I gathered my wits and took a deep breath.
First, let’s not panic.
Panicking wouldn’t suddenly turn me back into a man,
nor would it make my tails disappear, nor would this absurd body return to normal.
‘Calm down. Stay calm.’
I looked around, then picked up a leaf that had fallen at my feet.
The leaf was caught between slender white fingers.
The fact that those fingers were mine still felt unfamiliar.
I forced myself to ignore it and pictured a full-length mirror in my mind.
A large, tall shape.
A smooth surface capable of reflecting a person from head to toe.
It didn’t need to be ornate, but at the very least, it had to be something that would let me properly check my current appearance.
‘Mirror.’
At that moment, silver energy gathered at my fingertips and enveloped the leaf.
—Rustle.
The small leaf lost its form within the silver mist.
And in the next moment, a mirror slightly taller than a person appeared before me.
“……It worked.”
It was a success.
I didn’t know whether full-length mirrors existed in this world, but at least the thing that appeared resembled the full-length mirrors I knew.
Patterns like flowing foxfire were engraved along its silver frame, and the mirror’s surface was as clear as a lake without a single ripple.
The reflection I had seen in the puddle earlier had been far too blurred.
On top of that, I’d been too flustered, and the ripples had kept me from checking properly.
But now it was different.
I slowly raised my head.
And my eyes met the me in the mirror.
“……”
No words came out.
There I was in the mirror.
No, to be precise, I should have been there.
But the one standing there was not the exhausted office worker of a man I knew.
Silver-pink hair, as if made from melted moonlight, flowed down to my waist.
The hair looked unrealistically soft, and every time it moved, silver and pale pink shimmered in turn.
The eyes were light pink.
A very faint trace of gold was mixed within them, and merely meeting that gaze made my mind strangely grow distant.
‘Even my eyes changed.’
Without thinking, I touched the corner of my eye.
Long, dense eyelashes brushed against my fingertips.
The corners of my eyes tilted upward slightly.
They were strangely foxlike eyes, the kind that seemed capable of causing misunderstandings just by staring at someone.
My skin was pale.
No, it wasn’t merely white—it was clear, as though it held light within it.
It couldn’t even be compared to the skin I’d had when I survived on coffee after endless overtime.
‘……Who are you?’
When I muttered that inwardly, the peerless beauty in the mirror made the exact same subtle expression.
Even that expression was needlessly beautiful.
I slowly lowered my gaze.
And then I paused for a moment.
“……”
My body definitely wasn’t mine either.
The places that should curve inward did so, and the places that should stand out did so.
My waist was absurdly slender, and the line continuing below it was naturally soft.
I had a chest too.
I firmly suppressed the impulse to touch it and lowered my hand.
It was voluptuous enough that if other people saw it, they would have trouble looking away.
Still, it didn’t feel excessively exaggerated or burdensome.
It was the kind of fullness that naturally fit within the overall balance.
That was even more of a problem.
‘Why is the quality so pointlessly high?’
I wanted to cover my face with both hands, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Because the fact that the woman in the mirror moved when I moved my hands felt far too real.
The clothes were something I had never seen before either.
An outfit based in white, embroidered with silver thread.
Pale pink ornaments were placed here and there, and around the waist, a knot resembling an obi was neatly tied.
The waist was cinched tightly, revealing the body’s lines, and below it, asymmetrically layered skirts flowed down.
It wasn’t so ornate that it looked difficult to move in, but it wasn’t ordinary either.
It looked like an Eastern-style youkai outfit, yet there was also something refined about it.
Dark stockings wrapped around my legs, and light short boots were on my feet.
A thin silver-white outer robe was draped over my shoulders.
At its hem, patterns resembling the moon and foxfire glimmered faintly.
‘Even the clothes were generated automatically?’
It was convenient.
If I had transformed without clothes, I might have died mentally right here on the spot.
It was then.
Something on top of my head in the mirror moved slightly.
“……?”
I blinked.
Something had definitely moved just now.
It wasn’t my hair.
It wasn’t a leaf either.
I carefully raised both hands and felt around the top of my head.
And then something soft and warm brushed against my fingertips.
“……Huh?”
Twitch.
A pair of silver-pink fox ears on top of my head in the mirror twitched.
I froze on the spot.
“……”
I touched them again.
Soft fur.
The outside was close to silver, and the inside was covered with pale pink down.
As soon as my fingertips touched them, the ears trembled on their own.
“Eek.”
A strange sound leaked from my mouth.
At the same time, the fox ears flattened backward.
‘They move.’
This time, I tried moving the ears consciously.
Twitch.
The ears stood upright.
‘Down.’
They folded slightly.
