I was wide awake when dawn broke. Dr Iroha called some enforcers down and explained the situation to them before returning to whatever she was doing. I guess she's the type of person that preferred being by herself since she hardly interacted with anyone outside the bare minimum.

I was wondering how she ever became a doctor, and after much persistence she told me it was because she was a radiologist prior to becoming an Exile. Exiles would retain their titles even after transitioning, one of the few things that could connect an Exile to their previous life, and some would choose to continue practicing their professions after a certain age but only after re-training and re-certification though many would choose another profession.

Except medical doctors. They would be required to continue to practice. In the event they may not be able to perform certain procedures like for example they can't do surgery because they've lost the fine motor skills due to the age reversion, they will be trained in a different branch of medicine until they are re-trained.

Dr Iroha though performs nurse duties as well since she also wants to transfer to patient care, although she still practices radiology. Dr Komachi was finishing her residency when she became an Exile, and since then was trained in various branches despite mainly being a neurosurgeon. Apparently the island lacked skilled surgeons and doctors in the early days which is why many of the older doctors were trained to do many different procedures.

Still, the issuing of a new bracelet took some time so I was left sitting around as they muddled about, poking and prodding the doctor. I didn't mind though, I had a habit of sleeping late and waking up early, but this time I had slept since eight in the evening to about four in the morning so I was feeling very refreshed.

I wanted to find some breakfast but I wasn't allowed to move around until around six in the morning, when finally a new bracelet was fastened tight on my wrist and I was free to go about my business. 

Many of the shops were still closed, their opening hours were the standard nine to five so I was about three hours too early. It came as a pleasant surprise though to see Kou's shop open, with the smell of freshly ground coffee and pastries baking in the oven wafting in the air. It made the trip to halfway across town worth the trouble.

He was a little busy to entertain me today, but we chatted for a little as I drank my slightly sweet coffee with a melon bun. He was very amused when I told him of my little adventure in the night. After half an hour though, I started seeing a few customers entering the shop, so it appeared he actually did have business.

"What'd ya mean 'actually has business'?" He yelled in my direction when I mentioned it in passing as I left, but I was already out the door.

Today, I thought about walking through town and started making plans for the day when a beep and a vibration alerted me to something on my bracelet. Apparently I had a psychiatric assessment today, standard procedure it seems. Still it was several hours away so I figured I would continue to explore the town.

I managed to go some ways though not very far because I was small, but I also needed to use the restroom and I forgot to go when I was at the bakery. It really was troubling as many shops and cafes still weren't open and the bakery was ten minutes away, the pubs were open but I was hesitant to go in.

In the end though I walked into an open pub with an open view of the sea. It didn't have a door so anyone could just walk in. It looked rather cozy but no one was in, so I assume it wasn't open hours yet, but luckily they had a toilet just round the corner that was open, so I slipped in to do my business.

This was the first time I was using a girls toilet, and despite being a girl now I still hadn't accepted it and felt like I was doing something wrong, which is why I kept checking over my shoulder and straining my ears to hear any sound or movement that indicated the presence of someone who might catch me as I went.

I guess it was because I was nervous, but I was very aware of the sensation of fluids flowing out of my body as I was relieving myself, and it kind of tickled. I had a tiny shiver when I was done, at least some things don't change, though it was definitely more inconvenient and messier than I had thought it would be.

Having wiped myself thoroughly, I wanted to wash my hands but the sink was too high, and of course there were no children's sink. I guess it was fair, considering that this was a pub, but I struggled a bit and managed to wet my hands and apply some soap. Unfortunately at this untimely moment, the door opened and a lady walked in on me.

"Oh my, who are you?"

She was about thirty and had on a nice brown shawl and a brown slip dress with a white blouse underneath, and high cut boots. Instead of a bracelet she had on a very tasteful watch, so I assumed she was a normal person.

I was at a loss for words as we stared at each other, and she looked at my soap covered hands and giggled rather cutely.

"Let me help you alright?" She said and then lifted me by the waist. I saw myself in the mirror as I was washing my hands and I thought we looked like a rather cute mother and child pair, although I had no idea who she was. She introduced herself as Ms Tanaka Rikka and I introduced myself as I was washing my hands.

"What a cute name, nice to meet you Hotaru." She said, and set me back on my feet once I was done washing.

Ms Rikka then told me to wait here, as she went into one of the stalls. I felt rather awkward as I heard the small tinkling, but I did as I was told. I though of running away of course, but somehow I lost the timing to do so and now I, a fake female, was just here in the toilet with an actual female while she was doing her business.

