This is Riri's "wonderful girlfriend," Kaminari. >_> Some girlfriend I am, who couldn't remember her chosen name.

My pet tells me it's ... well, magic, that made my and Riria's memories of her change. And that I shouldn't blame myself. But Reiko doesn't know if it's the TS taking root later than usual, and affecting my mind as well somehow, or something else. Which is scary to think about, because she doesn't know of any other kind of magic! Her agency didn't even call it that; it was "spontaneous human transformation" to them. Even when the subject ended up as a nonhuman.

Maybe Eclair- er, Riria herself willed it, somehow? The same way she used to be able to switch between languages. Either way, she doesn't feel like a different person ... on the streets, or in the sheets. She feels like the girlfriend I've always loved.

... her cock feels the same, too.

---

My memories are a bit fuzzy around where she came from and how long we've been dating. But when I try to remember my own past, now, I remember it clearly, along with the time I knew her as "Eclair." For me, it only feels like I've been a Japanese girl all along. But for her, that's all she seems to remember.

My parents even asked her about this, when we had dinner together at home that night. "I hear you're Reiko-chan's sister from Canada!" Mom asked her. "Can you speak English too?"

She gave me this panicked look, as if to say "help me out here ... "

At the time, I thought I remembered that being a cover story I'd come up with. And I was like, oh crap, now what?!

"Um ... " she began.

I blurted out "She speaks French!"

Riria stared at me.

"Canada's a bilingual country, you know? They have signs and stuff all in English and French!"

"Oh, I see." Mom nodded, and smiled. "Go on and say something in French then."

"..."

Riri's mouth was moving, trying to form words.

I prayed to Inari that I hadn't doomed her.

"P-parlez-vous japonais? Où es les toilettes?" I could practically see the anime sweatdrop form on her face, as she rattled off the most basic French sentences any Japanese person should know.

Dad wrinkled his brow at her, but mom just beamed. "Such a nice accent you have," she said. "By the way, it's okay if you don't speak English. They teach it in school here in Japan, so you can speak it in Canada if you ever go back to see family."

Riri put a hand in front of her mouth. "I don't think I'm going to be seeing my family anytime soon," she said, carefully.

"It's okay," I said, and put my hand on the one that was still holding her spoon. "We'll be your family."

I saw her glance up at mom and dad, then smile at me, just around her fingers. "Thanks."

---

Riri was so guarded with her feelings, I thought, as we headed downstairs together. Even with me and Reiko. I guessed that explained why she'd been having such emotional breakdowns ... she'd been bottling up her feelings all these years, and dealing with them was too much.

"Are you going to be okay in school?" I asked, as we reached the floor and turned the light on.

"I think so ... it's going to be a new school and all, but I can handle being the transfer student. I guess."

Something about that didn't seem right. "Didn't your mom homeschool you?" I asked.

"Ehhh?" She stared at me. "What is that, even? Isn't it illegal?"

"It ... " I suddenly wasn't sure how to answer.

"I mean, I was basically a hikikomori at home, but I didn't go to school there or anything."

Riria got out the futon from storage, and laid it out on the floor before flopping onto it. "Goddess, today was exhausting. I don't know why I'm so weak and shaky ... "

I sat down at the kotatsu and reached over to switch it on, then huddled my arms and legs under the cover while waiting for it to warm up.

Riria got out her iPad and switched it on, holding it over her head where she lay. Then she stared at it. "Kami-sama?"

"Yep?" I looked up.

"Why is there all this stuff on my tablet in English?"

"Huh?"

"Can you read it for me, and tell me what it says?" She held it out.

"Oh, um, sure! Just let me see ... "

I reached over and picked it up, and my eyes glazed over at the sheer wall of text. What on Earth was all this stuff she had in OneNote?

I tapped on the note on the bottom, figuring it would be the chronologically oldest. Then I squinted at it, sounding out the words and doing my best to make them make sense.

Last month, the Japanese government magically solved the problem of their aging population.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shed tears of joy, as he announced it to the Diet. No longer would they have to beg broke, isolated millennials to have kids that they couldn't afford. No longer would they have to close down schools and playgrounds. Instead, they could just use real magic to-

"Did you figure it out yet?"

"Huh?" I blinked, and looked up at her. "I'm not sure ... can you give me another few minutes?"

"Okay ... sorry there's so much of it." She rolled on her side and started scrolling through stuff on her phone. "So weird. I'll just download a different app for now."

---

"Another few minutes" turned out to be more like "the rest of the night." Riri got ready for bed and stuff without me.

"Can you at least tell me what it says?" she asked, peeking out of the door to the bedroom.

"It ... " I sniffled, and looked up at her through my tears. How should I put this to her?

She was still waiting for an answer ...

I couldn't bring myself to tell her the whole truth. I just couldn't. "It's a very personal diary," I said, "by one of the TS daughters."

"Ohh. It's an English-language TSF story I downloaded and forgot about?"

I blinked some of my tears away. "N-no ... it's by someone who actually TSed in real life."

Riria's jaw dropped. "What."

"Y-you don't remember? The government's immigration program ... and everything?"

Riria scrunched up her face, then put her hand to her forehead. "Oh my fucking goddess! I drop off the face of the Internet for what felt like a couple of weeks, and TSF becomes real!"

"Y-yes, it certainly has ... " I looked down at myself.

"Geeze, how long has it even been?! No, don't tell me." She held her hand up. "One thing at a time."

"T-that's probably for the best ... " I squeezed my hands in my lap, shivering even though the kotatsu was warm.

I wasn't afraid of Riria. I was afraid of hurting her.

I hadn't finished reading it all yet ... "Claire" had gone on for so long, about so many things, and used really difficult English. I'd spent all evening, skipping homework and even staying up late, just to get through the first few parts. Keeping my English-Japanese dictionary app open on my phone the whole time.

But I ... I could see how much she loved me. Before, and after, I became Kaminari. She never made it about her and how my TS affected her, even when she thought it meant breaking up. She just ... wanted me to be happy.

I guessed the TS had made her forget all of that? I guessed it had made her forget everything. All the painful memories that she couldn't handle right now, that were worse than even what she thought she remembered. But somehow I knew ...

I knew this was the person who wrote all of that.

I knew that she loved me dearly, and that I loved her back.

And I knew that she deserved to be happy, too.

I didn't know then if it was the TS or her own trauma that'd done this to her. I didn't know what it all meant yet, or why I'd forgotten her (dead) name. I just knew that however much she tried to hide it, however much she put my and Reiko's needs ahead of hers, she had been hurting so badly inside. And I knew that I'd do whatever I had to, to put her first for as long as she needed it. Because she deserved it so much.

"Okay ... " Riria yawned. "Well, good night, then. I love you."

"I love you tooooo ... !" I ran up and pouncehugged her onto the bed, sobbing and squirming and squeezing her tight.

I made love to her harder than ever, that night.