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Chapter Text

Hello, my name is Hatsune Mikuo-

Although, I've never really liked that name. The O at the end just makes it sound so weird and wrong...

So... you can just call me Miku!

I've always preferred the name Miku over Mikuo, it just sounds so much better! Mikuo is such a boyish name and, even though I am a boy, I've always preferred Miku. It just sounds so cute and so right!

I've never really acted like a boy. Back when I was little, I would always wear dresses that were usually pink and play with dolls. I would make daisy chains for my friends and family and I would also grow my hair out long, one day hoping that I could have hair like fairytale princesses!

And I would do all of this alongside my childhood best friend, Kagamine Rin. We first met in kindergarten and shared a lot of interests so we quickly became best friends.

I remember the times where we would play pretend games like being princesses or mermaids or even mermaid princesses! We would have so much fun brushing and braiding each other's hair and pretending to hold fashion shows by forcing Len to be the judge.

Len is Rin's brother. I was friends with him too but I always got along with Rin more since me and him never had much in common. That's also probably because despite being a boy, I would never be as masculine as him, and neither did I want to be.

He always knew I was a boy, but he never judged. He was supportive with my interests and tried his hardest to cooperate with the roles Rin made him play in our games.

And that's what made me realise that Rin had never realised I was actually a boy. She had always thought I was a girl until the day everything changed...

Chapter Text

My parents had always been supportive of how I acted back then. I guess they just assumed it was a phase that I would grow out of once I got older but, I didn't, which I did notice they started to grow worried of when I got older.

I mean, I did mature of course but, not in the way they expected.

They expected me to eventually cut my hair short and stop wearing dresses and throw my dolls away, but I didn't do that.

Instead me and Rin would sneak into our parents' rooms to try on makeup and we would have sleepovers and go to the nail salon together.

But recently, I've started to notice something different about myself. My voice has been getting... deeper...

I've always really loved singing. I would pitch up my voice to make it sounder even higher and cuter to sing along to songs from magical girl animes or idol groups with Rin. And I hoped to be a singer one day too, but...

Recently, it has been more difficult to cover up that puberty was hitting and my voice was starting to crack. I've tried to put in more effort in pitching my voice high, especially around my best friend, but it's becoming more difficult and taking more effort.

Rin still didn't treat me any different but one day, everything changed...

On that day I had just woken up and I was eating cereal with marshmallows while watching a recording I had saved yesterday of a performance of my favourite idol group that I had failed to get tickets to attend.

As I was doing that, I heard someone walk into the room. I turned around to see my mother. She was wearing the outfit that she always wears to her job as a fashion designer but she didn't have her makeup on and she hadn't curled her hair yet as it was straight at the time.

She grabbed the remote control and turned off the recording.

"Hey!" I shouted, but my voice came out very deep and cracked which made me feel uncomfortable.

"Dear, there is something I need to talk to you about," She said and sat on the couch.

I had been lying on the floor and I could tell by her tone she was being serious so I jumped up and sat next to her.

"What is it?" I asked, starting to feel a little worried.

"Well, you know how you're been acting very feminine and girly for the past few years?" She asked.

"I wouldn't really call it acting, more like being my true self," I corrected her, finally able to make my voice sound correct.

"Yes, well, it isn't really," She said, "You're a boy, and I think now is about time you start acting like it."

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"You're becoming a big boy now and, now that you will be starting junior high school soon, I think now is about time you stop pretending and playing dress up and actually start acting like what you really are, a boy," She explained.

"What is the point of that if I'm going to a school with the same people as elementary school and they've known me as a girl all my life?" I asked, "Besides, wouldn't you prefer me to be happy then what you call 'the real me'?"

"A new school is a fresh start and the perfect time to start acting as what you really are, you'll feel much happier once you stop acting out for attention," She replied.

I really wasn't liking this and I knew arguing back wasn't going to do anything so I tried to stand up and walk away but she grabbed my arm firmly and tightly and yanked me back onto the couch.

"Now then, it's time to cut your hair for tomorrow!" She announced in a cheery tone.

"You aren't going to cut it too short, right?" I asked, "It's taken me forever to get it this long!"

"Well I have to make you look like a real boy, don't I?" My mom responded as she quickly went upstairs to get scissors.

"Not really..." I muttered under my breath even though she was upstairs and probably couldn't hear me.

I know I could have ran away or hid at that moment but... I didn't. When my mom is in this mood, it really does scare me and make me worry about what could happen if I disobey. For all I know if I had went against her orders she could have cut off all of my hair.

She came back down and started cutting away all of the effort I has made into proving I was a girl. As she cut my hair and styled it, I kept my eyes shut and never wanted to open them again.

Once she put the scissors and hairbrush down, she then got a mirror and placed it in my hand. I opened my eyes and looked at my reflection in disbelief.

My long hair... it's all gone...

"Is it okay if I can stay at home for the rest of the day, please?" I asked, "I can't go outside looking like this..."

"Sorry Mikuo but I can't trust you to stay at home alone so I have to drop you off at the Kagamine house," My mother replied.

"No I can't!" I cried, "I can't see Rin looking like this!"

"Well you'll have to get used to it!" She shouted, but then quickly changed her tone to sound like an innocent angel, "Now go and get changed into the outfit I made just for you."

My mother is a fashion designer and by the sound of things, she's probably made the most boyish outfit in the world for me.

I sighed quietly to myself so she couldn't hear and then I slumped upstairs. I went into my bedroom and found a shirt, tie, a belt and a pair of trousers on my bed.

I put them on and then looked in the mirror. Not only is my mother trying to make me look like a boy but she is also trying to make me look like a nerd! It's like she wants me to get bullied...

I went back down and then left the house with her to get in her car. I sat at the back because even though I could have controlled the playlist, I just wanted to be away from her.

We arrived at the Kagamine house and I had to be pretty much pulled out because I didn't want to leave the car. She knocked on the door and then went it opened, we stepped inside.

"Oh, hello Mrs Hatsune and..." Mrs Kagamine greeted but then looked completely shocked when she caught my gaze.

"Mikuo, his name is Mikuo," Mother replied.

Rin and Len ran down the stairs but both stopped in their tracks when they saw me, but for different reasons. Len was more suprised to see me dressed up as a boy for once but Rin was shocked and confused, meaning that she had only just come to the realisation of what I really am...

"Miku, what happened?!" Rin asked, starting to look really panicky.

"His name is Mikuo," Mother correct.

"Mikuo?" She questioned.

I could feel tears start to form in my eyes. I couldn't bare the fact that my best friend, who had called me by my favourite name for years, was now calling me by that dreaded name...

"Anyway, I should be heading off to work now, and you should as well, Mrs Kagamine," My mother announced.

What she meant is how Mother and Mrs Kagamine used to work under the same designer company but then the former became jealous of how much better the latter was so she made up a false allegation to get her biggest rival fired. Now Mrs Kagamine is nothing more but a housewife because no job will accept her now.

This all happened after me and the Kagamine twins became friends so when this happened it was decided that the twins weren't allowed over my house but I was allowed to be freely dropped over to theirs, for some reason.

"For your information, thanks to you I don't have a job!" Mrs Kagamine mumbled.

"I know, anyway bye!!!" Mother responded and then shut the door loudly behind her as she left.

Now, all of the attention was back on me. All of their worried faces and concerned looks were too much with everything else and I couldn't help but burst into tears.

"Rin-Rin, why don't you take... Mikuo upstairs and calm him down?" The bonde haired woman suggested.

"Okay," Rin replied as she took my hand and led me up to her room, Len following behind us.

We went in and Rin sat me down on her bed and then looked into my watery eyes.

"Miku, are you a-" She was about to ask.

"Yes," I replied in my real voice, "But deep down, I'm not,"

"I can't believe you never figured it out, Rin!" Len said, trying to bring to change the bleak atmosphere but doing a very bad job at it, "I always knew Mikuo was a-"

"Len, you aren't really helping!" My best friend shouted.

"He is right though, how did you never figured it out until now?" I asked.

"I don't know, I just always thought you were a girl because we had so much in common, and to be completely honest, I don't think I was the only one..." She mumbled, looking over at a photo of her and her mother.

"I mean, I want to be, but I'm just not allowed to..." I muttered, "I'm sorry, Rin..."

There was then a minute of silence. I just didn't know what to say or what I could say to make things revert to how they used to be.

Then, the girl sat beside me took a deep breath and stood up.

"Well, no matter what... you'll always be my best friend!" Rin announced, smiling with a determined look on her face.

"Really?" I questioned, "Even though I'm a-"

"If you don't want to be a boy, you don't have to be around us!" The blonde haired girl exclaimed, "We'll always accept you!"

"Yeah! Rin is right for once!" Len added, "I'm happy to be there for you too!"

"You mean it?" I asked, tears once again forming in my eyes, but this time out of happiness.

"Of course, Miku!" Rin answered, reaching out her hand.

With that, I pulled the twins into a group hug on the bed. I was so happy to have friends like them...

Chapter Text

The next day, I didn't really want to wake up. I know I have now confronted the issue with my best friends but, I still don't like the way I look.

And along with that, junior high starts today and, almost everyone from my elementary school is going there. I wasn't really that close with my other friends in the way I am with Rin but they were all still my friends and... soon they would all know too.

If I could just stay alseep then they would never know but, Mother wasn't going to let that happen.

After my alarm went off and I still hadn't gotten put of bed, she came in and pulled me by the arm and dragged me out of bed and across the floor. It was painful but I was too out of it to let that show on my face.

She watched me as I brushed my teeth so I wouldn't try and lock myself in the bathroom and then, I could tell that when she made me get dressed that she was peeping through the crack of my open door.

This made me feel very uncomfortable but, what could I even do about it? Mother is someone that I don't want to mess with...

After that, she told me that I couldn't have breakfast because I didn't wake up and get ready at the specific time I'm supposed to every day. She then told me to go to school early so that I would be on time and get more learning done.

I really wanted to watch an idol documentary that had just csme out last night and that I wasn't allowed to stay up and watch but I just nodded and got my things and left the house.

I felt do much better now that I was free from her for a little while...

I walked to the Kagamine house so that I could collect them and we could all walk to school together. They came out in their new uniforms and I was so envious of Rin's female uniform but I wouldn't let that show.

While the three of us walked to school together, me and Rin still chatted about the things we used to before the secret was revealed while Len followed behind and texted his friends on his phone, just like old times. Unfortunately we couldn't talk about the new idol documentary because I wasn't allowed to watch it but we still talked about music and ranking shoujo anime theme songs, just like we had before.

I'm glad Rin kept her promise.

Once I got to the school gates, I couldn't help but panic a little. Rin noticed and she held my hand and looked over at me while smiling. I smiled back with a blush on my face too and I was instantly calmed.

We walked in and along the path. As we looked around, we saw a lot of our old friend groups still together. They were all chatting and on their phones so I wasn't noticed.

I had been holding Rin's hand really tightly before but I then loosened my grip as I started to feel safer while everyone Ad their attention somewhere else.

We both waited outside until the bell went off and we were allowed in. Everyone was too busy trying to get to their very first class so I still wasn't noticed that much, but I did feel some eyes on me.

It turned out that me and Rin were in different homeroom classes, which did make me feel even more anxious, especially once she dropped me off to my classroom and then went to hers.

I sat down and tried to breathe calmly while closing my eyes, despite the fact I could feel everyone's eyes on me and my name being called from every corner.

Then I heard the door open and I opened my eyes to see a woman with long pink hair stride across the class and over to the teacher's desk. She took a deep breath and then smiled.

"Good morning everyone. My name is Miss Megurine and I will be your homeroom tutor," The teacher introduced herself.

"Good morning Miss Megurine," Everyone, including me, choruses as we had for the teacher's in our previous school.

She then went through the register. I was freaking out up until she got to my name because I knew no matter which name happened to be on there, something would start up.

"Hatsune Mikuo," Miss Megurine called.

I then heard everyone whisper around me. I started sweating and my legs started shaking as the pink haired woman raised her eyebrow at me.

"Quiet down class, I'm trying to take the register," She said.

"H-here!" I finally stuttered out in my cracking voice.

There was some more whispers until the next name was called, and then it stopped. I was then much calmer for the rest of the lesson.

Miss Megurine is a really nice teacher. She's very calm and she has a really beautiful voice which she only had to waste raising it to stop my classmates from theorising why I'm the way I am now.

During the rest of my lessons I did hear some whispers but they were all easily shut down by teacher's telling them off from talking in class. And also Rin was in a lot of those lessons and would tell them to shut up, and she never got caught for that.

At break and lunch, me and her sat together by ourselves. That was because I just felt more comfortable with it just being us two today before I then would have to reintroduce myself to the others and also because my blonde haired best friend's glare scared anyone away who caught a glimpse of it.

I'm glad the first day went well but, who knows what will happen next when everyone finds out what happened...

Chapter Text

The next day was another day of school, and even though this would be my second day, I was dreading it more than I had the first.

Yesterday I had been able to avoid a lot of people by hiding behind Rin's back but it's not like I can do that forever, especially because I am taller than her.

I need to reintroduce myself to everyone and hope it works but, it sounds so scary, especially because I'm lying...

I did my whole morning routine without talking to my mother whatsoever and then left and then walked over to the Kagamine house.

Rin and Len came out and we then started walking to school. Both of them kept on giving me looks for some reason and then I realised I was pretty much hyperventilating.

"Are you okay, Miku?" The blonde haired girl asked.

"Yeah, I'm just worried about how everyone will react when I have to reintroduce myself as 'the real me'"  I responded.

"Why lie when you can just be your real self?" Rin questioned, "Everyone would understand if you just told the truth."

"Until I move out, which is a really long time away, I can't, I just can't..." I replied.

We then arrived at the gates of our school. Len walked off to go and hang out with his friends while Rin grabbed my hand and dragged me over to a group of three girls.

I recognised all three of them. The girl with tired blue eyes and long blonde and pink hair was Lia, who was more commonly known for her nickname IA. The tallest girl with lavender hair and eyes tied into two ponytails was Yuzuki Yukari. And lastly the shortest girl who had blue eyes with blonde and orange hair was One, and is IA's sister.

They all turned to look at us as we approached them, and I could tell most of there attention was on me.

"Hello Yukari, IA and One!" Rin exclaimed, "It's so great to see all of you again!"

I'm honestly really suprised that we had gone to them rather than Gumi, Lily and Cul, three girls that we had been closer with back in elementary school.

"Hello Rin!" The three girls greeted, but then turned to me and then there a silence.

"Wait, is that you, Hatsune Miku?" One worked up the courage to ask.

She was loud enough for many of the friend groups to turn and look over at us.

I was so glad she was using my nickname, but, it isn't my real name, which is what I'm now to supposed to be referred to with...

"Well yes, b-but-" I stuttered.

I looked over at Rin and she looked so hopeful for me to talk about what my mother had done to me, but, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't destroy my mother's reputation which would then lead to her destroying me...

"My name is actually H-hatsune M-ikuo, Miku was just a nickname," I eventually said.

Everyone that was watching gasped and their eyes widened. Rin frowned but still stayed by my side.

"But wait, isn't that a b-" Before One could continue, the bell went.

With that, I quickly dashed through the door and to my homeroom classroom, leaving everyone behind. I even ran straight into the room to avoid the lineup outside.

I landed on my knees as I bolted in and I was now sweating and breathing heavily, which was definitely enough to catch my teacher's attention.

"Mikuo, are you okay?" Miss Megurine asked in a panicky tone.

I looked up at her and a fake smile stretched across my face.

"Yep, I'm fine!" I lied, shaping my hand into a thumbs up to further demonstrate how 'fine' I was.

She still looked concerned but she sighed, nodded, and asked for me to wait outside with the others. I got up, opened the door, and kept my head down as I walked to the back of the line.

We all then walked in and did the basic homeroom class stuff. I still kept my eyes down in it and for all of my lessons up until break because without Rin, I was too anxious to face everyone. Even while I was walking to lessons and people simply asked if I was okay, I looked past them and didn't respond.

It probably made me look cold and edgy but really, I was too scared that the question would come up after, even if these people were people I had never seen before and knew nothing about me or my past.

At break, I saw Rin was already with the three girls so I walked over to them. Once again all the attention was back on me.

"So Mikuo, can you now answer my question?" One asked, not looking happy to see me and it also showed in her fed up tone.

I nodded.

"So, are you a b-"

"HELLO!!!"

I recognised the voice instantly and I spun around to see Megpoid Gumi right up in my face, strands of her green hair just inches away from touching me.

"Hello Miku!" She greeted.

