The Next Chapter: 12

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The Next Chapter
Chapter 12: Who's That Vixen? (Remix)

"Whoa! You look...bigger." Jay hopped to her feet to get a better idea of what she was seeing. Her roommate's height had grown all of a sudden, along with certain other proportions. She'd somehow gained several inches since supper!

"Uh..y-yeah," Ed blushed faintly, wringing her hands briefly. "I uh..asked L'hoxifel to do that for me. I...like this, a lot better actually."

"That's great! Hey—did you get buff, too? Are those abs?!"
"Y-yeah..."

Jay crossed her arms. "Now that's no fair; you didn't have to work for them at all."

"True, but...it's not like I'm the only one of us with access to a magic solution, you know."

"Heh, I guess you're right. Are you gonna start working out to keep 'em, though?"
"I...hadn't really thought about that. Maybe it'd at least be easier."

After waiting long enough for the wolf-girl to be sitting at her desk, Jay said, "Soooo...."

"What?"
"Did you..ask to be a little bit bustier, too?"
"N-no! It just...apparently, is, part of the deal. Of being taller. Is all. Sh-she uh..." Ed blushed adorably again for just a second. "W-well, she offered to help make my bras fit so I wouldn't need new ones. It's, not too bad, anyway."

"Are you two gonna go on another date soon, then?"

She nodded slowly. "Uh-huh. We uh, agreed on one for tomorrow. No..details yet about when, or anything."
"Well—I'm really happy for you, Ed! I can already tell you're a little less stressed about being 'stuck' as a girl and everything, you know?"
"I-is it really that obvious?"
"As long as we've known each other? I know pretty well how to read your face. Plus your ears provide accompaniment that make it even easier," Jay said, making her own ears flap up and down a couple of times for emphasis. "Anyway~, I'm looking forward to seeing how Kyo turns out tomorrow! Maybe sheeee'll go on another date with me then."

"Just for the record—I still find it really weird how casual you are about all this," Ed said. "I guess uh, good for you, though. I'm..happy for you, too."

Jay awoke late enough Saturday morning for the sun to already be shining through the window. She sat up, yawned softly, and looked over to her roommate's bed to find the wolf-girl still asleep. Ed murmured out a soft, low "Mrrrfh" while the fox-girl quietly stretched; she wondered if, perhaps, her friend was dreaming of a certain demon-girl. At any rate, she didn't want to disturb Ed's beauty sleep, so she took care to be quiet as she got things ready and went to take a shower.

Once she was dressed, it was time to head off for breakfast. Jay was pretty sure Nancy had said something about picking up some donuts today in celebration of their three new members. Wherever she got them from was really good; Jay could still remember the previous Saturday's breakfast, and eagerly looked forward to a similarly sweet experience today.

She arrived in the kitchen to find two boxes full of freshly-bought donuts waiting right there on the counter—Score! While she was piling a few of them onto a plate, her ears picked up the sound of someone eating in the attached dining room. Walking inside, Jay found a short, curvy dark-haired girl with (for her size, anyway) a big t-shirt draped over her form. From the red eyes..and the tall vulpine ears covered in black fur with snowy white at the tips and on the inner tufts...this had to be..!

"Kyo! Is that you?"
"Yep, hahah. G'morning, Jay. Oh—hold on." Kyosuke hopped to her feet, and made a downward-sweeping gesture with both of her hands, going from her shoulders to her hips. Seemingly in response to this gesture, her clothes suddenly shifted: The shirt's lower third or so tore off, the lost cloth splitting in two as it made its way down past her thighs to wrap tightly around them as a pair of stockings. The rest of the shirt abruptly pulled tight against her slim frame, revealing a fairly big bust for her height; these motions together revealed some cutoff denim shorts hugging tight around her hips with only the barest bit of leggings to them. Kyosuke's two fluffy fox-like tails were waving about in the air behind her as she smiled across at Jay, looking satisfied with the results.

"That's a little more presentable, eh?"

Jay was silent for a second or two.

Kyo tilted her head. "Something...wrong?" She crossed her arms at an additional half-measure of silence. "Fox, got your tongue?"

"AaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAA that's sooo CUUU~UUTE!"

"O-oh! Heheh..." Her face flushed bright red at this declaration, and Jay running up to put her plate down and take a closer look.

"You look so good as a girl! A-and you can just—change your clothes whenever you want like that!?"

"Oh, well—yeah. Two tails," she said, a hint of pride to her tone of voice. "Not nearly enough power to transform the body, but a temporary clothes alteration is pretty easy. I uh, haven't learned how to 'make' a bra, though," she added a little more quietly, prodding her chest with an index finger as she sat back down. "Shall we—eat together?"

"Yeah!"

"So—like—what was transforming like for you?" she asked a little later, curious. Asking Ed a similar question had just earned her a wolf-girl glare.
"Very enjoyable~. I more or less woke up in the middle of the night to feel this place's magic pressing in on me, and it did its work very swiftly afterward."

"I kinda felt the change happen to me inside of a dream. It felt really real though, more than a normal dream, if that makes any sense?"

Kyo nodded. "It works through 'your own magic', more or less, so your mind would be much more aware of what's happening, even while asleep, than if someone else's power were doing it.

"...Gosh, you have a really strong sweet tooth, huh?"
"Mm-hmm!" The kitsune had made this observation while Jay's mouth was full of about half of her first donut. She finished swallowing to say, "My all-time favorite is milkshakes. But—can't do that for breakfast."

"I don't have any experience with that...but maybe you'd like some mochi sometime? It's, one of a few things I know how to make myself," Kyo said. "That said, I am pretty good at making them."

"I'd love to try it!"

"...Um, you know—I was pretty surprised the first time you said you were really from Japan," Jay said after a moment. "You seemed way too fluent in English, is all. But.."
"Heheh, starting to believe? I've got a British grandfather. My home life was bilingual from when I was a kit," Kyosuke said.

"That's cool! I'm a little jealous; I totally should've learned more languages before my brain set or whatever. I only know how to pronounce a tiny bit of Spanish or French from some choir songs."

"Oh, yeah—you've gotta tell me all about that song you did for karaoke! What's the band like? And what did the lyrics mean?"

Kyo seemed slightly surprised by this abrupt change of subject, but also happy enough to share. They chatted about music for the rest of breakfast. Jay had to take care not to start going full-fangirl about Ursa Major again; she knew it could start to get a little discordant for people who weren't quite so enthusiastic about her.

The kitsune hopped to her feet. "Phew—this height's gonna take some getting used to."

"Oh, yeah. Ed had some trouble with that, too." Getting up herself, Jay realized that Kyo's new height was about the same as the wolf-girl's old one. For Jay, this meant it'd be easy both to look down into her face and to reach across to ruffle her hair or rub her ears..at least, in theory. That last part had never been tested with Ed, of course. The two-tailed girl hurried around the table and on to the kitchen, then came back out again maybe a second later, coming up toward Jay.

"Hey, so—I'm gonna need to head off and buy some clothes that normally fit me. This enchantment will only last a few hours, after all," she said, tugging on the hem of her shirt.

"Nancy's supposed to pay for that kinda stuff still, right?"

"Of course—so I'll seek her out. But first, erm.." After maybe a sixteenth-rest of looking uncertain how to express her thought, Kyo blushed and lifted her arms, reaching them up Jay's way.
"Um..? You want me to, pick you up?"
"Please?" She tilted her head slightly (and very adorably), her ears lower a bit. "A-and a little bit of petting, perhaps?"

