Omega Zeta Kappa 11: γ

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Slight warning: This one is pretty long relative to the other OZK (or any other) stories, mainly because it covers a lot of "ground" all in one part. You could probably tell this from just looking at the scrollbar, but I wanted to make a note of it anyway.

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There was nothing quite like the feeling of running, as far as Kaden was concerned. Ever since he first tried it in middle school, he'd loved it: The rush of air across his body, the burn of his muscles as they strained to keep up that speed. He liked to put on some music in his earbuds and just tune out the world for a while. Jogging was alright too, or maybe the occasional walk, but as far as he was concerned, a full-on sprint was where it was at—it just felt like the wind blew any worries he had away, and any stress there was got worked out with the tension in a post-sprint stretch. As a result, everyone always thought he never worried about anything. But the reality was—he just waited to work it out in a run, and that was usually all it took.

There was a perfect route for a light daily jog, no traffic crossings the whole way, which started and ended at the OZK house. That wasn't strictly speaking his reason for joining them, but it was certainly a perk. It was more that he didn't get along well with the guys who thought they were going to make a career out of sports, or didn't have any plans for their careers at all. Kaden was going in hard for an engineering degree; only people who didn't know him very well thought his head was in the clouds. Still, getting a scholarship from his personal hobby wasn't bad at all.

It was an unusual morning after he came back from a brief warmup run just around the house for breakfast. Jeff was out sitting on the stairs in front of the house, practically clawing at his eyes and cheeks in distress. "Hey...you okay there, man?" Kaden pulled up next to him, sitting down to help catch his breath.

He breathed out an exasperated sigh. "Fine, I guess. You hear the news?"
"Uh, yeah, I just checked my phone after some stretches. So it's for real?"

"Yeah. I saw Rich change right in front of me. Then Erwin 'went' right after. Auugh, and I took that stuff too!" he sort of yelled at the sky.
"Hey, you guys all wanted it to happen, right? Isn't that what 'unanimous' means?"
"I didn't want to do this, I agreed to it 'cause, like..you don't know what Rich is like. When he—when she wants something, it's just...like trying to hold back a freight train with your hands." He turned to Kaden. "I said I'm finding a way to change back, and getting out, if they're gonna kick me off the team for..for being a girl. Maybe we can just join one of the not-crazy frats, or make our own or something—you know, me and anyone who doesn't want to do this."

"Hey brah, I know you wouldn't really like that. Anyway, it's not like any of us have got the capital for sweet digs like these," Kaden said, sweeping a hand toward the house behind them. "Besides, like—is football really your whole life?"
"Rrgh..no, but it's most of my scholarship, so, it might as well be."
"Well, there's always room for athletic chicks on the track team. Or basketball, volleyball, cheerleading, whatever," Kaden said, counting off on his hand.

"If I even end up athletic. Maybe it just decides to take all my muscle with it," Jeff said.
"Your grades aren't that bad anyway, right?"
"They're not..amazing, either."

"Are you gonna do it?" he said finally, after a long moment.

"Maan, I dunno. I just found out this is goin' on. Gonna need a little time to think it through."
"But you're not saying 'no' right away, huh."

"Yeah, I guess not. You did?"
"Yeah! The first like, twenty times it was brought up." Jeff shook his head. "I like being a guy. I, haven't told my parents this is goin' on yet, and I dunno what they'll think."

"Aren't they pretty supportive? I know mine wouldn't care if I sprouted big devil horns," Kaden said. "...In a bad way, though. Prolly wouldn't even care to find out 'till summer."

"I think a lot of guys are taking that stuff without even thinking about that," Jeff said, his mind still on his own worries. "I think Rich's big scheme is gonna get us torn down by an mob of angry parents before the end of the month."

"Well, hey, at least that won't be boring, right?" Kaden put a hand on the older guy's shoulder. "And the Tanners can just buy us a new house if it happens, 'cause it's their kid's fault in the first place, yeah? Anyway, I haven't had breakfast yet, soo."

"Go ahead..." The stormcloud wasn't dispelled from over his upperclassman friend, but Kaden at least had the sense Jeff was now thinking instead of only despairing.

"...Look, guys, I gotta think on this some more. We got a week, right?"
"Sure. Take your time."
"Just don't take too much~."
"I'll come let ya know if I decide I want some." That was about the extent of his conversation with the wolf-girls, and after that they pretty much left him alone.

