Izei sits on the couch next to me, and I can tell he's back to stressing about being found out. During the hug, his sister looked surprised for a split second, but she immediately went back to normal... So I'm not sure what to think. Izei probably has a good reason to be panicking again.

While no one is looking at us, I place my hand over his, as a way to let him know that I'm still here for him. He furtively smiles at me before going back to focusing on what's going on in the room, and I retract my hand.

With everyone now having grabbed some appetizers, Izei's mom sits on the couch opposite to us and asks her son:

"So, Izei, what's up with your voice? You said you caught something, but it sounds pretty bad."

I feel him shuffle a bit before responding:

"Yeah, must be some kind of big cold. I feel better now, but my voice still sounds off."

His dad, with his usual tact, simply shouts:

"A cold? This late in spring!?"

"My body is a lot weaker because of my injuries! At least, I think... Anyway, my voice will recover eventually!"

Before anyone has time to respond, Izei enters a coughing fit. His mom rushes to the kitchen, where I hear her fill up a glass of water. She then comes back as fast as she can manage and hands it to Izei. While he's drinking, I decide to speak:

"Since Izei's throat seems to still be in rather bad shape, I think it'd be better if we avoided making him talk as much as possible."

This is a good opportunity to reduce the risk of him slipping up and talking without pushing his voice down, but I also think that trying so hard to sound like a man again is actually messing with his vocal cords. It's not like he had any time to safely practice making other voices before we came here.

Everyone in the room nods in agreement. The baby, now in their mother's arms, breaks the short silence by shouting something in a language only they know, prompting a new conversation to start about the many grandchildren in the family. Seeing everyone being distracted, I lean closer to Izei and whisper:

"Just let me know if there's anything you want to say, I'll speak for you."

In a weak and hoarse voice, he whispers back:

"Thanks. I really... need it."

I pat his back to encourage him, then focus back on the room. I don't really feel like I have much of a place here, so I just sit in silence, trying to pay attention to the conversation unfolding around us.

During the next hour, Izei's other two sisters get here. The second sister sends her two kids downstairs to go play with the others, and the youngest arrives alone. By talking a bit with them, and by relaying some of Izei's questions, I understand that the three older sisters have kids, but Izei and his younger sister don't. The brothers-in-law aren't here tonight for various reasons, but they're all doing well too.

We eventually move to the dining room, where a very long table awaits us. A smaller table was set in the living room for the children, with their moms staying close to the end of our table to keep an eye on them. I make sure to stay close to Izei as we pick our chairs, and we end up face-to-face with his parents. He won't be able to hide his face quite as well while eating, so I can only pray that nothing comes of this.

Ariciel and her mom take care of distributing the plates, and soon enough we're all eating. With a few bites now taken, I try to get a word in before the conversations resume, turning towards Izei's mom:

"This is delicious. Thank you again for having me."

"Thank you, and don't worry about it. It had been a while since we last saw you, I'm glad to know you're still good friends with Izei. So, what's my son's love life like?"

She looked at Izei too during that question, making it clear that it's addressed to both of us. To help him avoid speaking, I choose to respond as best I can:

"Not much luck lately, unfortunately. His last relationship was..."

Seeing me hesitating, Izei whispers in my ears, allowing me to continue:

"... a couple of years ago. So he says there's nothing new to report since his birthday."

His mom shakes her head before talking directly to him:

"No worries, you just haven't found the right person yet. Soon enough, you'll be able to proudly announce that you found your soulmate!"

Izei droops down, preventing me from seeing his reaction. He doesn't give me any answer to give back, so I just shrug as his two parents smile at him.

Once we're done eating, I give a hand gathering the plates and bringing them to the kitchen. There, Ariciel comes to me.

"Rimar, I'd uh... I'd like to speak with you. In private."

Since she hugged Izei earlier, I can guess where this is going. No point in keeping it hidden if she already figured out.

"Alright, I'm following you."

We walk outside, to the backyard, trying to not attract too much attention to ourselves. Izei sees us, but I try to give him a reassuring smile.

The cold air hits me as soon as I pass the door. My jacket is still in the wardrobe, so I'll just have to endure. Thankfully, it's not too bad, and Ariciel quickly gets me to focus on something else:

"So... Something happened to Izei, right? And I don't just mean the work accident. He's shorter, daintier under that oversized hoodie, and... I'm pretty sure he has breasts. Hugging him earlier didn't feel anything like it usually does. I can tell he's not comfortable talking to us about it, but I figured you'd know what's up since you live with him."

So she did know. At least she's being courteous about it, talking to me in private instead of putting a bunch of pressure on Izei. I let out a sigh while deciding how to best respond before deciding that there's no point in hiding anything:

"Yeah, you're right. He found a cursed ring in the dungeon and got injured before being able to isolate it, so it cast a healing spell on him that also uh... well... turned him into a woman."

Her eyes grow completely round and stay like that for a few seconds before she finally manages to respond:

"Wait... Really!?"

