A Government Conspiracy?

After deliberating about my current scenario for about ten minutes, I finally calmed down.

Well, calm down wasn’t the best way to put it.

I was still very much shocked about the current situation, but sitting and crying all day wouldn’t help.

“What to do… what to do?”

I walked over to my trusted desk where my PC stood, humming powerfully in the background.

If there was one thing that had never betrayed me during these terrible times, it was my PC.

We shared a tangential bond, having gone through many trials and tribulations together.

Sailing the seven seas of the internet, done.

Writing scathing comments on YouTube, done. Looking at, ehm, restricted cont—well, you get the point.

Opening the browser tab, I went straight onto Moogle.

My smaller-than-normal hands tried typing instinctively, only for them to misjudge the distance between my fingers and the keyboard.

‘I still have to get used to this.’

Now having to physically look at the keys that I was clicking, I scoured the web for any similar cases to mine.

Surely, there must have been others who went through a peculiar transformation from awakening.

‘I can’t be the only one.’

I typed the first thing my brain could form.

“Awakening turned me into a girl”

Moogle returned exactly what I deserved.

A dozen cosplay articles. Three sketchy romance webcomics.

One medical forum post about identity exploration and two ads for miracle supplements.

I stared at the screen in silence.

“…This is not helpful,” I muttered.

I tried again.

“Awakening physical change case report"
“Hunter awakening body changed"
“Awakening mutation confirmed"

“Awakening grow fangs elf ears”

That one actually returned something.Not an official report or a news article but instead a thread on the Hunter Forum.

It was posted two years ago and the username made my stomach drop for no logical reason at all.

theyarewatching

The title was written like someone who drank paranoia for breakfast.

My cursor hovered over it.

Then clicked.

The post was long, formatted strangely, and full of the kind of confident certainty you only get from people who have never been fact-checked in their entire lives.

[THREAD] Physical changes after awakening are real. Govt is hiding it.

I overheard a conversation outside a licensing centre, people are changing after awakening. Not just mana, not just abilities but physical traits. Things like sharper teeth, pointed ears and eyes like animals. Even bones shifting. They say it’s a sign of a powerful awakening.The government restricts these cases because it causes panic and destabilises the guild market. Apparently they classify it as awakening variance and wipe related posts.

I blinked.

“…Okay,” I whispered. “So either this is real, or this guy needs to be introduced to sunlight.”

I scrolled.

The thread had hundreds of replies, and the comment section was exactly what you’d expect when you put hunters, conspiracy theories, and internet access in the same room.

User_SilverC: Bro you heard a conversation? That’s your evidence?
User_TinfoilTank: Finally someone says it. My cousin’s friend saw a guy with slit pupils.
User_ActualMedic: You’re describing cosmetic contacts and dental veneers. Please stop.
User_WardenHopeful: The government DOES seal high-risk awakening files. That part is true.
User_GateWatch: Here we go again. Another “they” post.
User_StormBlade: If I awaken and get elf ears I’m suing.

I kept scrolling, eyes scanning faster.

The original poster doubled down.

It isn’t cosmetic. It happens during high-stress awakenings, usually linked to high-rank output although not guaranteed. The one's who get exponential stronger get flagged and approached by the government. Their files become restricted.if you post about it, it gets deleted or buried.

Then the thread derailed into the usual forum madness.

One person claimed they awakened and their hair “naturally turned silver".

Another claimed their teeth got sharper, but also admitted they had braces.

Someone else posted a blurry photo that was clearly taken through a microwave.

Still, buried under the chaos, there was a pattern. People did not outright deny the possibility.

They argued about how often and how extreme, which meant the idea wasn’t totally alien.

It was like everyone collectively agreed the world was strange enough that maybe was always on the table.

That made my heart beat a little faster.

Physical change after awakening existed, at least in rumour form.

Which meant my situation wasn’t completely impossible.

I swallowed and typed.

site:huntersforum “gender swap” awakening
site:huntersforum “turned into a woman” awakening
site:huntersforum “sex changed” system
site:huntersforum “awakening” “male to female”

Nothing there were zero results. Infact the only thing that came up was a thread titled “If you could pick your awakening, what would you choose?” and someone replying, I’d pick being taller.

