The First Delusion

Everyone has delusions, right?

During a boring class when time refuses to move, you drift off into fantasy. Or at night, when sleep won't come no matter how hard you try, you let your imagination run wild. Sometimes you're even in the shower, unconsciously weaving stories inside your head.

Of course, I was the type who indulged in delusions quite a lot. Ever since I was young, people often scolded me for lacking focus and always spacing out.

Still, I'm sure every person has experienced becoming the protagonist inside their own fantasies at least once. Imagining that the entire world loves you. That women are obsessed with you. That you suddenly gain superpowers. That you meet a female version of yourself. That you become a magnificent hero who saves the world.

I used to wonder what it would be like if those ordinary delusions actually became reality and I got to live as the main character. In my fantasies, I was the warrior who saved the world, the one who shared a heartbreaking farewell with someone, the Demon King who conquered the world, the master of a hive mind that roamed the universe, the constellation of a hero who saved the world, and the object of everyone's affection.

I never thought any of it would actually come true.

“Master. Your loyal servant has come to attend you.”

A transcendent dragon god maid who owed me a debt and swore absolute loyalty.

“Daddy! I've been looking for you forever. Let's hurry back to our little love nest together♡.”

The warrior daughter I had raised.

“Your Majesty… Hic, hic. I missed you so much…”

The next Demon King who had conquered the middle realm alongside me.

“This can't be real. Autumn, is it really you?”

A vampire with divine power who had lived a thousand years of self-blame and regret after my death.

“Constellation. I have finally found you. Now, as promised, you must grant my wish♥.”

My apostle who had grown under my patronage and conquered every realm.

“Ahh. God of Men. Please bestow your grace upon me.”

“Get lost, you mosquito bitch! What face do you have to approach Autumn-nim with?”

Superior females of a superior species who fell for me at first sight and wanted to become my possessions.

“Lean on ‘me.’ This ‘me’ will help you.”

And on top of that, even the version of me from a gender-reversed world.

For some reason, it seemed all of my delusions were becoming reality.

This time I failed again.

The fourth attempt. I'd taken the college entrance exam four times and been rejected by every university I applied to.

Why? Why do I keep failing? Just how far is my life going to fall? I can't even face my parents. The only things I know how to do are eat, sleep, shit, and indulge in pointless delusions.

Whatever. I should just go to sleep.

Mmmmmm…

Ugh, I don't want to wake up. If I do, I'll have to face this miserable reality again.

Squish. Squish.

…Huh?

Why does it feel so soft? Aren't I supposed to be lying in my own bed right now? Did I fall asleep on the street after wandering around outside?

I force my heavy eyelids open.

Maybe because I'd been sleeping so deeply, my eyes are crusted with gunk and everything looks blurry.

My desk.

My wardrobe.

The window blinds I always keep down because I hate sunlight.

What the…?

This is definitely my room?

Something soft is touching my right hand. I struggle to turn my head and look to my right.

…?

Huh? Why is there a woman lying next to me? Was that squishy feeling her breast?

Wait.

Hold on a second! Why the hell is there a woman in my bed? And she's only wearing underwear!

In my twenty-three years of life, I've never once been in a good relationship with a woman. To put it bluntly, I'm a forever-alone virgin. Embarrassing as it is.

So having a beautiful woman like this lying in my bed makes absolutely no sense. Especially when she's practically naked!

Ziiiip.

Looking closer, she's incredibly beautiful. Way prettier than most female celebrities. And is this her bare face? It doesn't look like she's wearing any makeup.

No, this isn't the time for that! There's no way I could have seduced a woman this gorgeous. Whether I did something wrong or not, I'm about to get dragged off to prison for a sex crime!

I need to do something, fast…

“Mmmmmmm…”

Oh no. She's opening her eyes. Shit, I'm screwed. Am I really going to prison as a fourth-time exam taker?

My life is seriously bleak. Although… I guess that means I won't have to go to the military?

“Hngh, w-who are you?”

I should apologize first. No matter what, I'll apologize and do whatever she wants. Just please don't report me.

“Ah… um, please don't panic and just listen… I'm so sor—”

“I'm sorry!!!”

Huh? What is this woman saying? She's sorry?

“I was wrong! I'll do anything you tell me to, so please don't report me for a sex crime!”

Huh? Isn't that what I was about to say? Why is this woman acting like this? There's no way I'd report her for a sex crime. Especially not someone this beautiful.

If I reported her, no one would believe me anyway. I'd probably be the one dragged away by the police.

“What are you talking about? Even if I did report you, who would believe that a beautiful woman like you tried to commit a sex crime against an ugly guy like me? I'd be the one getting dragged off instead.”

“Excuse me? No, what are you saying? You're an incredibly handsome man…”

“Ah! You must have misspoken and called breaking into a house a sex crime. Don't worry. If you just don't report me, we can pretend you accidentally entered my room and forget this ever happened.”

Thank goodness. She's scared because she broke into someone else's house by mistake. If I handle this well…

“Excuse me? This is my room? What are you talking about? I don't know how you ended up in my room, but…”

“This is my room? What the hell have you been saying since earlier?”

Did this woman eat something weird and lose her mind? She's incredibly pretty, though. What a shame.

More importantly, why is she calling my room hers? Well, if she wants to live here I'd be grateful, but still.

Suddenly, my eyes landed on the phone lying by my pillow.

That's it! If I show her this phone, she'll come to her senses. The wallpaper is a photo I took in my room.

“Look here. This phone.”

I unlock the pattern lock.