"H-hello?" I replied.

"Wait a second, that's the boys uniform and... you're hair..." She somehow only just noticed, and then she gasped, "Are you a boy now?"

She was so loud that she then got the attention of Lily and Cul so they both came over. And then shortly after, Galaco arrived too.

Galaco was the mean girl back in elementary school, and it's quite obvious based on how she looks. She has long blonde hair with locks of her fringe dyed pink, blue and yellow. And on top of all of that, she wears a crown, to show off just how much of a spoiled princess she is.

She never picked on me but Rin and I always stayed clear away from her and I'm guessing she's now manipulating Gumi, and that's why my best friend had avoided them earlier on.

"Yes, well, I always have been, I just pretended to be a girl for the longest time," I explained, partially telling both the truth and a lie.

"Well you completely fooled me!" Galaco exclaimed dramatically, as she always did.

"Well, I think I like you better like this, Mikuo," Gumi said, a blush creeping on her cheeks.

"It's Miku, and she's a girl," Rin said, glaring between the green haired girl and the blonde haired girl.

"No he isn't, he literally just told us," The green haired girl argued.

"How do you not know she's lying?" Rin questioned rhetorically.

"Oh poor Rin, you're just in denile because your fragile little lesbian heart has been broken as even you couldn't figure it out!" Galaco said maliciously.

"Wh-what?!" Rin exclaimed, completely caught off guard.

"Yeah, it was very obvious you're lesbian eyes were fooled, but don't worry, I still think he's cute!" Gumi added, blushing even more.

My jaw dropped.

"Yeah girls, don't you think he's cute?" The green haired girl asked.

Both Lily and Cul widened their eyes. Cul had never seemed interested in romance and as for Lily, it had always seemed quite obvious she had a crush on Gumi.

"Are you being serious?" Lily questioned in a quiet tone that I could still hear, but honestly I didn't mind as I was just as confused as she was.

"Yes," Gumi whispered back firmly.

"Well I think he's cute too!" Galaco exclaimed, playing along, "But don't worry Gumi, he's all yours!"

"Let's just go-" Rin said, trying to drag me away with her but Gumi took my other hand.

"Do you really have to go, Mikuo?" Gumi asked while pouting but a smile quickly grew on her face as she nuzzled her cheek with mine, her hair tickling my cheek, and hugged me, "Don't worry though, I'll make sure you'll see me again!"

I gritted my teeth as I tried to move away but luckily enough my blonde haired best friend is such a strong grip that she managed to pull me away from the space invader, almost pulling off my arm in the process.

Me and Rin were both so out of it as we walked away and just really wanted to be left alone but then suddenly IA, Yukari and One appeared in front of us.

"I'm really sorry my sister got you into that, Mikuo," IA apologised.

"But don't worry, we support you!" Yuzuki reassured.

"Thank you..." I replied, "But is it okay if you can call me Miku instead?"

"I'm so confu-" One was about to mutter but then IA put a hand over her mouth.

"Of course!" IA and Yukari responded in unison.

I don't think One will ever understand me but, at least I've got new friends in IA and Yuzuki Yukari...

Chapter Text

I woke up the next day and I wanted to rush out to avoid my mother but I didn't really get a lot of sleep as I had stayed up to watch a stream of my favourite VTuber, meaning I did have to speak to her.

I went downstairs to make my breakfast and there she was in the kitchen, her makeup already on and her hair already curled. I don't really understand why she's so obsessed with having wavy hair but I just decided not to initiate the conversation and made my breakfast instead.

"Good morning, Mikuo!" She said cheerily but with the most evil looking smile ever.

"Good morning, Mother..." I responded in an emotionless voice.

"You haven't been speaking to me recently, what have I done to deserve that?" She asked.

I didn't reply as I knew she wasn't going to like my response. Why does she care anyway?

I finished pouring milk into my cereal and then sat down at the dinner table to eat it. Mother finished making hers and then she sat down on the opposite side to me.

"So, how is school?" She asked.

"It's alright," I replied.

"Are you getting good grades?" Mother questioned.

"I've only been going for two days, how am I supposed to know?" I asked back.

"Don't snap at me!" She yelled, "Do you think you're getting good grades?"

"Probably," I responded.

"Good," She said.

I honestly don't know if I am. I used to get really good grades back in elementary school and I was seen as a prodigy but, at the moment I'm trying to do really poorly to rebel against her.

"Have you been hanging out with boys?" She asked.

I could lie and say that I have but then she would probably ask what I do with them and I don't know what boys do together, so-

"No..." I muttered.

"Are you still hanging out with Kagamine Rin or something?!" She exclaimed.

"Yes, she's my best friend!" I yelled.

"You need to learn to move on!" She shouted back, "You need to start hanging out with boys, it's for the best!"

"Is it really?" I asked.

I mean, maybe it would be better for both me and Rin if I started hanging out with boys. That way I could fit in and Rin wouldn't have to defend me all the time and she could actually get along with others...

"Yes, it's about time you start making friends with boys, it's better to start now than later," She responded.

"Okay..." I sighed.

I had finished eating my cereal by that point so I washed my bowl in the kitchen and then went upstairs to get dressed into my uniform. Once I was finished I went back down and left the house as I didn't want to talk any longer with my mother.

I wasn't too sure if I should pick up Rin and Len because of my plan but them I thought about how they would probably be very confused and try and look for me and I didn't want them to be late to school so I went to their house as usual. They came running up to me but paused when they saw the serious expression on my face.

"Rin, I've made a decision!" I announced.

"What is it, Miku?" Rin asked.

"Well, I think maybe it would be best if I stop hanging out with you during school," I said.

"What?!" The blonde haired girl exclaimed.

"I just think it would be better for both of us if I just start hanging out with boys like I'm supposed, that way you could actually make friends without me getting in your way," I explained.

"But you don't-" Rin was about to argue.

"My decision is final!" I declared.

"But who would you hang out with?" She asked, "You aren't really friends with any boys..."

"Excuse me, I'm right here," Len said, pointing at himself.

"Len, please can I hang out with you?" I asked

"Sure," He replied.

"Please look after her!" Rin exclaimed, "Please make sure Fukase doesn't make any inappropriate comments about her and-"

"Don't worry, I'll look after her," Len responded, "But to be completely honest, I think she can look after herself."

"I'll be fine!" I reassured her, even though I wasn't completely sure of that myself.

"Okay..." She sighed.

And with that, we walked to school. We didn't really talk as we had to rush there because my announcement took up more time then I was expecting.

While me and Rin were speed walking down the corridor, she then tapped me on the shoulder and looked over at me.

"Will we never hang out again?" She asked with a sad expression on her face.

"Just for now, I'll just see how today goes and make my decision after," I replied.

She nodded and then walked to her homeroom class and I walked to mine. I couldn't help but feel bad that I had made Rin upset but this is for the best, I'm doing this for her...

In the first two morning lessons I was sat next to her, which was fine since I am obligated to work her and that counts as an exception that I wouldn't get me scalded for. But after that was break, where I would have to be away from her.

Luckily, Len was in my previous lesson so I just followed behind him as he led me to a table outside. On the table there were already four people sat down.

I knew all four of the people from elementary school. The curly red haired boy with a smug grin always on his face is Fukase, Len's best friend. The grey haired boy with heterochromia and was looking down at the laptop he had in front of him for some reason was Utatane Piko. The blonde haired boy sat next to him with the eyepatch was Oliver. He was originally a transfer student to my elementary school from England.

And the last person who was sat next to Oliver was Flower but, she looked different. It looked like she had gotten a lot of hair cut off during the holidays and she was also wearing the boys' uniform, which was strange. And if I recall correctly, I remember her being really good friends with Gumi and Cul, so what was she doing hanging out with the boys?

Fukase came running up to Len and did a secret handshake with him.

"Banana boy!" He called as he had ran over.

"Clown man!" Len called back as they had initiated the handshake.

Such odd nicknames, I hope I don't get any from them.

The red haired boy then turned towards me and for once I saw him without a smile but instead a puzzled face.

"Miku?" He said.

"Yes," I replied.

The low pitch of my voice caught the others off guard and they all looked up at me from the table.

"What happened to you, Miku?" He asked.

"I don't want to talk about it..." I said.

"Don't worry, you aren't the only one here who changed gender, isn't that right, Flower?" Fukase responded.

"I've already told you, stop calling me Flower!" They shouted.

"Oh great, not this again," Fukase sighed to himself, putting a hand to his face.

Flower(?) rolled their eyes at him but then turned towards me and stared. It felt like they were staring into my soul, which made me a little uncomfortable.

"Quit staring at Miku!" Fukase shouted at them.

"I'm not staring!" They shouted back.

"Fukase, why don't we just introduce Miku to all of them?" Len suggested.

"Great idea, Banana boy, I'll go first!" His best friend replied, "My name is Fukase! Some may see me as a class clown, which I am, but I prefer to be known as a showman!"

He then reached into the pocket of his trousers and pulled out a tiny black top hat which he placed onto his head and switched his school tie for a bow tie.

He then walked over to the other side of the table where the other three were. He rested his elbow next to Piko's laptop.

"Next to me is Piko, a nerd who spends all his time staring at a screen," Fukase introduced him.

"Shut up, at least I'm doing something important with my life, unlike you!" Piko retorted.

For a moment Fukase looked very caught off guard and started sweating, but he quickly wiped the sweat away and walked over to the blonde haired boy next.

"This is Oliver, you might remember him as the Bri'ish exchange student in elementary school," The red haired boy said.

"Oh come on, not all British people talk like that," Piko replied.

"How would he know? He hasn't been to England for a few years to the point where his accent is barely noticeable, how would he remember that when he thinks his bird toy he takes everywhere is real," Fukase argued.

Oliver began to whimper and he shuffled up to sit closer to Piko. The grey haired boy then put an arm around him and tried to calm him down by putting on a YouTube video on his laptop with his other hand.

Then Fukase finally made it around to the other side where Flower(?) was sat.

"And here is..." He was about to say but he didn't know what to call them.

"VFlower," VFlower replied.

"Are you seriously telling me you made all that fuss just because I did put a V in front of Flower?!" Fukase exclaimed.

"Just quit bugging me you bas-" VFlower was about to swear.

"V!" Piko shouted, hugging Oliver who had his ears covered.

"Oh, sorry," They responded.

Fukase then walked back around to me and Len.

"And this is my bestie, Banana boy!" He said and pulled him into a hug, "I love him so much!"

"Just friends though!..." Len laughed nervously.

After all of that, the three of us finally sat down opposite to the other three. I was opposite to VFlower and they continued to watch my expressions with a concerned look so I just avoided eye contact with them and tried to chat with the others for the rest of break.

I sat next to them for lunch as well but, it didn't feel the same as when I was with Rin and the girls. The boys just didn't really talk about anything I'm interested in, and when they did, they just mocked it instead, specifically Fukase.

I just don't have that connection with them and, I would rather hang out with the girls, even if I'll get judged to the end of eternity by others. I just want to be happy, and I think I would be much happier if I returned to Rin.

At the end of the day, Rin's last class had been let out early, meaning I couldn't walk home with her. Her twin brother had been in my last class though so I decided to walk home with him instead.

"Len, today was great, but-" I said but paused as I didn't know how to word the next part.

"You want to go back to hanging out with Rin?" He asked.

I nodded.

"That's alright, I could tell you weren't enjoying it as much, I think VFlower could too," He replied.

"Is that why they kept on staring at me?" I questioned.

"V is very good at reading other people's emotions but yeah, it does come off as it looking like they are staring you down," Len explained.

"Oh okay," I nodded, "Could you tell Rin-"

"Yeah, don't worry about that, Miku," He interrupted.

"Thank you, Len," I said.

"No problem," Len responded.

Maybe things didn't go as well as I had hoped today but, you don't learn until you try new things and, I'm glad I tried hanging out with the boys, but it just isn't for me.

Chapter Text

I didn't feel great the next day when I woke up because I knew I would be having PE tomorrow. I know it wasn't for another day but the thought of having to play sports with the much more competitive and athletic boys gave me a shiver down my spine.

I actually do like PE and I am somewhat good at it but tomorrow would be the first time I would be doing it with the boys instead of the girls and I'm nervous.

But while I was walking to school, I tried to forget that. I was going to get to hang out with Rin and the girls today which is a positive, even though One will probably have a lot to judgemental things to say about me.

Rin ran out of the house quickly after I had arrived and squeezed me hard during our hug.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" She said.

"Oh come on, hanging out with me isn't that bad," Len complained as he walked over to join us.

"Yeah it is, especially with Fukase," Rin argued, and then teased, "Your boyfriend..."

"Oh shut up!" The blonde haired boy shouted, "I'm straight and I've actually got a crush on someone else!"

"Who is it?" I asked.

"Like I would say in front of my sister who runs the gossip train," He replied, and started walking away, so we followed behind him.

"So, what was it like hanging out with the Meme Squad yesterday?" My best friend asked.

"Meme Sqaud?" I questioned.

"That's what we've been nicknamed," Len turned around to explain and then continued walking ahead.

"Oh, it was okay," I answered.

"If you say so," Rin shrugged, trying to get on Len's nerves even more but I don't think that's possible based on how annoyed he sounds.

Soon enough we arrived at school. Len immediately walked off to hang out with the "Meme Squad" which left me and Rin with each other. We tried looking for IA, Yukari and One but then she remembered they usually don't arrive early like we do...

After the first two lessons of school, it was break. I followed Rin outside and as we were walking she said,

"I have a suprise for you!"

I was about to ask what it was but I knew she wouldn't tell me so I waited in suspense until we met up with the three girls.

"Miku, today we're going to give you a makeover!" She announced.

"Makeover?" Me and One questioned in unison.

"Yes, we're going to do your hair and put some makeup on you!" Rin explained.

"But Rin, you're really bad at doing make-" I was about to say until she put a finger on my lip to silence me.

"Hush hush," The blonde haired girl interrupted, "Actually, IA will be doing it for you!"

"Yeah she is! My GF is a pro at doing makeup!" Yuzuki exclaimed, hugging IA and jumping up and down.

"I'm not that great but," IA corrected while blushing from embarrassment, "I'll try my hardest!"

"Thank you," I said and smiled.

With that, I sat down on the bench we were standing beside and IA and Yukari walked behind me. Rin sat next to me and held my hand and One was sat on the other side of her, staring at me with confusion.

Yukari handed her girlfriend's makeup bag to her and she rummaged through it. IA then found her pink hairbrush with white stars on it and started brushing my hair.

I closed my eyes and kept them closed for the entire process while the magic happened...

"So, are you trying to turn Mikuo into a drag queen?" One asked.

"One..." Rin gritted her teeth and I'm sure she glared at her.

"What? It's a genuine question!" The blonde and red haired girl retorted.

"No, we're making Miku look like what she really is, a girl," The blonde haired girl explained.

"He's a boy though so wouldn't that make him a crossdresser? Or what's the word... femboy?" One questioned.

"Just shut up, One! Miku is a girl at heart and now we're just bringing out who she really is, and I think she would appreciate if you be quiet and let your sister do her magic!" Rin exclaimed which made me smile.

That did quiet One down and she then didn't talk for the rest of the makeover.

"So Miku, what hairstyle do you want?" IA asked.

"Two ponytails please!" I answered.

"IA is AMAZING at ponytails, and plaits too!" Yukari commented, "She does my plaits every day and their perfect so you can expect a five star masterpiece!"

"Awww thank you Yukari!" IA responded and I heard her kiss her.

IA and Yukari are the perfect couple. IA is introverted, shy and beautiful while Yukari extroverted, loud and sporty but despite their differences, they are a match made in heaven.

Yukari compliments her girlfriend while IA makes presents for her girlfriend and despite the differences in love languages, it works really well and they both look so happy together.

Because of IA being voted by the whole school as the prettiest girl at the school, a lot of people do try and ask her out. However, when they find out she is dating Yukari, they aren't disheartened but happy for the both of them as Yukari is really good friends with the boys due to her tomboyish nature.

Even One is accepting of her sister dating another girl despite how homophobic she is!

I really hope one day I'll find a relationship like that...

Soon enough, my hair was in two ponytails. IA then came around from behind the bench and put mascara on my eyes.

It had only been a few days since I had last had mascara on but the sensation I felt made it feel like I hadn't worn makeup for years.

"I'm finished, you can open your eyes now!" IA called.

I opened my eyes and she then presented a mirror in front of me.

I looked like... a girl!

I looked exactly like how I had back when I was little and it's the best thing ever! A grin spread across my face and I hugged Rin while jumping up and down in my seat.