‘Left one only.’
The left ear flicked.
‘Right one only.’
The right ear flicked.
“……They’re really attached. I can even move them however I think?”
I hadn’t seen them in the puddle earlier.
I’d been too flustered, and they had probably been half-hidden by my hair.
But looking in the mirror made it clear.
I had not completely transformed into a human.
Fox ears remained on top of my head.
‘Then what about the tails?’
I hurriedly turned around.
Fortunately, the nine enormous tails were not openly visible.
But it was a little too early to feel relieved.
Behind the hem of my clothing, near the end of the silver-white outer robe, something like a faint silver mist was shimmering.
It felt like the phantom of a tail appearing and disappearing as though breathing.
If my emotions wavered, it seemed like it would burst out at any moment.
‘No, this transformation is way too sloppy.’
I had changed into a human form.
But the result was not a man, but a peerless beauty.
On top of that, the fox ears were still there, and I had no idea when the tails might pop out.
Rather than disguising myself as a human, this was more like advertising with my whole body, “I am a suspicious youkai.”
I looked back at the mirror.
The peerless beauty in the mirror was looking at me.
A mysterious, aloof face beautiful enough to bewitch people.
Silver-pink hair flowing down to the waist.
Fox ears that moved according to emotion.
Clothes embroidered with silver thread and moon patterns.
No matter where I looked, there was no ordinary human man.
I opened my mouth.
“……But I’m a man.”
A voice flowed out.
Clear, soft, and somehow pleasing to the ear.
It was completely different from the voice I knew.
The moment I heard it, I quietly covered my face with both hands.
But the woman visible through my fingers in the mirror was so beautiful that even the word “ruined” didn’t suit her.
I lowered my hands and looked into the mirror once more.
In the mirror was a peerless beauty in the exact style I had liked in my previous life.
It seemed that the image I had pictured in my mind when transforming had reflected the kind of woman I liked more than the male appearance I’d once had.
Otherwise, there was no way I would have changed so perfectly, as though my ideal type from my previous life had been transferred here exactly as she was.
And if this was transformation, then later on, I should be able to freely alter my appearance and transform again.
Maybe I had only ended up with such a sloppy transformation because I still wasn’t used to this body.
No, was it sloppy?
The appearance in the style I wanted had been implemented with perfect accuracy.
It was just that the fox ears were still there.
“Haa……”
As my head grew complicated, a sigh escaped me.
Even hearing it again, it was a beautiful voice.
Was this truly my voice?
When I had been a baby fox, I hadn’t been able to speak human words.
When I was surprised or flustered, I had briefly made sounds somewhat like speech, but I had thought that was because I still didn’t know how to vocalize properly.
So I had let it pass without thinking much of it.
But now it was different.
This form could clearly speak.
Putting aside the fact that I could speak...
The problem was that I had no idea what might happen if I went outside in this form.
I didn’t know whether beastfolk existed in this world.
Even if they did, going out looking like this would make me stand out in all sorts of ways.
Silver-pink hair reaching down to my waist.
Fox ears remaining on top of my head.
An absurdly gorgeous outfit.
And on top of that, an aura that anyone could tell was not that of an ordinary human.
‘This won’t do.’
It was obvious with just a little thought.
I still knew nothing about this world.
I didn’t know where the cities were, what language people used, or how nine-tailed foxes were treated.
If I wandered around in this state, I would definitely get caught up in some kind of incident, whether good or bad.
‘For now, a less conspicuous form would be better.’
I closed my eyes and pictured the form of a baby fox again.
A small, light body with fluffy fur.
Four paws.
And if possible, the nine tails hidden.
Deep inside my body, demonic power stirred.
Perhaps because I was a little less flustered than before, the change was relatively smooth this time.
My field of vision lowered, and my long fingers turned into short front paws.
The hem of the clothing around my waist scattered like silver mist, and soft fur sprouted over my skin.
A moment later, I was sitting on the grass again.
In the form of a silver-pink baby fox.
“Kiiing.”
My voice still had no dignity.
But at least in this form, I would look somewhat less dangerous.
‘For the time being, let’s move around like this.’
I raised my head and looked beyond the forest.
The real problem began now.
I had to find out where this place was.
I needed to find a place with water, a place with food, and if possible, a place where people lived.
To be honest, I was still afraid of entering human society.
But I also had no confidence that I could survive alone in the forest.
In my previous life, I had never learned how to survive in the wild.
My entire sphere of life had been the company, my home, convenience stores, and the subway.
Just because I had become a nine-tailed fox didn’t mean I could suddenly live like a wild animal.
‘First, let’s find a path.’
Thinking that, I moved my feet toward what looked like an exit.