Surprised and confused

Quick footsteps could be heard, and Claire appeared from the corner only a few seconds later. She approached Dahlia angrily at first but stopped when she got closer, looking more confused than anything else as she observed her.

"You're… the monster Ed mentioned?"

Dahlia gave her a flirtatious smile. "I'd prefer to be called Dahlia instead of 'monster', cutie pie~"

Claire blushed, but she quickly hid her face with her hand. With people she didn't know, she was a bit shy and introverted, and she wasn't used to being complimented like this.

I glanced at Dahlia and sighed. "Can you be serious for a moment and stop flirting? We have a lot of explaining to do."

Dahlia giggled. "What can I say? I'm a hopeless lesbian, you should know that by now."

"I know, yes…"

Claire perked up at the mention of Dahlia's sexuality, but didn't speak.

"To answer your question, Claire, yes, she's the one who turned me into a skinwalker, but we can talk more in the living room."

I let Dahlia to the living room and she sat in front of Claire while I was grabbing some glasses and a bottle of orange juice for us to drink. As I joined Dahlia and sat next to her, Claire observed the both of us, still a bit red and confused.

"I… huh, assume that a lot of things happened, Ed?"

Dahlia brought her arm around my neck and pulled me closer, grinning at Claire. "Oh yeah, Eddy and I are pretty much BFFs now~"

I groaned as I broke free from her grasp and regained my composure. "We're on good terms. I realized the potential the abilities she gave me had."

Claire tilted her head. "So, you know what you can do, now?"

I spoke in a low tone, not really knowing how to explain it. "I can… hmm… wear people…"

"What do you mean?"

Before I could say more, I saw Dahlia slid my phone across the table towards Claire.

"Here, there's a video you should watch to understand better." she said, grinning at me.

I patted my pockets, I didn't notice her taking it at all. In response to my stares, she just gave me a smug, proud look.

"A video?" Claire asked. She knew my code, so she unlocked my phone without any issues and played the video.

Meanwhile, I covered my face in shame, almost wishing the ground would open up and swallow me whole as I was dreading the conversation that would inevitably result from this. I was still too overwhelmed to properly protest when we recorded the video, and I now regretted it deeply.

I heard her gasp and Dahlia giggle as she watched.

"T-that… that was really you? You're not pulling a prank on me?"

Without even looking back at her, my burning red face still hidden by my hands, I nodded meekly. At that moment, I just wanted to disappear. Dahlia seemed to have so much fun watching me squirm, as I could hear her chortle next to me. She was even caressing my hair.

"It was him, yes. Wasn't he cute~?"

"You… became a girl?"

"Y-yeah…"

Dahlia gave me a pat on the shoulder and replied to her. "We skinwalkers can turn people into suits and become them, gaining access to their memories and personalities, no matter the gender."

"I-is the girl fine?" Claire asked, worried and scared.

Dahlia flashed Claire a reassuring smile. "She's my best friend, I wouldn't have let Ed wear her had she been in danger. He wore her for a bit to try his new powers and restored her as good as new afterwards."

There was a short moment of silence that, to me, seemed to stretch forever, before Claire spoke again.

"H-how did it feel?"

I didn't reply, keeping my face burrowed inside my hands, too embarrassed to speak about it with my sister. Claire seemed to have misunderstood my silence, though.

"Was it bad? Did you… feel dysphoric?"

Dahlia spoke before me again, giggling. "He's still shy, as it was an intense experience, but I know he liked it."

"I… I didn't..." was my weak protest in the form of a whimper.

Dahlia sighed as she grabbed my chin and forcefully made me stare at her. It was the first time I was witnessing a serious expression from her. "You can't fool me, Ed. I know exactly how you felt, as I felt the exact same way my first time. You can keep deluding yourself all you want, but trust me, you won't be able to keep this up for long. We are driven by our instincts and desires far more intensely than humans, and trying to repress them only leads to suffering."

I looked away and grit my teeth. "Stop with that, please."

"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you."

I faced back Claire, doing my best to regain my composure. It seemed like she wanted to ask more about what Dahlia said, but respected my wish to drop the subject.

"Anyway, I thought back on it and on what we talked about before you left this morning. I can make the world better with these abilities."

"Really?"

I told her about my ideas, how I planned to use my powers to fight corruption and injustice. And I also told her about how my first targets were our parents.