Chapter 4: Anomaly Catching Anomaly

New Anomalous Entity, 163-19 (3)

To be honest, if I were to coldly assess my own appearance,

Surprisingly, I could confidently say that I had a face that was decent enough to be considered not bad.

After being reincarnated, whenever I happened to catch a glimpse of myself, I would be startled without realizing it.

Of course, I wasn't extremely ugly or unattractive in my previous life either...

Anyway, when it comes to appearance, being average or above average usually gets you treated several times better.

Compared to my previous life where I never received compliments about my looks, I received an almost excessive amount of praise in this life.

The problem was the direction of that praise.

In my previous life, I was male, and my ego was so firm that there was no chance of wavering, biologically or in terms of identity.

After being reincarnated, I lost the most fundamental and central thing that a man should have.

Excluding all the troublesome virtual genders like political correctness or sexual identity, I lost what a real man should naturally possess.

So, what was it...

...In short,

I became a woman. That's what I'm saying.

...I won't bother to describe in detail the feelings I experienced at that time.

My expressive abilities are limited when it comes to describing the shock and embarrassment of being reincarnated into another world and having my gender changed overnight, and there's simply not enough space here to write it all down.

Who would have imagined that something I used to joke about in my previous life, like being a female high school student who had completed military service, would actually happen, and even to me?

When I actually experienced such a thing, far from adding exclamations like "Hawaawa" before my words,

It didn't take long to realize that it wasn't even a light matter that could be laughed off.

The life of a female high school student who had completed military service was truly a comedy when viewed from afar, and a tragedy when viewed up close.

Being born with a high-level appearance is certainly something to be grateful for, but frankly speaking, it wasn't a very welcome fact.

If possible, I would have preferred to hear words like "cool" or "handsome."

No matter how many times I heard words like "pretty" or "small and cute," I simply couldn't get used to them.

Thanks to that, I'm a little sad that I haven't had a serious relationship when it comes to romance, just like in my previous life,

But I had comrades I could trust to have my back and close friends I could risk my life for, and there weren't any major problems with my relationships in general, so I don't have any regrets.

Is that just an excuse because you haven't been in a relationship?

Hearing that kind of thing makes me think of my school days, which makes me a little sad.

Anyway, I haven't heard much about my appearance lately, and I didn't really want to be aware of the fact that I have the appearance of a middle school girl who has completed military service,

So, hearing that I'm cute face-to-face after so long, I can't help but feel embarrassed.

"...".

A moment of uncomfortable silence ensues.

The woman in front of me, the woman who suddenly said I was cute to someone she had just met, looked at me with an inscrutable expression as if she was deep in thought.

Soon, she removed her hand covering her mouth and started walking towards the desk in the center of the room.

Squeak, the sound of the chair legs dragging on the slippery floor.

After pulling out the chair on the opposite side of me from the desk, the woman placed the pile of papers she was holding on the right side of the desk.

Ahem, ahem, she cleared her throat a few times,

"Nice to meet you, young lady. I'm Sophia."

Looking at me with the same expressionless face as when I first entered this room,

As if what had happened earlier had never happened in the first place, she began to introduce herself normally.

"So, where should we start?"

"... You don't remember anything about what happened?"

-Nod nod

"Not even where you came from, or who you are?"

-Nod nod

"Perhaps, do you remember a name or anything?"

-Shake shake

I answered the woman who introduced herself as Sophia by lightly moving my head.

Of course, this is not because I have a communication disorder, or because the qualities of an outsider who can't even speak properly in front of women have recurred after returning to my homeland.

This was an act to hide as much information about myself as possible and obtain information about the other party.

Common sense dictates, is it even reasonable to try to extract information from a girl who has lost her memory?

Even if I consistently feign ignorance to most of the information they ask me, it won't be considered strange, and if I pretend that I can't even speak, it would be the icing on the cake.

On the other hand, even if the other party is in a position to ask me something,

Anyway, the common sense of this world, or some general information, will inevitably come out.

From my point of view, who decided to find out at least the minimum information about this place, it was virtually the best option.

Of course, there is also the fatal disadvantage that I cannot ask the other party questions,

But in the first place, since I was kidnapped here, it would be right to exclude the thought that they would kindly answer anything I asked.

