“Rinna.”
Hisaki’s voice came from the crook of her neck, muffled, as if through a layer of water.
“Mm?”
“Tonight your parents aren’t home.”
Rinna opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling.
“Sleeping alone in a big house is dangerous.”
Rinna almost lost her composure.
Dangerous?
Her house was right across the way, five hundred square feet, a standalone building with security doors and windows, and a security guard at the entrance of the complex.
The most dangerous thing within five hundred meters was probably herself—after all, she was a femdom tiny devil girl who would publicly call someone “trash.” If someone recognized her and cornered her one day, that would be truly dangerous.
But that wasn’t what Hisaki meant by “dangerous.”
Hisaki’s voice paused for a moment.
Rinna felt the arms around her waist tighten slightly, Hisaki’s thumb brushing gently across her stomach. Then, as if realizing something, she loosened her grip.
“…How about you stay over tonight?”
***
The air was silent for about two seconds.
Outside the window, a cicada suddenly chirped, then cut off just as abruptly.
“Let’s sleep together. It’s been so long since we last shared a bed.”
When Hisaki said that, her voice was even softer than before.
Soft, as if afraid that the words would be blown away the moment they left her mouth.
Rinna could hear what lay beneath that softness: expectation, nervousness, and a certain unease that Hisaki herself probably wasn’t fully aware of.
It was as if, should Rinna refuse, she would smile and say “It’s okay,” but that smile would be more painful than tears.
Rinna remembered that she had turned Hisaki down several times.
The first time was three days after she had crossed over.
Hisaki had said, “Rinna, stay at my place today.” At that time, Rinna was still reeling from the shock of “Holy crap, I turned into a girl,” completely dazed, and instinctively replied, “No, I’ll go home.”
She remembered Hisaki’s expression vividly—not disappointment, but a kind of bewilderment after being gently pushed away, like reaching out to pet a cat only for it to jump aside, leaving the hand suspended in midair, unsure how to withdraw.
The second time was a week later.
Hisaki asked again, her tone even more cautious than the first time, as if afraid of rejection but unable to stop herself from asking.
Rinna refused again.
This time, Hisaki smiled and said, “See you tomorrow,” but when she turned, Rinna saw her shoulders slump just a little.
The third time was two weeks ago.
Hisaki hadn’t asked directly. Instead, she used a more roundabout approach: “Rinna, your futon was washed a few days ago, right? I wonder if it’s dry yet.” Rinna said it was dry.
Hisaki just hummed in acknowledgment and said nothing more.
That night, Rinna lay in her own bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. She felt something stuck in her chest that she could neither spit out nor swallow.
She knew Hisaki wanted to sleep with her, not because of a reason like “I’m scared to sleep alone.”
Hisaki had been sleeping alone since she was five.
How could a child raised in the Kurose Clan be afraid of the dark?
What she wanted wasn’t just “someone to sleep with.”
She wanted Rinna.
She wanted Rinna’s warmth, Rinna’s breath, the sight of Rinna slowly falling asleep in her arms.
Those things that were taken for granted in childhood but were gradually taken away as they grew up.
And the only reason Rinna refused her was this:
She wasn’t the original Rinna.
The original Rinna had slept with Hisaki countless times—it was part of their daily routine since childhood.
But the current Rinna carried the memories of a 185-centimeter-tall adult male in her soul.
Sleeping in the same bed with a girl, even if it was just pure sleep, meant crossing a psychological threshold.
That threshold had been tall and thick during the first few refusals, so high that she felt guilty even approaching it.
But now?
Rinna lay on Hisaki’s bed, held from behind by Hisaki, whose warm, even breath fell on her neck like a gentle timer.
She had grown used to this embrace.
Used to Hisaki’s warmth, used to Hisaki’s scent, used to Hisaki’s careful, hesitant touches.
Used to being “the one who is taken care of.”
She even began to feel that being clung to like this by Hisaki was kind of nice.
The memories of her past life remained, but they were increasingly like a movie she had seen a long time ago.
What replaced them were the real sensations of this body each day: the clink of medicine bottles colliding, the warmth of a winter uniform wrapped around her neck, the heat of Hisaki’s palm, and now—the sense of security that came from being held carefully in someone’s arms.
She had started to like being a girl.
Not in that kind of “like,” okay. Maybe a little.
But more than that, she had started to accept this body.
Accept its weakness, its fragility, the fact that it needed to be taken care of.