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" I exclaimed in an energetic tone.

"No problem, I'm glad you like it!" The blonde and pink haired girl replied, smiling.

"You did a fantastic job once again and you deserve a chef's kiss!" Her girlfriend said as she patted her on the shoulder and then looked at her with a smug smile, "And I'm the chef~"

She then kissed her on the lips and it was a beautiful sight to behold. Both me and Rin smiled as we watched and we then turned to each other but we both blushed and quickly turned away.

Meanwhile, One felt very uncomfortable and needed to break the tension.

"Well, I still think you look like a boy!" The blonde and red haired girl commented.

"Oh why can't you just me quiet and let Miku be happy!" Rin yelled as she glared at her.

"Rin is right, you've been very rude today and I think maybe I should tell Hippi about this," IA backed my best friend up.

"Not Hippi!" One begged.

"Then I recommend you stop being a transphobe otherwise Hippi will knock your lights out!" Yukari threatened jokingly which made IA giggle.

Hippi is IA and One's sister. I don't know much about her other than that she is very solitary and is described as a lone wolf but she does get into fights with anyone who is bigoted, and always wins. I don't actually think she would think twice about fighting her own sister.

But while I was thinking about this I then remembered something completely irrelevant but that my mother would probably knock my lights out if she found me dressed as a girl.

"Rin, I'm probably going to have to take out these ponytails and wipe off the mascara before I go home but-" I whispered.

"Don't worry, IA said that she doesn't mind being a hairdresser and make up artist for you too, just go up to her each day and she can do this for you again," Rin reassured me.

"Okay..." I responded and then smiled to myself.

I finally get to be who I really am! Sure I can't do it at home but I am at school mist of the time anyway so this is perfect! It doesn't matter what One or anyone else thinks, I'm going to be myself!

Chapter Text

The next day, when I woke up, I immediately wanted to go back to sleep. I had been dreading this day the whole week and now it's here I just want to drown in my duvet covers and never rise out of bed ever again.

I already said a few reasons why I really don't want to do PE yesterday but I've thought of more since then. For example, if I get another makeover from IA and then have to wear the boys' PE kit, what will the teacher and my classmates think?

Will my teacher ignore my uniform and still let me be with the girls or will it be really obvious and then they'll make me take off my makeup and hairbands and I'll have to play with the boys? And even if I would make it past the former decision, would one of the girls tell on me? Would my teacher's be concerned and tell my mother about this?

I'm probably overthinking about this way too hard but, I'm just really scared.

I eventually got up and did my usual routine. I remembered that I did have one thing to look forward to today which was getting another makeover so that was a positive thought.

I was quick to leave because my mother kept on going on and on about how PE would be a good way to make friends with other boys. That and the fact that statement just isn't true. No boy would want to be friends with a girl stuck in a boy's body who is no way near as sporty as himself.

I went to collect Rin and Len from their house but when they came up to me, Rin looked anxious too.

"I'm really worried about what is going to happen with you..." She mumbled, "I really hope you'll be allowed to do PE with me and the girls, but I'm not sure..."

"Me too but, all we can really do is hope," I replied.

"That or I can fight the teacher until they let you play with us," The blonde haired girl smiled smugly, "I would even swap uniforms with you and then I can play with the boys, I'm just as good as them-"

"Oh Rin..." I sighed and smiled.

We walked to school and luckily IA and Yukari were already there and waiting for us so I was able to get my makeover done straight away. I wondered where One was but decided not to bother asking as she was getting on my nerves anyway.

After that it was time to go to our homeroom classes so I split up from the others to go to mine. While I was waiting outside of mine, Miss Megurine came out but rather than telling the whole class to come in like she usually does, she walked up to me.

"Is it okay if we could talk in my classroom?" She asked.

Everyone then turned towards me and the boys of my class cooed as if I was in trouble, like I thought I was during the moment, and they sniggered too.

"O-o-okay..." I stuttered as I blushed with embarrassment and followed behind her and into the classroom.

Once we were inside and she closed the door, my breathing became heavy and I started sweating.

"Please don't worry Mikuo, you're not in trouble!" The pink haired woman reassured me.

I sighed with relief.

"That's good, but then why have you called me in here?" I asked.

"You've just looked very sad recently and I wanted to make sure you're okay," She explained, "Are the students bullying you?"

I was very suprised that she had noticed my sadness as my past teachers were so focused on teaching they didn't care for the students' emotions. That was never a problem fir me as I was never bullied back then but others had and I felt sorry for them.

"A little... but I'm okay!" I answered, "I've got friends backing me up!"

"That's good," Miss Megurine replied, "One more thing though, is there anything else you want to say?"

"Well, if it's okay, could you call me Miku instead, I prefer that name better," I suggested.

"That's perfectly fine, I'll remember to call you that from now on, Miku," She replied, smiling.

"Thank you," I said and smiled back.

Miss Megurine then walked over to the door to let her other students in but before she opened the door, she finally said, "If you ever have anymore problems, just let me know."

I nodded and then she opened the door. Everyone stared at me as they walked in and sat down but they didn't speak about me or my hair or makeup which was good and helped me feel more relaxed.

It felt nice knowing I now had a teacher on my side. Miss Megurine is a really nice teacher and probably my favourite that I've had so far at this school so I did feel comfortable in telling her if I ever had any issues, which is another good thing.

All of these positive things numbed my worry over PE although during break, the anxiety all came rushing back. My next lesson was PE and no matter how hard Rin, IA and Yukari tried to comfort me, I just couldn't get over it.

This worry only continued once break was over and we went into the changing rooms. I snuck into the girls' changing room and no one really said anything as no one really noticed that I wasn't like them.

I really like the colour blue but I felt really uncomfortable in my PE kit which had blue on it because the girls had pink and it just made it a lot more obvious that I'm actually a boy. I did get stares from the girls after I got changed into my kit and I also did from the boys once we were all huddled together, waiting for our teacher, but I just ignored them and held hands with Rin.

The PE teacher then arrived. He had long purple hair in a ponytail and I did feel a sense of comfort knowing he would probably understand me and let me stay with the girls.

I heard lots of whispers and giggles from my classmates as they talked about his choice of fashion but then there was a loud shout from Gumi.

"Hello, Big Cuz!" She exclaimed.

"Hello, Little Cousin!" He replied and gave her a hug.

She's related to him?! Oh no...

She then walked back over to her friends and they gathered around her.

"He's your cousin?" Galaco asked, unamused as she was probably the person making the most fun of him.

"Yes! He's so cute, right?" The green haired girl answered, beaming with joy.

"Did you just call your cousin cute?" Cul questioned.

"Uhhhhhh..." Gumi mumbled.

Me and Rin both laughed under our breaths over that.

"Hello, my name is Mr Kamui and I am your PE teacher," The teacher introduced himself, "I will be teaching both boys and girls but they will each be on separate teams, please split into your gender's team."

We all did as he said. I stayed with Rin and joined the girls team. I was quite suprised when I looked over at the boys team and saw VFlower there with a purple stripe kit.

Galaco turned to look at me and her jaw dropped when she saw me. She quickly whispered to Gumi, Lily and Cul about this and then called over Mr Kamui.

"Mr Kamui! Mr Kamui!" She had shouted.

"What is it?" He asked.

"There is a boy in our team!" She cried dramatically, pointing over at me.

All of the girls gasped and then turned to look at me. I started to sweat and blush from embarrassment. I looked up at Mr Kamui and grinned awkwardly.

"I'm actually a girl, it's just-" I tried to defend myself.

"He's a boy pretending to be a girl!" Galaco interrupted, "Surely he deserves detention for that!"

Mr Kamui then turned to Galaco and gave her a hard stare.

"If she chooses to identify as a girl, she deserves to be on this girls team just as much as you," He argued.

I smiled but then that quickly went away as Gumi jumped into the conversation.

"But Big Cuz, it's a well known fact that boys are so much stronger and athletic than girls, he'll knock us all out!" Gumi cried.

"More like an infamous stereotype. It's a well known fact that I was the fastest runner at our elementary school, and I'm a girl!" Rin retorted and crossed her arms

The girls continued to argue with each other until Mr Kamui commanded for silence.

"What I'm going to try and do is put Miku with the boys for now but if that doesn't work, she can go with the girls," He decided.

"So unfair..." Rin muttered under her breath as she glared up at him.

"It's fine, this is better than me having to permanently stay on the boys team," I whispered, trying to make things more positive.

"I guess so," She sighed, "But if you have to stay with the boys I swear to-"

"Miku, please join the boys team," The purple haired man ordered.

I nodded and walked over to the boys team. I made my way over to the Meme Squad and stood between Len and VFlower. I knew they would both have my back during this and, they did.

We were told that the boys team would be playing soccer for this lesson. I was quite good at soccer back in elementary school so I thought I would be okay but no, I wasn't.

The boys absolutely smashed soccer. I know I haven't really done much sports in a while due to being off school in the holidays but all of the boys were just too good at it.

I felt so out of breath from all of the running and I could see most of the girls team laughing at me. I can't believe I've become such a failure...

"It's okay," Len and VFlower had tried to reassure me, but it wasn't, none of this was okay.

At the end of the lesson, I was the first to get dressed back into my uniform so I quickly left the girls changing room. I was crying as I left because Galaco kept on making horrible comments about me and Rin and there's only so much I can take anymore. Having to be a boy again has really knocked out all of my confidence and self-esteem.

As I was about to speed walk to my next lesson with my mascara dripping down my cheeks, Mr Kamui stopped me.

"I'm sorry about what happened today," He apologised.

"I-it's f-fine, you were just trying to do the right thing..." I replied as I tried to put up a fake smile but it was very weak, just like me.

"It wasn't though, the right thing would have been to just let you stay on the girls team," The purple haired man sighed, "So I've now decided that you can join the girls team."

"Really?" I questioned.

"Yes, you can hand in your boys' kit and I'll trade it for the gender neutral one you might have seen VFlower wearing," He explained, "It will let any teacher that might have to stand in for me if I get ill know that you have the option to choose which gender team you want to go on."

"Thank you, but, my mother would be absolutely furious if I brought home a gender neutral kit as she isn't accepting of me..." I muttered.

"Okay, you can hang onto the boys' kit and I'll give you the gender neutral kit for each lesson." He decided.

"Thank you," I smiled genuinely.

He smiled back and then waved me off as I went to my next lesson. As I was walking I could hear fast running coming from behind me and I turned around to see Rin.

"I just heard everything!" She exclaimed while grinning.

"I get to be on the girls team!" I exclaimed and grinned back.

We both hugged each other and jumped up and down with excitement.

"It's annoying though that you have to wear the gender neutral kit though and not the girls one..." The blonde haired girl muttered.

"It's fine, I think that one will be better for me," I replied, putting my hand on her shoulder to reassure her that everything is okay.

Sure the day wasn't as great as I would have hoped for it to be but, I've now been accepted for who I really am by two teachers today! I hope one day more people will too...

Chapter Text

It was now the weekend, which was both a good thing and bad thing at the same time. Good because now I don't have to wear the male school uniform but bad because I have to wear the outfit my mother made me.

She's made so many white polo shirts and teal ties that I'm going to have to wear the same outfit all the time when I'm not in school, which is very embarrassing because it will be like I'm a cartoon character wearing the same things all the time.

You would think she would get me t-shirts and sneakers like all of the boys my age wear outside of school but no, I have to look like a business person everywhere I go. So annoying...

Mother wanted me to come with her for a day out today to make sure that I wasn't doing anything she wouldn't like but I lied and that I would be hanging out with some friends that are boys instead. She was suspicious and also annoyed but I was very convincing and polite so she had no choice, meaning I was free from her!

I left the house and then walked over to the Kagamine house where Rin was already waiting outside for me. We met up and then walked to the local park where we were going to meet up with IA and Yukari.

"I can't believe your mom makes you wear stuff like that..." My best friend sighed, pointing at my outfit with disgust.

"I know, and it's not like I even have a choice because she's thrown out all of my old clothes and has made like twenty pairs of the same outfit!" I ranted.

"Even though we can't really do anything about you outfit, we can still do your makeup and do girly things together!" Rin reassured me.

"Thank you for everything you're doing," I expressed my gratitude while blushing a little, "I never thought you would be this accepting and go to such lengths..."

"There's no need to thank me, all I want is for you to be happy and true to yourself and even though we do have certain limitations, I still want you to be as comfortable as possible!" She responded, "Besides, I'm not the only one helping you out!"

"Yeah, IA and Yukari are do kind as well," I replied.

Soon enough, we arrived outside of a park where the two girls were waiting for us. All three of my friends were wearing such cool outfits and I felt so embarrassed to be around them while wearing my stupid outfit, but they were still kind and treated me no different.

IA did my makeup, and after that, we decided we might as well play in the park. Her and Yukari did have plans to take me to a shopping centre but it would be pointless as my clothes would just be thrown away again and also we would have ended up going past the clothes shop my mother works at, and she's probably gone back to work today as I decided not to go out with her.

The park was empty so we had it all to ourselves. We started off by climbing on the the climbing frame before jumping off the highest point. We then went on the swings and saw who could swing the highest, with the winner obviously being Yukari with Rin not being two short behind, and then we went on the seesaws after.

Me and Rin went on one side and then IA and Yukari went on the other. Both sides were balanced because both pairs combined weighed about the same so we had to use out legs to push us up and down. Even though it was a lot of effort for me because I felt so useless and weak, it was still a lot of fun.

After that, small children began to arrive with their parents so we decided to all sit on a bench outside of the park so we could let them play. We then all chatted together about things in our lives.

I did feel like the centre of attention in most of the conversations which was a little embarrassing but it was interesting hearing about my friends' lives as well. Hearing about the day Yukari confessed her love to IA, how IA told Hippi about how One was acting and now she won't let her out of her sight, and hearing about Rin's life too.

I thought I knew everything about her, but it turns out I didn't. She does do nice things for Len and she doesn't always annoy him, however she will always find him annoying, which I knew very well. She admires me just as much as I admire her, and it suprised me more that she even admired me at all. She misses her father despite how much he criticised her while he was alive, which really shocked me as I thought she really hated him and wanted him to rot in hell. She also has a crush, but she didn't reveal who it was...

Once we had all finished venting, it was unanimously decided that we should all get some ice cream to treat ourselves after everything we've been through.

However, as we were walking out of the park, I heard familiar voices approaching from behind. I spun around to see Gumi, Lily and Galaco walking over to us, all three girls looking very annoyed to see me but yet they were still coming for me anyway. Rin, IA and Yukari turned around with me and immediately went into what I call 'Protect Miku Mode'.

"Hey Mikuo~" Galaco greeted, her annoyed expression quickly turning into a smug smile.

"My name is Miku..." I gritted through my teeth.

"Still pretending, aren't you?" She questioned rhetorically, "I feel so sorry for you that you are this delusional to still believe in that lie..."

"If you really don't like her that much, why don't you just walk away?!" Rin exclaimed.

"She's right, why don't we just leave-" Lily spoke up but was quickly interrupted.

"Lily, you're here to back me up," Galaco interrupted, "You're supposed to be on my side and not betraying me..."

"No, I'm here for Gumi!" She argued, "I'm here to stop her from being full on possessed by you!"

"Possessed?" The green haired girl questioned, "What do you mean?"

"Galaco in manipulating you into becoming a bully like her! She's using you to take the heat off her and transfer it all to you so you're the one left with the bad reputation!" Her friend explained, sweat beginning to drop from her forehead as she worried what Galaco would do to her after she exposed this.

"I'm not bullying, I'm educating," The blonde and brown haired girl responded in a surprisingly calm tone

"You're not a teacher!" Lily yelled, her repressed anger spilling out

"Lily, I don't need protecting," Gumi put a hand on her friend's shoulder, "Galaco is our friend and, even though I've known you longer, I trust her more at the moment..."

The girl with long blonde hair opened and closed her mouth to respond to her green haired friend but she walked off to stand beside Galaco. Lily looked down at the floor with regret and didn't say anymore...

"Anyway, back to this-" The blonde and brown haired 'princess' tried to redirect to the former argument.

"Mikuo, you don't need to pretend!" Gumi interrupted and held my hands with a warm smile and blush on her cheeks that made me freeze, "I loved you just the way you were and you don't need to change for me!"

I quickly pulled away from her firm grip.

"I'm not pretending, and neither am I interested in you anyway!" I argued.

"But Mikuo, we're meant to be!" The green haired girl pleaded and tried to pull me back, "I loved you back when you were truly a boy! Unlike Rin who only likes you as a fake girl-"

"Why are you getting me involved?!" Rin exclaimed, her face going red with embarrassment.

