Chapter 2: Who are you?

I wasn’t the type to believe in an afterlife.

When humans die, they return to nothingness.

That was my worldview on death, and it remained so even in the moment I was dying.

“—Hey!”

So, realizing that I wasn’t dead came as a shock when I heard a familiar voice shaking me awake.

“—Wake up!”

As I barely regained consciousness, the first thing I noticed was the unpleasant dampness all over my body.

Ugh, what is this?

It seemed I had soiled myself during the seizure.

While it wasn’t a frequent occurrence, it wasn’t something that had never happened before, so I quickly accepted it.

…Though I did feel a surge of self-loathing.

“Hey, you!”

Finally, the owner of the voice that had been calling out to me entered my line of sight.

It was my mother.

‘Huh?’

But… for some reason, something seemed off about her.

Starting with her pale, ashen complexion, right down to the slight trembling in her fingertips.

‘What’s going on?’

Something felt strange.

And that feeling of unease peaked when the words that spilled out of my mother’s mouth hit me.

“Eugene, where’s my Eugene?”

What an odd thing to say.

Why was she looking for me… from me?

It felt like searching for your glasses while wearing them.

“What are you talking about?”

“Where’s Eugene?!”

My mother’s voice grew louder.

In her usual self, she would never act this way, so her sudden outburst made me flinch instinctively.

“Uh, Mom… what’s wrong? I’m right here.”

“…What?”

Her expression twisted in a way I couldn’t understand.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“…Stop joking around. Where’s Eugene? And who are you?! You’re even wearing Eugene’s clothes!”

“Wh-Who am I? I’m Eugene, of course—”

I was at a loss for words.

At first, I thought the strange feeling was just my imagination.

But seeing my mother’s bizarre and incomprehensible reaction, I couldn’t dismiss it so easily anymore.

“You must know where Eugene is, right? Tell me, now!”

It felt as though she was treating me like someone else entirely.

“Uh, w-what…?”

My gaze slowly shifted downward.

The liquid I thought was urine was actually a thick, black, and murky substance I couldn’t identify.

‘What’s this smell…?’

That wasn’t the only odd thing.

‘…Breasts?’

Reflecting off my black-stained T-shirt were unmistakably a woman’s features.

The shape was neither excessively large nor too small—it was beautiful.

For someone like me, already trapped in a shriveled, withered body, such a thing had no place.

Instinctively, my hand moved.

The lower half of my body felt empty.

What shouldn’t be there was there, and what should be there was missing.

“W-What?!”

In a panic, I grabbed the smartphone lying on the floor and used its screen to check my reflection.

Long, flowing silver hair.

An exotic yet distinctly Eastern face exuding a mysterious aura that was hard to describe.

How could one put into words the inexplicable atmosphere radiating from this face? But if I had to, I’d say…

Beautiful.

With my pitifully limited vocabulary, that was the only word I could use to describe it.

And the owner of that face was none other than me.

“…This can’t be real.”

Everything suddenly became clear.

I had become a woman.

“Are you finally ready to talk? Where is Eugene?”

My mother’s voice snapped me out of my daze and back to reality.

“Well, um, that is to say…”

“Tell me. Where is Eugene right now?”

Her voice had softened somewhat compared to before.

It seemed she realized that yelling wouldn’t solve the problem.

What should I say?

Even if I told her I was Eugene, there was no guarantee she would believe me.

I couldn’t even believe what was happening to me, so how could she, even as my mother?

The deliberation didn’t last long.

Regardless of whether she believed me or not, I had no reason to lie in the first place.

“…I’m Eugene.”

“What did you just say?”

Her softened voice regained its sharpness.

It was a side of my mother I had never seen before, as I’d always known her to be warm and devoted.

“I’m… your son, Eugene.”

They say blood is thicker than water.

But even my mother, who had been so devoted and steadfast by my side, doubted my identity, so profound was the change that had occurred.

‘Hmm.’

Then again, even I couldn’t believe what had happened to me. How could she, even as my mother, easily accept it?

And so… what followed was a conversation, or rather, an interrogation disguised as a dialogue.

“……”

It was a conversation that felt both long and short, depending on how you looked at it.

At first, my mother glared at me as if she were ready to kill me. But as my story continued, her expression turned increasingly bewildered.

“Are you really… Eugene?”

“I know it sounds impossible, but it’s true. I am Eugene.”

My mother was a former renowned news anchor, a so-called ‘educated’ woman.

In other words, she was a highly rational person—at least when it came to everything except the current situation.

Of course, it was impossible for her to believe such an absurd story, but despite that, her attitude remained uncertain.

“…Wait a moment.”

My mother said this and then opened a security app on her smartphone.

She was checking the security camera footage from the front door.

Her eyes, which had been trying to maintain calm, were trembling wildly.

As expected, there were no signs of anyone coming or going in the recorded footage.

Since the immobile “Eugene” couldn’t have exited through the window, my claim became even more plausible.

“Eugene…”

My mother dropped the smartphone, her face on the verge of tears.

“Is this really you…?”

Her trembling hands brushed against my face.

It was still the warm touch of her hand.

“What… what exactly happened?”

I wasn’t sure whether she was starting to believe me, or if she was half-resigned to an unbearable reality.

But what was clear was that, at least outwardly, my mother was beginning to listen to me.

“I don’t know either. There was a seizure… and when I woke up, this is what happened.”

“Is your body okay? Is there any pain?”

“…I think I’m fine.”

Now that I thought about it, it was strange.

What had happened to my body was far from ordinary.

It wasn’t just that my gender had changed—my entire body had transformed into someone almost completely different.

Despite such a huge change, I felt unusually fine.

‘…Wait.’

Suddenly, that thought occurred to me.

If my body had truly completely changed, perhaps the illness that had been tormenting me was gone too.

‘No, that can’t be true.’

I quickly dismissed the hypothesis that had arisen.

‘After all, the change in my body was caused by the seizure. The illness couldn’t have disappeared.’

When had it started?

I had become afraid to hope.

It was a type of victim mentality and defense mechanism born from everything I had tried to do being blocked by the harsh wall of reality.

‘Still… I have nothing to lose.’

Though I tried not to expect too much, in this moment, I couldn’t help but feel my heart race.

‘Don’t get your hopes up. Don’t get your hopes up. Don’t get your hopes up.’

As I repeated this to myself, I slowly placed my palm on the floor.

“Ha.”

I took a deep breath and slowly pushed my body up with my palm.

The expression on my mother’s face, as she watched me, became quite strange.

“Eugene…?”

Regardless of what my mother said or did, I focused all my attention.

How do I use my legs?

Is this how I do it?

It was as if I was entrusting my body to instinct, and I slowly rose to my feet.

Little by little, step by step.

Like a baby taking its first steps.

I took my first steps in life.

Thud!

Perhaps because the concept of walking was still unfamiliar to me, I couldn’t take more than a few steps before I fell.

But, I had definitely walked.

“Ah! Are you okay?”

My mother screamed, but I couldn’t hide my laughter.

“I… I walked.”

“…Huh?”

It was only then that my mother slowly realized what had happened, and her expression gradually stiffened.

“How… how did you…?”

For ordinary people with no disabilities, it would be strange to even feel discomfort.

But for me, it was a wish I had longed to fulfill, no matter the cost.

“I… I walked!”

The significant fact that I had become a woman had somehow completely faded from my mind.

What mattered now was that I had become able to walk.

I had become a woman.

No, I had gained a new life.