If there was one thing Kaden could say in favor of the weird decision, the weird potion that came with it, and all—it seemed to only and exclusively produce total hotties. Every freshly changed girl he saw in the house was some combination of adorably cute and/or drop-dead gorgeous, with not a single one he'd rate below an 8.5 out of 10. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to be a girl rated 8.5 or greater, but it was definitely something to consider. Anyway, he surely was at least a 7 as a guy right now...he guessed. Tall, a little trim but pretty buff, with short, dark red hair and some nice, handsome features to his face accentuated further by a chinstrap beard. Yeah—a notable number of those very-recently-guys looked upon him and blushed, which was a bit of a confidence booster for him. Was he willing to give that up, even temporarily?

For a while, Kaden turned his mind away from the problem and toward some homework. That engineering degree wasn't going to earn itself; the scholarships he needed to help afford it certainly weren't going to maintain themselves. Then he got hungry and went for lunch, and the indecisiveness returned. Not a single person he encountered seemed too upset at being a girl; on average they seemed quite happy, in fact. Maybe he'd enjoy it, too? But...on the other hand, maybe he'd have a shot going out with one of those cuties instead? Staying with the OZK was nice, but that might be even nicer. They were pretty generous with their guest policies, and with the way he'd been talking, maybe Jeff would just let him and some other unwilling-to-be-girl former-members hang around on a regular basis anyway. There was space for a guest crashpad or something, surely...

After lunch, he decided to go and do what he always did when he had a problem to chew on. He put in his earbuds and went outside to try and get a proper sprint out. It had helped him solve all kinds of math, physics, and other sorts of problems; it had helped him mull over important decisions before; and surely, he figured, it would help him now, too. Music going, Kaden walked down the stairs to the sidewalk, stretched, and then sprinted over to the end of the block. He paused, catching his breath; he felt better, but not any closer to making a decision.

He stood up straight enough to look ahead of him and..well, his earbuds practically popped themselves out of his ears. Now that was a 10 out of 10—maybe even an 11. A blonde bombshell he'd never seen before was running in his direction (not toward him, of course, but—still). She had on some tight little shorts and a tank top; she was tall, had a gorgeous tan, a pretty face, ultra long hair that streamed out beautifully behind her, and a pair of enormous knockers that bounced as she ran—and despite every bit of that which might be providing resistance to her movement, her run looked graceful and fast.

Well..perhaps he was staring long enough to be rude. He was just stunned by her beauty, besides the surprising fact that he'd somehow never encountered her before. He had to say something. Fortunately, he was definintely staring long enough to accidentally get her attention. "U-uh, h-hey," she said nervously, blushing up at him as she slowed to a stop within a polite, conversational distance.
"Hey, cutie. I've never seen you around before," he said, stretching his arms over and behind his head.

"U-uh, well, y'know, I um." Kaden wasn't vain enough to confuse her flustered stammering as being attracted to him particularly; instead it just seemed like she wasn't used to being called attractive by any member of the opposite sex at all. Her voice fit her tomboy look pretty well, and this unexpected burst of nerves from a girl who had a body more than good enough to be totally stuck-up about was actually pretty cute itself. "I just uh, I mean I've been around, but not like, like thiiis?" She pointed a finger at her own chin. "B-by which I mean uh.."

At this point Kaden's thinking brain called for attention over the litany of thoughts about all the various ways in which she was unbelievably attractive. "Oooh," he said, realizing aloud. "Are you with OZK?"
"U-uh, y-yeah!"

"Me too, brah. You took some potion and turned out like that?"
"Uh-huh," she nodded. This went a decent way to explaining her nerves and confusion, especially if she'd been anything less than, say...a 6 as a guy.

"Well, I'd say it did you some huge favors," he said, grinning.
"Um—t-thanks, I guess?"

"That's a little weird to hear, huh. But you are a chick now, y'know?"

"I-I am!" she said, sounding actually happy about this, rather than like she was just agreeing with him.

"Soo, hey, d'you want me to buy you dinner or somethin'? Not to go in to hard or anything, but I can't not ask someone as pretty as you," he said.

