Disoriented Feelings (Part 41)

Since I am quite close to Saeko’s company, I could drop by there to ask for help, but the level of rivalry of Powell staff with Hatsuya is so great that the former would refuse to corporate with the latter. Me wearing an outfit with Hatsuya’s logo on it being glaringly obvious and not knowing how to take it off kind of rules out heading there for help. They probably don’t even give me a chance to explain myself.

Either way, I contacted Saeko to see if she’s not busy. From the voices I heard in the background, Saeko seemed glad to use me as an excuse to get out of the situation she was in at the time I called her, though Saeko didn’t say what she was doing at that time. Oddly, she said not to tell my husband about it yet.

When she saw me, she knew immediately knew that I had went to Mizuho and my discomfort with the clothes I couldn’t take off. Apparently, I was wearing the rarely-seen Hatsuya Research uniform that non-Mizuho based staff would wear, which has a separate version. The adjustments that my principal did to all Mizuho girls was not reflected on Saeko as she wasn’t there today.

Saeko: “I can see that you had been Mizuho just as I suspected… I wasn’t able to warn you about this earlier because you had never been in there before, but Yuko and I were suffering with the strange happenings that nobody is able to talk about or be able to take action to stop it.”

You are indirectly saying that it is normal?! From your tone of voice, it seems that you two never liked it despite having being there for so long. I even wonder how students who had studied there, or branches of companies located there, produced among the best performance in the world?

Saeko: “As for your clothes, to be able to take it off, you would need to first find a place where no one could see you. Could be anywhere, as long as it’s outside Mizuho. Also, you should make sure that nobody knows that you are changing at that spot. I would like to help you on the places you could change at, but if I knew where you are changing, it wouldn’t work. Your body should return back to normal if you managed to change out of it, but probably not your clothes from before you enter if it’s your first time. I think you know about the clothes that I never wore, or the places that I own. Well, I’m in the middle of something, so I have to go now. You can now talk to Itsuki if you have more questions if you have something to ask about.”

So that’s why the principal saying to wear the clothes I care about the least, because I can’t get it back. Saeko is hinting to change at any one of her houses she owns. The house I currently live in is co-owned with me and my husband, but Saeko reimbursed the money I spent on it and my car.

Saeko is rich from being the founder of one of the largest research companies around, and an important research subject of Hatsuya, but not willingly. She receives money a lot quicker than she could spend, even after giving it away to people or spending it on a lot of expensive things. She has to spend it in a way that won’t attract attention, including helping people.

Anyway, the key and passes I have with me now would point me to choose which one of the houses Saeko owns I should go to. The nearest has its entrance inside her office at Powell, and the other close her parents’ house. The former being out of the question as I don’t have access to that. I’m not sure about the latter as it’s one of the more frequent places she goes to, but might not go there knowing my situation. Other houses are at unfamiliar places or are out of the way for me to head to.

Except for a small number that I know of, all of her properties looks big and high-class. It appears that Saeko herself does not know how many properties she has as she had unexpectedly inherited them, including her wealth and the Powell institute, from her other self in an another dimension. My husband doesn’t own them, but being biologically identical as Saeko (besides gender differences) means that he could easily fool the security system that uses thumbprint or eye scan as they think that my husband is Saeko. If it weren’t for me, my husband could easily invade Saeko’s privacy despite the security measures.

*****

So, after changing out of one of the most troublesome-to-remove and strangest outfit I’ve ever worn, I headed home where my children are waiting for me. It was the strangest experience ever.

Itsuki: “You’re back. Where did you…”

I brought him away from my children so that they can’t hear our conversation.

Me: “I had just been told that I was originally born a boy, and all these years you and Saeko knew about it but didn’t tell me?! After all these years of me living as a woman?”

Itsuki: “Well, I was thinking about telling you, but I didn’t want you to kill yourself over it. Especially after seeing a video from an alternate past where you were attacked and had your eyes removed, and were killed by a train because you can’t see. Also, you managed gave birth to our children a few times.”

I really feel like punching him in the face, but I held back: he does not have any involvement with it. Being told that I was born a boy after living many years as a girl seem to have come out of nowhere, and make me go “you’re kidding, right?” as the male features on me seemed non-existent. However, this news came from people who are not likely to lie to me, and explains the mysteries about my family. My parents, siblings, and myself only exist because of a long-term science experiment, with the irony that I would take over the very person and company that did this to me, though that is only because I am his only suitable relative to take over without resorting to outsiders and has nothing to do with being a test subject.

Me: “Sorry. It’s just that I just got too obsessed of keeping a professional image that my stress level got built up.”

My life is not to be played around with, but it already had from the very beginning in ways that could have been completely different if it didn’t happen. Even my own parents were irresponsible and had me while they were still in high school, but I can’t control when I would be born, or who my parents are. I just want a normal life… I’ve been forced to love Itsuki since I first met him by making me feel that I actually like him until I look back and realize how strange for me to fall in love with someone that I wasn’t interested with and unable to live without him. I tried to live away from him, but not seeing him for too long has made me insane. It’s one of those things where even I don’t understand my own behavior.

It’s for this reason, and the children I had with him, that I can’t divorce him no matter how angry I may be at him. I’ve been told that this was a result of a curse on me that I had since sometime before I was in kindergarten. My whole life seems nothing but a joke. I just don’t want to repeat it for my children from their point of view.

Looking on the positive side, at least I’m still alive and there are people who really care about me.

