“Stella, just hurry up already. We’re already way behind schedule.” Alex pounded angrily at the bathroom door.

“I know, I know, I’m just… building up my courage.”

“You said that for an hour with the toilet. Just hurry uuup.”

Stella was currently shut in the bathroom standing fully clothed in front of the shower. She hadn’t taken off her clothes yet, aside from a short moment as she reluctantly used the toilet earlier that same morning. Her eyes were locked shut the entire time.

As much as Stella desperately wanted to fully embrace her role as a woman, there were a few hurdles that she wasn’t mentally prepared to overcome. For example, she had yet to see a woman’s naked body. The mere thought of it was enough to fluster Stella to the point of paralysis.

Yet she had come to an immutable fact: she needed to take off her clothes eventually.

She took a deep breath and began to quickly undress, getting caught up trying and failing to take off her bra. After enough tries, she finally figured it out and quickly stepped into the shower.

The sensations inside that tiny shower were completely overwhelming to the poor, innocent fool. She did her best to keep her eyes closed, but eventually she just couldn’t help it. She was a very neat person after all, the thought of not thoroughly cleaning herself, especially after such an active night, was abhorrent. So eventually, she finally opened her eyes.

She nearly passed out on the spot. So much touching. So many new feelings. Stella’s innocent mind was completely overwhelmed.

She barely survived that shower.

While Stella was fighting the battle of a lifetime, Alex was nonchalantly sitting against the wall to the bathroom while scrolling through their phone. Various surprised screams and gasps penetrated the walls, reaching Alex’s ears. Alex simply sighed. “She’s such an idiot.”

Sometime later, the bathroom door finally opened. Stella emerged, dressed in the same pink sweater and white skirt she had when she originally transformed. The white ribbon was tied up in her hair, much more sloppily than it had been the day before. Her face was completely red, and she was exhausted as if she had just run a marathon. Alex jumped up as soon as she was out. “Finally! It’s a good thing I took my shower first.”

“Y-Yes… yes I suppose… we should go…” Stella struggled to collect her thoughts but managed to look down at her younger sibling. “Oh, you’re already dressed? I figured you’d need more time.”

“You were in there for like, two hours. I take a while to get ready, but I don’t take that long dummy.” Alex smiled. They may have been slightly irked by the wait, but they ultimately weren’t mad.

Alex was a very fashionable individual. They favored modern feminine styles, with a particular love of colorful street fashion. They had a sparkling, pink, short-sleeved dress with layers of frills around the hem of the skirt alternating between pink, yellow, and blue. They had a bright blue coat on over the dress with a wide variety of different images carefully stitched into it. Hearts, rainbows, fruits, animals, things of that nature. Alex wore thigh high socks that were equally as colorful and patterned, along with bright yellow platform boots with dramatic heels. Their hair was pulled up into pigtails and adorned with many different clips and accessories.

It was a look that set out to get looks, but Stella was used to her sibling’s fashion by now.

“Y-You don’t intend to dress me up like that… do you?”

Alex tilted their head. “Do you want to? I think it’d fit you; you’re always talking about standing out and shining like a star after all.”

Stella flashed a smug grin and held her hand to her face dramatically. “A true actor can shine with nothing but their charisma and personality! I want nothing to distract from my natural charm!”

“Oh?” Alex leaned in with a smirk. “Are you saying I’m using these clothes to make up for a lack of charm then?”

Stella’s expression immediately switched from smug to embarrassed. “Ah, not at all! I was just… er well… what I mean to say is…”

“Relax, I’m kidding.” Alex stuck their tongue out and moved for the door. “That’s good information though. Subtle and not distracting. I’ll totally keep that in mind for you.”

“Haha, excellent! Well shall we get going? I believe I’ve kept you waiting long enough.”

“Yeah, I… wait… Stella, what happened to your bra?”

Stella’s face lit up red once again as she turned away and folded her arms over her chest. “It… may have been a bit too intimidating for me to put back on.”

“… get back in that bathroom and put your bra on.”

“Y-Yes, right away…”

***

Stella had hoped to meet with Elma or Alex’s magical friend, but it seemed both of them were busy. So instead, Stella and Alex had made plans to go clothes shopping at a nearby shopping mall.

