I finish rinsing the plate I used for dinner and place it on the rack next to me. I dry my hands, then stretch a bit before looking around to make sure I didn't forget anything.

This place feels pretty lonely without Izei around. Does he feel the same way when I'm at work? I hope he's doing fine right now.

I head over to the living room and find a movie to watch to get my mind off this unease. It doesn't work, and by the time the credits roll, I'm even more agitated. It's getting pretty late now and Izei isn't back yet. I know he can handle himself, but with everything that happened recently, I'm constantly worried he might need my help when I'm not there.

As I'm about to get up and head to bed, my phone starts ringing. Unknown number, but I still answer, unsure of what to expect.

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is the police station for the Seiran district. Are you mister Rimar Ovel?"

"Yes, that's me."

"Very well. We're currently detaining a woman whose identity we can't confirm but who gave us your number to help us sort everything out. Do you think you could make your way here right now?"

He... somehow got in trouble with the cops? I was right to be worried, then, even if I had no reason to be until just now... I really shouldn't leave him alone anymore.

Actually, the idea of always being with him isn't so unpleasant... But I should focus on the current situation first. Knowing him, he's not there because he did anything serious, so I'll just go to the station and bring him back.

"I'll be right there."

I get out of the taxi and push open the police station's door, allowing me to finally spot Izei.

The first thing I notice is that she's wearing very cute clothes, and seems to have a full face of makeup on. I feel like every time I see her, she's a bit more feminine... and way prettier!

I almost freeze there, wanting to take that sight in for as long as possible, but her handcuffs and the traces of blood on her hands remind me that I'm here for a reason. I approach, and say:

"Hey, I came as fast as I could. Who do I need to talk to?"

Izei points towards a desk, staying silent but being visibly angry at whoever is in charge. I walk there, then say:

"Hi, I'm Rimar Ovel, I was called here."

The man sitting there turns in my direction before responding:

"Ah, yes! The lady in the corner gave us identification papers for a delver named 'Izei Sol', but while she does resemble him, there's... an obvious disparity. Could I see your own identification before we proceed further?"

I hand over my health insurance card. He takes a quick look at it before giving it back, then says:

"Alright, so! Do you know this woman?"

"Yes, she... I mean, he really is Izei. His current appearance was caused by a delving incident, you can contact the Central Hospital to get confirmation from them. You can also contact Spearhead, the company he works for, but I doubt anyone would answer this late on a weekend night."

He looks at me with eyes full of doubt, but still ends up grabbing the phone next to him. After several minutes of listening to prerecorded messages and pressing the occasional button, he finally manages to speak to a human. He asks a few questions, some of which seem rather impertinent in the context, such as asking for a description of Izei or a timeline of events, but he eventually hangs up and sighs.

"Fine, I'll believe the story, as strange as it sounds. She's free to go, but if she really is your friend, try to keep an eye on her, yeah?"

I still don't know what happened, so I look at him with a slightly puzzled look, but he already turned around to grab a key. A few moments later, Izei is free from his shackles. As we walk towards the door, I notice a very angry glare from him in the direction of the police officer, but we leave in silence.

Now outside and walking, I ask:

"So, what happened?"

"Three pieces of shit tried to abduct me to... to do unspeakable things to me. So I beat them up."

He's clearly annoyed as he speaks, but that's not the full story.

"And...?"

"And when the cops showed up, they asked me for some identification papers. I knew this was going to cause trouble, but beating them up too or running away would have gotten me flagged as a 'rogue' delver and the consequences for that would have been even worse, so I complied. They didn't believe my story and detained me, eventually agreeing to call you after I repeatedly told them to."

"Wow, that's... Are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I think so. I'm just... really angry right now. The day was going well, and then the thugs, and then the police... Ugh, I was right to want to stay inside all day every day after my transformation. None of that would have happened if I had just played games in my room instead."

Her facial expression quickly morphs from annoyed, to angry, to exasperated. Despite my best efforts to remain serious, some parts of my thoughts can't help but wander to thinking that, even like this, she's truly adorable. Thankfully, I manage to maintain my composure as I ask:

"Why didn't you just tell the cops to call the hospital to get out of there?"

He goes back to being angry:

"I did! But they completely ignored me! They said that I must be some crazy woman confused about my own identity, then ignored everything I told them until I managed to make them call you. Rrrg, I need to break something!"

He looks around for some object that can be kicked or punched but can't find anything, causing him to sigh instead. Noticing that he's not wearing anything over the cute but light clothes, and figuring it might help him calm down, I remove my jacket and put it over his shoulder. He looks at me, confused, so I say:

"It's a bit cold, and your clothes don't look like they're doing a good job at keeping you warm."

He stares at me for a few seconds, the relative darkness around us making it hard to properly see his expression, but he eventually turns around and shyly says:

"Right, the clothes... You weren't supposed to see me like this..."

I smile, happy to see that his anger seems to have subsided at least a little.

"Speaking of... That's not what you were wearing this morning, right?"

He turns back towards me as we pass under a street light, allowing me to see that his ears have turned completely red in embarrassment.

"Yeah, I... A friend helped me dress all cutely and did my makeup so I could surprise the friend I was seeing today. For a prank, I mean. I pretended to be someone else and messed with him a bit before finally revealing it was me."