Part 40 | Part 42

Alternate Dimension (Part 78)

The closer I brought the friend to Takagi, the more nervous I got about how Takagi would react to it even though I have no involvement on how the friend became what he is like now that has the body to keep changing quite frequently without control. He currently looks and sounds like an office lady, and is unknown when the next transformation is, but an hour with an even number in it would be approaching soon.

Transformations frequencies varies between 2 to 100 hours, with the lower end being more common, always happens at the top of the hour, and the number of hours of these frequencies are always dividable by 2 without a remainder. That makes it easier to prepare for it, but preparing for a transformation that could happen between every 2 to 100 hours without knowing when exactly it would be can be quite stressful. Knowing exactly when it would be or, even better, not worrying about it at all, is less stressful.

Takagi’s friend seems distracted by the elevator design: the inside looks quite modern, while the outside on some floors that others in the elevator had got on and off at looked futuristic or retro that is also reflected on the elevator doors: some were made of glass, some are the common type, some have a small window on the doors, but the most obvious thing is that the way the elevator doors open at the lobby and the sound they make. Except for the floor we got on and off, we didn’t see what the floor indicator and call button looked like.

Me: “It seems that you are interested with the way the elevator doors open and the difference of the designs of the lobby of the floors we stopped at. If you’re interested, head to the level where most of our oldest staff work at: there’s a lot of old-fashioned equipment there that looked as if you stepped back in time…”

We reached our floor and walked towards where the room is. There are no windows facing the corridor in there except for a small window on the door. Most manually opened doors of rooms at Powell Institute are of the swing type, and the automatic ones sideways (or upwards).

Me: “This is where you will be working with Megumi. I only told her that the you as she knows is coming, but wouldn’t be expecting your complete change in appearance and voice. Since your original name or picture were not used in your employee file, she can’t search for you in the database either. I know who you are, but there’s nothing on your body to say who you were. I’ll go talk to her and give you the signal to come in. Of course, I’ll try to have that happen before the start of the next hour.”

Somehow, Takagi’s friend doesn’t seem nervous at all. Excited, as a matter of fact. Also, I was half expecting Takagi Megumi herself to not be inside the room, but she is there right now.

Me: “Takagi-san? I had brought that old friend of yours to work with you.”

Takagi: “Who is it? The only person I know that I could think of that could work here is that Taufiq I asked you to rescue before, though it could also be an acquaintance that I would remember only if I see them.”

The name of Takagi’s friend is made up of five parts, and Takagi is calling him by the second part of it. I was wondering what to call him all this time because the full name is quite long, but I didn’t dare to ask because he had once said that he doesn’t want to be reminded of his old life, with his appearance and name being the last remains of it that he couldn’t do anything about before his current situation. For that question Takagi just asked me about, I’ll leave it ambiguous.

Me: “Okay you can come in now!”

The friend, who currently looks like an office lady, walked into the room confidently, but still has signs of being uncertain of what would happen.

Office lady: “Nice to meet you, Takagi-san. It has been quite a while since we last met, but I don’t think you would recognize me.”

Takagi seemed confused. I had told her that it’s someone she know, but did not recognize her. I predict a greater shock when Takagi hears the name of the office lady in front of her, which isn’t mentioned yet.

Takagi: “W-Who is this? I’ve definitely never seen this woman before. Also, why is she not even wearing a temporary pass? Even I, on my first day of work, wear it. Even you yourself are wearing a staff pass.”

Takagi seemed distracted by the appearance of the office lady and wanted to talk about it, but I guess out of respect, especially with my position in the company, she didn’t. I personally wouldn’t mind if she did, even if it was a negative comment.

I looked at the time, and it looks like the transformation could happen any second now. I quickly gave Takagi’s friend a visitor’s pass to wear. This particular visitor’s pass has been worn out from age and the way the visitors that had this had handled it. Even the oldest staff pass in use isn’t as close to the condition of this particular pass.

Me: “I don’t have the time to explain right now, but please observe her for the next minute at least. If nothing happens, that means that it might not happen for an another 2 hours or more.”

Takagi: “What are you talking… WHAT IS HAPPENING TO HER?!”

The office lady that was there earlier became to look like a school girl from Britain: clearly looks like an European, and the uniform is distinctively unique to the schools there and different from most of the local schools.

Me: “As you can see, the visitor’s pass I had put on her earlier has vanished during the transformation, and neither could the transformation itself be controlled. Race, age, and gender could also be changed at the same time too, but being a young Japanese woman seems to be the most frequent for your friend. I didn’t give her a permanent pass because this has happened before.”

British schoolgirl: “I think I should introduce myself, Megumi. You seemed confused, though that is to be expected. I may not look or sound like it now, but I am Taufiq. The one you met during your cultural exchange programme.”

Takagi’s friend said this in native Japanese. I was expecting the language abilities to change together with the transformation, but that didn’t happen. I don’t know the details, but maybe it’s a one-time only change, or changes depending on the situation.

Takagi: “Taufiq?! What on earth happened to you? You’ve completely changed beyond recognition!”

Taufiq and I explained the situation.

British schoolgirl: “…so I would prefer to not be called Taufiq because I would be reminded of a former self I strongly want to forget.”

Takagi: “Then what do you want me to call you then?”

Me: “Now that you mentioned it, I don’t know about it myself too. She’s the only staff in the company who currently doesn’t have a name, photo, or biological info, in the company records, and officially the only staff who isn’t issued a staff pass.”

