I sat down cross legged across from the Diamondback and downed a mug of mystery nuts. My eyes never left the boss as we both waited for another round of drinks. The various monsters surrounding us cheered and broke out in festivities.

It was like our drinking challenge was the start of a whole new party. I downed a third drink and considered the situation. It didn’t look like a fight would break out. Additionally, drinking seemed like the fastest way to win the trust of these monkeys.

“Come out, Cheddar. You should drink as well. You don’t mind if my companion joins me, do you?”

The Diamondback said nothing when Cheddar exited my shadow. One of the helper monkeys brought Cheddar a bowl so that he could participate in the festivities. Meanwhile, the boss and I continued our rounds of drinks. We quickly exhausted the first barrel and had to wait for the second barrel to be opened.

It was easy to see at a glance how much these monsters valued drinking. I had never gone to a drinking party before, but thankfully I had the cheat code [Gluttony] skill helping me hold my own. I took a swig of the new drink and a fruity, butternut taste filled my mouth.

“You were hiding the good stuff from me!”

The drinks were crude, especially when compared to what Master Chef Ralph made, but the atmosphere more than made up for it. A pleasant warmth filled my body. It was like I was soaking in a hot spring.

“Oh, are you finally taking me seriously?”

The boss got up from its side and finally sat up straight once we started the third barrel. The festivities were in full swing at this point. The tens of monsters around us had somehow grown to hundreds.

It was noisy and rambunctious. In short, it was just the kind of commotion I had been missing due to being trapped in a dungeon.

The boss and I were no longer chugging drinks by the time we got the fourth barrel. Instead, we took our time slowly savoring the taste. This stuff was too good to waste. The first of the partying monkeys began to pass out.

Cheddar wasn’t doing so well either. The poor alpha could barely walk straight and often ended up wasting half of the drink in its bowl.

I began sweating when we started on the sixth barrel. It was to the point where I wanted to take off my clothes. Unfortunately, I was already naked. [Gluttony] saved my stomach from being a bloated mess, but there was something special about these drinks.

The ki in my body was boiling over to the point where I was overheating. Beads of sweat raced down my body and my breathing grew ragged. Unlike me, my opponent appeared completely unaffected by our drinking session.

I was going to lose at this rate. I glanced to my left. Cheddar had lost consciousness at some point. Nearly three quarters of the party was out like a light. The remaining fourth was barely conscious.

It was like I had returned to that first day as Fang. Hot! Hot! Hot! My body had turned into a furnace and the heat was threatening to cook me alive. My gaze returned to my opponent who leisurely finished off his drink.

The boss hadn’t acknowledged me. I couldn’t afford to give up. I did the only thing I could to stop the ki from exploding within my body. I covered my tails in [Fox Fire].

“It’s fine, right?”

Like usual, I didn’t get a response. I finished off my cup and waited for the next one. The pressure in my body drastically fell now that I had established an outlet for the building ki. Of course, this wasn’t a permanent solution.

I had split the pressure among my nine tails, but eventually the ki network in my tails would reach their limits too.

Night fell and yet, our drinking contest continued. It was quiet now. The entire party had passed out, except for the boss, the helper monkeys, and me. I had long lost track of what number of barrels we were on.

My tongue was filled with cotton and a floating sensation filled my mind. I chatted with the Diamondback like we were best friends.

“Can you believe it? That stupid Leah just can’t take a hint. You would think that after being avoided for so long, she would give up on me!”

My silent companion said nothing like usual, but I didn’t care. I was just happy I had someone to talk to.

“Cheers to our new friendship! I really regret not meeting you earlier, bro. I would have had an entirely different experience if I landed in your territory first.”

I talked about anything and everything. I went over the list of things I wanted to do when I got out of the dungeon. I also talked about the regrets I had in leaving everything behind to run away to the Upper Realm.

“...I wonder what Elizabeth told my parents. Do you think they are worried for me?”

The boss was a true bro. I didn’t hesitate to open up to him.

“Do you have any girls you fancy? Hehe, I have two I want to take as my mates. They are so amazing that sometimes I wonder why they even keep me around.”

Even the deepest, innermost thoughts that I didn’t dare reveal to anyone spilled freely from my lips.

“Is it weird that spending the rest of my life as a girl doesn’t bother me anymore?”

To be honest, there seemed to be more advantages than disadvantages to spending my life as a girl. If I was a man, then I wouldn’t be able to take a bath with Cecilia and Byleth. We also wouldn’t be able to sleep in the same bed.

“...In fact, living as a girl doesn’t sound that bad.”

