Upside Down – Alternate Destiny

[Friday, May 10th]

Good Lord! My head is killing me, could that be what woke me up? I glance at my clock, and it’s 2:30 in the morning.

As usual, I’m being used as a body pillow. Normally, I don’t mind, and she can curl up on top of me and use my boobs as her pillow all she wants. But at the moment, I wish she wasn’t because I need to take care of this before my head explodes.

“Nnn~ Hey there, is something wrong?” Chinatsu groggily asks me. I’ve said it before, but I believe she’s psychic when it comes to me. Even so, knowing something is up with me when she’s asleep? Kinda wild.

“Nothing much, I have a headache. Go back to sleep. I’m going to go take some aspirin. Be back soon,” I tell her and swing my legs off the bed so that I can stand.

She stops me and looks at me intently in the dim lighting. Then she asks me with a concerned expression, “Are you sure that’s all it is?”

“Of course. When have I ever lied to you? If it was something else, I’d tell you.”

She nods. Even then, she still looks as if she doesn’t quite believe me.

“Good. Would you let go of me? I need the aspirin.”

“You stay here, I’ll go get them and some water. I’ll be right back.”

She hops off the bed and disappears through the door. She returns a couple of minutes later and proceeds to hand me the aspirin and water. I take the aspirin along with a few sips of the water, then set the glass on the nightstand. I sigh softly as I close my eyes and lean against the wall, waiting for them to take effect.

I feel a light touch on my temples and open my eyes. “Close your eyes and relax. I’ll rub your temples. That always helps me feel better.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

I close my eyes again while she returns to rubbing my temples. She’s right, it does help, but whether it’s a distraction from the pain or is actually helping, I’m not sure. A few minutes later, she moves to my neck and begins to massage the muscles there. I didn’t realize they were so tight until she began working on them. As she loosens them, I have to admit, it feels wonderful. As the muscles slowly unknot under her ministrations, my headache slowly eases off, and I sigh in relief.

“Lay down on your stomach, and I’ll do your back too. I’m sure the muscles there are tight as well.”

I lay down on my stomach. She straddles me and, using moderate pressure, begins to rub across my back. You might think it would hurt, but the silk nightgown I’m wearing allows her hands to easily slide along my back with very little in the way of friction. She then uses the base of her hands and starts working on my shoulder muscles in slow circles from the outside of my shoulder toward my neck and back again on both sides. Once she has them loosened up, she moves farther down, where she begins working on my back muscles, using a slow, kneading motion, working from my spine out.

It takes about half an hour or so for my back muscles to finally relax to her satisfaction, but when she’s done, I feel like a rag doll.

She rolls off of me and pats my thigh as she asks, “Do you feel better now?”

I turn my head to look at her and lay my head back down on my arm. “Oh, yeah. I feel like a ragdoll. Where did you learn how to do that?”

She smiles at me. “Mom taught me. Dad’s job is stressful, so Mom gives him massages. I asked her to teach me how to do it a while back.”

She lays down next to me, and I roll over to face her.

“Mmm~ I’m glad she did. I can’t even begin to remember the last time I felt this good. Thank you.”

“Until you’ve built up some more strength, you’re probably going to stay sore and knotted up, so anytime you want one, just let me know. I’ll be more than happy to do it for you. We can visit the spa center at Playland too.”

“Sounds good, but you know how I am when people I don’t know touch me, so that might not work out too well. I don’t want to embarrass myself by panicking. Anyway, I would much rather you do it than even try to allow someone else to.”

She smiles and wraps her arms around me to pull me close. “I know. Like I said, I’ll be happy to do it anytime you want. If your head doesn’t hurt anymore, let’s go back to sleep. It won’t be too long before we have to get up, since we have shopping to do today.”

“Between the aspirin and your massage, I’m fine now. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this good. Thanks again.”

When I roll over onto my back, she starts pushing on my right breast with her hands.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

She tells me, “Hmm? Oh, just fluffing up my pillow,” then giggles.

I roll my eyes, thinking, ‘She can be so silly.’ “Pfft. Enough already, my boobs aren’t going to get any fluffier. Lay down, and go to sleep already.”

　◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

Mom knocks on the door and says, “Girls, it’s time to get up. Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes, so clean up and come down.”

“Okay. We’ll be down shortly,” I reply while rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I glance at the clock. 9:00 already? I wonder why she let us sleep in so late. I lightly shake Chinatsu.

When she opens her eyes, I tell her, “Good morning.”

“Morning”

We walk into the dining room twenty minutes later.

“Good morning,” we tell her. It smells like we’re having a Western-style breakfast. I continue into the kitchen to see if I can help.

“Need any help?”

“Sure, you can finish the toast and keep an eye on the bacon. Chinatsu, would you get the butter and jam out of the refrigerator, please?”

“Sure, Mom,” Chinatsu tells her.

Mom looks at me. “Did Chinatsu pick out that outfit for you?”

“Umm, no, I put it together. Does it not look good?”

