[Friday, May 3rd 2058]

When I wake up, I’m in an unfamiliar room. Although the gown I’m in is lavender, everything else is white. It seems like I’m in a hospital room. The main questions I have are why I’m here and how did I get here? I look to my right and see my childhood friend Chinatsu asleep while holding my hand. How long have I been here I wonder? When I move to sit up, it wakes Chinatsu. She opens her eyes and jumps into my chest, hugging me tightly.

“Sora! I thought you were going to die too!” She exclaims while crying and rubbing her face into my chest.

“Oww! Chi, not so hard that hurts!”

“Oh, I’m sorry Sora. I didn’t realize.” She tells me smiling awkwardly, as I wipe away her tears.

“Umm, Chi where am I?”

“You’re in NTI Medical Center.”

“Okay, next question, why am I here?”

“You don’t remember?”

“Of course, I don’t remember! Why would I ask if I already knew?!”

“Okay, okay, calm down Sora. When I came over to get you for dinner I found you unconscious on the hallway floor. I ran to get Mom and she called for an ambulance.”

While she was explaining what had happened, I have to keep brushing my red bangs out of my face. So annoying, I need to get a haircut... Wait a second… Red hair? Huh? I reach up, touch my hair and follow it down with my fingers. I keep going until I reach the end of the hair at my waist. What the hell!! How long have I been asleep and who the hell dyed my hair?!

I turn back to face Chinatsu, angry and a little confused. “Chi, how long have I been in here?”

“Uh… I’m sorry Sora, I can’t answer that.”

“What do you mean you can’t answer it Chi?”

“I mean, I was told not to tell you anything. That was the only way they would let me stay here like this.”

“EH?! Why would you promise something like that?!”

“Baka! Aho! Because I wanted to be here for you when you woke up!”

“Okay, settle down Chi, I’m sorry. I know you did it for me. I apologize.”

Someone knocks on the door and opens it. Uncle Eiji and Aunt Haruka come in and smile when they see me sitting up in bed.

“It’s about time you woke up sleepyhead!”

“Are you feeling okay? Are you in any pain?”

“Other than my chest being really tender, I feel fine. Aunt Haruka, thank you for helping me. Can you tell me how long I’ve been in here and who dyed my hair?” I ask her, she then looks at Uncle Eiji.

He picks up a chair, moves it over to the bed and sits down. “Sora, can you tell me the last things you remember happening?”

“Sure Uncle Eiji. Uh… Well, I was chased home by some boys that had been picking on me a lot lately. I ended up having to lock myself in the basement when they followed me in the house. I was down there for a while and when they were gone when I came back up. I was going to head to your house when I got dizzy and my stomach started cramping badly. Then I woke up here.”

“You didn’t do anything else? Did you touch anything downstairs?”

“Well, I used the bathroom and drank some water, but that’s all, promise!”

Uncle Eiji smiles sadly and shakes his head. “Sora, I have something I need to tell you and I want you to try to remain calm, alright?”

When he says that my blood runs cold, I don’t know why I’m afraid, but I am and I’m very sure I’m not going to want to hear what he has to tell me. I turn to look at Chinatsu, but she won't look at me.

“OK, I’ll try, but you are scaring me.”

“You know your parents were researchers?”

I nod that I knew, urging him to get on with it.

“You also know they were researching the population problem too, right?”

I shake my head. “No, they never told me anything about their work, other than they were researchers.” What did my parent’s job have to do with any of this?

“Your parents were working on ways to fix the sterility issues in the population. You remember that most women are sterile?” He asks, looking at me for an answer. Although all this is doing is making me even more confused, I nod again and gesture for him to continue.

“Well they found out there was no way to fix a woman’s fertility once she lost it due to the virus. Although it was an accident, they found out the method they used to try to make women fertile again would turn men into women. I mean completely into women, who are immune to the virus and able to have children. Do you follow me so far?”

“Yes Uncle Eiji, I understand. Although, if they found a solution, why wasn’t it announced?”