"Um, s-sure!"

Jay wasn't very strong, but she found the little kitsune girl to be incredibly light in her arms. Kyo returned the hug immediately, pressing her brand new bust up against Jay's larger pair, and looked across at her from just a couple of inches away with a red-faced, expectant smile. This soft body pressed against her own felt...unbelievably nice! And Jay thought she might die of a cuteness overload, too. She quickly swept her hands upward to gently rub the bases of Kyo's ears, and heard a soft, low churring start to rumble from the kitsune's throat. Then..!

Kyosuke's nose was right on her cheek. Pressing hard into it. Jay heard a note from beyond the reaches of the treble clef, like a teapot whistling, and realized only after a second or so that it was her own voice. She realized this might be a little bit shrill, and quickly muted it, letting out a soft, nervous giggle as punctuation. The girl in her arms giggled back, letting her know without a word that it was all right. Jay then nuzzled Kyo's cheek back for a moment, before jumping slightly at another unfamiliar sensation.

"Y-yip!" Something soft and warm had slid itself across both the top and bottom of the base of her tail, going in opposite directions. She realized after a second that it was two somethings, as they curled their way a little farther town her tail, and let out a soft "O-oh." This was the kitsune's tails both wrapping themselves around hers! It also felt...very nice. "Mrrr~rrrh..." She churred back without any reservation at this point, feeling a familiar fuzzy feeling settle in down between her legs.

After maybe a minute or so of this, Jay gently slid one hand back down to around Kyo's waist, letting the other one go past the base of the kitsune's ear to run through her silky hair. The small girl shivered briefly, then lifted her face slightly off of Jay's cheek. "Mnnfh..s-shyujeen-eh..."

"Uh, what?" From the accent she said it with, Jay guessed this was a word in Japanese.

"E-errmm...n-never mind," Kyo said quickly, pulling herself back enough for their noses to not quite touch. "That was as wonderful as I could've imagined. W-we should do it again sometime!"

Jay inferred from this that the kitsune wanted to be put down; however: "Your, uh tails are still..."

"O-oh, right. Heheh!"
Jay's tail proved just as sensitive to them sliding off as on. "Mrr~rhn." Then she gently set the little kitsune down.

Kyosuke smiled sweetly, her face still quite red (not that Jay thought her own to be any less so). "Thank you~. M-maybe, once I have a new wardrobe bought, I can show you an outfit or two."
"I'd love to see it," Jay said.
"S-sure! U-until then." Kyo zipped out of the room like she was afraid of something after that—but she'd still sounded and looked quite happy the whole time. Jay figured it was just nerves. After all..it seemed like both of them had just found out how much they really liked each other, despite having only met that very week!

Not long after this, Nancy's voice called out: "AAAATTENTION O-Z-K MEMBERS! If you can hear my voice, please come to the lounge for like a two minute informal meeting!"

The fox-girl looked to her near-empty plate, shrugged, and scarfed down the rest of the last donut. Then she headed for the lounge, stopping by the kitchen to drop off the dishes on the way.

Nearly everyone in the sorority was present by the time she got there. Kyo was still wearing the transformed clothes from a few minutes ago, and was sitting next to Nancy—far enough away to dull the awkwardness of the two of them having pretty much just said goodbye to each other. Ed's state of dress and messy hair likely meant that she'd literally just woken up. Rob was male and fully-dressed, sitting next to Camilla, and L'hoxifel wasn't far off either. The celestial came in at the same time as Jay, from another entrance.

Nancy hopped to her feet as these last two arrived, looking around. "Seeeeeems like we've got nearly everyone?"

"Mary is engaged in a mortal struggle with a simulated monstrosity at the moment," Polaris said. "I could pass the message along if apropos."

"Good enough," she said, shrugging. "All right, listen—I just wanted to make sure you're all aware of the score. Our agreement with the college is that this chapter of Omega Zeta Kappa will be officially recognized by them if we have at least ten total members." She held out her hands to show off a count of 'ten', then folded down one thumb as she said: "Right now we have, nine. So we only need one more! Now, we're not in any danger since we've been making steady progress so far, but it would be nice to overachieve. You know—show them a population comparable to any of the more established GLOs on campus. We also don't wanna give them any wiggle room to say the founder—that's me—doesn't count as one of the ten, or anything dumb like that. So I'm just saying: If you know anyone, or meet anyone, who you think might be interested in joining, please invite them over—even if it's just for a visit or a tour. There's no need to go all 'official recruitment drive' or anything, but if just a few more people decide they like the idea of living here, and they seem like they'll be a good fit for us, then we'll be in the clear and get to stay in the house. All right?" She clapped her hands lightly. "That's it, that's all, thanks for coming in!"

Jay went to meet up with Ed as everyone filtered out. "Nancy wake you up?"
"Rrrfh." The wolf-girl paused a second, visibly realizing that she'd made an animal noise instead of a human one, then shook her head heard enough for her ears to audibly flap against her head. "I mean—yes. Ugh."
"Pffheehee! Um, I already had breakfast, but I could sit with you if you want?"
"Mmh, that's okay. I'm'onna take a shower first anyway."
"'Kay." They were still headed the same way then, since Jay intended to get a little homework done that morning. After a moment, everyone else had scattered off in various directions, and it was just the two of them.

"So—I saw Kyo at breakfast already," Jay started.
"Mm-hm?"
"She's super cute! And apparently a kitsune can just transform their clothes whenever, too? It's temporary though, so she still wants to actually buy some stuff."
"Good, I guess?"
"Yeah! The thing is though—it's like, she's cute like a girl. But also, cute like a puppy? I get a little overloaded from feeling both at the same time, from the same person. I think I like it, though!"

"Hmmh." Ed's face flushed slightly red. "Wonder if that's how L'hoxifel feels..."

"Oh, yeah, I guess you haven't talked to her about that date yet?"
"No. Conversations after showering," Ed said. "Prolly breakfast, too." She wasn't exactly a morning person, after all.

"Sure, sure—just don't put it off all day, you know?" They arrived at the door to their room at this point. "I'm gonna get some homework done."
"'Kay."

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The 'two minute meeting' was the first time Rob and Camilla saw each other Saturday morning. Since he stayed on the couch as everyone else began to leave, so did she. "Hey..is something wrong?" He had a slightly serious expression on, like he was or had been thinking about something important. This kind of expression was pretty rare for him, so she knew to take it seriously.
"Um..well, I don't know about 'wrong' exactly, but..." He held up his hand with the ring on it—the one whose enchantment was currently keeping him male. "I just...could you..?"
"Yyyeeeah?"
He sighed, and she waited patiently for him to find the right words. They were close enough by now that—at least she hoped—he knew he didn't have to walk on eggshells or anything. If something came out sounding insulting or upsetting, she'd give him plenty of time to clarify or apologize. "I..should really admit I don't mind being a catgirl, uh, f-for you. It's, weird having just fur, and purple hair, but..it's, it does feel nice. You...I l-like, being with you either way."
"That's...good," she said, nodding. She refrained from giving a full response since all of that was obviously a preamble.

