According to most Magical Girls census that we have available. There is an abnormally high proportion of Magical Girls who end up being in homosexual relationships. We don't know the reason and can only theorize on why that might be.
Some think the reason is simply because Magical Girls are constantly surrounded by fellow girls and so same sex relationship end up being the most common ones to form. Others think the Awakened specifically seek out lesbians because of Heart Sync, the ability to share magic and abilities. Which is a rather intimate process that most straight girls would be relunctant to go through.
The most popular theory however is that the hardship of being perceived as queer raise the magical potential of girls. But if that's the case shouldn't transgender individuals also have high potential? And yet the Awakened doesn't seem to make any contracts with them. We only have rumors of trans Magical Girls even existing...
From 'The Link Between Magic and Homosexuality.' article from Olivia Clementine -2055
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People always assumed that old people are judgemental and bigoted. That was a fact that Alicia unfortunately had to deal with, even with her close family. When her grandson came out as gay to her, he had all but expected for her to cut ties with him.
But Alicia had been born in a time of great change where the fight for human rights had reached it's peak. And then she had lived throught the first Unfeeling Emergence, which would be quickly followed by the first contact between the Awakened and human civilisation, which would lead to the era of Magical Girls.
She had seen a lot of things in her life and her policy had always been to respect people for who they were and keep out of their businesses as long as they hurt nobody.
Despite all this however. She had to admit she was shocked when the girl who had saved her life against the Unfeelings had turned out to be a boy. She had always heard only girls could learn magic.
But her shock was short lived, she had more pressing issue to deal with than a boy that could change into a girl at will. Rin was completely bruised and battered and she was worried how swallow his breathing was.
Alicia took the boy in her arm and hoisted him on her shoulder. He groaned in pain from the movement. ''Sorry dearie.'' She muttered softly.
She was thankful that the boy was so light. At her age she didn't have the strenght she used to have. She looked around warily for any signs of Unfeelings. But it look like Rin had dealt with all the ones that were close enough to be a threat.
She made her way inside the Town Hall and sighed in relief as she saw the entrance of the Shelter without a energy shield to block their path. She made her way in front of the door and press the button.
She waited anxiously in front of the door for what felt like an eternity. She could see the camera beside the door and was wondering if the person observing her would decide to leave them to their fate. Finally tension left her body as she heard an hiss and the door slid open...
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When he woke up Rin wanted nothing more than to go back to the sweet embrace of unconsciousness. He groaned as his bruise and battered body stab him with agony with every little movements.
[You're finally awake.]
Rin was startled at the unexpected voice. He opened his eyes and saw an unfamiliar ceiling and grew confused. Then everything came back to his mind. Right he had made a contract to become a Magical Girl and fought his way to the Central Shelter. He had almost tought he would wake up back on that bench in the park, realising it was all a dream.
''Is this the shelter?'' He asked, the last thing he remembered was killing the Rageless right before it could kill Alicia. After that he couldn't remember anything.
[Yes, you fell unconscious after your fight. Alicia carried your unconscious body to the shelter. You should know that she has seen your civilian appearance after you collapsed.]
Rin felt his heart freeze in his chest at Lupin's words. She probably tought he was a freak, a boy that could turn into a girl. What is she spreaded his secret to everyone?
[I don't think you have to worry about that. She was surprised about your appearance but I did not detect any ill will against you after she learned of your gender. As for protecting your identity I doubt it will come to that but if she try to spread it around I can limit the reach of the knowledge by hacking the internet for any mentions of your identity. My influence is more limited when it come from word of mount. But I will try to ensure that the spread of your identity is as limited as possible.]
Rin wasn't completely reassured but at least it was something. So he nodded in appreciation.
[But moving on. I think you should know that Magical Girls have arrived in town while you were asleep and have begun the assault to retake Alagia. However they have yet to make contact with this shelter.]
Rin eyes widened at that and tried standing up but cried out as pain assaulted her.
[You are in no state to help them at this moment. You have to recuperate much more than this. If you want I can buy some skin regenerative gel. It will accelerate the healing of your bruises.]
Rin nodded slowly. ''Buy it.''
> Skin Regenration Magically Infused Gel: 3 Points
> 88 points remaining
A small box appeared on the foot of her bed and she opened. Inside was a small bottle with some faintly glowing pink gel inside.
[Apply the gel all over your body. Don't stop spreading it until the bottle is completely empty.]
Following his instruction he spreaded the gel as evenly as possible across his body. He had to remove all his clothes except his underwear to be able to spread it properly and he really hope no one would come to check on him as he did this.
The gel made his body cold and bought instant relief to his aching skin. He could arleady see his swelling red skin turning a lighter shade once he was done putting all of the gel on his body. He waited a few minutes for the gel to get absorb into his skin before putting his clothes back on.
A few minutes later he heard a knock on the door. The door opened and a woman in her thirties walked in. She was wearing a police uniform. Which made Rin feel like he was in trouble. Had they learned about his identity? Would he get in trouble for killing Unfeelings without any proper training?
The woman put on a polite smile. ''You're awake. We were worried about you after what Alicia told us.''
