I Favor the Villainess 193

Crossing the Boundary of Gender

“…… Rei, where are we going?”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Just come with us without saying anything. Nothing bad is going to happen.”

It was two weeks after the trial had taken place.
Claire-sama and I were taking Joel to a certain place that we ended up finding out about together.

“Well, since I’m indebted to you, I’ll listen to you.”

Joel said with a weak smile on his face.
He―― No, she was probably referring to what happened at the trial.

“You’re not indebted to us. In the end, you’re still being sent back to Bauer.”
“That’s right. Even if we managed to clear your name, we’re sorry about the outcome, Joel.”

Claire-sama and I both spoke with a defeated tone in our voices.
It seemed that Claire-sama felt regretful over not being able to save our student.

“Don’t say that. I feel more refreshed than ever now. It was something that kept accumulating in me too.”

After saying so, Joel had a bitter smile on her face.

“So, could you tell me where we’re going?”
“Here.”
“It’s right here.”

We arrived at a clinic in a Spirit Church.

“What are we doing here?”
“Well, let’s go inside first.”
“Come with us.”

We pulled Joel by her hands towards the entrance.
This clinic was located in the Imperial capital city, Ruhm, and it was more spacious than the one that was attached to the Bauer Academy.
There were lots of people in the waiting room, waiting their turn to be seen for their wounds or illnesses.
The waiting room seemed to be well-kept and was quite clean.

“Hey, you’re here.”
“You’re late.”

The ones who greeted us were Yuu-sama and Misha.
Along with attending school as international students, they also provided their services to this clinic.
I was the one who asked them to come here today.

“Where is she?”
“Over here.”

When I asked her, Yuu-sama took the lead.
She guided me and took me through the clinic.
Yuu-sama came to a halt in front of a certain room.

“Yulia, may I come in?”
“…… Yes.”

After receiving a reply, we all went inside.
There was a familiar child laying in the bed.

“Yulia, how are you feeling?”
“……. I’m fine, Claire-sama.”

The patient was a girl named Yulia.
She was one of the children that Claire-sama and I see during our occasional visits to the monastery.
I wasn’t particularly attached to the kids, but from what I heard from Claire-sama, it seemed that back when the Pope and I swapped roles, she got along quite well with them.

“Who is this girl……?”

Joel asked, confused.
It seemed that she couldn’t make sense of the situation.

“She’s receiving treatment here for a certain illness. However, it’s a bit of a special disease. Rei specifically asked me if I had a patient with this illness.”
“An illness?”
“It’s the opposite-sex disease.”
“!”

When she heard the name, Joel seemed to understand what I was getting at right away.
That’s right.
I had been looking for a patient with the opposite-sex disease for Joel.
In the twenty-first-century, it was unethical for doctors to leak information about patients, but the rules were still lax in this world.
Although, I was a bit surprised to find out that Yulia had the opposite-sex disease.

“Rei, don’t tell me……?”
“Yep. Joel, do you want to try taking on the opposite-sex disease?”

You may have forgotten it by now, so I’ll explain it again.
The opposite-sex disease, as the name implies, is a disease that changes one’s sex into the opposite one.
At its core, the disease is a kind of curse, but I’ll spare the details for now.
For the average person, coming down with the disease would not be a laughing matter, but for Joel, who most likely wishes she had a feminine body, this is what I came up with.

“By the way, just because you have the opposite-sex disease doesn’t necessarily mean you will have an ideal feminine body. Especially since your original body is quite masculine, Joel.”

The reason why Yuu-sama’s case passed without a hitch was because her face was rather feminine to begin with and she was originally a woman.
Also, it should be noted that on days where there is a full moon, your body will be returned to its original state for a day.

“So if it’s alright with you, we’ll pass Yulia’s disease onto Joel.”
“Is…… Is that possible?”
“Yes.”
“As usual, I’m assuming I’m not allowed to ask you where you get your knowledge from, right, Rei?”
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t, Yuu-sama.”
“Anyway, what will you do, Joel?”

