And no message could've been any clearer

Nick felt like his entire world was crashing down. He was a woman! An actual woman! He was still himself, but he was in the body of a woman!

It was incredibly unnerving.

“It’s a pity that you won’t let anyone touch you,” Dawn noted, adjusting her glasses. “Rose just proved that would be good for some extra points.”

“No, thank you, I’m not comfortable with that,” Nick said, shaking his head. He covered his chest with his arms. “Look, guys, can we just… I don’t know, wait this out or something?”

He turned to Sylvia. “You said this should wear off in 12 hours, right?” He asked hopefully.

“That’s right,” Sylvia nodded. “In other words, by the time you wake up, you’ll be back to normal, Daddy!”

Nick sighed. She was still referring to him like that, even with his current body? He really needed to get Dakota to change that. The problem was, the last time they spoke, she had a massive mental breakdown, and he didn’t know if it was a good idea to try talking to her again or not.

It looked like, for tonight, he needed to focus on just passing the night by.

That’s when he realized that Kim wasn’t here.

“Uh… so Kim’s not here?” He looked around.

“She’s still working, probably,” Dani volunteered.

“She is,” Mary nodded. “I invited her to come, but she said she was busy working so she couldn’t make it.”

“Kim is quite a diligent worker,” Sylvia smiled. She leaned back and stretched. “It’s all thanks to her I got this, actually! She picked it out for me herself this afternoon, and I modeled it for her!”

Nick realized that Sylvia wasn’t wearing her succubus costume anymore. She was wearing a very short black skirt and a black vest over a long-sleeved white shirt that was cut off to reveal a scandalous amount of her midriff. The shirt was left unbuttoned, showing off some of her cleavage. And then, of course, there were her white tights. The outfit looked like it was covering a lot of skin, but the way things were positioned, it really wasn’t.

More importantly than her outfit, though, was the fact that Kim was still working.

He sighed. “Well… I suppose there’s no helping it, I might as well go see her, just to make sure she’s not completely blindsided when she shows up to the Master’s Suite tonight.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” Dani agreed. She smiled sympathetically at him. “Sorry we couldn’t get to hang out more.”

“It’s fine,” Nick said, smiling. “It’s just one day. We can always hang out together some other time. Hopefully that won’t be messed up by, well… this whole mess.”

He gestured to his appearance to prove his point, and Dani snickered.

“He’s only saying that because you’ve probably been eyeing him with lecherous eyes, now that he’s a girl,” Rose tittered.

Dani shot her a dirty look. “Just because he looks like a woman, that doesn’t change the fact that she’s still a man,” she pointed out.

Rose raised her eyebrow curiously. “Interesting… so if a woman was transformed to become a guy, then you wouldn’t have any problem with sleeping with her, then?”

Nick glanced at Dani. He was actually a little curious about that himself, but he definitely didn’t want to **** that issue if he could. She was welcome to her privacy, and if she didn’t want to answer that then she didn’t-

“I would,” Dani said without hesitation, putting her hands firmly on her hips. “In my opinion, it’s the heart that matters, not the body itself. I’m fine with a physical body that may be masculine, it’s when those masculine parts are attached to a man is where I start to have problems.”

“Woooo!” Gina whistled, applauding. “You go, girl!”

Rose nodded thoughtfully. “I see… I’ll admit, Dani, I’m pleasantly surprised to hear that,” she said, sauntering over to Nick. “Personally, I’m a little different. Yes, Nick here is cute and loveable as all get out, but frankly, I think that if I slept with him like this, I’d get a little confused about my own sexuality!” She tittered.

Nick blushed. To everyone else’s eyes, seeing his delicate features turning red like that was actually kind of adorable, and they had to remind themselves that he was still a guy inside.

Maybe Rose raised a good point.

“Personally, I don’t care myself,” Holly asserted. “Mistress is the only one for me, whether he has a penis or not!”

“How would you even notice?” Gina teased, narrowing her eyes and smirking. “After all, it’s not like you’re going to be experiencing it for yourself.”

