Arc-1 Ep-01
My name is Mikuri Kayanuma.
You might think Mikuri sounds like a girl’s name.
That’s understandable.
Because I am, in fact, a girl.
To be precise, my body is female—but my mind is male.
I have memories of my previous life. A life where I was born male, grew up like any ordinary person, graduated from university, and worked for a few years. It was an unremarkable life. The only notable thing about it was that I died saving someone. Though, since I died, I can’t say for sure whether I actually saved them.
After that, I met a being who claimed to be a god. According to this so-called deity, the person I saved was destined to become incredibly important to humanity. Apparently, their near-death situation was due to a mistake on the god’s part. The details were vague, but they said if I hadn’t intervened, that person would’ve definitely died.
As thanks—and as an apology—this god offered to reincarnate me with a few perks. As an unpopular, otaku guy, I’d read more than enough novels with setups like this.
Since I was allowed to choose to some extent, I asked to be reborn in a world similar to my original one. And I wished for abilities that would let me thrive as a top-tier idol or actor. My dream was to become a super popular idol, befriend lots of cute female idols, and maybe—just maybe—something more. I was desperate to trade in my drab life for one filled with admiration and affection.
This faceless, genderless god granted my outrageous requests without complaint. They even warned me that staying conscious from infancy would be mentally exhausting, so they arranged for my memories to return on my sixth birthday.
Naturally, I was grateful to this god as I drifted into the deep slumber of reincarnation.
Or so I thought at the time.
On the morning of my sixth birthday, I woke up with all the memories of my previous life—and the realization that I’d been reincarnated. But the immature brain of a six-year-old couldn’t immediately handle that flood of memories. It took quite a while for everything to settle and for my past and present selves to fully merge.
Once the process finished, I screamed in my bed.
The reason? I had somehow been reincarnated as a girl.
My parents rushed into the room at the sound, but the shock of being transgendered—on top of the strain from the memory merge—was too much. I passed out.
When I next opened my eyes, I was in a hospital bed. My mother, tearful, told me I’d been unconscious for over a day. After undergoing various tests, I was declared perfectly healthy and eventually sent home.
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After that, I lived as a normal girl.
Well—not exactly normal. The god had kept their promise... aside from the whole gender thing. Looking back, I never specified my gender, so it was probably easier for the god to make me female in order to fulfill the rest of my wishes.
By the way, I was thoroughly spoiled—adored as the pride and joy of the family. I’d been born long after my three older brothers, which probably added to the doting. I was enrolled in all kinds of classes—piano, violin, and other music-related ones. Thanks to the god’s cheat-like blessings, I showed exceptional talent in everything. People often told me I should pursue those paths, but I had no interest. For me, being cute wasn’t essential for a music career.
As an otaku, I had no aversion to yuri—in fact, as a former guy, I was much more opposed to the idea of romancing men. So, I decided to aim for a career as an idol. A beautiful girl idol who could get close to other cute girl idols, and live out my yuri dreams.
To make that happen, I begged my doting parents to let me enroll in a vocal training school. Thanks to my past-life knowledge, I didn’t need to spend much time on elementary school studies, leaving me plenty of room to prepare for my idol career.
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After graduating elementary school and entering middle school, I began seriously working toward my dream of becoming an idol. Specifically, I started researching idol groups to figure out which one I wanted to join.
Top priority? A group with lots of cute idols.
I never even considered the possibility of failing an audition. After all, I’d been granted cheat-level enhancements tailored for showbiz. There was no way I’d be rejected. Arrogant, maybe—but it was the truth, so what else could I say?
At first, I had my sights set on joining the biggest, most famous idol group.
That is—until I came across a photo of a rookie idol while looking into other groups. Her beauty rivaled—or maybe even surpassed—my own. The moment I saw her, I changed course.
No matter what, I had to join the mid-tier idol group she debuted in. That way, I could live out my sweet, yuri-filled days with her.