“Sora, that is one question I can’t answer for you. Knowing your parents I can make a good guess, but that is all it would be.”

“Okay. Well, then can you tell me what that has to do with me being here?”

As I’m asking the question he looks at Aunt Haruka and she comes around to the other side of the bed, takes my hand and smiles at me.

When I look back at Uncle Eiji, he continues, “Well, Sora, your parents used ‘nanites’ to try and fix the problem. Do you know what nanites are?”

I simply nod without saying anything.

“Okay, that makes it a little easier. What you drank in the basement contained nanites. These
nanites rewrote portions of your genetic code while you have been in a coma. Do you understand what that means?”

When I see-saw my hand back and forth, indicating somewhat, he sighs and looks at Aunt Haruka for help.

“Sora, you said your chest was tender didn’t you?” She asks me while smiling. I nod again. “Okay, do me a favor. Look at your chest.”

I’m a little confused, but I know Aunt Haruka wouldn’t ask me to do something so odd without a good reason. I pull open the neck of my gown and look inside…

What… the… hell… is… this?!?! Th-th-those are boobs! Why the hell do I have boobs?!

While blushing furiously I look at Aunt Haruka, confused and at a complete loss. I slide one of my hands under the covers to check for something else… I-it’s not there! Okay, I’m beyond confused now. I’m terrified and panicking! What the hell has happened to me?! Tears began streaming from my eyes and running down my cheeks.

She sits on the bed beside me, hugs me tightly, and softly whispers to me, “It’s okay. It’s okay. Calm down. Don’t worry, we’re here for you. You’re safe and awake now. Everything will be alright. Try to relax, we will explain everything to you.”

After she calms me down, she loosens her hold on me, reaches up to gently touch my face, and wipes away my tears while smiling.

Honestly, I’m completely freaked out, but her soft voice and gentle touch has always been able to calm me down. She turns to look at Eiji and says, “Honey, why don’t you go get some tea in the cafeteria. I will come get you when we are done talking.”

After Uncle Eiji leaves the room and closes the door, she turns back to me.

“Sora, this is going to be a little hard to accept, but you have already seen the proof. You’re a girl and quite a lovely one at that. You've been in a coma for almost a month, and we’ve all been very worried; especially Chinatsu, she never wanted to leave your side.”

“Of course I didn’t, he’s my best friend!”

“Chinatsu, you mean she don’t you? You are going to have to say that from now on and the sooner you get into the habit the better.”

“Anyway, Sora, you needn’t worry, the director here is a friend of the family, so nothing of this will leak out. Oh, yes, do you want to take a look at yourself?”

I don’t really trust my voice right now to answer Aunt Haruka, so I merely nod again.

She takes my hand and leads me to the mirror on the door of the bathroom.

When I look in the mirror, I see a girl standing there looking at me. All I can think is, ‘Wow! Who is this? She’s beautiful!’

She has waist-length, red hair that flows down her back like a waterfall. Large, emerald green eyes flecked with gold. A small, perky nose, pink full, soft looking lips, a slim waist, slender arms, long, shapely legs, a small, yet plump butt, and lightly tanned skin. She doesn’t have large breasts, but they seem to perfectly suit her rather petite figure.

I’m stunned, all I can do is stare at the beautiful girl in the mirror.

“Sora?... Sora, are you okay?” Chinatsu worriedly asks me. It takes me a few moments to realize she had spoken to me.

When I manage to tear my eyes away from the image of the girl, I look at Chinatsu. “Y-yes, ~ahem~ I’m fine. Who’s the girl?”

Chinatsu’s mouth falls open, then she begins laughing. “You’re so silly, that’s you of course!”

“Eh? Of course it isn’t, I’m a boy.”

When I say that, Chinatsu stops laughing and looks at me with an odd expression. Then she reaches out and cups my breasts in her hands and says with a smirk, “Since when do boys have boobs like these?”

For the second time in less than five minutes, I’m stunned. Although I want to argue with her, she’s got the proof right in her small hands.

I sigh. “Can you let go of those? I really need to lay down.”

