Upside Down – Alternate Destiny

Once I finally settled down and loosened my almost death grip on her, Mom let me go. Then she took a handkerchief out of her purse and cleaned my face. Chinatsu never let go as she did. She continued to hold me around the waist while resting her head on my shoulder.

Once Mom finishes, Chinatsu quietly murmurs in my ear, “Are you alright?”

I laugh self-deprecatingly, shrug, and wryly state, “I guess. At least, I’m as okay as I ever am. Thanks.” I know I’ve said it before, but I don’t know what I’d do without Chinatsu. She is and always has been my rock in life.

Mom sighs, then quietly murmurs, “Sora… Sweetheart, listen to me. You don’t have to thank us. We’ll always be here for you. That’s what family is for.”

“I know, but still, thank you. Dad, thanks for protecting us as well.”

I carefully stand up, take a step toward Dad, and hug him around the waist.

“I’m simply glad that I was here and you two are fine,” he says as he softly strokes my hair. It’s always amazed me that such a huge man is so kind and gentle. I had always wanted to be like him when I grew up, not that I’d considered it all that likely with my personality.

“Well, now that you’ve calmed down, let’s get you the things you need,” Mom says.

“I hate to bring it up, but do you think my strength will hold out for a shopping trip? I barely made it out of the hospital, and Chi had to help me almost all the way.”

She quips, “Ha! Your father is here now, so if it comes to that, he can carry you easily enough,” and then grins.

“Nuh-uh! No way! Not happening!” I state adamantly. “What? Are you trying to embarrass me to death? Cause that would do it.”

She merely shrugs off my concerns with a blasé, “Well, it’s either: make it through on your own, have your dad carry you when you can’t walk anymore, or we’ll have to come back. I’m pretty sure you’d rather not do that.”

I sigh because I hate crowded places and she knows it, so of course I don’t want to come back. Giving in to the inevitable, I tiredly say, “Alright. Let’s just get this over with.”

She smiles and turns to lead the way into the mall. Chinatsu again takes my hand as we follow her.

　◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

Several minutes later, we arrive at the first shop, which ratchets up my anxieties a couple of levels. Really? You just had to choose the hardest one first?

“Do we have to start here?” I ask plaintively. I mean, look at it, it’s a lingerie shop.

“Of course, Sora. Getting your measurements first will help us determine the correct size of clothes for you. Even if we already knew your measurements, you need lingerie, and that means shopping here.”

Looking down, I catch sight of my breasts in the simple camisole beneath my dress. It somewhat does the job, but honestly, it does little to minimize their movement, which is a bit uncomfortable when walking. So, even I have to admit that I need to go in there. Looking back up at her, I state, “I know I need them.” Sighing internally, which I think I’ll be doing a lot of today, I brace myself as best I can for the experience. After all, I may be in a girl’s body, but it’s embarrassing for me, a boy, to go into this type of shop.

“It’ll be alright. I’m with you,” Chinatsu tells me. No matter what she says, somehow I seriously doubt that this will be okay from my perspective.

“We might as well have you measured again while we’re here, Chinatsu. You said your bras were getting a bit tight.”

“Good, I was hoping we were going to do it soon, as they are starting to get fairly uncomfortable.”

Dad clears his throat, and when Mom looks at him, he tells her, “I’ll wait here,” while pointing to a bench to the right of the store entrance.

“But, what if Sora needs your help?”

“It’s fine. If I’m needed, Chinatsu can come get me. Plus, I think it will be easier on her,” he nods in my direction, “if I’m not there. She’s going to be uncomfortable enough as it is.”

She seems to consider it for a moment, then nods. “Okay, we’ll be back soon.”

With that, Mom leads the way into the store, closely followed by Chinatsu, who is leading me by my hand. I drop my eyes to the floor while blushing furiously. All I want to do is turn around and leave, but that would be futile because Mom would drag me back into the store. Kicking and screaming, if necessary.