His heart sunk into his stomach. Had Alicia reported on him? He knew he hadn't known the old lady for long. But he couldn't help but feel the sting of betrayal for outing him like this.
''W-what did she tell you?'' Rin asked with trepidation.
The police officer looked at him strangely. ''She told us you found her unconscious in her home and help her sneak your way to this shelter. I must say I'm impressed you managed to avoid detection from the Unfeelings for so long.''
Rin felt relief, Alicia hadn't betrayed him she had covered for him.
[I knew we had nothing to worry about her. My instinct about people are usually accurate.] Lupin said somewhat smugly within her mind. Rin resisted the urge to roll his eyes.
''If you don't mind we would like to interview you. We have lost contact with the school's shelter. And would like to know more about the situation there.'' She looked at him expectantly. Rin gulped and nodded. ''So first thing first can you explain why you are here and not in your school's shelter?'' Her tone was not accusatory but it made him flinch anyway.
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''Um well, when the Emergence started some sort of weird giant egg dropped from the ceiling and I was knocked out when it came apart and a part of it hit my head. W-when I awoke a Ravenous was draining my homeroom teacher. I-I couldn't save him and he turned into a E-Emotionless.''
The police woman looked sympathetic but was still looking at him expectantly to continue.
He was a bit at a loss on how to continue the story without revealing the fact he was a Magical Girl. He tought of telling her he had just snuck away. But even to him that sounded farfetched.
Then he gained an idea, if he couldn't explain how he survived without the power of a Magical Girl maybe he didn't need to.
''The Ravenous soon turned to me and I tried to escape up the stair. But it was too quick and it pinned me down. Just when I tought I was going to die a Magical Girl appeared and killed both the Ravenous and the Emotionless of my teacher. I-I think the Magical Girl was one of the strudent of our school. She looked like she had only contracted today.''
The Police officer had her eyebrow raised at his words and he dearly hoped she would buy his story. To his relief she nodded. ''She might have had a Emergency Contract. Which might explain why we didn't know there was a Magical Girl in town. So what happened with her? Why wasn't she with you?''
''H-hum, well after she saved me we made our way to the basement where the shelter is. They were two other Emotionless there and she quickly took them out. But the sound she made managed to attract the attention of a Ravenous that was trying to enter inside the shelter. And she took care of that one too. B-but when we made our way to the shelter, the emergency shield had been activated.''
At that the woman's expression grew darker. ''They activate the shield from just a Ravenous? What a bunch of moron! There's no way a simple Ravenous could threaten the integrity of a shelter's door. Those shields are supposed to only be used in case of three stars or above threat. A single Ravenous barely count as a one star threat.'' She said while gritting her teeth.
Seeing his nervous look she managed to calm down. ''Sorry about that, we'll have words with whatever asshat was in charged of the security. Please continue.''
''W-well after that the Magical Girl helped me find my way to this shelter. That's when we found Alicia c-collapse in her home. There were a lot of Unfeelings blocking the way to the Town Hall. T-the Magical Girl told us she would take care of them while we snuck to the shelter. But we were detected by a large monkey thing and I was hit. T-the Magical Girl managed to decapitate the Unfeeling with her sword and I lost concsiousness afterward. And then after that I think Alicia managed to carry me here.''
The police officer frowned and seemed to be deep in tought as Rin nervousely fidgeted with his hands. Finally she nodded. ''I think that will be all. Thank you for sharing your story.''
With that the police woman left the room closing the door behind her. Rin let out a sigh of relief as he let himself relax on the bed.
[That was a bit risky, telling her we were helped by a Magical Girl. Under normal circumstances it wouldn't take much to read between the lines and understand that the Magical Girl was you. Thankfully with how humans are ignorant to the fact that transgender girls can be Magical Girls. They will assume it couldn't possibly be you.]
Rin nodded and felt himself relax, safe in the knowledge that his secret was safe.
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Jenna came back from her interview with the young boy. And entered the security office. She was instantly greeted by her two male coworkers.
''So how did it go?'' Mark, the man manning the security cameras asked not taking his eyes off the surveillance screens. Which depicted the torned landscape cause by the Unfeeling Emergence.
''...I think you're probably say I'm crazy. But I think our new guest is a Magical Girl.''
Both men stop what they were doing and turned to look at her as if she had grown a second head. Then Steven who had been busy looking at his tablet was the first to speak. ''You know the kid is a boy right? Magical Girls have to be girls, it's kind of in the name.''
Jenna let out a huff as she look back at them unamused. ''I know that, however he told me he was saved by a 'Magical Girl' right before he was about to die from an Unfeeling. He also told me that he tought the girl was a student of his school.''
At that Mark cocked his head. ''But before we lost contact with the school they reported that out of the four people who were missing from the shelter all of them were males.''
Jenna nodded. ''Exactly, I don't think the kid even realise his slip up when he told the story. he probably didn't think we had that information.''
''Even if that's true, we were always told boys cannot learn magic the same way girls do. Even if the kids life was in danger the Awakened shouldn't have been able to break the rules of magic.'' Steven argued with a frown.
''Unless...'' Mark said with a pensive look.
''What is it?'' Jenna asked curiously.
