"So loads of physical enhancements," Ellie commented as she reviewed some of the videos she captured on her phone. "Strength and speed obviously, but I'm guessing there's other benefits too? Like endurance, since none of that seemed to tire you out. And durability?"

  "I mean most people would be injured just having a pick-up truck sit ontop of them," she continued, "You picked it up without breaking a sweat. Same with jumping out of the tree and the barn. Instant broken foot or ankle for most folks, but for you it was like stepping off a curb."

  "And the fact that you did all that in five-centimetre heels makes me think you also got a boost to your dexterity. Or grace or poise or whatever you want to call it," she stated.

  Then before popping a couple chips in her mouth my best friend added, "But we still didn't figure out any magical stuff."

  "No spear thingy either," Harper pointed out, while the tomboy was munching on her snacks.

  I frowned, "Yeah. Like I said before though, I didn't get any extra knowledge or whatever? No idea how to do magic, or the spear-axe thing. And no idea where that even is. Maybe it's not part of the package? You both know what the outfit looks like, there's definitely no pockets. Nowhere to hide instructions or a users manual."

  Ellie swallowed her chips then smirked at me, "I dunno cutie, you could probably tuck a little something down that bustier of yours. I don't suppose you've ever tried removing it? To check I mean, make sure there's no hidden pockets or anything on the inside?"

  "What about under the skirt?" she added with another smile. "That's another pce stuff could be hidden away, right?"

  By that point my cheeks were on fire again, and I kind of pulled my huge hoodie around me a little more so my small girl-me body was almost lost in it. Then after a gulp of my soda I mumbled, "There's no hidden pockets under the skirt. Or in the boots either. I checked st night."

  "I didn't look inside the bustier though," I added before either of them could comment on that. Then in an even quieter mumble I added, "The zipper's way at the back and it's impossible to reach."

  My friends exchanged a look and a grin, then Ellie suggested "Well next time you're in magical girl mode, maybe I can give you a hand with that? I might not wear girly clothes myself, but I know how they work."

  That didn't help the burning in my cheeks any, and also left me wondering if she was maybe suggesting something else entirely. Like maybe the rumours about her liking girls were true, and maybe she was actually into me. Or into girl-me that is. I knew she wasn't into real me.

  I ended up mumbling, "I don't know? I don't even know if there'll be another 'next time'. This was just more tests right?"

  "I guess we'll just have to wait and see how you feel about it ter?" she replied with a grin and a shrug.

  "Right," I sighed.

  It was about a quarter past ten and the three of us were back inside, hanging out in the living-room and streaming more anime on the big-screen TV. Although we weren't really watching the shows, that was more like background noise while the three of us kept talking about me and my magical girl stuff.

  I'd been back in non-magical girl-me mode for about ninety minutes now, and there was probably only a half hour left before that would come to an end. I was doing my best not to think about the time though, because whenever I did that lump of frozen lead would settle back down into my gut and leave me feeling miserable.

  So I avoided looking at the clock, I tried to avoid thinking about how little time was left before I'd be my real self again, and I especially didn't think about why the thought of returning to my real body made me feel so bad.

  Instead I tried to focus on the conversation, and did my best to just sort of enjoy myself while I could. I was sitting cross-legged on one end of the sofa, my legs were bare again because my pants were way too big for me. My feet were bare too, since my shoes and socks didn't fit either. I kept my underwear on, just barely. And my t-shirt too. Although undies and shirt were both completely hidden by my big bck hoodie.

  Ellie was to my left, rexing at the other end of the sofa. And Harper was on his dad's leather chair again, with the coffee table between him and us. We'd cleaned up the ptes from dinner, but there were still bowls of chips on the table, and we all had plenty of soda to drink.

  The three of us ended up going quiet again for a bit. My friends both seemed to focus on the TV, and I tried to do that too. Naturally they'd put on another Magical Girls thing, but I really couldn't get into it. Maybe because I hadn't paid attention to the beginning, so I had no idea what was going on or who they were fighting.

  After a few minutes I did pick up on a few obvious plot points though. Like the lead magical girl character had a crush on her best friend. Her best friend was oblivious though, and instead was crushing on the main character's magical girl persona. In fact most of the characters were girls, but there was one token guy who seemed to be the comic relief. He was depicted as awkward and clumsy, and clearly infatuated with all the other characters while being utterly outcssed by every one of them.

  Then just as I was finally starting to get a handle on the show, our host suddenly spoke up. Harper looked at me as he announced, "So it's half past ten, we've got about fifteen minutes left before you should turn back into a guy."

  That cold weight settled into my stomach again as I shrugged, "Ok. What about it?"

  "Is there anything else you wanted to do first?" he asked. "Anything you want to try?"

  My cheeks warmed up a bit as I tried to figure out if he was implying anything. In the end though I just shook my head, "Not really? I think I've already experienced enough girl stuff in the st couple hours, right?"

  Specifically I was thinking back to an hour earlier, when I had to visit the washroom. That hadn't happened during my time as a girl either yesterday afternoon or st night, and I actually hadn't even really thought about it until I suddenly had to go. And I wasn't sure if it was silly to make a big deal out of it or not, like obviously for half the popution it was entirely mundane and normal. But for guys like Harper and me, I assumed that sort of thing should have been really freaky. If nothing else, I thought it would have finally triggered some dysphoria in me. Instead it was literally no big deal, which is why I felt silly even mentioning it.

  "Are you going to be ok?" Ellie asked. She was staring at me with a little worried look on her face. "I know you don't like us asking about this stuff Bke, but you seemed happy and rexed and chill right up until Harper brought up turning back into a guy. Now you look and sound depressed again."