“Welcome to Sakura Lingerie. Please, let me know if you need any assistance,” a smiling clerk says, bowing slightly to us as we enter.

“Thanks, we do. I need these two measured, please.”

“Of course, I would be happy to assist with that.” She looks at us, and continues, “Ladies, if you would follow me, please.”

Chinatsu starts to follow the clerk while leading me by the hand. When I end up lagging behind somewhat from the pace that has been set, she speaks up. “I’m sorry, but can you slow down? My sister can’t walk that fast right now. She just got out of the hospital.”

“Oh, of course, my apologies. Do you need any help?” The clerk asks, looking at me.

Chinatsu replies, “It’s fine, I’ll help her. Just walking a little slower is enough.”

The clerk turns around and resumes walking, albeit at a slower pace, and we soon reach a short hallway with several fitting rooms.

“If you’ll each take a room, I’ll call someone else, so we can take your measurements at the same time.”

Startled, my eyes fly open, and I clamp down on Chinatsu’s hand. I shake my head thinking ‘No, I don’t want to be separated!’ Chinatsu leans close to me and whispers, “It’s okay. I wasn’t going to let them separate us.”

Looking at the clerk, she then says, “We would prefer if you’d do both of us together since my sister is extremely shy around strangers. Plus she needs my help.”

“Umm. Of course. That’s no problem at all.”

“Thank you very much.”

“R-right. Thank you,” I manage to look at the clerk and nervously stammer out a reply.

Just knowing that Chinatsu will be with me the whole time somehow makes this a little more tolerable. The clerk pulls back the folding door to the fitting room, waves us inside ahead of her, and then closes the door behind herself. I thought it would be cramped with three people inside, but it’s much larger than I imagined, about two square meters.

“Please, undress so I can measure you.”

“E-eh?! U-undress?! C-can’t you do it over my clothes?!” I stammer while blushing furiously. That is a bit much.

“No, she can’t. She would get the size wrong if it were done that way. I’ll go first, and you’ll see that there’s nothing to worry about.”

I’m about to die of embarrassment here. How can you say there’s nothing to worry about?

Chinatsu unbuttons and takes off her blouse, removes her bra, and then unzips and takes off her skirt, leaving her in her panties. She then folds and sets her clothes on the shelf.

The clerk measures around her breasts, right under her breasts, around her waist, and finally, her hips, writing down each reading as she does so.

“All done. Your bust is 69cm, waist is 53cm, hips are 74, and you’re an A Cup.”

“There… See? Nothing to worry about. She’ll be done before you know it.”

I sigh and nod, upset and nervous as hell, mind you. I might look like a girl, but I feel like a boy who grew breasts. Chinatsu seeing me is one thing, but I don’t want anyone else to look. I know, I don’t have any choice except to do this, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it one bit.

I undress quickly with my eyes closed. Raising my arms, I feel the cold tape brush across my nipples, then move down below my breasts. She follows the same pattern she did with Chinatsu and finishes quickly.

“Okay, all done. Your bust is 71cm, waist is 56cm, hips are 78cm, and you’re an A Cup, although you’re close to edging into a B.”

“Wow, Sora! You have a great figure!”

“Yes, she does. If she keeps growing like this, she’ll have men falling all over themselves for her. Although I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that all the boys in her class already do,” the clerk says with a knowing smile.

“Don’t say things like that! It’s embarrassing,” I state vehemently while blushing to the tips of my ears.

The clerk chuckles and tells us, “I’ll wait for you at the entrance while you two dress.” After that, she steps out and closes the door behind herself.

After she’s gone, I wrap my arms around Chinatsu and sag against her, who wraps her arms around me, partially supporting me.

In a concerned tone, she asks, “Are you okay? Do you need to sit down?”

I just shake my head and lay my head on her shoulder. ‘Was Chinatsu always this soft? Did she always smell this good? Why hadn’t I ever noticed?’ While wondering about this, I hold her a little tighter against me and bask in the feel of her soft, warm skin against mine, while the stress from this experience slowly evaporates.

