@Lecic honest question, how will this story be
more interesting from this being a trans thing instead of a magic thing, because in terms of this first chapter, the only single thing that would have changed is a single line. it doesnt seem as if you fully know, since you just say 'probably', so i'd like to see how you see this being better.
one thing that upsets me about people with this "trans vs magic" argument is that they treat it as if its the same, but the author doesnt want to bring trans topics into it, so they just say magic, but is that really true? because clearly one is an "intentional operation" while one isnt, and id absolutely argue theres merit to both with story potential to both. in such a case, it appears as if the childhood friend has already experienced the disease for a while, possibly for a few years and seems somewhat used to it, but there will a lot of cases in this series where we will probably see thats not the case, and see his personal issues with this thing that was caused to him, which would not be the case if this was an intentional operation.
so why do you think it would be more interesting if it went the trans way? if its because you enjoy the story possibilities that come with it more, then sure, power to you, but then you should state that you'd personally enjoy it more, and not, that it would be better in general, because thats not true to everyone.