Chapter 152: Something’s Off
Bang! The sound of a car collision jolted Kamihara Shinji, who gripped the seat, feeling the vehicle shake. He frowned slightly. A car accident.
“Sorry, so sorry…” Nishimura Kaori’s face paled as she apologized profusely. She’d been distracted since they started driving, and now the crash snapped her out of her fixation on Kamihara’s transformed beauty.
“Go check it out,” Kamihara said. It was just a rear-end collision, not a big deal. Reclining in the seat, he sensed something amiss—not with his body, but with Nishimura. As a stage-four monitor, he was hyper-aware of subtle actions. She’d been stealing glances through the rearview mirror from the start. Since she hadn’t done anything beyond looking, he’d let it slide. He knew his female form’s allure was potent, but Nishimura, a Special Division liaison, seemed unprofessionally susceptible. A man staring he’d understand, but a woman? That felt off.
Kamihara mused as the window was tapped. Opening it, he faced a traffic officer in uniform, staying silent, waiting. The officer, catching sight of Kamihara, caught his breath. Despite oversized sunglasses obscuring half his face, Kamihara’s aristocratic aura shone, making the officer stammer, “H-hello, miss, could you step out? We need to conduct a routine check.”
Kamihara nodded wordlessly. Stepping out, he felt all eyes on him. His men’s clothing couldn’t dull his noble presence, making him the street’s focal point. It was rush hour, with cars idling at a red light, and the fender-bender drew attention. Kamihara’s emergence pulled every gaze.
“Could you remove your sunglasses for a photo verification?” the officer asked, his eyes betraying nervousness—not a genuine check but a desire to capture Kamihara’s image.
Something’s wrong. The intense stares made Kamihara’s expression shift, sinking into thought. When investigating Your Turn, he’d revealed his male face by sweeping back his hair, drawing attention but nothing like this near-mesmeric focus. Reality wasn’t a novel—no nosebleeds or wall-crashing over a beauty. Yet his swapped form wielded uncanny influence, unnatural without an idol-like aura.
“Ghost-sama…” Nishimura returned, guilty. “We might need to visit the station for a statement.”
Kamihara nodded, about to speak when his heart sank at a sight. He stared at Nishimura, voice grave. “Your hand.” On her left hand was a ♂ mark.
When did it appear? Before reaching his place, or because of him? They hadn’t touched—how could it spread? Nishimura, seeing her hand, blanched. “W-what’s this?”
“Call the Metropolitan Police, handle the crash, and head to the Special Division,” Kamihara ordered, a bad feeling rising. He had no interest in station paperwork now.
“Y-yes.” Nishimura fumbled for her phone.
Kamihara returned to the car. The smitten officer, anxious, pressed, “Miss, please cooperate.” Kamihara unleashed his spiritual pressure, silencing him. He suspected his swapped form had a charm ability—explaining the officer’s behavior and Nishimura’s distraction. But the mark on her hand? Without contact, she might’ve been infected elsewhere—or there was another transmission method, possibly tied to him.
Nishimura finished her call, and the officer, receiving police orders, reluctantly let them go. “Ghost-sama…” Nishimura, still pale, sought to ask.
“To the Special Division,” Kamihara cut in.
“Y-yes.”
The crash delayed them but sparked new suspicions about the Gender-Swapper. At the Special Division, per Hinata Taiga’s arrangements, the Wish Die awaited. In a clean room, Kamihara eyed the oversized die, picking it up. A message from it confirmed Hinata’s description. Forming a wish, he tossed it lightly. It spun rapidly.
After a moment: 5 points. Good luck. But as he examined the die, his face hardened. In the second phase, all six faces read “Death.” Reversing his soul’s gender to male was impossible with this die.
Sighing, Kamihara tossed again, dying once. As the die’s user, he had to die to reset its ownerless state. Reviving, he glanced down—still female. He called Tohsaka. “It’s me,” he said, preempting. “How’s your investigation?”
“Same old,” Tohsaka replied awkwardly. “No reversal method yet.”
“There isn’t one,” Kamihara said calmly. “I died and revived, still female. This anomaly swaps the soul, not the body.”
“What?”
“Do you know where the anomaly is?” Kamihara pressed. “I died once, still female. I want to test re-entering its rules to revert to male.”
Tohsaka dashed his hopes. “Before, I knew its location, but it vanished three days ago.”
“Where are you?” Kamihara inhaled deeply. “You’ve got swapped civilians contained, right? I died once, maybe resetting my state. I’ll touch them to see if I can revert.”
He’d just contacted Nishimura’s skin, but his hand’s ♀ mark didn’t shift to ♂. Possibilities: Nishimura hadn’t swapped yet, lacking contagion; or one swap marked his soul permanently, blocking further changes; or post-revival, only the anomaly’s core could trigger another swap. Regardless, he had to investigate the Gender-Swapper himself.
