“So, wait, what do I do now?” Mike asked as he turned away from the mirror and towards Kya, who he noticed stood rather prominently over him.

“Uh, I’m honestly not sure, do you feel dysphoric at all?” Kya asked.

“Whatnow? Oh, right, what you have sometimes, um, I don’t think so? I feel okay.”

“That’s good, at least,” Kya replied with a sigh. “I want to correct what I said earlier. If you don’t want to be a catgirl, you don’t have to be the girl part, even if you look like this. You don’t have to change your name or–”

“But what if I want to?” Mike asked.

“Then we can do that right now,” Kya replied with a smile, “do you have a name picked out?”

“I was thinking Maria, if that’s alright!” Maria said as her tail waved behind her.

“Hm. We’ll have to get you some clothes. I still have old clothes in my closet from when I was younger, hopefully they’ll fit you. Hold still for a few minutes?” Kya asked as they prepared to walk out the door.

“Can do!” Maria replied with a giggle.

After few minutes of trying to make as little sound as possible so no one noticed, Maria was nearly about to freak out from the anxiety when Kya popped back in the doorway.

“Hi, sorry, you have a pretty small frame so I was really digging. I have everything you should need, I think,” they said as they threw the pile of clothing in on the floor in front of Maria.

“Thank you!” Maria exclaimed as she embraced Kya tightly, startling them and nearly knocking both backwards.

“Whoa, easy there, a little warning maybe next time!” Kya said with a chuckle as she closed the door. “I’m still here, I just want to give you privacy.”

Maria grinned as she put the clothes on. They were comfortable, and while the tail made for somewhat awkward positioning, she did figure it out eventually. It helped that the jeans were pretty low-cut. She brushed her hair out with her fingers, detangling it, and walked back outside.

“Wow, you look lovely, Maria!” Kya exclaimed.

“Thank you, thank you for everything!” Maria replied, “Oh, would you mind helping me with something else?”

“Sure!” Kya replied, “whatever you need.”

“I want to call mom and let her know, and I’ll need someone to vouch for me, probably. She knows you.”

“Sounds good!” they replied with a nod.

Maria pulled her phone out, and after struggling to remember the passphrase, since her fingerprint no longer worked, she called her mother.

“Hi buddy! How’s the sleepover?” her mom asked.

“Uh, good mom, there’s something I need to tell you and this might sound crazy.”

“Oh, young lady, I think you might have the wrong number! Did Michael lend you his phone to make a call? That was very nice of him!”

“Mom, it’s me. I didn’t call a wrong number,” Maria replied nervously, not wanting to say her old name anymore.

“I can confirm, Mike’s mom!” Kya said, whispering sorry at Maria, who gave them a thumbs up.

“Oh, okay kiddos, I see what this is about. Very funny.”

“Mom, it’s not a prank, I promise!” Maria said, “Look, can we video call?”

“...Alright, young lady.”

At least her mother wasn’t automatically hanging up. Maria turned on the video feature, and saw her mom holding her face far too close to the phone, then withdrawing it from her face in confusion.

“You look remarkably like my niece! Hanna, is that you?”

“No, mom, it’s um, me, your child. The ears are real.”

“Oh, I see, it’s one of those filters! It’s cool that they can do the voice too these days!”

“Mom, it’s not a filter, I really really truly look like this! This is me! Please believe me, I don’t know what I’ll…” she let the phone waver in her arm as she began to cry.

“Oh, oh dear! Please don’t cry, M–”

“Maria.” she said.
“Maria, thank you. My sweet girl, I love you for who you are. I’m not totally sure how this happened, but we’ll talk about it in the morning, if that’s okay with you. I don’t want to interrupt your sleepover, unless you want to come home, in which case I’ll be right there!”

“That’s okay, mom, Kya’s been helping me and they’re a good friend,” Maria replied.

“Okay, Maria! Love you bunches, and thank you for trusting me!” her mom said, “Love you bunches!”

“Love you too, mom!” she said as they waved goodbye to each other and hung up.

“So, that went unexpectedly well,” Kya said. “If it had been my parents, I’m not certain I’d have been able to convince them so easily.”

“Mom just knows me like that, I guess,” Maria replied with a shrug. “Wanna go watch more of the anime?”

As they walked downstairs, they noticed Will and Lily both almost entranced, watching the show. Neither seemed to be moving an inch, hardly even noticing that people had entered until Maria sat down on the couch again. Will turned to look at her, back to the screen, then turned back, and paused the TV show.

“Holy fuck, I must be hallucinating. That’s enough of that for me!” he said as he rubbed his eyes.

“That makes two of us, I guess,” Lily said, “real catgirl with wagging tail.”

“Hi, I’m Maria, and I’m not a hallucination, I think, at least,” she said rather timidly. She still felt a little shy, and having all the attention on her suddenly was not helping. Fortunately, Kya stepped into the mix.

“Hey, friends, this is Maria,” Kya said as they put their hand gently on Maria’s shoulder.

“Uh, hi Maria, good to meet you!” Will said, “by the way, Kya, is Mike okay?”

Maria tensed at that, almost shutting down before Kya stepped in again. “They’re okay, perhaps they just need a little more time. Maria, do you feel alright?”

Maria nodded, took a deep breath, then closed her eyes and focused. She had to tell them. She knew they wouldn’t be upset, she knew they were supportive, she was a little nervous about how big the reaction would be, if anything would change.

“I, uh, um,” she began, “I’m Mike, or, I was, I guess, until a few minutes ago.”

“...Oh, wow, Maria!” Lily exclaimed, “you’re gorgeous!”
“T..thank you!” Maria said with a blush, yelping as Lily tackled her with a hug and started petting her ears.

“Lily, stop that!” Kya yelled protectively.

“No, it’s okay, Kya! I don’t mind!” Maria exclaimed, “Really, I like it! It feels nice!”

“Okay, Maria, just making sure you’re comfortable.”

“So, wait, am I the only guy here?” Will asked.

“Looks like it, yep,” Lily said as she kept petting Maria, who was laughing up a storm.

“Damn,” he said with a sigh, “well, I wanna get back to the anime. Who’s with me?”

“Sure!” Maria said, “As long as Lily is okay with petting me more during it!”

“Deal!” Lily said as they unpaused.

After a few minutes in, Maria found herself very sleepy under the constant petting. She dozed off pretty quickly.

---

When Maria woke up, she checked her phone to find it was 10 am. She should probably be getting home soon. She ran upstairs to find her friends eating breakfast and chatting. She had a little bit of a chat over the remaining bacon Kya had made before deciding it was probably time to go.

She hugged all of them goodbye, and then left in her car. She was glad she had such a high driver’s seat, because she was just about able to see over the wheel safely, and not much more. The drive home was peaceful, and soon, she made it to the house. Her mother opened the front door and ran to greet her.

“So, it is you!” her mom exclaimed.

“Yeah! It is!” Maria replied, beaming up at her mom, before realizing something else. “Um, mom, how do you think Danny will react?”

“I don’t know, you’ll have to ask him. I’ve got your back no matter what, though.”

“Thanks, mom!”

She walked in the house, and Danny was standing in the doorway, almost as if he’d been watching her.

“So, um, who are you?”

“Your sibling. I know I look different but–”

“So you’re saying you got me a cat?”

Maria blinked, felt her ears, and smiled at him. “Yeah, I suppose I did.”

He walked up to her and hugged her tight, as she hugged him back. “You’re the best sister ever.”