A few minutes later, Chinatsu squeezes me and kisses my cheek. She steps back to look at me and quietly tells me, “Come on, we need to get dressed. Everyone is waiting for us.”

I reply, “Okay,” sounding a little petulant even to myself, and we start getting dressed. However, she ended up having to zip up my dress and redo the waist tie for me.

I look at her when she chuckles, then says, “You didn’t even blush this time.”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“You got dressed in front of a mirror and didn’t even close your eyes or blush once,” she says.

I did? It didn’t even occur to me, and I hadn’t even noticed, to be honest. “Well, it doesn’t matter, you’ll have to get used to it. After all, there’s no real choice. I don’t mind helping you, but I’m not always going to be there when you need to change clothes or take a bath.”

‘A bath? Well, there’s another thing I hadn’t even considered. How am I supposed to do that?’ When we’re finished, Chinatsu takes my hand again and leads the way out of the room.

She giggles again. “I can see you hadn’t even thought about it. Don’t look so anxious; I’ll be happy to help. Anyway, I need to show you how to care for your hair and wash it properly now since you can’t simply scrub down like you used to, or you’ll damage your skin. Girls have delicate skin.”

After meeting up with the clerk, we slowly make our way back to Mom.

“Well?” Mom asks with a raised eyebrow. The clerk hands Mom the two slips of paper with our measurements on them.

The clerk asks Mom, “Would you like some help selecting items for them?”

“No, thank you. I can manage from here.”

“Please, call me if you need any assistance.”

“Chinatsu, you may go get your own. Do you remember the sizes the clerk told you?”

“Of course, Mom. How many sets can I get?”

“Just use your judgment, but don’t go overboard, okay? Your Dad isn’t going to be very happy with the cost of this at the end of the day as it stands.”

“Alright. See you in a few minutes.” She answers Mom but looks at me as she says the last part and gives my hand a light squeeze before heading off to a different area of the store.

Mom stops and peers at me intently, then murmurs, “Hmm… What would look best on you?” Then, seemingly as an afterthought, she asks, “Do you have any color or style preferences, Sora?”

What? Seriously? It’s underwear, lingerie, or whatever name you wanna call. Its job is to cover my privates, so who cares what color it is or what it looks like? It’s not like I’ll be running around showing it to people.

“Well, umm… Whatever you think is best. I don’t have any preference.”

I must have inadvertently said the right thing because her smile could have lit up the whole store. Whatever, it isn’t as if I care what she picks out for me as long as she’s happy, it fits, and it’s comfortable.

Time seems to fly by in an absolute blur for me as Mom keeps picking up different colors and styles, holding them against me and either nodding or shaking her head. Soon, Chinatsu shows back up and places several matched sets in the basket along with the rather large pile for me.

“Hey, Mom? Isn’t that enough for her?”

Mom takes a moment to look up and murmur, “Hmm? What, Chinatsu? What did you say?”

“I asked if that wasn’t enough already.”

She looks at the basket and seems a little surprised. From her reaction, I’m guessing that she got a little carried away.

“Yeah, I think we are good for now.” She picks through all of the piled-up bra and panty sets, selects about a dozen, then says, “Okay, girls, let’s go check out, and then how about we eat some lunch? It’s about that time.”

“Sure, sounds good to me, Mom,” Chinatsu says energetically. Me, though? Honestly, this is just exhausting, so all I want to do is lie down, but I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon. Although sitting down for a while would be awesome and might allow me to recover some of my energy.

“I’m not hungry. I just want to sit down and rest for a while,” I reply. Mom stops dead in her tracks and turns to look intently at me.

“Sora, why didn’t you say something before now?” She asks with a concerned expression.

Looking down at my feet, I murmur, “I’m okay. I’m a little tired is all, and like you said, this needs to be done today. A little rest, and I’ll be good to go again.”

