Announcementcontent warning: dysphoria"What?!" I yelped again. "I can't be a girl! And there's no such thing as magic!"

  Harper shook his head, "I don't know man, that was totally a magical girl transformation sequence."

  "Holy shit he's right!" Ellie excimed. Then a smile formed on her face and she added, "I knew it! Magical Girls are real!"

  Her smile shifted into a sort of intense fanatical look that both Harper and I recognized as her conspiracy info-dump face.

  And sure enough she started expining, "Remember a couple months ago I was telling you two about that cover-up from the nineteen fifties? There was some kind of demonic energy rift in the middle of the pacific ocean! Some sources cimed the rift was caused by the Americans testing nukes out there, but others said the rift opened on its own and the so-called nuclear tests were actually attempts to stop the incursion!"

  "No-one says any of that stuff Ellie," Harper said as he rolled his eyes. "That's exactly the kind of conspiracy nonsense that -"

  She insisted, "It's true! Anyways forget about the nukes, that stopped after the Magical Girls got involved. That's where the whole genre comes from! It was real, and they fought back the monsters and saved the world! Then they all went into hiding and disappeared, right? That's why nobody's heard from any of them in like seventy years."

  "Ellie nobody's heard from them because they're not real," the tall blond stated. "The nuclear tests were just that, tests."

  "Uh guys?" I interrupted before their argument could go any further. "Sorry but I don't really care right now about stuff that might have happened seventy years ago. This is happening now, and I'm pretty sure it's real."

  They both turned to me, then both of them got to their feet and moved to stand next to me as they apologized.

  "Sorry Bke," Ellie apologized. "You're right."

  Harper nodded, "Yeah I'm sorry man."

  My eyes had gone wide again and I found myself looking up at them, as it finally dawned on me that in addition to becoming a very pink girly girl I'd also become noticeably shorter. Harper was always a few centimetres taller, but now he towered over me. And those broad shoulders and muscur arms left me feeling even smaller and maybe a little vulnerable. Meanwhile I used to be a dozen centimetres taller than Ellie, but now it felt like I was at least that much shorter than her.

  The two of them seemed to notice the height thing at the same time as me. Harper tilted his head slightly as he looked down at me, while another smile settled on Ellie's face.

  "Holy crap you're adorable," my best friend mumbled. "Sorry Bke, but you really are cute as heck."

  "Hey you should go have a look in the mirror or something," she added.

  Harper nodded, "Yeah! Unless that'd be too weird for you?"

  I gulped but nodded slowly. It felt like my heart rate spiked once more as I carefully made my way out of the living-room and into the hall washroom, then closed the door behind me. I turned on the light, and my eyes bulged slightly as I found myself staring at a short cute pink-haired girl in the bathroom mirror.

  "Holy crap," I mumbled to myself.

  My hair had turned bubblegum pink and now reached down past my shoulders in gentle waves. My hazel eyes had turned a bright emerald green. There was pink lipstick on my full wide lips. My skin was clear and fair and perfect. I looked about the same age as before, I was still eighteen, but now I was a cute girl instead of a bnd boring guy.

  That pink gold ring was still on my left pinkie finger, plus I now had two matching pink gold hoops hanging from my earlobes. My sleeveless faux-leather corset bustier thing was also pink. So was the pleated skirt that stopped above my knees. And my leather ankle-boots were pink too.

  It was a lot of pink.

  Even my cheeks turned pink, as I reached down and pulled up the front of my skirt to check one st detail. Sure enough, even my panties were pink. And from the contour and the way they hugged that part of my body, I knew the transformation was a hundred percent complete.

  I let the skirt drop back down as I looked up into the mirror again, and found one more surprise in my reflection. Somehow, for some reason, I was smiling.

  My smile faltered as I tried to understand why. I knew enough about trans stuff that I should have been freaking out. I should have been feeling dysphoria or whatever. I should have been repulsed by my reflection, and the incredibly girly clothes I was suddenly wearing. But I wasn't.

