"Wait so, you think you're a girl?" Fanny asked.

We were back at the apartment, Fanny and Henry had joined us for a late-day lunch. We were waiting for my bodyguard.

"Duh." I answered, pointing at my body.

"You know what I mean."

"Sweety, be nice, Sias must be more shocked about it than we are." Henry tried to calm her down. She was freaking out.

I could hear Frei turning on the shower. I still believed she should see a doctor, but she firmly refused and just went into the bathroom. She barely talked to me on the way back. I had pissed her off, I'm pretty sure, but how, I was not certain yet. Aaah women... Can I say this without being sexist now that I probably was one? Difficult to say.

"She doesn't look shocked!" Fanny argued back.

"Fanny. Please. It's only the middle of the day and I'm tired already." I explained. "You know me, I'm not an expressive person."

"I know that. But you got lied to by your father and your life just got fucked over! And there you are, barely reacting at all!"

"T'was pretty in shambles beforehand I assure you. And well, I'm coping with it by not thinking about it and preparing for my first lesson next monday."

Henry looked worried.

"That's not coping." He said "That's just dodging the problem. It'll come back in your face twice as hard later."

I stayed silent.

"You know I'm right."

Yes, I did. I didn't answer though.

He continued.

"You already got on the nerves of Frei, you're definitely not doing fine."

It didn't seem to bother him that I also got on the nerves of Fanny. That was normal I guess.

"Really?" She asked her boyfriend.

"You didn't see her face when we came in? She was pissed, that was obvious."

I sighed, but Henry insisted.

"Go talk to a specialist about it!"

"I did, I'll be certain next week, when the test results come back." I finally said.

"That's not what I meant. You need to talk to someone about all this. You know better than all of us what happens to people who let things go sour before seeking help."

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Even that didn't feel the same. My nose was smaller now.

"Yeah, but I don't trust japanese therapists. Most of them believe drugs solve everything. And I don't want to go back. I've just arrived."

Fanny intervened, serene, with a soothing voice I only usually heard her use with children.

"Sias... your family has money, you could go back and learn the language later, maybe it's not the right moment now. Even before all of this you probably shouldn't have left, but we all agreed because we thought it would do you good. Henry's right and I'm sorry but, you're not in your normal state. If you were supposed to get better, I don't believe it's working."

I snorted.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, I'm in my normal state now. I just never was before."

Henry took my hand.

"Sarcasm isn't helping you."

It all annoyed me. They were right, sure, and it was exasperating.

"I'm not fine! Yeah great. Who would've thought!? I got sex-changed, attacked, intimidated, stalked and finally, I learned I didn't get sex-changed, just lied to my whole life."

"You're not sure about that yet." Fanny stated.

"That's why I'm gonna wait. I need some time."

"Do you want us to leave?" Henry asked.

Fanny didn't seem to like that idea very much, she looked at him with a 'are you crazy?' look.

It made me smile a bit.

"No. No, you're pissing me off right now, but that's fine. I know you're trying to help, and well, you're the only ones with mom I can truly trust right now."

Fanny clicked her tongue in anger.

"Of course you can trust us. Now do you really think going home isn't a good idea? Is it because you'll have to face Luc?"

"Partly, I want to be sure first. Have the results. Then I'll see."

"And he needs to fix what he did to my dad first." Frei had entered the room.

She was dressed lighty, a tight T-shirt and sport shorts. I could see some dark blue spots on her arms and belly. She also had an impressive six pack.

Fanny got up, worried. "Oh my god Frei? What happened to you? You're hurt."

"Nothing's broken, just need some rest. But some dumbass got protective, and took crazy risks just to get herself hurt in the end."

Oh so that was why she was angry. And still in Panzer-Frei mode.

"Frei..." I began.

"Shut up." She cut me off. "I can't imagine what you're going through, and I still think you as a friend, so you don't have to apologize. You didn't do anything I wouldn't have done myself. But my mom would have slapped me and told me to stop being a fucking altruistic idiot all the same. So I'm furious for your sake, because you aren't. And also because you didn't bother asking me about anything, just went and did your suicidal info grab! I'm supposed to be your bodyguard! You're not listening to any security advice I give you!"

Well I didn't know what to respond to that, so my mouth stayed shut.

"Damn Frei!" Fanny added approvingly. Ruining it a bit.

"Let's eat." Frei said. And with that, the conversation ended, and I strangely felt a bit better.

"Urgh"

"What is it now Sias?" Fanny asked.

We were currently in the Shinkansen towards Tokyo, for the promised shopping trip. Only two days had elapsed since my fight with Shiwazaki-sensei, which made this day Thursday. My first lesson was in four days.

