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It was a quiet evening. Everyone was mostly settled down for the night. They were all mostly doing their own things at this hour. Except for Michiru and Shiori. The two of them were hanging out in Michiru's room together.
Shiori had some questions she wanted to ask Michiru about the play they had selected. Michiru was more than happy to answer. However, then the conversation took a strange detour and things started to happen.
Shiori had been talking about the costume ideas that Yachiyo had presented to them all. There were some questionable choices for a few of the ideas. Shiori had been a bit nervous about the outfits. Michiru had reassured her the final designs would definitely change and be a lot better.
But then she added on about how annoying it was sometimes. All these things that they were often expected to do because they were girls. She had expected Shiori to agree with her that this was all so annoying to constantly have to do. Instead, she was met with a look of confusion from the younger girl.
"Michiru-senpai... I... don't think that's normal." Shiori said quietly, not seeming to know how to express her feelings gently.
"What do you mean not normal? Isn't that how it's supposed to feel?" Michiru did not like the implications Shiori was making.
She had always found being a girl annoying since she was young. But she had always thought that was how everyone felt. Did they actually like these arbitrary rules often forced on them? That they were meant to enjoy all these girly things? It didn't make sense.
"It's never been annoying. I don't mind most of this stuff. And I don't think anyone else ever has either." Shiori replied. She was giving Michiru a concerned look. This was a very awkward conversation now.
"But..." Michiru trailed off. She didn't even really have a defense anymore. There wasn't anything to say that could convince Shiori this wasn't that strange, was there?
"I'm sure it's okay, Michiru-senpai." Shiori offered. "Maybe it isn't weird."
Michiru doubted that. Something was wrong with her. That was all she could conclude about this. She wasn't normal. She hated that. This wasn't how this was meant to go. She didn't want to be weird. She just wanted to blend in enough and live her life. What was she supposed to do with this new information?
The conversation died after that. There wasn't much to do that could bring it back. Shiori soon left, sensing Michiru needed some time alone. Michiru let out a long sigh once Shiori was gone.
What the hell did she do? Was there anything she could do about this? Just what was going on with her?
Michiru had too many questions and no answers. She decided to at least give a shot at looking for answers. She pulled up her laptop and started typing away. She had no idea what to search for, so she was just putting in a jumble of words and hoping something came up.
It took a lot of trial and error with her searching, but eventually she stumbled upon something. Could it be that maybe she wasn't a girl? That all this discontent with stuff was because she never resonated with being a girl?
It led her down another rabbit hole of searching. It was far too late when she finally found something that just might describe her. Nonbinary. It was not what Michiru had been expecting, but it did possibly explain what was going on with her.
She closed her laptop and figured she could finish her questioning in the morning. She really needed to get to sleep. Staying up late was not a good idea. She didn't need to be falling asleep in class.
Michiru drifted off into a bit of a restless slumber, her thoughts running wild with all of this new information she had uncovered. She didn't want to say for certain if she was nonbinary yet, but she was feeling like that just might be the case. Tomorrow she could really look into it after everything was done for the day and then maybe give Shiori an update on what all was going on with her.