"Just leave it, Gumi, you don't deserve him anyway..." Galaco sighed and patted the sad girl on her shoulder, and then turned to us and snapped, "You can all walk away now!"

"You don't have to tell us twice!" Rin yelled and then grabbed my hand and pulled me away, IA and Yukari following behind us.

As we walked off, I turned back for a second to look at three girls. Gumi was looking at me with hope in her eyes and blush on her cheeks as she smiled longingly at me, Galaco had her hands on her hips as she glared between her and Lily, and finally the latter who watched the green haired girl with a sad expression, sad that her feelings towards her were unrequited.

Soon enough the three girls were out of sight and Rin stopped dragging me to take some deep breaths. IA and Yukari patted her on her shoulders reassuringly and I watched everything while feeling guilty that it is all my fault that this happened.

"I'm sorry, Rin-" I tried to apologise, but she cut me off.

"No, Miku, it's fine..." She interrupted, "It's not your fault I have anger issues..."

I was about to argue otherwise as she only gets angry when defending me, but I didn't get the chance before Yukari stepped in.

"Maybe we should leave this for later and go and get the ice cream now," The purple haired girl suggested, "I think both of you need to it after all of that..."

Me, Rin and IA nodded before we followed Yukari's lead to the ice cream truck. IA and Yukai were holding hands while I looked longingly at Rin's hand. I wanted to hold it but I didn't want to make things anymore weird between us...

We arrived and then all four of us ordered the ice cream we wanted. I got mint chocolate chip, Rin got orange, IA got strawberry and Yukari got chocolate.

After we had all finished eating, we all felt much better. I had done some reflecting during the bites and kicks I took and I had realised that I should be grateful to my best friend for always sticking up for me, not completely guilty. I then smiled at Rin and held her hand with both of mine.

"Thank you for continuing to stay by my side," I said, "I not it's not fun but, I really appreciate all of the help you give me!"

"It's no problem," Rin responded, "All I want to do is support you and make you happy..."

"I'm glad you two are happy again," IA smiled.

"Same, it's no fun watching your friends suffer sadness!" Yukari added, hugging her girlfriend.

The two girls then started playing around with each other, which made me and Rin giggle. We both turned to face each other but we both couldn't help but look away quickly, blushing as we did.

After that, we decided to head home. I decided that I might as well go back to Rin's house as my mother wouldn't be back home for a while and I didn't want to take out my hair or wash off my makeup yet.

Also because I felt there was something we needed to talk about...

Chapter Text

Once we arrived outside of Rin's house, she got a key out of her pocket and let both of us in. We took off our shoes by the stairs and then ran up to her bedroom.

She was so cheerful now despite the fact she also about to errupt like a volcano a few hours before so I felt bad that I was probably about to let her down again, but I really need to talk to her about this. I don't want to constantly feel like a burden to her anymore...

My blonde haired best friend noticed by saddened expression and invited me to sit on top of her bed with her, so I did. I then let out a deep breath.

"Rin, we really need to talk about this now and, I don't want you to keep on shrugging off this issue," I said in a serious tone.

Her smile shifted for her mouth to become a straight line as she stayed silent, ready to listen to my rant.

"I know you always say that you're completely fine with defending me all the time, but I don't want you to do it anymore," I explained, "I don't want to feel like a burden to you anymore..."

"But you're not..." She sighed, "It's only because you've been so uncomfortable recently and I just really want to be a good friend and be there for you..."

"I know, and I do really appreciate that, but I really want to fight my own battles for once," I argued, but not in a rude tone.

"I get it, I really do," Rin responded, "My anger issues just get in the way sometimes. Like I really do just want you to stand up for yourself but then I feel guilty when you feel exhausted after..."

"But by sticking up for me and exploding, you end up feeling exhausted after and then I feel guilty," I replied.

The girl then laughed to herself a little, "I'm used to it though..."

"You shouldn't have to get used to being annoyed all the time though, no one should constantly have to be angry at everyone just because some people don't accept my issue," I argued.

"The world is annoying, I can't help that," Rin said light-heartedly.

I couldn't help but laugh a little at that.

"Besides, your gender shouldn't really be an issue anyway," She said, "I don't understand why you can't just be yourself without people having a go at you for it."

"I don't understand either," I shook my head and then smiled, "But we've just got to ignore them."

"If only we could just snap them out of existence..." Rin laughed.

"If only..." I chuckled.

We both then smiled at each other. I'm glad she now understands what I'm going through, and I now understand hat she's going through, and that we can now work through it together.

She nodded, "Alright, I'll try not to flip the next time the Gumi and Galaco gang confront you, but please stand up for yourself and be brave, that's all I ask... otherwise I will have to interfere..."

I nodded back with a determined expression, "I will be!"

"Now with all of that out of the way, let's have some fun!" Rin decided it was time to change the subject, and I agreed.

After that, I spent the rest of the time over the Kagamine house having fun with Rin. We did all the things we used to when we had sleepovers together, such as bouncing on the bed, drawing in her sketchbook and watching cat videos.

Of course we couldn't do everything we would normally do, such as her painting my nails and braiding my hair, especially since it isn't long enough for that, but we could still do a lot. And once Len arrived home from hanging out with the Meme Squad, we started to play pranks on him.

We put his toothbrush dipped his toothbrush in the toilet, stuffed his pillow with whoopee cushions, and changed the songs on his music playlist to idol songs we would usually listen to. And although he called us childish and immature for that, we were having fun pretending to be kids again.

Sometimes you just need to embrace your inner child in order to forget the stress of your older, complicated life, and that was our form of escapism that day.

But, as the hours of the day passed by and it became closer to when my mother would arrive home and I would need to be back there before, I started to feel sad again. Today was so much fun, and soon I would have to go back home, currently one of the places I feel most unsafe to be in.

Rin completely understood this, and so during the last ten minutes before I would have to leave, she suggested, "Would you like to listen to some music?"

I nodded and then went to one of her drawers to get out two yellow wireless ear buds. I put one in my ear, she put the ear in her, and then she played some music. And it wasn't catchy pop music we had been listening to earlier, it was calming music.

She had a playlist which contained a mix of lofi beats and anime outro instrumentals. While we were listening to it, she held my hand and told me how she would usually turn this on after school or a stressful day, and I could understand why as I felt much less stressed about returning to what now felt like hell where the devil would be arriving home shortly after.

And then, once it was time to go, Rin shared the playlist with me so I could use it as well.

"Thank you," I said gratefully as I stood at the door. I smiled softly, blushing a little.

"No problem, I hope it helps," She replied as she smiled and blushed a little as well.

I quickly wrapped my arms around her to give her one last hug before I left, and she did the same. Once it was over, there was some awkward tension as both of us stared at each other, our faces going red, so I decided to wave goodbye and I then walked down the street.

And once I finally arrived home and in my room, which didn't really actually feel like my own anymore because everything I liked about it was gone, I still felt calm. And for the rest of the day, I stayed there and listened to my new playlist while wearing my headphones which luckily hadn't been thrown out.

I'm go grateful for having Kagamine Rin as a friend. Nothing and no one could ever split us apart or replace her...

Chapter Text

And taking Rin's advice into consideration, I did exactly what she said for the weeks following our talk. It really did help.

The next day when we had to go back to school and we were ganged up on and confronted by Galaco, Gumi and a distant Lily, I was able to hold my own against them. They eventually got frustrated and just walked away.

In the days following, they did keep on coming back, but because I was doing such a good job at not giving them the reaction they wanted, they slowly stop bothering us less and less. It was so relieving because it meant we could all just have fun instead!

My confidence definitely grew a lot in that time without all of the bullying and comments from other people. IA's makeup skills kept on getting better and better and more and more people were finally starting to see me as a girl!

It was the most amazing time ever, just as good as my childhood was...

But of course I had to mess it up...

One day when I was coming home from a particularly good day at school, I guess I had just completely forgotten to take take out my hair from the pigtails they were in amd forgot to take off my makeup. But anyway, I didn't realise that until mother saw...

Because I had always remembered to do this in the past few weeks, she had always thought I was telling the truth when I had said to her I would stop hanging out with my friends and stop 'pretending'. But, of course, when she saw, she then could immediately tell I had been lying to her this whole time, and of course that would anger her.

At first, she simply just stared at me with an icy and bitter coldness, which confused me. It wasn't until I realised the mistake myself and began to tremble with panic that she then gave me more of a reason to do so.

"I can't believe you!" She yelled, "I thought you were finally doing as you were told for once! How could you lie to me?!"

"I'm sorry!" I cried, mascara spilling down my cheeks, "I didn't mean to-"

"Don't lie to me anymore! I've heard enough!" She shouted, before then taking a deep breath to recomposition herself, and her nice act came back, "Now then, let's make sure you can't do this again!"

"Please don't..." I mumbled, my head hanging low as I knew exactly what she was going to do next.

"Don't worry, my dear Mikuo!" She reassured me cheerily with such a sickly sweet smile it made me want to vomit, "Everything will be much better after!"

She then went out to the kitchen while I sat on the couch, my face tucked away into my legs as I rocked backwards and forwards. Mascara was going to end up staining trousers in the end and further anger my mother, but I couldn't care less about that at the time.

During that moment, I was just struggling to understand where I went wrong and how I could possibly forget. It had become a regular routine after school that we all, as a friend group, always remembered to do, so how could we possibly slip up this time?

I guess we were all just having too much fun being rebellious, and now, I was paying the consequences for that...

Mother finally returned back to the room with the pirate of scissors. I was hoping she just wouldn't warn me when she started, but of course she had to announce it like it was a good thing, like a birthday present that I had desperately been yearning for...

"Okay then, Mikuo! It's time!" She sang.

I knew trying to say anything would cause her to snap at me so I simply just sat as she wanted me to and let her do what she needed to do. She made comments throughout the process like "You were due for a haircut soon anyway, don't worry!" and "All of the school boys are going to want to be your friends after this!" and "You're going to look like such a handsome boy after this!", but I simply kept my mouth shut.

What would be the point in triggering a reaction like that out of such an evil woman who probably could or already has gotten away with murder at one point? This is a bad enough punishment as it is, I could only imagine what else she would do if I stood up to her...

Once she was done, she quickly ran into the next room to grab a mirror before coming back and presenting me with the results of her work. My hair was much shorter now, probably to avoid me being able to cram any on it into even the smallest of ponytails, and I looked even more like a boy now...

A hideous, ugly boy, and nothing like the cute girl I keep on 'pretending' to be...

"So then, Mikuo, what do you think?" She asked with a smile.

What the hell kind of a question is that?!

Anyway, I just nodded and gave her a thumbs up. I didn't smile, but that was somehow enough to boost her ego, so it was an alright response.

"I'm so happy with how it turned out! There's no possible way you could pretend to be anything else now!" Mother said happily, but then her facade slowly started to drop, "But, to ensure that, I've taken more measures into place..."

I was in complete shock. I thought that would be it and it couldn't get any worse, but no.

"I thought you would be a good boy, but just in case you weren't, I signed you up to start taking therapy to fix these issues of yours," She explained, "That way you can talk to someone else, as you obviously don't seem to want to talk to me, and you can quickly recover from your delusions!"

...

"S-o... I started tomorrow?" I questioned.

"Don't be silly! You start right now!" The teal haired woman laughed before taking my hand and dragging me up from the couch.

Her grip was so firm that her blue nails were beginning to dig into my hand and it hurt.

"A-are you sure I couldn't start tomorrow? Th-this is all moving a little too quickly!" I tried to protest, but in a very quiet and squeaky way, as I did feel like a small mouse in that moment.

"Of course not! We need to get this done as quickly as possible so you can finally start functioning as a normal boy your age should!" She argued, trying to keep her grin but she was beginning to grit her teeth, "Now let's go!"

She dragged me out of the house and into the car. I really wanted to cry out for help, but I couldn't. There suprisingky wasn't anyone atound despite how sunny of an afternoon it was.

Besides, why would anyone believe me anyway? Everyone thinks I'm delusional enough, why would people believe the boy 'pretending' to be a girl over the successful and beloved fashion designer mother of said boy, much-loved by all of the neighbourhood?

On the car ride to the facility, it was completely silent, which I preferred. It would have been a lot worse if she would have continued to keep up her high energy mask and glamorise the suffering the torture she was about to put me through.

Once we arrived in the car park, my mother got out and then opened the door for me. She finished wiping what was left of the mascara from my face before giving me a hard stare and then gripping my hand and dragging me out again.

We arrived inside the facility building and I could immediately feel everyone's eyes on me. Everyone had looked happy and were smiling before, but when they saw my worried and sad expression, they looked at me with concern.

Were they getting good therapy and I was the only one here to be tortured, or do they enjoy this? I didn't understand at the time but I wouldn't get enough time to as the teal haired woman was quick to draw the attention away.

When she arrived at the reception desk, her smile became even more sweet looking then before as she uttered words that seemed blasphemous to the other patients.

"Hello, my name is Mrs Hatsune and this is my son Mikuo! When will it be time for his conversion therapy?" She had asked.

Everyone gasped at the last two words and I was puzzled as to why. Isn't that what everyone else was here for? Am I seriously the only one?

"I'm sorry but we don't do conversation therapy here," The receptionist responded.

"It says on your website that you do any time of therapy, and I've already payed for the conversion therapy so I would rather not go home empty handed!" Mother said with still so much cheer, "Or have to give you a bad review!"

"If you say so..." The woman behind the desk replied, "You're booked in with Luka and she's just finishing up so you won't have to wait long..."

"Thank you!" She responded before taking my hand and sitting me down next to her in the waiting room.

Everyone's eyes were still on me and they were even more concerned after learning what I was here for. I kept my head down as they did this as I didn't like all the attention, especially because of the state I was in at the time, and waited for my turn.

My name was called within a few minutes and I let my mother lead me to the room I would be taken into. I only looked at the plaque on the door for a split-second, but when I saw 'Ms. Megurine L' and then proceeded to see my homeroom teacher sat inside when the door opened, my jaw dropped.

I quickly had to cover my reaction as the teal haired woman digging her nails into my hand was watching all of my movements very quickly. Miss Megurine was also suprised to see me but she was able to read the situation well and chose not to say anything either.

"Hello!" Mother greeted with a smile that was now starting to show its cracks because of how work out she was becoming, "My name is Mrs Hatsune, it's nice to meet you!"

"Good afternoon, Mrs Hatsune," Miss Megurine waved with a small smile as we sat down on the chairs opposite to her, "My name is Miss Megurine, but you can call me Luka!"

Under the table, the teal haired woman nudged me in the shoulder. I tried to hold it together as I stuttered out my introduction.

"M-my name is Hatsune M-mikuo!" I stammered.

"It's nice to meet you," The pink haired woman nodded with a smile.

There was then some silence as she turned to look back at my mother. She watched her for a while, kind of like she was analysing her, and at first the teal haired woman hadn't minded, but she was starting to get a little frustrated.

"So, are we going to start the session?" She eventually asked.

"These sessions are supposed to be one-to-one, so I'm just waiting for you to leave before I can start," Miss Megurine informed her.

"Oh..." Mother muttered, "Well... okay then! Please take good care of him!"

She gave me a kiss on the cheek, something she had never done up until that point as that wasn't the type of parent she was, but was now pretending to be while she was feeling under attack, before leaving the room. Once the door was shut, I sighed with relief as I slid down on my chair.

"So, Miku..." Miss Megurine spoke up, "Where would you like to start?"

"Where do I begin?" I responded as I sat upright, my confidence coming back just a little then.

With that, I then explained everything to her. She sat and took everything in with a lot of concentration on her face. It felt like an interview, and one where she would definitely hire me in the end.

"I'm really sorry you have had to go through all of that..." She said after I had finished, "No child should ever have to go through what she has put you through..."

"Are you sure though?" I asked, "Isn't that why I'm here, because this is what's supposed to happen?"

"I'm sure, and please don't worry, you won't have to go through any of that," Miss Megurine reassured me.

"So, what are we going to do then?" I questioned.

"Well, I'm still not entirely sure because this is a lot and I will need some time to figure our where we are going to go from here with all of this new information..." The pink haired woman explained, "But, I can assure you I will no try to change who you are and these sessions will hopefully help you be able to embrace your true feelings."

"Isn't this going to be illegal though?" I replied, "My mother will surely sue if she finds out about any of this..."

"If that does happen, we actually have more of a reason to sue her than she had to do us with everything she's done," She answered, "Don't worry, we will keep you safe."