"I...just..." He tapped the ring with the other hand before dropping both to his side. "Instead of stealing this ring off of me to make me transform. I'd like it if you'd—ask. If you'd ask me to take it off. I don't like...just, having it happen without my permission. Without—getting the opportunity to do it because I know that you want me to. I, usually—unless there's some reason I really don't wanna, I'll do it whenever you ask. So, please..do."
"Oh. Wow, I'm sorry," she said. "I really didn't know you felt that way about it. I was just trying to be 'playful'. To me you looked—annoyed, sure, but not really upset about it, y'know?"
"Yeah, I know. It's...I didn't really figure out exactly how I felt about it until, last night I guess."

"Okay, then. No more ring stealing for me," Camilla said, reaching across to gently rub the top of his head.

"Mm..mrrrrh."

"Oh—you don't, like, mind me touching you without asking, do you?"
"Uh. No. You can, surprise me that way all you want, heheh."

"That sounds like an invitation." Camilla pulled forward into a hug and kiss, which Rob more than happily returned.

The Next Chapter: 11

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The Next Chapter
Chapter 11: Shall We Talk?

Ed was not a singer.

Ed had no training or experience with music besides listening to it.

Ed understood the concepts behind how musical notation worked (thanks to Jay explaining it once or twice), but couldn't read it at all.

Despite all of this, the celestial's singing was, to the wolf-girl, an absolutely torturous experience. She was perfectly on-rhythm, with the right emotion and everything..but not. One. Single. Note. Was anywhere close to where it was supposed to be. Ed didn't know this song at all, but this fact was blatantly obvious by the fact that Polaris's voice unfailingly clashed, painfully, with the music she was singing to.

About halfway into what was probably the chorus, Polaris's face abruptly cracked and she started laughing, which mercifully made the tremendously awful singing come to an end. What began as a small giggling turned her doubling over in laughter, some tears coming out of her eyes, until she finally drew herself upright again, taking a deep breath or two while calmly going over to the computer to stop the music.

"I'm..terribly sorry to have such joviality at your expense. But—your faces! My goodness..pfheehee...!"

"Hh..hahah...!" Jay inhaled, and then giggled slightly along with the winged girl. She hopped to her feet. "B-be real with me. You...do know, that you uh, weren't singing that...very well at all, right?"
"If only by your reactions," she said, shrugging. "I am long-since aware of my being hopelessly tone-deaf, I confess. I made sure to learn several instruments that do not require a good ear for music instead. But this is the sort of caper that only works a single time with any given person, so I thought I ought to take the opportunity when I saw it."

"I guess this is why Kyo suddenly decided he had things to do," Nancy observed.

"Guess I can't fault a kitsune for not interfering with a prank," L'hoxifel added.

This more or less broke up the karaoke session of the afternoon. L'hoxifel headed off to "get started on dinner", and everyone generally headed back out to the hallway and scattered off. Ed shuffled out last, and found Polaris stopped not far outside, talking to Mary.

"If you'd only seen their faces, I wager even you would've at least given a mild chuckle."
"Maybe...oh, hey Ed." The goth girl noticed she was passing by at this point, and additionally gave a slight wave to get her attention.
"What?"
"I was curious..do you play chess?"

"Uh..I know the rules. I'm not, very good at it."

"Yeah, me either. Polaris always wins," she said, briefly pointing a thumb at the celestial (who was beaming proudly about this fact). "You busy right now, or, wanna play a game maybe?"

"I.." If she'd had something important to do today, it would've been used as an excuse to not come with Jay to the karaoke thing. "..Sure." Besides: While the amazing facilities of the OZK house had served as huge distractions, the entire reason the two of them had joined and gotten themselves turned into girls was to actually make friends at the college other than each other. Mary's emotionless demeanor and vampire-like complexion and fashion sense all creeped Ed out a little bit if she was being perfectly honest, but—given how friendly Polaris was with her—that had to just be because she didn't know Mary very well. So here was a chance to fix that.

Mary waved goodbye to Polaris, and the two of them headed to the room intended for playing board games. Upon entering, Ed discovered a small table with chairs on two opposite sides of it already set up with a chess board and all of the pieces in their proper places. The rest of the games, and most of the furniture, was all put away the same as it had been during the initial tour. She looked the goth girl's way, and Mary shrugged. "I hoped someone would say yes. You want white or black?"

"I, don't really care."

"Let's flip a coin, then." She produced a coin from the big pocket of her hoodie. "Tails you're white?"
"Sure." The coin came up tails.

After they'd each made a few moves in total silence, Ed was starting to feel a little awkward. She tried: "So...why'd you ask me to play chess in the first place?"
"Easy excuse to get someone alone and talk. I'd like to get to know who's living here, and...big gatherings can't really do that for me. I tend to just fall into the background instead."

Ed nodded. "Same..." Unless Jay shoves me forward.

"I guessed you'd be the most likely to agree to chess. Computer science major."

"...Makes sense."

"I know you've only just started, but, what're you planning to do with it?"

"Nothing...special. Something in IT just sounds stable, and working with computers is easy for me."

"Makes sense. You know, though, not having much ambition can really kill your motivation once things get tough. I know some people who dropped out of my major as soon as the math stopped being easy and 'fun' for them."

"Well..." Ed exhaled softly. "I'm still figuring things out."
"That's fair."

"I guess that means you have ambition?"

"Absolutely. I'm gonna win the Fields medal," Mary said. "Plus, math started being 'fun' for me when it stopped being easy. My advisor said that's what really makes someone a mathematician."

Ed sighed. "It seems like everyone else has big plans but me. Jay wants to be a famous composer, director, maybe performer."

"Maybe you'll find something you like better. It's what college is for. Checkmate."

"Wha—..!?" Ed had to look at the board two or three times, then go back through the last few moves in her head, before figuring out what had gone wrong. "..Oh. Yeah.."
"That was a classic opening. You want me to walk you through it?"
"...No. I think I get it," she said.
"Okay. Go again?"
"Let's swap sides."

"Alright." They didn't stand up; the swap was accomplished by just trading the white and black pieces to the opposite sides of the board.

While they were working on that, Ed asked, "Why specifically..the Fields medal? I mean, I know it's the big math prize, but—it wouldn't be enough to just do good math or whatever?"

"Maybe it would be. But—" Mary sat up slightly. "If I win the Fields medal, I go from being 'that freak who looks like a vampire' to 'that amazing genius who solved a problem people actually care about'."

Ed tilted her head slightly.

"C'mon. I'm seen myself in a mirror," Mary said. "I lean into it with my clothes 'cause it makes people freak out less. They'll assume these eyes are contacts. I mean, unless they're sensitive enough to magic to be afraid of me instead."

"Afraid of you?" Jay had said something about her having some kind of 'ridiculously dangerous magic power', but Ed hadn't been sure if that was something serious or she was repeating a joke as a fact.

"I was born with an unusual power. It's—you know how in some fantasy settings, powers or curses can pass down a bloodline? It's a little like that, but not hereditary. Instead, when someone with this kind of power dies, someone else born at around the same time gets it—and it's essentially random who. There are multiple distinct 'lineages' that work like that. Mine usually isn't all that dangerous, but being of a 'lineage' is determined completely independently from the intensity of a person's magic potential. If I hadn't gotten this power, I might have awakened as a dragon or something, apparently.

"...Your move."
"Oh—right.

"So..what's your power like, exactly?"
"Shadow and fear. Inky black, indistinct limbs or humanoid shapes that cause an instinctive fight-or-flight response on sight, at least if you don't manage to resist that part. Physically tangible, and strong enough to rip steel apart like tissue paper, in my case. Kyosuke's been terrified of me ever since we first met; he won't even talk to me unless Polaris is with me. I might've given L'hoxifel a pretty bad first impression the other day, too."

