-Point of View: Seiko Maka-

Mom's shuttle rolls off, everyone waving as it disappears down the road. Once she's gone, an unexpected voice raises.

“Uhhh...” Gon looks around at us as we turn to him. “I'm sorry but, uhh, is Maka-chan's mother, umm...” his voice trails off as he makes a 'crazy' gesture. What?! Where is this coming from?! I start to bristle at the insult, but he doesn't... look like he's trying to be insulting. If anything, he seems uncomfortable asking.

“W-why?” I challenge.

“Well, you know, she suddenly just, uhh, started calling you a guy for some reason...?”

Silence.

Then, “W-wait, you think I'm a girl?” I stammer, red in the face, my emotions flip-flopping all over the place.

“Yes?” He cocks his head at me like he doesn't know how else to answer.

“Why?” It's only dawning on me right now that through that entire breakfast out, Gon has been thinking of me as a girl. In front of my mother. If he'd said one wrong word...

Gon glances around, like he's searching Ken and Leona's faces for some answer. “W-well, uhh, because you are? I mean, is this a trick question? How do I even...” Going bright red in the face, he says, “W-well, you're pretty, and, umm, you look really nice in dresses, and I like your hair...” His voice quickly sinks down below the level of audible as he speaks, but what he does say is so embarrassing I have to press my hands to my burning cheeks.

That's right, he already said he was at the cosplay cafe when we were. He's seen me in girl clothes! My head is swimming. I have no idea how to respond. All of the bits of information from earlier slide into place, and I get it.

Gon said he doesn't pay attention to rumors, so of course he never heard everyone talking about me being a guy. And he's hardly ever in the classroom, so we've basically never interacted before. But I sit right in front of him, he should see me every day...

“W-what about my uniform?” I sputter out.

“That?” Still red in the face, he scratches his cheek. “I always wondered, is our school really that lax with uniforms...?” He thinks I just like wearing the men's uniform?!

“B-but, I-I'm in the b-boy's gym class!”

Gon pauses. “That's right, you are...” How did he not notice that?! “I don't get it, how?”

“Because- I- Because I'm-” I gulp. “Because I'm a...” I can't get it out. I squeeze my eyes shut and cough up the words. “I'm a guy.” My shoulders are shaking, tears stinging behind my eyes until I peek them open again.

Gon has an awkward expression. He clearly doesn't believe me. “Uhh, alright. I don't get it, but if you're pretending to be a boy, I guess I'll go along with it...? Still, how did you get anyone to believe you...?”

Ken steps forward. “Actually, those are the rumors I mentioned...” He leans down close, whispering in Gon's ears for a bit, as his face rapidly turns the color of a very ripe tomato.

“Ehh?!” he finally exclaims.

Ken gives a wry smile and waves a hand. “Don't worry, all the rumors after the first one are just misunderstandings and stuff.”

“B-but then you mean she- sh- he?” With wide eyes, Gon looks straight at my crotch, and I know exactly which rumor he's thinking of. Both my hands shoot down to cover myself and I immediately hide behind Leona, my own face completely red too.

“Keeeennnn!” I cry out, somewhere between anger, disappointment, embarrassment, and who knows what else. Whyyyyyy?!

After everyone cools down and Leona gives the two boys well-deserved chops to their heads for being so gross, Gon is rubbing his head and asks, “So, I'm still missing something. If you're actually a guy despite,” and vaguely gestures at all of me, “why do you always use the women's changing room?”

“That...” There is no way to explain that away. I think about it but... “Fine, I have no excuse for that.” I sigh out in defeat. I hardly know him, so it could be dangerous to tell him everything... “I can't really explain things, but can you just, umm, pretend I'm a guy in front of other people?” I'm not asking too much, am I?

Gon scratches his head. “I don't really get it, but sure, that's fine I guess.”

“Thanks, Gon-san.”

“No problem. I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Maka-chan.” Hearing him say it like that makes my heart flutter a little. Not as an insult or anything, he just... thinks I'm a girl... It helps a lot that he's not big and scary like a lot of guys...

