Chapter Two: Yuya Sazuki, the freak

“Yuya! Yuya! Yuya! Yuya!” The children's squeaky voices blended into a symphony, the sound of his own name echoing over and over again nearly driving him mad.

“Alright, alright. Maybe I have one secret.” He shyly admitted, holding the chest of his gray shirt tightly, his heart thudding through his chest.

“Come on then, spill!” The kids sat in a circle at the center of the hotel room, flashlights in each of their hands to keep the darkness from consuming them all.

“And nothing boring like you having a crush on a girl!”

“I get it.” Yuya let out a heavy sigh, his hands settling on his folded legs and clenching the cloth of his matching pajama pants tightly.

“Here goes.” He let out another huff of air.

“Stop stalling!”

“Right. Well. In my spare time I like to wear pretty things like dresses, skirts, stuff like that.” His body burned with nervousness.

“Come on Yuya, be serious.” One of the boys spoke, voice full of disinterest.

“Huh?” He startled, “but I am telling the truth. When I was younger I once saw this fashion show come on tv, I liked the way the girls looked so I gave cross-dressing a try. Ever since I’ve been really into it.”

One of the boys silently snorted, “seriously?”

“Wait, does that mean you like boys?” The three sitting before him quickly glanced at one another before slowly slinking away.

“W-what? N-no, it’s not like that! I just like the way it looks!” He desperately attempted to defend himself, but he could tell his words fell on deaf ears.

“Yuya is a creep!”

“Yuya is a freak!”

“Yuya is a weirdo!”
That was five years ago, and while the faces associated with those words are nothing more than black blobs to him, the memory still stings harshly in his mind.

He attempted desperately to shield himself from the view of everyone in the cafe, his heart pounding and body scorching just like it did that night.

“I like a boy?” Junepai muttered, distraught.

The next hour blurred by, nothing seemed real to Yuya beyond that moment. He felt naked, exposed, like the world was now peering into the most private part of his soul and picking him apart.

“I’m sorry, but per our agreement, we’ll be forced to let you go.” A short black haired woman spoke solemnly, “we’ll need your outfit.”

Those words brought him back to reality.
“You can’t be serious. That isn’t fair! How was I supposed to know a monster would attack us?”

“I’m sorry, but our contract specifically stated that under no circumstances could you reveal your true identity. I wish you the best, Yuya Sazuki.” She offered a half-bow.

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There was orange in the sky now, the sun setting while the moon started to take its rise. Yuya fled from the backdoor in new attire. Around his legs were a pair of ripped gray jeans, and his torso was covered by a plain black sweater. He only managed a few steps through the cold alleyway, before a familiar and enraging voice echoed toward him. “Y-yu! Wait up Yu!” Sprinting behind him was Junepai, a nervous look in his eyes.

“I don’t go by Yu outside of work.” He turned slowly, “and I don’t swing that way, for your information.” His voice was much deeper than it was before, and that look in his eyes was ten times sharper.

“W-what the! Don’t go making assumptions like that outta nowhere! I don’t swing that way either…” His voice trailed off near the end of that sentence.

“Right. Well, since I was just laid off I have no reason to keep playing cordial with a creep like yourself, goodbye Junepai.”

“Wait a second!” He shouted, “you were fired? Why?”

“Why’s it matter?”

“It just does.”

“No one was supposed to know I wasn’t actually a girl.”

“I see, so that’s why you wanted me to stay quiet.” His fists clenched tightly at his sides, his eyes unable to leave from the ground.

“Well then why don’t you work with me!” He stated abruptly, “we can dungeon crawl together.”

“Why would I do that? I can hardly use magic, and fighting doesn’t interest me.”

“Then you can just keep inventory and manage finances.”

“Sounds boring.”

“You’ll be making a lot more money that way!”

“Why are you so desperate for me to work with you? I already told you I’m not into dudes.”

“Cause I feel bad alright, I outed you like that in front of everyone, not only that, you got fired because of me. So just let me make it up to you, you could be my assistant and I’ll pay you more than this place did.”

Yuya stood in silence for a few moments, silently humming.

“Fine, but you try anything perverted and I’ll beat the crap out of you.”

“Stop saying weird things, I already told you I aint into dudes either!” Junepai shook his head and stepped toward Yuya, hand stretched outward.

“We can call things even once we start raking in cash, alright?”

“Whatever.” He took his hand reluctantly, and almost immediately Yuya felt deep regret.