A young woman sat at a table, her icy blue fingers holding a spoon full of crunchy puffs of chocolate and peanut butter. She savored the chilly milk as it trickled down her throat, unperturbed by the intruding heat of the morning sun. Her long white hair seemed to glisten in the light, small sparkles at times invading her sight, not that she minded.
It was rather amazing how much she found herself adjusting since she changed. At first her frosty exterior only brought a constant sense of alienation and dissociation from herself and the world around her, but now she found a satisfying sense of beauty in her existence as a yuki-onna. She certainly had her friends to thank for that. And yet…
She sighed. She’d been doing so well, but she couldn’t deny that she was apprehensive. School had been a nightmare for her before. Full of fake friends who would only try to use her. Objectifying her as an attractive doll due to her ethnicity, or others constantly assuming she’d been into anime or manga. It didn’t matter that she had such interests, their tone was all the same, they didn’t see her as a person. There were also those who assumed she was good at math and science due to awful stereotypes. It created such a horrible pressure on her, and she hoped that this last year of high school would see a reprieve from such attitudes, although she doubted it. However, before she could think much more about it, she heard a buzz come from her phone.
“Sorry we couldn’t see you off this morning ;-;”
“It’s okay Mom! :)” Ichika replied. “Tell Mama I miss her!”
“You don’t miss me? ;n;”
“Of course I miss you Mom. XD”
“Yay!!! :D” her Mom replied. “Have a good day. Let us know if you have any problems. We should be home in the next couple days. Miss you lots!!!”
“See you soon, Mom!” Ichika smiled at her phone. It had been a while since her parents had been home. They were often busy traveling for their job as a model and photographer duo. Her Mama, Suzuha, being the savvy business woman of the pair, knew how to read the market and what fashions to model. And her Mom, Adri, had a distinguished eye that seemed to make almost any of her subjects glow. Suzuha had been particularly aggressive since everything happened with the Magical Mist. Like Ichika, her Mama had become a yuki-onna, and she was eager to make her mark in the post-Mist world, and given her recent comforts, it seemed to be paying off. Fortunately, with the end of summer, her moms were ready to take a break and spend time with her again, which she was more than eager for.
She turned her attention back to her breakfast. Fantasizing about all her plans with her parents would have to wait until later. With a few more mouthfuls of cereal and a quick slurp of milk, she finished her meal and put the dishes in the sink for later. A couple moments later she grabbed her bag and was out the door.
The drive to school had been rather calm. A few weeks before, she had been concerned that traffic would be miserable, even for the relatively short distance, with the highway still out of commission. Fortunately, the work on the highway had made a lot of progress since she and the others had their fight back in May, and most traffic had started using it again.
She arrived at Salt Mountain High and made her way back to park. Most of the other students preferred parking towards the front for one reason or another, but her classes happened to start and end near the back of the campus, and she appreciated the lack of competition.
“Hey, Chi!” A familiar voice called as she entered the building. She turned around to see a familiar girl with dark skin and dark curly hair falling to her shoulders.
“Good morning, Carmen,” Ichika greeted her friend. “Do you have class over here?”
“Yeah. I’m starting with math.”
“If it were anyone else, I’d say sorry.” Ichika giggled.
“I mean, it would be nice to get to wake up a bit more first, but whatever. It was either this or taking engineering first, and I’m not risking sleeping through that!”
“Oh, you’re taking engineering?”
“Yep!” Carmen grinned. “I love tinkering with stuff.”
“And here I thought your uniform looked like that because you like mecha anime,” teased another voice, a girl with shoulder length blonde hair approaching them.
“Bianca!” Ichika pulled her friend into a hug. “I feel like it’s been forever since I saw you.”
“You saw me last weekend,” Bianca giggled. “So, Carm, you like building those mecha kits then?”
“Well, I like those too! But I love building other stuff too. And hey, I’m interested to see if I can use my electric powers for powering things.”
“But I thought you girls can’t use your powers in your normal form, right?” She looked at Ichika. “Well, excluding Chi, obviously.”
“Mine aren’t nearly as strong as in my magical girl form though.”
“...” Carmen was speechless. She frowned. “Dang it, I didn’t think about that.”
“Sorry, Carm.”
“Well, whatever. I’ll just do my best anyway!” Carmen declared. “I’ll catch ya later, Bea! Chi!”
“Later, Carm!” Ichika waved as Carmen darted down the hallway. She took a breath and looked at the door.
“You ready?” Bianca asked.
“As ready as I can be?” She reached for the doorknob and opened it.
“Oh, look, it’s Chichi!” one of the boys, sporting a monkey tail, announced immediately. She cringed. Not five seconds and that nickname already came out.
