So — that night was an ordeal.
The bedroom was still half-built, but the bed, per the work order, was preposterously sturdy.
Also: gigantic.
And come nightfall… Sonya, Maria, and Ouroboros as the baseline — plus, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, ten elves crashing the room.
The next day…
Running on fumes, I toiled at my fieldwork under the yellow sun.
Then Katia the dwarf came over during her carpentry break.
“Here. For you.”
“Hm? What’s this about?”
Katia had brought onigiri.
The proposal, apparently: lunch together.
So we washed our hands and settled onto a conveniently chair-shaped boulder.
“These onigiri are great. You made them?”
“Mm. Rice is delicious, so Boku got curious. Maria taught me how.”
Salted just right. Genuinely well-made.
As I worked through the onigiri, Katia smiled, visibly pleased.
“Is it good?”
“Yeah.”
At that, Katia smiled like the sun coming out.
“So — what’s this really about?”
“Nothing. Boku just thought we should get closer, that’s all.”
“Meaning… what, exactly?”
“Last night… Boku was sleeping in the room next door, and…”
Ah. The various sounds may have carried.
Exhibit A: Katia’s cheeks, currently bright red.
“O… oh…”
“Um… that is… Boku also… like I said before… has an interest in that sort of—”
And then Katia went fully scarlet, yelled “F-forget it, it’s NOTHING!” and sprinted away.
“What IS it with her…”
I watched her go, none the wiser.
That night, we held a banquet.
The entire female roster drank themselves unconscious and lay scattered across the living room floor.
Well well — tonight I FINALLY sleep alone, I thought, sliding into bed—
”…Hello.”
Katia was already inside the covers.
Oi oi, this is… I went speechless.
“Boku’s… a girl too, you know? With an interest… in that sort of thing, you know?”
“Right, but there are SEVERAL problems here?”
I knew about the interest — but the whole thing has the energy of a little kid standing on tiptoes.
Lay a hand on this girl and the social consequences would be lethal — and my own conscience files objections besides.
Hence my policy to date: determined non-engagement…
And then — Katia’s body began to glow, and—
“Boku can… get bigger and smaller, you know? Dwarves are smiths, remember. Women lack the raw muscle, so for heavy work we do physical reinforcement. This is just an application of that.”
”…I see.”
Metamorphosis-adjacent, then.
Sure enough, Katia now looked late-teens.
With, it must be said, a spectacular figure. And — goes without saying — beautiful.
But no — under eighteen is still under eighteen, surely, I thought.
Katia nodded as if she’d read my exact thought.
”…Boku is… a hundred and twelve… you know? One hundred… and twelve years old… you know?”
Ah. Then no problem at all.
Dwarves are famously long-lived. So that’s how that works.
No, but still… something in me resists just a little—
“What’s wrong? Why the troubled face? Do you… hate Boku?”
To which I answered with my most honest feelings:
“No. I don’t hate this at all.”
The age question is cleared, and in the grown form she’s a knockout with a spectacular figure.
No remaining objections on any front.
I pulled Katia close.
At which she grinned, impish, and said:
“Also, hey… Boku can switch big and small INSTANTLY, you know?”
“What are you getting at?”
“Boku’s saying: big or small, switchable, instantly. It’s just the two of us, no one’s watching. So — the rest is your call.”
“Don’t say insane things.”
At my answer, Katia laughed again — impish, and this time distinctly bewitching.
“Honestly, Boku truly is fine either way, you know?”
And that night, various things happened.
As for the details — well… spelling them out would be gauche.
—And so it was that Katia stopped calling me “you”… and started calling me “Onii-chan.”