Sister...?

"Mm..." Su Li furrowed her brow. Her head felt as if someone had stuffed it full of mush. It was swollen and aching.

"My head hurts..." Her memories stopped at the second before she passed out.

"What happened?" Su Li instinctively tried to raise a hand and rub her temples, only to find her arms too weak to move.

Gradually, Su Li's vision came into focus. A face full of worry and complicated emotions appeared in the center of her view.

"Yueyue?" Su Li parted her lips, wanting to speak, but no sound came out.

Then she blinked and stared at Su Lin Yue in confusion.

"Big Brother! You're finally awake! Waaaaah..."

Su Li let out a muffled groan as she was tackled. Her chest felt tight, and there was a strange pressure there, too?

Wait? Pressure? Su Li instinctively looked down.

Beneath the loose T-shirt's collar, two unfamiliar mounds rose and fell gently with her breaths.

"!!!" Su Li's pupils trembled violently.

"No way..." Su Li stiffly lowered her head, refusing to believe the mounds that absolutely shouldn't have been there.

Then, as if she'd suddenly realized something, Su Li reached tremblingly beneath the blanket, clinging to one last shred of hope.

"Please, at least you're still alive..."

Closer... closer still.

The nearer she got, the more Su Li's hand trembled...

At last, she touched what should have been there...

But there wasn't even a hair!!!

"Rumble—!!!" Su Li instantly felt as if the sky had fallen.

Gone? Her good brother, who had been with her for over twenty years and saluted her even on the coldest winter nights, was just gone?!

He hadn't even gotten a farewell ceremony. She hadn't even seen him one last time. He'd just disappeared without a trace?

"Fuck..." Su Li trembled all over. A tremendous sense of absurdity and grief welled up inside her.

"I'm still a virgin, damn it!!"

"Brother! What a tragic death! You never even made it to the battlefield! What a stifled, wasted life you had!"

"Even dying on the way to a charge would've been better! But you just disappeared without a sound? What was that supposed to be? Dying before your mission was accomplished?"

The shock made Su Li instinctively reach for her hair. It was something she did whenever she got agitated.

But the moment she raised her hand, countless strands of black hair slipped between her fingers.

Silky, cool, and faintly fragrant, she picked up a lock and held it before her eyes.

It was unmistakably long, straight, black hair. The ends even reached her chest.

"..."

Su Li stared blankly at the long hair in her hand, then lowered her gaze to the slight swell of her chest.

What was she supposed to do now? Would she have to squat to use the toilet? Would she have to wear a bra when she went out?

Would she have to experience that supposedly drill-like pain in her stomach every month?

Why was a plot that only existed in adult comics and body-swap transformation stories happening to her?

Was it because she liked playing female characters in games? But she only wanted to treat them like waifus. She'd never wanted to become one herself...

Su Li wanted to bury her head in the blankets and cry, or just pass out and pretend none of this had happened.

Just then.

"Big Brother... why aren't you saying anything? Don't scare me..."

Su Lin Yue looked at her with swollen, red eyes.

Su Li shuddered.

That was right. Yueyue was still here. Their parents had died young, and over the past few years the siblings had relied on each other. In Yueyue's eyes, she was the pillar of the family, the mountain shielding them from wind and rain.

If even I fall apart, this family is really finished.

"No... I can't break down. What will happen to Yueyue if I do?"

Su Li took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing her inner collapse as she tried to squeeze out a confident smile.

"I'm fine, Yueyue..."

The air suddenly fell silent, and the smile on Su Li's face froze.

The worry on Su Lin Yue's face stiffened for a moment, too.

In the two seconds of dead silence, Su Li furiously pounded the table in her mind:

"Are you fucking kidding me? Whose voice was that?! That's my voice?!"

The voice was as clear and lovely as silver bells, as soft and sweet as glutinous rice cakes. Even its ending rose slightly, with a natural, breathy lilt that made people's bones go weak.

This wasn't just an ordinary girl's voice. It was the ultimate little-girl voice, with four plus signs' worth of sugar!

