Kamon [Arc 18]

[ARC 18: KAMON]

For much time Serena had felt women around campus saw her as less than female, or as someone they needed to tolerate simply because of her mentor. She had never directly experienced it aside from a few stares, but she had read on some Urasaria fan-forum her moniker as the *transgender student* and disliked it, even when it was meant positively.

Soon she felt there would be no objective basis for any of these claims, however, and she could then step out of the realm of the shadowed.

On March 1st she had asked Naomi, Mia and Yuruko to come along with her to her trip to Thailand, as she has finished her payment a few days ago and booked her appointment with Kamon. Kamon was someone associated with Thailand's academy, who for $50,000 would use their Revenant on a host to change one's sex, and whose house Serena was knocking at some hours later.

"It isn't at a hospital?" said Mia.

"No, they just do it out of their house."

Serena shrugged, and soon Kamon answered the door. They were an androgynous person who had been born in Thailand, to parents who were Thai; subsequently so were they.

"Hi, I'm Serena Kunst." Serena smiled. "Um, U-Urasaria student, Miasma."

"Yes, I've been expecting you. Please, come in." Kamon led them inside to their living room. "My name is Kamon, and I assume these are... your friends?"

The others introduced themselves, and Yuruko as Serena's girlfriend.

"Um, so I tried to read up more before I got here, but what do you... do, exactly? The website said sex changes for hosts?" said Serena.

Kamon nodded. "That's correct, yes. In exchange for your fee, I offer the use of my Revenant - GCS - which, over the course of a few days, will change your biological sex to female. Your chromosomes, bone structure, everything."

"Will I still need to take hormones?" Serena felt a bit uncomfortable as she scratched her neck.

"You will not, no. It's something I've done for many years, alongside the Thai government and our local academy for students." They looked over the others. "If you would like, your friends may stay here until the procedure is finished. It... is going to hurt, unfortunately. Even for a host, it's quite painful. It won't change you instantly, like it does myself."

"Um, does it affect my Revenant at all?"

Kamon shook their head. "It does not. And as I suspect you'll ask next: yes, it will change your genitalia."

Serena felt uncomfortable how openly Kamon was discussing this, yet to say this would direct more attention to herself: so she said nothing of the sort. "Um, okay. When can we start?"

"Now, if you would like. I've already prepared a room and bed for you. But, before we do so, I should also note to your friends that -- I wouldn't advise looking into Serena's room while this change is occuring."

"Does it look weird?" said Yuruko.

"A bit, yes. And I assume Serena would prefer the rest of you wait until it's finished, as well."

"Um, yeah. I-I guess we should just start it." Serena nodded, and kissed Yuruko. "Love you."

"Love you too."

Serena went off with Kamon to the guest room, and they spoke privately for a bit. Eventually Kamon locked the door and came back alone, then led the others to their kitchen.

"Now, I was not sure if you had already ate on the flight over, but I've already prepared the meals for the next few days. Serena will need a week for the full effect."

Mia was confused. "I thought Serena just made--"

"She made the appointment a week ago." said Kamon.

Yuruko grinned as Mia looked to her.

"…she still procrastinates everything." mumbled Mia.

"But, I've already prepared some recipes for the week, although I will need one of you to go out and... shop for a few ingredients, eventually. While I was speaking with Serena, she made a request for some American comfort food." Kamon glanced over them and smiled a little. "As for the Thai food, I've made the spice levels to Western standards, and your cowardly taste."

With that the three decided they would stay with Kamon for Serena's sake, and over the next days, Kamon would check in on Serena and give the others updates on her changing voice, appearance; all slightly too public, as before. Mia asked that Kamon attempt to make her portion with Thailand's usual spice, and in her usual prank never revealed Worldwide's spice resistance.

This left Naomi to be the one shopping for ingredients at Thai grocery stores; largely similar to American ones insofar as structure, for there were only a few ways to arrange food.