  Instead it slowly dawned on me that for the first time ever, I actually felt ok with what I saw in the mirror. Rather than shy away from my reflection and avert my eyes from the mirror, I found myself studying every little detail. The way my eyes sparkled when I smiled. How bright and perfect my teeth were. The way my cheeks puffed up when I pouted. How pyful I looked when I stuck out my tongue.

  "Bke?" Ellie's voice startled me, as did her knock at the bathroom door. "Are you ok in there? Me and Harper were just saying, there's bound to be a way to turn you back to normal. Magical Girl transformations can always be reversed, right?"

  There was a little lurch in my gut, and my smile instantly faded. She was right, I couldn't stay like this. It didn't matter what the ring made me look like, I wasn't really a girl. I was a guy, and I needed to turn back to my normal guy self.

  My shoulders slumped as I opened the door. My voice was quiet and kind of monotone as I told my friends, "Yeah I guess I'm ok. And you're right, I need to turn back to normal. Otherwise what would I tell my mom, or my sister? Or folks at work, and at school."

  As the three of us headed back to the living-room Harper said, "My bet is if you take off the ring that'll do it. You changed right after you put it on, so that's probably the key."

  "Maybe," Ellie added, but she didn't sound convinced. "I think there's something else, an intermediate step. The transformation didn't happen the instant you put on the ring. It started glowing first, remember?"

  "Yeah," I frowned as I looked down at my left hand.

  The ring wasn't glowing anymore, it was just a normal pink gold band. Harper's idea was the easiest to test though, so I reached up and took hold of it with the fingers of my right hand. And I tried to ignore the cold heavy feeling that settled in my gut like a block of ice as I gave the ring a little tug.

  It wouldn't budge.

  I pulled harder, but nothing. After a few more tries I shook my head, "It's stuck."

  "Try twisting it?" Ellie suggested.

  "Ok," I nodded as I gave it a turn.

  It wasn't easy, but I managed to turn the ring about a quarter of the way around before being temporarily blinded by another fsh of pink light. At the same time I suddenly realized I could feel my pants and hoodie were back. My gut still felt like it was full of icy lead though, and a loud sigh escaped before I could try and stifle it.

  "I guess -" I cut myself off as my eyes bulged wide again. My voice hadn't gone back to normal, and my heart was suddenly racing once more as I looked down again.

  This time there was no pink nail polish, but my hands and fingers were still delicate and feminine. And instead of a skimpy sexy pink outfit I was in my normal bck pants and hoodie. They were miles too big on me though, the pants felt like they were threatening to slide off and pool around my ankles while my hoodie reached my hips and the sleeves were bunched up around my wrists. The ring wasn't pink anymore either, it had changed to a shiny polished bck that actually fit in with the rest of my wardrobe.

  "Oh shit!" Ellie gasped. "You're still a girl!"

  Harper added, "But a normal girl now, not a magical girl."

  That weight in my gut was gone, repced by butterflies instead. I mumbled a quiet "Excuse me," then turned to head straight back to the washroom again to get another look in the mirror. Except I stumbled once again, and ended up leaving my big bck sneakers behind as they came right off my new smaller feet.

  I slipped off my loose socks too, then holding my pants up with one hand I hurried back out to the hall washroom. I didn't bother closing the door this time, I just flipped on the light then stared at my reflection.

  My hair was back to its normal messy light brown, and it stopped a few centimetres above my shoulders like usual. Same with my eyes, they were the normal hazel ones I always saw. My complexion was what I always had, but my face was different. Still recognizable, but undeniably feminine.

  My eyes were a slightly different shape, and despite being the same colour as before they seemed more alive now. Like there was a definite spark in them. And my lips were a little wider and a lot more full. They had a healthy colour to them, and the corners were starting to edge upwards into a tentative smile.

  I was still shorter than before, I was positive my height was the same as when I was all pink. Same with the rest of my body, from what I could tell under my normal clothes it seemed to be the same cute shape from when I was in the pink outfit. And going by how my face was sort of recognizable as a femme version of me, it made me think maybe this body was how I'd have turned out if I'd been born a girl. Or at least, this was the girl equivalent of my normal guy self.