''Well there's been rumors for a few years now that a boy from Japan and a boy from France both turned into Magical Girls. It was later revealed that both of them were transgender girls and that's how they could contract. However most people dismissed this as an urban legend and wishful thinking from the LGBTQ community. With how tightly both governments and Familiars protect the identity of their Magical Girls there isn't much information on how true or fake those rumors are.''
Jenna sat up straighter at that. ''So you think the kid might be trans?''
Mark shrugged. ''It's a possibility, but it's not like we can force them to come out of the closet just to confirm our suspicion.''
Jenna slumped before nodding, understanding that her coworker was right but still hitching to learn more.
''So what do we do? Do we confront the kid that we suspect he- or she? Could be a Magical Girl? Maybe we could enlist her to check on the other shelter that went silent.'' Steven asked scratching his chin pensively.
Mark shook his head. ''For now we let the kid rest an recuperate. Let the veterant Magical Girls handle that. Even if we're right and the kid is a Magical Girl. We can't ask a rookie on their first day to go risk their life even further than they arleady did.''
''What do we do when another Magical Girl come check the shelter? Should we tell them we suspect we have a Magical Girl with us?'' Jenna asked curiously.
''No, let the kid decide for themselves. If they want to reveal themselves to the Magical Girls that's their business. We have protocol as police officers to not divulge the identity of Magical Girls even to other Magical Girls. So unless you want to be put in jail once this Emergence is done with, just pretend the kid is a regular civilian.'' Jenna and Steven looked at each other uneasily at his words but both nodded in understanding. No amount of curiosity was worth going to jail...
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Rin couldn't help but look at his arms in wonderment. The bruises were almost completely gone arleady after only half an hour. Awakened medecine was no joke.
He startled out of his observation when he heard another knock at the door. ''Come in.'' He said softly. Tensing up slightly as he expected to see the police officer to have come back with more questions.
His tension left him when he saw the familiar face of Alicia instead. She smiled when she saw him awake. ''You look so much better arleady.'' She said with a relieved smile.
Rin chuckled while rubbing the back of his head. ''You can thank my access to alien medecine for that.'' Then freeze as he realised he just causally mentioned his abilities as a Magical Girl.
Alicia only smiled in response. ''I wanted to thank you for saving me. And maybe you could come with me to the cafeteria. You must be starving after everything that happened today.''
As if to answer her his stomach started grumbling and he blushed as Alicia started chuckling in amusement. ''I guess eating wouldn't be a bad idea.'' Rin replied weakly.
Alicia was about to step out but then stop as she seemed to think of something. ''By the way, what pronouns should I use?''
Rin stop like in a deer in the headlight at her question. ''H-huh?''
''I don't want to asume anything but since you can turn into a girl I tought you might not be comfortable with male pronouns. Or maybe it's the other way around and you would prefer to be referred as he/him even in your Magical Girl form?''
Rin fidgeted and couldn't get his mouth to work. Alicia seemed to catch this and sent him a sympathetic smile. ''J-just use the pronouns you think are r-right.'' Rin muttered not daring to look in her eyes.
He flinched slightly when he felt a hand on his shoulder and saw the gentle look Alicia was giving him. ''You should use the pronouns that make you the most comfortable and happy. Don't let other people decide your identity for you.''
Rin winced and looked away ashamed. ''I-I can only call myself a girl when I'm transformed. I don't have the r-right to call myself a girl when I look like this.''
Alicia frowned and shook her head. ''Says who? I will sucker punch anyone who dare tell you, you can only be treat as a girl when your biology match your gender. If you want to be a girl then you're a girl, even outside of your Magical Girl form.''
At this point Rin was shaking with barely restrained tears. ''B-but.''
''No but, you're a girl young lady and a really pretty one at that.'' Alicia said with a smile before embracing Rin in a hug.
Rin started hiccuping silently before she leaned into the hug and started sobbing. They stayed in the embrace for what felt like forever. Eventually Rin broke the hug. ''I-I really want to be treat like a girl all the time. But I feel like I don't deserve it, like it would be a lie and a disrespect toward real girls to say I deserve to be treated like a girl too.''
Alicia sighed with a sad knowing look. ''Impostor syndrom. It's an unfortunately common feeling for many transgender people I've met. But no matter what you brain trick you into thinking, you deserve to be happy with who you are Rin.'' Rin stayed silent unsure how to respond to that.
''So, do you want me to use she/her pronouns?'' Alicia asked gently once it was clear the girl wouldn't speak.
Rin hesitated but finally she nervously nodded. ''Y-yeah I would like that, I-I think.''
Alicia with an encouraging smile. Then Rin's stomach growled again and she hid her face in the palm of her hands. The old woman chuckled.
''With all of that we forgot why I came here in the first place. Let's go eat young lady.'' Alicia said with a smile.
Rin felt something warm in her chest. It wasn't the first time Alicia had called her a young lady. But it felt different when she said it in her true form. She wasn't hiding behind a mask anymore and Alicia still saw her as a girl. It bought Rin more joy than she expected from such simple words.
She took Alicia's hand and the two of them left the room behind in search of food.