Yononaka no Okugi (Part 4)

Hitoshi seemed as if what she said to me was not enough to convey what she wants.

"Oh right. You are born after it happened, forgive me if you don't know what I'm talking about. Hmm... It's difficult to explain without you having already feeling it first hand, which you probably had not. Would it be okay for me to show you pictures of that time so you would know? I have to warn you that what you feel as a result from seeing it may not subside for years, and possibly affect how you would think", she said.

Since I am clueless, but curious, I agreed. It's a sacrifice and maybe a privilege that most post-evolution people would most likely not experience. She told me that they are in that small derelict building standing by itself at a corner that nobody ever goes near. I've seen this place from far, but have never gone up close because there was no reason to go there. Hitoshi talked to me as we head there.

"This open area are where are all the outdoor sports takes place. Sports used to be more popular, but the evolution has forced us to behave more feminine and only be able to wear the kind clothes we are wearing now. Take soccer or baseball for example..."

She pointed to the grassy field that has two identical white metal poles on opposite ends of it with a net at the back of it, and then points to a barren field that has some kind of base at the four corners of it and the middle.

"...how can we hit or kick the ball without being forced to act feminine? We can't hit with all the energy we got that way. I think we would even get scared to the point of closing our eyes or running away if a ball approaches us at high speed where we are supposed to catch it or send it elsewhere, or maybe not play at all because of being scared of getting dirty from the ground it is normally played on. And then there's the marshal arts, swimming, tennis and volleyball courts, along with the running tracks..."

She points to the edge of the sports hall located next to the field behind us, only part of the swimming pool is visible from where we are.

"...Those used to have their own dedicated and traditional uniforms, like white robes and a thick band around the waist that signifies rank for the former, and a swimsuit for the latter. Doing traditional arts or running while wearing our school uniform looks weird and not well suited for the intense physical activity. Had you noticed that physical education is missing in the curriculum?"

I don't know what physical education is, but I'm guessing that these sports-related places around the school are related.

"For swimming, we could still wear the swimsuits, but we have to wear our skirts over them. We aren't supposed to swim wearing that, but if we don't do so within a minute, it is seen as not wearing "proper" clothing and our previously worn acceptable clothing would reappear, which is worse for swimming than just the skirt alone. You do not want to swim with the usual clothes on since clothes absorbs the water and sticks to our body."

She made it sound as if clothes were something that wasn't part of our body, but more of something to cover yourself in. I was born with my school uniform on, so I thought this was normal, but apparently the world and time I was born isn't how it usually was.

"With these odd restrictions relating to what we are forced to wear or behave today, it's impossible to play sports like what it was in the past, which, even back then, isn't really popular among females. It's a sad fate to see the world of sports to die out like this. Ah, here we are."

This is the first time I have been up close to this building that I normally see only from a distance. It appears that this building was home to several clubs, with clubs that uses the nearby fields taking up some adjacent rooms. Hitoshi opened up one of the doors for the baseball club using a key. Where did she get the key from? Well, she's with the student council after all.

"I have to warn you that you might see photos of males in here. After all, sports was common among them. Now, where is that switch for the lights?"

The room was dark and stuffy when we entered before she turned the lights on. There are windows, but partly obstructed by things around it. I have never seen a messy room like this before. Then I noticed something by the wall: looks like clothes, but not the kind you see people wearing, and mostly white. Several of them too, and they don't look clean.

"Ah, these were the uniforms of the baseball team, and yes, the lower part is not the skirt that you are so familiar with. Try to wear this and you will see why I say we are forced to wear feminine clothes. People used to change clothes everyday, sometimes several times a day, though men have an easier time to change as... their chests are flat."

Her facial expression looks like she is being forced to fell happier than before we came here. Also, I never took off my clothes before, and I was born with my uniform already on. She showed me that I could start by unfastening the buttons and zippers on my clothes, but just as I was done with everything, my clothes came back on all fastened by themselves as if I had not started. I did not get to see what my body underneath my clothes looked like.

"There is a time limit to be able to have your clothes unfastened and removed, which started when you removed the first fastener, which was that first button you unfastened on your blouse. You took your time changing, so the time ran out by the time you were done. You have to take it off quicker than that and put on your new clothes within that time if you want to change, provided what you are changing to is within what we are allowed to wear. Well, try wearing these uniforms over your clothes and see what happens when you try to wear what is not allowed to be worn these days. You don't see people selling these any more because no one could wear them. The effect is the same whether you took your existing clothes off or just wore over it. Men's sizes are larger than women's, so you should be able to put them on, even if they may be too loose for your body."

I didn't know there were people who wore clothes that were a lot larger than my size as everyone is about the same size as me. Well, there are people larger than me, but not to the extreme of the size of these loose clothes I'm wearing. Also, the lower half of these clothes are pushing my skirt inward, and the buttons for the upper half are on the opposite side. I am so not used to wearing anything besides socks or stockings that covers my legs that isn't tight, or wore anything that isn't a skirt on the outside.

"You are lucky that our skirts being designed to flutter in the wind, which also means that, by design, you can put those pants on. You wouldn't be able to if the skirt wraps tightly around our legs."

This unfamiliar feeling didn't last long as they are magically forced out of me not long afterwards. The upper part scattered all over the room through my arms, and I actually fell onto the floor as the lower half gets magically blasted out through my legs.

It was at this moment that I saw an image of something attached to the ceiling. It looked liked a large group of people, but these people are different from anyone I have ever seen. Somehow, the sight of them had me feeling some kind of happiness that I never felt before, and a weird feeling around my hips.

"Um, Maeda-san? Why is your face... OH NO! CLOSE YOUR EYES NOW! Ha... ha... ha..."

Huh? What is wrong with seeing that? Why did she made a strange sound after shouting at me? She seemed to be struggling inside her, while I continue to feel more pleased the more I look at that image, the kind that I never felt before.

Hitoshi noticed that I wasn't closing my eyes or looking away. Despite the internal struggle within herself, she is somehow desperate to stop me from looking at what I'm seeing and... this is the first time anyone has hit me with force, and it's painful. It feels weird to have both painful and pleasing feelings at the same time, neither of which are in my control.

"Sorry about that... What we just saw were images of men... Nobody usually decorates the ceiling, so I did not look at the ceiling when I inspected the room... I think you saw it for longer than me..."

It's difficult to think with the non-stop new feeling in me, but I struggled to ask her how to undo it.

"I'm sorry, but only way I know is to be reborn, which, for our current biological age, is decades from now. There is an acupuncture-like therapy to undo this, but it is difficult to get to."

She led me out of the room before we saw more men. There was a mirror hanging just next to the door at the corridor.

"Your face tells me that you are feeling more aroused than I though you are. Did you see pictures of men before today?"

Thinking back, I did saw people that looked like what I saw in the old magazines at home. Her reaction to me saying this was mixed. Sorry, I was born after mankind has evolved, so I don't know what is normal, and what isn't, as well as what I shouldn't be seeing.

Chapter 2

Part 3 | Part 5