The highschool student Shuuichi one day saves a fairy named Sylphie from drowning and she agrees to give him one wish. Shuuichi wants a cute girl as a Childhood Friend. Sylphie can't create a new person or alter history, so she fulfills his wish by turning Shuuichi's male childhood friend Iori Osanai into a girl referred to as "Shiori". However, Shiori is able to change herself back into Iori at will—so long as she's resolute in insisting she's a guy. Determined to see Shuuichi's wish granted, Sylphie sets out to turn Iori into a girl as much and for as long as possible!
Tropes:
- Adopted to the House: Shuuichi's parents are out-of-town long term, so he lives at Iori's house. Once Iori starts becoming a girl, their teacher expresses (largely unfounded) worry they will go From Roommates to Romance.
- Ambiguously Absent Parent: Iori's mother is the only one besides Iori and Shuuichi shown in their house; his father goes unmentioned.
- Ambiguously Gay: One of the minor students, the girl with black hair and large glasses, seems very fond of Shiori. She's excessively vocal about Shiori's cuteness and usually blushes in her presence. As part of a contest, she gets Shiori to confess love to a whole crowd—an instruction given by showing Shiori a sign that reads "I love you".
- And the Adventure Continues: Sylphie and Iori manage to work together to prevent Seraphie from erasing Iori's original identity and Shuuichi convinces her she would be violating the spirit of his wish if she succeeded. But Seraphie simply hands the task back to her daughter and informs her she can't return home until she completes it. Though they've perhaps grown some respect for each other, Sylphie and Iori will continue to fight over Iori's gender as before.
- Babies Ever After: The last volume has an epilogue which shows an older Shiori explaining to her son how she became a woman permanently in college after falling in love and marrying Shuuichi. This inspires her son to say he wants to grow up to be a girl like his mother did. Then the very last panel shows this was all Sylphie's idea of "the kind of ending we should all strive for". Shuuichi was amused, but Shiori and Miyu weren't.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Subverted; Iori turning into a girl was an unexpected consequence of Shuuichi's wish, but while Iori dislikes it, Shuuichi is perfectly pleased with it. This becomes a Double Subversion whenever it looks like Iori could be stuck permanently against his will, which Shuuichi doesn't approve of. This goes double when Sylphie's mother Seraphie finds it necessary to erase Iori in favor of Shiori in one way or another.
- Bedtime Brainwashing: Sylphia once whispered "You are a (perfect) girl." over and over to a sleeping Shiori, giving her an Anxiety Dream where she's stuck as a girl and dating Shuuichi.
- Benevolent Genie: Sylphie fulfills the intent of Shuuichi's wish as best as she can, though she's far from "benevolent" from Iori's perspective. She does ignore Shuuichi telling her to forget about the wish, but he's quite flippant about the issue. Her mother Seraphie is a darker twist with shades of Literal Genie: she cares about the spirit of the wish and wants to please Shuuichi, but doesn't understand how humans would react to the means or consequences. Even then, Shuuichi is able to convince Seraphie her drastic efforts were in err, and she gives the task back to her daughter.
- Bisexual Love Triangle: Neither Miyu's attraction to Iori nor Shuuichi's to Shiori is reciprocated, but they contrast otherwise. Miyu takes her crush on Iori too seriously to admit it, and Iori is too much of a Chaste Hero to take a hint. Shuuichi is openly flirtatious with Shiori exactly because he doesn't take the idea of loving her seriously, but Shiori is very consciously unhappy about it.
- Cover Drop: A comically-misleading one. The cover for volume 3 is Shiori in a wedding dress, holding the arm of a groom who is partially obscured, but appears to be Shuuichi. An illustration before the first chapter shows Shuuichi is the groom, but the whole thing is Shiori's nightmare.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Overlapping Double Standard: Rape, Female on Female, no one cares if Shiori gets sexually harrassed by other girls:
- Sumire has groped Shiori breasts several times out of jealousy for the latter's popularity. Despite Iori's distress, and being an absurd way for a teacher to handle her students, onlookers rarely give more than an awkward glance.
- When Tokuda is confused and thinks Shiori is a crossdressing boy, he confirms Shiori's breasts are real by grabbing another girls' arm to put her hands on them. Shiori is shocked, but Tokuda claims his method put him in the clear.Tokuda: Since you were touched by Yajima, a girl, it can't possibly be sexual harassment.
Shiori: Uhh... lately, I'm getting touched a lot...
- Everyone Has Standards:
- Shuuichi is a Jerkass who deeply enjoys watching Iori suffer as a result of his wish, but he still draws a line at mind control or taking advantage of him getting sick after caring for him.
- For as much as Sylphie enjoys humiliating Iori, she immediately rejects her mother's idea to curse Shiori with perpetual nudity so she'd be too bodily-conscious to ever change back. At the very least, she knows Shuuichi would be furious.
- Fairy Devilmother:
- Sylphie acts like a Fairy Godmother-wannabe to Shuuichi, trying to grant his wish to make him happy, but not caring how miserable she makes Iori. She's also driven by obsession with granting the wish in of itself and offense that her spells are being undone. Despite all this, so long as Shiori can change herself back into Iori, Sylphie's just treated as a nuisance.
