Cold. Shaking.
In the boundless darkness, Kevin felt as if his consciousness had been dragged into the abyssal depths of the ocean. Crushing pressure and piercing cold washed over him, making it impossible to breathe.
Until suddenly, an ethereal voice echoed in his ear.
"Hey, you're finally awake. You're a Valkyrie now."
The moment those words registered, a violent shudder ripped through Kevin's body. His consciousness was yanked out of the darkness, and his eyes snapped open.
He found himself lying on a soft, plush sofa. Glancing around, the environment didn't look completely unfamiliar. As Mu's best friend, he had been to this apartment countless times.
"This is Mu's place... wait, huh?"
Kevin suddenly realized his voice sounded... wrong. Higher. Lighter. He immediately pushed himself up to investigate.
As he sat up, something clattered to the floor. Following the sound, he saw a delicate, silver-framed mirror resting quietly on the hardwood. It seemed it had been placed on his chest, and he'd knocked it off when he moved.
Instinctively, Kevin peered into the mirror.
Then, his brain completely short-circuited.
Staring back at him from the glass was a girl with white hair and striking blue eyes.
Her eyes were like polished sapphires, radiating a brilliant, crystalline blue. Her long white hair cascaded down to her waist, looking incredibly elegant rather than unkempt, giving her an aura of aloof, untouchable beauty. Yet, her perfectly contoured, stunning face carried a trace of utter bewilderment, adding a touch of pure innocence.
The two contrasting vibes—aloofness and innocence—didn't clash at all. Instead, it felt like she was always meant to look this way.
But what completely paralyzed him was her face. He was absolutely certain he had never met this girl before in his life, yet he felt a terrifying, overwhelming sense of familiarity.
His friend Su had once told him about Jungian psychology—that every man and woman had an idealized, perfect version of the opposite sex buried in their subconscious, known as the Anima or Animus.
At this moment, Kevin had to admit, if he really had an Anima lurking in his soul, it was undeniably the girl in the mirror.
Under any normal circumstances, bumping into a girl like this would be a dream come true. But right now, Kevin felt the worldview he'd spent his entire life building shatter into a million jagged pieces. A wave of sheer, unadulterated absurdity drowned him.
—Because the person in the mirror... was him!!!
Kevin instinctively reached down between his legs.
Instantly, all the strength drained from his body. He collapsed back onto the sofa, completely hollowed out. A mochi-shaped soul practically floated out of his mouth.
"It's gone. It's really gone..."
He—or rather, she—had just bid a permanent farewell to the "little brother" that had been with him for over a decade.
She had turned into a girl!!!
"Calm down! Calm down! Maybe this is just a hyper-realistic dream!" Even though this absurd reality was staring her in the face, Kevin stubbornly chose self-deception. "Once I close my eyes and open them again, everything will be back to normal. Everything will be completely normal..."
She closed her eyes.
She opened them.
The familiar living room greeted her. In tandem, the last sliver of hope in Kevin's heart withered and died.
"Hehe... hehehe..." Lying motionless on the sofa, meaningless, broken noises slipped from her lips.
Finally, she had the mental bandwidth to trace back exactly how this had happened. The memories leading up to her blackout surfaced.
Eden, the most dazzling superstar of the current era, had altered her tour schedule, moving her planned concert in the Mu Continent to the Far East. As a massive fan of Miss Eden, Kevin had originally planned to camp out for tickets with Su.
But before she could even leave the house, Mu had asked to hang out. Then came the conversation at the cold drink shop... and finally, the syringe Mu had plunged into her neck right before she lost consciousness.
Kevin touched her neck. She hissed. The faint sting of a needle puncture was still there. Though, at this point, a little prick was the least of her worries.
Putting the pieces together, the conclusion was obvious.
Her sudden gender-bend was absolutely, undeniably caused by whatever Mu had injected into her!
"Mu! What the hell did you do?!"
Grief and rage boiled over, fueling Kevin with enough adrenaline to push herself off the sofa and hunt her friend down.
But just as she stood up, before she could even adjust to the foreign center of gravity of her new body, the sound of a key turning in the lock echoed through the room.
Kevin glared at the front door. Li Mu walked in.
He was carrying a stack of brand-new, unboxed clothes, with a sealed manila folder resting on top. Feeling Kevin's murderous glare, he paused, blinking in genuine surprise.