And also accept the feelings it brought that she had never experienced in her past life: the feeling of being protected, of being cherished, of being treated as the center of someone’s world, held carefully in the palm of their hand.
So, sleeping with Hisaki… should be… okay now, right?
“Okay.”
Rinna said.
The person behind her froze.
Rinna felt Hisaki’s breath stop for a beat, then the arms around her waist suddenly tightened.
So tight that she could feel the muscles in Hisaki’s arms tense through the thin summer shirt, like a bowstring pulled to its limit.
Then, almost at the same instant, they loosened.
As if, in the moment of tightening, Hisaki suddenly remembered that the person in her arms had a frail constitution that would bruise if grabbed by the wrist, and so she forcibly pulled back that strength, letting go completely.
“Really?”
Hisaki’s voice came from the crook of her neck, carrying an emotion Rinna rarely heard.
“Mm, really. Since your parents aren’t home, it’s pretty scary sleeping alone in such a big room.”
Hisaki was silent for a few seconds.
Then she pressed her forehead against the back of Rinna’s neck.
“I thought… you hated me.”
Her voice was muffled in Rinna’s hair, each word sounding as if it had been squeezed out under pressure.
“You wouldn’t sleep with me anymore. We used to sleep together every day…”
Rinna felt a warm dampness on the skin of her nape.
Not tears—just the moisture from her breath, thickened by body heat, landing on her skin, cool at first, then rewarmed by Hisaki’s forehead.
Hisaki buried her face deeper into the crook of Rinna’s neck, her nose brushing against her throat. The exhaled air made the fine hairs on the back of Rinna’s neck flutter up and then settle.
Her arms around the waist tightened again, then loosened a little, as if afraid of hurting her.
Rinna didn’t turn around.
She simply reached her hand forward from her chest and covered Hisaki’s hand, which was clasped over her own stomach.
Hisaki’s hand was cooler than hers, with distinct knuckles, slender and long.
Rinna’s fingers rested lightly on top, her fingertips touching Hisaki’s, her palm against Hisaki’s hand.
Hisaki turned her hand over and held Rinna’s entire hand in her palm.
The two hands lay together on Rinna’s stomach, rising and falling gently with her breath.
The room was quiet for a long time.
Outside the window, bamboo leaves rustled in the garden, stirred by the wind.
The light in the stone lantern must have been lit, as a dim yellow glow seeped through the gaps in the sliding door paper, drawing thin lines of light on the floor.
Cicadas chirped in the distance, sounding muffled, as if something were suppressing them.
Rinna closed her eyes and let her mind wander.
She wondered: Is Hisaki actually a lesbian?
It wasn’t the first time she had thought about this.
In fact, from about two weeks after she crossed over, this idea had been planted in her brain like a seed. Every day, watered by Hisaki’s various intimate gestures, it had now grown into a tree of no small size.
If she really is…
Rinna played out the scenario in her head.
First, judging by how clingy Hisaki was, if she had truly awakened to that kind of awareness, then Rinna was basically a hamster already locked in a cage.
Escape? Where to?
Hisaki’s family was the Kurose Clan, deeply rooted in this city. Their informants were probably more numerous than the pine trees in her yard.
If Rinna ran even three blocks, a group of men in black suits would come and politely bring her back, saying, “Miss Shiraze, the Young Lady is waiting for you.”
Then Hisaki would look at her with that innocent, serious expression and ask, “Why are you running, Rinna?” as if she truly didn’t know what she had done wrong.
Because in Hisaki’s eyes, she hadn’t done anything wrong.
She was just “protecting” Rinna.
Just “taking care” of Rinna. Just “being good to Rinna.”
Rinna shivered inwardly.
That image was too real.
But then again, families like the Kurose Clan probably wouldn’t allow their children to be homosexual, right?
After all, with such a large family fortune, they couldn’t just let the bloodline end.
Hisaki was the eldest daughter. Though she had a younger brother, Hei Lai Qi, that kid looked like a rebellious type. It was uncertain whether he could inherit the family.
Even if Hisaki didn’t need to inherit, the Kurose Clan would likely arrange for someone to marry into the family—either a husband for Hisaki or a wife for the son.
In short, “continuing the family line” was never a personal choice in a place like the Kurose Clan; it was a duty.
Then what would Hisaki do?
Rinna startled herself with this question.
One question after another popped up like toppled dominoes, falling in a cascade.
But after each domino fell, she pretended not to see the answer revealed beneath.