- Her mother Seraphie fits the image of a fairy queen, but goes to even more extreme measures to fulfill the wish in her daughter's place. This is includes making everyone around think Shiori was always female, or outright brainwashing Shiori to act completely like a girl. All this while insisting she's doing them all a favor.
- First Law of Gender Bending: Zig-zagged; Sylphie is a powerful magical being who sees it as her duty to enforced the Law to grant Shuuichi's wish, changing Iori at every opportunity and sometimes scheming to make it permanent in one way or another. However, Iori being able to change back at all is quite exceptional—almost anyone else would be immediately stuck that way the first time. Ultimately, it remains an unsettled issue for the foreseeable future.
- Fun T-Shirt: One of the first outfits Sylphie puts Shiori in has a blouse emblazoned with the message "I accept that I am a girl. I live as a female throughout life♥"
- Gender Bender: Sylphie's magic powers are vast and broadly defined, but she almost solely uses them to change Iori into a girl—and alter his clothes and hair—because it's part of the wish.
- Gender Bender Angst: Despite everyone else's approval, Sylphie trying to turn Iori into a girl and keep her that way is at best a severe nuisance. His frustration is mostly played for humor, but Iori genuinely fears he'll stop being able to see himself as a boy, be stuck as a girl, and cease to even be the same person. However, time spent as Shiori eventually becomes less alienating, making Iori more confident he can change back when he wants. When Seraphie actually does try to destroy Iori's original identity, he's able to hold it together until Sylphie saves him. In the end, Iori comes to see fighting off Sylphie's magic as a fun competition.
- Gender-Bender Friendship:
- Zig-zagged with Miyu. She'd much rather spend time with her crush Iori than Shiori, but her respecting that he'd rather be a boy does lead to them becoming friends. Becoming Shiori also lets her visit Miyu house, something her Boyfriend-Blocking Dad doesn't allow from any boy.
- While the boys mostly just lust after Shiori, the girls in her class consider her a friend and act more familiar than with Iori. Though Iori generally considers this an annoyance, we do occasionally see Shiori enjoying company among the girls.
- Gorgeous Garment Generation: Sylphie usually changes Iori's clothes to match Shiori's body, and often even more after that. Sylphie can make any clothing in an instant, and spends an early chapter putting Shiori in every ridiculous outfit her classmates requested. Her turning back into Iori reverses the clothes' transformation as well—but this has no effect on normal clothes Shiori put on without magic.
- Inconsistent Spelling: The scanlation originally spelled the fairy's name "Sylphy" but eventually changed it to "Sylphie".
- Jumping the Gender Barrier: Subverted and parodied; Iori's transformation only leads to a Childhood Friend Romance with Shuuchi in Sylphie's imagination and Shiori's nightmares. Even as Shiori gets more used to being a girl, even around Shuuchi, she never shows any attraction to him.
- Just Woke Up That Way: A non-surprising version; Iori can't deflect Sylphie's magic while sleeping and so frequently wakes up as Shiori. Often, this is public, because Iori often falls Asleep in Class—a habit that gets worse because of Sylphie's nighttime interruptions.
- Makeover Torment:
- Sylphie often puts Shiori in very girly outfits to undermine her ability to change back—and sometimes just to humiliate her.
- As Sylphie takes suggestions from Shiori's class for new outfits, most of the girls pick regular clothes just because they think she looks cute, but Shiori objects in a way that comes off as misogynist. Offended, they decide to spend the next two hours keeping Shiori stuck in girl form while putting her in impractically fancy outfits (with the guys throwing in skimpy or fetishistic ones). After a yukata and gothic lolita dress, the chapter ends with Shiori already tearfully begging forgiveness.
- Named by Democracy: Although Iori technically came up with the name "Shiori" for his girl form, it spreads against his wishes thanks to Shuuichi. After spending an extended time as a girl to keep the transformation secret, it becomes so ingrained that the class spend some time calling him "Shiori-chan" even in male form.
- No Sympathy: Most of Iori's classmates brazenly disrespect that he'd rather stay a boy, openly cheering when Sylphie changes him against his will, because they like Shiori better.
- Punny Name: Iori's name in Japanese order is "Osanai Iori", which sounds nearly identical to "Osana (Childhood Friend) Iori".
- Resistant to Magic: Iori is able to fend off Sylphie's transformation with Heroic Willpower, but only so long as he exerts it consciously while confident he is male. Near the end, Seraphie shows his resistance can be overcome with the caster's own willpower, but only so long as they're exerting themselves.`
- Second Law of Gender-Bending:
- So long as it remains on a temporary basis, Iori becomes gradually more comfortable spending time as Shiori, and even enjoys it in some circumstances. Most obviously, after trying to stay a boy for swim class, Shiori enjoys free swimming with the girls when the boys' swim coach has a much harsher exercised routine planned. Cue the boys readily denouncing Shiori as a traitor while she's having fun being a girl. Iori also begins to willingly turn into a girl to avail of his far better cooking skills as Shiori, especially when he himself is a Lethal Chef otherwise. By the end, Iori has ceased fearing Sylphie's meddling will force him to be a different person, and seems to enjoy their rivalry.