Even the sweetest, most coquettish girl in real life probably couldn't sound that cute, could she?

"Gulp."

Su Lin Yue swallowed unconsciously. Looking at the delicate girl before her, she forgot to cry for a moment.

"Big Brother... you..."

Su Li shut her eyes in despair. Just destroy me already.

If the loss of her brother had been social death, then this was the final blow.

But with sheer force of will, she opened her eyes again and gritted out in that damned sweet voice, "I'm really... fine."

Each word sounded as if it had been forced through clenched teeth, but to anyone listening, she sounded like she was pouting.

The enormous contrast seemed to leave Su Lin Yue a little dizzy. After a long moment, she cautiously asked:

"Big Brother, are you really okay?"

By now, Su Li had given up trying to salvage the situation. She put on a broken smile and did her best to make her tone sound manly:

"Do I look like something's wrong? Sure, I'm missing a few parts, but I feel good enough to beat a bull to death."

Su Lin Yue: "..."

It sounded like utter nonsense, but that familiar, slightly irreverent way of complaining was definitely her big brother.

Once she confirmed that, most of the fear in Su Lin Yue's heart finally faded.

She sniffled and looked at Su Li with a mix of hurt and curiosity:

"But Big Brother, you really did turn into a girl..."

The muscles in Su Li's face twitched. Her little sister really knew how to hit a sore spot.

"Yeah, I changed." Su Li sighed, looking utterly resigned. "I guess this is fate. I'm very adaptable, really."

Adaptable my ass. I just want to be alone somewhere for a while!

Su Lin Yue looked at Su Li and made sure her big brother had no intention of taking her own life over losing her brother. Only then did she finally relax completely.

"Then why did this happen?" Su Lin Yue couldn't help asking.

"I don't know."

Su Li helplessly spread her hands and casually tucked a strand of hair that had fallen over her chest behind her ear.

"Who knows? It's not like I accidentally made a contract with some alien and turned into a Magical Girl, like in those third-rate novels, right?"

Su Li suddenly thought of something and tentatively called out to the air:

"System? Kyubey? Are you there? I want to wish for my brother back."

The air remained silent. Only the wind blew past outside the window.

"..."

Su Li rolled her eyes. "See? Not even some little white furball has jumped out to ask if I want to become a Magical Girl. What kind of situation is this?"

Watching her big brother's sulky yet goofy expression, Su Lin Yue finally couldn't help it. She burst out laughing.

Then the tears started flowing again.

"Big Brother!" She could no longer hold back her emotions. She threw herself at Su Li and hugged her tightly.

"Waaah... You scared me so much... I thought you were going to die..."

"Uh..."

Feeling the warmth of the body in her arms and her little sister's trembling shoulders, Su Li's awkwardness gradually melted away.

She slowly raised a hand and gently patted Su Lin Yue's back.

Just as she had when Yueyue cried after being frightened by the neighbor's dog as a child.

Just as she had when Yueyue huddled beneath the blankets, trembling, on the night their parents died.

"It's okay now. It's okay."

Su Li comforted her softly. Though her voice was sweet and gentle, there was the same old firmness in her tone. "Your big brother's here. No matter what I look like, I'm still here."

After crying for a long while, Su Lin Yue finally let all her emotions out. Somewhat embarrassed, she pulled away from Su Li's arms and wiped her tears.

Ever since they'd grown up, she and her big brother had stayed close, but it had been a long time since they'd hugged like that.

After all, they were a brother and sister of opposite sexes. They had to keep some boundaries.

But now...

"Big Brother..."

Su Lin Yue's tone suddenly turned a little strange. "Looking at you closely, you seem even prettier than me now."

Su Li: "?"

"Look at your skin. You can't even see your pores." Su Lin Yue poked Su Li's cheek, envy written all over her face. "And your legs—they're so fair and straight, and even longer than mine. And your waist... Mm, it's so slim."

Su Li's face darkened like the bottom of a pot. "Thanks. I'd rather not get compliments like that."

She smacked Su Lin Yue's hand away. "Keep touching me and I'll start charging you!"