Cart filled, she stepped up to the cashier. She glanced down at the list of phrases, and in the next instant -

- she heard a scream from the backs aisle that she didn't need to know Thai to understand, and she rushed out of the line & left her cart behind, making her badge prominent as she ran to the scream's source -

- and saw a half-corroded corpse clinging to the right shelf with a few boils bursting; she stepped to the side -

- just in time to avoid the geyser of pus shooting out and past her. She glanced back and stomped for a stone wall, and in to the barrier went the liquid, corroding a hole through, and as her eyes shot up -

- she swept back just in time to avoid the man she knew was her foe dropping out from the ceiling, body covered in green boils that burst as he hit the ground, sending geysers of pus towards her -

- and she swept to the side again as she started stepping back, twenty feet separating the two but knowing she couldn't get in close. She raised her stone-arm and a few stone bullets popped a few postules, and he started shambling towards her.

"Fuck." she muttered, relevantly, upping her backstep's pace, hands searching the wall for a fire alarm; she pulled it -

- and nodded as it filled the store; ahead, more boils flew towards her -

- but a stone hand burst out of the ground and grabbed them tight, corroding away once its sacrifice was done. No strategy yet but needing space, she rushed back through the evacuated store, making sure he was following her as she came to the entrance and glanced back. More boils flew towards her, but she had a good set of legs from dancing and got her feet away from them.

Once he was thirty feet away from her, she backed out of the store & stomped for a stone wall at her left -

- and rushed down the sidewalk right, eyes turning back with a powerline overhead -

- and she ran in to a black-haired woman, menagerie of metal jewelry jingling around her wrists&neck as the two fell back.

"Chokchai!" shouted the woman, shooting to her feet -

" - Urasaria!" shouted Naomi, and with a quick nod, the woman pulled her up. A gesture from Naomi, and the two started back and away, eyes sharp ahead for their foe shambling out of the store.

"P̄hī kr- ka?" said the woman, gesturing to Naomi.

"Uh, pie?" said Naomi. "Um, wait." The stone woman held her stone arm out. A stone bullet erupted out; she stomped for an ankle-high wall. "Ah-vah-lanch. Ah-vah-lanch?"

The woman stared at her.

"Stone? Stone arm?" Naomi waved her left stone arm. "Stone?"

"I can speak English, you know."

"O-Oh."

"Ka."

A dozen boils shot towards the woman -

" - Rong Fịf̂ā!" shouted the woman, and in the next instant -

- she disappeared with nothing left but her jewelry, vibrating slightly as it hit the ground. Naomi frowned, no clue what the hell her Revenant was. She saw their foe ahead and noticed his boils weren't regenerating; cautiously, she stomped down -

- and a spiked stonefist burst out of the ground & popped his backne like a sheet of bubbles; at her side, an arc of blue lightning shot between the woman's jewelry and the powerline, and as another boiled volley flew towards Naomi -

- a dozen bolts of blue lightning burst out of the line & popped them alive; Naomi staggered back just in time to avoid the poisonous cloud, coughing as the woman dropped out of the powerline behind him -

- and one blue-lightning fist to the back threw him to the ground, boils disappearing as he fell unconscious. Naomi nodded and smiled, but felt awkward to see her already on her tablet.

"…uh. All good?" she chimed.

The woman nodded, eyes not rising. "Yes."

Comprehending absolutely none of it, Naomi nodded, went back to her cart, then brought the ingredients back home to Kamon to make Serena's comfort food of biscuits & gravy.

"Yeah, I actually ran into a Thai student. Kamon, would you know them?"

"Were they male or female?"

"Female. She was, um… long black hair, jewelry..."

"…oh, is she still wearing all of those necklaces?" Kamon sighed. "Yes, I know her. She's come to see me before, but I told her that women don't dress like that. It makes her look cartoonish."

Naomi shrugged. "Um, she was wearing some, yeah, but she has an electrical Revenant, so."

"Is she the only other trans student?" said Yuruko.

"That has come to see me, yes. I would have introduced her to Serena, but she refuses to speak to me."

"Er, can I ask you something?" said Mia. "Does the government only hire you for transgender students?"

Kamon shook their head. "No. In fact, I am usually asked to disguise government employees, or change the sex of certain criminals they deem an escape risk - in case one finds me again and attempts to use my Revenant for the same disguise. But, the government decided that it would also be useful for me to treat transgenderism, and that they could offer my services for the fee that Serena paid. Of course, I see very little of that - most of it goes to the government and into students' salaries."