Looking back up, I smile weakly, trying to put up a brave front. I don’t believe she’ll buy it for a second, but I don’t want to have to come back again, especially after what happened earlier. Merely thinking about it is enough to send cold chills up my spine.

Mom stares at me suspiciously, then seems to come to a decision. “Alright, young lady, tell me the truth. While I said this needs to be done today, we can easily come back if this is too much for you…” She interrupts herself, then continues barely a moment later, “You know what? Forget it. Why don’t we do this instead? Let’s eat, and afterward, we’ll buy you a couple of outfits and pajamas. We can order the rest of it online. That way, we don’t have to worry about you getting overly tired or you hurting yourself. Sound good?”

I almost deflate in relief, and reply, “That sounds wonderful. Honestly, I’m nearly exhausted, and all I want is to curl up in bed.”

Mom nods as if I was confirming what she already knew, and looks at Chinatsu. “Take Sora, and go sit down with your father. I’ll be there as soon as I’ve checked out.”

Chinatsu says, “Okay.” Then she wraps an arm around my waist to steady me, and we slowly make our way toward the entrance of the shop while Mom walks to the checkout counter. When we exit the store, Dad notices us and raises an eyebrow questioningly at Chinatsu. I see her nod out of the corner of my eye. He stands up, comes over, and without saying a word, picks me up. It’s embarrassing, but I’m much too tired to care at this point. Carrying me back to the bench, he gently sets me down, and then they sit on either side of me.

“Sora, are you okay?”

“I’m okay, a bit tired is all. It’s nothing to worry about,” I reply to him wearily as I lean against his shoulder, cover my mouth, yawn, and close my eyes. I doubt it takes me more than a few seconds to nod off.

　◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

[Chinatsu’s POV]

“She’s more tired than she’s letting on, Dad.”

“I didn’t think this was a good idea, but your mother insisted that she needed all of this today."

“It’s okay. Mom figured out that it’s too much for Sora. She’s already decided that we’re leaving soon. She only wants to eat lunch and buy some pajamas and a few outfits for Sora today.”

“I knew it would happen. Look, she’s already asleep. This was far too much to expect of her on her first day out of the hospital. She could have used some of your pajamas until she was a little stronger.”

“Dad, think about it. Was she supposed to walk around in pajamas all day? She needs a few outfits and her own lingerie at the very least. My clothes fit her for the most part, but my underwear would be too tight for her. Not to mention, who wants to wear someone else’s underwear? Mom stopped last night and bought what she’s wearing now.”

“Okay, okay. You two win, as always. You’re right. I’m simply worried because she’s been through so much already, and adding more stress like this isn’t helping, is all I was getting at.”

“Well, maybe we can ask Mom to skip lunch and talk her into picking out a couple of outfits and pajamas for her by herself. Then we can let her nap here until Mom is done and head home.”

“That’s as good a plan as I’ve heard all day. I’m pretty sure your Mom will…”

Dad trails off from what he’s saying when Mom walks out of the store. When Mom reaches us, she sees Sora soundly asleep, kneels in front of her with a smile, and gently strokes her hair.

“She is so cute when she’s sleeping.” She sighs and then looks at Dad. “I knew today would be tiring for her, but I never thought it would be this bad. You came in your car, right?”

Dad nods in reply.

“Okay, that makes it a little easier, then. Why don’t you take her home and put her to bed? Chinatsu, would you mind carrying these to your Dad’s car? You can go ahead and go home with them, too. I’ll be home after I’ve bought her some pajamas and a few outfits.”

“I don’t mind at all. I’d prefer to stay with her anyway since she’s more at ease when I’m there.”

“Okay, drive safe. I’ll see you soon,” Mom says. Then she stands back up and heads deeper into the mall.

Dad shifts position so that he can gently lift Sora, and cradles her protectively against his chest as the three of us head out of the mall while she continues to sleep peacefully.