Incidentally, there was no way that Calypso could sell her potions on the black market. She had considered the idea briefly some time ago, but rapidly shelved the idea. If gender-bender potions showed up on the black market, even an idiot could tell where they were coming from. The Drug Enforcement Agency would come knocking at her front door, and then she'd end up arrested in a blink of an eye.

Besides, Calypso had always been a law-abiding and meticulous individual.

It was sort of a sensitive subject for her. Just like witchcraft, which carried centuries of stigma and persecution, she didn't want her potions to be an underground existence that people consumed in fear and paranoia. When she had first transmigrated into this world almost two decades ago, Calypso had rapidly discovered that there were plenty of eggs¹Eggs: This is slang in the LGBT community for transgender people before they realize or accept that they're transgender. struggling with their complicated sense of gender, even though people were hardly familiar with "transgender" as a genuine concept in this medieval fantasy world.

Perhaps it had been a similar case on Earth. "Transsexual" was a term that was coined in 1931 by the German doctor Magnus Hirschfeld, and the vocabulary did not evolve to "Transgender" until 1965 when first used by American psychiatrist John F. Oliven. However, there were extensive historical records of transgender people likely existing before that point, meaning that the sentiment has probably existed for centuries even though society lacked a common word to describe the phenomenon.

Also frankly, to a certain degree, Calypso just couldn't help herself.

Every once in a while, the black-haired witch encountered someone obviously in the deepest throes of gender dysphoria²Gender dysphoria: A clinical term that refers to the distress that transgender people feel due to a mismatched sense of gender.. In the beginning, she had only shared a little of the potions that she had brewed for herself, and then her network of people rapidly ballooned like a mushroom cloud. Her potions went viral, and then at a certain point it only made sense to start a shop and make them full-time.

Of course, the more conservative elements of society had thrown some serious roadblocks along the way, but Calypso had always been a terrifyingly resilient witch. She was not the type of person to bend in the face of adversary.

+ + +

Calypso was sitting in her bedroom office.

The green-eyed catboy from earlier was sitting across from her.

"Um..." His voice was hesitant and trailed off.

The black-haired witch waited patiently and poured a cup of tea for the both of them. Since her bedroom was not originally designed as an office, it lacked chairs for guests, and the catboy was sitting on the edge of her bed. His tail twitched nervously, and he fidgeted restlessly, his figure withdrawn as if he was afraid of touching anything.

"Chrysanthemum tea³Chrysanthenum tea: A very popular herbal tea in East Asia. Despite what you might think, there's no lewd pun or anything.." Calypso passed him a tea cup, and the cat received it with both hands gingerly. "It's hot."

"...Thanks... for the tea..."

"So did you like it? Was the sample that you tried this morning what you expected?"

The catboy immediately stiffened. He averted his eyes and mumbled something inaudible.

The expression on Calypso's face did not change, and she took a sip from her own cup.

"You've come back then. So... is there something we can help you with?"

"...I... um... well... you see...."

There was no way that Calypso could rush him. She could only twirl her hair a little and wait for the catboy to stammer his way through his lines, although the black-haired receptionist was already ninety percent positive about what he was likely to say.

"...I was wondering... whether it was possible for just rent a room... all by myself... without a p-p-prostitute? N-Not that they're bad or anything, it's just... I'm n-not sure if it's really my kind of thing... and I don't know if I want to..."

"Of course."

Calypso's response was immediate.

It was actually a fairly ordinary request. Although Switch & Ecstasy was nominally a brothel, most of the individuals on the transgender spectrum didn't actually visit on that capacity. It was very common for people to bring their signifiant others or lovers, so the establishment functioned a lot like a love hotel.

There were also lonely singles who came here to masturbate, so the shop also provided sex toys for rent.

However, Calypso's sixth sense gave her the impression that this catboy wasn't here for any lewd purposes. In fact, she was quite similar herself. Despite the ironic point that she owned a brothel, Calypso was rarely in the mood for anything sexual. As a twenty-nine year old maid who had only done it once or twice, she was fairly comfortably resigned in the forever alone sect.

Human women generally married young in this isekai universe, and Calypso was far beyond the marriageable age.

"We do provide a dress-up service, if you're interested," Calypso ventured, guessing at the catboy's interests. "Some helpful elder sisters will help you choose an outfit, and they'll teach you how to put on makeup. You can think of it as a private lesson. If you come on Tuesday mornings at sunrise, we also have an interest group focusing on practicing."

She paused for a moment to allow him to process.

"Finally, all of our escorts also provide chat services. If you just want someone to talk to, that's absolutely okay too."

Calypso stood up and smiled, her cup of tea in hand.

"Don't be shy, alright? I think many of us feel the same way as you."

∎

ohko

I spent a while a considering how to do pronouns for this novel.

Asking for pronouns right away is getting more popular on Earth, yet this novel has a conservative society that is generally unfamiliar with most of the vocabulary that Earth has settled on over the decades. I think Calypso's perspective is that she doesn't want to overwhelm anyone with too much information. She's a minimalist, and lets people come to their own conclusions based on their experiences with the "magic pill".

She doesn't provide unnecessary commentary or advice, nor does she poke her head into anyone's situation, unless it is explicitly asked for. I think for now, she doesn't automatically assume the nameless catboy is transgender, and consequently will not adjust her pronouns until the neko says something otherwise.