The gym doors slid open with a metallic hiss as you stepped inside beside Mira. The familiar scent of rubber mats, steel plates, and disinfectant filled the air. Usually she looked small next to the rows of towering machines and heavyweight lifters—slim shoulders, soft features, short brown bob-cut hair with two neat bun puffs tied above her ears.

But today, something was different.

Around her neck hung a polished jade pendant, glowing faintly beneath the lights.

You glanced at it. “Since when do you wear jewelry to the gym?”

Mira adjusted her thin blue glasses and smiled. “Since today.”

There was a strange confidence in her voice. A sharpness. She walked ahead of you toward the free-weight area, sneakers tapping softly against the floor. You followed, uneasy without knowing why.

“Mira... where did you even get that thing?”

She turned, lifting the pendant between two fingers.

“TV shop,” she said casually.

You laughed. “No way.”

She nodded. “The ad said it promised to increase strength.”

You smirked. “And you believed that?”

“I wanted to test it,” she replied, stepping closer. “Looks like I was right.”

Before you could answer, her hand touched your wrist.

A shock ran through your body—not pain, but a sudden draining emptiness. Your muscles weakened instantly, as though every bit of energy had been pulled from your veins. Your breath caught in your throat.

“Mira... what are you doing?”

Green light burst from the jade gem.

Mira inhaled sharply as her body began to change. Her shoulders broadened first, then her arms thickened with rising muscle. Her thighs tightened, calves carving into athletic definition. The white tank top she wore stretched across a chest and torso growing stronger by the second.

“Oh...” she whispered, staring at her own arm as a bicep swelled beneath smooth skin. “So that’s what it meant.”

You stumbled backward, legs trembling. “Stop!”

She looked at you through glowing green eyes.

“No,” she said quietly. “I think it can do much more.”

In one swift motion she stepped forward and grabbed the back of your neck.

Her grip was iron.

The jade pendant flared brilliantly, filling the gym corner with emerald light. You gasped as another wave of weakness poured out of you. Your knees nearly gave way.

Meanwhile, Mira rose taller.

Her spine straightened, height increasing inch by inch until she loomed over you. Her arms became massive, sculpted like a professional bodybuilder’s. Defined shoulders rounded outward, abs forming sharply beneath the stretched tank top. Her pink shorts tightened around powerful hips and thick, muscular legs.

She released your neck only long enough to flex one arm, staring in amazement at the peak of her bicep.

“Incredible,” she murmured.