Takagi looked at me as if wondering how such a thing as allowing a staff without any identifiable thing and an almost blank staff profile is even allowed. Me acknowledging it and also being the highest position in the company made her quite astonished.

Me: “Well, the least I could do is to make your friend remember her staff ID and have her to tell us what to call her. Each time your friend transforms, she has an official name and photo assigned to it but, like I said before, it keeps changing by as much as 12 times in a day. This name that is to be entered is somewhat like a nickname to always call her by even if she transforms with a completely different look. She has also clearly stated to not use her original name not only for personal reasons, it does not reflect the fact that she very frequently becomes a Japanese woman of some kind from most of the transformations.”

Takagi: “Then what do you want me to call her? By her staff number?”

Part 77 | Part 79

In Memory of Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs
1955 – 2011

One of the greatest pioneers in shaping the world of information technology, Steve Jobs had helped changed the world that had span many decades.

He envisioned having computers that were user-friendly to people that have little knowledge on computers, and also have one that is small enough that would fit into people’s homes. He also reinvented the music and mobile industry.

May he rest in peace.

Disoriented Feelings (Part 40)

Me: “Is there a way to tell how stressed Saeko is if she can’t express it emotionally?”

Principal: “Well, one way to tell is from her actions or the number of things she has to cope with sententiously. You can ask her yourself, of course, but you should be careful about the timing that you do it. Since she respects you the most and relied upon for emotional support, she might approach you herself while not in a good mood. Another way to tell is to check her system status, which is the most accurate, but hard to access without Saeko herself being aware of it even though she has no control over it. Do you have other questions? I might not remember everything I’m supposed to tell you since it has been a few decades.”

About Seko or Mizuho Academy… that I can ask someone else later. Oh, there’s one thing that has been bothering me.

Me: “You said that I have children that I gave birth to, right? But why do I find it had to see them or have gender-specific terms that refer to them appear censored to me? I could only sense their presence, but Itsuki and Saeko could see them normally. There isn’t a problem with other people’s children. So far, no one but Saeko could understand my problem. I don’t know if it’s related.”

I find it odd that I even have this strange illness to begin with. It’s not that I don’t care about them, it’s just that I find it hard to see them.

Principal: “Oh, I forgot about that. Well, it’s hard to see what it’s like form your point of view, but based on your behaviour, we could tell that it has been bothering you of being able to maintain a good family relationship. We are thinking that it could be related to you being completely genetically turned into a girl from a boy, and this being one of the few oddness that doesn’t show up until a long time afterwards. It’s like a part of you not accepting that your body is able to give birth to your children, a subconscious part of you that had developed as a male even though most of your mind, and your entire body is female.”

I am subconsciously denying that I even have children? How come I wasn’t aware of it myself? No wonder that there’s even confusion with my own mind. No wonder it felt as if my body was on auto-pilot when I came across a problem I don’t really understand. I knew that there was something odd about me doing so well academically.

Principal: “It might have also made you think that something is wrong with your body, even though there’s nothing wrong with it. This was triggered because that subconsciousness was thinking that your body was abnormal for a boy, but it never thought that you are a girl instead. Either way, this is one of those small things that would only have the result be known after many years. Since there are slight changes to the machine, newer test subjects might have different result. Your youngest sibling, Kuniko, doesn’t even show a hint that she was a boy and in every aspect, mentally, visually, and biologically, very much like a girl. But the earlier one with, Kousei, behave very much like a girl even though he has been turned into a boy. You too, but the mental issue has not been perfected yet back then. We also didn’t anticipate his mental condition to become so bad either. That’s why I said that male to female changes are more successful than female to male. The one used in Mizuho currently is the same as the one used on Kuniko, though the physical characteristics are based on Saeko instead.”

No wonder everyone, including myself, have the same measurements as Saeko that it’s almost creepy. Not only did Hatsuya change my gender, they also made my mother give birth to more of my siblings and change them too? I feel outraged. No wonder I felt as if there is something more when I gave birth to my first child, because I wasn’t originally born to be able to do that and have it to work flawlessly was something big. Turns out that it’s a major scientific breakthrough that they had waited decades to happen, with me being the subject in question.

Principal: “We could change the average characteristics of a Mizuho girl and have it appear immediately by just a centralised control system. Since we are both in Mizuho uniform, those changes also reflect on our bodies too. If we were to increase the size of…”

Suddenly, it felt as if my blouse was getting uncomfortably tighter even though it’s not shrinking or I never grew… wait a minute…

Principal: “…the breasts, it would be reflected on everyone inside the campus. Sadly, the uniform measurements to meet the changes of body specifications applies only on re-entering, on top of not being able to remove or opening up the clothes. I could make them so big that nobody could get up. Other settings like behaviour, body height, and so on could be adjusted with this thing, but it’s designed in such a way that nobody is exempted for not wearing any type of Mizuho uniform on entering, not even the people behind it.”

The blouse is so tight now that it feels like the buttons around my breast should have ripped open by now, but the physics-defying rule of not being to take it off prevented that from happening, but I feel very uncomfortable. Breasts are the most annoying things my body that are a hindrance to me being able to move, but it’s sadly part of my body that I could neither control, hide, nor get rid of.

Me: “So, why are you people doing this for? Why is this thing not known to the…”

Professor: “I don’t want to ruin your weekend, so you can go now. Saeko and your husband are not here today. If you become the director of Hatsuya before we next meet, I would like to say an advanced congratulations.”