Holly stuck out her tongue in response. “Aren’t you the one who should care if mistress has a penis? After all, you can’t get semen from what he’s got down there now.”

Gina turned pale. Her eyes widened in realization.

While this was happening, Mary approached Nick with a hesitant expression on her face. She was trying to be okay with this, she really was.

But Holly who could love Nick regardless of his genitalia, Mary was a little more rigid in terms of her sexuality.

“I-I’m sorry,” she stammered apologetically. “Of course I still love you, Nick! But I married a guy! And like this, well… how are you supposed to give me babies anymore!?”

Everyone stared at her, stunned that that was where her mind immediately went.

“Uh, Mary…” Nick stammered, not sure what to say to that.

She gasped and clamped her hand over her mouth.

“I-I mean… that came out wrong! I do love you, I do! This is just... a lot to take in...”

“It looks like Mary’s mind is on something in particular,” Marley grinned.

“Personally, I don’t think it’s that big of a deal, either,” Carly shrugged. “Someone being trans isn’t a dealbreaker for me.”

“I’m not trans,” Nick corrected her. “Just because I’m stuck in the wrong body due to a magic mirror, that’s not exactly the same thing as having real gender dysphoria.”

Dawn had some thoughts about that herself, but decided not to share them.

“It’s important to consider, Mary,” Gina said, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully, “but you’re probably already pregnant, right? So it doesn’t really matter if Nick has a penis or not anymore.”

She shrugged. “I mean, I’m just going off of how long you kicked me out of my room, of course, but still, it’s a thing.”

Mary blanched, then she turned red. “Well what about after that, huh?!” She demanded, placing her hands on her hips. “Do you honestly think I’m going to be satisfied with only having one!? Because I want a whole mess of ‘em!”

Gina shrugged. Personally, she didn’t really have any maternal instincts herself. It was a minor miracle given how much **** she’d put her body through that she didn’t have a child, but apparently she’d gotten incredibly lucky. And in her role as a sex ****, she didn’t really think it was appropriate to have one.

So Mary’s assertions were landing on ears that didn’t really think too critically about them.

“Um…”

Everyone turned to Morgana, who’d remained silent for most of the conversation. Her eyes were locked on Nick, and her cheeks were dusted a bright red with shame.

“What is it?” Nick asked.

“Just, um… changing your gender, wow…” Morgana’s cheeks flushed. “It’s a little, um… no, nothing! It’s fine!”

She shook her head frantically and ran off, fleeing the kitchen before she broke into a long monologue that turned the whole room into an orgy.

Sylvia sighed. “What a pity,” she said, shaking her head. “Dakota gave her such a fun transformation, and now she won’t even speak to us…”

“I don’t think that’s her fault,” Nick said, narrowing his eyes. “Her situation is an awful one, Sylvia. A little bit of sympathy is warranted, if you ask me.”

Sylvia shrugged. “I suppose it would be inconvenient, not being able to talk to people,” she relented. “Still, she didn’t have to run off.”

“Well at any rate, I agree with Nick, that going to see Kim is probably for the best,” Dawn said, clearing her throat. This conversation had gotten seriously derailed. “As for everyone else, let’s try to stay mature about this whole thing, okay?”

All the girls nodded, but a few of them kept looking curiously at Nick, which just made him more uncomfortable. It felt like he was the sideshow of some freaky circus, it wasn’t something he was at all comfortable with.

Hopefully, the effects of the mirror would wear off sooner rather than later.

With nothing else to say, he turned and fled, wanting to get some breathing room.

As Nick walked through the Shopping District, he felt a shiver run down his spine in spite of the warm summer air. He just felt so nervous and uncomfortable in his new body. Even though the faeries worked for Dakota and wouldn’t interfere with him, even though he and the girls in his harem were the only other people on this island, being seen as a woman just made him feel…

…

Well, he felt like everybody was looking at him. Even though he knew that they weren’t.

Finally, he arrived at his destination, the boutique.