The two of them lead me back to the bed and help me get comfortable.

When someone knocks on the door, Aunt Haruka, who had sat down beside me, to begin talking again, looks at the door with an irritated expression.

“Pardon my intrusion.” A male doctor says as he comes into the room, smiling and nodding at everyone.

“I’m glad to see you are finally awake Ms. Ito. How are you feeling? Any pain?”

Ms.? Ah, right, I suppose I’m a girl now. Simply thinking about this is depressing me.

“Umm… Fine I guess, other than my chest being a little tender, I don’t hurt anywhere.”

“Hmm… Good, good… Okay, open your gown, so I can take a look please.”

“EH?! Who the…” Aunt Haruka never lets me finish what I was trying to say because she covers my mouth with her hand and shakes her head. “The sooner we get all of this over with and confirm you’re well enough to leave, the sooner you can go home.”

She then reaches down and starts open my gown, which I block her from doing.

“Sora, stop this. The doctor is a good person; he isn’t trying to be a pervert. He needs to make sure there are no problems, your breasts developed in less than a month after all.” She says sternly.

All I know is I don’t want someone to see that I have breasts now, but I release my death grip on the front my gown and close my eyes. I guess I’m thinking ‘if I don’t see it, it isn’t happening.’

He palpitates my breasts gently, even so, it’s still somewhat uncomfortable. After he sticks a thermometer under my arm, he checks my blood pressure, listens to my heart, looks in my ears, and has me open my eyes so he can check them as well. Then he gestures that I can close my gown.

“Although I can’t feel any abnormalities with her breasts, we can do a breast scan if you wish. However, I don’t feel one is necessary at this point. Her blood pressure, temperature, eyes, ears and heart are all fine. If everything remains stable, she can go home tomorrow. Ah, yes, she will be weak and tire easily for a while, so you might want to consider physical therapy to help regain some of the muscle strength she lost. Do you have any questions for me?”

After we shake our heads no, he smiles, bobs his head at us and leaves the room.

I looked at Aunt Haruka feeling a little bewildered and lost, so she smiles at me reassuringly.

“Don’t worry Sora. We are all here for you. I hate to bring it up at a time like this, but Eiji and I are your guardians now. We had planned on asking you about it the day all this happened, but… Well, anyway, we needed to do something to legally be able to take care of you and if we hadn’t the government would have placed you in an orphanage or one of your relatives would have been given custody. We didn’t want to see that happen. I’m sorry we did it without asking.”

She’s sorry for caring enough about me to adopt me? How in the world can she be sorry for something like that? Simply the thought of this makes my heart a little lighter. I catch a view of Chinatsu out of the corner of my eye and turn to look at her. Why does it look as if she’s about to cry again? I don’t understand. I think this is a good thing. I reach out and stroke her hair softly and smile at her. Although her eyes are still damp with tears, she smiles for me. I turn my attention back to Aunt Haruka.

“Thank you Aunt Haruka, you’re right, I wouldn’t have wanted that. I would have agreed with you adopting me had I been given the chance, but either way, I’m happy you did it.”

It still hurts that I lost Mother and Father, but at the very least I don’t have to worry about that anymore and I do love Aunt Haruka and Uncle Eiji after all.

“Sora, we need to go soon, visiting hours are almost over. We will be back tomorrow morning to pick you up, okay?”

“Alright, I'll see you then. Umm, what do I call you now? Do I still call you Aunt Haruka? Or?”

Aunt Haruka’s face lights up with a smile that could rival the noon day sun. She tells me, “Sora, you can continue to call me Aunt Haruka or you can call me Mom. Whichever you feel is right for you.”

I think about it for a moment or two, but I’m pretty sure I already knew what I wanted to do before I even asked. “Thanks Mom, I'll see you tomorrow.”

She leans in and kisses me on the cheek and stands up while gesturing for Chinatsu to get up as well.

“Let’s go Chinatsu, we have to buy some things for tomorrow before we go home.”

Chinatsu leans over, hugs me, and quietly says, “See you tomorrow morning Onee-chan.”