"Humph, stingy." Su Lin Yue burst into laughter, and at last the tension completely eased.

"Then..." Su Lin Yue tilted her head, a teasing look in her eyes. "Should I call you Big Sister now?"

"Call me Big Brother!"

Su Li rejected her decisively. "That's a man's last shred of dignity! My appearance may have changed, but my soul still has a dick!"

"Bleh, you're obviously Big Sister."

"Call me Big Brother!"

"Sure thing, Big Sister. No problem, Big Sister."

"Su Lin Yue, are you asking for a beating?"

"Ah, no! Sorry, Big Brother, I know I was wrong!"

After a round of banter, the heavy, suffocating atmosphere finally lifted.

Their problem hadn't been solved, but at least they could bicker like they used to again.

They ordered takeout for dinner. Su Li didn't dare go outside at all.

As if! If she stepped out looking like this, the whole neighborhood would be drowning in rumors by tomorrow:

<Shocking! The old Su family's thick-browed, big-eyed son was actually a cross-dressing freak!>

<Morals in decline! Top student sister turned her brother into a little sister just to satisfy her own desires!>

Just thinking about it made her die of embarrassment. By the time dinner was over, it was already late.

Su Li tidied up the takeout containers and was just about to head back to her room and hide like an ostrich when Su Lin Yue tugged at her sleeve.

"Big Brother..." Su Lin Yue stood at the bedroom door, hugging a pillow as she looked at her.

"Could I sleep with you tonight?"

"No!"

Su Li instinctively refused, frowning. "You're all grown up. Why are you still sleeping with your big brother? Don't you know that men and women should keep their distance? Go back to your room."

But Su Lin Yue didn't obey like she usually did. Her lower lip stuck out, and her eyes instantly turned red again.

"But I'm scared that when I wake up tomorrow, you'll be gone, or you'll have turned into something weird again..."

She sniffled and argued indignantly, "Besides, we're both girls now! What's wrong with that? What kind of boundary would there be? Can't a big sister sleep with her little sister?"

"Uh..."

Su Li was caught completely off guard by that direct hit. She opened her mouth, then realized she had no answer.

That was right. They were both girls now.

That so-called barrier no longer existed physically.

But... Su Li looked down at herself, then at Su Lin Yue.

You might not mind, but I do! Mentally, I'm still a grown man!

But seeing her little sister's expression—"If you don't say yes, I'll cry"—Su Li's heart softened after all.

"Fine." Su Li helplessly rubbed her forehead. "Just this once. Don't make a habit of it."

"Yay! You're the best, Big Brother!"

Su Lin Yue changed her tune in an instant, cheered while clutching her pillow, then climbed right into Su Li's bed. She did it so naturally it was almost heartbreaking.

Night fell. The bedroom lights were off, and only the faint moonlight coming in through the window remained.

Su Lin Yue soon fell asleep. Perhaps the fright and crying of the day had used up too much of her energy. She clung to Su Li's arm like an octopus, breathing steadily and deeply.

But Su Li couldn't fall asleep, no matter what. She didn't even dare look in the mirror, afraid that seeing that unfamiliar face would make her collapse all over again.

She lay stiffly in bed, feeling the warmth coming from her little sister beside her, as well as the unfamiliar body that was now her own.

Her memories surged like a tide.

From the moment their parents died, she'd forced herself to grow up. She'd learned to cook and to deal with those selfish relatives.

She'd gotten used to being a protector, a hard shell. The only place she could temporarily rest her soul was in games...

She'd imagined her future countless times: finding an ordinary girl, getting married and having children, then living a quiet, uneventful life.

But now, fate had played a cruel joke on her.

What was she supposed to do from now on? She'd become like this. Could she still return to her old life?

Su Li turned her head and looked at the sleeping Su Lin Yue in the moonlight.

Still lost about the future, Su Li slowly closed her eyes as well.

And in her dream, she seemed to have returned to that summer when their parents were still alive. She was still the boy in baggy shorts, free to sweat it out on the basketball court with her buddies.