Once she was done, she washed her hands and held out her hand to me.

"Come on, hold it." She said as I stared blankly at it, so I grabbed it and we walked out.

"Is everything okay ma'am?"

Outside was a male enforcer. Of course as an outsider, she was escorted with a a guard in civilian attire. He was eyeing me suspiciously but didn't do anything else.

"It's perfectly alright at ease sir."

Still he eyed me, but decided to drop it. He never let his guard down though, his hand placed by his hip near his pistol at all times.

The lady walked me towards a car and opened the door for me as I got in. The guard sat behind me, and she started the car. It was awkward but I sat still, I doubted she would do anything to me but I was still nervous.

"Ms Tanaka, can I ask where we are going?"

"Oh you don't have to be so polite just call me Rikka," she said, "we're just going to have some breakfast, most cafes aren't open till later so you must be hungry."

I didn't have the heart to tell her I already ate, and besides I could eat after walking for some distance. I had also hoped to find another establishment that was open at this early hour, but I was disappointed when we pulled up at a familiar place.

"Hello Mr Kou."

"Ha! I see ya managed to bump 'to a troublesome person."

Kou greeted me with a rather sullen face, mostly because I was holding the hand of the lady standing beside me who had a rather graceful smile, but a dangerous atmosphere about her.

"I wonder what you mean by troublesome Kou?"

"Gah! I mean graceful lady. What brings you here today?"

"Well I was just a Miya's but she isn't open so I came here to have breakfast."

It appears that this lady is above in social status, as even the usual carefree Kou struggled to keep his face up in her presence. I was getting curious, but also very wary of the lady whose hand was holding on to mine.

"Come let's take a seat and leave the presence of such an ungrateful person."

"Who ya callin' ungrateful." Kou muttered but Ms Rikka ignored it and sat down. I was about to pull my own seat when she turned to me and tapped her legs. I was reluctant, but her scarily expectant gaze pulled me in and reluctantly, I sat with her. I agreed with Kou, that she was a very troublesome person. The guard was somewhere in the corner, and he didn't sit with us.

"Kou you too. I want to talk to you." Rikka snapped her fingers when he came around to take our order.

"Gotta take care of the stall though..."

"I insist. After you take our order."

She ordered a croissant and a latte. I told Kou that I would be having the same thing I had earlier. Ms Rikka though picked up on it, and she was disappointed that I already had breakfast, but she cheered up when I said I could still eat. Somehow I felt like I was the adult rather than her because she was pouting like a child.

That opinion changed drastically though, when Kou brought out our orders. She was absolutely furious that I was having coffee, and began spouting health concerns and reciting the adverse effects of ingesting coffee at such a young age. Mentioning that I was technically almost twenty didn't change her opinion.

"As far as I'm concerned, you are still a child, and a child shouldn't be drinking coffee. And you," she pointed an accusatory finger at Kou, "I am disappointed in you, giving a child coffee."

"I used decaf though..."

"Decaf still contains trace amounts of caffeine. I thought we've been through this."

"Dr Komachi said it'll be fine. The Council too. Matter o' fact, they're the ones who told me to do it in the first place. In moderation o' course."

"The Council! Looks like I will have to have a talk with Komachi after all."

In the meantime, I snuck in a few sips of coffee before she realised, but she snatched it out of my hand when she noticed and drank the whole cup in one go.

I had my own talking to after Kou, where I learnt that she was actually Dr Komachi's little sister. Today, all Exiles are removed from contacting their families and personal contacts, but in the early days there wasn't such a procedure.

Ms Rikka, along with Dr Komachi who was one of the more distinguished persons in the Exile community and several advocates who were also family to the early Exiles were the ones who pushed for the formation of Exile district when there were talks of imprisoning the Exiles indefinitely in various institutions.

As such, she and the early members were allowed to remain in contact with their Exile family members only as an exception to the rule. Ms Rikka herself went on to become a parliament member in the national diet and continues to advocate for the rights of the Exiles.

The bickering continued on when a beep alerted me that I had spent far too much time and that I the psychiatric assessment was coming up in fifteen minutes. Ms Rikka of course, jumped to the rescue and all but practically threw me in the car and sped off towards the hospital. The male enforcer protested of course, but I've come to learn that when Ms Rikka puts her mind to it, nothing will stop her.

Needless to say I was well on time, and five minutes early, and after waving Ms Rikka goodbye, I went up to the psychiatrists room which was at the top floor. The room faced the sea and the opaque blinds were drawn so that the morning sun wouldn't be too glaring yet illuminated the room with sunlight. The interior decor was like a modern art studio, and everything appeared elegant and simple yet stylish.