I exhaled as I tried to understand all of this. I thought I was going here to be changed, but now it turns out I'm going to secretly supported and encouraged? All of these conflicting feelings were a lot for me...

"I understand this is a lot to take in, but I can assure you I will be here for you every step of the way," Miss Megurine reassured me, "Both here and at school."

"Thank you, Miss Megurine," I smiled gratefully, "I don't know what I would do without this..."

"It's okay, you are very welcome!" She smiled, "And also, a side note, you can call me Luka here!"

"Alright, Luka!..." I chuckled.

We both laughed before there was then a lock on the door. The two of us looked up at the clock above us and it turns out that our first session was both over.

I sighed because I was starting to have fun but now I would have to go back to a house that no longer felt like a home to me. Luka came around from the other side of her desk to give me a reassuring warm smile and pat on my shoulder before going to the door and opening it.

I left the room where my mother hugged me for some reason and then we said our goodbyes before leaving the building. She led me back into the car and then drove us home.

"So, how was it?" She asked, her tone very ominously neutral.

"It was fine I guess..." I sighed to male her think that I probably didn't have the best time.

I then saw her mask brighten from the reflection of the window mirror. She nodded with a hum of satisfaction and then didn't speak to me for the rest of the journey home, which was kind of a relief as I wouldn't have had a clue how I would have been able to make up what happened during that session.

We arrived home and I instantly went upstairs to let myself rest, which was surprisingly okay with my mother. Once I was in my almost empty room, I then shut the door behind me and sighed to myself as I sat beside my bed.

This is way all going to be a lot for me, and all of these conflicting ideas I'm hearing and conflicting feelings I'm feeling are very difficult manage. The idea of trying to live a double life again sounds hard, but it's the best thing for me.

And even though everything has to be this way, at least I have some support to keep me going. I've got an even stronger ally in Miss Megurine, or should I say Luka, and the fact she's now my homeroom teacher and therapist is extra helpful!

I will be okay...

Chapter Text

I still felt conflicted the same day. I had spent a lot of the night battling those thoughts but now I'm only more unsure of what to do next but also tired too.

Unfortunately, I had to tolerate listening to my mother spill out nonsense over how "silly" it is for me to "play pretend" and that at least she caught me before I started "doing things to alter my body" that would be "irreversible and also ruin" it because she now probably thinks as long as she keeps on saying those things it will only further discourage me from going against her, which is somewhat working. However, it's now not just me rebelling against her as others are helping me to do it, so it's not completely my fault that this is the way things are going.

I would have just given up by now, but everyone is encouraging me to be myself, so that's what I have todo, even if I now think hiding that part of myself would just be easier for everyone...

Anyway, I left the house after enough time being bored to death had passed and I then went to collect the twins. Both looked shocked, and Rin even looked horrified, when they saw how my haircut and it just made me feel worse that I would now have to deal with their reactions as best as I could.

"What happened?" Len asked.

"I accidentally forgot to tale off everything before I went home so she..." I paused before finishing my explanation because of how painful it was to remind myself of what happened yesterday, "Found out..."

"Uhhhhhh I can't believe that woman!" Rin groaned put of frustration, "And I also can't believe myself..."

"It's fine, it's my fault for forgetting," I tried to reassure my best friend.

"I should have remembered for you though!" The blonde haired girl protested.

"That's not your job though," I argued, "Besides, we were probably having too much fun yesterday anyway and it had to stop somewhere..."

"Your hair though," Her twin pointed out, cringing at how bad it looks.

"I know..." I sighed.

We continued walking along and I could tell that Rin wasn't going to stop feeling guilty and upset, so I decided to take her mind off it with a more positive note.

"Anyway, guess who's going to therapy now?" I asked rhetorically.

"Oh don't say she's doing that too?!" The blonde haired girl exclaimed.

"Unfortunately yes," I answered, "But, it's actually alright!"

"How can conversion therapy be alright?" The blonde haired boy questioned.

"Well, it's not exactly like that. Basically my mother didn't really know what she signing up for and now because the service doesn't allow that, I'm now getting daily sessions of being told to do the exact opposite of what she's saying by Miss Megurine," I explained.

"You're homeroom teacher?" Both twins asked in unison, before side-eyeing each other as they don't like it when they do the same thing at the same time.

"Yes!" I grinned.

"Is she alright?" Rin questioned.

"Yeah, she's actually really sweet!" I replied.

"That's good I guess," She responded woth a smile, even though I could tell she still felt bad.

"Really good, actually!" I corrected her.

"What if your mom finds out about that though?" Len asked.

"Well, I guess I'm screwed..." I sighed.

"Don't say that!" The blonde haired girl yelled before pushing me playfully.

"I am though!" I protested while trying to hold in a forced laugh.

"Don't worry, we'll never let her find out this!" She reassured me.

"Let's hope not," I replied.

We arrived at the gates of the school and then waved goodbye to Len as he went off with his friends. Me and Rin then went over to IA and Yukari, who were also terrified of my haircut, and we then explained to them what happened.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you, I really hope everything will be okay!" IA tried to reassure me, "And I'm sure we can still make things work with the makeover!"

"Yeah, I really hope everything goes well!" Yukari added, "And I agree with my wonderful girlfriend as she can do make anything great again!"

One was also there, which was quite suprising as I hadn't seen her for a while, but she didn't say anything. She just stood and glared at me with crossed arms, and although this did get on Rin's nerves, I was alright.

As long as she doesn't say anything to further fuel my wanting to just give up, I'll be okay. Honestly, it's not really like her words her me anyway, especially compared to the much more vile things my mother is able to come up with...

After some time, the bell went and everyone began to huddle inside. When my best friend was dropping me off, she decided to have a peak through the door to see what my teacher, and now therapist, looked like.

"She does look alright," She admitted.

"I did tell you she is," I pointed out.

"I know..." Rin sighed, "I just really don't like this..."

"Everything will be okay, I promise," I reassured her as best as I could, which was a weak smile and putting my hands on her shoulders because that's what I often see other people do, and I think it was enough to get her to do the same back.

"Okay," She nodded before laughing a little, "I guess I'll just have to trust you on that one..."

Just after she finished, the door opened and Miss Megurine stepped outside. She smiled when. She saw me and I smiled back. Rin then noticed this and then turned around to see her for herself.

"Hello! My name is Kagamine Rin, Miku's bestest friend in the whole wide world!" The blonde haired girl greeted.

"Why hello there! And I'm Miss Megurine, Miku's homeroom teacher and... I think you already know what else," The pink haired woman introduced herself whilst consciously looking to see if the other students lined up behind us were eavesdropping on our conversation, because of course they would bully ke if they found out I was to have her as a therapist too, or even one at all.

"Yes I do!" She nodded.

Rin then noticed that her classmates were now entering their homeroom class and then got ready to leave.

"Bye Miku!" She waved goodbye to me as she began to run off, "And bye, Miss Megurine! Please look after her!"

"Bye Rin!" My teacher called after her, "And I will!"

She then turned back to me with the sane warm smile she always has when she sees me.

"Now then, would you like to come in?" She asked.

"Sure!" I responded and made my way to the door.

I really hope today will be a good day!...

Chapter Text

"So Miku, how are you today?" Miss Megurine asked as I began to walk over to my desk.

"I'm okay!" I answered as I began to set my bag on the table and zip it open.

"Are you sure?" She questioned

"Yeah!" I nodded.

"That's good!" The pink haired woman smiled, "But please do tell me if you're ever struggling, I'm here to help you both inside and outside of school!"

"I will, and thank you!" I responded.

We both nodded one last time before she then signalled for the rest of the class to come in. They were all confused to see my bad haircut, but I wouldn't allow it to get to me, not again...

The first few lessons were okay, but what I had been dreading the most was break, and I didn't feel great going outside to have it. It wasn't about all of the students being able to see my more vulnerable side again, it was more about having to once again try and cover it up, even after the last attempt resulted in what is currently happening right now.

I do still want to have my hair tied up and have makeup on my face, but it now feels even more scary to do than it used to, and I don't like feeling scared, especially in my current vulnerable state.

"Are you sure we should do this?" I asked as IA was about to get her hairbrush out.

"Why wouldn't we?" Rin questioned.

"I don't know, I'm just not sure if we should keep on doing this..." I mumbled, "I don't want to bother anyone..."

"You aren't bothering us," IA pointed out.

"I know, but I'm clearly bothering other people..." I muttered.

"All I can say to that is screw what other people think!" Yukari argued, "This is about you, and not others!"

"Thanks..." I muttered my gratitude reluctantly.

Even though they are all so supportive, I'm still not sure...

I let IA proceed to perform the magical makeover and, to no one's surprise really, she was still able to do a good job. I still smiled politely and thanked her, but just not maybe as genuinely as I used to.

Something just feels off right now...

And it didn't help that all of this brings so much attention to me, and especially from the wrong people. Galaco and her gang were quick to notice when they weren't in control of the popularity, and they were quick to get that sorted.

"Oh look, Mikuo is starring to lose his hair over playing pretend!" She pointed out and then sniggered.

"Mikuo, why don't you just take a break and be what you really are? We would much prefer you to be yourself!" Gumi suggested in such a sweet tone, that was probably genuine because she's being controlled, that it made me cringe.

But... maybe I should just give up?

"Just go away!" Rin yelled.

"No, you go away!" Galaco yelled back, "We didn't ask for your opinion!"

"Neither did we ask for yours!" The blonde haired girl retorted.

Why must they fight over me? I know my best friend is just trying to help, but this is starting to get a little too much.

The girls kept on going at it until the bell rang and I quickly sprinted off to my next lesson without saying anything. I then proceeded to enjoy my next few lessons before I then began to dread lunch.

Lunch ended up being a continuation of what started at break, which was really difficult to watch. I wasn't actually too involved in the argument because I wasn't really given much of a voice anyway with Rin carrying it for me, but I still don't like it.

I just want us all to get along... is it really that hard?

The lesson that I had after that was Miss Megurine, so I did walk into the room feeling low, and she noticed.

"Miku, are you okay?" She asked.

I didn't feel able to explain myself then, so I simply just put up a smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" I lied.

I know I shouldn't have, but it just felt easier to keep it to myself at the time. If I had let it out, I only would have ended up being more tired.

I then continued through the rest of the day on low energy until I went home, recharged on my own for a little, and then went to therapy.

I still didn't really want to talk about my issues then, so I didn't really. I did let her actually know I wasn't feeling great, but I didn't elaborate, and she was fine with that.

"That's completely fine, only do what you feel comfortable with!" She had reassured me.

I love it when I'm not forced to doing something. I know it's not really being forced, but it's still pressure, amd I'm being pressured by life as much as it is, so why do I need more?

Besides, it's a lot more interesting hearing more about Miss Megurine anyway. She has so many cool stories to tell, and she's a lot more of an interesting person then I would consider myself.

It's so much easier to push your own problems aside to hear others. It helps you be productive in helping other people, and it helps to just forget about your own issues...

Helps you forget about yourself...

Chapter Text

The next day, I went into school with no expectations that the day would go well. I just knew that the fights from yesterday would stretch onto this day too, so I didn't really want to get my hopes up.

Rin tried to do her best to reassure me that everything would be okay, but I just knew it wouldn't be. It also didn't help that she would probably end up getting involved, and that would just end up making everything worse.

Miss Megurine could notice something was up when I went into the homeroom class at the started the day, but I still wasn't ready to open up to her about all of this. I did actually let her know I wasn't okay this time around, bit I just told her that maybe if I felt up to, I would tell her after school.

She was perfectly okay with that, so I was unobothered all the way up to breaktime.

Oh breaktime...

I remember when these times of the day would be my favourite. They used to be something that I would look forward to as a way to take a break from being top student amd so I could socialise with people...

But now, they are something I dread, something that I would go as far to say as I fear.

And now, I would much rather unsocialise, if that even is a word. I guess it's better to say I would rather disassociate. Yeah, that's better...

Anyway, me and Rin were just leaving our second lesson and heading outside to our meet up spot with IA and Yukari when we couldn't even make it out of the door because Galaco wasn't blocking it off.

Oh this isn't going to be great...

"Hello Mikuo!~" She greeted.

"Hi..." I muttered.

"Oh Mikuo, you're so adorable!~" She sang

What the hell?

"Of course he is!~" Gumi cooed, "He's the cutest boy in the whole wide world!~"

Lily and Cul, who were stood some distance away from them but enough for them to still be apart of the gang, looked just as confused as how me and Rin looked hearing all of this.

Like seriously, what the hell? First they're insulting me and now they're complimenting me?

Surely they're joking, right?...

At least Galaco probably is, but with Gumi, that's probably a completely different story...

"C-can we get past now?" I asked as beads of sweat began to run down from my forehead from how uncomfortable this was all starting to make me feel.

"Why would you possibly want to do that?" The blonde and brown haired girl pouted with sad puppy eyes, "We haven't even started fangirling about how super cute you are!~"

"Well, if you respected her enough, you would know she doesn't want that and she is now politely asking for you to go away..." My blonde haired best friend muttered.

"Of course we respect her!" Galaco snapped before clearing her throat to continue her 'sweet' voice, "And of course he wants it!"

"He loves us just as much as we love him!" Gumi added.

I hate these girls with a burning passion, but of course I'm not going to say that in front of them.

"Come on Miku, we'll find another way out of here..." Rin whispered in my ear.

I took her hand and we were about to walk off when I heard shrieking from behind us.

"They're getting away!" It was Gumi surprisingly enough.

"What are you two just standing around for?!" Galaco exclaimed, probably at Lily and Cul, "We've got to get them!"

I mean you don't have to, but-

They're wasn't really enough time to finish that though because me and Rin had to pick up the place and bolt down the corridors as the girls began to gain on us.

I've never really broken the rules of any school before because I always used to be such a good student, so it was very weird when teachers burst out of their classrooms to try and tell us to stop, but the adrenaline and anxiety were enough to drown them out. Besides, if they were going through what I was right now, they wouldn't care for the rules either.

Me and Rin managed to find another exit so we didn't have to deal with the extra amount of yelling for too long. We practically ran right through the double doors trying to scramble out of there while four girls, two weirdly lovesick and two very confused, were catching up to us.

I was trying my hardest to keep up with my best friend, but I'm nowhere near as athletic as her, so I was starting to fall behind. And then, I accidentally tripped over a rock, and our hands were separated, meaning she wouldn't be able to pull me away from what was about to happen next.

Galaco and Gumi dropped down on their knees once they had caught up and began to get way too close to me for anyone's liking. They then started hugging me and...

Kissing me...

I wouldn't get them get anywhere near my lips, but they were able to get pecks on my cheeks. I tried to push them away with us much force as I could because I seriously could not have cared less if I had given both of them a black eye in the moment, but they kept on tugging me and tried to keep on grabbing for me.

It made me think back to when I was younger and I used to witness this happen to the boys in my class a lot. The boy crazy girls would chase after them and do exactly the same thing as this, and I would just stand and watch and laugh to myself.

But when you're on the other end of the whole thing, it really hits different, and not in a good way.

Meanwhile, my eyes kept on darting around the playground. Everyone was stood there, watching as this whole scene played out, but no one did anything. There were mutters and laughter, but no one was there to stand up for me.

Not even Rin did anything. The blonde hair girl stood there with her jaw dropped and all of the colour flushed out of her, like she had just witnessed my death.

I mean, I did feel like I was dying...

I managed to finally pull away from the girls and I ran as fast as I could into the building. Sweat was pouring from my forehead, tears were close to falling and my cheeks were burning red as I bent over to take a deep breath inside.

Before anyone could come after me or I could make a run to the toilets and lock myself away like I had planned, the bell rang. It was kind of a relief in some way, but it also wasn't...

What happened at lunch wasn't all too interesting, but I still told it to Miss Megurine after school in our therapy session, along with the rest of the story. I didn't want to, but I didn't really feel like I have much of a choice.

And besides, she is a teacher. She can probably do something about this.

But after I was finished with my story, I didn't really want to discuss any further plans. I just wanted to distract myself from the whole situation.

"So, what would you like to talk about instead?" The pink haired woman asked.

Well, there is a lot I would much rather talk about instead, but to keep things somewhat related to the whole point I'm here, I wanted to ask more about her.

"Well, I was was wondering why did you decide to become a teacher in the first place?" I questioned, "Because if I remember correctly from yesterday, you were a therapist first, right?"

"Yes, yes I was!" She responded.

Miss Megurine then went on to talk about how Mrs Shion, the headmistress of the school as well as being "Meiko" to her, came to therapy after going through a breakup with Mr Shion. She helped her out and after they got back together and later on got married, she invited her to become a teacher, and she took the offer.

