Little Do You Know

Normal is Overrated

Kokichi travelled the hallways in a rush, ignoring irate shouts as he pushed students out of his way. He didn't care about some strangers, he just needed to get to his classroom. Shoving open the classroom door, he sighed in relief. Shirogane sat at her desk, staring out of the window with her chin in her palm. After an incident at home, the woman hid away inside the classroom.

She turned around, their eyes locking for a brief moment before Kokichi turned to lock the door behind him. He would've pulled the blinds down, but Shirogane must've done that for him. This had happened multiple times now, they had a routine. As he turned back to Shirogane, he forced his gasp to remain in his throat.

Her pale skin stood black around her right eye, glasses doing nothing to hide it. He couldn't react, he shouldn't. She knew it was there, Shirogane didn't need to be reminded. Not wanting the awkward staring match to continue, Kokichi attempted to walk toward her. 

Attempted.

Wincing, he yelped as his knee gave way and he fell flat on his face. Groaning, he curled up and rolled onto his side. Shirogane didn't attempt to stifle the laughter erupting from her throat. Kokichi didn't care, the laughter made him happy and make him laugh too. Standing and dusting off his uniform, the two grinned and continued staring at each other.

Shirogane's grin faltered and Kokichi sighed. He (successfully) approached the woman and gingerly wrapped his arms around her, pulling her head into his chest. She didn't have a black eye the day before, but Kokichi felt stupid for not realising that her red face wouldn't have been from crying. Was that his fault? Did he not do enough to help?

"Dad..." Shirogane sniffled, unwrapping her arms from Kokichi's waist and wiping her nose with a tissue. Taking a shaky breath, she started her sentence again. "Dad told me something," she muttered.

"Hm?" Kokichi encouraged her to continue explaining, grabbing his chair and swinging it around to sit beside Shirogane. Their thighs touched, providing comforting warmth to both parties.

"Dad said he wishes I died..." Kokichi's blood froze. He hadn't expected that in the slightest. "He told Mum to get an abortion and she refused... If he had anything to do about it, he'd kill me now..." His blood began flowing again, backed up with rage as Kokichi glared at the floor. Her sobs returned as she took off her glasses and sobbed into her hands. "I thought I was going to die!"

He wrapped his arm around the woman's shoulders, stroking her hair with his other hand. She continued to weep, although Kokichi noted how she leant into his touch. Despite her and her father being in many altercations, he'd never wished her dead. At least, as far as he knew, and Shirogane told him everything. "Is this because I'm not normal?" Shirogane whispered.

"What do you mean? How are you not normal?" Kokichi caught his words, freezing for a moment. He felt a need to explain what he meant, but luckily Shirogane knew he had trouble stringing together sentences and explanations. She'd understand what he meant, she was the only other student who did.

"Trans," Shirogane whispered. Kokichi gasped and pulled back, sitting the woman up in her seat. He shifted his chair around so their bodies faced each other.

"Alright T, listen to me." He grabbed her shoulder, locking his gaze with hers. Her teal eyes glistened with despair, tears dripping down her soft, rosy cheeks. "You're an amazing woman, one of the best I know, and you're just as valid as any other woman out there." She chuckled, averting her gaze as she smiled. "Just because you happened to be born with a dick doesn't mean shit. Plus, dicks are so much better than bleeding out every month."

Shirogane laughed, jumping forward to hug the man. He'd chosen his words carefully, glad that he took the moment to reference the many jokes that they'd made together over the years. "Thank you, Ko!" He smiled, returning the hug.