In the corner was a tiny figure scrawling away at some stacks of papers behind a wooden desk. He was dressed very smartly and he looked foreign, with dirty blonde hair combed to the side neatly and a deep amber in his eyes. Although he was a small figure he was still bigger than me and he appeared to be about ten years old, younger than Dr Iroha.

"You're early." He said, his voice not yet deep but showing signs of maturing.

"I am Dr Thomas, I will be the one conducting the assessment this afternoon." He motioned for me to sit in a stylish and simple chaise lounge and continued talking. "This assessment is to establish your current mental health and state, as well as to design and administer treatment, should it be needed. Do you have any questions?"

"Okay, why is this necessary?" I asked as I lay down on the chair. I couldn't see him behind me so I turned my body around to face him.

"Simple," he said as if he had been asked this question many times, "you have just been through an invasive and destructive procedure and there may be lingering effects that may manifest itself in a psychological way. I am here to ascertain if you are healthy enough to undergo the re-education process immediately or if you would need some more time to adjust or an otherwise alternative method of re-education."

"And if I were to be deemed unhealthy or unable to start, will it affect my class status?"

"You pick information up very quickly. To answer, no it would not, at least not immediately. It may affect your future opportunities however, depending on how severe it is. Your class status is affected by your actions from here on out regardless of your psychological status."

"Is that not unfair?"

"In what sense?" Dr Thomas asked, appearing genuinely interested.

"For those who do have psychological problems, they will be more prone to committing crime and vices, that's a good assumption to make correct? Isn't it fairer for the class status to take that into account?"

"Many criminals, Exile or not will usually have some form of psychological problem and mental instability. I'm not talking about the petty crimes, but the slashers and arsonists and so on. By your line of logic they should be given some leeway despite their danger to society?"

Dr Thomas continued on, "The class system is not designed to separate criminals from the law abiding citizens, that's for the courts to decide. The class system is to separate those who are a danger to society from the population, and to identify those who are exceptional amongst the general populous and to provide them with the opportunities to reach their full potential."

"To remove the beneficial and detrimental from the population, and the rest remains as is?"

"In a sense, yes. The ones who are beneficial to society, and the ones detrimental are the extremes in society. As extremes, they are few and far between. The rest of the population can only maintain the status quo and wait for the exceptional ones to raise them up. This is true for normal society as well, not just the Exile district."

He pulled out several papers from a binder, it had my name on it.

"According to the background review, you scored quite well for your Common tests, especially in the field of Economics and Civics. If I were to explain it using the idea of Meritocracy, the class system here is simply a very extreme version of it."

"Extreme in what sense?"

"Well, the problem with meritocracy is that it takes competence to recognise competence. Often times you will find that a few people with connections rise to positions they are wholly inadequate to be in. Whereas someone else who is qualified, never sees such an opportunity because they lack the social graces to make connections. The class system is by design a non transparent system, evaluated through a process that only a few people unknown to society chosen through some strict criteria by the Council to prevent others from gaming the system."

"I seem to be quite favoured by Dr Komachi though?"

I had thought of this since this morning. It is odd for me to not have an escort according to Kou, and furthermore from the time I had arrived to the present, I had been living a rather luxurious life. I doubt the other new inhabitants like me would have the chance of sleeping in the residents dorms with a bathtub and room service with many an opportunity to attempt an escape.

"Yes you are," he said smiling slightly, "and a few others too. But even then she can only give you a small chance. You personally will have to be able to achieve the results on your own. It might seem like the opposite of the entire purpose of our objective and ideal 'meritocratic' system, but as I have said, it takes competence to recognise competence, and Dr Komachi is certainly very competent."

With that though Dr Thomas didn't seem to want to talk about the subject anymore, so I lay back down and we began the assessment. I never had a psychiatric assessment before so it was a new experience for me.

He went through my background and history, and we talked about my life outside, my hobbies and friends and family. I told him I never had any romantic interests and relationships, and he was very curious about it.

I explained that I spent much of my time studying for tests and exams, I was trying to do well enough so that in future I would be able to work at a reputable company and climb the corporate ladder and repay my parents for the hard work raising me.

"On the subject of your parents, after your transition into an Exile, they would have received a payout for your 'death insurance'."

"I don't think we have insurance Doctor."

"Oh no you don't have to pay for the insurance, your next of kin will immediately receive a payout the moment you become an Exile."

"I see." I was a little relieved to hear that, and sighed.

