“Why is everyone coming along?” I looked around at the three people intent on escorting me.

They looked at each other and gave me a round of awkward smiles.

“Why not? The more the merrier, right?”

I frowned. Other than Troy, who had clearly been replaced by aliens, the two girls had also been acting pretty weird since yesterday. Being worried about me was one thing, but I had clearly told them I was fine several times. Couldn’t they just go back to acting normal?

There wasn’t much of a conversation going on… at least not with me. The trio had decided to position themselves behind me and furiously whisper to each other. This was getting really awkward. Why had they all come with me when they were leaving me out anyway?

When we got to the bridge, Miranda finally walked next to me and gave me a pained smile. “Hey… Cain…”

“It’s Aster,” I corrected her.

“W-what?” She looked bewildered.

Of course, when I looked like this, I was Aster, not Cain. After all, it would have been super awkward if I did somehow end up running into Iron Pack and my friends were calling me Cain. Yes, as much as it pained my manly soul, I had to get used to a female name.

The whispering behind me got more intense for some reason.

“Then… A-Aster…” She bit her lip. “How do you… feel right now?”

“I’m fine! I keep telling you guys! Sheesh!”

“No, I mean, how do you feel about looking like a girl.”

I shrugged. “Well, what can I do? I lost the bet, I have no choice.”

“So you don’t like it?”

“What? Well… I mean, I’m a guy, so dressing up as a girl is stupid. But like I said, it’s for the bet.” I waved her off.

Miranda backed off with that and rejoined their cult-like whispering session. But apparently, that was just phase one of this boss fight. Next up, Kelly walked up next to me.

“Hey… Aster, right?” She smiled.

“That’s me.” I nodded. I was getting very good at pretending to be a girl called Aster.

“About last night…” I pursed my lips. “Did she… say anything to you? The villain, I mean.”

“Well… Uh…” I remembered my brief conversation with Iron Pack and immediately felt my face grow hot. “She… did say some things… uh, said goodbye when she left… and stuff.”

Kelly’s smile didn’t waver. “Did she… say something bad? Threaten you?”

“What? No! Well, except that first time, but that was just an act for the heroes! She wasn’t… like… mean or anything… she was actually… kinda nice…” My voice grew weaker as I went on. I decided to look out at the river instead of Kelly’s face. Ah yes, water, an essential building block of life. I liked water, it was fabulous.

“Heeey, Cain! Buddy!” I felt an arm slither around my shoulders.

I scowled at the offender who had dared to interrupt my admiration of water.

“It’s Aster when I’m like this.” I pointed at myself.

“Look, it’s okay, man. This joke has gone on far enough. You don’t need to keep using a girl’s name on top of everything.”

“No, if you keep calling me Cain, then it won’t be complete! I won’t really be a girl called Aster that way!”

“Do you want to be a girl called Aster?” He gaped at me.

“Of course I do!” My brain immediately caught up with what I’d just said. “I, uh… that’s the point of the punishment game, isn’t it?! I have to pretend to be a girl! And the best way to do that is to become a girl! It’s what actors do. They don’t act their characters, they become their characters!”

I’d done it. I made my roomie speechless. That rarely happened. I must have really outdone myself this time.

The final phase of this boss fight was over and Troy descended back into the whispering crowd. After that, they stayed at the back and nobody approached to talk to me again. The rest of the walk was fairly peaceful. At least up until we got to the assigned selfie place.

‘No entry’ said the yellow tape surrounding the entire square. Apparently, someone had decided to tape off the crime scene. Or maybe they just needed to fix the damage done to the place and temporarily blocked it off. Either way… I still couldn’t take that selfie.

How unfortunate. It seemed like I would have to come back as Aster yet another time.

“Well, that’s that. Let’s go back then.” Troy let out a sigh of relief.

“Yeah, I guess I gotta come back later for that selfie.”

The trio of faces shifted into… despair? The heck? What was their problem?

“You’re actually enjoying this, aren’t you?” Miranda mumbled.

“What? Don’t be ridiculous! What kind of man would want to keep dressing up as a girl?” I rolled my eyes.

“Then… why do you keep using that feminine voice?”

That made me stop. Now that she mentioned it, since yesterday, I had only been using that feminine voice. I hadn’t even realized it.

“It’s, uh, all part of the act! Anyway, the last part was the convenience store, right? Gotta buy that milk.”

“Look, it’s fine. I’ll go get the milk, you can head home,” Troy added.

“No way! It was all part of the bet! I’m not gonna back out now!”

Troy closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then whispered, “Okay, let’s go buy that milk, then.”

I had never seen Troy so resigned to going to a grocery store with me to buy milk. Did he hate being with me now? What had I done to deserve this treatment?!

The grocery store was just around the corner. But the trio being with me turned it into a complete non-event. Troy grabbed the cart while the girls picked up everything from the shopping list. I felt like a little kid just following my parents around. I was just there, but I didn’t need to be. They didn’t even let me talk to the cashier.

I felt oddly disappointed by how anticlimactic it had been. By the time we returned to our place, I was back to the same level of grump I had in the morning. I ignored their invitation for lunch, heated up some leftover pizza from the fridge, and locked myself in my room.

I mulled over my situation and came up with a simple three-step battle plan.

Step one: Learn the intricacies of make-up using the knowledge Kelly had imparted unto me combined with some YouTube tutorials. I still had access to the make-up kit she’d used on me since it was unhygienic for people to share these.

Step two: Figure out how to put on the stupid bra without dislocating any of my joints.

And finally, step three: Study Iron Pack’s appearances, the locations, the direction in which she escaped, and so on. All to pinpoint her next possible target, or maybe even her secret base.

I nodded to myself with a smile. I could do this.

A knock on my door made me jump and slam my laptop shut. A second later, I looked at the door and took a deep breath. “What? I’m busy!”

“Hey, uh, Aster. Can I talk to you?” Miranda’s voice of all things came through the door.

I raised my eyebrow in suspicion, but my curiosity won over me and I got up from my seat before unlocking the door.

“Yeah?” I looked at the taller brunette.

“Say, Aster… Me and a few friends were planning a get-together next Saturday and I thought you might be interested to meet them.” She smiled.

Alright, now I was truly weirded out. Miranda was inviting me to meet her friends? Why? What were her motives?

“Me? Why? Do I even know any of them?”

“Well, no. But I thought you could get to know them. We’re, um, an LGBT friend group.”

I scowled. “I told you I’m not gay!”

“Not saying you are! I just thought it would be cool to introduce you.”

I continued eyeing her suspiciously.

“Not forcing you or anything. Your choice. Just… think about it, okay?”

“... alright? I’ll think about it.”

“Okay, good.” She smiled again. It felt so unnatural to see a friendly smile on her face instead of a vicious and predatory one.

“By the way… whenever you, uh, need help getting out of that… just call me. I’ll be hanging around.” She pointed at my padded chest.

I hadn’t changed from my Aster getup this whole time, I realized. “Uh, sure!” I slammed the door shut before she could see my cheeks growing hot.

Jeez, I’d completely forgotten. I was such a dumbass.

I dragged myself to my wardrobe and began undressing with a resigned sigh. But then I realized something peculiar. Even before I opened the door, Miranda had called me Aster instead of Cain.

Dang, she must have been pretty confused by this whole thing, huh?