The soft screech of metal on metal marked the streetcar’s turn from Wellington Street to Burlington Street, as it made its way into Hammer City’s industrial sector. As the streetcar turned, the golden light of the setting sun played across the interior. Across the interior and up into Kevin Fujikawa’s eyes. The pale skinned young man squinted, wondering if he should bother changing seats, considering there were only a few stops left. After glancing about the nearly empty streetcar, he decided to just look in the other direction, even if it meant seeing what his friend was reading.

“Seriously, you’re reading through a magazine like that on public transit?” Kevin muttered, trying to find a safe spot between the sun and Andrew’s adult magazine to rest his eyes.

“Well some of us don’t have five beautiful babes throwing themselves at me all the time, so we have to make do with pictures,” Andrew muttered, turning the page with the deliberate calm most would use for browsing a financial magazine. “Ooh, she’s cute.”

Kevin rolled his eyes (and accidentally looked at the sun again in the process) at his redheaded friend’s attitude. Blinking that out, he replied: “I also don’t know why you came along with me.”

“A mysterious love letter calling you out to a warehouse in the north end means girl number six is showing up. With any luck she’ll realise there’s too much competition, and she’ll fall, teary eyed, into my open arms,” Andrew said, grinning away.

Kevin stared at him, before shaking his head. “I appreciate your optimism, I guess.”

He then stood up and rang for the next stop. Andrew got up to follow him over to the rear door. They stepped out onto the sidewalk, otherwise abandoned this late into the evening. Kevin felt a shiver down his spine at how empty the area was. It felt unnatural and unsafe, even though he knew he could defend himself with the device he had in his pocket.

“You know, you probably don’t want the type of girl that chases after me,” Kevin said as he and Andrew walked towards a small cluster of run down houses sat between the surrounding factories. “Apart from Vivian and Thisbe, they’re all more than a little obsessive… and Thisbe’s a vampire. You know something’s wrong when the vampire is the second most normal girl in your life.”

“I’d like intense,” Andrew said, flashing another grin.

Kevin let out another sigh at his friend’s boundless enthusiasm. He also tried to ignore the buzz in his pocket, a sign that one of the odder girls in his life had heard him. She probably wanted to object. He wasn’t sure what they were walking into, or if they were being monitored, so he ignored the buzz as best he could. He was a natural people pleaser, to try to make himself feel worth something to the world, so it was hard to ignore her, but it was likely the safest move right now.

Instead he kept on alert for possible threats as they moved into the grounds of a large industrial site. Because that was what his life had become, now. Along with the girls who were firmly out of his league for some reason falling in love with a guy as boring and plain as him. 

“Are we trespassing?” Andrew asked, looking around at the various warehouses and factory buildings around them.

“Um… possibly,” Kevin replied. “There was a sign, but, like, the front gate was open? I think it’s only trespassing if the gate isn’t opened?”

The shorter man leveled a sharp stare at him.

“I don’t know. I didn’t go to law school,” Kevin replied with a shrug. “We can say we were invited if anyone asks… but I don’t think anyone will.”

Even this late, he would have expected a security guard to have noticed them by now. He was sure that was a bad sign, but kept following the directions his phone had given him. It was supposed to be… that building over there. The lights were out, but the door was open. 

“Does this feel like a trap to you?” Kevin asked, as they walked over to the building.

“Maybe she’s just shy?” Andrew replied, though even he seemed a bit nervous.

Not sure what else to do, the two young men walked into the dark and cavernous building. By this point even the light from outside was starting to fade, the sun slipping below the hilly horizon. The pair walked into the middle of the room, Kevin calling out to see if anyone was there.

After a moment, the door they entered through shut with a clang, causing both of them to jump. Andrew slipped into what he must have imagined was a fighting stance, while Kevin’s hand slid into his pocket. The little alien artifact there was now buzzing like an alarm clock on caffeine. Kevin didn’t want to overplay his hand just yet, though.

Suddenly, a light above them flashed on, bathing the two young men in a blinding fluorescent light… that did not do anything good for their night-shift working complexions. A laugh rang out from the darkness, as Kevin braced for the worst.

“You are very trapped now!” a young-sounding feminine voice proclaimed, before the source stepped out of the shadows.

Kevin’s eye twitched with mild annoyance as he recognised her. She was an Issiod’rian. An alien that looked rather like a humanoid lynx. She was also Plynx’s little sister, who had shown up to cause chaos in his life once or twice already. 

Plynx, of course, being one of the girls chasing after Kevin.

“Was it you that left the love letter?” Kevin asked, realising he wasn’t actually sure what the girl’s name was. Plynx called her several things.

“It was most indeed!” the young alien girl announced with a grin.

Kevin pinched the bridge of his nose. “Listen, kid, I’m flattered, but, you’re, like… sixteen… ish? That’s…”

“Legal, but morally questionable?” Andrew offered.

Kevin glared at him.

“What? I said morally questionable?”

The taller man rolled his eyes, before turning back to the young alien princess. “Waaay too young for me.”

The alien lynx girl’s face scrunched up in rage, and her eyes began to glow, much the same as her big sister’s so often did. “It was not a true love letter!! It was a lure, Kevin-thief!”

“Ohhh,” Kevin replied as he noticed the large alien blaster device in the girl’s hands.

With her small stature it looked comically oversized in her hands. Her glowing eyes and the size of her fangs helped balance out the comedy, though. 

