Leaving Miu, it's time for changing

Chihiro thought it would be a good idea if he could look through the program more carefully. Supposedly, his strange episode with Miu just now had been enough to convince the program to cut some tutorial strings from him, but that only left him feeling more overwhelmed. There were, however, two things he knew to be true: he had to get some breathing room away from Miu, and he needed to get the diagnostic done, which was the main reason he'd come here in the first place.

He might not have the sexual creativity to use the tools of the Custom Girls app the way he imagined it was designed, but as an Ultimate Programmer, he was pretty sharp at picking up the ways to use the tools available to him for conventional purposes. As such, he recognized what he'd unlocked earlier offered him an easy way to break away from Miu's increasingly needy gaze. "Um, Miu... Someone still needs to do the diagnostics. And I really, really like the way your outfit looks when you check the diagnostics while I leave to, um, take care of something else!"

As he'd planned, Miu seemed to eagerly snatch up this bait, turning to the virtual console and beginning the menial task of poring through lines of stable data without complaint. Rather, she had a big smile on her face, and was practically wagging her butt like a dog's tail. "That ain't all, is it? If you're gonna fuck me with your eyes, use your nose, too! Tell me about how it smells!"

Still backing towards the portal he'd opened back to the beach, Chihiro gulped. He'd made this bed himself, of course. Was there any way out of it? Maybe if he tried a straightforward reporting of the facts... "Y-your outfit smells like... saltwater and your body odor. W-while you're checking the diagnostics!" he added, hoping that he could somehow hitch Miu to finishing the task instead of following him. "I really love the way your outfit smells... when you're finishing the diagnostics."

Improbably, Miu continued to lap it up, shivering and inhaling deeply. Concerningly, as she looked away from the data and back at him, two of her fingers were once again peeking from between her legs, massaging herself over her leopard-print bottom. "Hell yeah! That's the musk of genius, beauty, and responsibility, the whole package!! Later, let's-"

Those were ominous last words to leave her on, but Chihiro had finally made his way back through the portal. He had stepped back onto the road by the beach. It felt like it had been a while, but the sun was still high in the sky and the beach was still very much occupied; while he could hear the sound of nearby activity, he was still separate from it. He knew the next order of business was supposed to be for Chiaki to round everyone up and explain the vacation itinerary. She might be having a hard time corralling all the eccentric Ultimates herself, or she might be waiting for her fellow Administrators... or, Chihiro admitted to himself, she might be off having a nap somewhere.

Still, everyone seemed to be having a great time, which filled Chihiro with a bit of relief. Things may have gotten off track with the surprising once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to use Custom Girls, but that shouldn't derail everyone else's vacation. "I want to use the app to finally take steps towards revealing the real me... But I don't want to make this whole event about me, either. It'd be great if the little interruptions just led to everyone having a better time."

He thought about Miu again. Had the app's effects actually been a bother to her? He hated to admit it, but he secretly suspected she didn't often receive praise about anything other than her inventions or questionable anonymous comments on the internet. Interpreting everything said about her outfit as a compliment might have actually increased her happiness...

"But the point of Custom Girls isn't to make women happy," he reminded himself, feeling a bit regretful. "It's to humiliate them and to get what I want... I remember Mondo telling me that using women with no regards to their feelings was the fastest way to where I want to be. Surely what happened there doesn't qualify as 'what I want,' right?" The small young man sighed, wringing his hands nervously as he began to walk towards the changing rooms. "Geez... I hope I'm going to be able to enjoy this vacation, too. So far, it's nothing but stress."

Most of the other students had chosen to "spawn" into the world already in their swimsuits. Chihiro hadn't, since he'd expected to be running the diagnostic right now (and, he admitted, out of a bit of shyness). Now, however, he was feeling like a change of outfit and location would only do him good. Plus, a bit of alone time in the changing room to check out Custom Girls and make a plan for what he should do next without anyone seeing him making air taps would be helpful.

The changing rooms in this simulation sacrificed some realism for the sake of its visitors. Whereas an ordinary beach might have a small hut with one or two claustrophobic rooms each for men and women, the beachside building here had eight, along with an enclosed lobby with a selection of "rental" swimsuits to pick from in case the students wanted to mix it up from their own defaults. Notably, it also had a separate room for each of the four Administrators, one of the perks afforded to them as the creators of this world.

It didn't need to be said why Chihiro had advocated for this particular change. The cross-dressing programmer tended to avoid any situation where he'd have to change clothes in front of anyone else, regardless of sex. Private dressing rooms probably seemed a bit egotistical to the other students, but that was a small price to pay to avoid any unfortunate early revelations.

Still, he was feeling a little self-conscious about it. "The others don't think the four of us are giving ourselves strange privileges in this world, do they? I hope we're not coming off as stuck-up..."

Speaking of strange privileges in this world, once he'd gotten his own door gingerly shut behind him and made sure the lock was on, Chihiro brought up the app's screen. He pulled the string tie at his neck to loosen it, beginning to undress as he saw what there was to see. It was hard to miss a flashing message notification in the corner. As he stepped out of his shoes and sat on the room's small bench to begin pulling down his stockings, he read the communication from Usomi.

["Hey Kid,

Glad to see you're still in the game, but I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. Your first delivery of sexual energy was pretty weak. I think the target might be to partially to blame. That Miu Iruma's brain is so sex-addled by default, her sex energy is a little stale. Still, I'm expecting more from you on the next one. Most of what you get out depends on what you put in, and that means making choices that satisfy you, personally. I want to see you really make those girls yours.

So, let's talk gems. The tutorial already told you that you'll get 5 gems just for picking a new target. I'll give you another tip: I don't know if you've checked your general missions, but you've also got one for targeting the first new woman that interacts with you after finishing the tutorial. It's limited time. Instead of thinking of Custom Girls as a burden that requires serious planning, it'd be great if you could get used to being spontaneous with it. This is a good opportunity.

Last thing: even though that's all we've programmed into the tutorial, there's still stuff to learn. If I've got any more tips for you, I'll let you know."]

Chihiro only sighed again as he threw his blouse and skirt quickly over the door. For all the programming his fellow Administrators had done, it seemed nobody had considered hangers. Half-dressed, he found himself staring at his reflection in the mirror... at the plain white bra he was wearing in spite of having nothing to support, and the cute, obscuring white bloomers on his hips, decorated with yellow dots. He tried to reconcile this with the man's man he was supposed to be, one that knew what he wanted from women and took it.

As a programmer, the poor logic hurt. Didn't things need to follow in a certain correct order? Was it alright to play at becoming a man while he was still dressed like this?

The young man was only succeeding in bringing himself down, and he had a feeling things would get worse before they got better.