"Hey, you never said anything like that before!"
Faced with everyone's teasing, Catherine could only protest weakly.
"That's because we hadn't noticed how little self-respect you had back then, Kate," Lily said, hands on her hips.
"As my model, you should show off your charm more instead of wasting it," Lisa added.
"Uncle Homan thinks you have star potential, Kate. You can't just give up on yourself like that," Ida chimed in.
No self-respect?
Giving up on myself?
Catherine was speechless.
Then she looked around and saw everyone laughing… clearly, they were just joking with her.
"Girls, I think you should learn from Jenny—this game is actually really good."
Seizing the moment, Catherine suddenly looked over at Jenny, who was still playing the block game.
"Kate, do you really think we're joking?" Lily added.
"Uh… aren't you? You never mentioned any of this before. Besides, I've always walked like this, and no one ever said anything."
Catherine sounded a little annoyed.
"It's fine when you're wearing pants, but when you wear a skirt, walking like that is just…" Lily shrugged mid-sentence.
"Honestly, we never noticed it before either… my God, Kate actually has such a big flaw!"
Lisa looked as if she'd just discovered a whole new continent.
"Oh…"
Catherine could only sigh.
For some reason, she suddenly remembered that night in Seattle.
Could it be that the way I walk is why those people…?
She lowered her gaze and looked at her own body.
Compared to a year ago, her body was beginning to radiate more and more femininity; she was transitioning from a girl into an adult.
To be honest, Catherine cared a lot about her body. Now that she was a woman, she didn't want to be ugly—or a "fake." Being pretty was enough, and she had no desire to become a man again. After all, that would only be a "high-quality imitation," not the real thing. Even if she was already imitating something, she didn't want to become an imitation herself.
She thought she was very aware of her image, but she hadn't expected that, in front of her friends, she still had so many flaws.
"Kate, I think you should wear gloves more often so you don't hurt your hands," Lily said, looking at the not-so-thick calluses on Catherine's palms, clearly more worried than Catherine herself.
"Don't worry, Kate. If you take care of them properly, you can get rid of all those calluses," Ada said, patting her on the shoulder.
"I might have already designed one or two outfits that correct posture,"
Lisa added.
The three of them surrounded Catherine, commenting on her appearance—until cheerful music suddenly came from the TV.
"Huh?"
Everyone looked toward the screen and saw three large letters:
WIN
Jenny… beat Emma's Blocks?!
Catherine stared at her in disbelief, only to see Jenny wearing an expression of pure relief.
Seriously?
Even though the maximum speed was still a bit slower than the insane pace of 21st-century Tetris, clearing it on the first try was incredible.
"This game is really hard," Jenny said, rubbing her eyes. "But it's a lot of fun. Video games… um, they're really good."
"Huh? Even a top student likes video games?" Lily sounded surprised; she didn't remember Jenny playing much.
"It's nothing," Jenny replied. "I just don't like moving around much, but I like things I can do while sitting." In a way, that was similar to Catherine's own laziness.
"Let me try~"
Seeing how much fun Jenny was having, Lily joined in.
But it was obvious she had no idea how to play. Without even glancing at the instruction manual Jenny had opened, she jumped right in—and lost almost immediately.
Still, she showed no intention of stopping. Instead, she kept playing, clearly hooked by the game. That was the magic of Tetris… or rather, Emma's Blocks.
Meanwhile, everyone else's attention drifted back to Catherine.
"Are they talking about Kate? What's going on?"
Jenny asked, sounding curious.
"We're hoping Kate will become more feminine," Lisa replied.
"Why can't I be more sexy?" Catherine rolled her eyes.
"Elegance and sexiness aren't opposites, Kate. What you need is a certain aura," Ida said.
"Maybe,"
Catherine replied, not really in the mood to argue.
In truth, she was already very conscious of her image, but some things weren't so easy to change.
After all, she was still learning ballet, and one of the most common side effects of training was pigeon-toed posture.
For men, pigeon toes might be normal—or even considered unattractive—but for girls, they looked pretty bad. Usually it wasn't noticeable, but now everyone had realized that Catherine really did have a "flaw."
"Kate, what do you think about being a lady?" Jenny asked.
"A lady? What do I think? If you mean a lady in general… sure, that's fine."
She answered Jenny's question like this:
"Do you want to be a lady?"
"If you mean on the surface."
Being able to act with a lady's elegance was admirable, but Catherine didn't want to become a lady on the inside.
"Let me think… You want to look as elegant as a lady, but you don't want to change who you are, right?"
Jenny's father was a psychologist, and she quickly analyzed Catherine's mindset.
Catherine nodded.
"Then it has to be done through behavior. Actually, everyone could try it. Would you like to?"
"That sounds interesting," Ida said.
"Sounds pretty good," Lisa nodded.
"Wait until I clear this stage!"
Lily was still struggling with the second level.
"It's a bit complicated to explain… so let me put it this way. There are basically two ways to cultivate a feminine demeanor. One is through genuine self-acceptance and conscious self-improvement. The other is through external, forceful changes—creating a conditioned reflex in the brain and spinal cord."
"Ladies… I'm guessing you might be getting a little hungry?"
Old White interrupted, standing at the doorway and smiling at them all.