There's something interesting I noticed about the way she talked about the headmistress though. She kept on staring into space wistfully with a sort of sad but happy smile, and it really helped further pique my interest.

"Are you sad that they got back together?" I asked.

"Well, I wouldn't really say sad, because I'm happy that they're so happy together! But, I will admit I did think maybe something could have happened between me and her..." She responded, "Although, it was probably just all in my head..."

"I'm sure you might still have a chance with her, that is if she is open to snap open relationship," I reassured her.

The pink haired woman thought about it and then chuckled.

"Look who's being the therapist now!" She said.

I giggled a little too. I guess I am good at giving advice, just not to myself.

"Do you have any crushes on anyone?" Miss Megurine questioned.

"Well, I'm not really sure..." I muttered.

"Well, you and Rin seem very, very close!~" She teased.

"Yeah, I guess your right!" I laughed nervously, a blush growing on my face, "She is really cool and pretty, and I've admired her for a really long time, but sometimes I worry that is all there is too it and to imagine anything more is just me over my head..."

"Well, I thought me being with Meiko was me over my head, buy you seem to think otherwise!" She responded.

"Yeah, I guess your right..." I replied.

Maybe me and Rin could be more than friends...

But, it's probably better off if we aren't right now! I've still got a lot of my plate and I don't think I'm ready for that just yet!

It's still a thought though.

A thought that will go with all of the others thoughts that I come up with when I'm talking to my therapist and forgetting about my problems.

Maybe I can continue to fight on as long as I continue to have this...

Chapter Text

Over the next few days, the cycle continued. Every break and lunch I wouldn't be able to get a break from Galaco or Gumi or any of their gang and they would do whatever it takes to get on my nerves.

I've tried my hardest to hide or run away from them, but isn't much use. They always find me, and they always make me pay for it.

And that means I now have to spend every day trying to keep a straight face as they flirt with me or try to make romantic advances on me. It's really difficult, especially because it's already uncomfortable enough that they call me by my dreaded real name and pronouns that don't feel right to me, but I simply have no choice.

I've started to become more and more fed up to the point where I desperately just want these feelings of uncomfortableness to just go away so I can just be a normal boy, but I've noticed the same happen with Rin, IA and Yukari as well. I wouldn't expect anything less from my best friend, but I was quite suprised by the other two.

IA and Yukari have been trying their absolute hardest to encourage me to keep on being myself, along with joining in on the arguments to defend my side. They've starting becoming just as frustrated as me and Rin, and on the one hand, that's really sweet that they are so considerate of me, but on the other hand, it makes me feel even more guilty.

They shouldn't have to get all angry over this. This is supposed to be just my issue, but now it's becoming everyone else's, and it makes me feel like such a bad person. Like, I understand IA wanting to keep her sister away from me, but she shouldn't have to stand up for me.

It's my battle to fight, but for some reason I've got a whole army on my side. I should be happy about it, but I'm not.

And I've only become even more unhappy after something that recently happened...

A few days ago, I went to school as usual, did lessons as usual, and was about to walk home with Rin as usual when IA stopped me.

"Hey Miku, wait!" She called.

"What is it, IA?" I questioned.

"It's just, you've looked so sad recently and before you take your makeup off, I just wanted to do something to make you feel better!" The strawberry blonde haired girl explained.

She then pulled out her phone and went onto her camera app. She got into position to take a selfie as Yukari came to stand behind us and we all smiled as she took the photo.

After that, IA then showed me the photo.

"See, no matter what anyone thinks, this is a photo of four girls, and anyone who says otherwise is clearly just jealous of how much better we are as people compared to them!" Yukari pointed out.

I guess I do look like a real girl when I'm crowded around by them...

"Thanks," I smiled.

After that, I wiped away my makeup, took our my pigtails and went home. I then did everything I normally did at home but, before I went to bed, I decided to scroll a little on social media.

I hadn't really been on it in a while because I haven't had anything to post, especially because anything I were to post would end up getting seen by my mother, so it felt weird being on it again. I did some scrolling, but one of the first posts that came up was the selfie that IA had taken that day.

She put a really sweet caption under it, and all of the top comments were really positive, but then I found myself scrolling down the list until I found the dark pit of nasty comments. I know I shouldn't let them get to me, but I couldn't help it.

They said how I'm very clearly a boy, how I'll never be a real girl, and there were too many horrible names to count. I knew they were all from Galaco, and the fact that she had to make multiple accounts shows that she's too much of a coward to say these things straight to my face, and instead pretends to love me asa way to mock me.

But, I noticed that Lily was also leaving these comments under her own account too. It really confused me as I thought she was more reluctant to being mean to me and that she was secretly on my side, but I guess not.

More comments just kept on coming so I decided to switch off my phone and cry myself to sleep. I'm better off this way...

The next day, I unfortunately had to face another day of school just after having seen those nasty comments. I didn't want to be anywhere bear those girls after witnessing those, but I didn't have much of a choice.

When I arrived outside at break, I saw Rin, IA and Yukari gathered together whike whispering, but I knew full well what they were talking about.

"You don't have to whisper," I let them know as I walked up to them, "I already know..."

"I'm so sorry that happened to you," Rin said, "Those girls are really getting on my nerves!"

"What should we do about it?" IA asked.

"I'm not sure," I replied.

"You could tell Mrs Shion about it and she can talk with them?" Yukari suggested.

"I don't think that's a good idea," I responded.

I would rather lock myself in the toilets and cry then do that, as the bullying will only get worse if they get called out for it.

"Well, I think we should give it a try," IA said.

"Yeah, maybe she can knock some sense into them!" Rin added.

I still wasn't sure if that was the best idea, but I reluctantly nodded along. After that, we then went to Mrs Shion's office, explained to her what had happened, and she then got her husband Mr Shion along with Miss Megurine to get Galaco, Gumi Lily, and Cul and she talked with them.

We stood outside when this happened, but after the chat was over and they came out, Galaco looked very angry, Gumi looked confused, Lily was crying and Cul was acting as distant as usual.

I could tell Lily and Cul's apologies were genuine, and I made sure to show how much I appreciated them, but I didn't feel the same way towards Galaco's or Gumi's. The blonde and brown haired girl's was very clearly made for the sake of apologising with no genuinely remorse attached to it, and the green haired girl's didn't feel right as I think there's a lot she needs to figure out about herself.

And at the end of all of this, I just felt very tired. It was really exhausting having to worry about all of this, and I only felt even more anxious about coming back to school after that with how Galaco glared at me. I knew exactly what kind of treatment I was going to get from her after that, so nothing Miss Megurine said to try and reassure me did sink in.

I just can't do this anymore. I thought pretending and lying was supposed to be easy, because people do it all the time, but it isn't. It's hard and frustrating and I hate this all so much.

I hate myself so much.

I just want to be normal so badly, and I would do anything to just be able to be a normal boy. I don't care about my feelings anymore, I just have to face facts that I just can't do this.

I can't be Miku anymore, I have to be Mikuo...

Chapter Text

The next day, I felt like I needed to let Rin know of my decision and get this all off my chest. The sooner I tell her, the sooner everything can hopefully go back to normal.

Or at least that's what I hope. Sure, it means getting endlessly tortured in the form of having my dreaded real name and pronouns used, but it's better this way.

I really hope she'll understand and can help me through this...

I walked to her house to pick her up on the way to school and since Len had already, for some reason, left the house, it was just us two walking to school together today. I was going to try and talk to her after school, but it would be better to just get it all over and done with so we can just move on from this.

I just want Miku to be put in the past where she belongs so I can finally be treated with respect.

"Rin, there's something I need to tell you," I said.

"What is it?" She asked.

"I've decided that I'm going to stop being Miku," I announced.

"What?!" The blonde haired girl exclaimed.

"I know, I know, it's just I can't keep on doing this anymore," I explained, "I just want to finally be a normal boy..."

"But that's not really true though," Rin argued.

"But what if I want it to be?" I questioned, "What if I want to be a boy?"

"You're just lying to yourself because you think that will make everything better, but it won't," She replied.

"Maybe I am, but so what?" I asked, "Why does it matter how I feel when there are some people who just won't care what I have to say?"

"You just need to forget them! They aren't worth your time!" My best friend responded.

"But I can't!" I cried, "No matter how hard I try, I can't!"

I started to feel tears prickle in my eyes and my cheeks flush red. I thought she would understand, but she's making this much harder than it has to be.

"Miku..." She sighed.

Rin tried to reach out to give me a hug, but I distanced myself from her.

"Don't call me that!" I shouted.

Why can't she just be like everyone else? Why can't she just accept Mikuo and hate Miku?

"No matter who you are or what you do, there will always be people who don't like you, that's just how life works," She said, "But you just need to ignore them and only focus your time and energy on the people who accept you for you."

"How am I supposed to ignore everyone in my life?!" I exclaimed.

"You've got me, and I've tried to be there for you no matter what," Rin argued.

"But that's just it," I replied, "And it makes me feel like such a burden towards you, and I hate that..."

"Miku..." My best friend sighed.

"I don't want to do this anymore, I don't want to feel like this anymore, I don't want to feel at all!" I yelled, "So if you won't accept that, just go!"

We both stopped and a silence was held. Both of us had tears in our eyes, but mine were out of frustration and anger and hers were probably from sadness, not that I really understand why they would be.

"Okay, I'll go..." My best friend muttered.

"Fine by me!" I replied.

There was then another silence. I hate these silences just as much as I hate all of this.

"Goodbye Miku..." She mumbled as she walked through the gates of the school.

I wanted to say something back, but this was all starting to hurt a little too much. I don't want to end my friendship with her, but she isn't leaving me with much of a choice.

And also, I've hurt her enough. She doesn't deserve any of this, and yet I've still put her through hell anyway.

Rin is such a nice person, it's just such a shame I have to be such a mess. I never deserved to be her friend, and I am glad that I have finally managed to prove that to her.

I feel like in a way, I've really messed up. Maybe she is right and I should just ignore haters, but I just can't bring myself to do that.

Before all of this, no one ever hated me. No one was unkind to me or bullied me, and I was happy.

But now, everyone knows the truth, and no one really seems to like me anymore. And neither can I blame them, because even I don't like myself.

I'm just too much of a people pleaser. I have always tried my best to what has been expected of me, especially in regards to school work, but I guess the same could be said for a lot of other things too.

I just want people to like me, even if that means that I'm not really being myself anymore.

But on the other hand, I've done her a huge favour. She won't have to do with little, confused Miku anymore.

No one will have to anymore.

Because in the end, I've always been Mikuo, and that's who I'll always be.

I really hope this is all worth it in the end. I hope my mother is happy, I hope Galaco is happy, and I hope everyone else is too.

I wish I could say the same for myself, buy it's really not true. Of course I would like to be happy, but as long as I'm like this, that never will really be the case.

But, I'll just pretend to be, and I'm sure that will be fine. Most of my life has been 'playing pretend' after all, so I'm sure I could keep this all up for a little longer, maybe even the rest of my life.

It's going to be difficult, especially without Rin by my side. I really wish she could have just understood, but I guess maybe it just wasn't meant to be.

But it's okay, I'll be okay as long as I'm Mikuo. Everyone will finally like me as long as I'm Mikuo. Everyone will finally treat me with respect as long as I'm Mikuo.

Not Miku, but Mikuo...

Chapter Text

It's been a few weeks and... I am starting to doubt myself over whether I made the right choice or not. I mean, I was doubting myself at the beginning but... I am starting to really regret it now...

After shouting at Rin, she stopped talking to me, and who can blame her? She was only trying to support me, and I pushed her away because of my internalised hatred of myself.

I didn't deserve her, I never deserved her, so I think I deserve to have this kind of treatment back.

And, she hasn't tried to speak to me since. I have actually tried to apologise quite a few times, but every time, she's avoided me, so I've given up.

I'm a bit of a loner now, or at least in the sense that I don't have any friends. I'll never be lonely though with my bullies always picking on me though...

Yes, that's right, it all did get worse after they all got told off, or at least Galaco did. Since I've started dressing like a boy now and people can tell I've obviously upset Rin, everyone has now started to side with Galaco and have begun to gang up on me.

Well, not Rin, IA, Yukari, or any of the Meme Squad, but everyone else...

Even One. I thought she had changed, but I guess she hasn't.

But, one thing I know for sure is that everyone hates me. And, to be completely honest, I'm okay with that.

Because guess what? I hate me too.

I'm the #1 Mikuo hater. No one can top me, not even Galaco. And, I think hating yourself is a hell of a lot better than pretending to like yourself.

But, everyone now hating me isn't the only thing that is changed. Nope, it gets a little worse tha that...

I've become an emo.

Losing Rin and all of this has really taken a toll on me, and so what do you do when everyone hates you? You change yourself!

I didn't mean to become an emo, but that's how things ended up turning out for me. First it started with me wearing a black hoodie to school, then developing eye bags from a lack of sleep, and then I topped it all off with dying my hair dark green.

The black hoodie is because I just felt so uncomfortable wearing the make uniform that I just couldn't take it anymore. I've been told off quite a few times, but at this point no one really cares.

The lack of sleep is because I spend every night staring at the ceiling as the fight between me and Rin replays in my head. She is all that is ever on my mind, and our past friendship is what keeps me up at night.

And the green hair? Well, I'm not entirely sure what that was for. I kind of did it because as my hair began to grow out again, from my lack of brushing it, my hair started to look curly like how my mother makes hers, and there is no way in hell that I want to look anything like her.

I just felt like dying it dark green. It looks really cool, but no one ever really gets to see that much of it because I always keep my hood up.

And you may be wondering, how am I allowed to do all of this with a mother like mine? And the answer to that is...

She doesn't care anymore!

I'm actually being serious. At first she cared a whole lot, but a few weeks in she just shut her mouth and let me do my thing as this is all my responsibility.

And I'm not putting quotation marks around that because it is. I'm choosing to neglect my physical health for the sake of... I don't know, hating myself?

And you also may be wondering, why isn't Miss Megurine doing anything about this?

Well, I've stopped seeing her...

She cares too much, and it really does hurt me how much she does, so I thought it would be better for the both of us if I just stopped showing up to her sessions, so that's what I did.

So now no one cares about me, and although it's tough, it's for the better. And I kind of like it too.

Or at least I thought no one cared about me until yesterday...

I was just hiding behind a tree, minding my own business while trying to keep myself away from pretty much all of students in my year group, when I noticed a pair of eyes watching me from a distance. This wasn't the first time this had happened, but at least now I could see a shadowy figure behind another nearby tree because I thought it was just my paranoia that there's people watching me playing around.

I stared back at them for a while, but then it began to really bug me so I tried to find a new hiding spot. But then, when I was trying to find a new tree, they crept up on me and the pounced.

"Boo!"

"Ahhhhh!" My voice cracked as I let the force of their hands that were gripped onto my shoulders take me down and let me fall onto the floor.

"Damn, you really are a boy..." They muttered.

"Great, thanks a lot for reminding me..." I sighed in annoyance.

I then sat up and looked up to find that standing before me was... VFlower?

"VFlower? What were you doing spying on me?!" I exclaimed.

"Just trying to analyse if you were okay from a distance," They answered.

"You could have asked!" I pointed out.

"True," The white haired teen shrugged, "Are you okay?"

"Obviously not!" I answered.

"Welp, that's my question answered," They shrugged once again, "And, I could kind of tell with the whole thing you've got going on."

"Yeah, I'm emo now, so what?" I questioned.

"Slay, me too!" VFlower beamed.

I looked them up and down. Damn, I can't believe I never noticed that.

But as I kept on looking them up and down, I found my eyes were landing on a pin badge attached to their blazer that I hadn't noticed before.

It was yellow at the top, then white, black and purple. Does it mean something? Either way, I like the colour pattern.

"I like your badge!" I complimented.

"Thank you!" They beamed, "It's the non binary flag!"

"Non binary?" I questioned, "What does that mean?"

"It's when you don't really feel like a boy or a girl and your kind of just your own thing," VFlower explained.

"Your own thing?..." I muttered to myself.

It's possible to not be a boy or a girl?

"Yeah, ever since I found this label, which isn't too long ago, I've just found that I've vibes with it better than I ever did as a girl, but it took a whole lot of existential crisises to get me to this point," The white haired teen explained further.

So that's why they look so different now then they did before...

"You think you might be non binary too?" VFlower asked.

"I mean, I don't really feel like I have a gender at the moment, but that might just be because I don't really feel like anything at the moment," I replied, "I don't really think now is the right time for me to be questioning that sort of stuff..."

