“NYEHHHHHHHHH!?!?!”

Today’s mirror diagnosis? Bad. Terrible. Much worse than before. Oh god, oh fuck. Am I shorter? Why do I have a tail? Why do I have big cat ears!? Why does my hair touch my shoulders nyow!?!?

Actually, that last one wasn’t that bad, everything else considered. But the rest of it- how the heck was I going to explain any of this to the teachers?

“Miyu!” screamed the most likely culprit from the other side of the door. I opened it and picked her up with a sigh, holding her up for a face-to-face talk.

“Just what are you doing to me, Yuki?”

“Nyothing,”

“Wah!” I dropped the kitten in surprise, and she scampered off back to my room. “I can definitely understand you. Why can I understand you?!”

My phone chimed, freaking me out even more, and I had to fight to suppress the urge to jump onto the counter and hiss. Getting past that embarrassing train of thought, I saw it was just a message from Evan. Probably about the project, right?

[Are you changing?]

[Sorry, poor phrasing. Is your body changing?]

I bit my lip. How’d he know? Was it that obvious yesterday? Or… was he changing, too? I tapped out my reply.

[Yes. I think it has to do with the kitten I saved.]

Evan got back to me almost immediately.

[Okay. We’re going back to the cafe today. Those girls seem to know what’s going on.]

I reacted with a thumbs-up emoji and left it at that. The (hopefully) final predicament for this morning was figuring out how to make my pants comfy and not blatantly obvious that there was a cat tail hiding in one of the pant legs.

“Miyu!” Yuki had come back, dragging an article of clothing folded neatly in a plastic wrapping. It was the same color and design as my pants, only shorter and more flared. See, Kincade High School prided itself on being a diverse and accepting school, even to the point of allowing students to mix and match their provided uniform pieces no matter their perceived gender. Which meant that this spare piece of clothing was…

“I’m nyot wearing a skirt to school, Yuki!”

“Miyu?”

***

“Uuuu…” I was back to having my head on my desk again, this time sans pants. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear this skirt was designed specifically for hiding cat tails. My beanie had two very distinct points on them now, but so far I hadn’t gotten any questions about it.

“Miyu~” Yuki, of course, didn’t care about any of my troubles, perfectly content to nap on the windowsill again.

“Morning… uh, are you alright?” Evan asked as he took my old seat. Woah. He definitely looked different. Way shorter, for one - even shorter than me, and I’d shrunk too. His hair reached his shoulders now, too. And if I thought my canines had gotten bigger, his certainly have. Almost like… vampire fangs? A question for this afternoon, I guess.

“My cat is bullying me…” I groaned, gesturing to myself.

“O-Oh… Let’s just try to make it through the day with no major incidents and get some answers back at the cafe.”

I slumped. “Nyo promises…” Fuck. Oh, whatever.

Class started soon after that, but I was zoned out in my depressive spiral by now.

“Mx. Aoki?” the history teacher called.

“Y-Yes! Here!”

He looked suspiciously at my outfit. “Is there something else you’d wish for me to call you?”

“Huh? O-Oh. uh-”

“Miyu!” Yuki squeaked quietly. Hey wait, when’d she get under my desk!?

The teacher raised his eyebrows. “Sorry? One more time for me, please.”

“Mi-!” I shifted my balance, nudging my foot gently into Yuki’s side to topple her and make her stop meowing.

“Mi…yu,” I lied. “I’m experimenting with the name… Miyu.”

“Okay then, Miyu.” The teacher finished, calling on the next student. Crisis averted. I think. Stupid bully cat.

***

One school day pretending to be a trans girl later, I hefted my backpack onto my lap as I sat at the bus stop. “How did I get away with that…?”

“Miyu!”

“This is your fault, Yuki.”

“Miyu?”

“You know what you did.”

“Uh… hey,” Evan’s voice interrupted my impromptu accusatory session with my backpack. I think it was Evan, anyways. He was standing the way those tomboys do when they’re being cool and cute at the same time? Oh shit, I’m staring. Uh…

“Oh look! The bus!” I said quickly. Except the bus was nowhere in sight. I swear I heard it, though.

