywhere, and I really have to go.

After taking a deep breath, I hiked up my robes and seated myself. Now that things were a bit calmer, I recognized that the dress was similar to a hospital gown. Given the fact that when my eyes first opened the sight that greeted them was a troupe of doctors that made sense. It was a bit unfortunate that they hadn’t given me anything cuter, but it made things simple for now.

Once my business finished, I poked at the button panel. Once, when work sent me to Europe on business, I experienced a Bidet. This was not that. A rather surprising puff of warm steam, followed by an uncomfortable vibration made me rather intimately aware of the recent changes to my biology. The feeling was not exactly unpleasant but it was certainly different. 

As soon as the vibration stopped, A single quick blast of water washed away the soiled film. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding and felt my cheeks flush slightly.

I honestly should have seen that coming… The shower not using water should have tipped me off to how the bidet would work… Did women back on Earth have to deal with something similar…?

If every trip to the bathroom was like that, I would probably get used to it at some point. But, for the time being, I did not want to think about it. To that end, I stood up and let the toilet go back into the wall. Once it vanished from my sight, I poked around my room some more. It wasn’t like there was anything better for me to do while waiting for this supposed “someone” to come get me.

Not that I found much. My bed was obviously where I’d left it and the only other piece of furniture, the desk, and chair, were similarly unchanged. The closet yielded the most interesting results; it had been empty last night. Now, it had several sets of clothes hanging up in it. I did not know the first thing about women’s fashion, but the selection did not match anything I was familiar with.

Before I had a chance to inspect them further, there was a sound like a small chime not unlike a doorbell. A moment later, the door opened, and an unfamiliar woman entered my room. She was wearing the same clothes as the doctors from the other day; a white wrap-around long-sleeved coat with large buttons running down the right side. Unlike them, however, she was not wearing a surgical mask. Seeing that I was poking through the closet, she nodded.

“Ah, I see you discovered the apparel; they are a gift to you as our newest sister. Once you have made a selection please come find me in the hall, I will be waiting for you.” Once she finished speaking she exited my room.

From that, it didn’t sound like they had cameras watching me… But that doesn’t mean I can afford not to be careful. Finding the closet didn’t surprise her, so is it correct to assume that the “blank slate” has some basic knowledge or instincts? I suppose the language skill did impart a lot of contextual information since I know what the words mean. From that, working out that ‘I need to pee, I should find a toilet’ is expected.

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With that in mind, I began to pick through the closet to select an outfit. There was a decent selection, but the styles left a lot of questions. Everything seemed to be rather… Victorian Chic. At least, that’s what it looked like to me, my idea of fashion was limited to a nice polo and some dress pants. Maybe a suit if I was seeing a client face to face.

The doctor had not given me a time limit, but it wouldn’t do to keep her waiting too long. With that in mind, I selected three outfits in particular to try. The first was a dark red sleeveless dress made of something similar to velvet. It had a bit of black lace decorating the chest, and the skirt was cut above the knee in the front but hung down to my ankles in the back.

“Mirror.” Standing in front of the mirror, I removed the hospital gown while resisting the urge to study my body. Once nude, a problem was immediately revealed and sent me back to the closet. A moment later, I returned wearing a pair of panties I had found and a strapless bra; my concession to the effort wasted on figuring out the clasp on the others. After putting on the dress, I made a slow turn while looking at the mirror, and was rather pleased with what I saw.

I recognized I was cute yesterday, but calling myself pretty would be a more apt description now…

However, there was a problem, that being how breezy the dress was. I would probably get used to it if I tried, but it would be distracting. The cut also mean that any extreme leg movements, such as running or kicking, would knock the front up and flash whoever happened to be in front of me.

Yea, I should pick something with a little more modesty in that department.

The second outfit would meet that criterion, so I would try it next. Removing the red velvet dress proved difficult, but it did not take too long; a few minutes later saw me in the second. It was a longer, all-black piece. The main body was rather matte, but it was adorned with shiny black embroidery in an intricate pattern of thorny flowers. This one’s skirt would not have the same issues as the other since it was the same length all around, being cut to the middle of my calf.

I did a spin and saw the skirt flare outwards in my reflection. Liking how that looked, I went through a series of poses, and before I knew it, my face was adorned with a stupid grin.

I don’t remember the last time I had a chance to just play dress-up!

It wasn’t perfect, though, as I ran into a problem when I tried to do a mock kick; even though the skirt did not flash my panties, it did hamper my leg’s movement.

Yea, running in skirts was always difficult. Pants would be best since I’ll need to be able to be physically active. Wait, what do I mean ‘was?’ I’ve never worn a skirt before… And for that matter, why do I remember that dress-up is ‘fun?’

The realization put a bit of dampener on my joviality for a moment, but it was hard to resist; I was genuinely enjoying myself.

…The mirror man said something to the effect of not resisting. It stands to reason that if my sex changed, some other stuff probably would as well… The question is whether to follow his advice or to fight it…

The knowledge that ‘dress-up equals fun’ and ‘running in skirts was always difficult’ probably comes from the body's previous owner, some leftovers from before Michael did whatever it was he did… This isn’t the first time either; I knew his name as soon as I saw his face, and that hatred was so intense… What exactly happened to her? To me? 

The thought hung heavy in the air, but after a minute, I arrived at a conclusion able to satisfy me.

Whatever. This one is better than my previous life, so what if there are a few changes to my feelings? I am who I am, no matter what state I end up in.

The smile returned to my face, and I went through the process of doffing the black dress. The last outfit included a pair of pants, so I might have subconsciously realized it would end up like this. Once dressed, I turned to the mirror to appraise my new appearance. Dark brown pants that went down to the middle of my calves, a white long-sleeved high-collared shirt that was a bit loose, and a red velvet vest that contrasted the green of my eyes.

I like this, just something seems off…

After rooting around in the closet, I found a choker set with a green stone. The stone perfectly matched the shade of my eyes, which meant it contrasted nicely with the vest. Once it was on properly, I added a bit of black cloth to hide my shirt’s buttons. As far as the shoes were concerned, I had far fewer options; three pairs of boots, each of which went up to just below my knees when fully laced. I picked the brown ones and put them on over my pants.

Right, time to meet the doctor lady; I hope she isn’t irritated by the wait.

I exited the room and saw the doctor leaning against the wall opposite my door. She stirred at my approach and gave me a quick once over, “Well, at least the time was well spent. You look good.”

My smile turned twitchy at her backhanded compliment, but I forced an answer all the same, “Yes… I had a few difficulties.”

She shrugged, “My name is Meera; I am tasked with educating you.”

“I see… I am Eira, I think.”

Meera nodded succinctly, “Yes, I know. To start with Eira, may I scan you? I need to check your template status.”

Straight to the point huh? Well, that’s fine. It wouldn’t be a good idea to get too attached to these people. Best to learn what I can while waiting for a chance to make my move; even without a set time limit, it’s probably not a good idea to keep an entity like the mirror man waiting too long… if it even has a concept of time…

The sheer gap in my understanding compared to that was rather daunting, and something told me that I didn’t want to piss it off. The corners of my mouth settled into a well-practiced, regular, slight smile, “By all means, go ahead.”

She frowned, “I cannot scan your status unless you call it up yourself; please do so.” As she spoke, she pointed one of those pad things at me.

That’s good to know, so I need to consent to have my information seen… Or they’re not being truthful… I’ll need to find a way to verify whatever I’m told. ‘Status.’