Maybe Kaden's mouth got ahead of his mind, and ahead of even his sense of empathy. Seeing her face immediately turn the color of a fresh tomato and hearing her stammer uncontrollably for a second was cute, yes, but it also gave him just enough time to realize how that might feel to someone in her present shoes. He had begun to try and think of a way to retract the offer and apologize for coming on so strong when she recovered just enough to blurt something out: "Uh—a—r-r-r, um, race!"
"A race?" he said.

"Y-yeah! Let's um, let's race back to the, the place," she waved an arm behind her.

"To the frat house? Or, sor' house or whatever?" Kaden clarified.

"Yeah! A-a-a-and if you win, then sure, I'll go out with you!"
"'Kay. What if I lose?" he said. He didn't think he would lose, but still felt bad about hitting her with such a shock. It'd be totally unfair for the stakes to be all on her anyway.

"Um, t-then, you gotta take the potion!"

Kaden thought about it for a second or two. He'd been trying to make a decision all day, and now..there was a way for a quick sprint to help make it for him. "...Deal. Shake on it?" He offered her a hand, which she gently, hesitantly took in her own and carefully shook for just long enough to be polite before drawing it back and blushing again. "Alriight. Let's line up and you can count us off, cutie."
"U-u-uh, s-sure!" Her blush wasn't going away, but the blonde bombshell at least seemed to be happy instead of distressed now, with the biggest, most beautiful grin ever on her face.

She didn't actually seem to be an experienced runner, judging by the way she glanced at him as he knelt in the standard ready position and awkwardly tried to imitate that. "F-from three, right?"
"Sure."
"Okay—three, two, one, go~!"

The newly-made girl didn't have much running technique, per se, and her strides were shorter than Kaden's just because of their difference in height. But she kept up with him anyway, even as he went out of 'warmup' mode and got serious. Halfway there, she was pulling up next to him; three-quarters of the way, he had to fight to keep even slightly ahead; and when they ran by the front of the OZK house, it was what an onlooker would call a photo finish—but Kaden saw it—he knew that she was just slightly ahead of him in that moment.

Both of them slowed to a halt, and Kaden bent over, panting. The girl was panting too, but nowhere near as harshly—she'd exerted herself, sure, but that sprint had not actually winded her. "Hhoo~ooh..hahah...uhh, y-you okay?" she said, leaning toward him just slightly.
"Cool, cool," he gathered himself up, partly wanting to ease any concerns she had and partly just not wanting to look bad in front of her.
"That was great, right? Um, d-did we tie?"

"No way, I totally lost. Are you on the track team?" Maybe this was Hollis pulling a fast one on him.
"Uh, n-no."
"Well you should be! Go try out and the coach'll name you the star right away. If I can barely even keep up, girl, you've got Olympic-level potential."

"Uh, h-heheh.." She put her hands together out in front of her and leaned back and forth blushing, obviously unused to this kind of praise.

Then she seemed to realize something, and dropped her hands back to the sides. "Um, h-hey, you don't really gotta take the potion. I-I mean, I just sorta said the first thing that came to my mind. I know it's uh, kinda a big deal really.."

"Naah, I can't welch on a bet like that," Kaden said. "You woulda gone out with me if I won, right?"
"Y-yeah, but.."
"Anyway, I think I've been looking for an excuse to try it out all day. Maybe I'll turn out half as cute as you are, huh?" he said, grinning.
"H-heheh...y-yeah..."

"What's your name, anyway? After I do change, I want a rematch," he said.
"Oh! Uhh." She seemed immediately distressed at the realization that no introductions had taken place. "I'm Layton," she said, offering him her hand again somewhat hesitantly.

"Good to meet ya. Kaden," he replied, taking and shaking it firmly, but not too aggressively. "You better watch out for me later."
"Um..s-sure.."
"Oh, and if you're gonna run some more, you gotta stretch! Don't wanna make those muscles sore, now, do ya?"
"N-not at all.." She didn't seem to actually know what he meant about stretching. Kaden figured he could teach her later, if she didn't join any official team. Letting a runner that talented injure herself would be like just watching while a classic painting burned to ashes.

On his way inside, he nearly bumped into the real Hollis on his way out—confirming once and for all that Layton was a separate person, if there was any remaining doubt. "Oh, hey brah," he said.
"Mrrgh." His fellow track star wasn't in a great mood, it seemed. "Are you gonna turn into a chick, too?"