“Welcome!” Kim greeted him with a smile. “How can I help you… um…”

She furrowed her brow curiously at the new face, caught off-guard for a second there. She didn’t recognize the woman in front of her, which was strange. There shouldn’t be anyone on the island that she didn’t know.

“…Can I help you, miss?” That didn’t stop her from putting on her best customer service face. Her beaming smile lit up the entire boutique.

“Kim, it’s me,” Nick pressed, hoping she’d be able to recognize him. The less he verbally repeated the truth to her, the better.

Kim stared at him blankly.

He sighed. “…I’m Nick.”

Kim’s face morphed from confusion to utter shock, and her jaw dropped.

“What!?” She exclaimed, nearly falling over. She held onto the counter to keep her balance. “But… but no way! How-?!”

“It’s a long story,” Nick said, shaking his head. “But the bare bones of it is that I touched a magic mirror at the Amusement Park, so I’m in a female body now, and I will be for the next 12 hours. So… sorry. That kind of throws a wrench in our date plans for tonight, huh?”

“Why do you say that?” Kim danced around the counter and skipped over to him, her eyes shining. “We can still have a lot of fun!”

Nick didn’t like the look in her eye.

Then he remembered where they were.

“Wait, you can’t be serious!” He exclaimed, shaking his head frantically.

“Come on, Nick! Wouldn’t it be fun?” Kim asked, batting her eyelashes. “Just you and me, dressing up together in cute outfits?!”

Nick stared at her in muted shock and shook his head slowly. “…What the heck happened to you, Kim?” He asked. “You’re so… different.”

Of all the girls (except maybe Holly and Marley) Kim had seemed to go through the most drastic shift in her personality. He still remembered when she was calm and reserved and treated everything cautiously, and now she was acting exuberant and energetic, and seemed really eager in getting him to dress up in girly clothes.

Kim’s face fell. “You… you don’t like it?” She asked quietly.

Nick gasped. “No, I didn’t say that!” He said quickly, shaking his head. “It’s just… it’s not what I expected, that’s all. You’re so different from the way you used to be, but I didn’t say that’s a bad thing or anything, sorry.”

“Okay then,” Kim nodded, a thoughtful expression on her face. “I guess… well, you’re not wrong,” she admitted, shaking her head. She let out a sigh. “See… the thing is, I didn’t really think about it until I started working in this place.”

She turned back and scanned the shelves with a wistful look in her eye, and walked through the boutique, looking at everything.

“At first, I really didn’t like this job,” she admitted. “It was a pain in the ass, it took up all my time, and it kept me from being with my friends.”

Nick winced. It did sound pretty brutal.

Kim glanced back at him with a coy grin. “Not to mention the fact that I had to wear this skimpy underwear all the time,” she added, running her hand down her body.

Nick respectfully looked away. Which meant he didn’t see the disappointed expression that flashed across Kim’s face.

She sighed. “But you know… it grew on me. See, growing up… I didn’t exactly have much in the way of clothes,” she admitted. “All the stuff I had, I got from good will, or clothing exchange shops. You know, used hand-me-downs given out of charity. And I had to give those clothes to my siblings as I grew out of them. Meanwhile, all the other girls would get to show off their new t-shirts and jackets that their parents bought for them in fancy department stores, and, well…”

Kim’s eyes watered with nostalgia as she looked at the shelves.

“I stopped caring, after a while, or at least… that’s what I told myself. I **** myself to be okay with it, because I couldn’t do anything to change the situation.”

She turned on her heel, and looked Nick in the eyes. He could see she was struggling not to cry, even behind her smile; she must have had a lot of experience with that.

“But then I came here,” she continued. “And suddenly, it didn’t matter what ratty old clothes I wore, because I had to dress up as a schoolgirl. Which was pretty fun, for a while. I finally had new clothes, and they looked nice, too, even if they were a little slutty,” she giggled. “But… I still couldn’t wear the fancy things I’d always wanted to wear as a little girl, even then. Until I started working here.”

She waved her hand towards the shelves.