Besides, if I accidentally made a mistake and even a small clue about my previous life was caught,

If my friends or parents, who may still be alive, are harmed, then an irreversible situation will occur.

Even if that's not the case, if they somehow find the posts I wrote on the internet in the past, or the embarrassing diaries and present them to me...

...Ew, just thinking about it is terrible.

Honestly, wouldn't it be better to just bite my tongue and commit suicide on the spot?

"Is there a reason why you're not speaking?"

There it is. A difficult question.

That's because I was suddenly brought here, and I have the right to remain silent.

I don't know if you're a legal organization that allows me to appoint a lawyer, but anyway, wouldn't you shut your mouth if you came back to your hometown and someone forcibly dragged you away and put you in solitary confinement?

"...".

Of course, I can't actually say these words, so I just stared at her silently, as I had been doing.

Speech is silver, silence is golden.

I unknowingly tried to be careful not to open my mouth unnecessarily, and acted as if I didn't even understand what I had just heard.

"Hmm, can you only understand partially...?"

No. I can understand everything.

It's not my native language, but I can still hear and write without any problems. It's also a language I learned desperately to make a living.

When I was learning it, I thought, "What kind of language is this?" but in the end, I was able to understand what this woman was saying now thanks to what I had learned back then.

Life is truly unpredictable.

What was the saying for this, a blessing in disguise?

She carefully examined my reaction to see if I really didn't understand her words,

Soon, she began to mutter words that I couldn't easily ignore.

"Looking at how docile she is, she really seems like just a normal child. Does crossing the dimensional gate involve a strong impact? Considering the entities that have come out of there so far, it might be a possible hypothesis..."

"...?"

It was a word that could not be ignored.

To be precise, it would be more accurate to say that it was a word that could not be ignored.

The word "dimensional gate" just came out of that woman's mouth.

Even if I have been away from my homeland for a long time and have a vague memory of the culture of this world that is not very accurate,

I was sure that at least the term "dimensional gate" was not a word that would generally come up in everyday conversation or when dealing with amnesiac patients, rather than in comics or movies.

After that, the woman named Sophia muttered to herself, "Hmm, it would be a priority to investigate past research logs first."

Soon, she started talking to me again, who was pondering the word "dimensional gate" in my mind.

"I'm sorry, but we'll have to part ways here today. I'll be back soon, so can you wait quietly until then?"

"...".

"I'll come back tomorrow, so can you stay put until then?"

I was simply lost in thought and didn't react,

Perhaps judging that I didn't understand her words, the woman explained the words she had said earlier in an easier way.

I had a feeling that if I left it alone, she would continue the conversation with just words as if she were dealing with a mentally challenged person, so I decided to react to her words for now.

-Nod nod

"That's right. Good girl."

It was a very subtle thing to hear from someone who had eaten their fill of age,

But for now, I had more serious concerns than that, so it wasn't something I needed to worry about anymore.

Squeak, the sound of the chair legs dragging on the slippery floor begins to sound.

The woman picked up the pile of papers on the desk again, put the chair back in, and waved her hand at me with a light smile.

She then headed towards the door on the opposite side of the room, retracing the path she had taken.

The mechanical sound of the door opening echoed, followed by the same sound as the door closed behind the woman.

I stared at the spot where she had been for a long while.

Then, barely suppressing a sigh that welled up from the depths of my heart, I lightly covered my face with my palm,

And exhaled as softly as possible, finally releasing the sigh I had been holding back.

…This feels like things are getting a little out of hand.

Anomalous Entity Report
Date: September 5, ████

Reporter: Head Researcher, Sophia Brown

The Anomaly entity that emerged from the dimensional gate (hereinafter referred to as 163-19) is presumed to have suffered amnesia during the process of passing through the gate.

163-19 exhibits extremely docile tendencies, understands language, and is capable of light communication through gestures.

Additional research data on Anomaly 163 is required, so I request access to restricted past research records.

Risk Level Classification: Currently on hold

Additional Request: If the risk level is measured to be below Level I, I request that the invisible physical barrier in the center of the isolation chamber be removed for smoother interviews.

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