The strangest thing about this series of statements was that Mary said them with an essentially monotone voice, like someone restating dry, extremely boring facts out of a textbook. "...You know, as far as you seeming weird," Ed said. "No offense, but—the way you talk is..."
"I know." Mary paused to consider the board briefly and make her move on it. "Emotions can cause a person's magic to manifest. The stronger your potential is, the easier it is for leakages to happen. In my case, negative emotions—like fear, worry, or anger—can have extreme, physically dangerous effects. I've been practicing a special kind of emotional suppression since Polaris first taught it to me, to keep that from happening. I never feel very upset about anything, which keeps my power from hurting people, but it dulls positive emotions too. Basically, I can't help it."

"There's really no other way to keep your magic from hurting people?"
Mary shrugged. "If there is, Polaris hasn't found it, after years of looking.

"I have learned to control the power itself way better since then. I can use the shadows as extra limbs or bodies to go do things for me—as long as nobody's watching. It may be that I have enough control over it to keep an emotional outburst from being dangerous, but it's not a risk I'm willing to take right now. Checkmate, by the way."

"Wha—oh." Ed glanced at the board. "I...should've seen that coming. Your exposition is distracting me too much."
"Pfft." She made a brief noise which might have been almost the start of a very slight laugh. "Switch sides again?"
"Sure."

"I guess I should be glad that hearing about my dangerous power didn't make you run screaming or anything." Was that...a joke? Ed wasn't sure.

"Well—I'm. It's just that it's one thing for someone to say they have a gun in a safe somewhere, and another for them to get it out and point it at you."
"Makes sense."

"Besides...I'm used to being a weakling, I guess. I don't like it, but it's how things are. I like it even less now that I've gotten turned into a girl, and guys are...looking at me."

"I think you're smart enough to stay out of trouble," Mary said. "Keep Jay from doing anything too stupid while you're at it."
"Y-yeah..."

"If you just wanna feel physically strong, I'm pretty sure magic could do it for you. Like, you can ask Nancy for one of those rings like Rob has."
"I'm well aware. It's just..."

Ed was silent long enough for each of them to take a couple of turns. Mary's characteristic emotionless stare was almost comforting during this pause; anyone else might give some kind of expectant look, maybe get impatient or annoyed at the unfinished sentence hanging in the air. Instead, she had time to gather her thoughts, quietly sigh, and then try to explain.

"I wanted to stick with just this body until the end of this week. Before I have to deal with the bizarre feeling of maybe changing back and forth all the time, I thought I'd try to get used to looking like this. I've been hoping it would stop feeling weird..or, like Jay, I'd start to like it somehow. And, I guess I am getting used to it a little bit, but it's still really weird. I still hate feeling small and weak like this, and always being just...'cute'. But I'm also worried it'll feel even more weird if I use the ring to turn into like a big, strong guy—that might not feel anything like how I did before. Anyway, if I was gonna use magic to look like that, I could've just joined a normal frat in the first place instead of doing all this. So...I'm still not sure whether I want to go for an 'ideal body' or to 'go back to normal'. And...I probably only get one chance to decide how I'll look as a guy with that ring. I want to really think it through."

Mary nodded slowly. "You know, early on, Polaris offered to use some illusions to help me look 'normal', so people wouldn't pick on me anymore. Bright blue eyes, tanned skin, whatever. I tried it out for one day, and hated it. It wasn't 'me'. If people are gonna start liking and respecting me, it better be the real one, and not something fake."

"So, you've been bullied too..."
"Yeah. They're lucky Polaris was created before anyone got seriously hurt. But, it's not like your choice has to be either-or, right? Just a little bit of 'customization' wouldn't feel as jarring as making big, drastic changes. Apparently Rob looks exactly like he did before except for the cat ears and purple hair, and he didn't have any trouble adjusting to that at all."

Ed thought: A little bit of extra height and some physical fitness would be far less drastic than something like having a tail. "Maybe..."

"Dinner's ready!!!" Ed sat up, her ears turning in the direction that L'hoxifel's voice was coming from. It was a yell, but faint enough that she wasn't sure human ears could actually hear it at this distance.
"Supper?" If Mary couldn't hear it, she guessed what it was from context.
"Yeah." The wolf-girl stood up. "I was probably just gonna lose this game, anyway. You totally lied about not being very good, huh?"

"I only had Polaris to compare to." She got up too. "Maybe I can show you some tricks later."

"That'd be nice, I guess..."

Seeing the demon-girl at karaoke had dredged up some thoughts that had been stewing in the back of Ed's mind for a while now, and seeing her at supper brought them back even stronger. She'd even been kind of avoiding L'hoxifel because of them...but that was stupid. At that earlier meeting, she'd said Ed was 'looking great' and 'had a lovely voice', and those compliments had been sincere. And they felt nice, the same way that her saying things like that had felt back on Sunday. But...

The doubt wouldn't go away. The idea of turning 'back to normal' soon, or even mostly so, made it feel all the more pressing. Mary had said she wanted people to like the 'real' her instead of an illusion; that wasn't exactly what Ed was dealing with, but it still felt like something in the same area. This...was going to keep bothering her until they actually talked about it.

Once the meal was over, Ed started stacking some of the plates. "I'll, help clean up?" she offered.
"Oh, really? Thanks~," L'hoxifel said. There was no reason why she needed to be doing it in the first place, since she was the one who'd cooked, but it almost seemed to be an instinct of hers to start cleaning up the instant the meal was over. It didn't take very long for everyone else to clear out, leaving the two of them alone.

"How'd..you first learn to cook?" Ed asked. She had something serious to talk about, but just bringing it up out of nowhere was too awkward.

"My mom taught me. I'd just started middle school—so, uh, I was still a guy at the time—and she said 'every young man should know how to fend for himself!' She's actually a 'gluttony' type demon, so making good food comes super naturally to her."

"Does it, really work that way? Like, is it easier for a 'rage' demon to make people angry?"
"A little. At least in that I can tell when an attempt is working. And you can bet succubi and incubi find attracting people easy," L'hoxifel said. "Not to downplay my mom's skills, though; there's no real shortcut to getting good at cooking. I mean...unless, like, a fae decides to inject the skill into your brain, but they'd only do that in an unfair trade, or as part of some weird prank or something. Anyway—it's basically just a ton of practice."

They worked on the dishes for a couple of minutes before the demon-girl said, "Hey, Ed."
"Huh?"
"Something's really bothering you, right? I can kinda tell—just from your expressions, you know?"
"Oh. W-well, uh."

This was a perfect opportunity to bring it up, but Ed mentally tripped over a last-second realization, hesitating briefly as a result. "It's...I don't know if it's really fair," she said.

"What do you mean?"
"I mean—we've kinda barely met, and only been on one date, but..."
"But?"

"D-do you only like me because I fit your definition of..cute? Because of these?" she said, pulling on one of her ears. "Or...?"

"Ah. Well..." L'hoxifel put a finger to her chin. "I'm not gonna lie—I became more interested in you in the first place 'cause of your looks. I do have a thing for a fuzzy wolf-girl, and you do look great to me. But, you know, if you met someone you thought was super attractive, and went on a date with them, and then found out there was nothing else to them that you liked besides the body...well, what would you do?"

"I guess..probably, not ask her out again," Ed admitted.

