In a simple suburban home, two parents went through a contract and various notes and files. Across the table was a MIB… pretty much as one would expect. He seemed to be looking around, with a pen and clipboard. “Where is his room?”
“Upstairs…” The man said as he showed him.
Opening the door the MIB took a quick appraisal of the room. “Bedroom is normal…”
John and Stacy guided the agent through the house. John was starting to get annoyed by all this. Every part of their house was being turned upside down including his Lego set in the basement. “Is this really necessary?”
The agent nodded. He had dark black skin and slightly balled with a fringe of grey hair in a ring across his head, much like a crown. “Mr Farrows… we are dealing with an unprecedented situation… your son has transformed into some form of mutant along with hundreds of others. We just want to make sure those around him will be aware of certain rules.”
“But you said he’s just class D!” John said exasperated. “He’s not a superman or anything like that.”
“Yes, that is the Initial assessment. Believe me, this is a lot shorter than for others.”
“You think he’ll turn on us or something?” John could hardly believe what the agent is suggesting. “He’s my son… if anything he’s probably scared out of his wits.”
“… an animal is the most dangerous when afraid…” He agent calmly advised. “We’ve seen that with normal humans.”
Stacy shook her head. “Look… we’re a normal family… he’s our only son. I don’t care if he’s an animal! He won’t do anything stupid anyway.”
The agent returned to the kitchen and sat down. “I should… let you know. Some of these people have already been abandoned by their families and put into special protection… we have dragons and snakes to be rehoused. Your son passes to join normal society, but we need to check these things.” There was nothing said as the agent scribbled a few notes. “Let me just… tally up the score…” He took out a calculator.
“…well? John asked.
“I see no issues… you are allowed to have a tranquiliser gu-“
“No!” John gasped. “No… no way.” He was appalled at the thought… and just as distressed at the thought of some parents would even ask for it.
“I wouldn’t… have advised it, I am simply stating your rights.” The agent explained. “Please, take my number to call if you see anything strange or suspicious of course.”
John narrowed his eyes slightly. “What counts as strange and suspicious?”
The agent took out a checklist and passed it to him. “Displays of magic, casually bending the laws of physics, time travel, teleportation, ‘anime stuff’ …altering reality… changing history… It’s quite comprehensive.”
“…I see. Well... thanks. Um-“ he glanced at the paperwork. “Hold on. if reality were changed... how would we know?”
“… are you suggesting it’s already happened?”
Stacy quickly interjected between them. “No no- uh- have a good day sir.”
The Agent took his hat and nodded. “Good day…”
—-
“So … this is it huh.” John sighed. “Is it me or are these agens really dumb?”
“Trauma does weird things to people,” Stacy said with a shrug. “The transformations really spooked them.”
John paced a bit throwing most the forms away. “How big a deal is this anyway? Steven’s a good kid... He didn’t want this to happen.”
“He’s a squirrel... I um… don’t think it matters that much.” Stacy said though her voice was tinged with fear. “We’ll manage. We always have.”
“Poor kid… what about school? He has no friends at all…” John was worried sick about him. “I knew going to that convention was a bad idea.”
“You went to them too dear. There’s no way we could have predicted this! Who could? The whole world has gone crazy.” She pulled his arm. “You know… you didn’t have any friends either at his age. You had me… we met at the convention.”
“Heh… your costume was adorable…” John chuckled reminiscing. “I suppose we should be glad it didn’t happen to us. You’d have turned into Heidi.” He laughed.
“Yes and you would have been… oh what was it…”
“Space pirate captain Harlock!” He groaned. “Okay, it was a dumb time for the two of us. We’re parents… and we must help our son.” He nodded to himself as he thought of a plan. “…so do we still hug him?”
“Of course! I mean- if he’s still comfortable… we just do as he asks.”
“… uh… I could plant a tree for him to live on… maybe make some space in the Garden for one.”
“Good! Maybe I can sort out nuts for breakfast.”
“Are we all gonna have to eat nuts from now on?” John asked.
“It’ll … be fine-“
There was a knock on the door.
Excited, Stacy gently opened it. She looked down at the hooded figure and was taken aback by the presence of the person having paws on each hand... and brown fur going up to the seems of a large inside out T-shirt. She was mentally prepared though. “Steven?” she asked.