I sat down on my seat next to Fanny, Frei did the same next to Henry, she had followed me to the toilets.

Bodyguard duty, nothing else.

I showed my childhood friend the note I was just given.

She took it and inspected it. Henry would've been curious too, but he was currently sleeping. His head resting on the train window.

"You got a phone number? In Japan? Does that happen?"

"No." Simply answered Frei. "Way too shy. Usually. Or they use Line."

I hid my face in my hands.

"I've never been so embarassed in my life."

"You sure? More than that morning..." Fanny began.

I pointed an inquisitive finger towards her.

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"Fan..." I said menacingly. "That, never happened. Remember?"

She shivered a bit.

"Yup. Never happened. Sorry. Too tempting." She apologized.

Frei seemed curious.

"What is this all about?"

"Something no one will ever talk about again." I insisted on the 'ever'.

Frei laughed.

"I'm even more..." She stopped talking. Her smile fell.

That smelled like danger.

"What is it?" I asked.

"The girl in the seat diagonnally to you." She whispered.

I turned around to look at where she pointed

What looked like a schoolgirl was sitting in one of the seats of our almost empty train compartment, not looking out of the ordinary at all. She was listening to some music with headphones. I couldn't see her face as she was sitting the other way, but something about her seemed familiar.

I turned back towards Frei.

"What about her?" I said softly.

"She wasn't there when we left for the toilets."

"Erm so?"

"Did the train stop during our time there?"

"No".

"Guys what's happening?" Fanny asked anxiously.

Henry got woken up by her tone of voice, and looked around half-awake.

Frei didn't bother answering her and continued.

"So why would she just move seats here, while the train is almost empty at this hour of day. And what would a fucking schoolgirl be doing here? Now? Alone in the shinkansen?"

I wasn't remembering something. It was on the tip of my tongue. Well brain.

"I don't know. One of my usual suspicious followers?"

"They never came this close, always far enough so I couldn't be sure. But her position, it's perfect to attack you from behind, not to watch you."

I looked back again.

What Frei said was true.

Because I just remembered her. And I noticed no sound was coming out of her headphones.

She turned around.

The girl was looking back at me. She waved and smiled. A cute Japanese brunette, she would have been even more if her nose wasn't bandaged, clearly recently broken.

"Shit." I cursed.

"Ohayoooô Jourdin-san, etôooo Jourdin-chan ka? Minna ni Kikoeruuu." My previously met assassin told me.

Everything happened fast.

She pulled out two knives from under her extra-short schoolskirt (Don't ask I don't know) and jumped towards me.

In the same movement I dodged by pushing myself and Fanny forwards.

My best friend pierced the silent compartment with her shriek and fell into Henry's arms who wasn't yet aware of the danger.

Frei didn't take me lovingly in her arms. Aw.

She dodged me and moved to intercept my attacker.

I couldn't see the first exchange of strikes but when I turned back I could see the surprised face of the fake schoolgirl as one of her dagger went flying a few meters away. The other one was stuck in one of those small headpillows.

I watched helplessly as the fight went on. I couldn't do a thing as there wasn't any room in the train cabin for me to intervene.

Frei forced her back at first, but the schoolgirl's shock quickly dissapeared, and she used her remaining knife to get back the advantage.

Frei wasn't back in her top shape yet. I could tell she was still hurt from her previous fight.

"What the fuck?" Henry shouted, confused as what was happening.

"Get that bitch!" Encouraged Fanny. It seemed her fear had transformed into anger.

I was thinking about how I could help my bodyguard get out of that situation. She was unharmed, weapons were supposedly impossible to carry in Japan, rules were extremely strict.

My crazy japanese hit-woman obviously didn't get the memo, as she pulled a smaller knife out of her boot and cut into Frei's clothes, a fraction of an inch away from her abs.

"My jacket!" Complained my mixed-blood friend.

She was getting pushed back. I needed to help. A quick plan formed inside my head.

I climbed over the seat to get behind enemy lines.

But the assassin wasn't going to let that happen.

She threw her knife towards me. I saw a vicious smile break through her cold, emotionless face.

"Sias!" Shouted my friends simultaneously.

But the throw was sloppy, she didn't have time to aim and put strength into it. It was going straight for my chest, but not that fast.

An easy catch. I grinned. Remembering something old. A good memory.

A wooden knife hit my chest, I shouted in pain and threw my arms down in defeat.

"What's the point? Catching knives and arrows? U-W~ow! It's gonna do me real good when not-a-moron is gonna shoot bullets at me."

"And that Sias, is why I don't want you to go to the states. Most other countries don't have as many guns as they have humans."

