Chapter 9: If you combine older brother and older sister, you get Oni-chan.

‘What did I just hear? She liked me? Who? Me? Who? …Her?’

Jinha was momentarily stunned by the confession.

‘What did I just say? I liked him? Who? Me? Whom? …Oppa?’

Hyoin, who had blurted out the words, was equally flustered.

But once Hyoin got started, she didn’t hit the brakes.

Taking advantage of her inebriation, she poured out all the words she had been holding back.

“I felt… reassured. I liked how you took care of me without seeming to care, I thought it was cool how you immersed yourself in your research, and when you fought with the professor, it was like something out of a movie… Ugh, really! What am I even saying…”

Before Jinha could even respond, Hyoin’s eyes welled up with tears.

“Anyway, thanks to oppa, I was able to endure graduate school… but you suddenly left, and when I finally worked up the courage to visit you… oppa became unnie…”

“I-I’m sorry.”

“Ha! I said it was like a movie, and then something like a movie really happened… sob!”

Hyoin eventually burst into tears.

Tears streamed down her flushed cheeks.

“Hey, why are you crying… I said I’m sorry.”

Jinha hurriedly pulled out some tissues and handed them to Hyoin.

“Hic! I-I’m okay… But I’m not blaming you, unnie. I’m sorry. For getting drunk and crying like this…”

Hyoin sniffled and mumbled with tears all over her face.

“It just… doesn’t make sense. Waking up and becoming a woman… But on the other hand, there’s a silver lining… Ah, really. Why am I like this. I don’t even know what I’m saying…”

While expressing her disappointment, she also thought to herself that this situation wasn’t so bad after all.

Because Jinha became a woman, she could pour out her heart freely.

“Still… it feels better to say all this. Hehe.”

Jinha silently looked at Hyoin, then quietly sat down next to her.

Shoulder to shoulder, he gently patted her back.

It was a kind of physical contact he wouldn’t have been able to do if he wasn’t drunk, or rather, if he hadn’t become a woman.

“Honestly… I don’t know what to say. I’m not good with words… and I didn’t even realize you were having a hard time.”

He couldn’t tell her to endure it, since he himself couldn’t and left.

His bank account and wallet were too light to talk about hope for the future.

And if he were to give advice as a woman, he felt like he should be the one listening. Considering the time they’ve lived as women, Hyoin was far ahead of him.

But this incompetent senior.

Still.

“I’m not good with words, but I’m good at listening. Come visit often. And if you have something to say, just let it all out.”

“Then can I live with you, unnie?”

“W-wouldn’t it be too cramped for two people?”

“Ahaha. I’m just kidding.”

The two clinked their glasses again.

By the time the alcohol was running low, the tears had also subsided. Only the sound of sniffling remained in the room.

It was already late into the night.

The air coming in through the crack in the window was cold.

But one side of their hearts felt strangely warm.

Hyoin wiped her runny nose and lowered her head in embarrassment.

“Ugh… I’m sorry. I just ended up complaining about my situation… when you must be having a hard time too, unnie.”

Jinha poured cold water into a new cup and handed it to Hyoin.

“It’s okay. It was nice to talk to someone after a long time. So, are you feeling better now?”

“Honestly… I don’t know if I should keep going down this path. But.”

Hyoin gulped down the water and let out a languid sigh before continuing.

“If unnie cheers me on one more time, I think I can gain a little more strength.”

Jinha looked at Hyoin silently, then smiled softly.

“You’re doing well. Much better than you think.”

At those words, tears streamed down Hyoin’s face again.

But the tears were much clearer than before.

‘Ah, this is why I liked Jinha oppa.’

Hyoin stared at Jinha, who was sitting next to her.

The way he yawned with a drowsy, languid expression was strangely alluring.

“Hwaaam… Hmm? Why, is there something on my face?”

Hyoin’s gaze slowly moved downwards.

The deep valley visible through the loose neckline of the T-shirt caught her eye.

Those breasts were, no matter how she thought about it, unfair.

“Hyaaak?!”

Out of spite, Hyoin poked Jinha’s side with her index finger.

“Hey, y-you… what are you doing?!”

“…Hmph. It just made me feel bad to look at it.”

“If you have a complaint, use your words!”

“I was just a little drunk. Okay?”

“Then brush your teeth and go to sleep, you drunkard!”

“I’m too lazy, I’ll just sleep~”

Hyoin stumbled and lay down on the floor with her back against it.

“Ah~ Just thinking about going to the lab after waking up gives me a headache.”

“That’s because of the alcohol. I’ll set up a blanket for you, so just sleep.”

Jinha moved the table aside and cleaned up the empty bottles and food containers.

“There’s no way I’d be hungover already. It’s definitely because of the lab.”

While Hyoin was making small complaints, she suddenly got up and fiddled with her phone.

“Tomorrow, no, I’m taking today off.”

“…Did our lab have such a thing as a day off?”

“Of course not. I’m just skipping.”

“I don’t know if the professor will take it out on you.”

“It’ll be fine for a day. And I already got scolded for leaving early today.”