"Well, what do you feel like then?" They questioned.

"A boy," I answered.

"Come on, I know that's a lie!" The white haired teen argued.

"Fine, I wanted to be a girl, but not so much anymore!" I answered more truthfully.

"And why is that?" They asked.

"It's just too much work trying to be what you want to be when people aren't going to like you for it..." I explained.

"Well, there's no way you can really get anything in life unless you fight a little for it," VFlower replied, "And besides, not everyone likes me being non binary, but I don't let it stop me."

"Why not?" I questioned.

"Because being myself makes me happy, and I know that when you were yourself, a part of you was happy too," They explained, "We've got to do what makes up happy!"

I guess they are right. Even if I don't want to be happy, I do kind of want to be if it will make them happy too.

"You're so cool..." I sighed, "I just can't believe you actually ever thought I was a girl..."

"I see people for who they want to be, not for who they are meant to be," The white haired teen shrugged, "And also because you did genuinely look like a girl."

"Thank you," I smiled.

"No problem, Miku," They smiled back.

But then, the bell went. I didn't want to stop talking to them, but we now had to go our separate ways because we barely share any lessons.

And they noticed that too.

"You should come and hang out with me and my friends at lunch," VFlower suggested.

"Oh no it's fine-" I tried to protest.

"You aren't getting out of expiriencing happiness, Miku!" They chuckled, "And chill, it ain't the Meme Squad! I've got much cooler friends now!"

"Okay..." I nodded reluctantly, but I was actually kind of glad in a way they were being nice to me, as I haven't experienced this in a long while...

Chapter Text

I was quite reluctant to leave the classroom I was in and go out to lunch knowing that I would have to meet VFlower's friends, but I still really wanted to do it for them, so I did.

I think VFlower is so cool and I admire them, so I really want to make a good impression on them. I know I haven't really made that good of a start with how emo I look at the moment, but I've still got a chance to somewhat redeem myself.

I can't mess this up...

I went outside and found them waiting by the door for me.

"Are you ready to meet my friends?" VFlower asked.

"I'm a little nervous..." I admitted.

"Don't worry, they're nowhere near as scary as me!" The white haired teen reassured me, before coughing, "Except for Neru..."

"You aren't scary!" I argued.

"Two groups of people called homophobes and transphobes find me scary, but whatever!" They shrugged, "Let's go!"

They took my hand and then led me to a bench where two people were sat. One of them had red hair tied into drills on either side of their head and was waving frantically with a huge grin on their face and the other had yellow hair tied into a singular ponytail and was on her phone...

Wait, I thought we weren't allowed phones?

"Hi guys, meet the new kid that I've adopted into joining our Alphabet Mafia!" VFlower greeted.

"H-hello, my name is Hatsune M-miku!" I stammered an introduction.

"Hello Miku! My name is Kasane Teto!" The red haired girl beamed.

We all then turned expectedly to the blonde haired girl who was still texting away on her phone.

"Neru..." VFlower whispered.

"Oh, it's my turn..." Neru looked up from her phone for a spilt-second before turning back to looking down at her screen, "Yo, my name is Akita Neru..."

"And I'm VFlower..." The white haired teen sighed, "Glad we finally got that over with!"

"It's not my fault, how am I supposed to know I'm also supposed to introduce myself?" The blonde haired girl replied.

"Whatever..." VFlower muttered as they took a seat, and I did the same.

"Oh Neruru, you silly goose!~" Teto teased, wrapping her arms around the girl sat next to her.

"Shut up and get off me..." Neru muttered, trying to shuffle along the bench, but the other girl only squeezed up closer.

"But I love you!" The red haired girl pouted.

The blonde haired girl groaned but didn't argue any further. It was all quite amusing to watch, and made me think about whether they are more than friends or not.

"Hello Veevee!" Teto greeted, "Thank you for bringing us a new friend!"

"Hey Tetoris, and no problem!" VFlower replied, "We always need new Alphabet Mafia members after all!"

"What is the Alphabet Mafia?" I asked.

"The Alphabet Mafia is my new group made up of my friends who are either gay, trans or both!" The white haired teen explained, "We're all under the rainbow somewhere, so don't feel scared to hide your true self here!"

"Trans?" I questioned.

"Like you!" They answered.

"There are more people like me?" I asked.

"There are countless people like you out in the world!" VFlower responded, "Unfortunately, I don't know anymore people specifically like you in this school, but we've got people under the umbrella term here!"

"Like who?" I questioned.

"Well, I'm non binary, like I told you earlier," They replied.

"I'm a chimera!" Teto responded.

"Teto is some kind of xenogender, we haven't quite figured them out yet but we still support them regardless," VFlower whispered.

We then both turned to Neru, who was still on her phone. She looked up to glare at us before looking back down at it.

"And I don't give a sh-" She said.

"Neru opened up about how she connects with the demigirl label, but she would never admit that to anyone else," The white haired teen interrupted.

"Whatever..." She muttered to herself.

"And what about you?" Teto asked.

"I-i-i'm a-a-" I stuttered, not really sure what to respond with as I'm not really sure what I am.

"She's a little confused over her feelings towards gender at the moment, but I'm pretty sure she's transfemme," VFlower answered for me.

"Wh-what they said!" I stammered.

"Sweet! Trans girls are so adorable!" The red haired chimera responded.

"Cool..." The blonde haired demigirl muttered.

I couldn't help but begin to feel flustered by all of these compliments. It's difficult to keep reminding myself that there are accepting people, but I keep on getting reminded time and time again that there are.

And it makes me so happy...

"By the way, there is more more girl in our gang called Miki," VFlower informed me, "Teto, do you know here Miki is?"

"I don't think Mimiki is in..." Teto sighed.

"Miki?" I questioned, "Isn't that the girl who I've heard apparently thinks she's a robot?"

I've heard rumors about that around school, but now I'm starting to think about it, that's probably not true...

"Uhhhh, not this again..." VFlower sighed and facepalmed themself.

"I'm sorry for bringing this up..." I apologised, "I'm assuming it's not true, right?"

"It's fine, Miki does videos on social media platforms where she cosplays as her robot persona, Sf-A2-Miki, and sometimes prefers other people to refer to her by that rather than just Miki," They explained, "Unfortunately, people are dumb and think that means she identifies as a robot, but that's not true and I will not tolerate Miki slander as she is my precious cinnamon roll!"

"Okay," I nodded.

Precious cinnamon roll, eh?

"Oh, also, is it okay that I've been using they/them pronouns to refer to you?" I questioned.

"Yeah, those are my pronouns after all, so thanks!" The white haired teen replied, "And by the way, Teto goes by they/them, Neru goes by she/they and Miki goes by she/her!"

"Okay, thank you!" I responded.

I'm glad I got that clarified, and I'm glad VFlower noticed me struggling on my own at break, because I'm glad I've now made friends with them and Teto and Neru.

I'm looking forward to meeting Miki as she seems nice, and I'm looking forward to hanging out with all of them again tomorrow...

Chapter Text

The next day, I found myself feeling really excited and happy for the first time in a while. Today, I would hopefully be meeting Miki, and I'm really buzzing about that, and also because I would get to spend more time with VFlower and the others.

I really hope Miki is as nice as VFlower made her out to be. I know it wouldn't be in character for VFlower to lie, but they could always be too smitten to realise her bad traits...

Oh well, I'm not going to allow myself to doubt them. My brain is so energetic from the sudden rush of positivity that I haven't felt in a while that I just can't.

Everything will be okay...

I arrived at school, on my own, and by the time I got there, it was already time to go in. I unfortunately didn't get any time to hang out or chat with VFlower and the Alphabet Mafia before school.

But, then when it came to breaktime, I walked outside and there they were waiting for me on the same table as last time. I ran over and sat down next to Teto so that I could face VFlower.

And sat next to them was Miki, who was holding their hand while affectionately rubbing her head against their shoulder. Once the ginger haired girl realised I had arrived, she sat up straight, her face flushed.

"H-hi!" She stammered, before clearing her throat, "You're Miku, aren't you?"

"I am," I replied, "And you're Miki?"

"Yep!" Miki answered, "It's so great to finally be meeting you! V has told me all about you!"

They have? They think i'm that cool and interesting?

"V-V-VFlower has also told me quiet a lot about you too," I stuttered in response, my cheeks glowing pink.

"Have you now, V?~" The ginger haired girl teased the white haired teen by getting close to their face, making them go red.

"Yes, but why wouldn't I tell her all about you?" They tried to make a comeback, "If i could shout from the rooftops about how amazing you are, I would!"

Those two are cute, but unfortunately they remind me of how IA and Yukari used to act, hell even me and Rin used to act, so I wasn't able to truly appreciate the cute moment.

"How come you weren't in yesterday?" I asked, interrupting the two, "Were you sick or something?"

"No, sometimes I take breaks off school when I feel too scared to come in..." The ginger haired girl muttered.

"Because of the bullies?" I questioned.

She nodded her head but didn't say a word. I was starting to feel guilty, but I still had one unanswered question.

"Sorry if I'm being too invasive with all of this, but... would you like me to call you Miki or-" I was about to inquire.

"Just Miki, I don't really feel like being called the other name anymore after all of the pain it's given me..." Miki interrupted.

I nodded and then looked down towards the floor. I didn't feel able to make eye contact with any of them anymore.

"Well, seeing as you've got a lot of questions that you didn't seem to have the chance to ask yesterday, why don't we make today an Alphabet Mafia Q&A?" VFlower suggested with a reassuring smile as they must have noticed my ashamed expression.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm happy to answer anything, and I'm sure the others are too!" They nodded.

"Okay then..." I cleared my throat, "Are any of your parents accepting of you?"

"Well, my adopted parents are, but yeah," VFlower nodded.

"I haven't come out yet, but I'm sure my parents have probably found my social media accounts but just haven't said anything, so they don't seem to mind," Miki added.

"Yes! My dad is so supportive!" Teto beamed.

"I don't really know who my parents are, but my older sister, who technically isn't even my sister, is accepting, and I am for her too..." Neru muttered.

"Oh..." I mumbled, "I guess i'm the only one without..."

"Are your parents not?" The red haired chimera asked, her happy expression quickly turning sad.

"Well, my mother definitely isn't..." I sighed and shook my head, "But as for my father... I haven't seen him in years..."

"I'm sorry to here that..." VFlower muttered, "Hopefully we can be like a family to you, or at least a better support network!"

I then looked up and noticed all four of them smiling at me. All of this made me smile too, and I almost felt like I could cry...

But no, I can't cry right now. I I'm happy right now, not sad...

"Thank you everyone," I said as I tried to keep it all together, "It really means a lot..."

But this begs the question, why do I feel this way towards them but couldn't fork the same towards my old group of friends. They didn't have the same issues as me, and yet they were still supportive.

I don't understand my complicated feelings right now, but it's too late anyway. I've already pushed Rin and the others away, and I don't have the strength to pull them back, especially when they don't deserve me...

"It's okay!" Miki smiled reassuringly, "Do you have anymore questions?"

"Yeah, uhhhh-" I hummed in thought asi definitely did have some, but they had completely vanished from my head, "Miki, what are your feelings towards gender?"

"Well, I really love being a girl, so I'm pretty comfortable with myself," She replied, "I may not be trans or non binary or any of the other many cool labels that exist, but I still support all of you and feel all of you deserve support from the whole wide world too!"

Wow, she really is as sweet as a cinnamon roll...

"Teto... how do you do your hair like that?" I questioned, pointing at their twin drills.

"I honestly don't know either, my dad is just an expert at doing hair!" They replied.

"Neru, why are you on your phone all the time?" I asked.

"Just checking in on my older sister Haku and making sure she isn't doing anything stupid..." She muttered.

"Wait, you've been texting your sister this whole time?!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, and her name is Yowane Haku..." They sighed before explaining, "Our parents used to be friends, and then we became friends. But, after both of our parents disappeared, since she's older, she decided to take me in and raise me like a sister. Because of all of the trauma we experienced, she became an alcoholic and I became a screen addict, so I use that to make sure she's recovering well when i'm not around..."

That's the most I've ever heard Neru talk, and yet what she has to say is so sad...

"That's deep, I'm sorry to hear that happened to you..." I replied.

"I'm fine," They nodded, "But what did you think I was doing on my phone?"

"I honestly don't know..." I muttered, "But, how did you get permission to keep your phone on you?"

"Mrs Shion is a recovering alcoholic herself, so she understands and took compassion with her decision," Neru explained.

Oh yeah...

Before I could ask VFlower a question, everything quickly came to a hault when Gumi, Galaco and One arrived at the table. The three of them smiled smugly at us, but more specifically me

I thought I had finally gotten rid of them, but I not guess, and now all of them are going to get dragged into this...

"Look what we've got here, Mikuo making friends with more delusional weirdos?" Galaco teased.

"I know right!" One nodded in agreement, "First he's confusing my sister into supporting all of this, then manipulating my sister's girlfriend into thinking she's 'genderfluid', and now you're hanging out with the mental ill psychos! I guess you do deserve it..."

I wasn't even upset by the insults, I was more confused about what she said about Yukari's gender.

Nevermind, I guess that's a question for another time.

"Why won't you three just leave me alone?!" I exclaimed, "I thought I've made it crystal clear that I don't want this!"

"Because we love you, Mikuo, and want you to be okay!" Gumi whined with risy pink cheeks.

"No we do-" One tried to argue, but then Galco covered her mouth.

"Let Gumi believe what she wants to believe..." She muttered, but she was loud enough for Gumi to hear.

The green haired girl's frown became squiggly and her cheeks went red. She looked to be upset, but I wasn't going to let her get away with this. I won't show her pity she doesn't deserve.

"I don't love you, Gumi, and I never will!" I shouted.

"M-mikuo?..." She whimpered.

"Gumi, please just leave her be and go away..." VFlower sighed, "I don't want to have to report you to Mrs Shion, especially because this wouldn't be the first time, for harassment."

"Come on Gumi, let's just go!" Galaco yelled before storming off, One following behind her.

"I'm sorry, VFlower..." Gumi sighed, tears beginning to drip down her flushed cheeks, "I'm also sorry to you, Miku..."

And with that, she ran back to her fake friends. I do feel a little bad now that she's caught up in this toxic manipulation and letting Galaco puppeteer her into becoming just as much as a monster as her, but there's nothing I can do.

It's her problem, and only she can solve it. I'm sure she will, especially because it seems that she is now realising the truth of it all, but only time will tell.

But, until then...

"VFlower, why did Gumi listen to you the first time when I've said no to her about a hundred times now?" I asked.

"You're got a pretty good memory of elementary school, so you might remember that me and Gumi used to hang out a lot, and we were kind of inseparable in our very last year..." They explained.

And they are right. Me and Rin were friends with Gumi, but we were never as close with her as VFlower used to be with her. They were together a lot, so it all felt so weird when a distance grew between them and they gravitated towards different crowds.

Their old friendship kind of reminds me on my old friendship with Rin...

"We were childhood friends, and then became best friends, but because Gumi couldn't accept me and was in denile when I came out to her, we couldn't stay that way..." VFlower added, "I hope she's able to grow as a person, but I don't think I could ever accept her as a friend again..."

I was about to open my mouth to say something, but then the bell rang. It was time for our next lessons, and whatever I was about to say had now slipped from my mind.

"Were you about to say something?" The white haired teen asked.

"No, it's fine, we can talk more at lunch!" I responded...

Chapter Text

We didn't actually end up talking at lunch. They forgot and I decided to keep the question to myself until we could discuss it more privately.

And luckily, the next day, we were able to do just that. Teto, Neru and Miki weren't in, and that meant it was just me and VFlower.

I mean, it's not lucky that they aren't in, but I doubt I would be able to separate Miki or Teto from them for the amount of time I need.

"Hi VFlower," I greeted, my hands in the pockets of my black hoodie, "Where are the others?"

"Unfortunately, Miki decided to not come in, Teto is ill and Neru is looking after Haku, so I guess it means that it's it just the two of us today!" They explained, "What's the matter?"

"It's just, there's something I really want to talk about with you..." I answered.

"No need to keep it to yourself, you can talk to me about absolutely anything!" The white haired teen reassured me, "Here, come and sit down!"

We sat down on our group's bench andI took a deep breath.

"How did you first find out that you were non binary?" I asked, "I know about when, but I just don't know how."

"Well, the thing is, you don't actually know when I first discovered my identity..." VFlower sighed.

"I don't?" I questioned.

"You don't, and not many people actually do..." They replied, "Most people think I just had this sudden realisation over the time off school, but that isn't exactly true."