“No, you look very cute. You coordinated it well. Good job,” she tells me with a smile.

When I picked it out to wear, I didn’t think about it too much. I don’t believe I did anything all that notable when I chose it. It’s a forest green sleeveless blouse, a sunflower yellow, pleated mini-skirt, and a pair of yellow lace, ruffled ankle socks. I picked the blouse because I remembered how much it emphasized my eyes and hair when I tried it on yesterday. The rest I picked because I thought the colors went well together with it. After I finished getting dressed, Chinatsu gave me a huge smile and said, “Devastating.” I’m not sure what she meant, and I didn’t ask.

“Thank you.”

“Mhmm. Set that on the table, and let’s eat. Once we’re done, I’ll call the hospital and set up your appointments for physical therapy. After that, we can go get your cell phones and a swimsuit for you. Oh, Chinatsu, we’ll get you a new one as well. Your current one will probably be too small.”

“If you say so, but it probably still fits. I haven’t grown that much.”

She shrugs and states, “We’ll get you a new one just the same, better than having to go back because we found out it was too tight.”

“Okay.”

Chinatsu and I talked a lot about what kind of swimsuit I should get when we soaked in the bathtub last night. After a lot of back and forth, Chinatsu’s opinion won out, of course. Usually, I let her have her way. I seriously doubt it will be any different simply because I’m a girl now.

It seems I’ll be getting a bikini. Although I agreed to wear one, I still find the thought of exposing so much of myself embarrassing. She did point out that I had much more skin exposed for swimming when I was a boy. She’s right, but I didn’t have boobs, or a vagina, back then either, so it isn’t quite the same thing.

After we went to bed, we continued our discussion, only this time, it was about what type of clothes I should be wearing. Let’s just say that my opinion was disregarded and leave it at that. She had quite a few thoughts on the matter.

Let me put it this way, and please, don’t take me the wrong way. I’m a very pretty girl with a great figure, so I look good in just about anything. That’s not bragging or being vain, it’s simply the truth. Like Chinatsu pointed out, with my hair and eyes, I’m going to be conspicuous no matter what. Keeping that in mind, she said I should be dressing cutely/stylishly, which will also help me feel more feminine. Regardless, I doubt I’d get away with doing anything else anyway between her and Mom. Even so, she’s probably right, so if it helps me in any way and keeps me safe, then that’s how it is going to be. Hence, cute and stylish it shall be.

One other item of note. When Chinatsu was blow-drying and brushing my hair last night, I was looking at myself in the mirror, and I couldn’t see anything that would even remotely give anyone any idea of who I was before. That is, unless I slip up and give myself away.

While I’ve been pondering all of this, we finished breakfast and started cleaning up.

“Oh, by the way, Mom. Sora woke up with a bad headache last night.”

She turns around and peers at me intently. “Sora, are you okay? Is there anything you need to tell me?”

“It was nothing. Just a headache. Most probably from tension; my muscles were tight. I took some aspirin, and Chinatsu gave me a massage. It went away after that, and I’m perfectly fine. Don’t worry, if it was anything else, I promise I’d tell you.”

She stares at me intently for a few moments, then nods. “Good, see that you do. Okay girls, if you haven’t finished everything you need to do before we leave, go do it while I set up an appointment for Sora.”

“Chinatsu, would you mind helping me do something with my hair?”

“Of course not, Sora-nee.”

Reaching the dressing room, Chinatsu picks up a brush and begins pulling my hair behind me and brushing it out.

“Can we do something other than a ponytail?”

“Sure, Sora-nee. How do you want me to style it?”

“Well, since my nanites pulled their little magic trick, my hair now goes to below my butt. It’s not like you don’t know it already, but I sit on it all the time if I don’t remember to move it. Mom won’t let me cut it either, so maybe a braided side-tail? That might help keep it out from under me. What do you think?”

“I think it would be a very cute look for you. Left or right side?”

“Left. I’m right-handed, so it might get in the way on that side.”

“Alrighty, give me a few minutes.”

It takes around ten minutes, and I closely follow how she does it so that I can practice doing it on my own. Like she said before, she isn’t always going to be around when I need help. I’ve been doing a lot of that lately, but Chinatsu gives me a look whenever I’m doing it. I know she enjoys doing things for me, just like I do for her, but I also need to be able to do things on my own too.

Oh, yes. It’s been eight days since the first time I woke up in the hospital. With all the practice and Mom slapping my butt when she catches me slipping up, I hardly ever refer to myself as a male anymore. She doesn’t hit me all that hard, mind you, but it’s enough that I don’t want it to happen.

Walking like a girl when I’m not wearing heels is something that I still need to work on, but I’m giving it my all. Sitting and standing like a girl, I pretty much have down pat, but I backslide occasionally. All the progress I’ve made isn’t very surprising considering that I thought I was going to have permanent bruises from all the pinches I got from Chinatsu for slipping up. Amazingly, I never bruised once. Even the marks disappeared within a minute.

