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Kairi didn't know how they had gotten into this situation. Why were they tagging along beside Keiichiro? They wished they knew. They had just been out taking a walk, forced into a conversation with said man, and now they were walking together. This wasn't how they had wanted today to go. Could they get one day away from this guy?
Keiichiro had tried to start a conversation with them, which Kairi had unwillingly participated in. They figured it was better to play nice than to be rude. That was probably just going to make this situation more annoying if they started giving him attitude about this.
Kairi had mostly tuned out whatever Keiichiro was talking about. They were able to get by most of the conversation by just nodding along to his words.
But then they came to a halt as they heard someone call their name. Sneering their name, might be a better way to describe it. Kairi tensed as they laid eyes on who had called their name.
Some old friends of theirs, if they could ever have been considered friends. Kairi didn't even want to give them the past title after everything that had happened between them.
"What do you want?" Kairi narrowed their eyes at the group - three people.
"Nothing much. Just couldn't help but say hi to the weirdo since we saw you." One of the aggravators said.
Kairi tried to keep calm. They couldn't help but wince slightly at the word, knowing if it wasn't for the fact Keiichiro was right beside them it would've definitely been a slur instead. They didn't want to give these assholes the pleasure of a reaction.
"Cat got your tongue?" Another taunted at their silence.
"Leave me alone." Kairi said. Their voice was a lot quieter than they wanted it to be.
Keiichiro stood beside them silently, seeming unsure what to make of the situation.
"Why should we? You should be thankful we're so concerned about this delusion that we're helping you get out of it." The third one shot back, a proud smirk on their face.
Kairi tried to come up with something to fight back with, but they couldn't. Any response meant outing themself to Keiichiro and this was not how they wanted that to go. Kairi took a step back from the bullies. Maybe running was the best option at this point?
"If you're just going to harass him, I suggest you walk away." Keiichiro took a half-step in front of Kairi and stared down the three bullies.
"You don't know, do you?" The ringleader let out a laugh and smirked. "That thing has problems."
"He is not a thing." Keiichiro's stare turned into a glare.
"Might as well be if he thinks he's-"
"Shut up!" Kairi reacted in panic. They shoved past Keiichiro and slammed the bully backward and to the ground.
Kairi gulped at what they had done. They had never gotten physical to these bullets before. And they had just done that in front of Keiichiro. Not a good look.
"Afraid of the truth, huh?" One of the other bullies taunted.
"It's not your place to say anything." Kairi shot back.
"Ooh, how scary."
"Leave me alone!" Kairi moved to punch them in the face, but their hand was grabbed by Keiichiro before they got far.
"Calm down. Violence isn't going to solve anything. Let's just go." Keiichiro said, before tugging them away from the bullies who thankfully didn't follow behind them.
They stopped at a bench once they were far enough away. Kairi pulled their knees to their face and hid.
"Kairi... are you okay?" Keiichiro asked.
"I'm fine." Kairi shot back. They didn't want to have the conversation.
"You don't have to explain what that was, but if you want to talk, I'll listen."
They fell into silence. Kairi really didn't want to say anything. This wasn't how they had wanted to tell anyone. Why couldn't life be fair to them? They hadn't even wanted to tell Keiichiro to begin with.
But...
"I... I'm trans." Kairi whispered. "Nonbinary. That's... what they were mad about."
"All of that over a gender identity that has no affect on them? What a stupid hill to die on." Keiichiro sighed.
Kairi peered out of their knees. "You don't... care?"
"Why would I? It's not hurting anyone. I don't exactly get it, but if that's what you say you are, I have no reason to not believe you." Keiichiro replied.
"You don't get it?"
"It's just hard to wrap my head around sometimes. How someone can be just... other as a gender."
"I guess unless you feel it, it is hard to get."
"Is there anything more about this you want me to know? Do you go by a different name or something?" Keiichiro asked.
"Just... I tend to use they/them as my pronouns." Kairi mumbled.
"I'll try to remember that."
"You don't have to. I don't care."
"I don't want to misunderstanding you."
Kairi looked away. They weren't sure what to do about this. They hadn't wanted to have this conversation but now they had. And it had gone well. But the issue was that if Keiichiro did start using the right pronouns then that meant their secret would be exposed to his friends. They didn't know how to feel about that.
"Just... don't tell anyone why." Kairi said.
"Okay?"
Kairi stood up. "I'm going home. See you around."
Keiichiro moved as if to follow, but then stood down. Kairi took their leave and returned to their room. They collapsed onto their bed and stared at the ceiling.
This was not how they had wanted today to go at all. But... at least it had turned out relatively alright.
Hopefully there wasn't going to be any retaliation for what they had done. Though, maybe now that they had shown they could get violent, maybe they would be left alone more? If not... maybe it wouldn't hurt to use Keiichiro to their advantage to get those bullies to actually back off. Surely he wouldn't mind putting them into their place.