“Wait, how can you tell?” Another, a wolf looking boy, asked.
“Oh, please, what other girl would become a snow maiden like her? And sides, I can smell her.”
“Dude, you prolly shouldn’t say that last part.”
“Don’t let them get to you, Chi,” Bianca said in a quiet voice. Ichika took a deep breath and made her way through the classroom, finding a seat in the corner like usual, Bianca sitting in front of her to block onlookers, a habit she developed in previous years to protect her friend.
“Hey there, Chi-chan!” another higher voice disturbed her. She looked up to see a fluffy looking girl covered in pink wool, making her look like a sheep. “Hope you had a good vacation.” Ichika looked at her with a bit of confusion.
“Who’s the cutie?” Bianca asked, a light blush on her cheeks. Of course Ichika never knew any sheep girls who called her that, she didn’t know any sheep girls to begin with. More importantly, she didn’t know any girls who called her that, only a few boys. Her eyes widened. Among them was one that always seemed overly patient with her, no matter how cold she was towards them. They seemed rather taken by her, but she had no interest in returning. This girl on the other hand… “Oh, right. You probably don’t know who I am, huh?”
“No. I know who you are,” Ichika answered, surprising Bianca. The sheep girl, in turn, looked at her concernedly, trembling slightly as a bit of panic ran through her. “But I haven’t caught your name yet.” The sheep girl slowly began to smile.
“Um… Christine...” the sheep girl nervously answered. “But… um… you probably remember me as...”
“Shh...” Ichika said, placing her finger in front of Christine’s mouth. “That’s not your name anymore, right?” Bianca’s eyes lit up with recognition as she said that.
“Chi-chan...” the sheep girl looked at her adoringly. Ichika didn’t have any interest in who she was before, but she became so adorable since the last time they met. It even made her want to overlook the nickname. She normally found the white kids around her using honorifics really tacky and obnoxious, but this girl, the gentle way she said it was a lot cuter and more fun than the others.
“Now, come on, sit down. Class is starting soon.” Christine nodded, turning to find her seat. “Next to us, silly.”
“A-are you sure?”
“Of course.”
First period went by rather quickly, all things considered. There was a bit of tension when the teacher called Christine’s deadname, but Ichika was quick to stop her from speaking up, and helped her explain to the teacher after attendance. With no other incidents the class sped, the three girls whispering to each other through class until the bell rang.
“What do you have next?” Ichika asked.
“History,” Christine answered excitedly.
“Oh, with Mrs. Brier?”
“Wait, do you…”
“Yep! And you’ll be able to meet my new friend too.”
“Wait, Leah’s in our class too?” Bianca asked.
“Yeah, we compared schedules the other day. And I think we might run into a certain someone if she hasn’t left yet.”
“You mean…” Bianca's eyes glittered, excited to see Vivi again. The girl who saved her and her best friend had managed to become a personal favorite on the team as time went on. “I haven’t gotten to see her much aside from when Leah brought her. I hope she’s doing well.
“A-are you sure it’s okay for me to be there?” Christine asked shyly. “I don’t want to intrude or anything.”
“Of course not. Plus, I think you’d get along.”
“But… do you think she’d be okay with...”
“I mean, her sister is trans too.”
“Really?” Christine gawked. Ichika nodded.
“She’s the one I was mentioning. If possible, I think meeting her might...” She looked up to see a flash of pink hair dart by the hallway, a girl with dark green hair chasing after her. “Or not, I guess. Wonder where she went to in a hurry.”
“Wait… that pink hair… was she…?”
“I guess she really is the most noticeable one,” Ichika chuckled to herself.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It’s complicated, we’ll explain later.” Bianca stated.
“Chi!” a voice called out. Ichika turned to her side to see Leah as she ran over. “Is everything okay? I just saw Vivi run by. She didn’t even say hi or anything.”
“I’m not sure.” Ichika frowned. “Maybe Mrs. Brier will know.” They entered the classroom to see the youthful elven woman massaging her head. “Maybe...”
“Mrs. Brier, is everything okay?” Leah asked.
“Oh, Leah,” Mrs. Brier looked at the group and frowned. “I’m glad you got here so early. There’s something I should talk to you about.” She looked to Ichika, Bianca and Christine. “It’s about...”
“It’s okay, you can talk about it.”
Mrs. Brier sighed and then nodded. “I suppose you’ll hear about it anyway.” The girls looked at the teacher concernedly. “I didn’t mean for it to happen, but during roll call, Vivi got outed.”
“She what!? But Mom...”