He pushed me out hurriedly and closed the door at my face. The sound of a door being locked was heard shortly afterwards. I’m puzzled as to why he did that abruptly.

Me: “Er, what about…”

Principal: “There is an entrance to the subway at the ground floor. It look like an ordinary apartment unit from the outside until you notice that the name holder ends with the word station.”

I wanted to ask him to restore the size of my breast and to ask how to take off the Mizuho uniform. I don’t know if he would get into trouble if he told me more, and he oddly mentioned about me becoming the next director of Hatsuya, which no one before him mentioned.

Sure enough, there’s a door leading to the very same train station I used to get here, but via an obscure entrance. At the station, the direct entrance to the apartment looked like it would lead to a staff-only area, and easy to miss if not paid attention to. It’s the only subway system I’ve been to that has obscure entrances and exits that doesn’t look like a station entrance from the outside.

There aren’t any roads in this massive campus except to the car parks in the business area that leads from the outside, so the only way to get around is by train. Although there appears to be a driver controlling the train, I’ve seen the train slowing down, doors opening, without her doing anything. Her uniform looked very much like that of customer service ones, and doesn’t wear a hat that I usually see train station staff wear at all.

Now that I think of it, every single person in Mizuho is a young woman, with males completely absent. Knowing my husband, they could look just like any other women here. Being used to an environment where women make up for only 40% or less, and being a woman myself, I feel at ease that there aren’t any men who could grope me, but the complete absence of them, and women taking over roles that I usually only see men do, is something I’m not used to.

Since the uniform that everyone could only wear is made up of a blouse, skirt, with high heels, and towards formal in appearance, it’s even stranger to see women in office uniform doing construction and maintenance work around the campus. Oh, and except for students, nobody is seen running or riding a bicycle around the campus. The increase of breast size that the professor did earlier, could be seen with everyone. Except for those who entered since he did it a few minutes ago, I could also see that their blouses are of a tight fit that could break open any time around the breasts, with an odd sense that they don’t mind feeling discomfort about it as if it’s a normal thing and used to it.

This place has everyone to be equal, literally. What a strange place. Now I could see what Saeko and my husband went through when they come here. They came here in the first place because they were made to, not on their own free will.

Also, the buildings here are extremely big and are no shorter than 25 stories, and the oldest building were built no earlier than the 1990s. In some buildings, it’s possible to walk through a multiple long series of corridors and elevators without heading out, though some are linked to neighbouring buildings. (Though I never needed them, I noticed the lack of toilets too.) The technology used here seemed far advanced that the outside. My husband had told me that some of the “new” technology that just came out in the market has been in used in Mizuho for years, though some other departments of Hatsuya Research, besides the one that developed it, would us it somewhere in between.

I’m about to leave Mizuho to think about what the principal had just told me, and the there’s the exit right there. You would think that stepping out would have me to turn back to what I was before entering, but I remained unchanged, and neither could I remove my formal-looking outfit that has a Hatsuya logo on it. Since the principal never told me, I have to ask my husband. He still hasn’t ease my discomfort he created.

Part 39 | Part 41

Teary Promise (Part 9)

We had attended Tatsuya’s funeral, which seems to also include his parents who were working at the bakery below his house when the tsunami hit it. His extended family, friends, and co-workers attended too.

For being his girlfriend, and quite close to him, his death impacted me the most. It left me a huge void in my heart. My willpower to find another boyfriend is weak since I had already poured my heart and soul on Tatsuya, but if it wasn’t for my brother who comforted me, I would be feeling worse now.

It was that day after the tsunami on returning home, dad was comforting me and my brother who… hold on. Something is wrong with my memory: dad had clearly said “my two daughters” instead of “my daughter and son” when he hugged me and my brother on seeing us for the first time since the quake. I also kept thinking that my brother was a girl that whole day. How on earth did I not notice it until now? Why did I actually see Tsukasa as a sister instead of a brother crossdressing?

Tsukasa: “Um, are you okay? You seemed oddly shocked instead of sad…”

Me: “Were you with me on the day after the quake?”

Tsukasa: “Of course I was. You were with me the whole time at the evacuation centre as a matter of fact.”

My memory from that day is clearly that of me being with a girl that I oddly refer to as my brother. However, I couldn’t bring up that topic up. His answer a while had me doubt if that girl was him or if someone else was in his place.

Tsukasa: “If you are thinking about that, I can assure to you that what you remembered is exactly the same as what happened.”

Remembered what exactly? Or are you saying that the strange memories I oddly have actually happened as I remember seeing?

Tsukasa: “I think you would be less confused if you just think of me as your older sibling and don’t think too much about what I looked or sounded like at any point in time.”

Spring has arrived, but the atmosphere is gloomy despite the blooming cherry blooms around. (Quite a number of its flowers dropped during the quake.) The area where the harbour town was looked like a big open land filled with rubble and ships washed ashore. The furthest the tidal wave reached could easily be seen by the vegetation. Only concrete buildings, and steel frames of some others, remained standing. Worked has started to clear the rubble, but due to the vastness of destruction and limited manpower, it’s progressively slow. So far, it’s limited to clearing out the roads.

Besides rubble, foreigners were seen in the destructed area either helping out the affected, or picking things in the mess, including a safe. It’s unknown if the latter group are helping out too, or looting.