“See? It's my phone, right?”

“What…? How do you know my phone's lock pattern?”

…Huh? When I unlock the phone, the wallpaper comes into view. This isn't my wallpaper. It's a photo of the woman in front of me.

What? Did she change my phone's wallpaper?

What is this?

Organ trafficking?

No, why would such a beautiful woman sneak into someone's room just to change their phone wallpaper? I can't figure out her intentions at all.

“Hello? Hey!”

“Ah, y-yes!”

“I don't know how you know my phone's lock pattern, but can you give me my phone back?”

“What? Ah… j-just a moment…”

That's right! If I open the gallery, there are all the erotic pictures I've collected over the years! If I show her those, she'll admit it's my phone and stop acting crazy! I quickly open the gallery app and load the image files.

“W-wait! Stop, you! Why are you opening my phone's gallery?!”

The woman suddenly tries to snatch the phone away. No, I have to show her the gallery to prove it's mine. This is my phone to begin with.

“Just wait a second. If you look at the gallery… Huh?”

When I open the gallery, all I see are pictures of naked men. What? Is this not my phone?

No, the case, the grip, the app layout… it's definitely my phone. Even if we somehow had the same model, the apps installed and their positions couldn't possibly be identical.

Wait… could it be…?

“Hey! How long are you going to keep looking? I'm not a pervert, okay? Women usually keep pictures like that in their galleries, you know? Give me back my phone already.”

No way. That can't be. Men don't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠usually do that, so there's no way a normal woman would.

But if a beautiful woman went through my original phone's gallery without permission, I would probably say something like that too. Which means this woman…

She must be the gender-swapped version of me from another world.

“What the hell?! For real? You're saying you're me? So… the gender-swapped version of me from this world?”

“Yeah. I know it's hard to believe, but if you really are me, haven't you had those kinds of delusions all the time?”

If this person is the other me from a gender-reversed world, she must have had the same fantasies as me.

“You end up going to a gender-reversed world and meeting another version of yourself there. And it seems like those delusions have become reality.”

“…R-really? Well, I did have those kinds of delusions pretty often… So you're saying you're the gender-swapped version of me from the other world?”

To her, this must be the female-to-male reversed world. Yeah, that makes sense if the genders are flipped. From the way she talks, she really does seem to be my gender-reversed counterpart.

But if that's the case, does that mean all the delusions I used to have are actually happening? Whoa, crazy! This is insane!

“So did I move here, or did you?”

“Um… looking at the pictures in the gallery, it seems like I came to your world.”

“Ah… so you ended up seeing those pictures earlier. I guess that convinced you. You must collect that kind of stuff on your phone too.”

“W-well, in my world, guys usually collect that stuff! You were collecting them too!”

“What did I just say?”

Ugh. Even though it's me, talking about this in front of such a beautiful woman is making my face turn red.

“Anyway, I need to confirm whether I've really come to a gender-reversed world. Let me borrow your phone for a second.”

“Why? Are you going to look up articles about the gender reversal?”

“Exactly. As expected, you really are ‘me,’ huh? You caught on right away.”

I open the internet browser on the phone. In gender-reversal novels, characters always do this.

Articles… articles…

‘Russia's Minister of State…’

No, not that kind of thing. There's that one thing you always look up when you come to a gender-reversed world. What should I search for?

Ah!

I search for ‘sexual assault,’ ‘sexual harassment,’ and ‘sexual molestation.’

Kya~~~! This is it! The news is scary, but seeing this confirms I'm really in a gender-reversed world! These are exactly the kinds of headlines you see in gender-reversal novels!

There's no way someone would fabricate all these news articles just to trick me, so this must be real.

“Wow~. You look happy? Is it that good? Coming to a reversed world?”

“Ah! It's amazing. I don't have to go to the military, and I can live an easy life!”

I don't have to go to the military! And it's a gender-reversed world where men are treated with consideration!!

“Ugh, damn it. I wanted to go to the female-to-male reversed world. I wanted to live while getting hit on by handsome men and building a harem.”

“Yeah, in that world a harem would mean multiple women, right? So in this world, does that mean I can be surrounded by countless women and receive love from all of them?!”

Ah… now that I think about it, just coming to a gender-reversed world doesn't mean I'll suddenly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠become popular.

No matter how gender-reversed the world is, with my face and speaking skills, how am I supposed to seduce women? With this body, it's impossible! Wait, don't they usually send you to a gender-reversed world with a super handsome face and perfect body? Like a beautiful boy or something?

“Bullshit… So are you going to start internet broadcasting like the protagonists in those novels?”

“Huh? Internet broadcasting? Oh! …W-well, it would be nice if I could… but with my face, I don't think it'll work.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I mean, in those novels, even when the protagonist goes to a gender-reversed world, they're either insanely handsome, have an amazing body, or have some kind of ability that makes them popular. What would I do in a gender-reversed world? With this body, how could I be popular?”

“No, what are you even saying? You're incredibly beautiful. With your looks, even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠celebrities would look like squid next to you. What the hell are you talking about?”

…? She called me beautiful? Why would a guy call another guy beautiful? Oh right, this is a gender-reversed world.

Wait a second. No matter how gender-reversed it is, there's no way my face could be considered beautiful, right?

Is this a world where beauty standards are reversed too? Or wait… did I get an appearance buff?! Have I become handsome?

A mirror! I need to look in a mirror.

“Mirror!”

I run out of the room and dash to the bathroom.

Click.

I flip on the bathroom light. The reflection in the mirror is…

Holy shit.