I laugh a bit, trying to imagine Izei in her current outfit and with longer hair playing the role of a cutesy girl with her friend.

"I wish I had been there to see it."

"No! That was already embarrassing enough, it would have been even worse with you as a spectator."

That comment amuses me, but my smile fades as something starts growing within me, gnawing at my thoughts. She dressed this cute and even put on some makeup for someone else, going out of her way to get changed outside of our apartment. I don't know why, but... I'm hurt by this. I wish I had been the first one seeing her in that outfit...

I take a deep breathe and wrestle my emotions back under control. What am I getting jealous for? Izei can do whatever he wants, I shouldn't let my feelings get in the way of whatever little fun he manages to find for himself in such a difficult situation. I just need to be here and support him, that's my job right now as his best friend.

Still, despite my best attempts, I can't stop my heart from accelerating as I steal a quick glance at Izei. There really is something wrong with me.

Now back at our apartment, Izei stretches before saying:

"I'm so tired, I'll go get the stuff I left at Marie's tomorrow."

"Make sure to come back early enough to not get in trouble with the cops again."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Still, it's a good thing I'm a dungeon delver, otherwise..."

He looks down at his fist, still stained with blood that isn't his.

"... who knows what would have happened to me? Is this something women who aren't delvers also have to deal with?"

"I doubt assaults like that, in the streets, are all that common, but I wouldn't really know. If I had been the one walking there, I'm sure the thugs would have just ignored me, even though I'm a much easier target than you. Maybe you can ask your sisters about it?"

"And reveal that my body is like this? No thanks! I can't even begin to imagine what they'll do to me if they learn I'm also a woman right now."

I only ever met his sisters in passing, so I don't know them very well, but Izei did tell me stories about them that make this reaction understandable. Deciding to not push that idea further, I pivot to another question I have on my mind:

"Oh, and... what happened to the thugs?"

"I beat them up so good, they had to admit to their crime and were taken in by the police. I don't actually know what happened after that. Cops said I might get called later if there's an investigation, but I doubt they even noted down my phone number properly, so that's probably the last I'll hear of it."

"I see..."

Standing there, looking at him finally being home, I suddenly feel a huge weight lifting from my shoulders. He's here, and he's safe. Deciding that this isn't something I should keep for myself, I say:

"I... I'm really glad that everything turned out okay. I got really worried when I saw you weren't coming back home."

Knowing Izei, he'll now make fun of me for worrying about a delver and say that this is nothing new for him. As I brace for impact, I'm surprised to instead hear him say:

"Ah, I... I'm really sorry I worried you, and... thanks, I think. I'll, uh... I'll go get ready for bed."

Instead of getting a boastful Izei, I got a blushing one. I stay there, unsure of what to think or how to react as the person I thought I knew so well runs to the bathroom.

It's now been a few weeks since the incident with the thugs and the cops. While my routine is still like it's always been, Izei not having to work creates a bit of a new dynamic in the apartment. It's never empty when I get back home, for one, and we now always eat dinner together, even when I work overtime.

I also caught him practicing makeup a few times, but I decided not to comment on it. Still, I can't help but feel like he's been changing since the transformation. He's less resistant to more typically feminine things, even going so far as to dress up in the apartment even when he's not going out, and his hair is now longer than I've ever seen it be... but that might just be because he avoids leaving the safety of our home unless absolutely necessary. However, he did start taking care of and sometimes even styling it, so I'm not sure what to think.

Normally, none of this would bother me, but my heart keeps reacting every time I see him do something a bit more feminine than usual. He seems to continually move to align himself with my preferences in women, but he's still my best friend, it shouldn't be this hard to control my own emotions when I'm with him!

I don't have it in me to tell him about this struggle, as I want to avoid making him feel like I'm trying to restrict what he can do while he's like this. Thankfully, I manage to stay sane by constantly reminding myself that this is all temporary. If I can endure this, everything will go back to normal soon enough.

As we settle into this new routine, the outside temperature rises with the approach of summer. As lighter outfits make their return at the office, I can't help but imagine Izei in new, summer-appropriate clothes. Is he going to go shopping again...?

One evening, as we're eating, Izei's phone starts ringing in the living room. He gets up and rushes there, but I can see his expression of dread when he comes back, looking at the screen.

"It's... my mom."

Before I have time to say anything, he swallows and answers. I can faintly hear his mother's voice coming out of the speaker near his ear as she speaks and speaks without leaving any opening for him. I'd like to think everything is going to be okay, but his voice is pretty different now.

Eventually, Izei manages to speak, pushing his voice down as much as he can:

"Yes, yes, like I already said, I'm recovering from a work injury and I don't think I can make it to Siyin's birthday... Mmh? My voice? Oh, I caught something a bit ago, my throat hasn't fully recovered yet... Yes, I'm doing okay... No, I don't think I can be at the birthday... What do you mean, I have to be there? I'll manage next year... Ugh, fine."

He hangs up, then lets his head fall on the table. I look at him, waiting for an answer, which he provides after a few seconds:

"My parents aren't giving me any choice, I have to go to my oldest sister's birthday."

I can tell he's seriously worried. He wanted to avoid his family completely while in this state, but looks like that's not an option anymore.

With a pleading face, he turns towards me and asks:

"Please... Can you come with me on that visit?"