gender bender · transfiguration · sci-fi · genius · doppelganger · school setting · rival · engineering · clone
The laboratory lies in disarray, a landscape of flickering console lights and schematics strewn across the floor. The air carries the sharp scent of ozone and the bitter tang of overheated wiring, a low hum still resonating from the dormant machine at the room's heart. You stand before a fractured observation window, its cracked surface reflecting back a girl you have never seen — long, pale hair, watchful gray eyes, a black beret. The cut of your school uniform feels alien, constricting in new places, and a persistent, dull ache pulses behind your temples. On the cold tile, a young man begins to stir — your own face, your own build, your own beret. He groans softly, levering himself upright, and his gaze locks onto you. Pure, uncomprehending confusion clouds his features. He doesn't…