Chapter 1: Return to Everyday Life

◇ The Reason I Became a Girl

My name is Kisaragi Ikuto—just an ordinary high school boy... or at least, I was.

It’s in the past tense for a reason.

It all started with an accident during the school trip in the spring of my first year of high school.

I had gone out alone onto the observation deck of the overnight ferry to feel the night breeze when I accidentally slipped over the railing and fell into the sea.

The nighttime ocean was nothing but dark and cold—and with no way to resist the encroaching death, I lost consciousness.

When I came to, I was in an unfamiliar temple.

"Hero, please save us."

The one who spoke to me, completely unaware of what was going on, was a girl dressed in white robes like a priestess straight out of a video game.

With transparent silver hair and an ethereal aura, the girl gracefully dropped to both knees and knelt before me.

"I am Alicia, a shrine maiden who serves the spirit god Minstia."

According to the girl—Alicia—I had been on the verge of death from drowning when she summoned me to another world. And now, this world I’d been summoned to was facing the threat of human extinction at the hands of the Demon Lord.

Alicia asked me to defeat the Demon Lord. The reward: being sent back to my original world.

Had I not been summoned, I would’ve drowned—so I agreed to the deal.

I possessed a power that the people of this world did not.

—And now, a year has passed since I set out on a journey with Alicia.

After enduring countless hardships, we finally reached the Demon Lord’s castle and, after a fierce battle, defeated him at last.

But in the Demon Lord’s final counterattack, a massive hole was torn through my stomach—it was a mutual kill.

I stopped Alicia as she sobbed and tried to cast healing magic on me.

Healing magic isn’t omnipotent.

It was clear I was already beyond saving.

Of course, I felt regret.

Leaving behind my family and friends.

I wanted to at least say a proper goodbye.

And also—

“I’m so sorry, Ikuto-san. It’s all my fault…”

Clutching my hand tightly with both of hers, Alicia wept. I wanted to tell her she had nothing to apologize for.

But all that escaped my lips was dry air—no words, no meaning.

“You kept your promise to me, Ikuto-san… That’s why… now it’s my turn.”

As my vision darkened, I saw Alicia chanting a spell I had never seen before.

“I swear I’ll return you to your world. And for that, I’ll…”

Alicia’s face drew near—so close I could touch it.

Her face filled my vision, and then, something soft pressed against my lips.

『…Ah, yeah, she really is cute.』

That was the last thought I had in this world.

『—――—I—sa—Ik—san—Ikuto-san!』

A voice called out. A voice I’d grown entirely used to over the past year.

Not being a morning person, I’d often been woken like this by Alicia during our journey to defeat the Demon Lord.

If she knew I sometimes pretended to be asleep just to enjoy the sound of her calling my name, would she get mad?

『Ikuto-san, please wake up!』

“I’m up, Alicia…”

I felt something off about my own voice.

My joints ached as I moved my body.

I thought I’d gotten used to camping over the past year, but… did I sleep somewhere weird last night?

I tried to recall what happened yesterday.

—And then, in the next moment, it all came rushing back.

“The Demon Lord!?”

I bolted upright and looked around.

I was lying on what looked like a beach, with the ocean spreading out in front of me. There wasn’t a single person or monster in sight—let alone the Demon Lord.

『Ikuto-san, thank goodness…』

Alicia’s voice echoed inside my head.

Startled, I looked around again, but still, there was no one.

“Alicia…?”

Another feeling of wrongness.

Was my voice always this high?

And also—

I lower my gaze and look at my hands.

They aren’t the hands I’d used to grip a sword for the past year—knotted and rough—but delicate, pale, and small.

Feeling an unusual weight clinging to my head, I reach up and touch it. My fingers run through an unfamiliar mass of hair.

I pinch a lock of the silky strands and hold it before my eyes.

Translucent silver hair.

Just like... hers.

『Please remain calm. Your soul, Ikuto-san, is inside my body.』

“Um... Alicia? What are you talking about...?”

The voice that came from my mouth didn’t sound like mine.

『There was no other way. To save you, I had to use the distortion caused by the dimensional transfer to place your soul into my body...』

The truth hit so hard, I could only stand there, stunned, listening to Alicia’s words.

『...I’m sorry.』

Her apology finally snapped me back to my senses.

“No, I’m the one who should be sorry... I was so shocked I just blanked out.”

In any case, I needed to thank her first.

“Thanks, Alicia. For saving me when I was on the brink of death.”

『I’m sorry. This was the only way I could save you...』

“Don’t apologize, Alicia... Um, by the way, is there a way to change back?”

『There isn’t. Your original body had already ceased all life functions. Even if the wounds could’ve been healed, there’s no way to return your soul to it... and the Demon Lord’s castle where your body remains is now across a world divide.』

“So that means—”

I looked around once more.

There were no signs of people or monsters.

Fishing boats and coasters dotted the sea. Behind me stood a concrete seawall. Washed-up trash littered the beach—snack wrappers and plastic bags I recognized.

This was clearly a beach in Japan.

And I remembered this place.

It was a seaside resort about an hour’s walk from my house.

The wind still carried a bit of chill... If time flowed the same here as it did in the other world, it would be around spring, roughly a year later.

“I really made it back...”

To return to Japan alive—

That had been my sole wish for the past year. Knowing it had already come true left me feeling strangely deflated.

I hadn’t even fully grasped the fact that the final battle with the Demon Lord was over.

『I’m sorry. I couldn’t fulfill our promise any other way...』

“I told you, stop apologizing... More importantly, Alicia, what about you? Can you go back?”

『...I transferred your soul forcibly. So now, extracting only my soul from this body is impossible.』

“What!? Then you’ll be stuck like this forever? Why would you do something like that...”

『Returning you safely to Japan was my vow. You kept your promise to defeat the Demon Lord. So I had to keep my promise, too.』

“But still...”

Alicia was a shrine maiden who served a god in the other world, raised in a temple for all sixteen years of her life.

She was given the mission to journey with the hero from another world and defeat the Demon Lord. To fulfill that duty, she spent her childhood in relentless training.

After the battle ended and her mission was complete, she had said she wanted to try doing things she'd never had the chance to.

And yet...

『Don’t worry about me. More importantly, we should decide what to do next. Please tell me about your world, Ikuto-san.』

I still couldn’t accept it entirely, but she was right. I could talk to her properly once we’d settled down.

“...For now, let’s head to my house. It’s about an hour’s walk from here.”

『Understood!』

I was nervous about whether my family would believe that I was really Ikuto in this form.

In class, I had been the tallest boy. Now, I had Alicia’s small frame—so petite that I could easily pass for an elementary schooler, with silver hair to boot.

Alicia had said we were born on the same day, but no one would think we were the same age. “As a shrine maiden, my growth stopped due to a contract with the gods,” she had told me—but whether that was true or not, I had no way to verify.

“...Well, we’ll figure it out somehow.”

The years I’d spent with my family weren’t for nothing.

I had countless memories only I would know. Sure, questions like how to explain this to others or what to do about my family registry flashed through my mind, but I pushed them aside for now.

“I wonder if everyone’s doing okay...?”

First, I wanted to see my family.

Their faces—my parents, my little sister—floated through my mind.

And so, I started walking toward the home I was meant to return to.

—After a journey through another world that had lasted nearly a year.