While Stella was certainly willing to live as a woman for a while, she was not at all equipped to do so. She quickly found that her old wardrobe was nowhere close to fitting her new body, and the only women’s clothes she had was the outfit she had on when she ended her transformation.

They had no more luck with Alex’s wardrobe either. Alex was still almost half a foot shorter than Stella, and much smaller in the chest, so their clothes also wouldn’t do. As such, it was deemed they needed to go shopping.

Before that though, since the two had woken up late and were held up even later by Stella’s mental warfare in the bathroom, both siblings were very hungry. Before beginning their shopping adventure and introducing Stella to the wonderful world of women’s fashion, they stopped off at the mall’s food court.

Stella had a large burger and fries while Alex was eating a cheap looking salad.

“How’s school been going for you Alex? Senior year treating you well?” Stella asked between mouthfuls of burger.

“It’s been like, fine I guess.”

“I hope your job hasn’t been getting in the way of your grades.”

Alex rolled their eyes with a chuckle. “Ugh, you sound like such a dad sometimes. Er… mom I guess. But nah, it’s been fine. I’m doing my homework.”

“Very good, very good.” Truth be told, Stella was in no position to lecture anyone about grades. While Alex was considered an average student in most subjects, Stella was less fortunate. But that didn’t stop her from wanting to make sure Alex wasn’t struggling. “And your job? You said its restaurant work? Hopefully it hasn’t been too grueling.”

“Nah, I like it a lot actually. It’s pretty fun.”

Stella nodded approvingly. “I suppose it has been nice having the extra money.”

The two siblings were basically forced to live off part time jobs that they could work while attending school. Fortunately their living circumstances were largely covered by Stella’s university, but the food budget was not meant to be shared between two people. They needed to work for extra food and spending money.

For a long time, Stella was the only one of the two with a job, working at the front desk of the theater department at the university. However as soon as Alex turned eighteen, they also found a job to help support their hobbies.

Alex looked to Stella, a bit concerned. “But like, what about you? Are you going to be alright with your job? And what about school?”

“Well… I’m calling in sick for the week. I was told by that mysterious talking hat that she would figure something out by then. Hopefully it isn’t too much of a problem.”

“Dang, wish I could take time off school like that.”

“Missing a week of studies is certainly no vacation! I will need to be at my most diligent with my studies to make sure I don’t fall behind.”

“Yeah, yeah. Well school aside, if you have trouble with work, I can help cover food for a while.”

Stella tilted her head with a bit of a concerned look at her sibling. “Are you sure? You’re helping to cover for my clothes as well. I don’t mean to impose too much.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Alex waved their hand with a smile. “It’s fiiine. I’m making pretty good money at this job.”

“I see…” Stella narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Where was this job again?”

Alex blinked in surprise. “Oh, umm… just a little family run place. You like, totally wouldn’t have heard about it. It’s kinda far from here too, you know? Maybe I’ll take you to visit sometime when we aren’t busy.”

“Yes, I would certainly like to make sure it isn’t any sort of underhanded business.”

“Geez, you get so protective sometimes.” As Alex rolled their eyes, their phone rang. “Ah… oh wait shoot, that’s actually them now.”

Alex answered the phone. “Hey, what’s up? ... … … Seriously, both of them? Today? … … … Yeah, yeah, I remember. No that really sucks, but I can’t make it today. … … … Yeah, my bro and I had a bit of a surprise emergency that I need to help take care of.”

Stella leaned in towards Alex. “Are they asking you to go in?”

Alex put their hand over the phone. “Yeah, I guess two people called out. We’ve got some super big promotion going on, so the place is slammed. But don’t worry about it, it sounds like the boss is willing to ask some other people.”

Stella shook her head. “No, you should go.”

“Are you sure?”

“Completely. You like this job quite a lot, it’s important for you to make a good impression.”

Alex frowned. “I mean, I don’t want to leave you hanging. You’re in trouble too.”

“I’ll be alright. I do know how to buy clothes myself.” Stella laughed self-deprecatingly. “I’m not that hopeless on my own.”

“… alright fine. Just buy enough to get you through a few days. We can go together again on my next day off.”

“Got it!”

“Thanks b-… sorry, ‘sis’. Force of habit.”

Alex returned to the phone and let their boss know they’d be in. After exchanging their goodbyes, Alex left, and Stella was alone in the food court with her massive burger.