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Shouma had almost forgotten there was even a question he had for Hanto. It had slipped his mind quite fast with all the arguably more important events going on in his life. But now the question returned to his mind as he gazed at Hanto's bare chest.
"Hanto? What are those scars on your chest? They seem weird." Shouma asked.
Hanto startled at the question, stammering out some incoherent words for a moment. He took a deep breath and calmed himself.
"Should I not have asked?" Shouma asked in worry. Had he done something wrong by asking Hanno about it? Was it a bad story to relive?
"N-no. It just... you caught me off guard." Hanto replied. "I was not expecting you to ask. Um..."
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I've just always wondered what those are from. They seem just in such a weird place for scars like that." Shouma said.
He averted his gaze from Hanto. Maybe this question had been better left forgotten about. He had caused Hanto a problem by asking about. Even if he said it was fine, it was clearly not the most comfortable thing to talk about.
"It's fine. I... how do I put this..." Hanto said. "They're from an intentional surgery I had to make me feel more comfortable in my own skin."
"Surgery?" Shouma tilted his head. "What type of surgery?"
Hanto took in a deep breath. "So... I was born as a girl. But, I knew very early on that I wasn't one. I was a boy. Thankfully my family was supportive of everything from the beginning. But, since I looked like a girl, people treated me as such so I changed things to look like a man now. Does that... make sense?"
Shouma took in what he said in silence for a while. That was a lot to think about.
"I've never heard of that before." Shouma said. He paused for a moment. "Which I guess shouldn't be that weird. I've only just gotten to meet other humans."
"Granutes don't have things like that?"
Shouma shrugged. "Human genders and Granute genders seem really different. If there is something like that I've never heard of it. Which also never really met other Granutes outside my family so..."
"This doesn't bother you, right?"
Shouma gave him a confused look. "Why would it?"
Hanto shrugged. "I just wanted to check. Some people do have problems."
"Why?"
"Wish I knew why they care so much about what I do in my personal life."
Shouma frowned at the news. "People are rude to you for wanting to be yourself?"
"Unfortunately." Hanto sighed. "You've been really lucky with the people you've met around here. There are some pretty nasty ones out there. I hope you never do meet any of them."
"I want to meet them. So maybe they can learn from their wrongs."
"They won't, Shouma."
Shouma's frown increased at his words. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. I know firsthand how little they're willing to change. Just leave it. It's fine. There's more good in this place than bad. It evens out." Hanto said.
"Okay... but you should tell me if someone is mean to you. I'll help you." Shouma insisted. He wasn't going to let anyone get away with that.
Hanto stared at him in silence for a moment. A small smile crept onto his face. "I'll think about."
"You better."