"Oh..." I mumbled, "When, then?"

"Since the last year of elementary, I was going through a rough patch. I was starting to really dislike how I looked and how I felt and spiralled into a deep depression..." They began to explain, "But, also during this time, I recieved my first phone, and decided to look up what all of this meant..."

This sounds a lot like how I'm feeling right now, and this must be tough for them to have to remember all of this and then tell me it...

"I looked through all of the different reasons, and none of them clicked until I came across the term 'gender dysphoria'," VFlower said.

"What is gender dysphoria?" I asked.

"It's when you dislike and actually feel distressed by being referred to my the gender that you were assigned by at birth," They explained, "You don't like wearing your assigned gender's clothes, you don't like being referred to by your assigned gender's pronouns, and there's also a lot more to it..."

That's what I feel right now...

"And when I came across that, it all finally clicked," The white haired teen said, "It all finally clicked that I wasn't a girl, and I was unhappy because of it."

I feel unhappy because I'm a boy...

"And because I had access to a phone, I decided to go down the rabbit hole of gender identities," They continued, "I did all of this privately, and I still dressed like usual, but I was happy on the inside that I was finally starting a path to figuring our who and what I really am!"

A smile was finally starting to form on their face as they got to the happy part of their story, and it made me smile too.

"I tried genderfluid, I tried genderqueer," VFlower began to list on their fingers, "Demigirl and demiboy too! And agender!"

I've never actually heard of any of those, but they all sound really cool.

"But, I kept finding myself coming back to either non binary or transmasc, so I realised I must be either one of those!" They beamed, before looking down with a sad look again, "But, because of my fear of what other people would have to say about me if I told them I wasn't a girl or a boy, I began to trick myself into thinking I was a boy..."

Like how I'm tricking myself into thinking I'm a boy...

"After some time in the holidays, I started not to care about what other people thought anymore! I decided to take action because I finally wanted to be happy, and I was happy identifying as non binary!" A grin grew on their face more, "So cut my hair, came out to everyone, started dressing androgynously like how I had always wanted to, and boom! I was finally confident in my own skin!"

"Does that come naturally whenever someone does all of that?" I asked.

"No, and sometimes it takes a while to finally take pride in being yourself, but you will get there eventually!" The white haired teen reassured me, "As I said, I didn't start out super confident, but if I hadn't said 'forget that!' and started being myself, I would still be the depressed mess I was last year!"

I may be a depressed mess right now, but like they said, maybe I can get there too.

"One more question..." I announced, "Your name?"

"Oh, VFlower..." They began to scratch the back of their neck sheepishly, "I always liked the letter 'V' as a kid... I don't know why, it's just I still somewhat liked my deadname despite wanting to change it, so I just decided to add 'V' at the front."

"Like how I ditched the 'O'?" I asked.

"Like how you ditched the 'O'!" VFlower nodded.

"Thank you, V..." I muttered, my cheeks glowing pink, "I've really needed this..."

"No problem, Miku!" The white haired teen replied, "Just remember you're Miku, not Mikuo!"

"And you're VFlower, not Flower!" I responded.

"Miku!"

"VFlower!"

"Mikuuuuuu~"

"VFloweerrrrr~"

"You're a girl!"

"And you're non binary!"

"Girlypop!"

"Enby!"

"Girlypopppppp~"

"Enbbyyyyyyyy~"

Before we could continue our song that we were making up as we went along, the bell went. We laughed to ourselves before going our separate ways to separate lessons.

Thank you, VFlower, for brightening my future.

Chapter Text

"Hey, Mimiku!" I heard a voice call for me as I entered the school.

I turned to the direction that I heard the noise come from and found Teto waving at me with a grin spread across their face. VFlower was stood next to them while chatting to Miki and Neru was stood on the other side, on her phone, as always.

I walked over to my friend group and immediately as I approached, the red haired chimera grabbed hold of both of my hands and beamed at me. What's going on? Why are they so excited?

"Mimiku!" They said.

"Y-yes?" I stuttered.

"WOULD YOU LIKE TO COME TO MY SLEEPOVER?!" Teto asked in the loudest way possible, making me fall over from fright.

Neru noticed this and crouched down to reach a hand out to me. I took their hand and they then helped me up before going back to look at their phone.

"Sorry about that, Teto gets like this when they're over excited..." The blonde haired demigirl apologised in a sigh.

"So~?" The red haired chimera asked in a hum.

"You want me to come to... your sleepover?" I asked.

"Of course!" They replied, "What do you think?"

I haven't had a sleepover in such a long time. And, all of the ones I have ever had were with Rin, either her going to my house or me going to hers.

It feels... wrong to go on a sleepover that doesn't involve her. She was the one who introduced me to the concept, and it feels like I would be betraying her, but...

She isn't my friend anymore. I need to move on, and this is a good way to do so. I need to build more connections, and this might just help me get closer to Teto.

"Sure," I nodded, "I'll come to you sleepover-"

"YIPPEEEEEEEE!!!" They squealed and bounced around with happiness and joy.

VFlower finished their conversation with Miki and then turned around and noticed me. They smiled and walked over my way, their friend following behind.

"Hey Miku!" They greeted.

"What did Teto just get you into?" Miki asked.

"They invited me to their sleepover," I answered.

"You're coming to the sleepover too? That's awesome!" VFlower said.

"You're going too?" I asked.

"Of course I am!" They replied and then put a hand around their friend's shoulder, "And my girl Miki is too!"

What a relief! I mean, of course they would, bit I just really needed that clarification, otherwise I would have been very anxious about how this would all turn out...

"Only because you're going..." She clarified, "I wouldn't otherwise..."

"I get it, Tetoris is a little intense, but they don't mean any harm!" VFlower argued, "Nothing you can't handle, Mikiki~"

"I guess..." Miki sighed, "Also hey!"

"What? That's your new Teto nickname!" They replied, "You're name and Miku's name sounds too similar! Besides, Mikiki sounds a lot cuter~"

"I hate you, Veevee..." She grumbled as she rolled her eyes to hide the fact her face was going red.

"And I love you too, Mikiki~" VFlower hummed.

I can definitely understand why Miki wouldn't want to go. Teto really frightened me today, but they're just a little more energetic than I'm used to.

I'm just glad both of them are going...

During my lessons, I kept on finding myself head flying up to the clouds as I thought about the sleepover. It just feels very... sudden, and that, and anxiety, are the all I feel about it.

I've only known Teto for what, a couple of days? And they're already inviting me to a sleepover?

It's only really confusing because me and Rin didn't have a sleepover until about a year into our friendship. Rin isn't always trusting of people, so maybe that's the reason?

I don't know, I'm just worried...

But, as I was leaving school, another worry struck into my head.

My mother.

I had completely forgotten about her, but of course she would be at least a little concerned if I disappeared for the night. With how worried I am right now, I might not even want to even return to her house when the next morning comes.

Even if I were to lie, she would still get suspicious and catch onto it eventually, both the sleepover and the secrets I'm keeping from her.

I've started assembling a plan, I've just got to hope it will all work out.

I walked home after school was over and found mother wasn't even home yet. Which is... great...

And also means that I can't just sneak out because she would definitely notice, even if she barely notices my existence anymore.

I waited up in my still mostly empty bedroom and watched as time ticked away on the clock hanging on the wall beside me bed. She's usually home by now, so why is she so late?

After about an hour passed and I was worried I was going to lose my mind, I then heard the front door open and slam a few seconds after. She's home!

I bolted down the stairs, which I know is pretty suspicious, but whatever. She glanced at me for a split-second before turning to look away into space, as if she didn't notice me or as if she's disgusted by mean but doesn't have the confidence, for whatever reason, to tell me.

I know I'm ugly and disgusting, AND IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF Y-

"Hello Mikuo," She greeted nonchalantly, still not holding eye contact, even though she's always said it's rude not too, "What do you want?"

That's a tone I rarely ever here her talk in. Is she really that bored of having an offspring that she can't be bothered in putting on her facade anymore?

"Well, I've made some friends, who are boys!" I began to say, or, well... lie, "And, they've invited me to go over to their house for the night!"

She raised an eyebrow and gave me a hard stare. I could feel my fake grin beginning to slip and sweat begin to drip from my forehead, but I can't give up yet.

"Really?" She questioned.

"Absolutely!" I replied, "They're so cool, and they think I'm cool too, so I don't want to mess this up!"

"Wow, you really mean it..." Mother sounds shocked, "Well, that's great! I'm so glad you've got boy frie- friends who are boys!"

She phrased that really weirdly. It's almost like she thinks I'm gay, which, I'm definitely not, because I'm not even a boy.

Or at least, inside I don't feel like one, and I need to trust what my insides are telling me. This will all be worth it in the end...

It just has to!

"So, I can go?" I asked.

"Yes, but as long as you don't do too much messing around and let them change the bright boy I've brought up!" She replied, "Make sure you go to bed the same time as normal and don't mess around too much, but then again, boys will be boys!"

Girl, actually... but okay.

"Thanks..." I replied, letting my act drop a little as she had alreadydropped hers at the start of the conversation, "See you when I see you..."

And with that, I was gone. Free to be who I want to be for a singular night.

I'm sure everything will be okay!

Chapter Text

I've now arrived outside of the apartment flat Teto gave me the address to. It looks so tall... and slightly intimidating too.

And, I was about to go inside and try and find which room they were in, but, they made things a lot easier by running out of the front door, charging to embrace me.

I felt my cheeks burn and a slight uncomfortableness too, but I let it go, as they are supposed to be my friend now.

"Hello Mimiku!" The red haired chimera greeted, "I'm so glad you've made it!"

"Me too!..." I replied.

They then took my hand and led me inside. We went up a few staircases until we arrived, and they opened the door for me.

We stepped inside and I immediately found Neru, VFlower and Miki sat on the couch together. V turned their head around and smiled, their love interest did the same, and the phone addict simply glared at me before turning back around to continue scrolling on their phone.

I walked over to the couch with Teto but just as I sat down, I quickly jumped out of my seat when a red haired man approached me.

"You're Miku, aren't ya?" He asked.

"Y-yes?" I stuttered.

"Well, it's nice to meet cha! I'm Teto's papa!" The man introduced himself, reaching his hand out to me.

"It's n-nice to meet you too!" I replied and shook his hand before sitting down.

This all felt crowded enough as it is but then just a few seconds later, someone I don't recognise came out of the bathroom. She had really long white hair, the kind of length I would like my hair to be someday, and she looked very tired, but still rather energetic, which isn't a combination I thought was possible.

When her bright eyes locked with mine, she immediately charged over to me. She took my hands and stood me up, beaming at me for some reason.

I just want to stay sat down and not be the center of attention!

Neru noticed this and stood of herself and snapped her fingers to get this mysterious older girl out of her trance.

"Could you please leave Miku alone? She looks overwhelmed enough as it is!" They commanded.

Honestly I wouldn't be suprised if the blonde haired demigirl was a mind reader with the way she stares into people's souls when she isn't looking down at her phone.

"Sorry Ruru!" She apologised before turning back to me, "And sorry to you too, Miku! I've just heard a lot about you from Ruru!"

I turned to look at Neru and she tried to look away, but I could see her face was red from embarrassment.

"Please don't call me that..." They muttered.

"But Ruru sounds so much cuter than Neru!" She argued.

"No, Neruru sounds even cuter!" Teto piped up.

"That is true..." The older girl murmured.

Wait, does this mean that she's-

"Anyway, my name is Yowane Haku! I don't think they would have told you this, but I'm Ruru's older sister!" Haku greeted.

"It's nice to meet you, H-haku!" I replied, "N-neru has already told me about you!"

"Really? Well that's uncommon of her to do so!" The white haired girl was taken aback

"Whatever! Let's just sit down and get one with the sleepover!" Neru hissed.

"That sounds like a good idea!" Teto's dad nodded, "My darling chimera has really hit the jackpot with this one! You're so straight forward and to the point, Neruru!"

The demigirl let out a loud groan of annoyance before sitting down with their arms crossed, before quickly uncrossing them to go on their phone.

We all finally sat down, and I was very unsure of what we would be doing next. When me and Rin used to have sleepovers, it would just be the two of us, so we didn't have to worry about extra people not wanting to do the same things of us, but now, I'm at a sleepover with a variety of different personalities, which each probably having a completely different taste from each other.

"So, what's the plan, Captain Tetoris?" VFlower asked, almost as if they could also read my mind.

"Hmmm..." Teto put a finger to their chin in thought.

They haven't thought through any of this at all?!

"Why don't you all watch a movie while I order pizza?" Their dad suggested.

"Great idea, papa!" The chimera nodded.

While the man went out to the kitchen to make a call to the pizza delivery service, we all watched a movie together. It was very claustrophobic sitting on a not very big couch with five other people, but I managed, and V let me snuggle into their shoulder a little, Miki doing the same on their other side.

Once the pizza arrived, we all gathered around the dinner table and ate there. I ate my spring onion pizza and giggled quietly as V and Miki had the pineapple pizza debate, and while Neru had three people embarrassing her at once.

I joined in during the moments I felt able to, but I enjoyed sitting back and watching everything. It wasn't like me to do that in the past, because I was rather energetic and bubbly myself back then, but until I can fully build back up my confidence, I'm fine doing this.

After we finished our dinner and were about to head back to the couch to unpause the movie, V called for me.

"Hey Miku!" They said, "Over here!"

I came back over to the dinner table where V and Miki were sat, and sat down myself.

"My beloved Mikiki is actually a very amazing makeup artist and she was just wondering if you want her to style you up?" The white haired teen beamed.

"You mean it?" I beamed at Miki.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that!" The red haired girl stratched the back of her neck, her cheeks glowing pink, "I'm happy to 'style you up' if you want!"

"Yes please!" I nodded enthusiastically.

Miki stood up and then came over to the chair I was sat on. V passed her the makeup bag and she pulled out a hairbrush from there, probably to put my hair up first.

I chatted to both of them during the process but also kept my eyes closed to not spoil the suprise just in case there was a mirror nearby.

Then I did open my eyes while the red haired girl did my eyelashes. I think that has to be one of my favourite parts because it just makes me feel so myself. They were always my favourite part when I used to do them, and their still my favourite part when other people do it for me.

She added some final finishing touches before asking me to open my eyes while VFlower passed the mirror over. I looked into it and, my eyes went wide when I saw my reflection.

I look... pretty.

I look... just like a girl.

I look like... the person I've always wanted to be.

And don't tell IA, but Miki is so much better at makeup art... sorry!

"Thank you so much, Miki!" I beamed up at her, "You should be a makeup artist some day!"

"Hehe thanks!" She chuckled nervously, "That would be nice, but I would love to be a content creator and a pop star too!"

"You would slay any stage~" V hummed.

"What about you, VFlower?" I asked.

"I think I would love to be a rock star on the same stage as my pretty pop star," They answered, "I think we would be the perfect butch and femme lesbian couple idol duo!"

"Knowing you, we're probably going to be called that as well..." Miki sighed.

"What's wrong with 'The Perfect Butch and Femme Lesbian Couple Idol Duo'?!" VFlower exclaimed.

I giggled a little, and then the attention turned back to me.

"What would you like to be, Miku?" The red haired girl asked.

"Well..." I mumbled, "I'm not really sure anymore, because I always wanted to be in an idol group with Rin and possibly some other people, or just the two of us, but I don't think that's happening anymore..."

"Well, it's always possible that you two could start over again in the future, or make the change you want to see now," The white haired teen replied.

"How would I do that?" I questioned.

"The main reason you two aren't friends anymore us because you couldn't accept yourself, so you pushed her away because she was one of the only people who accepted you," VFlower explained, "So, now that you're making positive changes to your outlook towards yourself, she might give you a second chance!"

"You really think so?" I beamed.

"Yeah, just don't screw it up!" The white haired teen nodded.

"V!?" The red haired girl exclaimed.

"What?! We're talking about the love of her life after all!!!" They argued.

My face burned bright red hearing that, but I quickly took a deep breath to compose myself before embracing both of them.

"Thank you, for everything..." I said.

"It's no problem at all, we're just glad to help!" VFlower replied.

"As long as you're happy, we're happy!" Miki added.

After that, we all went to join on the couch for the final part of the movie before starting a new one after that. We got to the end of that, and I was then starting to get tired, so we all decided it was time to sleep.

I got into the teal sleeping bag that had been set out for me, which was right near the purple and orange sleeping bags that my best friends were in. Once the lights were out, we all closed our eyes.

And just before drifting off, I remember murmuring:

"Thank you... V and Miki... I don't know what I would do without you two..."