“Stand still, please, Kevin-thief,” she snarled, lifting the blaster to point at both of them.

Andrew let out a yelp, slipping behind Kevin to use him as a shield.

“N-now then, there’s no need to hurt anyone,” Kevin said, raising his hands to try to calm the alien princess down.

“No one will be hurt. You will merely be very different. So big sister does not be in love with you any more.”

“Changed… how?” Kevin asked, while trying to scoot to the side.

Both Andrew and the blaster matched his pace. Even when he tried switching direction and speeds.

“In your tongue… this is sex-swap ray,” the lynx girl said, continuing to follow Kevin’s attempts to swerve with her blaster.

Kevin stumbled, as his brain processed that. It was not what he’d expected. He further tripped when Andrew leaned forward, interest sparkling in his eyes.

“Reall—” Andrew started to ask, until inertia caused Kevin to bowl him over, and the two young men tumbled into a pile. 

“Watch where you’re going!” Kevin shouted, before hearing a strange ‘blorp’ noise from where the girl was.

He had just enough time to turn, before seeing the pulse of energy flying his way. It passed over him, and he was overcome with the strangest feeling he had ever felt. Like every part of his body had briefly been scrambled. It was probably painful, though it was simply so confusing he couldn’t process any pain. He had to struggle to keep down his breakfast as his body went through a total rework.

When the severe disorientation subsided, he looked down at himself. He was able to tell his body had changed even underneath his habitually baggy clothing selection. He didn’t think he’d gotten any smaller, but mass had moved about, at least. He reached up to touch his face. It felt softer, though he couldn’t say much else. To be honest, he wasn’t sure what he’d expected there. It wasn’t like he’d memorized what his face felt like, to be able to tell what had changed.

“I’ve got… bazongas,” a female voice that was presumably Andrew’s said.

Turning, ready to chide the dork for his choice of words, Kevin had to do a double take, because… well, bazongas seemed fitting for his friend’s new figure. While Andrew had been short for a guy, he’d now shrunk a good ten centimetres to be short for a girl instead, and all the leftover mass had apparently gone straight to his chest.

Or… her chest? They’d been turned into girls, so was it better to use female pronouns?

No. They were just guys turned into girls, not real girls, Kevin reasoned. Trans people were a thing, so… they were just suddenly trans guys, right? If they were girls they would have known that already, regardless of their bodies. So they had to be guys, whatever happened to them.

…Why did that string of logic feel so depressing?

At least he could enjoy being turned into a girl for a bit. Especially if the process had been as nice to his face as it had been to Andrew’s. The now petite redhead looked absolutely adorable. 

The alien artifact in Kevin’s pocket bounced out, rolling along in the compact spherical mode until it was far enough to give a flash of transformation. He was now looking up at O’tmyil as the holographic blue alien girl looked down at him.

“Are you quite alright, your highness?” O’tmyil asked, concern in her large ice blue eyes. “Hmm… I see no physical damage, only the expected changes from the ray.”

“Yep. Fine. Just… processing things,” Kevin replied, continuing to lie on the warehouse floor.

The alien AI girl gave a nod, seeming strangely relaxed about all of this. Then again, she always had an odd perspective on things. Whether from her being an alien, an AI, or starting to drift from her base programming after so long, he couldn’t begin to guess. 

His speculations (which were not at all driven by an effort to ignore the strange bubbly feelings stemming from his transformation) were cut short when the main door to the building was blown open. 

Kevin hopped to his feet, grabbing O’tmyil’s hand in case he needed to call on her power. He calmed down, though, when he saw it was Plynx at the door, having blasted her way in. The light flowing in from behind her was artificial, the sun having set at this point, but it was enough to leave her an intimidating silhouette, especially with her glowing yellow eyes and blades drawn.

“I detected an energy spike, is every—Mynx-sister? What are you doing here?” the older alien princess shouted, turning to the younger girl.

The younger cat girl gave a happy sounding reply in her language, which Kevin still couldn’t make heads or tails of. Whatever it was that she said (presumably an explanation) caused a worried expression to splash across her face as she hurried over. 

“Kevin-dearest! You—” Plynx began, crouching down beside him, next to O’tmyil. “Are you really changed?”

Kevin sat up, the motion calling attention to the changes in his anatomy. “Yep. Very definitely.”

Plynx gave him a once over, before reaching out to poke his chest. It was quick, a simple confirmation, but it still sent a shiver down Kevin’s spine at how different it felt than normal.

“I’m changed too, if you want to check,” Andrew said, having sat up himself and gesturing to his obvious chest.

Plynx shot him a glare before turning her attention back to Kevin. “Do not worry. This is reversible.”

“Oh,” Kevin replied, trying to ignore the heartbreak-like feeling washing over him.

Plynx hopped to her feet and marched over to her sister, yelling something in their language. There was a brief back and forth, the two genderbent humans staring in confusion.

“Oh my,” O’tmyil said, reminding them both that she was still there, and spoke passable Issiod’rian. “Young Mynx purchased a used and outdated model. It only had charge for one shot.”

Plynx shouted something at her little sister that got another (soft) ‘oh my’ from O’tmyil, before turning back to Kevin. “Ok, it’s going to take a little bit longer to fix this than expected, but, believe me: we will fix it.”

Kevin forced a smile.