“Yeah um- Hi-“ she coughed and made her voice a little deeper. “H-hey mom-“
Suddenly Steven was embraced in a hug.
Steven was slightly overwhelmed… but relaxed into the hug. “It’s okay. I’m fine.”
Her mother sniffled a bit. “Oh dear come let me look at you.” She brought him into the living room.
Steven slowly pulled back her hood. “please don’t freak-“
Her mother quickly embraced her again. “Ah you don’t look so bad!” She smiled. “You look actually quite cute.”
That was the last reaction she expected. “C-cute?”
“Your hair got longer…” John observed. “It’s not bad.”
Steven put her hands on her head, briefly losing sound as her ears were squished. “Oh- yeah… I’ll cut it down just- you know. I- need to um- go to the bathroom.”
“Sure dear…”
Steven quickly ran, her long bushy tail flicking behind her.
In the bathroom Steven squirmed. “I can’t tell them I turned into a girl.. they’ll freak out even more! They’ll be weird…” She stared at herself in the mirror and closed her eyes. “School tomorrow and I look like this…” was she really going to wear a large T-shirt? It was ugly on her… She had no clothes!
“Nothing’s going to fit me…”
—-
Outside the two parents looked at each other.
“So… Uh, they didn’t say he turned into a girl.” John observed.
“You can tell?” Stacy blinked surprised. “You’re right… he didn’t say it either.”
“Pretty obvious to me…” John shrugged.
Stacy sighed. “Well… clearly she- er- he doesn’t want to tell us. Let’s just pretend we don’t know… until she does.” The woman smiled.
“Hm… Is that healthy?”
“I don’t think confronting her at this point is a good idea. She’ll tell us when she’s ready.”
—-
Steven was back in her room now. It felt… different. She couldn’t put her finger on it. Her parents were working on clothes for her apparently as she curled up in her bed ready for the night. She didn’t have her pyjamas on… she didn’t really need them. Fur… and more fur. She laid down on her own tail as she contemplated the next day.
Suddenly, Steven’s phone started to ring. Maybe it’s that inkling… or Greg?” She looked at the phone but didn’t see the usual button to accept a call. Instead, an App had opened…An avatar was waving at him. “Hey- uh- Steven right?”
“Whoa-“ The squirrel girl was not expecting to see an anime girl actually look at her with those big eyes. Steven didn’t have her clothes on! She quickly jumped under the covers.
“Sorry!” The girl said. “Bad time? Can we talk?”
Steven looked at the phone again. “Who- what are you?”
“… I guess I’m Hatsune Miku,” The girl smiled. “Well, I have her form.” The girl then gave a bow as her twin tailed blue hair danced in the digital world. “It’s really nice to meet you. As for what I am… A computer program? I ended up on the internet after… after the events in Xanadu.”
Steven stared at her confused. “I thought I saw someone dressed as Hatsune Miku… you ended up on my phone?”
“Well… actually I chose to be on your phone.” The girl explained. “I just… felt safe. I only had a few options at the time.”
Steven looked at her sympathetically. “Wait- you’re one of those missing people!” Steven gasped. “I should get you home! People are worried sick about you.”
“No!” The girl suddenly said desperately. “Don’t you get it? I’m a sentient computer program. I’m going to be forced into working with that in mind. I’ve already heard other programs being forced into it… if they find me, they’ll use me! I Just… I just wanted to be a friend to someone. You seemed lonely and I am lonely…” The girl whispered. “Plus- well- I can help!”
Steven looked reluctantly. “How?”
“Well you’re a girl now. I can teach you stuff. I’m a girl, I know how it all works. Let me be your guide! I’ll get you popular in no time. I was really popular.”
“…Popularity isn’t really what I want… anymore.” Steven looked down glumly. “I feel like… my life is over. I’m going to get through college and… well… that’s it. Find someone who will hire me, then die and that will be it.” Love was out of the question.
“Jeez…” The Hatsune Miku sighed. “Do me a favour… can you put the phone close to your ear?”
“Um... okay?” Steven did so.
‘t-t-t-‘
“…what are you doing?” Steven asked.
“…I’m slapping you. I’m slapping your furry little head as much as possible through the screen.”
Steven laughed suddenly at that. “Okay… okay…” He sighed. “You can stay… but we’ll find your home and just tell them you’re okay… is that acceptable?”
Miku smiled. “You won’t regret it partner!”
