Chapter 5

England, 1890

“What. The. Hell,” Keiichiro exclaimed, as he took in his ornate, luxurious surroundings. “This is tight shit! It’s like a frickin’ palace!” He was so excited that it took him a second to realize his voice sounded very, very strange. It was higher and softer and sounded like a woman’s. Not only that, but he was speaking perfect English. His thoughts were in Japanese, but it’s like they were automatically translated to English when he spoke aloud.

The ceiling was so high that he hadn’t noticed that he was nearly a foot shorter than usual until he looked down at the lush carpet. His eyebrows raised dramatically when he saw his body. His thoughts went like this: First off, why the hell am I wearing this poofy, frilly dress? Secondly, why do I have curves?

He thought it was an elaborate prank, that the rival gangs teamed up to play this trick on him. “Very funny, guys,” he rolled his eyes. He figured they were probably watching from the windows or from hidden cameras. He looked down at his chest. “Very realistic costume,” he thought. He squeezed his breasts. “Holy shit,” he exclaimed. “They feel real! Wait a sec…” he massaged them a little more and felt a bit warm. He realized he could feel that. His chest could feel that. He unbuttoned the high collar of his dress and opened it up and saw a heaving cleavage. “Oh my god, this is so hot!” He practically cackled. 

He felt his face, and sure enough, it felt different too. “This is crazy!” He exclaimed, too happy to think about how impossible this was. He walked over to an ornately gold bordered mirror on the wall and his mouth opened wide in amazement. “Holy shit,” he couldn’t help but say. He was a  woman. A western woman. His face had become soft and round. His nose was long with a rounded end. His eyes were round and light green with deep-set creases. The outline of his lips were a little sharper. His straight black brows became light, with a gentle arch. He had light brown hair with bangs and long, elegant ringlets. He was downright gorgeous, if he did say so himself!

He heard a knock. “Miss Mortimer, are you in there?” A posh British voice asked from behind the door.

Keiichiro’s instinct was to do a falsetto to play the part of a woman, but he quickly remembered that he didn’t have to fake it. “Yeah, I’m here,” he said, casually.

“I’ve been looking all over for you,” the man said, as he opened the door. He was very suavely dressed in a suit with neatly side-parted black hair. He was taken aback when he noticed the unbuttoned blouse. “Oh, it is quite stuffy in the dining hall, isn’t it?” He figured she must have been overheated.

“Ah, yes,” Keiichiro replied. “Very… stuffy.”

“We haven’t finished discussing our engagement.”

“Engagement?” Keiichiro’s eyebrows raised.

“Look, I know you aren’t too keen on an arranged marriage,” the man said, “but our parents determined that this union would be best for us. We will come to love each other.”

Keiichiro’s mouth gaped open in a way that was probably most unbecoming of a proper lady.

“I’m supposed to marry you?” Keiichiro asked, with a disbelieving scoff.

“Yes,” the man said sternly. “Is that a problem?”

“Sorry, dude, I don’t roll that way,” Keiichiro said.

“What?”

“I don’t dig dudes. I like chicks.”

Roger’s eyes opened widely, and then he crinkled his brows together. “By ‘chicks’, do you mean…” he lowered his voice significantly, “women?”

“Yup.”

Roger’s usually tight jaw slacked. “You’re… like Sappho?”

Keiichiro, failing to study even his own culture’s history, was not well versed in foreign literature. “If you’re asking if I’m a lesbian, then yeah, you could say that.” Seeing as I’m suddenly a woman now, he thought to himself.

Roger sighed and collapsed onto the couch.

“Uh, sorry to burst your bubble, man,” Keiichiro said.

“No, I… I’m relieved,” Roger admitted.

“You are?” Keiichiro asked, with a raised eyebrow. “I thought you wanted to tie the knot with me?”

“I do, but… I simply thought it would be a good way to cover up my… perversion. You see, I’m… like you.” He glanced up at “Evelyn”.

“Liking chicks doesn’t make you a lesbi…,” Keiichiro started to say, before the actual message hit him. “Oh!”

Roger nodded. 

“Hey, don’t sweat it,” Keiichiro suggested. “Everyone’s got skeletons in their closet!”

“I’ve never told anyone before,” the aristocrat admitted. "I never thought I would. I could end up imprisoned… or worse.”

Keiichiro swallowed. Shit, he thought to himself, I better act like I’m into dudes.

“So, I think the best course of action would be for us to go through with this marriage, for the sake of our families and our own safety and reputations,” the dark haired man suggested.

“Like… fake it?”

“Oh, it will be very real, in the eyes of all who know us.”

“But?”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to bring myself to consummate our marriage,” the man admitted with a sigh, as he looked up at Keiichiro.

“Oh,” Keiichiro realized. He didn’t get what was going on, but it looked like he was in some sort of historical drama. It wasn’t really his genre, but his little sister was really into that stuff, so he’s seen snippets. They were really into marrying for money back then, and couples were expected to consummate their marriage by having sex on their wedding night.

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude,” the man said. “You’re a very beautiful woman.”

“No, I,” Keiichiro blinked as he spoke. “I totally get it. So we’ll just fake it. We get married like they want, and on our wedding night, we’ll just make lots of raunchy noises to make them think we’re fucking.”

This time, it was Roger’s jaw that dropped.

“What?”

“The way you speak,” Roger said, astonished. “I’ve never heard a lady speak in such a way.” He had the slight inclination that some women of the night might speak so brashly, but he was certainly not one to frequent establishments that would house such women.

“Well, we gotta do what we gotta do, right?” Keiichiro smiled and shrugged his puff-sleeved shoulders.

“So, you’re alright if,” Roger began, nervously.

“If…?”

“If we,” Roger swallowed, “see other people during our marriage?” He pursed his lips and looked nervously at his lap.

“Oh, yeah, totally,” Keiichiro said, casually. This was kinda fun. He had no clue what the heck was going on. Maybe it was a dream. But for now, he just figured he was playing the part of a character in a TV show. It was like an interactive story where he got to choose the character’s actions, and since he just decided the main girl was gay, it’s taken a fun turn.

“Oh, thank you,” the man sighed in relief and held his head in his hands. “I was so terrified.”

“Hey, it’s alright, man,” Keiichiro said, as he sat down on the couch beside him and patted his back. “I got you. I won’t let them find out about either of us. And this is just a social marriage anyway, so you know… We can do our own things. And our own people.” He chuckled to himself at the last part.

Roger strangely found himself wanting to hug the girl but thought it would be improper. “That idea of yours is very clever,” he added with a smile. “While they expect us to have children, they can’t fault us if they believe we’re trying our best.”

Oh god, Keiichiro did not want to experience childbirth, even if this was a dream.