Vol 1 Chapter 75 – IS【Vol 1 – Turning Point】

The week that followed truly felt like my daily life. Although, my “daily life” has changed drastically from what it was four months ago.

Singing practice in the morning, streaming in the afternoon, and Mama’s stream at night. Those were my days.

On that day, Hiro-Onii-chan called Mama’s phone.

After a word or two, Mama switched the call to speaker.

      ▷ “…Can you hear me?”

As always, a man of few words. But his voice is incredibly gentle.

“Yep!”

When I answered, Hiro-Onii-chan began to explain the reason for my short stature.

      ▷ “There was a chromosomal abnormality. Rin-kun, you’re intersex.”

“Intersex?”

I had no idea what that meant. Since a doctor was saying the word “sex,” I figured it was about my physical sex.

▷ “Rin-kun, you have female chromosomes. But for some reason, you were born as a male. Your body is male, so your growth spurt should have been around middle school. But since your chromosomes are female, it’s also possible your growth spurt could have occurred around elementary school. There are cases where both growth spurts happen and the person grows extremely large. However, in Rin-kun’s case, the result was that both growth spurts were suppressed. As a result, Rin-kun never experienced the dramatic increase in height that happens during a growth spurt. That’s why your body is small.”

I was confused. I mean, I’ve lived my whole life as a boy, and now it’s like I’m suddenly being told I was a girl.

My body is male, but my blueprint is female… that’s just strange. Then why was I born as a boy? That was my biggest question.

“Hiro-kun? So, are there any problems with Rin-kun’s health?”

For Mama, that seemed to be the most important thing. That I was healthy.

▷ “I don’t think so… I can’t say for certain until we do an MRI and confirm that a uterus hasn’t formed inside your body. But if there isn’t one, there’s no risk of menstrual blood accumulating inside you, so you’ll be fine. If there is, you might need to have vaginoplasty surgery and live as a woman. I’m sorry…”

That was a very difficult thing to hear. That there might be a place inside my body for nurturing a child. I had never imagined anything like that.

But…

“Why are you apologizing?”

Hiro-Onii-chan did nothing wrong. It’s just my body that’s strange.

▷ “If you have a uterus, there’s a high probability you don’t have a prostate. Your male functions will never develop. I’m sorry.”

Hiro-Onii-chan apologized again.

But if that was the case, I had no choice but to accept it. I thought that would be a little painful for me.

I want to be with Mama forever. But if I became a girl, I felt like the way Mama looked at me might change.

Still.

“It’s not Hiro-Onii-chan’s fault!”

That much was certain.

For me personally, my sex changing doesn’t hold that much meaning. I mean, I’ve been treated like a girl quite a lot recently. So I can easily accept that I might have to become a girl.

“Anyway, we’ll know once we get an MRI! You might be a girl… If you’re a girl, I’ll dress you in cute clothes and feed you lots of sweets. …Wait a minute? That’s no different from now?”

Those slightly ditzy words shattered my fear.

Because nothing would change from how things are now. My everyday clothes are gothic lolita, and I love sweets and am already fed plenty of them.

Maybe for me, right now, being a boy or a girl is nothing more than just another characteristic.

But, I’m still a little anxious, so I’ll ask one more time.

“Even if I’m a girl, will you let me stay here?”

“Of course! Whether my son becomes my daughter, Mama’s love won’t change!”

Once she declared that, there was no longer any reason for me to worry.

It might even be a given. Mama has many daughters and sons. And she loves them all dearly. It’s a deep affection, like a real mother would pour into her only child. And she gives that to, perhaps, all ten of them.

There’s no way a Mama like that would change her attitude just because my sex changed.

I was just being a little scared.

▷ “Come by anytime. We’ll do the MRI.”

“Okay! I’ll bring Rin-kun over again!”

▷ “I’m looking forward to it.”

And with that, the call ended.

By the way, now that I think about it, is it okay for a doctor at a hospital to give test results over the phone…? Because when you get test results, there’s a consultation. A consultation costs money.

That money isn’t being charged over the phone. Which means the hospital isn’t making more money.

I think that’s probably a bad thing.

“Hiro-kun seems to find his little brother cute.”

“Eh?”

“‘I’m looking forward to it.’ He never says things like that.”

I heard later that until I debuted, Hiro-Onii-chan was apparently the youngest brother of the Akihaba family. It seems that for him, that’s his way of doting on me.

But I’ve already grown to like Hiro-Onii-chan, too. I mean, he’s such a kind and intelligent adult. I think he’s really cool. Of course, the other Akihaba Onii-chans and Onee-chans are wonderful and cool, too. If I can grow up, I want to be like all of them.