“You, see. I was doing roll call, and she didn’t respond. So I called her full name. That was apparently enough for one of the other students to figure it out. The class was in an uproar.”
“Vivi...” Leah frowned. “Is that why she ran out like that?”
“Probably. I managed to calm the class down, but I expect she didn’t want to stick around too long.”
“I see. Thanks for telling me.” Leah sighed.
“Leah...” Mrs. Brier frowned. “I’m truly sorry for what happened. Please, let me know if there’s any way I can help out.”
* * *
“Are you okay, Leah?” Ichika asked as they slowly progressed through the lunch line alone; Bianca and Christine having class during their lunch period.
“I’m just worried. Vivi was so nervous this morning and now it seems like everything might be falling apart,” Leah admitted. “What am I supposed to do to help her?”
“It’ll be okay,” Ichika reassured her. “Vivi’s a softie, but she’s capable. She’ll make it through this. I just know it. And even if it gets too much for her, she has Carmen, you, and me to support her. Not to mention Bianca and that girl she’s been flirting with.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She grabbed a tray of food with a slice of pizza. “At least we’ll be able to support her during… lunch...” She slowed to a halt as her gaze fell upon a particular table. She saw Vivi sitting at a table, quivering in place as a pair of boys stood beside her with a pair of putrid grins.
“Y’know, Jackie, I always thought you were a sissy, but this is too much, don’t you think?” the satyr boy, George chuckled.
“What you wanna bet he goes home and steals his sister’s clothes?” The other boy, a goblin named Donald added with a loud laugh.
“And what would be wrong with my sister trying on my clothes exactly?” Leah asked with a sinister tone. The two boys turned to face her.
“Of course his sister is entertaining him and his...”
“That’s enough.” Ichika said with a hushed voice. The two boys looked at her, a sense of panic running through them as they met her frigid glare. “Does picking on girls make you feel big and strong? Or do you just get off on harassing people.”
“W-we’re not...”
“Leave.” Ichika’s voice was low and quiet. The two boys shivered before rising from their seats and running away with a panicked look in their eyes. Ichika watched them leave, a bitter look in her eye.
“Chi...” Leah finally spoke. “You’re... uh...”
Ichika looked down at the table, seeing a small pile of snow around her hand. She stared at it, startled by its presence. “I… I thought I was over this.” Her voice shook as she took on a deep frown. A small hand grabbed hers. She looked up to see Vivi looking up at her with her sweet shimmering eyes. “Vivi.”
“Chi, it’s okay. Thank you for saving me.” The girl gave her a gentle smile.
“Are you okay?” Ichika asked, her face relaxing into a somber frown. “We heard how first period went.”
“I’m… I’ll be okay. I promise.” She had a familiar quiet and distant look on her face, one Ichika had known for all too long. She used to look at herself that way after all. She began to smile and wrapped her friend in a hug. “C-Chi?”
“We’re here for you, don’t forget that, okay?”
“Y-yeah,” Vivi whispered. “Thanks. I’ll be okay.”
“Good.” Ichika moved to sit down beside Vivi when she looked at her drink. “Dang it,” she grumbled.
“Oh, no. You must’ve frozen it when you scared them off.” Leah frowned as she noticed the frozen and bloated can.
“It’s okay. I’ll just go grab another one.”
“Okay, we’ll be here waiting for you.”
Ichika walked to the metal doors, spotting the vending machines she got her tea from before. “What you did back there was pretty cool.” A deep voice chuckled as she fed the machine change. She turned to see a green goblin looking boy. He was similar looking to the one harassing Vivi earlier, only this one was taller, a bit more muscular, dark slicked back hair, and a confident grin.
“Who are you?”
“Don’t remember me? I guess we never had classes together. I’m Jason, Donald’s older brother. And gotta say, how you scared the crap outta him was kinda hot.”
“...you’re happy that I scared your brother?” Ichika gave him a weird look.
“Eh, he’s a little snot. And ‘sides, how could I get upset at a pretty ice queen like you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Ichika glared at him.
“Just what I said. You’ve got such a cool ice queen vibe. Especially those eyes of yours. They’re so chilling and dazzling. Just wow. I could just freeze under your gaze.”
“Please keep your weird perverted ideas to yourself,” Ichika protested.
“Aww, you don’t gotta be like that babe. How about we go hang out somewhere and chat for a bit.”
“I’m not interested.” She grabbed her drink and began to leave, only to be stopped by the goblin teen.
“Now, now. I dig the whole ice doll routine, but you gotta ease up.”
“Leave me alone, you creep!”
“Come on, I just wanna talk. How about we go upstairs and...”