Since a nuclear power plant in the neighbouring prefecture was damaged by the tsunami, and straining the remaining working power plants, people are also faced with blackouts and radiation fears. People who didn’t know what radiation was were overacting, especially people overseas, and referencing it with a nuclear plant explosion in eastern Europe about 25 years ago. It’s true that there’s dangerous radiation emitted from both incidents, but not as big as the one in Europe. Also, my town is certainly within the safe range even though it’s closer to the plant than the capital.
Around my town, and the city where my school is, quite a number of electronic signs, vending machines, and even escalators, were turned off to relief the strain of electricity demand.

The news of students at my school affected were known to everyone. Staff, students, last year’s third years, and this year’s first years too. People who knew I was Tatsuya’s girlfriend, or knew I had a boyfriend that had died, were trying to have me feel more comfortable.

Part 8 | Part 10

564th post

This is possibly the umpteenth time that someone has asked me about my contact information. I’m starting to get annoyed about it. Seriously, did anyone read the “FAQ/About Me” section of this blog at all?

First was around early 2009, where this person (with a DP of Hiiragi twins from Lucky Channel) gave me inside info about the person who was plagiarizing things from me around that time. I never gave him my home address, but he sent me things to me. Back then, I didn’t know it was from him, until I mentioned it. I was spooked at how he knew it.

Next were countless number of people who wanted to add me to Skype/”MSN”/Facebook, but I have to reject them for the following reasons:

1. Are they stalking me?
2. I don’t use them regularly
3. Past experience tells me that I would either be ignored or bombed with questions I don’t want to answer. Relations are also likely to become sour, so they are better off not adding me.

*sigh*

Windows 8 development preview

(cross-posted from my inactive technology blog)

I’ve got my hands on the preview version (a development stage earlier than beta) of Windows 8. I installed it on the laptop I bought earlier this year on an another drive partition, keeping the pre-installed Windows 7 intact. According to the specifications, you can also install on a PC that meets the requirements of Vista on it too. (Windows XP or other operating systems? It depends on your hardware, but certainly a PC from 1997 won’t do.)

It features a new start screen, and the more familiar desktop screen somewhat secondary. I don’t have a touch-screen based interface, so bare in mind that this was used with a keyboard and mouse. Since the aspect ratio is 5:4, with a resolution of 1280*1024, certain features like snap to the side of the screen are unavailable.

To access all programs here, press the WinKey and C. To have those black boxes at the bottom of the above screenshot to appear, just hover the mouse at the bottom left. Option to shut down, sleep, restart, etc., are in there too. Wifi could be selected either in the settings menu here, or the taskbar of the desktop.

This is the weather app. Depending on your screen resolution, you can see only part of it, or the whole thing plus other cities you added. The background image is animated, which is based on the current weather and the time of the day. I don’t know how to adjust the settings, but the date/time is in Japanese format, the temperature is in degrees Fahrenheit, and wind is in mph.

Next is the Twitter app that it comes with. I don’t see where the settings are, and clicking on a username will bring up the user profile on the Twitter website via Internet Explorer instead of the app itself. CJK characters don’t seem to be rendered smoothly. For some reason, when I tweet from this app, the tweet went through, but doesn’t update here. (I knew the tweet was successful via another device.) Another oddness is that my timeline is blank, though when I sign in with my other twitter account (below image), it appears fine. I don’t know what the problem is.

(Parts of this image is censored out to protect privacy)

Next up is another social app, but for Facebook. It features feeds from friends, your photos, profile, and the Foursquare-like thing called Places. The interface looks like it could be improved further. In the photos section, any images that are not of 1:1 aspect ratio have ugly black bars surrounding it, especially vertical images (not shown). The image thumbnails were simply resized instead of cropping it.

I would like to try out other applications, but the app store isn’t open yet. The apps that it already comes with seemed to be specifically designed for touch interface. They work with keyboard and mouse, but I don’t feel comfortable using those with those apps.

Overall, Microsoft has done some great effort in radically changing the user interface that has not been seen since Windows 95 with an interface called Metro. Metro is based on the (now discontinued) Zune player interface and has been applied to UIs, such as Windows Phone 7 and Xbox Dashboard. However, I have to say that it’s confusing to people who have been used to the older interface. I know a lot of companies that still run Windows XP with the classic interface (Win2k/ME/98-like) today. Then again, I don’t want to see a visibly old interface that is still being used a decade later.

A Day to Remember

Today, around this time 10 years ago, terrorists has struck the World Trade Center in New York city. There were many deaths of people that resulted from this.

Since then, security, particularly bording planes, has heightened.

To those who were affected by this, I apologize for posting this, but those who didn’t know what it was like exactly, or what the atmosphere was like, particularly children, this actually happened. Something that can happen to anyone anywhere.

The video below is a recorded footage as it happened.

Alternate Dimension (Part 77)

Girl with long hair: “Where… am I? That flashing green light has knocked me out… Wait, why am I speaking perfect Japanese as if it’s my native language, English ability reduced, and forgot the other languages I know? And, did someone adjusted the pitch of my hearing, or have I become a…? Saeko, is that you? I haven’t seen you in months. And… who are these two other girls wearing the same outfit as me?”

Takagi’s friend has woken up from sleep, but is shock at what he has been turned into. The impact of this shock seems small though. Well, if he wanted to have his identity changed completely, he wouldn’t want to look like his former self and is willing to accept anything that he would be turned into. I’m also surprised that his language abilities was affected by the change too. Whether this is something that the professor or that mysterious doll has done is unknown to me as I don’t have the details.