"Weeell, I haven't taken the stuff yet," he said. "But I'm 'bout to. Lost a bet."
"A bet!?" His incredulity burst into a shout that could be heard from the top floor of the house.
"I mean—that's not all. I've been thinkin' about it all day."
"That's like, what, three hours?"
"Six, for me."

"Gaaaah!" He pressed his hands against the sides of his head and growled skyward. It seemed he didn't feel too differently from how Jeff did about all of this.

"Well, have fun with your run, guy," Kaden called as Hollis quickly continued down the stairs in frustration. Hollis didn't feel exactly the same way about running as Kaden did, but he still knew his friend would feel better, probably much more mentally sorted out about the whole situation, after a good jog.

"So I can just chug it here, right?"
"If you wanna!"
"You might change right away, though. Right here in the middle of the hallway."

"Which maaay be, just slightly, embarrassing."
"Huh. Surprised you girls are warning me 'bout that."

"Eh, you can only watch so many people run to the nearest available bathroom in a panic before it gets boring."

Kaden decided not to chug the bottle until he got back to his room.

Then he chugged it, mildly thankful for once that he was temporarily roommateless—his previous one having graduated out mid-year. He wasn't actually amazing at chugging (yet another reason he fit in better at OZK than any other fraternity) but he got it all down quickly enough. It tasted like all of the spiciest things he'd ever eaten combined, all of that spiciness concentrated together into one big, chemically concentrated dose of pure capsaicin or whatever—which made the chugging more difficult, but not impossible for someone as fond of hot foods as him. The bizarre thing was that it didn't linger in his mouth the way real spicy flavors did, even though it left the rest of him feeling a bit overheated, even to the point of panting and slightly sweating.

"Hfffphew." He set the bottle down and hurried to get some water. "Nobody told me that stuff'd burn so good." As soon as the glass was half-full he chugged it as best he could, then put it back under the water to get more. There was something Kaden found curiously unsatisfying about the water, like he craved something else instead—but he couldn't put his finger on exactly what. The more important concern, though, was that the hot feeling hadn't gone away since drinking the potion; if anything, it was getting worse. He gasped for air after another half-glass of water, and that went right into actual panting. Overall, he was feeling increasingly like he did right after a particularly heavy and long sprint.

It felt..good, to him, yes, but if this was what the potion did to everyone else then he couldn't imagine how they were all so happy about it. And that made him worry, just a bit, that this was a sign of some kind of adverse reaction to it. After taking a third, nearly-full cup of water in and feeling even less satisfied with it than the previous couple of drinks, Kaden stumbled out of the bathroom and landed with a turn to sitting on his bed—even though his original intent had been to get out of the room and in sight of someone who could call for help if he was in some kind of medical trouble.

At this point Kaden found himself instinctively tugging at his shirt and pants, and only now wondered why he was doing that. As it turned out, both felt unusually tight on him all of a sudden, besides starting to be drenched in the sweat his skin was beginning to pour out of itself. The tightness only got worse, and it began to feel as if his body was actually being pushed in by the tight clothes, helped along by his muscles all tensing at once now, burning like he was exercising extra hard. He gasped, and let out a long, strained cry: "Aaa~aaaaa~aaahh!" All throughout, he felt himself being pushed inward and downward, his frame shrinking slimmer and smaller. He saw his perspective sinking rapidly, and his legs and even his arms, hands and face—which had nothing pulling tight onto them—changed along with the rest of him. His voice shifted during the cry too, its pitch slowly rising.

Kaden heaved in heavy breaths a few more times and then cried out again, hearing it start even higher than the last had ended and rise some more: "Aa~aaaggh..!" This one was much less strained, as the tension all seemed to be resolving into a sensation more like a post-workout stretch. Already he'd became much shorter and smaller all around: Narrow shoulders, slender arms and legs and waist. With his head turned downward already, he could easily see just how girlish his body had become in such a short span of time.

The heat all over his body didn't seem to let up, but instead it was as if he could suddenly tolerate that higher temperature better—resulting in the sweating dying down, the already-present sweat seeming to evaporate off of his skin and clothes, and his panting finally softening into some more stable, deeper breaths. His skin tingled faintly, making him shudder and utter a soft "Waa~aah..!" that sounded distinctly feminine and cute; it left the skin he could see below him soft and smooth, and when he raised a hand to touch his cheek and chin briefly, he found the equivalent changes there: Facial hair all gone, and a soft, smooth texture left behind. It felt really, really nice, actually; he found himself feeling a little impatient to see how just cute his face would turn out.

