Welcome to TUTEC

"Alright, here we are, Bera. Get your school gear, and get out." My mother, Shitateya, directed at me. Grabbing my portable sewing kit (containing my needles, several spools of threads of various colors, two seam rippers, a small pair of scissors, and other stuff I needed), I opened the passenger door of my mom's car and stepped out.

It was Wednesday, October 26th, 2022, and I had my black hakama, blue T-shirt, and dark blue hoodie on. Before me was The Ultimate Talent Enhancement Center, a five-story building that was said to bring out the best of anyone's talents, whatever that talent may be. Only the very best, of the very best, got invited here. How someone like me got the invite, I don't really know, but I was happy to get away from home for this opportunity.

Oh, maybe I should tell you something about myself. I am Bera Haikiko, the Ultimate Tailor. My childhood is...complicated. You see, I am a boy, but...well, I didn't always use to be. You see, I'm...well...I...was born a girl, with a different name that I do not utter anymore. I used to wear cute skirts, and pretty dresses, and nice blouses, stuff like that. Even cute shoes and tights and stockings that made the boys stare and the girls envious.

However, I never really felt girly, or beautiful. No matter how dressed up I was, I felt like I was wearing someone else's clothes, living someone else's life. My mom always told me it was just a phase, that I would eventually grow out of it. My dad would just say that I was an idiot, and that as a girl, I should dress and act like a girl.

No matter what, though, I never...truly...felt like a girl. It wasn't something I could really explain in words, but it eventually got to the point where I had to speak to my parents once more.

My dad was disgusted with me, but thankfully, my mom was able to talk him into allowing me to have Gender Reassignment Surgery done, at the age of 14, to become a boy, once the school year was over. However, as Japan is very strict with...this, we would have to travel overseas. To a place called San Francisco.

The doctor there explained that, in addition to the surgery, I would also need Masculinizing Hormone Therapy (MHT), which was fine by me. My dad thought the whole thing was still stupid, but only went along because the insurance was paying for it, and because it "wasn't his body, so it wasn't his problem." My mom was more supportive of it.

Anyway, I'm not gonna go into all those details, but after we got home, things... definitely changed.

My dad barely spoke to me afterwards, and refused to acknowledge my new chosen name, just referring to me as "Hey!" Or "You". Not that we ever really got along, but he seemed to like me even less now. I felt like I knew why, but I couldn't bring myself to...to...ask him.

My mother, as a seamstress, showed me how to mend, modify, and sew my own clothes. Under her tutelage, I transformed my long black skirts into hakamas (long, baggy Japanese-style pants), transformed my knee-length skirts into shorts, modified some of my blouses into T-shirts, and sold off anything I couldn't use anymore (tights, stockings, my low heels, headbands, hair clips, and anything else that screamed "girly!") for extra money for materials. She also showed me how to make mannequins of myself and of others, to ensure the clothes I made and mended would fit properly. She seemed indifferent to my new self, stating that no matter what, I was still her child.

Eventually, I was able to return to school, under my new identity, but...things didn't exactly go according to plan. Despite me shaving the right side of my head (not completely bald, but very short) and brushing my long red hair to the left, nobody seemed to really like me anymore. The boys thought I had a girly face, and the girls didn't really pay much attention to me, either. A few asked me if I was...her, to which I would respond that she was a "distant relative" of mine, but that I wasn't her. Everyone who asked seemed to believe me (I mean, I no longer had breasts like I did as a girl, and due to the surgery, even my gait was a little different than it was before), so I usually just let it go.

Ultimately, I found myself alone a lot, with very few friends and a total jackass of a father. My mom, though she would never stand up for me, at least gave me the talent, the skills, that brought me to this building today.

A honk from behind startled me, and I jumped. It was my dad.

"Hey, you waiting for a bus or something? They picking you up here?" He called out through the passenger window.

"N-no, why?" I asked.

"Then get your ass moving!" My father shouted at me, as they then drove off.

A little bit hurt, but used to his attitude towards me, I walked towards the TUTEC building, leaves crunching under my boots. I opened the double doors and walked inside. Before me was another set of doors, leading to a courtyard, with a hallway going to the left and...

Next thing I knew, I was waking up in some sort of movie theater, with a girl I didn't recognize sleeping in another seat, two seats over from me and one row in front of me. She was in the very front row, one seat from the edge. Groggy, I walked over to her and gently shook her shoulder to wake her up, noticing her unique hairpin in the process.

"Hmmmm? Oh...I must have...dozed off here, I think." She wiped her eyes sleepily and stretched her legs out. Her hair color was best described as a pale mauve color, like a faint purplish blonde, I guess. It was shoulder-length, with the ends going both towards and away from her face. She had soft pink eyes, too, with a dreamy gaze to them.

She wore pink Mary Janes, with black thigh-high opaque stockings. Her clothes consisted of a white button-up shirt, with a dark green stripe where the buttons went in, a hooded cardigan the same color as the dark green stripe on her shirt, with some kind of animal face for the hood, somewhat resembling a Snorlax to me. She also had a beige pleated skirt that stopped at mid-thigh. At her feet was a backpack, pale pink with a white pocket and a plushie cat head sewn at the top of it.

Standing up and stretching her arms, the girl then looked at me again, pausing for a few moments before asking, "Who are you?"

"I...I'm Bera. Bera Haikiko. The Ultimate Tailor." I smiled, trying to appear friendly, and extended a hand for a handshake. "You?"

Chiaki looked at my hand, as if I was handing her something, and seemed confused for several moments. However, something eventually clicked for her, as she quickly looked up at me. "Chiaki Nanami. I'm the Ultimate Gamer. Video games are a hobby of mine, and I enjoy playing every genre of them. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too, Chiaki. Should we get out of this room, whatever it is?"

Chiaki looked around silently, as did I. There were four rows of four seats, for a total of 16 seats. There was a large screen on one of the walls, along with what looked like a security camera. a door was on the opposite wall.

Chiaki spoke first. "This appears to be a movie theater. That door in the back seems to be the way out of here. Since we're a party of two, who should be the tank, you or me?"

I cocked my head, confused. "The tank?"

Chiaki tilted her head back at me. "The tank always goes first in the party, and protects them from any threats. Everyone follows the tank, wherever they go. Now, should you tank, or should I?"

It finally dawned on me what Chiaki was asking. Who should go through the door first, her or me?

I nodded. "I'll go first. Can I be a rogue tank, though? I don't wanna be seen by bad guys."

Chiaki paused for several moments, then answered me. "An odd build, but this early in the game, it could work. I'll follow your lead, Bera."

Carefully, I opened the Movie Theater door...

And entered a nightmare realm that would make home feel like heaven.