Part 1
"Prelude"
Tonight, I'm gon' be rocking it, dropping it
Shake my ass, no stopping it
I look hot in it, hot in it, I look hot in it
As Aoi Sato hummed along to Charli XCX, she sadly knew this would be the highlight of her day. She was on her way to the grocery store, her current job as a merchandiser. A job that was going nowhere that she hated. Her boss was a jerk too. So traditional, he would always make fun of the girly she looked. Secretly she loved that someone thought she looked girly, but it was not coming from a nice place.
When did everything go wrong for Aoi? Was it when her mother died when she was a baby? Was it when she told her father she was a trans woman pansexual, which he dismissed and, with his strict authoritarian, convinced her it wasn't true? It could be the racism she faces from being half-Japanese, or it could have been when she dropped out of San Diego State University because she couldn't handle it. You would have thought moving from Iowa to California would have led to an easier change in Aoi's life, but hiding for so long made it easier to stay hidden. Nobody knew about her being pansexual. Nobody knew that she was a trans woman. Heck, nobody knew she loved pop music.
The only people who really saw her were her boys: Cameron, Brandon, and Jackson. Every Sunday afternoon, they got together at Brandon and Jackson's place for the last few years to play poker. It was not only the highlight of her week, but since she would win more than she lost, it was essential to keeping her ahead of her bills.
A sexy girl with short shorts walked by, and Aoi's gaze was drawn to her ass. She looked like a slut, but damn, she was hot. Aoi noticed; all eyes were on the slutty girl. Jealousy and arousal rose in Aoi's eyes before she continued her march to work.
She sighed as she saw the store, her prison for the next 8 hours. Her image was reflected back to her, something she hated. An androgynous half-Asian with shaggy hair and a slim figure trying to be hidden under bulky clothes and an oversized hoodie. The Aoi on the outside was nothing she liked to think about, so she walked into work and started a mental countdown to the end of her shift.
Later that evening, she was at home, after finishing her ramen, on her laptop. Already exhausting her queue of RPG games she adored, she was mindlessly browsing. She wasn't sure whether for a new game or a quick way to make money. Google was taking her all over the place down many rabbit holes. That was until she reached an ad that would change her life.
"Her Body, Your Choice" jolted onto the screen with such force that Aoi was in shock.
Before she closed the annoying ad, her eyes caught the smaller text underneath the ridiculous title. "One closeted trans woman will be transformed from nothing into a star. Plus a chance to win 10 million dollars."