But—of course—there was still quite a bit of unfinished business first. Kaden's manhood was struck with a sharp wave of tingling that stimulated it and made a half-choked sound, sort of like "Auwkh—", come from his throat, and then it instantly started shrinking, seeming to melt away in response to the heat that still engulfed his entire body. "Aa~aah..oh, ooh, ooOOooo~Oooh...!" It was less a girl's and more a woman's voice, moderately deep and decidedly mature, that came from Kaden's lips now, as he found his body warming even more with a blush, and an intense sort of anticipation built up. And then, with a simple, adorable "Waa~aaahhh..!" the conversion from male to female completed itself, allowing a pair of extremely tight underwear that had once been Kaden's shorts to pull flat and snug between her legs. This was followed by a lower "Ooo~ooh..mnn~Nnnh.." as the new equipment asserted itself more fully, making her feel even hotter as she got a full taste of girlish pleasure.

By now, Kaden's pants had turned into tight, black cloth, its leggings only down to the knees and still busy crawling upward. Her t-shirt remained just that, but its collar split off to become some kind of choker holding tight around her neck, and some more of the material between that and her chest had split off to do its own thing, now hanging awkwardly between her chest and shirt while some straps crawled their way around her back and over her shoulders. But, although she was a pretty thin, boyish-looking girl right now, her figure did nothing to push back against the tight clothes and 'improve' itself just yet. Instead...

"W-wah!" Kaden felt a strange, sudden push from the upper corners of her head. It seemed like the heat in her was briefly concentrated onto those two particular points, and the way that something began to grow itself out from each of them felt ineffably similar to the sensation of her muscles tensing before. "Aaa~aaaghh..!" The result was another cry not unlike the first one of her transformation, but in this new, girlish voice. Whatever it was grew out hard and fast, pushing her hair away to either side as it went. About halfway through the process, it seemed to prompt her hair to grow too, and suddenly there were soft, fiery-red tresses cascading out down her back and the sides of her head, gorgeous bangs tickling her forehead and framing her face. It grew long enough to touch her lower back and land an inch or two onto the bed next to her and then abruptly stopped—at the same time as the two other things growing out of her head did.

She sighed cutely: "Haa~ahh, hff, ffh.." Then she was left panting again, reaching one hand up to try and figure out what it was—then the other. Each hand found something hard and circular attached to her head, and carefully traced it along a near-ninety-degree angle upward to where it tapered to a point. "Wha...h-horns?!" Kaden had been anticipating turning into a girl, but she'd expected that to be the weirdest part. For her to actually sprout horns was a bit of a shock—but, they it wasn't like they felt bad or anything. Just, possibly, an annoyance for lying down or a lot of other situations...

"Aa~aah..!" Now Kaden's body remembered it was supposed to have a figure. Her arms went limp, dropping back to her sides, and her hips squirmed around as she suddenly felt her chest tingle and push out all at once, growing into a small pair of breasts in only a second or two. This motion of her lower body seemed to cause it to grow too, albeit more slowly—her butt and hips and thighs all puffing out together to help form the lower third of a womanly figure alongside her slender waist and growing bust. "Ooh, mnnn~Nnngh..!" A wave of muscle tensing ran down from the bases of her new horns across her body, and she felt everything burn like a good workout all over again, even as her chest pushed itself out much harder as if in reply. Both of these sensations seemed to contribute to a resurgence and immediate intensifying of the girly feelings she'd had immediately after the change of sex, forcing out a series of pleased "Ooh", "Aa~ah," "Mn~Nnh", and "Aa~aahnn..!" noises in between her gasps for air.

The horned girl steadily grew curvier and stronger, one wave after another; her breasts eagerly grew bigger, faster, every time, but still failed to satisfy the enormous size of the bra still hanging loosely in front of it. It felt like an hour of burning, tensing and relaxing, pushing and panting and crying out until finally Kaden's already-large breasts pushed themselves out to a positively huge size, filling and abruptly stretching the bra and top tight and forcing a particularly long and high "Aa~AAaahhnn..!" out of her mouth in response to a final, equally intense rush of pleasure downstairs.