He looked really confused until the bus rounded the corner. “Um- oh.” Phew, saved by the bell! We clambered on quickly, retreating into our own introspections during the ride.

Thankfully it didn’t take long, and the two of us half-sprinted into the cafe. It was a sanctuary after all. There was a very strict zero-tolerance policy against bullying and discrimination here. That’s what made it such a popular hang-out spot.

“Hi, welcome!” Sachi greeted us from the counter. There she was. “What can we- oop!”

“We need to talk to you,” Evan pleaded. “Now. Ada, too… please.”

“Um, you said I could call if I… nyeeded some help?”

Thank everything that she simply just smiled and nodded with understanding, turning around to call her co-worker. “Ada! Evan and Miyu want to talk to us!”

“Wha- How did you-”

“Yuki told me.”

At the mention of her name, Yuki poked her head out of my bag. “Miyu!”

“She… told you?” I asked.

Sachi tilted her head. “You haven’t learned Nyanese yet?”

“Nya… what?”

Ada appeared from the back, holding a tray with two Catgirl Cuppas, two of whatever Evan got yesterday, and a tiny cup full of milk. “Come on, let’s grab a table.”

We took a moment to get situated before Evan and I started firing off questions.

“So, you know what’s happening to us?” Evan surmised.

“You’re becoming a vampire,” Ada stated matter-of-factly.

“And you’re becoming a catgirl!” Sachi told me. “And she’s a Maneki Neko!” she added, pointing at my cat who was currently drowning her face in milk.

“Miyu?” she mewed.

“You both sound pretty confident in the idea that myths and magic are real,” Evan pushed. “If that’s true, then do you know that New Haven didn’t exist a few years ago?”

“Uh-huh,” Ada took another sip of the dark-colored boba. “My dad made it.”

Evan nearly spat out his drink. “Eh!?”

“Long story. And to answer your next question, I know you’re a vampire because I’m a vampire. You felt better after you drank this yesterday, right? It’s a passionfruit tea with condensed blood boba. Drink up, unless you want to spend another night being grumpy and having headaches.”

Evan obeyed, taking a sip of his drink. I almost didn’t want to ask what was in the drink I had.

“Miyu?” Yuki asked for me.

“Aww, I’m glad you liked it, Yuki! It’s tea milk with catnip jelly,” Sachi replied, clearly invested in conversing with my kitten.

I timidly raised my hand. “I um, don’t mean to interrupt, but do you know why we’re becoming a catgirl and vampire, respectively?”

At my question, Yuki suddenly seemed full of energy, doing a couple of zoomie laps on the table. “Nya! Nya nya nya!”

Sachi giggled and translated. “She says that she’s sharing her gifts with you as thanks for saving her. She wants to help you be happy and grant you good fortune,” She paused. “Wow, you’re an old-timey youkai, aren’t you?”

“Hisssss…”

“Eep! Sorry!”

Yuki turned her head away, offended. “Miyu.”

Evan cleared his throat. “Okay, so that explains Ha- Miyu’s situation… what about me?”

“Someone turned you, duh,” Ada said, taking another casual sip of her drink. “Any encounters with mysterious strangers recently? Lost memories, dreamlike trance, that sort of thing?”

“Uhhh-”

“There’s your answer.”

“Okay… so vampire stuff aside, why am I turning into a girl?”

“You are?” I said.

“You aren’t?” he countered.

“Nyot yet.”

Yuki started glowing again. “Nyu will!”

I’m… going to pretend I didn’t hear that.

“I’m not sure, Evan,” Ada answered. “But I’ll send you some links to check out later. Both of you.”

He gave Ada one of those bro nods. “Right. Thanks.”

“Sure. Anything else for now? We have to get back to work, soon.”

“Oh right, s-sorry!” I apologized. “We’ll let you get back to it.”

“Alright. Text us anytime, you two!”

We parted ways with the girls, leaving Evan and me with a moment to process everything together.

“Well, that explains a lot, right?” I said.

“Most of it, I guess. Wish I knew why I was becoming a girl, though. That’s for another time. How’s work coming along on your part of the project?”

Oh shit! I knyew I forgot something last night! Nyow I’ve gotta catch up… ugh.