Discovery

Iwashimizu was with two of his female classmates, talking about books and literature as they usually do. He did have time and books to talk about this time as rugby training was relatively chill with no tournament on sight. Another girl — another member of the literature club — joined them, and they continued talking about literature.

Suddenly one of the girls smiled and laughed at something on her cellphone, shooting a look at Iwashimizu at the same time. She went to the girl next to her and showed her friend whatever was on the phone. Iwashimizu felt a jolt of anxiety going through his spine. Were they mocking him or something? The girl with the phone got him out of his anxiety spiral right after this thought.

"Look! You look like her, don't you?!" She exclaimed. She was showing me a picture of a woman with blond hair like him. Her hair was only slightly longer than his. The woman was wearing a light pink dress, red lipstick, eyeliner, and other makeup he didn't know about.

His friends were squealing about how the woman was beautiful, and he couldn't disagree with that — the woman was indeed stunning. The girls then went back to him.

"You would have been an alluring girl! Tall, blonde..." The other one added.

"And your eyes...! With some eyeliner, you would be gorgeous !" The third one said, emphasizing the last word.

Iwashimizu laughed, blushing profusely.

"Ah ah, I don't think-" Sumiaki replied.

The girls looked at each other, smiling.

"Are you free this weekend, Iwashimizu? Let's try something, alright?"

Iwashi looked intrigued at the three girls.

"Y-yes?" Iwashimizu replied with a questioning look.

The weekend had passed, and Iwashimizu was walking to school to start another week. Iwashimizu went to one of the girls' houses the Sunday as they planned. And it was weird. Not in a negative way, or so he thinks. He wasn't sure about his feelings on the whole thing, actually. That weekend, the girls did a makeup session on his face to "prove" him he could have been a gorgeous girl — just like the woman — from the other day.

His cellphone rang with a message. It was the photos the girls took from the makeup, which they promised to send him. He smiled a little.

"Oi tree trunk!"

Iwashimizu jumped out at his friend Gion's loud voice.

"H-hello Gion..."

"Something good on your phone? I saw you smiling." Gion asked.

"N-not... r-really" Iwashimizu stuttered.

"Hmph, ok." Gion shrugged, letting it go.

A few weeks later, that mysterious feeling grew bigger and bigger, taking much place in Iwashimizu's heart now. The tall blonde tried to shake it off but couldn't, no matter how hard he tried. He wished the girls would invite him again for a makeup session. He craved more and more to wear dresses and trying other girly things. The desire was so strong he secretly bought a bit of makeup, hiding all of it in his room.

One night, in his bed, he decided to type this sentence on the Internet:

I wish I could have been born a girl.

LGBT, transgender, trans man, trans woman, non-binary. Those were results that came back a lot from the search.

"Hm..." Iwashimizu mumbled to himself. He clicked on one link leading to a forum.