Is gender-bending time travel the latest trend?

Time rolled forward. The gathering had just begun.

Kyosuke Hojo looked with complete boredom at his subordinates below, who were gleefully treating Tokyo Manji as mere appetizers on a plate. He really wanted to tell them that the president of Tokyo Manji was someone who could trigger sudden power-ups, so they had better watch out before they crashed and burned.

"How boring. I should just end the meeting and go for a joyride with Celty, though it's my turn to give her a ride this time." At the thought of the impact waves he was about to enjoy, Kyosuke felt a flutter in his chest, and then he stretched lazily.

*Yawn~*

Before he had even opened his eyes, Kyosuke realized the external environment had changed. A portion of light was already piercing through his eyelids onto his retina, and Nezu Shrine never had light this bright.

Gathering his wits, Kyosuke cautiously opened his eyes.

"Mitsuha, what's wrong? If you're too tired, go get some rest."

The speaker was a silver-haired old woman wearing a black yukata. She must have been talking to him.

"Mm-mm, it's fine." Kyosuke smiled and shook his head, then lowered his gaze, pretending to get back to work.

As a transmigration veteran, he was far too familiar with this trope. This was simply a secondary transmigration; the only regret was for those young girls...

Wait, young girls?!

This body called Mitsuha was actually female!

Kyosuke lowered his head and easily caught sight of the brick-red yukata stretched taut across a prominent swell on his chest. A moment of tentative self-exploration revealed the unmistakable anomaly in his physiology.

Is transmigrating into a woman the latest trend now?

While mentally complaining, Kyosuke swiftly scanned his surroundings.

In front of him were several braiding machines, and the items being woven appeared to be braided cords known as kumihimo. He had just been holding one in his hand earlier.

Beside him, a little girl with twin pigtails and a pink yukata was busy winding thread onto an hourglass-shaped spool.

Kyosuke reached out, picked up a spool, and examined it closely.

"Put it in the third empty slot across, Mitsuha. What are you zoning out for?" The silver-haired old woman lowered her head, looking up through the upper, unmagnified portion of her reading glasses at Kyosuke.

"Understood." Kyosuke kept smiling and prepared to follow the old woman's instructions.

Then, looking at the circular braiding loom in front of him, he fell into silence. The third slot? Counting from left to right or right to left? Should he start counting from the blue one or the red one?

"Big sis, you're such an idiot! You told me to concentrate, but you're just as scatterbrained yourself. Grandma meant right here!"

The pigtailed little girl put down her spool, grabbed Kyosuke's hand directly, and placed the spool into the correct position.

So this old woman was this body's grandmother.

"Mitsuha, why don't you guide Yotsuha for a bit," Grandma glanced at Kyosuke again.

"Yay!" The little girl Yotsuha cheered, then shoved Kyosuke aside and sat down right in front of the braiding loom.

This body is so weak; even a little girl can push me away. Kyosuke sat quietly in seiza off to the side, observing the room while deep in thought.

Whether to educate Mitsuha or simply to tell a story to keep her granddaughters awake, the grandmother began to speak.

"You must listen to the voice of the cords so that emotions can flow through time, between people, and through the braids."

Kyosuke confirmed it—she was indeed lecturing him, but he maintained his smile. Yes, when you have no idea what's going on, all you need to do is keep smiling.

Yotsuha, however, piped up in objection: "Cords don't talk."

"Yotsuha, you wove that thread wrong!" Grandma reprimanded.

"Ah," Yotsuha hurriedly made corrections.

"I think Grandma means you should pay more attention," Kyosuke said with a smile, shifting the blame. As a professional slacker, one must master the art of nodding, agreeing, and applauding so that no one discovers you are completely incompetent at everything.

Grandma continued her tale:

"Woven into the cords we create is the thousand-year history of Itomori. Listen well. This goes back two hundred years. A fire broke out in the bathhouse of Gengoro the sandal-maker, burning down the entire district. The shrine and all the old documents were reduced to ashes. That is what is commonly known as the Great Gengoro Fire."

A bathhouse fire? And it burned down the entire neighborhood?

Wasn't this just a disaster caused by natural factors, but since records were lost, they just casually made up a forest-fire prevention story to scare the children? After all, the people of Nihon loved doing things like that.

Kyosuke complained inwardly, while Yotsuha chimed in aloud: "Eh? They even named it after him? Mr. Gengoro is so pitiful."

*Haha, what a cute little girl,* Kyosuke laughed silently to himself. *Look, the deterrent effect is already working, isn't it? If you don't want a fire named after you, you'd better behave.*

"And then there's that idiot son-in-law of mine. Not only did he abandon his priestly duties and run away from home, but he actually went into politics! What on earth is he thinking?" Grandma said indignantly.

*Oh ho, priestly duties and politics—this background is getting rather complicated.*

*Yawn.*

Even though he was usually wide awake when speeding down highways, Kyosuke was already feeling intensely drowsy.

"Mitsuha, if you're tired, go get some rest. Just finish the braiding before the Kagura dance. Yotsuha, you go rest too," Grandma said.

"Got it. Grandma, you should turn in early too." Kyosuke stood up immediately; he was simply too sleepy to go on.

Following silently behind Yotsuha, he noticed the house was quite large, with various unfamiliar buildings connected by wooden corridors.

"Big sis, why are you following me? Your room is next door," Yotsuha turned her head and looked at the older sister trailing her the whole way.

"Oh, I just realized I hadn't said goodnight to Yotsuha yet," Kyosuke casually made up an excuse.

"Goodnight, you silly big sis!" Yotsuha slammed her door shut with a bang.

Shaking his head, Kyosuke opened the adjacent door and stepped inside.

Switching on the light, a somewhat messy room came into view.

A stuffed bear sitting against the wall, scattered books, a hairdryer, a jewelry box... and a full-length mirror.

[Your Name · Mitsuha Miyamizu (Protagonist)]

*Bizarre, there's a cursor indicator. Am I caught up in some supernatural incident?*

Kyosuke thought of Celty, the Dullahan from *Durarara!!*. If non-human entities like that existed, it shouldn't be too strange for his consciousness to inhabit the body of a teenage girl named "Mitsuha Miyamizu."

Still, she was quite a pretty girl, Kyosuke thought as he looked at "himself" in the mirror, clad in a plain-colored yukata.

Surely she wouldn't sleep in this yukata, would she? The clothes would get wrinkled.

Kyosuke reached his hands around his back, found the bow-knot of his obi belt, and gave it a gentle tug.

Unwinding the belt loop by loop, the yukata instantly loosened. Kyosuke gripped the collar and pulled it backward, letting the brick-red yukata slip quietly to the floor.

Gazing at the radiant figure reflected in the mirror, Kyosuke swallowed hard. Perhaps because she had been wearing a yukata, the girl named Mitsuha wasn't wearing a bra.

How surreal...

With slightly nervous movements, he raised both hands.

*No, no, how can I do such a wicked thing to someone else's body?* Kyosuke fiercely reprimanded himself.

*Yawn~*

Stretching lazily, Kyosuke switched off the light and lay down on the futon. Once he pulled the blanket up, both of his hands naturally came to rest upon his own chest.

*Huh? Does the owner of this body habitually sleep like this?*

Well, then he couldn't be blamed. Kyosuke closed his eyes.