[Pink Classic] Songbirds

My parents loved karaoke. They loved it so much, they had a machine at their wedding and welcomed anyone who was willing, or drunk enough, to grab the microphone and belt out to their hearts content. They didn't care if you were the next American Idol or an obnoxious tone-deaf screamer. At least they listened to their friends and family that karaoke is not meant for open spaces, at least when it came to their wedding venue. Their passions and savings went into opening their own karaoke studio, where they provided nearly soundproof rooms and a wide selection of music from every time era and country.

I spent my childhood at the studio and I was mostly well-liked at school just because my parents owned it. They would give specials to my friends, who spread the word around town to their peers and their families. Since I never aspired much, at the age of 16, I began working at the studio after school. Even after I graduated high school, I worked at the studio, building my expertise at troubleshooting the machines, the microphones and doing monthly updates to the song database.

In the early days, we were a hit with families, but with the invention of applications on your phone, enabling you to sing karaoke in the comfort of your homes, or anywhere else other than the studio, our popularity that had been at its peak in the beginning, began to die down. A couple years ago, when I was 19, most of my co-workers left for college or better sources of income. Our customers were mostly adults at that time, ever since we started serving beer and wine along with the finger food my mother slaved on making in the kitchen.

The pressure on the staff was relieved when my older cousin Roxanne came to visit. She was honest with us when she arrived. She dropped out of school and was kicked out of the house since she was deemed a failure by her parents. My parents took her in and gave her the first hostess position at the studio. While me and a friend were mainly servers and technicians at the studio, we never had much contact with customers unless we had to give them food or drinks or fix something. My cousin's position was to entertain the guests, check in on them through their singing sessions, and ultimately be the face of the studio. And boy was she good at it. Customers came asking for her by name, because she had such a wonderful impact on them while they were there.

Unfortunately, the success of the hostess position was short-lived as my cousin was involved in a car accident. The drunk driver was caught and is now serving time, but my cousin Roxanne perished at the scene. We closed the studio for her funeral and even used it as a reception for the guests. There was no bringing back my cousin and any attempts to fill the position came with difficulty. There is somewhat of a stigma due to the use of the word 'hostess.' Most applicants who hear it think of hostesses in Japan and equate them to in-house prostitutes, which in the end turned them away.

My parents were oblivious to the things my cousin had done while on duty. I had caught her giving a blowjob to a customer in his rented room. He was alone and there was a song playing on the karaoke machine, but no one was singing. I witnessed her do this on multiple occasions, usually in the later hours of the day, when my parents closed the kitchen and left for the day. So, I knew the secret to their success. As a guy, I couldn't really do the same service and I was **** to perform the same way towards all-female customers.

A couple months ago, a new guy was hired who informed my father of this new law which regulated the use of X-Change, a **** that was known to swap genders to those who took them. I knew of the pills and their various effects, but I had no interest in taking them. My father was surprised to hear of such a thing and it went against his traditions and values. But he knew he lived in an ever-changing world. The man he hired suggested that he become the hostess by taking X-Change.

Surprisingly, business started to pick up, but the demands of the hostess was high and the guy never made it past the first week. He quit and we were again missing a hostess. My friend Raymond had an idea. Since the guy had taken X-Change, we could do it too. Without telling anyone, Raymond and I went to the local retailer and tried to buy X-Change. But at the checkout counter, the clerk told us to register at the clinic first and promptly gave the both of us slips detailing our appointment times. Raymond was able to get an earlier date, so he would be the first to go. I'd have to take mine a bit later.

Once our Orientations to X-Change were done and had our first experiences as women, even though it was only for an hour, we waited for our secondary ID's, complete with a mugshot of our female identities and even measurements for the convenience of getting outfits. Raymond had an idea where we would come as our female selves on different days and apply for the hostess position. I mentioned that we should only show our secondary ID card, before adhering it to the back of our government-issued ID cards like we are instructed to do so. I suggested we tell them that we would not come to work as men and only come as women. He adds that we tell them we left our other ID card at home. While his idea is sound, I feel like I should be honest about this to my parents, like how my cousin was honest about her dropping out and being kicked out of her home. It would be bad if there was confusion on who was supposed to show up to work, since on X-Change, we were essentially two people in one body and only one of those identities could be present at any one time and not at the same instance. I feel like something like this, with a law tied to it, was something that I shouldn't hide from my parents.