It took Kaden a while to slowly, steadily catch her breath. Her body seemed to maintain the curious sensation of being hot yet not uncomfortable, not quite to the degree it had during the change but seemingly ready to amp up to that level at any time on-demand. While her conscious mind slowly returned to a level of basic functionality, she observed the enormous size of her new rack, how it seemed to have actually pulled the shirt's hem up halfway off of her belly—while her hips had grown enough to pull the top of the tight black short shorts her pants had became down just a little. "Uuh, whooa. That was uh.."

She stood up unsteadily and half-stumbled to the bathroom to get a better look. "W-wow.." Okay, take or leave the horns, but the girl in the mirror was definitely a 10. Maybe even a 10.5 or something...except, of course, it was her. Kaden ran her hands along the weird new horns once again, and then down into her hair, teasing it around a bit; a big smile was spreading on her lips the whole time. "M-man, this seems like it's gonna be a pain to maintain," she said to herself—but this argument wasn't convincing enough for her to actually want a haircut.

Her eyes had turned nearly the same brilliant shade of red as her hair; it was like her whole body was a brightly blazing flame. She licked her lips as she ran her hands down to the end of the slightly wild locks, still finding herself thirsty. Another glass of water sorta helped, but...still didn't feel very satisfying. Besides this strange urge to drink..something else, the new girl's mind turned unbidden to thinking of the race she'd lost earlier that day. Kaden had said he'd wanted a rematch because he wanted to see that girl—to see Layton again, and to hopefully guide her down the path of the joy of running—but all of a sudden she felt like she really wanted that rematch, specifically to prove that she could win.

She'd never felt so...competitive before; it was a little frightening to feel this unfamiliar emotion well up in her, but also...kind of exciting. The idea of competing with somebody else, especially someone who was good, with such a worthy opponent—even if she lost again, it sounded like a lot of fun!

At this point, for some reason she couldn't quite identify, it felt like she knew what it was she wanted to drink. It was a..very strange idea, all things considered, but the more she thought about it, the more correct it felt. There was just...well, at least one problem, if not several. But—then she had an idea, and hurried out of her room to go upstairs toward the high council's chambers. Hopefully this would pan out...

She almost bumped into Jeff on his way out of the stairwell, and quickly backed off by dancing backwards a few steps. "Aa-whoops, sorry brah."
"Uh..'sfine." He was looking her up and down briefly, not that she blamed him. It was almost a shame he was also gonna be a girl before tomorrow was out.
"Oh, yeah, I'm Kaden," she added. "I uh, lost a bet, sooo."
"What, you decided to take that stuff on a bet?" He wasn't as incredulous as Hollis had been, but at least his tone conveyed some strong disapproval of making the decision based on something so trivial.

"Hey, there was a hot girl involved. Like, break-the-scale hot. She said she'd go on a date with me if I won a race."
"And—what, you lost? Was it Hollis?"
"Nah, some..'Layton'?"
"Layton?!" It seemed like he recognized the name; he shook his head like someone whose entire world was busy collapsing around him.

"Anyway, you know if Tielo's up there?" Her craving wasn't going away anytime soon, without something to at least try to sate it.

"Uhh, yeah. He's—uh, she changed a little bit ago," he said. "Annnd, there's someone with her, so—knock."
"Sure, got it."

Upstairs, she went to Tielo's room and raised her hand to knock on the door. Then she lowered it again briefly, trying to identify the source and/or meaning of a faint sound her ears were picking up from inside. It was a very soft, but audible, chorus of churring—two voices, one high and the other low. After a moment she shrugged, deciding that it probably wasn't any of her business, and knocked—which instantly cut off that sound.

"Uhh." A high, cute girl's voice came from inside. "B-be right there in a sec!" She sounded kind of embarrassed. And, after some faintly-audible stumbling around and knocking at least one thing inside the room over, the door was opened to reveal a very short, light-brown-haired Kitsune girl. In the background there was another fox-girl, taller with blue hair/fur and much deeper curves, sitting up on the side of the bed facing the door. Both of them were blushing.

"H-hi there. I was just, teaching Mars here about being a Kitsune," the shorter girl explained in a slightly breathless voice that was both trying very hard, and very blatantly failing, to convey all the innocence in the world.