She opened the messenger app, clicked on the profile saved as ‘Professor’, typed that she was too sick to go in and needed to take a day off, and then pressed send.

It was her first act of rebellion since entering graduate school.

“Well, you’ll handle it well. If you’re going to sleep, don’t sleep on the floor, I’ll set up a blanket for you so sleep there. You might get a crick in your neck.”

“What about unnie?”

“Well, I’ll just sleep with the chair reclined.”

“What? Don’t do that, let’s just sleep together. You’ll break your back.”

“Hey… no matter what, how can we sleep together?”

Even though he was a woman now, he was a man until recently.

Moreover, he was a virgin who had never had experience with women.

He didn’t mind himself, but sleeping with another woman, skin to skin? That was really difficult.

Honestly, it was already too much when he let Hyoin into his room and drank alcohol alone with her.

But Hyoin didn’t care about Jinha’s inner turmoil.

“Hmm~ Oni, are you embarrassed right now?”

“Hey, you… and what’s with Oni now?”

“Oppa and unnie. Combined, it’s Oni. How is it? Do you like it? Hehe.”

…This is why ordinary people are no good.

“…Do you even know what that means?”

“Why? Is it a bad word? Wait a minute. Let me ask ChatSam. Where is it… Ah, it’s Japanese for ogre… Huh? Older brother? Adding -chan at the end makes it Oni-chan…”

“St-stop…”

“Ah! I remember now! That time when you were watching anime in the lab, when it was playing on the speakers…”

“Kyaaaak!! N-no, yamero!!”

“That’s right! That was it! Oni-chan! Yamete!! Ahahaha~”

“Just kill me already…”

“Should I call you Oni-chan from now on? How about it?”

“…Just call me unnie. That’s socially correct.”

“Then it’s okay to sleep together, right? Since we’re both women.”

“…Yeah. Alright, alright.”

After মোটামুটি cleaning up, Jinha dragged the folded mattress from the corner.

“Hmm~”

Hyoin carefully watched Jinha as he bent down to unfold the mattress.

A loose track jacket and baggy dolphin shorts.

Since she wasn’t wearing a bra, it was clear that ‘that’ hidden by the dolphin shorts wasn’t very cute either.

Of course, Hyoin was also an engineering student, so she wasn’t very good at dressing up.

…But still, wasn’t that a bit too much? She had a face and body that could rival an actress!

“Unnie, do you have any plans for tomorrow? No, even if you do, if it’s not a big deal, cancel it and make some time.”

“Hmm? Why, what are you planning?”

“Let’s go shopping with me tomorrow. Let’s buy some women’s products, some clothes, and some underwear.”

Jinha blinked, holding the edge of the blanket. It took a while for his drunk brain to process Hyoin’s words.

Soon, Jinha’s face turned red.

“Wh-wha, whaaaat?!”

“You’ll have to live as a woman for a while, right? Maybe even forever. Then you’ll need those things.”

“Th-that’s true, but…”

He had thought about needing to buy women’s clothes, underwear, and other things someday.

Yeah, just thought about it.

But he kept putting it off because he was busy with day-to-day life and, of course, watching VTuber streams(?).

He didn’t go out much anyway, and he had plenty of oversized clothes. If he was really desperate, he planned to just order online.

…But now that Hyoin was here, it seemed like he couldn’t put it off any longer.

“But you know my financial situation is a bit… you know.”

“Ah, really! I’ll buy them. I just got paid, and I get an allowance, so I’m fine.”

“Hey, I can’t have my junior…”

“If it bothers you that much, think of it as a loan. Okay?”

Jinha silently nodded, knowing that Hyoin would drag him out at the crack of dawn if he refused.

“…Wow.”

In a dark room, Seo-ah stared at the computer screen, blinking in disbelief.

On the screen was a long paper written in English.

Amidst complex equations, an image of a 3D humanoid avatar with its arms outstretched caught her eye.

The avatar named ‘HANA’.

It was none other than the model used by the VTuber, Han Ari.

“This… I’ve stumbled upon something incredible?!”

Her hand holding the mouse trembled, and her heart began to race.

This was a completely unexpected find.

It started as a simple background check.

Who the hell is ‘jinha_na’?

Would they try to scam Autumn someday?

She searched the internet out of curiosity and concern.

…It definitely wasn’t out of spite because she got blocked after being called a scammer. Really.

jinha, Jinha, Na Jinha, jhna, hana, Hana. She searched for all plausible keywords.

But there were no significant results.

There was no obvious SNS account, and she couldn’t even find anyone using a similar nickname in online communities.

Thinking she had just wasted her time and deciding to search one last time before giving up, she opened an academic search site without much expectation.

She thought that if it was an alternate account created by a pro, there might be information in professional materials like research papers.

And there, Seo-ah finally found a paper.

An email address containing jinha_na was included in the author information.

And as an attachment, there was Han Ari’s model, ‘HANA’.

“Wait… this isn’t the time to be doing this?”

Seo-ah hurriedly picked up her smartphone and made a call.

“Hello, Manager-nim? It’s me. Winter of Seasons. I just sent you a link, can you check it out?”