Boss bro didn’t judge me, no matter how weird I was. The more I thought about it, the more correct my idea seemed. All I had lost by turning into a girl was my manhood. Caim Duskhelm, the Demon Duke I had met in the hospital when I first arrived in the Upper Realm, had mentioned potions and pills that could help me temporarily regain it.

If that was the case, then were there no downsides to being a girl? I took another swig of my drink. A bitter memory soured my drink.

“I nearly forgot, but I hate the lustful gazes of other men. That would be something I have to live with if I stay as a girl.”

There were bound to be more downsides to living as a girl that I couldn’t think of at the moment. Still, the positives far outweighed the negatives.

“...Cecilia and Byleth… They truly only have girls by their sides.”

There weren’t many men in Cecilia’s mansion. All of the men in the mansion had valuable skills, such as Ralph being a Master Chef. I downed the last of the current barrel and we moved onto the next one.

“Deciding to be a girl because Cecilia and Byleth would like me better sounds silly, doesn’t it? In the end, I should live life the way I want without letting anyone else influence my decision.”

Whoever said that answers couldn’t be found at the bottom of a barrel was a liar. The pleasant heat of my drinks did wonders to lubricate my thoughts and drag out the emotions buried deep in my heart.

“I think I’m happier with my current life than I ever was in the past.”

Boss Bro lifted his drink to his mouth, but ended up spilling half of it down his chest. I laughed foolishly at him before continuing my thoughts.

“I won’t say something like I discovered my true self, but I feel so free now. It is like I can do anything.”

I wasn’t a harem hero sidekick anymore. Everyone saw me for who I was rather than as Leah’s best friend. My worth, and the things that made me special, was no longer tightly tied up with my best friend.

An errant thought struck me with such clarity that I had no idea how it had escaped me for so long.

Could I really call Leah Maxwell my best friend?  A best friend was not someone that filled your stomach with dread at the thought of meeting. A best friend was not someone that you spent months running away from.

No, Leah Maxwell was not my best friend. Not anymore. At best, she was a friend. At worst, a stalker.

I glanced around at the knocked out party goers with a strangely uplifting feeling. It was like I had finally shaken off the chains that had tied me down since she asked me out.

Basking in the warm afterglow of my drink, I knew with absolute certainty that I would never get together with Leah Maxwell. I was a changed man… No, I was a changed woman. I downed my mug and glanced down at myself.

It was like I was seeing my body for the first time. Whether it was the swell of my breasts, the curve of my hips, or my narrow waist, not one aspect of my appearance felt out of place. This was me. I was Fang, the 9 Tailed Fox Beastman. This was my natural state.

The mug slipped from Boss Bro’s hands and he collapsed on his side, but I was too caught up in my epiphany to care.

I was a girl. That thought brought me a measure of warmth. During my time as Ash, I was desperate to change away from the sorry boy that abandoned everything. The fact that I was able to think of myself as a girl was proof that I had changed far beyond my expectations.

“I am a girl.”

I experimentally said the words out loud. Not thunder of condemnation rang down from the heavens to smite me. Nobody suddenly stood up and shouted in protest. The world remained silent at my words, as if I had said nothing out of the ordinary.

It felt good to stop running away and fully embrace the new life I had made for myself in the Upper Realm. Much bolder this time, I reaffirmed my decision.

“I am a girl.”

Something clicked in my mind. All of a sudden, the overwhelming amount of heat in my body broke through an invisible barrier and rushed straight into my mind.

At the same time, a portion of the heat split off and dove deep inside of me, enveloping what could only be my soul. My [Ki] formed a bridge between my mind, body, and soul, bringing all three into harmony. A strange cycle formed, causing my senses to undergo a qualitative change.

Suddenly, I gained the ability to feel my own soul and sense the souls of others. My body became nothing more than a vessel for me. Even if my body perished, my soul could live on and eventually reform a new body.

My mind grew faster, stronger, and sharper. It was easy to divide my mind in two and perform two separate actions at the same time. One part of my mind could be devoted to manipulating my [Fox Fire] while the other fought with my claws.

My body benefited the most. My reaction time became nearly zero and every cell in my body was filled to the brim with ki. Ki moved naturally through my body and every little movement carried the full strength of my ki.

A casual kick or claw was now far stronger than the [Ki Kick] and [Ki Claw] skills I had in the past. I wanted to jump and share my excitement with the world, but alas, everyone had collapsed for the night.

Instead, I quietly gazed up into the night sky while sipping on the last of my drink. The frantic desire that pushed me to change faded. For the first time since Leah asked me out, I was at peace.

I didn’t need to be better. I didn’t need to be somebody else. I was perfectly fine staying as who I was now.