Vacation is almost over. I figured I'd get back into the writing groove by making a short one-shot based on an idea pitched by a friend of mine. Hope you enjoy.

It was a normal, sunny Sunday afternoon in a normal, quaint suburban neighborhood. Neighbors mowed their lawn and waved to each other as they did so, while a paper boy rode his bicycle across the street, tossing papers to each driveway.

Idyllic, to all but a worried young man who strode speedily towards the home of his childhood friend. Dressed in a hastily donned T-shirt and shorts, without the leisure of shoes, he drew some looks from confused neighbors as he hurried past them.

This young man was named Mathias, until but a week ago, he was a shut-in who only left for school and at the behest of his friend, Satori. Because of him, he joined a Literature Club staffed entirely by girls, safe for him and Satori.

Mathias had found himself growing closer to the girls, and had even found himself offering to help one today in order to prepare for an upcoming festival the local high school was having. However, for some time now Satori had been steadily withdrawing from conversation and growing more distant, only meeting concerns with a smile that failed to hide his underlying sadness.

On Friday, Satori failed to show up for school, and he only responded to texts with short, one-word responses, until he stopped all-together on Saturday afternoon. Mathias gave him until today to respond, and when noon passed with no texts, he panicked and feared the worst.

Mathias worried about Satori, what if he was sick, or something bad happened? He beat himself up for not going over sooner as he arrived at the boy's house and entered without knocking.

"Satori!" Mathias called as he entered, only to be met with no response. As usual, Satori's parents were gone for the weekend.

Unusually, however, Satori was not rushing down the stairs to greet him, nor did he call from up in his room to let Mathias know that he was there.

The brown haired boy furrowed his brow and quickly ran up to Satori's room and began knocking on the door, "Satori! Are you okay?"

"Mathy?! I-I'm not decent, don't come in!" Satori was clearly grasping for an excuse, and sounded panicked.

"Don't give me that shit, dude, we've been friends since we were kids, we've both seen shit we can't unsee!" Mathias then swung open the door.

Satori was nowhere in sight, contrary to what he had heard. He wondered if he had been hallucinating for a second, but instead he saw the light on in the closet.

'Man, he never was that bright…' Mathias mused as he walked over and started to open the door, "Come on man-"

Satori held the door though, refusing to let it be opened, "No, really dude, you don't need to see me like this! Come on! Please?"

"No you come on! You've been acting weird all week! Ever since you got me to join that-" He began to pull harder, and finally yanked the door, "Club!"

Satori's meeker form failed him as the door was pulled open and he promptly fell against Mathias, who caught him.

Mathias began to talk, "Now come on what's wrong…" Before noticing something striking, "Uhhh?!"

Satori was wearing a girl's uniform, complete with the skirt and red ribbon. Additionally, a red bow had been placed firmly in his hair.

Satori looked indignantly at his friend and blushed furiously, before pushing himself off and going back into the closet, "I said not to come in!" Crossing his arms, he looked away.

"W-What's this about, Satori? Are you… Into cross-dressing, or something?!"

"What?! No! Well, yes- But no! That's not what this is!" Satori turned back around and glared, Mathias had never seen his friend this upset before.

However, as he stared into his friend's eyes, he saw an emotion underlying the anger in the boy's eyes, a gleaning deathly fear that gave him pause.

"Then… What is this?" Mathias' voice softened as he realized the weight of the situation, "You know you can tell me anything, Satori."

Satori looked away, the ends of his short, somewhat curled hair being thrown with the motion, "I- Can't."

"Yes you can." Mathias presses, putting his hands on Satori's shoulders, "Dude, please. Remember when the bus incident?"

That earned a small smile, "Yeah… You didn't tell anyone but me."

"And that time I stole from the carnival?"

"...You got me a giant toy."

"So tell me this, please?"

Satori sighed, closing his eyes, before taking a deep breath and opening his eyes again, the words tumbling forth like an avalanche, "IthinkI'magirlandI'malsoreallyinlovewithyou!"

Mathias blinked several times and shook his head a few times, "Wait wait, say that again, but slower, please. I think I misheard you."

"I think- No, I am… I'm a girl. I… Know it's confusing, but…"

Mathias thought back on his time spent browsing the internet, he'd heard of this before, "Y-You're trans? And what's… What's the other thing, again?"

Satori struggled to say it again, but after a moment of gathering courage, she looked directly into his eyes, "I'm in love with you!"

Mathias felt his heart seize, as if Satori had grabbed it and squeezed it. The feeling permeated forth from his chest and caused his cheeks to glow, "What- Like, love love? W-I… I didn't know…"

Feeling properly overloaded, he let go of Satori and went to her bed, sitting there, "I… I need explanations."

Satori timidly stepped forward, "...When I entered high school, I started to feel… Weird, about things. Not just about myself… But you. You've always been there for me, and we've always taken care of each other… But there was something else."

She took a deep breath, before continuing, "I… Haven't felt comfortable in my own body for awhile now. At first I thought it was puberty, but then I as we got older that it was more than that. I… Envied the girls at our school. Their hair, their bodies, their… Everything. I wanted… I want to be one of them."

Stepping closer and sitting on the bed, she continued, "...So I got some clothes… Even bought a uniform from the store where they're made… Pretending I was just doing a friend a favor… But it was never enough for me, and… A few months ago, my mom found out."

Mathias looked at her, worried, "What happened?"

"...At first she was confused… But she eventually began to support me. She even got me to see a psychiatrist and a month ago I got them to prescribe medicine… That's been helping me become more like a girl… But that was only recently, so it hasn't started really doing anything… And I knew I wanted to tell you. But… I got scared."

Mathias wanted to protest that there was nothing to be scared of, but he let Satori continue.

"...I invited you to the club because I wanted you to be happy, so even if you or the girls, or all of you rejected me… Or if anything else happened, you could just forget about me and move on."

"That's so… Silly." Mathias responded, causing Satori to look confused, before Mathias pulled her into a hug. "You're you! Why would I ever reject you because of something like that? And… About your confession…. I… Will need time to think about it… But why don't we take things slow. This is… Something I never imagined I'd need to deal with."

"So… You don't care that I'm a girl now?"

"Come on… We've been together through everything, I wouldn't let you do something like this all on your own!"

Satori blinked for a moment, before hugging Mathias tightly and starting to sob, "Th-Thank you, Mathy…"

Squeezing her, he sighs, "It's okay… It's what I'm here for, after all… But… Didn't you have something to do with Monika today?"

"I...I canceled."

"Well… I'll tell Yuri that something came up. She can work with Monika. How about we go to the park, like we used to?"

"You don't have to do that for me…"

"I want to."

Satori smiled, "Let me go change… I'm not ready to wear this kind of stuff in public yet. I'm… Scared to."

"That's okay. I'll wait by the door."

As he got up to leave, he reached the door, before stopping, "Wait! Do… You have a different name now? Satori is kind of a guy's name."

Satori stopped on his way to the closet, "Y-Yeah…"

"What is it?"

"Sayori…"

Mathias smiled, "Sayori. It's…" He struggled to find the right word, "...Cute."

Blushing, Sayori smiled and looked away, "Thank you, Mathy."

Then, Mathias left to wait by the door.

Complicated as life may be… Mathias vowed to always be there for her.

For Sayori.