Kaden decided—for a second time—that this was not any of her business. "Soo, you're Tielo, then?"
"Yyyep!"
"And, Mars turned into a Kitsune." If there was anyone Kaden would've expected to be able to recognize as a girl, it was him. But his signature phone was nowhere in sight right now.

"Uh-huh."
"Bruh." She leaned down toward the shorter girl just slightly, conspiratorially. "You'll warn me if I need to flee the state, right?"
"Uh, h-heheh, sure." From the way Tielo was wringing her hands, her mind seemed mostly occupied by relief that the tall, horned woman wasn't questioning her earlier claim. "Soo, what do you need?" While Mars was still faintly blushing, she didn't actually look embarrassed, or even slightly nervous at all. But then, it wouldn't be easy to tell with him. Or...her. Her giant blue tail was, however, slowly swishing back and forth in the air behind her.

"Well, y'see I just suddenly grew these horns," she explained, pointing at one of them like it wasn't obvious. "Aand, now I've got a wicked craving for beer or something—even though I've never had alcohol in my life? I dunno how I even know that. Kaden, by the way," she added in a bit late. "Was, wondering if you've still got any of that fake-beer from our last 'hazing' lying around?"
"Ooh, uh, sure. It's in the store room over there—" she pointed—"I'll, get you a key." Tielo turned around and shuffled back to her desk, pulling open the drawer to retrieve said key. "But uh," she said, turning her head partway back toward the visitor while her hands dug for the item. "It looks to me like you've awakened as an Oni. If that's the case, I dunno if that stuff's gonna do it for you for long."

Kaden crossed her arms. "Well—thing is, I'm still kinda underage. And, not sure I wanna start drinking when I'm not anyway."

"Sure, sure. Look: What you need to do, is buy yourself some non-alcoholic sake."

She came back and offered Kaden the key. "Anyway, Oni always have a wicked high tolerance for the real hard stuff, so if you ever do feel like trying it out—be sure to announce to everyone present that you've never had a drink before, and then bet the whole tab that you can take more than they can. Trust me, it'll be hilarious. Actually—invite me along to watch, if you can."

"Uhh, sure, brah." Kaden took the key. "You just want me to slip this under the door when I'm done?" she offered.
"Yeah, that'd be really nice of you," she said, nodding eagerly.

"Thanks. See yah."

An 'Oni', huh? Kaden opened the door and looked around, seeming to identify the location of the fake beer on some kind of previously-unfelt instinct. Guess I've got some research to do. Although—whatever it was that she'd turned into, she already had some guesses as to what the 'instincts' it came with were. Fortunately, it didn't take too much of the stuff to slake the weird new craving she'd developed, and also fortunately, it actually tasted strangely good to her despite the fact that she knew the flavor would've been abhorrent before. The OZK was actually trying to get rid of the leftovers of this stuff, so she just appropriated an entire jug of it to take back to her room for when that peculiar thirst returned. Hopefully 'non-alcoholic sake' wasn't an expensive commodity...

It was about halfway down the stairs that the newly-awakened Oni realized just how much weight she was carrying like it was nothing. Sure, she'd always been in shape before, but core or lifting strength hadn't exactly been Kaden's main focus. Now, she could probably walk out to the gym right now and challenge some big, buff guy to a weight-lifting contest, and win. That'd be kinda fun, she thought, but—the rematch with Layton definitely came first.

The jug securely in place, she headed back to the hallway and tried to think of the best way to locate her target. Well—there was a certain pair of werewolves apparently standing/sitting out in the hall all day, so...

"Yoo. Kaden here."
"Oh, wow—an Oni, huh?"

"Thaat's what Tielo said."

"I've always wanted to arm wrestle an Oni!"
"Take ya on later, then."
"Hey, I know some talented bootleggers if you need any—"
"Noot interested right now, 'kay? Just lookin' for Layton. Tall, super long blond hair. Boobs at least as big as these?"
"Heh, yeah, you got that right."
"Lucky for you, she just went for lunch a little while ago. Might be finishing up now."
"Cool, thanks brah."

Layton was actually still eating, so Kaden just slid up next to/behind her. "Yoo, is this seat taken?"
"Wah!" She hadn't detected the redhead's approach. "U-uhm. I guess not?"

"Cool." Kaden sat next to her. "Soo, weird stuff happened. I grew horns," she said pointing.
"U-uh-huh?" The other girl headtilted, not understanding the context at first. "Oh wait...! Kaden?"