After Gon heads off, Ken asks what we're doing, and Leona speaks up. “I was going to take Seiko to the weight room.”

“Geh,” I cringe. “Is it that bad?”

“Yeah, it's not great. You didn't burn off much energy yesterday, so...” So she had to use more than usual for my checkup, leaving me with more to burn off than I should have. Great, this again... “I also figured lifting weights would be easier on you than our usual method.”

Honestly, after all her help yesterday, a good night's sleep and the visit from Mom, I'm feeling way more secure than yesterday, so I don't think I would have too much issue with it. I mention that to Leona, but agree to the weight room anyway, since it should be more efficient for burning off energy.

“I should probably get a change of clothes though, for after,” I note, and she quickly agrees. We both know I'm going to be a disgusting mess by the time I'm done. We discuss things a bit more, and Ken says he's going off to meet up with Runa and the others, then we split up.

After a quick stop at my room to grab what I need, we trek slowly back across campus, and I let Leona carry me this time. Working out in my condition is going to be hell...

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“Urgh...” I groan, collapsing again. I don't think I can physically lift my arms anymore. I manage to kick myself over onto my back, my entire body screaming at me for putting it through this when I'm injured, and ask, “Good enough?” God, I haven't even been going that long, but I can hardly breathe.

“Let me check.” Leona pins my hands and stares into my eyes, but... “Seiko, struggle.”

“Nnnnngggggg-guh...” I try, but I can't. “Sorry Leona, I can't move my arms.” That makes my heart race, especially with the eyes of the few men in the weight room that have been trained on us the entire time, but Leona is here. As long as she's at my side, I couldn't be safer.

“Legs then.” This time, she picks my feet up, rolling me into a ball, and leans down, my feet pressing into her stomach. My knees push up to my chest and I wince as I try to keep most of her body weight suspended, but I can barely even manage that. It's enough for her to check me though.

“Barely, but it'll have to do,” she sighs. “Today's going to be pretty rough, but you can hardly even move already...”

“I'm sorry...”

“Don't be, it's not your fault,” she assures me. “Let's get you cleaned up.”

“Right...” There's a pause as she looks down at me on the ground.

“Need some help?”

“Yeah...”

Leona practically has to carry me to the showers since my legs will barely support my own weight. “Are you really going to be alright?” she asks uncertainly once we're in the empty women's showers.

“I'll manage.” After the trip over here, I can sort of move my arms again. Enough to change clothes, I think. When she leaves to stand outside, I do so, but...

“Umm, Leona...?” I ask quietly, peeking through the cracked door. “Can you, umm, help me with my bra...?” I don't have enough strength to pull it up over my head.

“Sure.” She comes inside, keeping her eyes trained on the wall instead of looking at me, and has me turn around to face away. “Raise your arms,” she instructs, so I grit my teeth and do so. I can barely lift them over my head... “I'm going to touch you now,” she warns. Then I feel her fingers slide under the bottom edges of my bra on both sides, and she smoothly lifts it up and off in one movement.

“Done, here you go,” she says quietly, holding it out so that I can take it without turning around. “Also...”

“Yeah?” I ask when she hesitates unexpectedly.

“You may want to look for bigger bras soon, yours is starting to dig in and leave marks.”

“Oh?” I look down and sure enough, the spots where the elastic bands sit around my ribs are kind of pink from the pressure. Mom said I'm getting taller, and my breasts have grown a little. So I am starting to grow more after all, even with the changes to my body. “I guess you're right...”

“Well, I'll wait outside again.”

“Sure.” I hear the door open and close behind me, take two steps back toward the showers, then the door opens again.

“Shit, the tennis team is coming!” Leona's feet fly right past me. I stumble a couple steps after her.

“What do we do?”

“Don't worry, it'll be fine,” she assures me, grabbing up my clothes from where I set them down and rushing back over. “Sorry,” she grunts, and swishes my black hoodie right on over my head. I'm blinded, my heart hammering, panic starting to set in. She pulls it down so my head pops out through the neck and at least I can see again, then grabs me around the waist and lifts slightly. I flail, my arms stuck inside my hoodie, while she pulls my jeans onto my legs.