  I sighed, "What's it matter though? I'm a guy, or at least that's what I'm supposed to be. This isn't really me, we all know that. This is just... I don't know? Some kind of magical left-over. A glitch in the ring, probably. Odds are it was never supposed to be worn by a guy, right?"

  My best friend sighed, "Ok you can tell me to shut up at any point, but until you say that I need to call out a few things you just said."

  "First off, who says you're supposed to be a guy?" she asked. "If you're assuming that because of what it says on your birth certificate, then I've got news for you cutie. Not just me either, there's a hell of a lot of trans women out there who'd want to set you straight on that misconception."

  She continued before I could respond, "Next up, you're not fooling me and you aren't fooling Harper either. Maybe you're fooling yourself, but I'd like to think you're too smart for that. The bottom line is we can all see how being a girl makes you happy. It's in your smile, in your eyes, in the tone of your voice. Hell it's even in the way you walk and move. You were almost giddy when we started using she/her pronouns for you. Then it all comes crashing down as soon as anyone mentions you turning back to your AMAB body again."

  "And I know you keep referring to it as the 'real' you," she added in a soft compassionate tone, "But I think that's wrong. I think this is the real you. This is what makes you happiest, isn't it? You're really just hanging onto the idea of being a boy because you're scared of what'll happen if you let it go."

  "She's right Bke," Harper added quietly. "You said you need to be a guy because of your mom, or your sister. Or work, or school. What about you though? Do you want to be a guy because you like it better? Or is it because you feel obligated? Or like Ellie said, because you're scared?"

  By that point I was practically hugging myself inside my hoodie. My eyes were downcast and my heart was racing. I was positive my whole face was red, and I didn't know if it was from embarrassment or sadness.

  It took me a minute or two before I could find the words, then when I did respond it came out more like a half-whisper.

  "I don't know," I mumbled. I shrugged once and shook my head, "I guess you're right, that I'm scared? Like this is... It's magic. And we all know I can't stay this way forever, even if I wanted to. It's going to wear off any minute now. Then I'm back to my real- I mean, back to my normal self. Even if I could stay this way nobody would believe it. I couldn't go home looking like this, my mom wouldn't know me. Same with work, same with school."

  "Maybe not," Ellie replied. "But there's other options Bke. I mean like hormones and stuff? You can still be a girl in your original body, at least long enough to start setting things up. Like talk to your mom, maybe start the transition process? You can always use the magic to speed things along though."

  Then she added, "Put it this way? If it's two to one, just spend eight hours a day as a magical girl, then the other sixteen like this. You could be a magical girl overnight while you sleep, and normal cute girl Bke during the day."

  I was still staring down at the floor, but my eyes widened as I thought about that. There were some risks, like for one thing we didn't know yet if the ring had a cool-down period. Even if it didn't, there'd be a chance of the transformation wearing off unexpectedly and turning me back into a guy at the wrong time. But it was still a good idea. Especially if we figured out the exact timing, then I could just set reminders on my phone or whatever.

  "Bke?" Ellie asked after I'd been quiet a little too long. "What are you thinking? Like I said yesterday, if you're not ready to come out to us that's fine. And I guess if you want me to just shut up and never mention this stuff again, that's fair too. I'm sorry if I've upset you, sorry if I've pushed too far."

  It took me another minute or so before I finally responded. My voice came out in another quiet whisper though as I told them, "I'm not going to tell you to shut up Ellie. Or you either Harper. I'm gd you two are my friends, and I'm gd you're both looking out for me. And you're right, I guess I've been kind of trying to lie to myself? Or at least, I've been trying not to think about a lot of this stuff. Maybe I need to give up on that. I'll probably be thinking about it all day at work tomorrow, and maybe tomorrow night I'll do some research? Like into um, trans stuff I mean?"

  "For now though," I added softly, "Can we just sort of forget about it? Like we're supposed to be hanging out and having fun, not getting into all this deep identity stuff."

  Harper nodded, "Sure Bke. We're both here for you if you want to talk, but we're also here for you to hang out and chill."

  "Yeah," Ellie agreed.

  And just like that they let it go, and the three of us focused on the TV again. I nibbled on some cheesies and had another sip of my co, while my friends were both into the all-dressed chips.

  Then all too soon the timer on Harper's phone sounded, and both of them gnced at me while I cringed and waited for the dizziness.

  And waited.

  After what seemed like too long I finally frowned, "Maybe the timing's off? How long's it been?"

  "It's only been two extra minutes," Ellie replied. "That's like, margin of error stuff. Could be any second now though."

  "Sorry Bke," she added when I grimaced again.

  It felt like all three of us were almost holding our breaths as we waited, but after another ten minutes Harper spoke up. "Ok we're past that two to one thing. Something else is going on."

  By that point I didn't know whether to feel relieved or scared. I wasn't ready to confront those thoughts and feelings yet, and the whole situation left me anxious instead. I sighed, "Maybe all that testing was a bad idea? Like I said, we don't know anything about this stuff. We don't even know if it's safe."

  "Well don't panic," Ellie replied. "The two to one ratio thing was from a single test you did st night, right? Nobody was timing things yesterday afternoon, so we can't factor that in. We just have to wait and see how long it takes, then when you do turn back we can try and extrapote from there."

  I nodded slowly as I mumbled, "And in the meantime I get to be girl-me a little longer I guess."

  "Right," Harper smiled. "So just rex and try to enjoy yourself."

  That kind of worked ok, right up until about half past eleven when we all saw his parents pull up and park their new pick-up next to Harper's old truck. Suddenly I was faced with the prospect of his folks seeing me in my girl form as soon as they stepped through the door.

  And we only had about thirty seconds to prepare.

  PurpleCatGirl