I sat back, stunned.

“No,” I whispered. “That can’t be right.”

I tried Moogle again, with a broader search this time.

“hunter awakening gender change”
“system awakening sex swap”
“awakening body change male female case”
“government restricted awakening gender change”

And yet again I got no results and was left staring at the empty search results like they were personally mocking me.

All I got were obscure fantasy blogs, online arguments about biology and an article titled Top 10 Movies Where Someone Wakes Up as a Different Gender.

This was not a movie. This was my life.

I rubbed my temples.

“Okay,” I said slowly. “So sharp teeth, elf ears, and glowing eyes are apparently plausible enough to argue about for two years straight, but a gender swap is where society draws the line.”

I scrolled deeper into the 'theyarewatching' thread, hoping someone had asked the question I needed.

Eventually I found it.

User_RanklessRant: If this is real, has anyone ever fully changed? Like whole-body?
User_TinfoilTank: Whole-body changes would be wiped instantly.
User_ActualMedic: Whole-body changes would kill you. Stop.
theyarewatching: I don't know, but if they did happen they would definitely be rare. You would not see public records. Those cases would be sealed.

My throat tightened.

That line was like a door half-opened and slammed shut in the same breath.

No proof or details, no links or names. Nothing usable.

"Great they've given me just enough to make me feel afraid, yet too little to give me an adequate lead."

I scrolled and scrolled, then finally hit the bottom.

A dead end, looks like this was as far as I was going to get for now, realising this I leaned back into my chair and stared at the ceiling.

“So what you’re saying,” I muttered, “is that the only person who might have an answer is a forum conspiracy account named ‘theyarewatching’.”

My stomach growled.

"Can't you wait, I've got bigger problems."

I looked down at my hands resting on the keyboard. Slimmer fingers. Smaller palms. Skin smoother.

Everything about my body felt wrong in the same way a shirt feels wrong when you put it on inside out and then spend the whole day trying to pretend it isn’t bothering you.

“Alright,” I said quietly.  Let's look at my options.

Option 1) pretend this wasn’t happening. That option died immediately.

Option 2) go outside and ask for help. That option also died immediately, because “help” would involve explaining the situation, and explaining the situation would involve other people seeing me, and I had a strong feeling that if I stepped outside like this, something terrible would happen, like a hunter recruiter would appear out of nowhere and say, “Congratulations, we’ve been looking for you.”

Option 3) Hide my identity change, whilst getting stronger, and then maybe finding the cause along the way. I liked the sound of option 3 it was very enticing.

Coming to a decision I pushed myself up from the chair and immediately felt my balance shift again. I steadied myself on the desk, grimacing.

“Now we can solve my hunger problems."

Then I quicky paused and glanced down at myself.

I was wearing my own oversized shirt, which now hung off my shoulders like I was cosplaying “girl in an opening scene before disaster.”

My shorts were still mine, but they fit extremely large.

I sighed. Looks like a fashion change was needed.

The only issue was that I didn't think that I had any clothes that could fit this newer and smaller frame.

I stood up and took two steps before bumping my hip into the desk corner.

The desk corner had been in the same place for years. It seemed that I was the one who had apparently relocated my entire existence, so that was on me.

“Owww... okay,” I muttered. “New body, new hitbox.”

I opened my wardrobe, and my confidence died instantly.

My clothes stared back at me like a pile of evidence.

Most of it was hoodies, T-shirts, joggers, and the occasional “this will motivate me to go gym” outfit that had never once motivated me to go gym.

None of them would do, eventually somewhere in the depth of the pile I managed to pull out a semi-acceptable hoodie.

I held it up to myself, squinting like that would change the laws of physics.

It would work, probably. Hoodies were the great equaliser, nobody questioned a hoodie.

A hoodie could hide a multitude of sins, including but not limited to: social anxiety, bad hair days, and apparently spontaneous gender reassignment.

Now the only thing left was finding fitting pants.