Joel looked like she was deep in thought.
As she mentioned back at the trial, Joel was born into a soldier’s household.
She was raised in hopes that she could become a soldier as well.
Although women could become soldiers, female bodies were generally and undeniably more at a disadvantage.
But even so, does she still want to change her body?

“…… Sure. Rather, please do it, Rei-sensei.”

Joel corrected her posture and bowed deeply.

“Got it. In that case, let’s get started.”

◆◇◆◇◆

In the end, Joel’s body successfully turned into a woman’s.

“…… I can’t believe I became so beautiful……”
“You’re absolutely right.”
“…… Stop it……”

We were on our way back from the clinic.
We were hastily returning to the Bauer dormitory together.

“It’s a different kind of beauty from mine, though.”
“Don’t just go ahead and call yourself beautiful, Yuu-sama.”

The one who rebuked Yuu-sama while giggling was none other than Misha.

“Joel, how do you feel about attaining the female body that you’ve been longing for?”
“…… Somehow, it feels like a dream. I’m still in disbelief.”

Joel gazed at her thin fingers like she hadn’t been brought back to reality yet.
But still, her expression has loosened a lot now.
Looking back on it, it’s nice that this world is full of such strange things like magic and curses.

When it came to gender dysphoria back in the world where I came from, changing genders was not something that could be accomplished easily.
Whether a man wanted to become a woman, or a woman wanted to become a man, it was rare for anybody to succeed in transitioning, so it was something that many people could do nothing about but cry themselves to sleep over it.
It’s a bit of a different story if you begin transitioning before the development of the secondary sex characteristics, but if you don’t―― and especially if those characteristics have already finished developing while you are still in your biological body―― no matter how much you try to change your sex, it’s nearly impossible to accomplish a full change.
When it came to my friend, Misaki, who was also suffering from gender dysphoria, he started his transition after his secondary sex characteristics finished developing, so his body was short and delicate, and his voice was not that low.
As a result, he became unable to develop communicate with people on an interpersonal level and the rest is as you know it.

Just so I don’t create any misunderstandings here, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t transition if you aren’t outwardly beautiful.
To begin with, I think society would be better off if people could live to happily and to their fullest extent regardless of appearances.
Well, that’s only natural.
However, beauty and ugliness will always exist and it strongly determines one’s quality of life as well.
I won’t say that attractive people always have it easy, and back on Earth, there are studies that show that during things like interviews, people are harshly evaluated based on their appearances.
But even so, when it comes to transitioning, it is necessary for those individuals to have a certain affinity for the gender they are transitioning into.
People cannot solely live on idealistic thoughts and lip service alone.

“…… It’s not like everything has become amazing now that I’m in a different world or anything, but I’m really grateful something like this exists here.”

It would be nice if Misaki, who had passed away, was also reincarnated into another world.

“Thank you, Rei-sensei. I will never forget this favor from you for the rest of my life.”
“You’re exaggerating. It wasn’t that much trouble for me. More importantly, you’ve got a long road ahead of you, Joel. Do your best.”
“Yeah. It’s a bit depressing thinking about how I’ll have to explain this to my parents, but I’ll come up with something.”

The wry smile on her face had become softer than before she transitioned.
Ahh, the body adapts so easily once it matches their gender.

“Oh right, Rei. I’ll give this to you.”
“?”

Yuu-sama handed something over to me.

“This is……”
“There are a lot of unforeseen circumstances that could happen after transitioning. If, on the off chance, something happens to Joel’s body, you can use this to break the opposite-sex curse.”

Yuu-sama gave me the Tears of the Moon.

“Is this really alright?”
“Of course. I’m familiar with the hardships that come with gender. I’m happy if I can at least be of some help.”

Yuu-sama said with a smile on her face.

“Thank you very much. I’ll look after this.”

By the time we got back to the Bauer dormitory, it had already gotten dark.
The sunset appeared to be especially beautiful today, and I’m sure it wasn’t just my imagination.

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