“While I work here, I can try on any fancy outfits I like,” she said. “They look nice, and I’d never be able to wear them in the real world. So… yeah, I love working here. Even if the outfits are a little bit sexy,” she confessed, scratching her cheek sheepishly. “I’m a little more superficial than I thought I was, and it’s kind of sad…”

“I don’t think so,” Nick said, shaking his head. “I actually think it’s kind of sweet, to be honest. Remember what I told you before? That you should think about what you want to do, and do that? Be selfish, Kim! There’s nothing wrong with it! You’ve gotta seize the day, so you won’t live without regrets. That’s what I’ve been trying to do.”

Nick had lived a life full of regret. And while the circumstances behind Harem Hotel were twisted and wrong, he couldn’t deny that he liked getting to live his own life, getting to finally make good on the things he wanted to fix. Even though he couldn’t ignore Dakota calling him out on his hypocrisy for enjoying the fruits of the harem while quibbling about the morality behind it, at the moment it didn’t quite matter. He wanted to give Kim whatever advice he could.

“Yeah, you’re right!” Kim laughed. “There’s nothing wrong with being selfish!”

Her hand snapped forward and grabbed him by the wrist. He tried to pull away from her grip, but he found that in his female body, he had a lot less strength than normal.

Kim’s eyes were gleaming with predatory excitement. “Okay then, I’ll be selfish!” She giggled. “Let’s go try on some outfits together! This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, after all, gotta seize the day!”

Nick sighed in resignation. He really didn’t have much of a choice, apparently.

The sun was setting by the time Kim got off work. She and Nick walked over to the elevator, to take them to the Master’s Suite.

Kim was all smiles; her face was practically glowing in the orange light of sunset.

Nick, on the other hand, looked completely empty.

“I’ve been violated…” He bemoaned. “All those clothes…”

“Come on!” Kim giggled. “You looked cute! There’s nothing wrong with that!”

Nick stared at her.

“Wait, just to be clear, I don’t mean that in an ‘I like girls’ kind of way,” Kim hastily clarified. “I still like boys! Or, well…”

She blushed a little and batted her eyelashes.

“Maybe… it’s because it’s you,” she suggested.

Nick stared into her warm eyes. Then she leaned forward and planted a kiss on his lips, startling him.

“Wh-what are you doing!?” He stammered, turning bright red.

“Hmm… not really a change,” she said, tapping her chin. “Your lips are just a bit softer now, that’s all. Looks like everything is.”

Nick got the distinct impression that Kim was eyeing him like a slab of meat. Which was rather unnerving, given her claims of being straight.

“Also… it was nice kissing you without having to tilt up,” Kim laughed. “See? We’re almost the same height now!”

That was true. Kim was a few inches shorter than Nick normally. And now that he was a few inches shorter himself, they were practically eye to eye.

“Still, you didn’t have to kiss me,” Nick said, embarrassed. “Getting kissed while I’m a girl, that’s a little bit…”

Kim shrugged. “Well… no sense in quibbling over things we can’t change, right? I’m surprised I don’t mind you being a girl, either, but hey, it’s not like you changed as a person, right? Still though… I bet Mary wasn’t thrilled with it.”

Nick sighed, and winced. “It’s a little more complicated between the two of us,” he replied. “After all, this body can’t exactly give Mary kids.”

“True, but Mary doesn’t just love you because of your penis,” Kim pointed out. “So I hope you don’t go around thinking that’s what it is, okay?”

“Yeah, no, of course not!” Nick said, shaking his head frantically. “I know she doesn’t feel that way about me. And luckily, it’s just a temporary thing.”

“Yeah…” Kim nodded thoughtfully. Then a playful expression crossed her face. “But you know… since it’s only temporary, maybe I should let Dani take my night tonight,” she teased. “I bet she’d get some enjoyment out of that, don’t you think?”

Nick looked at her. “Uh… yeah, I don’t think that’s going to work,” he said, shaking his head. His bangs danced in front of his eyes, he’d have to get used to that. “Apparently, just because I don’t have a penis now, that isn’t enough reason for her to find me attractive.”

Kim laughed her ass off at that statement. “Yeah, that sure sounds like Dani alright!”