"Oh? Best buddy, you're awake already?"
Hearing Li Mu's casual tone, rage short-circuited Kevin's brain. She lunged forward like a rabid animal, fully intending to tackle him to the floor.
Unfortunately, she had severely overestimated her familiarity with this new chassis. The moment she launched her assault, she tripped over her own feet, face-planted onto the smooth wooden floor, and skidded entirely by inertia until she came to a halt right at Li Mu's feet.
Li Mu reached down, intending to help her up.
Instead, Kevin sprang up like a coiled spring, grabbed him by the shoulders, and screamed, "Mu! Did you do this to me?!"
Faced with her fury, Li Mu didn't look the least bit surprised. In fact, he was practically a zen master.
He nodded slowly. "I did."
Kevin exploded. She shook Li Mu violently by the shoulders. "Give me my brother back right now!"
"I'm right here, aren't I?"
"I'm talking about my other brother!!!"
"Ah. Sorry, can't do that." Li Mu casually brushed her hands off. "It was a Gene-Reconstruction Serum, developed by the most brilliant biologist of our century, Professor Mobius. That stuff completely dismantled and rebuilt your Y chromosome."
He patted her shoulder. "So, my brother... you are now a genuine, biological Valkyrie."
"Who the hell cares about the science?!" Kevin's exquisitely pretty face twisted into a snarl. She grabbed Li Mu's hands and shook them frantically, like she was trying to violently jiggle a vending machine. "Change me back right now!"
"...I am powerless to do so."
Though Kevin had no idea who this Mobius was, Li Mu's tone made one thing terrifyingly clear: she was probably stuck like this.
A wave of profound desolation swept over her. It was a betrayal far harder to swallow than mere anger.
"Mu, I thought we were best friends! How could you do something like this to me?!"
Hearing this accusation, Li Mu looked incredibly offended. He stared back with wide, innocent eyes.
"But Kevin, I asked you for your permission beforehand."
"When did you ever ask me?!"
Wordlessly, Li Mu fished a recording pen out of his pocket and hit play. Kevin's own voice echoed from the tiny speaker, playing back their exact conversation from the café.
"Just go for it!"
"Who cares if you get hated?"
"As long as you believe what you're doing is right, do it!"
Hearing her own impassioned speech, Kevin fell completely silent.
She let go of Li Mu. Infinite, soul-crushing regret fermented in her chest. Finally, unable to take it anymore, she raised her hand and slapped herself hard across the face.
Then, she pointed a trembling finger at her own nose, grinding her teeth as she glared at Li Mu.
"So the 'friend' you were talking about... was me?!"
"Yep!" Li Mu said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Hearing this, Kevin raised her hand again, fully preparing to deliver a second, much harder slap to her own face.
But this time, Li Mu caught her wrist mid-swing.
"Whoa, easy there, bro. No need for violence. Why don't you hear me out first?"
Seeing Li Mu step in to stop her, the fire in Kevin's heart died down just a fraction.
Then Li Mu added, "You can go right back to slapping yourself after I'm done explaining."
Kevin let out a breathless, angry laugh. She immediately threw a right hook at his face, but Li Mu dodged it with ease.
Catching her outstretched arm, Li Mu used her unbalanced momentum to expertly flip her back onto the sofa.
Kevin let out a yelp of pain as she bounced against the cushions, but after wrestling around for a bit, the explosive anger in her system had mostly vented.
Li Mu knew this was the perfect window to talk reason.
He sat down on the armchair opposite her, leaned forward, and rested his chin on his steepled hands. His expression shifted, becoming more serious than Kevin had ever seen it.
"Bro, I know what I did was totally messed up. So, as an apology, I'm going to tell you my deepest, darkest secret."
This was the first time Kevin had ever seen him look so solemn. Instinctively, she asked, "What secret?"
Li Mu remained silent for a moment. His eyes grew incredibly profound, hiding a lingering, indelible sorrow.
"I traveled to a future very, very far from now, and experienced things you couldn't even begin to imagine."
"In the end, after paying an unimaginable price, I was finally given the chance to return. To return to the present—to the very beginning of the story—so that I could alter the fate of this era, which is predestined to be wiped out by Finality."
"And by doing so, save all of you."
"In terms you might understand, Kevin... I am a Regressor."