"So—there's definitely more to you than a pretty face and some fluffy ears, as far as I'm concerned," L'hoxifel said. "Whether you stay a girl or not...I think you're a sweet, considerate person. And way smarter and more creative than you might realize."

"U-uhm..." While the wolf-girl felt a little defensive toward comments about her physical appearance or voice, it was something else entirely to have her personality complimented. Her heart picked up its pace a little bit, and her face felt kind of warm.

"Aaaand, I think I'd like expressions like that one on you either way," the demon-girl continued, smiling across at her. "Heheh, your tail's even wagging a little bit."
"Uh..hmph." Ed tried to make it stop, but that seemed to require conscious effort.

"My turn for an unfair question: Do you really hate being a girl that much? Or, like, having fur?"

"I...uh...n-not really. I mean, not necessarily that exactly," Ed said. "I've..started to get used to it, even the fur somehow. I-I guess, I'm actually a little curious what it'd feel like for someone else to run a hand through it...even though, I usually d-don't like being touched at all. B-but I...well, I really don't like, out in public—guys, strangers looking at me. It's—this, conflicted feeling where, it's nice that I'm attractive, but being so small and weak makes me feel vulnerable, and a little scared..."

"Hmmn. I guess I've never really had that problem," L'hoxifel said. "Back then...I tried to make myself as physically harmless as possible, knowing full well that I have enough power magic-wise to defend myself no matter what. Hey—what if, I just helped you be a little taller and stronger, then?"

"Uhm...how...are you gonna do that?"

L'hoxifel tilted her head slightly, her expression suggesting that the answer was trivially obvious: "Magic?"

"O-oh. Right." She had been able to transform 'himself' into 'herself' all the way back in high school, after all.

"Let's finish up here, and—maybe I can do a little work on you in my room after?" she suggested. "Cammy's out with Rob, probably for a while yet."
"O-okay.." It didn't help the excitement and embarrassment Ed was feeling to realize she was being invited into a girl's room, alone. But it made sense—that wasn't something to do in a public space, right?

A short while later, she followed L'hoxifel into her room, gently kicking the door shut behind her. The demon-girl turned around to face her, placing a hand under he chin briefly. "Hmmn..."
"Y-yeah?"
"Can I..feel your ears just a little bit? Before we make any changes?"
"Uh..s-sure, I guess..."

"Heheh, great~."

With that, L'hoxifel pulled slightly closer, reaching across and placing her hands across the top of Ed's ears. The wolf-girl flinched, finding the fuzzy appendages unusually sensitive to this touch. But—it wasn't bad. She didn't pull away, and when those hands gently rubbed their way around the fur, her heart started racing and a slight burst of pleasant, fuzzy sensation hit her down below. "Mmh—mmnngh....!"

"Awwh, wow...they're so soft and warm! You've been taking good care of all you fur and hair, huh?"
"Y-yeah...mngh..rr-ruffh...!" She couldn't help letting out a small bark when one of the demon-girl's fingers accidentally(?) touched some of the fluff of her inner ear.

"I know this is gonna annoy you, but that's really cute~," L'hoxifel said, letting go of one ear and moving the hand on the other one around through Ed's hair to her cheek.

This touch...! Was something different entirely. Ed's skin wasn't any more sensitive than usual, of course, but that hand on her cheek made her face burn with a blush, and her tail (which had already been wagging a little bit before) went whipping back and forth excitedly behind her. "U-uhm..."
"Heheh! I think...you might just like me. R-right?" Ed finally noticed that L'hoxifel was actually blushing almost as much as it felt like she was.

"Y-yeah...g-guess so..."

"I'm glad. I think I like you too," she admitted.

Finally, she let go of Ed's cheek, crossing her arms briefly (though still smiling and blushing)."So, uh—I'll make whatever changes you want. Shouldn't be too hard. What do you want?"
"Just...taller, and stronger. Uh..f-for now, at least."

"Any preference on how much taller?"

"I...really, I'd be happy if I was just as tall as I was as a guy," Ed said.
"Okay~, easy enough. Let's see...it's easiest to convey this effect through touch. If you don't mind."
"N-no, that's okay..."

L'hoxifel raised her hand up toward Ed's forehead, a bright purplish glow gathering near the palm of that hand, and then placed it there. The wolf-girl felt a rush of warmth spreading from the point of contact out to the rest of her body, especially downward, and by the time the demon-girl had let go of her forehead, she could feel the warmth settling into a strangely comforting burning and tensing sensation, just about everywhere one would expect to have muscle tone.

"Aah..mmnh..." She shuddered slightly as something raced down her spine, and then found herself leaning back slightly, half-involuntarily stretching. Her perspective rose rapidly upward, and at the same time...there was a feeling of her hips and thighs pushing out slightly. "Mmh—mrrrr~rfh...!" a soft bark came from her lips as the tensing and stretching eased off, and a brief burst of fuzzy sensation hit her between the legs alongside a slight forward push from her chest. With that, the strange feelings stopped, and Ed took a moment to look down at her new appearance.

"Well..what do you think?" L'hoxifel asked. She was...definitely taller; her shirt had been pulled up off of some visible, solid abs by the growth. However, it had also been pulled up a little bit more by a noticeable increase in her bust size, which accompanied her lower body's curves also being somewhat more pronounced. Ed slowly tilted her head back upward—to face the demon-girl, whose eye level was around her chin now. She was blushing and smiling up toward Ed, which made her feel...slightly giddy.

"A-ahahah..d-did you have to make my boobs bigger, too?"
"I didn't do that part on purpose. But it's natural for taller girls to be a little bit curvier," L'hoxifel said. "I can shrink them if you really want me to."
"Uh..n-no, I guess not. Though, I'll have to get a whole new set of bras or whatever..."
"Ed, clothes are way easier to transform than human bodies. I can fix them later, if you want. I mean—if you decide to stay looking like that."

"Uhm...I might." This did feel right; she felt stronger for sure, and could picture going around campus like this without worrying about guys looking at her. It'd be nice to be able to actually reach things, too! Although...right this second, she felt the most concerned about the person who was looking at her right now.

"B-but uh..what do you think? Ab-about this look?" she asked.
"I think you look gorgeous like that," L'hoxifel said, her face lighting up with another bright blush. "Plus, I could just picture you picking me up in your big strong arms~."

"Oh...mmm-mngh.." Ed's tail started wagging again. She noticed that her ears had sunk low, pointing out to either side of her head, too. "Y...you want me to? Uh, p-pick you up? Now?"
"I wouldn't complain if you did~. Fair warning, though, I'd go straight for your ears."

"I-I guess that's, only fair..."

Ed took a small step forward and tried reaching her arms out and gently lifting the demon-girl into a hug. She seemed strangely lightweight—probably just because of the all the new muscle tone. But more importantly, L'hoxifel responded by returning the hug, pulling herself close enough for their breasts to squish against each other. This was...definitely a new kind of feeling. It didn't take long to decide she liked it—especially with the other girl's face just a few inches in front of her.

"Mn~nh..rrfh..!" As threatened, L'hoxifel started petting Ed's ears after that. This was a...very nice addition to the feeling of the demon-girl's soft body pressed against her own. "Aah..y-yip!" After a couple of canine-like sounds, she couldn't resist leaning forward, pressing her nose hard into the other girl's cheek, and...nuzzling it? This wasn't something Ed would ever have thought to do, but her mind was mostly just along for the ride at this point.