"You still care a lot for your family?"

"Well, it's just a habit. I spent most my life worrying after all. Though I don't feel much attachment anymore, there is still some lingering feeling."

"Are you stressed?"

"I'm not sure Doctor." Certainly I should be stressed, but there have been no indications so far of such.

"I feel as calm as I can possibly be."

"I see."

With that, Dr Thomas scratched something down, before moving on to the next question.

"On the subject of masturbation. Have you done it yet in your current body?"

It was a rather delicate subject and I guess I was silent for some time because he followed up, assuring me that it was normal to be curious, besides, he was once a girl as well, so I slowly answered.

"I tried once yesterday. In the bathtub."

"Tried?"

"It felt...different, so I stopped."

He hummed in agreement and wrote something down again, and continued on.

"Masturbation can be a stress reliever, and is a good place to start as you begin exploring and getting used to your new body. It is perfectly normal. I have to warn you though, and I'm sure you're aware of the X syndrome, but try to keep your activities at a minimum."

"I'll try Doctor."

"Furthermore," he continued, "while you are technically older and would have been considered an adult soon, you are legally a minor at the age of five years old. So I must insist that you keep you sexual activities to just masturbation."

"I understand Doctor."

He went through a few more questions on my goals for the future, where I told him I wanted to do the things I couldn't when I was young because I was poor, and then we called it a day.

It was lunchtime when I returned to my room I wanted to buy some lunch, but everywhere was crowded so I settled for another bowl of ramen in my room. As it was peak hours, the food wouldn't arrive for another half an hour, so I was left sitting in my room with nothing to do.

I guess idle hands really are the devil's best friend. As I laid on my bed and thought about what Dr Thomas told me, my heart started beating faster and my hands were warm.

My hand were between my thighs, and I could feel their warmth spreading. It kinda felt good when I squeezed them together, and fidgeted a little. I guess the friction of my clothes and the warmth of my hands were stimulating sensitive areas as I fidgeted slowly. I began squeezing my thighs tighter and moved at a slightly faster pace, my breath was slightly ragged, and tiny yelps were coming out.

There was that tight feeling again, but this time I decided to continue on instead of stopping. It took some time but eventually it built up until I couldn't take it anymore, I was panting as I squeezed my thighs together harder and fidgeted more vigorously, and finally something like an explosion went off inside me.

At first my waist was spasm violently, my legs would twitch with each spasm and my breath would be expelled forcibly as I spasmed. After a few seconds though, it began to calm down and i started breathing normally again. I was still twitching but I found I could start the process again, and that it was very pleasurable to touch it as it was still slightly twitching.

I slowly pulled down my bloomers which were slightly damp, and threw them into a corner. I sat up and looked down as I lifted my skirt up to my belly and spread my legs. I wanted to get a clear view. I could see some slow twitching as I spread open my opening with one hand, and it was sticky.

I used my second hand to trace the edges of the opening, I found the top to be the most sensitive, but I liked teasing it and making a full round and tracing the lips. I got a little more bold and with one finger I pressed it in between the lips, and rubbed it up and down.

It directly stimulated that sensitive spot, but my opening also had many sensitive areas. Combined, it really threw me in and I gasped as it twitched. Everytime I moved up or down, I could feel it slightly twitch in response and a small spasm of pleasure would jolt through me, and I increased the speed of my movements and fell on my back. I didn't have the strength to support my body.

With one my middle finger I slipped it between the lips, and with the others I stroked the area surrounding the opening. My other hand was busy rubbing my belly and then through my hair as my waist raised itself in anticipation. I was gasping for air as I started to reach my climax, I could feel it really close.

There was a knock on my door and there was a woman's voice calling for me that said that my ramen was here.

"I'm coming!" I managed to choke out as the surprise of the knock caused me to reach my peak, and all the muscles in my lower body tensed and convulsed rapidly as waves of ecstasy rocked through me.

I managed to roll over and jump out of my bed after a few seconds and smoothed my dress down, as I stumbled towards the door mid climax while my waist was slightly twitching with each step as my thighs rubbed against certain areas as I walked.

"Thank you for the food." I smiled slightly as I took the bowl, I don't know if the person knew, but she just nonchalantly handed over my food and went off.

When I closed the door, I slumped back down to the floor as waves of the aftermath of pleasure burst through me at slow and irregular intervals.

When I could stand again, I made my way to the toilet to wash my hands and began eating my food. My legs still felt a little shaky as I sat on the bed eating my food, although I felt somewhat lighter and clear minded.