Irhaboggle Pride (2022) Gaylor Swift's Version

Cardigan, Mirrorball

Kirumi sipped vintage tea, checking her brand-new phone. Her schedule was clear today, a rarity. Deciding to take advantage of her day off, the maid hit the city streets for a walk, her heeled boots clacking on the cobblestone. Before long, she realized why her schedule was empty. It was Valentine's Day, so everyone was off celebrating with their special someone. A few of the happy couples out and about were surprised to see Kirumi walking alone. Didn't she have a date? She was such a gorgeous girl, surely must've had someone!

"No, but I have never felt any such desire for romance or physical intimacy," Kirumi said with a disarming smile as a few of the couples stopped to ask her where her lover was hiding.

"What?!" The very idea seemed a foreign concept to them. A high school girl without a crush? Impossible! Every young lady was in love with someone, male or female! But Kirumi was adamant. She was not in love with anyone and had never been.

"And I don't think I will ever be," she continued. This was not a deprecating or arrogant remark, as some took it. It was a simple statement of fact. She simply did not feel those types of urges.

"Oh, you're still young, dear, there's still plenty of time!" one elderly couple said. "You just aren't old enough to have met the right person yet, you don't know better." Kirumi only gave them a shining, plastic smile. She noticed she was the only female in the current crowd not wearing lipstick. Everyone else was dressed to impress, and to kiss. A few more people approached the maid, trying to figure out "what was wrong with her" and why she didn't have a date, or even a crush! They wondered what her labels must've been.

It was sensual politics at its finest, people addicted to pulling her apart and seeing what was inside. Fittingly, Kirumi did not like sensuality, nor did she like being spread wide apart for the whole world to inspect and judge. They assumed that because she was young she knew nothing, but she knew everything! It was them who knew nothing! She knew herself, her real self, they just didn't want to believe her.

How unfortunate. Even on my days off, I am still slave to others' perceptions of me. Yes, it was her job as a maid to conform to the desires and beliefs of others, like a mirrorball, but that didn't mean it wasn't exhausting sometimes, especially when it was about something that should've been private or personal. The one piece of her life that should've been hers to control was still on display for everyone else to have an opinion on. That was part of why she always tried to insist she had no opinions of her own.

"My only job is to show you every version of yourself tonight," she told one of her previous masters. It was not her job to expose herself, not that there was much to expose anyway. At least, not anything he would've cared to see. "I'll get you out on the floor, shimmering beautiful," she continued to entice her master to the dancefloor, placing his arm into the hand of another.

He wanted her, that much was clear, but she didn't want him, so she did everything she could to find him someone else, to get his attractions and flirtations off her back. Although her plan worked, when everyone else came out to celebrate the master's new lover, the same questions bombarded the maid. Her master had someone, so why didn't she? They were roughly the same age, after all! She dodged the questions with expertise and grace, but after long enough, they became too heavy to carry and a tiny part of her heart broke a little on the inside, fearing that she would never be accepted as she was. And when I break it's in a million pieces...

So she quietly dismissed herself from the ballroom, leaving her master and new mistress. She snuck away to her private chamber, dancing to music all her own. There, she did indeed imagine someone, but it was not a real person, nor one she could even put a face to, but she didn't need to. The important part was their essence, their spirit. She imagined someone kind, gentle, wise, understanding, and caring. One who didn't judge or mind her distaste for romance or sexuality. It was her ultimate imaginary friend, one who would love her platonically, but with just as much power and passion as any romantic partner could muster.