  "Bke?" Ellie asked from the doorway. Her voice was kind of quiet and she looked uneasy as she asked, "Are you smiling?"

  "Of course not," I shook my head, then did my best to force my expression into something neutral. Or maybe a bit of a frown or whatever. My best friend wasn't so easily fooled though.

  "You were definitely smiling," she stated. She kept her voice down as she added, "Are you happy like this? Bke it's ok if you're trans, you know? You don't have to tell me if you're not ready yet, but I want you to know I'm your friend and I'll support you no matter what."

  This time I made a face as I shook my head again, "I'm not trans. I was just gd to see my hair and eyes were back to normal, along with my clothes. That was way too much pink, you know? Now we just have to figure out how to get the rest of me back to normal."

  She frowned at me for a couple more seconds, and I almost held my breath as I waited to see if she'd buy it or not.

  Then she finally nodded, "Ok. Well you could try taking the ring off again? Now that you've transformed into a non-magical-girl form?"

  "Right," I nodded. That icy weight was back in my gut once again as I reached up and gave the ring a tug. And once again the weight was repced by butterflies as I shook my head, "It still won't budge."

  After a little gulp I added, "What am I going to do? Amelia will be home soon, how do I expin this to her? And what do I tell mom tonight? Or work tomorrow?"

  Ellie shook her head, "I don't know yet. But we're not going to figure it out here in the bathroom, right?"

  "Right," I grimaced. I followed her back to the living-room, and as we all sat down on the sofa again I looked around and frowned. "Where'd the envelope go? That's probably the first thing right? Check the return address and find out where it came from, then maybe we can ask them about it?"

  Harper shook his head as he held up the little padded envelope, "Sorry Bke. There's no return address."

  "It hasn't even got any stamps or a postmark on it," Ellie added as she reached past me and took the envelope from him. "Check it out? No stamps, no courier sticker or barcode. Just a pin bnk padded envelope. You know what that means?"

  I sighed and reached over to pick up my soda can off the coffee table as I shook my head, "Not really? Apart from making it impossible to figure out who sent the ring."

  "It means they didn't send it," she stated. "Someone came here and dropped it in your mailbox by hand."

  Harper frowned, "Well that's creepy as heck."

  I stifled another sigh as I had a gulp of co before asking, "So what do we do? I can't stay like this right? I need to change back to normal before my sister gets home. Otherwise I'll have to hide in my bedroom or something."

  "And no matter what I need to be normal before tomorrow," I frowned. "There's no way I could hide this from my mom, or from work."

  Both my friends were staring at me again, but instead of looking shocked they almost looked sort of sad. I was about to ask why when Harper spoke up again.

  "Dude? I mean Bke? Are you sure you even want to change back? You don't sound very happy about the idea," he asked.

  That got my cheeks heating up again. After another gulp of co I grimaced then shrugged, "I'm a guy. I'm not a girl, I'm especially not a magical girl. Like I said to Ellie a couple minutes ago, this is better than before since all that pink's gone? And I kind of look a little like my real self? But nah. I'm a guy, I need to change back."

  My friends exchanged a look, and I could tell they didn't believe me. Then again I wasn't entirely sure I believed me. I didn't especially like being me, but I couldn't imagine trying to convince mom or my sister or my boss that I was actually a cute girl instead.

  "I don't know," Harper started to say, but I missed the rest of it as a wave of dizziness suddenly came over me.

  When it passed I found both my friends were staring at me once more, and both of them looked worried.

  "Bke are you ok?" Ellie asked. "How do you feel?"

  I blinked, "I'm -"

  As soon as I heard my normal guy voice I cut myself off again. Then a quick gnce downwards confirmed it, I was back in my normal guy body. Everything was back the way it should be, my clothes fit properly and I recognized my normal guy hands and my normal guy feet.

  I should have been relieved, I should have been happy. Instead that icy lead weight hit me in the gut like a sledgehammer.

  PurpleCatGirl