The four of us are on the way to Hatsuya’s headquarters by train to have their bodies examined, and me as witness should the company not recognize them. Their staff passes were part of the white coat they were wearing, but it disappeared, as part of what they were wearing, when it morphed into the school uniforms they are wearing now.

Me: “It’s a long story. They are the staff of the lab you were at, but they had been changed beyond recognition. You too as you were there when it happened.”

Girl with glasses: “I swear it was that same doll we heard of from 5 years ago that did it to us. I wasn’t serious when I thinking that everyone at the lab would… Hey! We’re changing again! What’s on earth are we turning into?!”

Before I could even reach headquarters, the three local schoolgirls had turned into a male African man in summer casual clothing, a Caucasian man in a business suit, and… a woman with mismatching clothes and wearing slippers. The rate of transformation is slower than the Mizuho uniform that, unless paid close attention to, their transformation wouldn’t be noticed even as it happened out in public places.

What on earth is going on here?! There was no warning about it, and all three of them transformed at the same time, having the appearance that’s nowhere close to their former selves or what they were earlier. It’s like I’m suddenly with a different group of people that don’t know each other.

African man: “I’ve never become a man before, but this is…”

At least I know the one who said that was the lab assistant.

*****

Me: “…and that’s what happened to them. They were transformed against their will.”

I didn’t know who to talk to about this besides the director of Hatsuya, who is also Kotomi’s uncle. This was a few days after I had brought those guys in.

Kenji: “Well, their records as their original selves are still in the company’s database, but there’s nothing on their body that matches the genetics of their former selves, or anyone in existence around the world, like they are a completely new person each time. Based on our findings, their bodies transform about every 2 to 12 hours, into any race, gender, occupation, or age, but doesn’t transform into the same combination more than once. It changes the body more extremely than the technology we have that I’m afraid there’s nothing we could come up with to stop it permanently, let alone turn back to their former selves. I don’t think their parents and spouses would like it.”

Me: “What about the Mizuho uniform, or the machine at the lab?”

Kenji: “For the uniform, it’s only a temporary solution since it just freezes the time on their body, and the next transformation would be resumed when it’s taken off and be in sync with the others, but, as you know, it could only turn them into a young woman of what they were at the time they wore it, not of their original self: there’s no biological record of who they were before the transformations, or what they had previously transformed into. As for using that machine, it would be pointless because they would be transformed again anyway. However, I noticed that the South-East Asian man that you rescued from the past in the summer has a very high chance of being a woman, and more likely to only have minor changes at the next transformation. The other two don’t seem to have a pattern of what they turn into.”

Me: “What about their clothes? Did you also try to easily identify them after each transformation without asking them questions or looking at recorded footage?”

Kenji: “Anything they were wearing or had on them at the time of transformation would be changed, and it’s guaranteed that they would find themselves wearing something that you could wear in public without being stared at, and, unlike the Mizuho uniform, they could do whatever they like without restriction. Any form of identification we put on them disappears or changes at the next transformation as it’s considered a part of what they wear. The only way to tell is to ask a question or make them do tasks that is unique to each one of them. Interestingly, the clothes removed after the previous transformation, but before the next, remains the same. On closer look, these clothes are just ordinary pieces of cloth, and nothing happens when other people wear it. As for their personal belongings, only their keys remains unchanged. The amount of money they have on them either remains the same, or increase, never decrease. Anything that requires identification can be of a problem as, not only are they different, it keeps changes too frequently. I’m not sure if health problems they may get disappears with the next transformation, but they are certainly not as invincible as you.”

This sounds quite troublesome, and there’s strangely no actual person or machine to blame at. Unless the same thing happened to a significant amount of people, people aren’t going to believe it unless they saw it happening. How would anyone be able to identify them if their bodies keep changing beyond recognition by as much as 12 times a day against their will?

Chef: “Can I still work with this company since I’m seen as a completely different person with each change? I don’t think any other company would even recognize me no matter how well I do.”

Kenji: “I never intended to kick you out in the first place. Hisakawa here is an example of a staff like you who had something happened to themselves by external events beyond control while working, so don’t worry about it. No other company would be able to recognise their staff from a different time, dimension, and so on. For now, we can’t seem to find anything toxic in the lab, so it’s safe to work there. As I’m a scientist, I don’t have an opinion about that doll you claim to have done this to you. If you must, look for a woman named Haruna Kobayashi. She should be in year 3 of college at Mihara Academy now. Technically, she’s not our staff, but a staff from an overseas branch that had the doll had his mind merged with her by that doll, while his body was killed shortly after his mind was transferred out. Or rather, his mind was transferred out just before it happened.”

Haruna Kobayashi? I haven’t heard that name in years. I had met her before in the other dimension, and I knew that another soul is controlling it. Well, I was controlling someone that isn’t me too, but it is of a version of me there that indirectly makes it my own body. Haruna’s case is of someone else in the same dimension, caused by something else.

Chef: “I don’t know how others would treat me…”

*****

About a month has passed, and further studies has shown that it’s possible for at least one of them to not be changed at the same time as the others, and also not be transformed for, at most, 5 days (100 hours to be exact) since the last transformation. However, when they would be transformed next can’t be predicted, and neither is there a pattern. Their transformation is in such a way that even the person sitting right next to them on public transport would not notice it, but people they were talking to would. Either way, the transformation has to happen at the top of the hour.

They observed that the amount of money on them they had is related to what they turn into: not much for student, but a lot for professional workers: they would have the same amount of money as previous if the difference is negative. As they also noticed that the amount of money they gained is related to how much they already have on them based on what they turn into, they could maximise it by simply putting all the money they have on them on a nearby table just before the next transformation, repeating again before the next one.