Leona shoulders my bag with my spare clothes, and says, “Alright, hold on. We're getting out of here.”

“A-alright.” She holds me close, her arms embracing me tightly from behind, the door out standing right before us, and a massive weight crashes down around me. I have a good idea what's coming, so I brace myself against her, then there's a slam, and we're moving.

In an instant, the door in front of us is open, and we're in the gym. The girls' tennis team is right there, but we're moving so fast, it's like they're paused mid-stride. Then we turn ninety degrees without warning, and it feels like Leona's arm is going to cut me in half. Like all my insides are going to burst out of me.

The gym moves past us, the door out already open as we pass through the gap, into the field outside. The school flies off until we hit the ground a short distance away.

All at once, it's like I've crashed into a brick wall. But the wall gives, Leona's body both slamming into me and giving way as my momentum carries into her, and sends both of us tumbling across the ground like we just jumped out of a speeding shuttle.

I feel the hits, some landing against my back and sides, but most of them reverberate through Leona. Her arms hold tight as she shields me from the whipping grass and any tiny rocks along our path, crashing so far through the campus, we eventually roll straight out onto the track.

We skip and bounce across the gritty surface until there's one more heavy slam, and we stop dead.

“Argh, fuck!” Leona coughs and groans, and I can feel her pull me staggering to her feet, slowly turning so I can see the track team, all staring at us with wide-eyed terror, and then the reinforced fencing we just smashed into. “Seiko, are you alright?” Leona pants out, eyes bleary and wincing with pain.

“Y-yeah...” I reply, but everything hurts so much, I'm starting to cry.

“Infirmary...” she murmurs, lifting my body with a grunt, and kicks into a wobbly, lopsided run. When I look up, I see that the glow is still in her eyes as she eats up the distance between us and the school building. When we arrive, the gym doors are closed, the tennis team already gone into the shower room.

We pass through the gym, then the few halls to reach the infirmary again. When we go inside, the doctor takes one look at us and shoots to her feet. “What happened?!”

“I don't know,” Leona groans, then starts hacking, her body shuddering against mine. But that doesn't stop her from dragging me bodily over to the nearest rest bed. She isn't exactly gentle, practically dropping me onto the bed before she grabs wildly for the curtain to pull it aside and fall into the next bed over herself.

“Fuck!” Leona curses, still coughing in pain. “Something went wrong with my powers, I think I broke a few ribs. Get me a stabilizer, then check Seiko.” There's some shuffling, followed by sounds like plastic being torn open, and finally Leona hissing, alongside a high pitched schziit.

Then the doctor comes over to my bed, carefully straightening me out, then hitting a panel over the head of the bed to start it scanning my injuries. All I can do is lie there, tears pouring out on their own because everything hurts so much.

Time starts to blur together after that, with the scan finishing and the doctor treating my injuries with various different things. I can't even tell what she's doing, I think I'm going under...

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I slip in and out of consciousness for a while, until surfacing again to a dimly lit room. It takes some time to recognize the ceiling of the infirmary, painted in sunset orange. Is it already this late...? As soon as I shift my body, I'm hit with mind-numbing pain from everywhere, and immediately stop.

I continue to lie there, motionless. My breath comes slow, every molecule of air burning like fire in my lungs. Every twitch of muscle a stab of pain. I let out a long, pathetic whimper as I suffer.

Within moments, footsteps approach. “There there, you'll be fine.” The doctor's voice comes to soothe me. “Here, this will help.” I barely even register the sting in my abdomen amid everything else. But with it, there's a wonderful numbness that spreads over my body, deadening all the pain.

It takes a few moments, and when it's done, I still hurt, but it isn't completely unbearable anymore. “Lankyu.” My thanks comes out all slurred together. My tongue won't move right.

“Don't try to move too much, you won't be able to accomplish much with that painkiller in your system. You'll probably just hurt yourself more. Rest. Sleep. You need it.”

Then I hear the doctor's footsteps. I don't know why, but I can't comprehend whether they're coming toward me, or moving away. I don't understand the shape of the room anymore.

This is some painkiller...