- Sylphie sometimes invokes this trope to argue Iori should stop resisting. She is astoundingly unconvincing, especially when she thinks Shiori should hook up Shuuichi. More seriously, Seraphie thinks making Shiori "happy" with being a girl justifies tricking or forcing her to believe she was always a girl.
- Iori's classmates likewise think he should be fine living as Shiori—the guys just want another cute girl around, but the girls genuinely feel like advocating for the quality of their own sex. The "upsides" they lists are ridiculously trivial (women-only promotional events, a slight increase in life expectancy) or just make Shiori more disturbed (getting gifts from guys, wearing cute clothes).
- One What If? omake shows if Shuuichi became a girl instead of Iori, and the latter is shocked how eager Shuuichi looks. Another shows if Iori and Miyu both changed genders; the former seems fine with it because it "balances out".
- Secretly Selfish: Unlike everyone else, Miyu listens to Iori when he says he doesn't like becoming a girl, instead of openly favoring Shiori. However, even this is more self-serving than she lets on, as Miyu is only attracted to Iori, and any sign of Shiori enjoying being a girl makes her upset.
- Sensei-chan: Sumire is a bitter but no more mature variant. An attractive woman in her late twenties whose boyfriend recently left her for a younger woman, Sumire tries to use her class (or anyone else) to feel better about her looks. Usually this leads to her resenting Shiori's popularity with her classmates and wasting all the class' time on personal frivolities.
- Sex Shifter: Functionally, Sylphie and Iori/Shiori are so persistent in causing/preventing/reversing the latter's sex changes, Iori is usually male when consciously confident in his masculinity and usually female otherwise (including when he's simply unconscious or otherwise distracted).
- Shapeshifter Mode Lock:
- As Iori can revert back by simply and confidently stating that he is male, he'll be stuck as Shiori if prevented from doing so. Most often this occurs temporarily by making Shiori highly conscious of her female body, such as forcing her to look at her photo or reflection.
- The most long-term lock occurs when Sylphie uses a potion that causes Iori's speech patterns to become more feminine. As Shiori can't say she's anything but a girl and the potion's effects were meant to last for centuries, the transformation seems to be permanent... until it turns out that the potion also wears off as soon as the affected cries, allowing her to transform back a day after.
- Near the end of the story, Seraphie teaches Sylphie they can overwhelm Iori's magic resistant through their own force of will, making and keeping him in Shiori form regardless of what he says. However, it only works until they stop consciously focusing on him, after which Shiori can revert back as normal. Seraphie thus concludes they must somehow make Shiori think she was always a girl, thus turning a temporarily lock into a permanent one.
- Sobriquet Sex Switch: Iori's female form is known as "Shiori", a portmanteau of the original name and the English pronoun "she". When Shiori is pretending to have always been a girl, she uses the surname "Yamauchi", an Alternate Character Reading of "Osanai". This started as an improvised alias for Iori's mother, but Shuuichi decided to tell that whole class.
- Third Law of Gender-Bending:
- Sylphie variously tries to make Shiori feel more feminine to prevent her from changing back into Iori, directly effecting the Third Law to bring about the First.
- Since Sylphie's trying to fulfill Shuuichi's wish for a "cute childhood girl friend", Shiori experiences some changes beyond physical sex to better embody his ideal girl. Shuuichi likes Cute Clumsy Girls, so Shiori is a much worse athlete than Iori, but a much better cook. Though not specified, this may be why Shiori is considered extremely cute.
- Shiori's body language is distinctly feminine, constantly posting her arms in front, sticking out her chest, and crossing her legs. This is comically demonstrated when Iori's inelegant slump-over stance becomes Shiori's "sexy pose". This is combined with her frustration usually taking the form of blushing and sputtering.
- Despite annoyance at constantly being called cute, Shiori is upset the few times her feminine charm is questioned. When Sumire has Sylphie put Shiori in a cheongsam just to call her a "little girl" that can't pull it off, Shiori is deeply hurt and does a bad job covering it. After Shuuichi fakes the effects of a Love Potion, then mocks the idea of ever actually falling for Iori, Shiori's reaction couldn't be any more girly: she tears up, Bitch Slaps Shuuchi hard enough to leave a mark, and pouts that she doesn't care what he thinks.
- Unplanned Crossdressing: After shopping with her (unknowing) mother, Shiori changes back into Iori and is surprised the new (girls') clothes she wore home remained. Sylphie withheld how only Iori's original clothes would change back, and that those were left in a coffee shop, to leave Iori on the street in girls' clothing. Then she tries to take advantage of him wanting to change into a girl for once to extract an apology for an earlier insult.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: More than once Sylphie has gone a few days without pestering Iori, but turns out to have spent that time cooking up a plan to cause more trouble. Once she even pretended to have been caught in his trap just so he would drop his guard at school.