"Awww~wwh..! That's so cuuute!" she softly half-squealed. For once, Ed didn't feel like she minded this word too much. One of her hands around L'hoxifel's waist was enough to hold her in place, so her other hand wandered, running through the demon-girl's hair a bit. "H-heheh...!" She seemed to like this well enough, too.

After a moment or so of this, something slid across the base of Ed's tail. "Y-yip!" Like her ears, that tail's fur seemed unusually sensitive right now, especially since this sensation was such a surprise. But it didn't take her long to figure out what it was. She turned her head to one side just enough to free her lips and be heard saying, "Uh—um...y-your tail?"

"Yeah..sorry~. My curiosity got the better of me, heheh~..."
"I-it's fine..j-just, surprised..."

They resumed for a little longer, L'hoxifel's tail twisting partway around Ed's and slowly sliding across it. Ed had thought the fuzzy feelings she could have as a girl were terribly strange, and maybe even uncomfortable..but right now, she definitely just liked them. This excitement was..kind of addictive, even. But finally, L'hoxifel released her ears and unwound their tails, and very gently pushed off—a cue which Ed correctly read, and so set her down again.

The demon-girl's face looked beet red, with very little of its usual purple. "I think...I like this new look of yours an awful lot~," she said. "Hey—let's go on a second date! Tomorrow?"
"Um..s-sure," Ed said, before making a brief mental confirmation that there was no possible conflict.

"Great! I've uh, gotta kick you out for now though—uhm. C-cammy's gonna be back fairly soon, I think."

"Right, uh, o-of course." Ed was pretty sure that L'hoxifel was having some very similar thoughts to her own: A strong desire to do that a second time, clashing against a fear that it might go a little too far if they did just now. So she hurriedly turned around and went for the door, stumbling slightly once or twice along the way. Strange: Her legs should be stronger now, not weaker...right?

L'hoxifel noticed this, and called after her through the bedroom doorway: "Be careful, silly! Heheh~!"

The Next Chapter: 10

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The Next Chapter
Chapter 10: Care to Sing?

Kyosuke had his stuff packed early into Friday afternoon, and Polaris (now a tall, busty woman) showed up to help lug it all over not long after. She made a show of picking up the heaviest items not with her hands, but with some lifting-and-carrying type magic that had those items float along in the air behind her. That was fine with the kitsune; it meant he didn't have to carry them.

It had been agreed that he'd room with Robert—Camilla's boyfriend—who (from what Kyo understood) been suckered into joining the sorority by the kind of simple-yet-clever scheme that any fox might be envious of. There were plenty of completely unoccupied rooms in the OZK house, but both Kyo and Rob were used to rooming with someone else, open to meeting a new person, and—of course—would be among the originally-male members transformed by the house. Also, the room was right across the hall from where Polaris and that monster were now living.

The Celestial set everything down on Kyosuke's side of the room. "Well? Any further assistance required?"
"No, this should be fine. I'll just start getting my stuff unpacked and settled."
"Excellent. I shall be off, then." With that, she headed out, leaving Kyo to his work. He quietly hummed to himself as he worked to get everything in just the right place.

Around halfway into the process he paused, his ears twitching. Off in the distance, faintly...was that Jay's voice singing? This house had pretty good magical sound-dampening, but it was mostly focused on keeping bedrooms and bathrooms private; more public areas had their walls and doors much less aggressively muted. Still, it was more than enough to prevent someone merely singing or humming to themselves from being heard (even by fox ears) at this kind of distance. Curious what was going on, Kyo paused his work to go track her down.

She was singing along to some kind of backing track, which had the sound quality of being played through some high-end speakers. Kyosuke identified the genre as some kind of synth-pop as she moved into what was very obviously the chorus. More importantly, however, Jay's singing was incredible. Her voice was beautiful, melodious, and powerful, and she sang with a confidence and energy that perfectly fit the song. He couldn't know whether she was hitting all of the "right" notes, but all of it sounded perfectly consonant and on-rhythm with the music behind her.

Finally, the kitsune located the source of all that sound: The little "theater room" of OZK's house. It had a big screen and some seating, so he'd assumed that it was just for watching movies or videos, but upon walking inside, he found that its acoustics were actually quite good for this performance of Jay's. He also wasn't the only one listening. Ed, Nancy, and L'hoxifel were seated in various spots near the front of the room. At about the time of Kyo's arrival, the song reached a climactic part with a long series of notes and words coming out rapid-fire. While his English was very good most of the time, he couldn't parse half of what these words were; Jay, however, seemed to hit every single one without stumbling over a consonant or missing a beat. After that was one final chorus (with a key change, of course), and then the song came to an end.

"Haahh...phew." Jay bent over slightly, panting. The three seated audience members gave their applause, and Kyosuke joined them, noting that the fox-girl had been singing at that volume with no microphone.

"Amazing! How are you already so good at singing in a brand new voice?!" Nancy said.

"Is the rap section supposed to go that fast?" the demon-girl asked.

"Yeah, it is," Ed answered for Jay, who was just now starting to catch her breath.

"Aahahah...I've just been singing since, like, middle school. Turns out the technique and stuff carries over even if your voice is totally different," The fox-girl said, shrugging. "Aaaand, I might've listened to Ursa's whole album on repeat one too many times."

Jay had mentioned being a huge fan of an "Ursa Major" during their date back on Tuesday, and talked excitedly about her and her music until Kyo managed to very tactfully change the subject. Evidently this was one of her songs, and he had to admit it did seem fairly catchy. At this point, Jay noticed his presence, and waved. "Oh, hey Kyo! You get all moved in already?"
"Mostly." Seeing that this had brought the attention of everyone else in the room his way, he shrugged, taking a few steps farther into the room. "I was just unpacking, and heard a siren song that compelled me to come. You do have a really beautiful voice."

"Awwwh, heheh~," she giggled. "We were just doing some karaoke, is all—Nancy's idea. You wanna join us?"

"I guess the rest of unpacking could wait," he said. "If the rest of you wouldn't mind?" A brief chorus of affirmation followed, so he came up toward the front. There wasn't exactly a "stage", but the room's acoustics seemed designed to make the whole area in front of the screen—where the speakers and Jay were—easy to hear throughout the whole room. There was a computer off to one side, maybe belonging to someone already in the room, that they'd used to play the song for Jay. After some brief encouragement from all present, Kyo went and found a song he knew on that.

He wasn't the best singer, by his own estimation, but he could carry an easy tune like this one. The only thing that his audience were likely to find odd was the language. Well, he couldn't really help the fact that every song he knew well enough to sing confidently was in Japanese, and they seemed fairly likely to be cool about it anyway. Indeed, once he'd given his performance, including using some of his illusions to illustrate certain parts of the lyrics, he got a full round of applause, and couldn't resist giving a couple of bows.

"Thank you, thank you—I'll be here all week, hahah! I suppose it's someone else's turn for now, though?"

"Yeah! Ed was gonna be up next after me," Jay said without reservation. The wolf-girl growled softly, looking off to one side with her face flushing slightly. "Whaat, you thought you were off the hook? You're the only one who hasn't sung anything yet! C'mon." The fox-girl grabbed her hand and pulled her up off of her seat and to the "stage"; Kyo quietly moved himself out of the way and to an unoccupied seat before they got there.

"I don't really...know any songs. And my voice sucks anyway. I-I mean..I'm not used to how it sounds at all..."

"Well, you're not gonna get any more used it staying quiet," Jay said. "Besides, you complained about 'Love-spell, Hate-spell' being stuck in your head literally last week."