"That's definitely you making things up! And this is boring as hell!"

"It's this training, or you go back inside the dojo with your grandfather."

"F-iine. Don't need to go all death sentence on me."

"It's not a death sentence Sias."

I laughed. A young laugh. One coming out of the mouth of a young teen, who believes he knows everything. Even when talking to someone who lived five times longer.

But on this. I wasn't wrong.

"Grand-mère. He's not the same anymore. He changed. So it is, in a way, a death sentence. I feel like I die a bit inside every time I get out of there."

"It can't be that hard."

"The physical part is manageable. Not the rest." I shuddered.

My grandmother looked at me, doubt filling her eyes for an instant.

"Really?..." She seemed to think about something, but then stopped. Focused again. "It doesn't matter for now. If it is as you say, I'll take care of it. Right now, you only need to catch my knife. Don't dodge. Catch. I made you crèpes for later."

"Ahaaaa! I'll be good!"

My caretaker smiled tenderly.

I held the handle of the knife firmly in my hand, it's blade inches away from my heart.

My attacker didn't believe her eyes, and got distracted.

Frei was as surprised as her opponent, but she had been trained by Hailey Skröskind so she didn't even hesitate. She just hit her opponent's nose and temple in the same, gracious movement, left palm right fist. 

The hit was so powerful I could hear the crunch of the girl's nose breaking again.

I winced.

The assassin stumbled backwards and dropped the third and final knife on the ground.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH." She was holding herself up, grabbing on the nearest seat, but was pretty much out of the fight.

Frei didn't take any risks, she tackled her and locked her in place face-first on the synthetic carpet.

That grapple was inescapable without sacrificing an arm.

The fight had taken less than five minutes.

I looked around, a couple of japanese elderly had gotten up, and were looking at us with terrified looks on their face. They were the only ones with us in the compartment.

The old man was talking to someone on the phone. I couldn't hear what he was saying, but that was most certainly the police.

Good, I didn't want to see that girl a third time.

"Who are you working for?" Frei asked.

I cringed. This sentence is too cliché! Yamete.

"I work for my self-interest bitch. It's bad for my self-interest...." She began to answer in english.

She got cut through by Fanny, definitely venting some anger, as Fanny walked on the back of her head, crushing the girls already well broken nose on the ground.

"That's for scaring the hell out of me and trying to kill my friends."

A series of disgruntled sounds came out of the fake japanese schoolgirl, a mixture of pained cries and anger-fueled insults.

Frei looked at her, telling her with a gaze not to get involved.

"What? She wasn't answering you either way!"

I took the knife still in my hand and plunged it deep into a seat. Out of reach of anyone.

Henry, finally completely woken up, exclaimed dissaprovingly:

"Hey! The seats didn't do anything to you! No need to add destruction of public property to our potential long list of offences!"

Oh yeah. Right.

"Oops."

"Don't 'oops' me! Now what the fuck just happened?"

I pointed towards the girl on the floor, trying desperatly to squirm out of Frei's grapple. She was only hurting herself.

"Henry, meet assassin N°1, or as I will call her from now on, teenage prostitute Voldemort."

"What?!" Shouted our prisoner, moving her head to look at me.

"Well yeah, your nose, you know..." I explained.

"I'm so going to kill you..."

The train stopped. We could hear the 'clunk' of the electromagnetic rails touching it again.

"No you're not, you're going to prison." I inspected her in more details. She was cute, but felt... fake.

Frei was tired of our small talk, and pushed harder on the girl's arm. "Who's paying you?"

The girl on the ground cried out in pain, but stubbornly refused to answer.

I intervened.

"Frei stop, she was doing this for revenge." I guessed.

"What?" My friend stared at me.

"Obviously. Look at how she dresses, all this make-up, the obvious breast augmentation and all the other types of plastic surgery I can't really put my fingers on. She's the fucking vainest assassin ever, and I fucked up her job, which must have been good money, and more importantly, I fucked up her nose. She's not being payed by anyone, she just wants revenge."

"You don't know anything about me you dipshit drag-queen! To look like that you must've poured way more botox inside than I did!" Screamed the assassin.

I didn't bother listening. Her expression was enough. My words had struck home.

I heard japanese voices speaking loudly.

Police had just arrived.

And we were going to spend a lot of time answering questions... yeeeeeh.

At least I would be spared the mall trip, right?

But nope, they knew the girl, a famous minor proposing her services to lure and kill unsuspecting victims. She was apparently named Yuki. They released us two hours later with thanks. One of them even proposed to drive us to the nearest clothes mall when Fanny told them about our plans for the day.

She didn't say no.

I silently cursed my whole existence in the back seat of the police car.