Keiko Anahu Suzuki goes into her school in Charleston, North Carolina with her head held high but she sees people staring at her and whispering. People don't usually acknowledge her, despite how beautiful the indigenous/Japanese biracial girl is.
"Hey!" Connor James, Keiko's best friend who is transgender (and they getting their surgeries when they turn eighteen, pronouns they/them/their, dead name is Kelly), calls as they runs over. "Dude, someone outed you."
Connor looks around, their eyes studying everyone and looks back at their best friend.
"What do you mean?" Keiko asks.
"Look..." Connor pulls up their MySpace account and shows her. "Lisa outed you."
Lisa Halliard is supposed to be one of Keiko's other friends. They actually hung out at Dono's Pizzaria with Connor and Connor's sister, London, just last night.
"She said..." Keiko's face falls as she recalls something that Lisa said last night.
"What?" Connor raises their eyebrow. "What did she say?"
"She told me to 'come out or she'll do it for me'," Keiko says.
".... She outed you without your consent?" Janina Wallace, a black girl who is also Keiko's friend, gasps. "Lisa's going around saying you wanted to come out."
"I did... on my own terms," Keiko replies. "I wasn't ready to come out and she took that opportunity away from me. Lisa's not my friend anymore."
"I'm not?"
Keiko closes her eyes to remain calm. Connor places themself in between Lisa and Keiko until their mixed best friend calms down. Janina wants to slap Lisa but she won't steal that chance from Keiko. Keiko's the one Lisa did dirty.
"Connor... it's fine," Keiko says calmly and opens her eyes.
Connor nods and they step beside Janina.
"Lisa, you outed me without my consent," Keiko says. "I wasn't ready to come out yet. You did that for me, you took away my free will. What kind of friend does that, Lise? I love you, but you betrayed me."
"Keiko, I'm sorry," Lisa says honestly. She really is. "I'm really, really sorry. I know that means nothing because my dad told me how important coming out is to someone."
Lisa's dad, Greg Hilliard, is gay. He came out on his own but his lover was outed by someone he thought was a friend.
"So... I'm sorry," Lisa says. "I'll miss you, Keiko Suzuki."
Keiko tears up. Janina and Connor move and hug her tightly. They hug her as she cries. She'll miss Lisa, too. *****
Several months later. January 2006.
Kalyan Suzuki looks at Lisa as she tells her about her daughter being jumped by people for being lesbian. Kalyan is originally Kalyan Blackrock from a reservation in Washington called La Push. She moved when she was 18 to go to college and medical school. She met her husband, Haruto Suzuki, on a vacation in Tokyo, Japan after she graduated Harvard. They got married and then Kalyan went to med school to become a doctor and on the night of her graduation, they conceived their daughter, Keiko Anahu Suzuki. Japanese and indigenous people don't typically have middle names but Keiko was born here in Charleston, not in Japan or on a reservation.
"Lisa?" Haruto frowns when he sees her as he enters the kitchen. The last he remembers is that Keiko isn't talking to her because she outed her.
"Mr. Suzuki... it's about Keiko," Lisa says.
Haruto grows alert when he hears this and he sits down. Currently, Keiko is at the hospital with Janina while Connor undergoes their first bottom surgery, gaining a penis. So he's not worried about her walking in and finding Lisa here.
"What's wrong with my daughter?" Haruto asks. "Kal?"
"Lisa, tell him," Kalyan urges. "I can't..."
"First, I want to admit that I know that this is all my fault," Lisa says. "But Keiko is being bullied. She was jumped last week by homophobes because she is a lesbian. She didn't get in a car accident with Janina or Connor." Lisa stands up and she offers both Kalyan and Haruto a light smile before she leaves.
"What do we do?" Kalyan asks.
"Would your reservation let us back in?" Haruto asks. They lived in La Push for a few months before Keiko was born but they moved to Charleston.
"I can call the Elders," Kalyan replies. "You speak to Keiko when she gets home."
Haruto nods in acceptance and he kisses his wife.
They smile at each other sadly. They hate to pull Keiko away from Janina and Connor, but she'll be better off and away from the bullies in Washington. So, they'll risk her resenting them, for her sake. Keiko graduates high school in a month. They'll move then. It'll give them enough time to pack.
The couple make their plans while Keiko is still gone.
Here are Haruto and Kalyan.
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