"That's because I don't like it."

"But you know it, riight? C'mon, I found a version with the words up on the screen," Jay said, gesturing at the computer. "Just give it a shot, okay?"
"Ugh, fiiiine."

This was presumably another of Ursa Major's songs, but its style was markedly different from the one Jay had sung to. It was a little slower in tempo, with more of a rock style, featuring guitars much more prominently. Despite her protests, the wolf-girl wasn't any worse a singer than Kyosuke figured himself to be. If anything, she kind of got into the song around the halfway point, and seemed to be actually having fun by the end of it. She also didn't seem to need to look at the screen much for the lyrics. Almost as soon as the song was over, she apparently noticed the happy look on her own face, and quickly forced it back to the sour expression she'd had on before.

"There~! That wasn't so bad, was it?" Jay said. "You didn't even mess up any of the notes."

"Wh-whatever! I'm not gonna do it again," she said, hurrying back to the seats.

"Your voice is lovely, Ed," L'hoxifel chimed in, and the wolf-girl responded to that with a bright blush and some embarrassed mumbling.

"Pardon the intrusion, but! Is this a display of talents I'm encountering!?"
The kistune muttered under his breath, "Uh-oh." Even if he didn't already know the sound of his former roommate's new voice, her manner of speech was unmistakable. Besides which, she was striding her way into the center of the room already.

"I simply must partake in this myself! Singing as perfect as mine deserves to be heard by all and sundry."
Kyosuke was pretty sure that the Celestial knew she was completely tone-deaf. He knew Polaris to occasionally slip from being honestly vain about her own, genuinely incredible abilities into being ironically, humorously vain about those talents she completely lacked. The only problem was that she tended to commit to this bit just a little too hard, and in this case, that would mean inflicting that voice on at least five other people.

Already the group (especially Jay) were happily encouraging Polaris to join them and pick out a song to sing. Kyo wondered: Should he warn them? As someone who wanted to get along with these girls, he probably should, but as a kitsune, it was also practically his duty to let a funny situation like this play itself out. He decided to give them all a subtle hint and leave it at that. He stood up, making a small show of looking at his phone in his right hand.

"Oh, man, it's been that long? Sorry, I've really gotta finish unpacking and get some homework done. It's been fun—we should do it again some time!" he said, waving goodbye while hurrying out of the room.

"Okay! Join us for supper later," L'hoxifel called after him. "I'll let you know when it's ready."
"Thanks!"

Kyo was walking backwards, then sideways, during this brief exchange. So it was only thanks to his keen hearing and quick reflexes that he didn't slam sideways into Mary, and instead went awkwardly stumbling around her to one side. "Whoop—uh. Sorry!" Once past her, he took off at a sprint.
"It's fine, really. You don't—hmn." His ears picked up her response, but he'd already turned a corner to get out of sight by the time she'd finished saying it.

Jay had mentioned how amazing a chef L'hoxifel was, and even Polaris had sworn that she would be "extracting her secrets" at some point. Kyo naturally interpreted these as kind overstatements, but getting to eat a supper made by the demon-girl for himself, he concluded that they were both completely sincere and serious. What was this girl doing in a creative writing major when she could be a five-star Michelin chef?! The kitsune resolved to at least try and get someone close to her—her friend Camilla, or Ed maybe—to suggest such a career, if only to find out the reason she wasn't already going after one.

Everyone was present for the dinner except for Rob and Camilla, who were apparently on a date or something, making for a very lively gathering. Kyo quickly got a feel for the dynamics among the group: Nancy liked to be the center of attention maybe even more than Polaris did; Mary, as expected, leaned back and quietly watched everyone with those eerie black eyes of hers. Jay liked or pretended to like everyone, and was having fun just hanging out with them; and Ed was quietly contemplating something, deeply enough that she wasn't always paying attention to the conversation. The kitsune himself just cheerfully people-watched, responding pleasantly when addressed but otherwise keeping fairly quiet.

It was past sunset when Kyosuke finally met his roommate. He was chipping away at some homework when the door opened, and Rob—a tall, handsome purple-haired guy with fuzzy ears and a catlike tail—walked in. He set his work down and stood up, hurrying over to greet him. "Hey! Kyosuke."
"Rob," he responded, shaking the hand gently. "I guess we're roommates now."
"Yep. I mean, unless you don't like it. There's lots of empty space for either of us to move into."
"Nah, I already agreed to it," he said, shrugging. "It's weird being on my own. Too quiet."
"Hah, I get that."

After some more general introductions, Rob said, "Hey, so—you've always had like, animal ears, right?"
"Yeah?"
"I got a question. How do you..how do headphones work with these things?" he said, pointing to his own ears.

"They make earbuds that go right in, for one thing," Kyo said. "'Human' buds can be stuffed in there too, but it's pretty uncomfortable. Me, though—" he pointed to a pair of big, classic-style headphones propped on his desk next to his laptop. "I just use the cheap stuff. If you turn them upward toward your ears, and focus on listening to what's coming out—y'know, which points your ears at them—it works great."
"Huh. I guess that makes sense. But...I'm used to totally blocking the world out when I'm doing art, is all. I can't figure out a way to stop...hearing stuff."

"I've known some people who were new to animal ears," Kyo said. "They all start out that way, but after a bit, your brain gets used to hearing tons of extra little noises, and learns to filter out what you're not actually interested in hearing. It's always taken me conscious effort to really hear everything my ears can pick up. Oh, but they do make noise-canceling stuff for fuzzy ears; it's just, kinda expensive. For the best kind, they have to actually get your measurements so it'll fit right. Or—they've started selling this noise-canceling enchantment stuff, but since it's so new, it's super expensive."

"Wow, cool," Rob nodded. "Ugh, I guess I just need to 'practice' until my brain gets used to these, then, huh?"
"Sorry, but—I'm sure, as someone who plays sports, you know: 'No easy path to success'. Even in a little thing like this."

A little later, when both of them were sitting at their desks, Rob turned his chair around the kitsune's way. Kyo paused his music in time to hear him say, "So, uh..."
"What's up?"
"I guess you..I mean, there's no way you don't know what you signed up for, right? I mean, after you go to sleep tonight..."

"The house's enchantment will change me into a woman, I know," Kyo said, nodding. "It's done that for you as well, hasn't it?"

"Yyyeah. Kind of by accident. I'm a guy right now, just 'cause I'm wearing this thing," he said, poking a ring on his left hand.

Kyo leaned in slightly toward it. "Huh. Quite an ingenious little enchantment. Very complex, to my senses."

"Sure, but...I just mean. You're..cool...with that?"

"Absolutely. I've become somewhat curious since this opportunity presented itself to me. Some of my kitsune relatives have told me that being transformed by outside magic can help make it easier to learn to transform ourselves, which is something I want to master at some point. And..there is a stronger reason, too."

"Stronger...?"

"Exactly. Let me ask you something...Camilla likes that female form of yours, right?"
"Uh..." Rob blushed. "Y-yeah?"

"I understand things happened in the sequence: You were transformed, then brought to live here. But if instead she had asked you to move into the house with her and get transformed, because she perhaps thought she'd like the results in the first place...do you think you would've done so?"

"Hhhhuh." Robert's expression changed for a moment; he was seriously contemplating something that had not occurred to him before. Some kitsune had a "favorite expression" that they liked to cause other people to make; this one was Kyo's.