“Wow, check out the creepy dude with the greasy hair.” A third voice chuckled, confusing Chi and Jason. Down the hall stood a girl with long shining light purple hair in a deeper purple dress. Ichika gasped as she felt herself lost in the girl’s elegant almost cosmic curls. The girl gave a playful smirk which sent a shiver down the yuki-onna’s spine.
“W-what’s wrong with my hair?” Jason quibbled.
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it’s that it looks like you haven’t washed it in weeks and slick it back to look cool.” The boy was at a loss for words, unable to form a counterargument. “Wow, really? Which part was more right? That you think you look cool, or that you haven’t bathed in weeks.”
“It hasn’t been that long…” he mumbled anxiously.
“Ew!” Ichika yanked her arm away.
“I...” The goblin boy looked at Ichika, trembling under her judgemental gaze. “I won’t forget this!” He yelped before scurrying down the hallway.
“What a loser,” the purple-haired girl laughed. “Sorry you had to go through that. Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m okay,” Ichika said with a smile. “Thanks for helping.”
“Of course! I know how it’s like to put up with that kind of crap.” The girl sighed. “I’m glad we get to talk though, I’ve seen you around. You seem pretty cool,” she said with an elegant tone, making Ichika blush.
“Umm… Not to be rude, but I don’t think we’ve met before. Are you a freshman?”
“Senior, actually,” the girl giggled. “I transferred here this year.”
“Oh? Really? It’s nice to meet you...”
“Sue. Sue Sazanami.”
* * *
Lunch had been a marked improvement for Vivi compared to her other classes so far. While first and second period she had Erika’s support as well as Mrs. Brier and her art teacher, Mrs. Doyle’s support, third period had been rougher. Despite her talent for the subject, math was already a subject she’d been indifferent towards on the best semesters, and her newfound connection with her emotions magnified the doldrums into agony during her lessons with Annie. Annie had been a remarkably better math teacher than she’d ever had, being kind, patient, and resourceful with her instruction, including meaningful analogies; her math class’s teacher, Mr. Pearson, was anything but. The man was, by the most charitable descriptions, a pushover, and at the worst, a dry instructor, with a blunt teaching method making the already complicated information all the more indecipherable.
To make matters worse, despite having the presence of Erika, whose opinions tended to curry favor among their fellow honors students, Vivi’s regular tormentors of the goblin and satyr who’d bullied her for years managed to stir the class into a frenzy, made worse by Mr. Pearson’s espousing his ‘expertise’ on unrelated topics in support of the boys who the stalked her to lunch. Leah and Ichika’s intervention had improved her mood a lot, and the sudden inclusion of the kind purple haired beauty, Sue, only lifted her spirits higher. Unfortunately, Vivi’s remaining classes weren’t exactly better. Fourth period was one of the quirks of her schedule, Physics.
As a result of the awkward mess the previous semester morphed into, the science courses became a bloated mass in the students’ schedules. As a consequence of the spring semester ending early, the school days for the fall semester had been extended, every class becoming a little longer to compensate for the compressed curriculum. That was with the exception of science. With students electing to take their mix of subjects at their leisure in previous years, students suddenly became saddled with needing to finish the previous year’s subject while beginning a new one, alternating each day until fall break, when the previous year’s subject would finally terminate.
In Vivi’s case, she’d made the choice to take AP Physics in her first semester and AP Biology in her sophomore, leaving Chemistry for later. She’d grown rather excited for her Biology course after learning the teacher had been supportive of trans students in the past and managed to include some topics about gender and hormones in the AP course. Fortunately, she’d gotten lucky and had Biology. Once again blessed with Erika and Irina’s support, she managed to become rather optimistic. To her relief, while the class had once again been stirred up by the satyr boy, the teacher, Miss Beaumont managed to shut down the discourse rather firmly. Unfortunately, the same would not hold true for the class she’d been dreading the most, the one she’d tried desperately to avoid, English.
Vivi sighed as she longingly stared at the clock, desperately counting the remaining minutes until fifth period would end, even as it had just begun. All she could do was count and cling to the moments of joy she’d had through the day, lingering on her moments with Erika and savoring the mysterious warmth such moments brought her. Spending time with her almost made everything worth it.
But she didn’t have Erika this time. Nor did she have her older sister and friends to support her this time. In fact, she was all alone for the first time all day. She had no one else to depend on. All she could do was wait and hope that this miserably tense class could end before… “Mr. Tailor! Pay attention! Or are you too good for my lessons?” Dr Rosen barked.