"Yeah. He's struggling with it... or maybe just with parts of it, but he didn't feel ready at all to let you all know. I guess I should mention that he's expected to go back to normal within a year, so he might just try to keep avoiding the subject until then."

She brings her hand to her mouth as she thinks for a bit, then says:

"I think I know why he's so worried about us knowing. Our parents had four girls and one boy, and when we were really young... Izei wasn't really trying to be any different to his three older sisters. We'd just share everything together, and when Cila started picking up more typical girly behavior at school, Izei would sometimes just imitate her."

"Isn't that just normal for children?"

"Yeah, it is, but dad... kinda snapped one day when he saw his only son wearing a dress one of us had lent him. Mom had made it clear she wouldn't agree to having a sixth kid, so Izei was the only boy this family would ever have, and dad is... well, a bit old-fashioned, even to this day. He wanted to make sure to raise his son to be a 'proper man', whatever that means, and I think that event made him think he was failing in some way or another. So after that, he kept an extremely close eye on everything Izei did with us and with his friends, raising walls between us to avoid 'bad influences', and overall being... Quite overbearing, honestly."

Ariciel sits on a chair nearby, rubbing her temples before continuing:

"So... yeah. He probably expects dad to just... not take it well if he ever learns about it. Mom doesn't hide anything from him, so telling her is not an option either, and any of us could slip up at some point if he tells us. So, especially if the whole thing is temporary, he probably just wants to avoid the risk altogether."

I grab a chair and sit in front of her before responding:

"I think I understand the situation better, now. Sounds like you had it rough as kids."

"Yeah, now that I can think about it with some hindsight... Ugh, I just hate to think about how much Izei probably ended up being shaped by dad's weird ideas. I'm pretty sure the whole reason he became a dungeon delver in the first place was because of those pressures. At least he's not obsessed with masculinity or whatever, so it probably could have been a lot worse."

"Yeah, he never really struck me as trying to be super masculine or macho or anything like that. Heck, he even bought a bunch of women's clothes after his transformation, and even puts makeup on sometimes..."

I stop talking when I see the expression Ariciel is now making. A mix between surprise and curiosity, with a perverse glint in her eyes that causes me to feel a bit scared for Izei. I... probably shouldn't have said that.

"Now I can't just not see him! Do you think you could talk to him and have him invite me over someday? There's just something so exciting about the idea of seeing what my little brother would look like if he was a little sister instead."

I let out another sigh. I don't think Izei is going to be happy about this, but there also doesn't seem to be any way for me to get him out of the situation.

"I'll... talk to him about it."

Sorry, Izei!

She smiles, then asks:

"So, anyway... How are things going between you two, with the transformation and all?"

"I think we're handling it fairly well, at least for now. To be honest, it's hard to keep seeing him as a man some days, but I have to keep trying, for his sake. Ah! Please don't tell him I said that!"

I don't know why, but I feel like I can be honest with her about the things on my mind. I guess I just didn't really have anyone to talk to about it, and I can be confident that Ariciel also wants what's best for her brother, so it's just slipping out.

She giggles before asking:

"Is he so cute that you forget all the years you spent with him before?"

"No, I'm not forgetting, it's just... Yeah, he really is cute. And when he gets all dressed up, he's..."

I can't continue. I don't even know what words to use to describe him. I just have the emotions I felt the night I picked him up at the police station surging back up, causing me to blush rather aggressively.

Ariciel's smile grows with every passing second, until she finally gets up.

"I'll go back inside. Don't worry, Izei's secret is safe with me."

She stops in front of the back door and, with a hand on the handle, turns back towards me:

"I can tell you care a lot about him. You know, if things end up staying like this... I wouldn't mind having you as a little brother."

She then goes back in, leaving me confused as to what she actually meant.

After regaining my composure, I head back to the living room, where at least two conversations are happening in parallel. I ignore them both and go sit with Izei, who quickly asks:

"So, what happened outside?"

"Well... Ariciel knows about your body, but she promised to keep it a secret. She also wants to see you with your more feminine look though, so she says you need to invite her."

Izei shakes his head before whispering:

"I guess that's as good an outcome as I could have hoped for after that hug. I'll call her... eventually. I know she's my sister, but in a way that makes the whole thing even more nerve-wracking."

He's taking it pretty well, and nobody else in the room seems to suspect a thing. I figure the more he interacts with his family, the more likely it is that others figure out that Izei is hiding something, but... for now, things seem to be going fine.

A few hours later, we're saying goodbye to everyone. We used Izei's "injury" as an excuse to leave as soon as Cila got her gifts, and are now on our way to the subway station. As we walk, I ask:

"So, how are you holding up?"

"The whole thing was a lot more tiring than I expected, but I'm glad to be getting out of this with just one person having realized. Still, I really hope I can avoid coming back here until I'm back to normal. The stress must have shaved off at least five years from my life."

I tap his back to cheer him up.

"I'll try to help you come up with excuses. We'll get through this."

"Thanks, I... I don't know what I'd do without you."

With this challenge now behind us, I let out a sigh of relief. We can now rest a bit, at least until something else happens.