You Have A Message, Darling~

The muted sound of cars and the streets below drifted through the dimly lit room, barely audible over the gentle humming of the air conditioner. Dampness from her recent shower clung to Miyami as she brushed her dark hair in the mirror.

The reflection that stared back was a familiar one. Long, straight locks. Pale skin. A soft face. A small nose. A slightly-wider than normal but still passably feminine frame. They were all things she'd grown to accept over the past few years, and astonishingly, she rarely felt the horrible, bottomless, crushing weight of dysphoria from them anymore. Not after she'd gotten help. She'd gotten lucky in that way.

Miyami lowered the brush and placed a finger against the cool, reflective surface. The woman in the mirror looked back at her, and she lightly smiled.

It was still surreal to think that she'd actually made it to this point, where she could genuinely smile at herself in private. Where the pain of the world had become more manageable, and the future didn't look as scary.

"…" Well, so long as she maintained the illusion.

She sighed, and the woman in the mirror drooped with her. Miyami's hand fell to her side, and she took a deep breath. It was hard to keep up the facade, to constantly worry about how she appeared to other people.

Her thoughts briefly wandered back towards the events of the day—the rock and note, her first real encounter with her new coworker, her first day at work, everything. It was all so overwhelming, and her brain felt like a bunch of scrambled eggs trying to make sense of it.

It'd been about an hour since she'd gotten back home—valiantly escorted by Hinoka Amahara, of course—and she'd nearly collapsed again walking through the front door. After a long, warm, and relaxing shower though, she'd been able to calm down, and now she was here.

Miyami took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

All in all, despite the rocky start and the police report, it wasn't a bad first day. In fact, it had gone much better than expected given her past experience in working environments. She hadn't been yelled at or criticized nearly as much as she normally would've been, nor had she accidentally offended anyone aside from maybe the old man she'd rambled to about FEI.

That was good. That meant she wasn't doing too terribly. Maybe this really was going to be the fresh new start she'd been hoping for.

She looked at herself in the mirror again, and her gaze fell to her bare neck.

"…"

Most notable in her mind though, were the comments Hinoka had made about her voice. The ones that made her chest tighten and her heart beat fast in a good way. She'd never received any form of praise for her voice—ever—and the fact it had come from such a beautiful woman had made it even harder to process, let alone how she'd said it multiple times throughout the day.

Miyami's throat suddenly felt dry.

Her hands tentatively reached for her throat, gently tracing along its contours. She could feel the subtle ridges of cartilage, the warmth of the skin, the slight vibrations from her pulse.

Had her compliments been genuine though? Or had Hinoka just said them to try and make her more comfortable?

"…" Miyami's mind flashed to the moment she'd literally slipped up at the beginning of the day. The moment where she'd spoken in public for the first time in weeks. The moment where Hinoka had looked at her not in disgust or confusion, but with warmth—safety.

Her hand reached out to touch her reflection's neck.

"Am I…really—?" The words were quiet, barely above silent, but the moment their sound registered, her throat instantly constricted.

"…!" Miyami quickly covered her mouth as the illusion shattered. Her breathing grew heavy, her eyes stinging as they started to water up. The figure looking back at her in the mirror was now a blurry mess, and her stomach churned violently.

That was a bad idea. A horrible one. Why'd she suddenly think it was okay to use her voice again?

"Because you wanted to believe her," a bitter part of herself answered.

"…" Miyami took a deep breath and slowly removed her hands from her mouth.

Had Hinoka really thought THAT voice was cute?

"…" No. She couldn't believe that.

It wasn't true. It couldn't have been true. Her voice was horrible. Awkward. Unnatural. It was the voice that'd gotten her in trouble, that'd caused her so many problems despite all her efforts and training. It was the voice of a FREAK.

Miyami clenched her fist tightly.

Hinoka had already proven herself to be extremely thoughtful despite her brash and blunt nature. So, in all likelihood, she had just complimented Miyami to help her feel safe. To make sure she wouldn't feel uncomfortable or uneasy around her. To make her feel better.

"…"

Her eyes teared up at the thought. She really didn't deserve that kindness.