"I guess...yeah. I would. Totally. Camilla and me are..pretty serious, you know. Even if the house itself wasn't so great, being close to her, uh, is worth it. It's annoying when she steals my ring to make me turn into a catgirl for her, but...like, if she asked me to take it off instead, I probably would..."

"Hah, well, there you go. I"m in a situation a little like that. While we've barely met, and so are nowhere near as serious as you and Camilla—Jay made it very clear that she'd be interested to see how I look as a woman. So, in view of the other reasons I already had for joining, my decision felt rather obvious."

"That make sense," Rob said. "Oh, but uh...Jay seems, really high-energy to me. I guess it's just your taste—I feel like I'd be exhausted even just dating someone like that a couple times."

"We're hardly very far into the courtship," Kyo said, shrugging. "I'll wait and see how it goes. I admit I find that energy very charming so far, though."

Another while later, Rob stood up, got some things from his dresser drawers, and started toward the bathroom. "I'm...going to bed," he said. "So uh—gonna go change, in there."
"Understandable," the kitsune said, nodding. She came back out in some full-body pajamas, setting down the outfit her male form had had on on her way to the bed. The kitsune decided he was getting pretty sleepy himself a little later, and changed for bed too. He usually wore just boxers and an old shirt, and had no problem with magic reconfiguring that into something that would fit post-change.

Kyo tended to take a little while to get to sleep, once he was lying down with the lights out. His thoughts would run away with him, and he sometimes had to resort to actual meditation to make his brain shut up. Tonight, his thoughts eventually went back to the conversation with Jay a couple of mornings ago. She thought he'd be 'super cute' as a girl..and had openly brought up the idea of picking a female Kyo up in a big hug and petting her. He was definitely excited by the idea, and sincerely hoped to wind up with the kind of body that Jay would enjoy doing that with. It was a very strange thing to consider, he realized, but a world full of magic tended to create a great many bizarre possibilities...

"...Mrrfh." Kyo stirred partially up out of sleep, thoughts like those still the last thing he could remember. He only knew that he had been asleep because a brief squint through his eyes revealed a subtle difference in the moonlight coming through the closed window blinds, which proved it was later into the night than his temporal memory could account for.

Polaris had said a thing or two about how the OZK house's enchantment worked. Kyosuke's magical senses weren't as finely honed as the Celestial's, but at this moment, he could feel the magic pushing in at him, and at the same time physically restraining his movement. He could tell right away that he wasn't powerful enough to resist it; instead, he invited it in. It took effect very quickly, making him shudder as a tingling proceeded from the tips of his ears and tails inward to the rest of his body, flooding all the way across it. The change being made to his fur was subtle: A mild softening, a slight increase in length and fluffiness. His skin, too, was softened a bit, along with the more obvious shift of a swift loss of body and facial hair. The tingling remained on his scalp while the rest faded off for now, growing his hair out longer while making similar changes to its volume and feel as it had to his fur.

And then...Kyo could feel his own power began pulling him inward. "Aah...!" It was a startling, sharp feeling that made him jolt and cry out briefly. He found himself picturing Jay in front of him, shorter than him, and then his perspective rapidly sinking, bringing her up higher and higher. And he really was shrinking at that rate, not only shorter but smaller in nearly every way he could think of. "Aa~ah..mmh, mm~mmh..!" His face grew smaller and rounder; his arms and legs slimmed down; his frame collapsed inward, narrowing his shoulders down; and even his voice was 'shrinking' in the sense of growing higher-pitched, like the sound of a smaller creature. "Mrr, rr~rrh..!" The sensation of this shift, along with the mental image of Jay's pretty face coming up to his eye-line and then rising even farther, made him squirm around, softly crying out, and caused quite a lot of excitement down between his legs. But he knew that wouldn't be there very long; it, too, shrank smaller and smaller even as the rest of him did!

"Mnngh...rr~rrfh..!" Kyo's voice settled quickly into a mid-range alto tone as the shrinking slowed toward a halt. In the mental image of standing before the voluptuous fox-girl, he could picture her impressive bust coming up into his view; his heart raced at the thought of her reaching out then, to pick him up and hold on tight, rubbing his ears..!

Or rather—that would be—her ears. Kyo's manhood began slipping inward as the rest of the shrinking slowed to a halt. "Mmh—mmMMMmmh—rruufh..!" He thrashed around a little bit, enjoying the ride, until it fully melted away, coming inside her body to reform into some fully female parts. This was accompanied by a rush of pleasant, fuzzy feelings down there that made her let out a high, cute "Aa~ah!" Then there was the sensation of her hips pushing their way out, her shorts very suddenly pulling tight—including becoming flat right between her legs. Now she could really picture Jay holding on to her, maybe the feeling of some fingers on her ears...! Or maybe even her tails? "Mrrr~rrhh...!" The very thought of that had her churring excitedly and happily, so...just wait until she could feel the real thing...!

"Mnnf...aah, rr~rrRUFFH...!" The kitsune welcomed the sensation of her chest pushing out into some new, small breasts too, They'd press nicely against Jay's enormous pair, maybe especially if they were a little bit bigger than this...? And so they pushed out again, and then yet a third time, each one coming with a wave of more fuzzy sensation down between her legs..! "Aa~ah...mrrr~rrnh..." Finally, the new vixen let out a soft, low "Ooo~oooh...!" as one final, more slow-and-steady push expanded her bust out to what would be its full size, completing her change and letting her feel one last, especially strong burst of girlish pleasure.

"Hfffh...fffh...mnn~nnh..." Kyosuke wondered whether every magically-induced change of sex was like this? Or at least anyone's first time. Probably not quite so pleasant, she reasoned; someone who'd been welcoming it like her would probably enjoy it the most. She slowly caught her breath, gently prodding around at her new form (and discovering that her shirt had split itself apart down the middle in the process), before finally realizing that she actually felt very physically exhausted by the expenditure of 'her own' magic, boosted as it had been by the house's enchantment, to transform her like this. So she took a couple of deep breaths to calm down, closed her eyes...and, for once, fell back to sleep immediately.

"Mrr~rrnh." She did dream of Jay, however, and woke up still thinking about the gorgeous redheaded fox-girl. Her ears twitched as she stirred toward fully awake, listening to the sound of the shower running—Rob, it seemed, was already up. Then she slowly sat up, got herself down off the bed, and looked around. The bedroom seemed so much bigger from down here...! Other people might feel disoriented or vulnerable from such a loss of height, but Kyosuke just felt excited. She went over to examine herself in the room's mirror, and immediately liked what she saw.

A cute, fairly curvy woman grinned back at her from the mirror, still blushing a bit from those thoughts of Jay. her jet black hair fell down to about waist-length; her two tails swished back and forth excitedly behind her. These restructured bedclothes didn't leave much of her figure to the imagination, showing off her somewhat larger-than-average bust, her slim, flat waist, and some pretty nice hips and legs. As expected, she was quite good-looking as a girl.

She was...also feeling kind of hungry. Maybe even very hungry. There had been a few warnings that the house's magic tended to make people hungry right after, which made sense given how it worked; Polaris hadn't been, but her magical efficiency was freakishly high. Kyo wondered briefly whether there was a man or a woman taking a shower in their shared bathroom right now, but shrugged—she wasn't really that interested in Rob in the first place. So instead of worrying about that, she tossed off her top to put on an (admittedly ill-fitting) t-shirt in its stead, then scampered off to the kitchen for breakfast, figuring this was decent enough to get away with. Besides, she could always fix it later.