From VTuber♂ to VTuber♀ - Chapter 1

January 2nd — Just when I thought I was finally getting my mind straight, everything instead went foggy.

I say I slept, but in reality, I didn’t get a wink of rest.
At first, I thought it was just a cold—maybe the flu at worst—but that idea quickly went out the window once the fever hit and the searing pain swept through my entire body.

It felt like every joint was being branded with a hot iron, and like someone was prying my bones apart just to rub salt inside.
My head was burning with fever, yet I was shivering all over, wrapped tightly in my blanket while cold sweat trickled down my body.

What the hell is this? Did I eat something bad?

With my brain half-melted, I tried to recall what I’d eaten yesterday, but there was nothing suspicious.
Am I dying from some rare disease or something?

I wasn’t even coughing, so maybe it wasn’t the flu after all…
They say when you’re in that much pain, it almost doesn’t feel like pain anymore.
It genuinely felt like someone was beating the crap out of me from the inside—and I kept wishing I could just die and be done with it.

Please stop, please stop, please stop, please stop—

“Ah… aaahhh…”

I couldn’t even tell if the sound coming out of my mouth was my own voice.
My throat, now completely hoarse, let out noises more animal than human.
I clawed at the sheets in agony, drifting in and out of consciousness as I cried and cried until there were no more tears left to cry.
It was only after what felt like an eternity of suffering that the pain finally began to subside.

And then…

“…Ah.”

When I came to, a ray of sunlight was peeking through the window.

Morning already.

I was supposed to go live the night before, but I’d spent nearly the entire day out of commission.

What are my viewers going to say…?

Grumbling to myself, I forced my creaking body to move.
First things first—call my manager—

Sssshk—

“…Huh?”

That thought evaporated the moment I saw something strange in my line of sight—something white, string-like.
What… is that?

I reached up and tugged on the white thread-like thing, and my head dipped forward with a flop.
The weight of my own head pulled me down, and I slammed face-first into the blanket with a wheeze—then immediately broke into a coughing fit.

“Cough, cough, cough cough cough!!!”

What the hell?! Seriously, what the hell is this?! Am I on some hidden camera show?!

Whimpering, I pushed myself up again—and sure enough, the same white stringy thing was still there.

Of course, I wasn’t stupid enough to tug on it again.
Instead, I turned my attention to the hand that had done the pulling.

In front of me was a hand far smaller and daintier than the one I was used to seeing—than the hand that should’ve been mine.

What… is this?

I raised my hand. The small, dainty hand followed.
I lowered my hand. The same small hand moved down with it.

“…A dream? Doesn’t feel like one…”

There’s no way my body would suddenly feel fine after being in that much pain.
It was still heavy, still sore—like the deep muscle ache you get after doing hard labor all day.
…Yeah, I remember. Back in the day, I used to do that kind of work just to survive.

Trying to escape reality with half-baked nostalgia, I lifted my right hand and touched my left.

Ugh, all sweaty. But still… soft.

It’s too vivid to be a dream.

[Incoming call! Incoming call! Incoming call! Incoming call…!!]

“! Whoa—!”

Even though it was the same ringtone as always, it felt absurdly loud today.
Not just the ringtone—the phone itself felt bigger too.

I struggled to lift what used to fit easily in one hand with both hands, groaning as I tapped at the screen.

Slide… slide… slide—ugh… There! Finally!

[HEY!!!! You didn’t answer your phone! I even came to your door and you didn’t respond! Do you have any idea how worried I was?! If something happens, you’re supposed to CALL! CALL ME!!!]

“…Uwah.”

The voice that burst out of the phone was full of fury and worry, so loud and sudden I dropped the phone in shock.

I-I’m sorry! I really messed up! I’m so sorry…

Even though it wasn’t on speaker mode, the volume was insane.
Yep. My manager was really pissed.

I hesitated to pick the phone back up, frozen with fear, until the voice on the other end grew even colder.

Pick up the phone. If you value your life.

[So, what the hell happened? Were you in an accident? Did you oversleep?]

“…Um, well.”

How was I supposed to explain this?

Now that I was a bit more lucid, I started to take in the situation.
The oversized T-shirt slipping off my shoulder. The white threads—no, hair—hanging in my field of vision. The tiny hands.

Anyone could tell this wasn’t normal.
The problem was, even knowing that, I had no idea how to explain it.

[Hey, what’s wrong with your voice?]

“Um, ah. Cough, cough cough! Cough cough cough! I-I think I caught a cold…”

The weak, high-pitched voice coming out of me sounded so unnatural, even to my own ears.

This… came out of my mouth?!

As my manager continued questioning me with suspicion, I scrambled to defend myself.

…Nope. This wasn’t going to work. I had no choice—I had to hang up.

I hadn’t even come to terms with my own condition yet. Trying to explain this now was impossible.
I needed to understand what the hell had happened to my body before I talked to anyone else.

“I-I’ll call you back later! Can you please just post an update saying I’m sick and couldn’t stream? I’m really sorry—I’ll be in touch!”

[HEY! HEY! If you hang up like this, I swear I’ll—]

Click.

I exhaled a long breath and tossed the phone onto the bed.
And then, of course, it immediately started ringing again.

That was terrifying.

I sheepishly pulled the blanket over the phone.
Sorry, manager, but I’m way too confused right now to deal with you on top of everything else.

Still sighing, I peeled the blanket off of me.
Even with the heating on, my sweat-drenched body was freezing.

I rubbed my arms to chase away the goosebumps and felt a little bit more alive.
My body still felt heavy and sore, but compared to how I felt when I was lying down—it was slightly better.

“Ahem, ahem. Ah. Ahhh. Ah.”

I tested my voice, curious how different it sounded now.
What came out was a miserably hoarse croak.

Yikes. No wonder my manager freaked out. That was rough.

I silently apologized to them in my heart.
Still… it’s not like I asked for this.

“Ugh… so cold.”

I felt like a newborn lamb.
Just pushing myself up off the floor was agony.

Maybe I wasn’t as recovered as I thought.
Getting up from lying down was one thing—standing up and staying upright was a whole other battle.

Even just trying to stay balanced made my legs tremble.

“First… the bathroom. And seriously, how small did I get?”

My T-shirt was practically falling off—that alone made it clear how much smaller my body had become.

But knowing and feeling it firsthand were two very different things.

The door handle, which used to be right at hand-level, now felt slightly lower than my line of sight.
I didn’t even have time to think “Wait, why is that down here?” before I reached out and felt the cold metal against my palm.

…Touching something cold seemed to help clear my head a bit.

“Ugh… cold.”

I pushed open the bathroom door and headed to the sink to look at myself in the mirror—but I couldn’t see over it.

My height had shrunk too much.

Sighing, I grabbed the bath stool and climbed up, grunting as I raised myself to the mirror.

And then I saw it—my changed face.

Wait… so this is me now?

The girl in the mirror widened her eyes—and I tilted my head to the side in sync.

My long white hair fell over my eyes, and I blinked.

“W-WHAAAHHHHHHH!!!”

No way. No way. NO WAY?!

Screaming, I jumped off the stool and shoved my hand between my legs.

That face! No matter how youthful it looked, I could still recognize that bone structure.
How did I not realize this until now?! Even if I was out of it, still—how—?!

—Ah.

“…It’s gone.”

I groped frantically, hoping maybe something was still there—but I found nothing.

There was no denying it anymore.

I woke up as a girl.

That was my reality now.