She quickly turned from the mirror and retreated toward the bed, jumping into it and hugging the closest pillow tight to her chest. The smell of her shampoo lingered as she buried her face in it and took a deep breath.

This was fine though. If Hinoka was being this considerate of her already, then that was a good thing. It was already leagues better than how most of her previous coworkers treated her, and it meant that this new job might actually be okay.

She'd just have to continue being careful with how much she used her voice, no matter what Hinoka said. After all, while she definitely meant well, taking those compliments at face value would—

*bzzt*

*♫ 'You have a message, darling~' ♫*

Miyami sputtered.

CRAP!

Mortification coursed through her as the now mentally scarring sound of her phone notification echoed throughout the room. Her hand quickly began fumbling for it in the darkness.

It had to be silenced, muted, changed immediately—

*♫'You have a message, darling~' ♫* *♫'You have a message, darling~'♫* *♫'You have a message, darling~' ♫*

"…!!!!" Miyami's face was burning like a supernova now as her fingers desperately tapped the screen to silence the cursed thing going off in rapid succession. Why was she getting so many messages right now? And why'd her past self ever thought THAT was a good sound effect to pick?!

WHYYYYYYYYYYY?!

*♫ 'You have a message, darl—'*

*tap*

"…" Miyami panted as her phone finally went silent again, the screen lighting up her tear-stained face in the darkness. She was so dead inside.

Couldn't a girl have a mental breakdown in peace?! Was that too much to ask for?!

A heavy sigh escaped her as she stared at the offending device in her hands and settled back into the bed. She didn't know who on earth was messaging her, but they were in for a stern talking to and a piece of her mind when—

Oh, it was Hinoka.

Nevermind.

Miyami opened her phone and navigated through the menus to check on the messages, suddenly feeling a bit giddy and fluttering her feet.

What kind of cool things was she saying to her this time?

────────⊳⋆⊲────────

>> Sorry if you're already sleeping or something, but I just wanted to say thanks again for earlier. Eating your bento really helped me after my shitty morning. If you'd like, I'd love to return the favor.

>> Just so happens, boss messaged me to say we're ALL having a half-day tomorrow due to repairs. So if you'd like, after work, I know a cafe nearby.

>> I'd love to eat you for lunch there <(￣︶￣)>

>> SHIT! I MEANT TREAT YOU TO LUNCH THERE! $*@&%@ AUTOCORRECT! (◕ᴗ◕✿)

>> KILL ME!

────────⊳⋆⊲────────

"…" The aircon's condenser kicked on as Miyami stared blankly at her phone.

W-well, it was nice to know that Hinoka was clumsy at typing. It was kind of endearing actually, especially with the cute emoticon she'd added right after—

Wait. Hold on.

What kind of autocorrect even—

*ba-dump*

*BA-DUMP*

*BA-DUMP*

Miyami lay still on her back, her heart pounding wildly in her chest and her cheeks hot against the cold of the aircon.

This had to be a joke. No, not a joke—some sort of cosmic mistake. The universe itself had decided to play a cruel trick on her for whatever unfathomable reason. Yeah, that made sense.

There was no way that Hinoka could be interested in her. That was impossible. It was completely preposterous and utterly ridiculous. A dream. A fantasy. A hallucination. An error.

Right. Exactly. She was tired, and her imagination was getting the better of her. It was just a simple typo. Nothing more, nothing less. She should also not make assumptions about someone's sexuality based off of a single sentence, personality, looks, or a handful of thoughtful comments.

Miyami nodded to herself and lied down, stilling her trembling fingers as they hovered over her phone.

She should be ashamed of herself for even entertaining the idea. This was just Hinoka showing an awkward side of her amazingly nice personality. She should just reply and accept, then go to bed.

After all, they'd only met today. It wasn't like—

*bzzt*

"…"

────────⊳⋆⊲────────

>> Ehe, um, by the way. Quick question. Are you a lesbian?

────────⊳⋆⊲────────

"…"

She placed the phone down and rolled over again.

It took every ounce of self-control to not scream into her pillow.