There it was, any and all illusion of patience and consideration shattering in an instant. She looked up to see the cold glare of the aged retired Navy officer turned teacher. Seemingly, unlike all of her other teachers, he remained exactly the same. No wolf tail like Mrs. Doyle. No horse half like Mr Pearson. And certainly none of the sharp angelic features of Mrs. Beaumont’s valkyric form. He had no magic. No changed body. Just the same aging curmudgeon who berated her for everything, now with an added helping of misgendering. Deadnaming would certainly accompany it too, if it weren’t for his insistence to only use everyone’s last names. “If you’re so talented, why don’t you tell the class what the author meant by this passage, Jack.” She rolled her eyes. Of course he’d make an exception for her specifically.
“That’s not my name,” she mumbled to herself.
“What was that, boy?”
“She said that’s not her name, old man!” said a girl a couple seats over from Vivi. Vivi perked up and looked over to see the youthful latina girl stare down the teacher.
Dr. Rosen stiffened. “New girl, Ms. Santiago is it. You may be new, but I will not allow such disrespectful behavior in my classroom.”
“Then throw yourself out, you old fart!” the girl scoffed. “You’re the one being disrespectful here.”
“Why you...”
“Also, the name’s Riri, thank you. I have a first name, use it.”
“That’s it! You’ve just gotten yourself a write up! Now get your ass to the Principal’s Office.”
“Pfft, what...”
“That’s not fair!” Vivi leapt to her feet. “She was only standing up for me!”
“Fine! You want to get punished too, boy scout, then go with her! Both of you get out of my classroom.”
“Th-that’s...”
“Let it go, Pinky,” Riri said as she made her way to the door. “It’s not worth it.”
Vivi sighed. “Yeah. I don’t want to be here anyway.” She grabbed her stuff and walked out, Riri holding the door open for her. As she passed the door, Riri gave it a fierce shove, slamming it behind her. Vivi looked at her with shock only to be met by Riri’s blasé attitude. Riri began smirking and snickered, Vivi following suit. “Thanks for that. My name’s Vivi.”
“Oh, that’s funny, our names rhyme and stuff,” Riri grinned as they walked down the hall. “Seriously though, that guy’s a real piece of work.”
“Tell me about it. He’s even worse than last year.”
“Oh, you had him last year?”
“Yeah,” Vivi confirmed with a shrug. “You’re new right? So, you probably don’t know this, but he’s got a reputation for being a hardass. The principal and a lot of other teachers like him for some reason, so he gets away with a lot.”
“Seriously?” Riri gawked.
“Yeah. He even helps organize the stuff for Veteran’s Day. And meanwhile, he just teaches us about how schools have let us down and throws all this gross patriotic stuff at us,” Vivi explained. “I didn’t like it much before, but after the Magical Mist and everything...”
“Yeah, guys like him are insufferable. People tend to look up to them because they act like they know what’s best for others and they’re upfront about certain things. Most people ignore the other stuff, like how they regularly push others down and they’re really just selfish.”
“You sound like you speak from experience.”
“Yeah.” Riri shrugged. “My Dad’s like that. Scarily so. Heck he’d prolly have a similar reaction about me that that guy had with you.”
“Wait, you mean...”
“Eh, not like that,” Riri said. “Never mind that stuff though. We’re better off without guys like that,” she chuckled as she ducked behind a hallway.
“Wait, that’s not the right way to...”
“I know. I’m not going there.”
“But...”
“Vivi, we didn’t do anything wrong. Why should we be punished for him being a shitty teacher?” Vivi blinked. She didn’t have an answer for that. “I do have a good idea though. You like cute girls?”
“H-huh!?” she stammered as her cheeks lit up.
“How about we go watch the girl’s run by the track?”
“O-oh… that’s what you meant,” Vivi chuckled nervously. “Still though...”
“Geez, you’re a goodie two shoes, aren’t ya. C’mon, let me corrupt ya a bit.”
“I’m not sure. I...”
“C’mon. You deserve to reward yourself for putting up with that guy. Plus, I heard you’ve been having a bad day. Relax and enjoy yourself for a bit.”
That… actually made sense. Vivi thought to herself for a second and finally nodded. “Okay.”
“Awesome, now let’s go!” Riri led her outside to the track field. There they saw a number of girls from different years lining up along the track. Vivi briefly recalled Annie talking about how weird Arizona was, being one of the states that only required one year of PE in high school, which resulted in students taking it at various times during their four years, a factoid she clung to in an effort to ground herself to little avail.
As she gazed upon the field of girls exercising, a warmth began to sprout within her. It was foreign and new to her. It was like a pleasant haze began to fill her mind, a small smile trying to take shape on her lips. She gulped.