Unlike me, or the people of Mizuho, they never acquired new skills, way of thinking, face physical restrictions, or even know how to dress themselves (besides what they have the habit of) even though they look as if they had paid close attention to it. Of course, their behaviour might spoil the otherwise professional-looking appearance. Also, people that know them, and official records of their former selves, would not recognize their transformed selves as the same person.

It’s also clearer that Takagi’s friend never transforms to anything other than what you would usually describe a person from Mizuho to look like: young and elegant, corporate-like attire, and other things. It’s as if he has already decided on permanently staying here as a local woman. Of course, the outfit is noticeably different from the official Mizuho ones, which itself has a large variety. His language ability has also changed from a language common in a part of South East Asia around the equator, which he’s now unable to communicate in, and his non-native basic Japanese suddenly turned into an advanced native. His English ability seems to have remained the same. Since I could understand and speak a lot of languages, I didn’t notice the changes until people were speaking to him differently. Then again, I don’t know if his language abilities were already modified by the professor during the time he was there before the incident happened.

I think that happened because of a secret wish he had that the other two didn’t have, as the professor said earlier, been influenced by anime. What he usually turns into tells me that he really wanted to be a young local girl, but undecided on what exactly. Or maybe the doll misinterpreted of a woman he wants (to have as a close partner) as a woman he wants to be (turned into). All victims by that doll, which spans many centuries, don’t turn back to what they were before. I’m not sure if I’m a victim myself too.

*****

As promised, Takagi’s friend would want to work with Takagi herself at Powell, but it’s impossible to do the official documents since it keeps changing too frequently, and identification on him would disappear at the same time. Even fingerprint or eye scans wouldn’t work as those keep changing too. I wish I could make it easier, but the best solution in this situation, without a camera following around, is to have him to remember his staff number and answer random questions only he would be able to answer. He’s likely to be stopped in staff-only areas since he doesn’t have a staff pass. I added a note on his staff record to warn other staff that he can’t wear a staff pass because his frequently changing body would have it to disappear when he changes. His record doesn’t have a name or picture on it.

Office Lady: “Thanks for giving me the chance to work with Megumi-chan again, but I don’t think she would recognize me. Your company has more serious people than at Hatsuya that seem to enforce policies too. Are you sure I can work here? I wasn’t even interviewed.”

Megumi is the rarely-mentioned first name of Takagi. Even Takagi herself doesn’t like to hear her own given name.

Me: “I’ll be okay. Besides, I founded this company and the staff can’t really argue with my decisions. I’ll explain your situation to Takagi with you. Any questions? I’m kind of worried of you since you left your family behind without a word.”

Office Lady: “It’s okay, I can take care of myself.”

Me: “Really? You can treat me as an equal as you like.”

Part 76 | Part 78

Alternate Dimension (Part 76)

After that last company meeting, the perception of me to the Powell staff has changed. They used to imagine me as a lady somewhere between the 30s and 40s, doesn’t show herself except in the messaging system or important meetings, and, just as the staff personally think they can get away with doing something bad, they would unexpectedly receive a notice from me that I know what they had done. Now they see me as someone they can’t fool, has a lot of knowledge of things, and a deceiving appearance of a high school girl instead of a middle-aged woman in formal business suit people imagined me to look like. I could sense that my staff were distracted by how I looked when they talk to me. In terms of what the average staff wears, how old they look, or how they behave, I would stand out a lot. Who knew that what seems like a teenage girl running around like a child is the founder and big boss of one of the largest research companies around?

People in high position tend to be greedy, I would listen to the regular staff more than the people in between. An example of how I caught supervisors abusing their powers were when they were abusing the staff under their direct supervision, and threatened to blackmail them by having prepared fake, but convincing, evidence and present it to me and have them fired over things they never did. To make matters worse, they have more of their colleagues to side with them enough to make it look like the victim really did something wrong and threatened to give me the fake evidence if they tell others who could help them. Of course, I would side with the victim if I get a word of it, but due to the threat, they never did. I only know of it when it got to the last stage where they would need my approval for a supervisor to fire a staff over an alleged wrong-doing thing.

Once I got the notice, I investigated the case and, with my time viewer that allows me to look at the past, I could see events that aren’t even recorded. (It’s as if the whole world I’m in is a game, and I’m given administrative privileges to look into the things behind it.) They would be stumbled when they found out that I knew the truth among the very convincing lies and reject the request. Depending on how corrupt the supervisor and the people involved are, I might also dismiss them at the same time too. When people caught wind of this, the number of such cases dropped. Of course, some didn’t believe it and did the same thing.

Sadly, as much as I would like to look more serious, I have no control over what I wear or how my body grows. When I try to be serious, it’s reflected in how I phrase words like in the messaging system, but not my body’s behaviour, which has a mind of its own. I find myself crying with tears flowing out of my eyes when I’m feeling seriously angry since my feelings of anger is expressed as sadness. The angrier I am, the more tears would come out of me. I mean, wouldn’t it be confusing if I’m seen crying and sobbing, but saying angry words in a happy voice? I warned to my staff to only pay attention to the way I’m saying words as my body language can be misleading. I did my part to try to keep myself calm so that the misleading expressions don’t show up, but that’s sometimes unavoidable.