"You got it."
"Woow, you turned out so pretty~," she said, beaming.
"I totally did, brah..thanks." For the first time since the end of the transformation, the Oni's face felt warmer than usual. "I came looking for that rematch, but we oughta wait a bit after you eat, first."

"S-sure. I'll uh, see you out front i-in um, an hour?" she offered.
"Deal."

Kaden wandered the halls restlessly for a bit in the interim, watching people milling around. She had a chance to see Erwin's new, hot look—and also witness her more or less 'kindly guiding' someone toward taking the potion. There was a catgirl here, a foxgirl there—Kaden was far from the only person who went from 'full human' to 'not exactly', it seemed—but Rich hadn't done so. Mylar had turned female long ago, nearly completing the set of high council members, but Jeff, it seemed, was still a guy.

Finally, it was time. Now that they were both standing up, it was clear that Kaden's new height was just about equal to the blond bombshell's. There was something curiously satisfying about that, like it would make them more of an even match in a race or something. Or...maybe it was just a little part of her brain that wanted to hug her and see how certain things would feel squished together. They went out past the front of the house to the sidewalk. "Soo uh, do you want me to count off again?"
"You should prolly do some stretches first," Kaden said. "Here, I'll show ya." She not only demonstrated the proper pre-run regimen, but helped correct some of Layton's newbie mistakes, placing a hand on her limbs and gently guiding them to the right place. The other girl's face flushed with every slight physical contact, which was...really cute, honestly, but she wasn't so distracted that the lessons didn't take. Then they raced again, back to the spot where they'd first met.

Kaden won this time, just by a few strides. She was panting less than Layton afterward, too, likely another perk of 'Oni strength' or whatever. "L-let's go again!" the blonde girl said after recovering her breath, like a kid who wanted to play another game of tag.

The Oni girl nodded eagerly in response; she was there for it too."Yeah!" They went back and forth several times. As the Oni got used to running in this new body, she won by somewhat larger margins each time, but it was only because her rival didn't have the right technique. They'd have to work on that, she decided—but at least Layton was obviously having loads of fun, losing or not. She threw out a couple of pointers now and then, which were immediately taken to heart.

They called it after a while, and Kaden led the way on cooldown stretches. "Soo, you weren't athletic at all before?"
"Yeah, uh, no. I was really, kinda super small. It's hard to believe I can even do this now!"

"What's your major in, huh?"
"Um, m-music. But I've always been..really nervous in front of crowds. Or uh, like, people in general, heheh!"
"No way, brah. You gotta get out there and rock."
"H-heh, uhhm..I'll certainly try."

They went inside after that and hung out a while in the lounge, just...talking. Layton seemed like a pretty amazing person overall, just lacking some self-confidence. Kaden had the distinct urge to try and help her build self-esteem up to a level that matched her actual awesomeoness.

Eventually: "Hey uh..e-even though I won the bet, I kinda lost the other races. You, um, s-still wanna go out somewhere to eat?"

"Sure! We can go dutch if you like, or I don't mind buying."
"H-heheh, uhm, whichever you want..."

They stood up to go, and when they got out into the hallway Kaden boldly put her arm over the other girl's shoulder, making her flush adorably again. Well—it wasn't only her blushing, but the Oni girl didn't feel at all flustered by the contact. "Hey. You wouldn't be in the market for a roomie, would ya? My room's been lonely since last winter."
"Uhhhhh."
"Hahah! You don't gotta decide right now. Just thought I'd offer."
"U-um. Maybe, yeah. Th-thanks. I've, felt a little bad living on my own since I moved in here, with..e-everyone else only taking up 'half' a room. Buut, I didn't feel like anyone would wanna room with me, either."

"Well, hey, you can ditch that attitude." Kaden raised her hand to ruffle the top of the other girl's hair a bit. "Just remember I offered first when everyone else starts askin'."

Several steps later: "Uhm.."
"Yeah?"
"Yooou've still got your arm over me, huh?"
"Mm-hm. You gonna return the favor?"
"Eheh.." Layton slid a hand over around the redhead's waist for a few seconds, then withdrew it, her face reddening even more.
"Not bad~...we'll have to work our way up to more later, huh?"

"I-i-if you want!" she beamed happily.

Yeah...Kaden could definitely get used to this.