To me, the most surprising thing of all is that I no longer blush when I see myself nude. Even Mom can walk in, and it no longer bothers me. Although the one time Dad did, I felt like I was going to die from embarrassment. Since that incident, I always double check the lock on the dressing room door. I might have an OCD in the making there. However, Chinatsu thinks it’s hilarious for some strange reason.

Finishing the braid, Chinatsu picks up a clip adorned with a medium-sized yellow bow and clips the end of the braid together. She steps back, looks me over, and nods. “Yep, it’s a cute style for you. Well, I like it when it’s loose too, but so far, you’ve looked good in every hairstyle we’ve done for you.”

“Thanks, I thought they looked good too, but it hurts a lot when I sit on my hair, so this might be the best option until Mom allows me to cut my hair.”

“Yeah, don’t hold your breath for that… Oh, I almost forgot.” She turns around, searching the counter for something, then picks up something with an “Aha!” Turning back to me, she unscrews the top of the tube.

“Okay, make your mouth like this,” she tells me, showing me what she wants me to do, and I do it. She then applies it to my lips and then to her own. “Okay, now do this.” She again shows me what she wants me to do, which I do.

“Take a look. I put some lip gloss on us. No kissing anyone while you have it on, or you’ll have to reapply it. A lot of the girls our age use makeup, too, though I don’t wear very much, and you don’t need it, but I’ll still teach you how to put on eyeliner and mascara. You have gorgeous eyes, and that will really make them pop.”

I look at myself in the mirror. She’s right, it draws attention to my full lips. I think for a few moments about makeup and agree, I don’t need it. I’ve never understood why so many girls wear it when they’re more than pretty enough already. If she thinks it’s worthwhile for me to learn how to wear eyeliner and mascara, then I will.

“Thanks, I like it. If you think I should learn how to use mascara and eyeliner, then I will.” I give her a quick hug, take her hand, and then we head back to the living room.

I hear Mom talking as we enter. “Okay, thank you. We’ll see you Monday afternoon.” Mom hangs up the phone and looks at us. “Nice, Sora. That’s a really good hairstyle for you. You ought to wear it more often. Are you two wearing lipstick?”

“I plan on it since you won’t let me get a haircut, and no, it’s just some lip gloss.”

“Sora, your hair is simply too lovely to cut, and long hair suits you so well. So, am I to take it that you two are ready to go?”

We both nod and answer, “Yes.”

　◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆ ◇

“Welcome. How may I assist you?”

“I need to get smartphones for my daughters. They can have whatever they want as long as it also has GPS.”

Mom turns to us. “Your father said you could pick out whatever you want, so go with her and pick out the phones you’d like. I’m going to look around myself.”

“Ladies, if you would follow me, please. Do you have a preferred brand, size, special features, or color?”

“Not really. Other than being able to make calls, take pictures, email, and message, I don’t think we care,” Chinatsu says. Then she looks at me, and I nod in agreement.

The clerk leads us over to a counter. “All of our smartphones are GPS capable and come with all of the features you listed. These are our most popular models. All of them come in multiple colors. Red, blue, silver, white, pink, black, and gold are the most popular.”

While we’re looking them over, I hear a few boys behind us talking.

“Whoa, guys. Take a look at them! That brunette is beautiful, but the redhead with her is gorgeous.”

“Yeah, no kidding.”

“Do you think they would go play with us if we asked?”

“Are you joking, Aki? Even if they would, who would be the one to ask them? I’d be too nervous.”

“Yeah. You’re right, I couldn’t do it either.”

I move close to Chinatsu and take her hand. She glances at me and smiles. I’m sure she heard them too.

“How about this one?”

After looking them over for several minutes, Chinatsu picks up a medium-sized one that isn’t too big for us to easily hold. She shows it to me to see what I think, and I nod again. I’m not that picky. As long as it does what I need it to do, I don’t care much.

“I want a pink one. How about a gold one for you?”

I had thought about getting a black one, but since she’s recommending a color, I’ll go with that.

“Sounds good to me, Chi… Chinatsu.”

Damn it! I’m so nervous that I almost slipped up. No one knows us here, but that isn’t the problem. I seriously need to work on my anxieties. I hate the way I am when I’m out in crowds.

Chinatsu tells the clerk, “Okay, we’ll take this one in the colors I said. We’re going to join our Mom, so you can just meet us at the checkout. Thank you for your help.”

The clerk bows slightly, and we return it. After looking around, we spot Mom and walk over to her.

“We’re ready when you are, Mom.”

“Done already? I thought you would take a lot longer. Alright, let’s check out and then go get your swimsuits.”

We check out, and just as we’re walking out of the store, I see the boys who I assume were talking about us. They look a little sad for some reason. Feeling a little braver since Chinatsu is beside me, I smile and wave at the boys, who blush scarlet red and avert their eyes. Oh, okay. I get it now. So, that’s what Chinatsu meant when she said ‘devastating’ earlier. Hmm…