Just because I'm a girl

Dinner with friends

We've just arrived back at school. We're in the gym, for Coach's post-game speech.
"Everyone did a good job with Nekoma today. The Inter-high preliminaries begin next month, on June 2nd. There are no district preliminaries in Miyagi, so we go straight to prefectural preliminaries. Lose one match, and the journey is over. Of about 60 teams in the prefecture, only one will make ito Nationals. If you want to take revenge on Nekoma, you must first win in Miyagi. There is no other way. Second-place won't cut it. Of course, they'll have to win the battle to represent Tokyo, as well."
"Those guys can do it!" Shouted Ryu.
"Yeah!" Agreed Nisha. "They're strong, they'll definitely be there." Oh, for crying out loud.

Afterwards, as I'm making way out to go home, Tadashi stops me.
"Hey uh, Aki...there's something I need to ask you..."
I turn to face him.
"What is it?"
"Well, see...um...Tsukki's gonna be really busy the next few days, and..my parents are away so...ummm..." The way he's fidgeting with his hands gets the point across.
"You're asking if you can stay at my place again?" He nods. "Sure. We'll swing by your place to get your stuff, and then we can head to mine. How long are you staying?"
"I'm... not sure," he says, as we begin on our way. "My parents have a work thing right after their vacation, so I don't know. Honestly, I feel alot safer without them."
"Yeah? Why's that?"
Fairy boy hesitates. He looks at me with unsure eyes, and I put my hand on his arm. He takes a breath.
"Sometimes...sometimes I don't feel like a boy. Sometimes I feel like a girl. My parents hate me for it." Oh, so that's why he gets nervous around people? Because thinks that if his own parents hate it, what's to stop complete strangers from doing the same?
"I don't know why I'm telling you this, I shouldn't trust you, but I do."
"I promise you, your trust is not misplaced." I hear him sigh in relief, and feel him relax.
"So, you don't mind that I'm genderfluid?"
I scoff.
"Why would I mind? You know the insult, 'your mum gay?'"
He nods.
"And how with each parental figure, the slurs get worse?"
He nods again.
"Well, the final tier is my family." I put my hands up for emphasis. "'Your family tree, LGBT!'"
"Um.. what does that mean?"
"It means very few people in my family are straight. And those that are, have no choice but to be Allies."
"Oh. Cool."
We continue walking in silence.

"Well," he says, breaking the silence. "This is it." I look up and pick my jaw off the ground. Looking around, I realize we're in one of the more well-to-do areas. "Please don't say anything to the others," he pleads as he fishes a key out from his bag. I shake my head.
"Wouldn't dream of it."

Inside his house, it was like a palace. Decorated for Christmas, it is only May!

"Your family really likes Christmas, huh?"
"Yeah, sorry. The decorations never come down."
"Why are you apologizing? It's your house."
I wait in the lavish living room while Tadashi gets packed. It really is beautiful here. Makes me wonder if all other rich parents are mean, or if my Dad just happens to have a heart. Yeah, I think that's it.

By the time we get back to my house, it's almost 11. I leave Tadashi to settle in, and go to my own room. It'll be nice to have some company, I've been on my own the last two weeks.
As I lay in bed, I make a mental list of the chores I need to do tomorrow. I bolt upright as I realize I forgot to do groceries last week. Oh Well, I'll take inventory tomorrow. I snuggle down, and fall asleep.

The next morning, after my run and shower, Tadashi still isn't up. If he doesn't get up now, we're going to be late.
I knock on his door. Silence. I knock harder, but with no result.
"I know you're in there. Come on and hurry up, we're going to be late."
"I'm not coming out!"
Ok, that's one way to say no.
"Tadashi, if you don't open up, I'm coming in." I hear movement, a thump and a groan, and he opens the door. I cannot believe what I'm seeing. He clearly didn't sleep much last night.
"I'm not going to school today," he says, in a pouty way. I rub my temples in frustration. Alright. I want to get to school, but Tadashi isn't going to budge. I want to get to practice on time, but that would mean either leaving him here alone, or bringing him along and making him even more upset. On one hand, there's my wants. On the other, my teammates' needs. Fine.
"Go back to bed," I say, looking up at Tadashi. "You're clearly not okay, and I'm not dragging you anywhere."
"Are you going to school?" He looks at me with pleading eyes.
"No. Someone needs to keep an eye on you."
"Aki, you need to go-"
"Well, so do you! I'm not leaving with the chance of you doing something stupid while I'm away."
He sighs in resignation, before heading back in.
I head to my room and pick up my phone, and call Daichi first. It rings for a bit, and goes to voicemail. I try again two more times, and fail both. I leave a voice message explaining the situation, and a text in case he doesn't get the message. Now I need to call Dad. But wait, there's an 8 hour time-difference between here and England. I check the clock. 6:40 a.m.
Okay, so Dad should be just getting ready for bed now. I call him, and he picks up almost immediately.
"How's my princess? Doing Well, I hope."
"It's great Dad, everything is going okay. We lost to Nekoma, just like you guys always did. But the camp was alot of fun, and I made friends with some of my teammates. Our vice-captain has the role of team mom, and one of the second-years is team-mom-in-training."
"That is really good to hear, Aki. I'm glad you're enjoying yourself."
"So how's England?"
"Well, despite it being almost summer, it rains nearly everyday. It's late autumn weather, my room is freezing cold, and the food is terrible. If i were to describe it, you just boil it and salt it. That's it."
"Sounds like you're having alot of fun, yourself. Hey listen, one of my friends from school is having a hard time at home, and wanted to know if he could stay with us for a while. I told him, it was alright, but I just had to run it by you as well. Is that okay?"
"Yeah, that's fine. Keep the open door policy. I'd like to meet this friend of yours when I get back."
"Well, you see, the reason he's having a hard time is because he might not be a 'he' in two weeks."
"Oh, genderfluid? Well, that's a shame. Parents were expecting one child, ended up with two. Can't handle, I suppose."
I chuckled to myself. I love my Dad.
"Well, I'm probably keeping you up. Better get to sleep, let me know how the proposal goes."
"Will do. Thanks for calling, Princess. I miss you."
"Love you too, Dad."
I hung up, and went downstairs to make breakfast.