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“I'm sure we freak them out just by holding hands”
Unlike a lot of their friends, not everybody was so supportive of Mizuki and Mafuyu's relationship, or how they identified.
“Good girl, honor student, soon-to-be doctor” Asahina Mafuyu was now living as somebody else, the boy he truly was deep down, and pursuing his dreams, learning that his life shouldn't be decided by other people.
Mizuki was always painted out to be weird, different, strange. All she ever wanted was to be herself. Even though things went wrong, though she once ran, she was glad to be where she was now. Loving and being loved. Letting herself be loved.
Not everybody understood. Some tried, others stayed ignorant.
Those who were ignorant would stare and point, making disgusted faces and gossiping when they thought nobody noticed. Being together in public during their late years of high school was difficult, trying to not take words to heart was harder.
Everything hurt worse than normal when it was people they thought they could trust.
Some nights they'd cry. Wishing they were born different. Born right.
One night Mizuki broke down in front of Mafuyu. She was struggling. She'd received more comments of ridicule at school. It was tiring, exhausting, constantly trying to keep herself together. The longer everything bottled up, the more it hurt.
“I'm not a mutant, I'm just me.” She cried, clinging to Mafuyu's sleeves as she sobbed into his shoulder.
Some bigots would even claim that Mizuki was “infringing” upon Mafuyu. As if she coaxed him into becoming the way he was now. As if he wasn't the one who approached her and spilled his feelings.
Every day Mizuki spent in middle school pretending she really was a boy , bearing that horrid uniform. Each step felt like walking on a bed of knives, stabbing into her until she was ripped apart.
Mafuyu was terrified of coming out. It was easier with N25, they gave more support than a teenager could even fathom. When Mafuyu would worry and question himself, thinking it was something else and worrying about labels.
Mizuki comforted him, answering any questions, “Don't be scared; there's a wide variety of genders” she reassured, rubbing his back.
So what if they were different?
That changed nothing. They were still the same people inside. X or Y shouldn't have mattered.
“Mafuyu?” Mizuki queried, having the boy acknowledge her, “Why do you think people villainise us?”
Mafuyu shrugged, “I don't know. I guess they just don't understand what it's like. People don't really appreciate what they don't get.”
“Yea, I get that… it's just that— it kind of feels like to someone I don't even know, I'm already a villain.”
Mafuyu hugged her tight. He understood. They understood each other. Taking understanding in each other was important to them.
Those around them tried to help, and even if the two appreciated it dearly, there was just nothing you could do against those people in a world like this. In a world that protected bigots, and not those who needed protecting. In a world that killed and prosecuted those who had only tried to be themself.
Even if people would try to help, to understand, they never could. It hurt. Nobody wants to turn their friends away and tell them that they can’t help them.
Some said “The more cruel a town, the more beautiful its rainbow.”
Yet, some days that was harder to believe than others.
In the end, these flowers bloomed only to become monstrous. Their hated lives become inflamed.
Even so, in a world full of people who saw them as villains, they had each other.