"You know, I have to ask, but um… you mentioned you can use it on yourself, right? What's it like being able to change like that?" said Naomi. "Do you feel more male or female?"

Kamon shrugged. "I don't feel any particular direction on that. In some ways, it lets me hear how men talk around other men and how women talk around other women. This may be offensive to Westerners and your numerous theories of gender & sex, but I've found very little that differentiates the two. Perhaps some of that is my being a host, but I find the sexes to be very similar in their hypocrisy. They both complain of the same things and accuse the other sex of unfairness before acting similarly themselves. I understand why you may find the topic interesting, but it's rather boring. These sexual theories almost always lead to narcissism, in my opinion, like the Indian saint always contemplating his navel."

"I suppose we are in a... different country." nodded Mia.

"But, for something more interesting, there was a woman, recently, who the academy brought to me. She was deemed an escape risk even if her Revenant were removed, so they had brought her here, had me begin the process, then imprisoned her. If she were to escape again, the government then had both of her sexes on file. I asked that they bring her -- or him -- to me once it was done. She seemed very stressed. Frightened, almost, in my brief conversation with her."

"Did they have you change her back?"

"I offered. but the academy refused. They thought it would be a particularly cruel punishment for her. Yet, I can't be certain why it seemed to terrify her beyond the normal... I felt it was as if she was very accustomed to gauging herself by the eyes of another. And, given what I knew about her, she was so internally muted that by my upending her exterior, her sense of position in life -- it was very frightening, as if it meant she was but a shell."

A few days later, Kamon knocked at Serena's door a few times, then entered with the others. Serena was laying in bed. Her cheeks were softer, shoulders narrower, hips wider, eyes closed, hair messier.

"…wait, did she get shorter?" said Yuruko.

"It is possible." said Kamon.

"She's gonna be like, dwarf-sized now." laughed Naomi.

"I guess she didn't have that many inches to lose." muttered Yuruko.

"She's always been short, yes." nodded Mia, not catching it. "Er, is she still sleeping?"

Serena swayed a bit in her sleep, opened her eyes, and soon sat up. "…umm, just was napping." Her voice had changed.

Yuruko formed a mirror and handed it to Serena, who checked her new appearance and smiled. She was happy with her new look, her new voice, and her genital dysphoria was gone. She rubbed her head. "Um, I'm gonna need a new haircut, though."

Mia nodded. "We'll get one once we're back in the US."

"Yeah, to fit your new face." Yuruko smiled.

"Hey, maybe you could get a haircut like Rhea Ripley?" said Naomi. "She's this wrestler some guy I know is super in to."

"Isn't wrestling fake?" said Mia.

Naomi shrugged. "I guess, but the guys are hot, so I like it."

Mia realized this was likely the only time in three years she was the sole lesbian in a room, and grimaced. As Serena tried to get up, Yuruko helped her out of bed, and Kamon asked if she wanted lunch before leaving. Serena declined with some animosity of unknown provenance, and said she would leave now.

The four did so and stopped at a diner two hours before their flight, and generally gushed over Serena's new appearance, how she would need new clothes and such. Sometime through, Naomi's elbow prodded Serena. "Serena, look."

"What?"

"See the person getting up? She's this trans student I ran in to yesterday."

Mia glanced back, then to Serena. Serena disliked the idea that she automatically must have something in common with this student, so she was hesitant to approach her: though she did so. The student looked at Serena, her Urasaria badge, then smiled. They talked and decided to loop around the same street so Serena would not get lost, and found that they shared an interest in videogames & anime. Eventually, she pointed to Serena's badge and asked if she had gone clothes shopping yet.

"No, I was going to wait until I got back to the US." said Serena.

"That makes sense." she nodded. "I had mine, over a year ago, but I dress mostly similarly. With a little more confidence, but otherwise, not too masculine." She shrugged. "I just wouldn't want people to think I had wasted my money."

And they laughed over that, at least until they passed the diner again.

[END OF ARC: KAMON]