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Chihiro Fujisaki has always wanted to be a program.
Programs don't have genders, they just have code. They aren't mocked and teased for looking like a girl when they're a boy, because they aren't either.
If he was a program, would people love him more?
His father says it doesn't matter, but Taichi could never understand. He says he'll love Chihiro no matter what, and he doesn't doubt he would.
But he can't be this weak forever. He has to become a man.
That's why he admires Mondo and Leon. They're so strong, and they're everything he wants to be. So brave, so strong, so... not him.
He wants to be better. He tries to be better.
The world slams him into the dirt and refuses.
(He calls his father the day before the tragedy and apologizes. For being so weak, for being so girly, for... everything.
He hangs up before he can respond)
They're locked in the school, and he thinks this, this is his chance to be better. To be stronger. To be the kind of person that people can look at and know a boy. Not a girl.
Mondo and Leon are surprised, but excited. They help him tell the others, and aside from a few people, everyone seems accepting and refusing to taunt him. They treat him like the boy he is, and not the girl he pretended to be.
Ha.
What a lie.
He's a coward. Chihiro Fujisaki has always been a coward, and nothing can change that.
So he fulfills his dream - becoming a program. The program will know the truth, even if nobody else does.
(He gives it a name - the name of a girl who wouldn't have laughed, a girl who wouldn't hurt him - Chiaki Nanami. But to everyone else, it's just Alter Ego)
His hand ghosts over old scars as he sits in his room, his own weakness pounding in his chest. He has to be better. Stronger.
Monokuma just forced him to do this.
He spends the rest of the week choosing who he'll tell - a no-brainer. Leon (someone who he's felt a strange sort of kinship with) is dead, so there's one option.
Mondo.
His heart pounding in his chest (each beat chanting a mantra of weak, weak, weak) he opens the door to the boy's locker room.
I'm a boy. I'm a boy. I'm a boy.
Seeing Mondo, his heart freezes in his chest.
"Chihiro?" the biker asks, confusion evident in his gaze. "What are you-"
"I'm a boy!"
He said it.
As a defense mechanism, he curls in on himself just slightly, waiting for the inevitable blow.
It never comes.
Instead, Mondo just seems confused.
"You're a... boy?"
"Y-Yes!" Chihiro hurries to explain. "T-That's my secret, I mean! I'm actually a boy! I just dress like a girl because people made fun of me in elementary school for looking like one, and I didn't like it... but I'm a boy!"
There's a strange coldness in Mondo's gaze, and he moves to add more. "I was tired, you know? Of people blaming me for something I can't control... they'd hit me and laugh... and I was just tired of it. I was tired of being teased and laughed at for something I couldn't control. So... I stopped. I stopped dressing like a boy, grew out my hair, and the teasing stopped with it. But... I can't hide forever. I want to be a boy. I want to dress in long pants and use the boy's locker room and be strong! And I know you're the strongest boy out there, and so I wanted your help... please, Mondo-kun?"
He turns just in time to see the dumbbell whistle down.
"Soo, none of you killed each other? Bo-ring!"
Monokuma sits atop the podium, irritation flashing in his red eye. "Well, enough is enough! Let's just read out the secrets!"
He flips through a packet of secrets, excitement in his gaze. "Ooh, kick it off with a bang! So, did you all know Chihiro is-"
"I'm a boy."
The silence is shattered with those three words, and everyone turns to stare at Chihiro with horror in their gaze.
"You're a... boy?" Aoi asks, confusion evident on her face. "...what?"
"Yeah..." Chihiro trails off, a tear rolling down his cheek. "...you can laugh..."
"We won't laugh!" Makoto exclaims. "I promise!"
"...really?"
"Of course!" Kiyotaka shouts, dedication blazing in his eyes. "We would never laugh at you!"
"Indeed," Celeste adds. "We would never."
"...you guys..."
"Boo!" Monokuma shouts. "More secrets!"
"Y-You can tell all our secrets, b-but we won't kill each other for them!" Toko shouts.
"Rich, coming from you," Byakuya mutters. "Still, she has a point."
"...I w-want to be stronger!" Chihiro exclaims. "And now you gave me a chance to do that! So thank you!"
He bows to the confused bear, before returning to Mondo's side.
"You did great," Mondo whispers.
And Chihiro can't help but smile, because for the first time in years, he can be a boy.
Chihiro Fujisaki is a boy.