To avoid being taken advantage of, I shall not have my weak points be known and train myself to be mentally strong, and that’s why nobody is able to find my weak spot. I had found myself in situations where people were trying to find my weak spot, but couldn’t find it. The only weakness I can’t do about are those that come from being a girl, though Mizuho has trained me to not be mentally affected by it (because I’m so used to the weakness being exploited by them frequently and was forced to concentrate on doing work and studies at the same time). It’s one of those things they know and help you with, but never mentioned about it. Secondly, the people I can’t exactly argue with are Itsuki and Kotomi, the former because his body was previously mine and could control my body when he feels like it. My usual defence techniques against other people oddly doesn’t work on him either. For Kotomi, she helps to make sure Itsuki would not go out of control and cares for me the most.

Lastly, being “a robot made by Hatsuya”, they could, like Itsuki but with greater administrative rights, take control of me and do whatever they want. Me having the highest position of their rival company also means that they could use me to control Powell too if they wanted to. They originally wanted to create one out of whoever curiously enters the cloning machine they prepared, but that being me and also being an existing staff of the same company has raised a complicated situation as to what to do. If I was that random intruder instead, Hatsuya would do whatever they liked against the intruder’s will. They used me as a test subject in place of lab mice or human volunteers, where my body’s reaction would really react if given something untested and enhance the accuracy of developing medicine or machines. I have actually died from some of those experiments, with actual footage to show my dying process (it was very painful and horrifying from my point of view to tell you the truth), but my own body keep resurrecting me, as if the whole experiment never happened and do it again. That’s why I can’t really die even if I wanted to, on top of my body not being becoming biologically older than around 16. Since some experiments requires my mind to be in a certain mental state, being a staff of other departments, and is personally known by the future successor of the company (Kotomi), they have to give me a break, and that “break” is having to manage a large company a me in an another dimension founded, and attending various high schools for 3 years each.

The college who is helping Takagi’s friend from back around Summer, emailed me. It appears to be sent from a mobile phone, where he said that a mysterious doll that appears to be of an ancient South American design appeared at the lab and something happened to everyone there. He wants me to head there as soon as I could. I’ve encountered that doll before, but I’ve never heard anything about it in years. What has that doll done this time?

I reached the location of the lab as soon as I could. The lab seems relatively intact, and the inside seems oddly normal for what sounded like an emergency situation. What is strange is the lack of people in it and some odd smell.

Just outside the lab around the back, I discovered a group of schoolgirls of an unknown school lying on their bags on the slope outside as if taking a nap. It seems normal until you realize that it’s within the premises of the lab. One of them spotted me and asked me to come forward.

Girl with glasses: “Oh, Saeko! I forgot to mention that the air inside the laboratory is poisonous to anyone who doesn’t want to be turned into schoolgirls like the three of us. Obviously, the three of us did. It’s a good thing you didn’t bring anyone else along, which I forgot to mention. I think you aren’t affected because you are more of an object than a person.”

This girl was the professor who emailed me earlier to come here? She doesn’t look anywhere like him.

Girl with short hair: “Funny, I was already a woman but I never thought I would become young again.”

This is probably the assistant that is usually in the lab when I come here. The third girl was sleeping, as if oblivious to the situation.

Girl with glasses: “I don’t know what happened exactly… a strange looking doll of a south American origin suddenly turned up and turned all of us in the lab into young girls, and what we were wearing turned into female school uniforms. I don’t know what school these uniforms we are wearing belong to, but it’s certainly not one under Mizuho. Could simply be auto-generated. Even the bags that we suddenly had has some random items you would find in a typical girl’s school bag. There’s even a Purikura sicker of me and the other two, as what we are now, already pasted on some of the items inside.”

Me: “You seem oddly relaxed for being unexpectedly turned into a girl from an adult man.”

Girl with glasses: “I’m kind of already mentally prepared to become a girl after turning so many of the male Mizuho graduates into females. Say Saeko, could you take a sample of the air inside the lab and send it to headquarters? We don’t know if the air in there would turn other people into girls like us, or if the change is permanent, or would spread to the surrounding areas. One thing’s for sure is that it turned us into young girls in a different way from what we are familiar with.”

Me: “And who’s that sleeping girl with you?”

Girl with glasses: “This girl with long hair and buttoned up blazer? It’s that overseas male friend of a Powell staff of yours you brought to me back in the summer. He couldn’t decide what to become, but his ideas are clearly influenced by the anime he watches. I hope he doesn’t mind being a girl that he appears to be now should our change be permanent, because she’s clearly unrecognisable from her former self.”

Very unrecognisable indeed, but I guess I already know who it was judging by the fact that there was no one else I know to be at the lab. Takagi’s friend is supposed to lay low until he takes up a new identity that doesn’t look anything like his former self.

Girl with short hair: “I think we should also go to headquarters for a physical check-up of our bodies, because that air we breathed in made us genetically different and we don’t look anywhere near like our former selves. Headquarters might be aware of it the moment Saeko noticed something odd with this place.”

Girl with glasses: “Look at the bright side: recent scientific advancements has allowed females to have a child without men, so we aren’t worried about babies being born should the male gender somehow become extinct. It would be worse if the opposite happened as men can’t make an offspring to replace themselves should they die, speeding up the extinction of humans.”

Me: “I think I better come with you in case your records as a Hatsuya employee has been erased.”

I don’t know what’s stranger, the professor over-exaggerating what would happen in an oddly serious point-of-view, or how normal the situation seems to be to an outsider.

Part 75 | Part 77