(End of Chapter)
Chapter 153: Veteran and Newbie
At the Metropolitan Police Department, Tohsaka gaped at Kamihara. “How’d you get so gorgeous?” At Sakuraaki High, he hadn’t noticed Kamihara’s male looks, assuming his hair-hiding signaled plainness or worse. Now, despite sunglasses and full-coverage clothes, Tohsaka sensed Kamihara’s female form was stunning. An inexplicable certainty hit him—a cold, intoxicating aura.
“What do you think of me now?” Alone with Tohsaka, Kamihara removed his sunglasses, revealing a flawless face.
“Ohhh!” Tohsaka let out an odd sound, fingers trembling, eyes wide, repeating, “How are you so gorgeous? It’s unscientific!”
“You’re talking science with anomalies?” Kamihara said, exasperated. “Any weird feelings toward me?”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Tohsaka nodded eagerly. “I’m falling for you—love at first sight. Seriously, feel my heart, it’s racing. I swapped from female, you from male—perfect match, right?”
Kamihara eyed him. Tohsaka was entranced. Stepping close, Kamihara placed a hand on Tohsaka’s chest, feeling a drum-like heartbeat, startled it wasn’t a jest. He swatted away Tohsaka’s reaching hand. “You’re a guy now—quit the pathetic look,” he said, expressionless, re-donning sunglasses. Without them, his charm surged, unnaturally potent, raising questions.
“Where are the isolated people?”
“Another room,” Tohsaka replied.
Kamihara nodded. “I’m joining this anomaly investigation.” Noting Tohsaka’s worry, he added, “Don’t stress—I’ll help for free. When it’s done, the case quota’s yours.”
Tohsaka exhaled, still smitten but prioritizing the anomaly. Teaming with Ghost, a legend, thrilled him—working beside such a stunning girl was pure bliss. He bragged about Kamihara’s help in the Guardians of Light and Shadow group, omitting the gender swap, sensing Kamihara’s discomfort.
The message sparked envy in the group. Since Kamihara joined, membership grew, thanks to Yakuman’s external hype. Fearing Kamihara’s displeasure, they didn’t know Yakuman had cleared it with him. Kamihara welcomed the growth—more members meant diverse rule-based items, vital for tackling unsolvable anomalies in the future. Grouped monitors aided each other, fostering a virtuous cycle, provided risks weren’t too high.
Kamihara’s mood soured, though. After arriving, he’d touched Tohsaka’s skin, but his ♀ mark didn’t shift to ♂—no secondary infection. Leaving the room for the isolation area, he quizzed Tohsaka. “Where’s your investigation at?”
“This anomaly emerged within the last week, a newborn,” Tohsaka said, organizing his findings. “Beyond the infected, those who fell into its rules share a trait.”
Kamihara waited silently.
“They played the same game,” Tohsaka continued. “A net game with a gender-swap pool, run by a sprite. Players spend points to swap genders, re-sculpting faces with options unavailable at character creation. Days ago, a free swap event led many to try it. Some swapped, and their real-world genders followed, trapping them in the anomaly’s rules.”
“You said the anomaly vanished…” Kamihara’s tone held confusion. “What happened?”
“It’s just gone,” Tohsaka said, spreading his hands. “I logged into the game during my investigation—the sprite was missing.”
“Game company update?”
“Checked. Nope.”
The sprite was likely the anomaly’s avatar, chosen by its rules. Why vanish without a single kill? As a minor anomaly, it shouldn’t flee—it should linger in the game. “You said it vanished three days ago?”
“That’s what I thought,” Tohsaka said, troubled. “But a rule-trapped civilian just told me the sprite vanished five days ago.”
Kamihara nodded. Anomalies were elusive, especially non-lethal ones in a dormant state. Tohsaka had noticed it when a student swapped genders mid-class, shocking everyone. Earlier, Tohsaka claimed a three-day disappearance, aligning with Kamihara’s infection, hinting at a link. Now, a five-day absence muddled things, stalling the investigation.
They reached the isolation area—not one room but a row of uniform cells, each holding a gender-confused civilian. “Only this many?” Kamihara frowned, counting roughly forty—too few. In summer, exposed arms on a rush-hour train could spread the anomaly like wildfire.
“I only found these,” Tohsaka said.
Kamihara’s unease grew. “You didn’t go street-by-street, did you?”
“Uh, was that wrong?”
Kamihara was speechless, head aching. “Why not get the game company to pull the IPs of swapped players and have the police round them up?”
Tohsaka froze. He… hadn’t considered that.
“How long have you been a monitor?”
“Six months.”
“First anomaly investigation?”
“Yeah.”
Seeing Tohsaka’s ashamed, head-lowered look, Kamihara palmed his forehead. He’d wondered why Tohsaka’s timeline flipped—three days, then five. A simple company inquiry would’ve pinned the sprite’s disappearance. Now he got it: Tohsaka was a newbie, stuck in rigid thinking, missing obvious steps. A week in, his progress was meager. Kamihara, a month-old monitor, felt like the veteran.
Speechless.
(End of Chapter)
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