What's that? Everyone's least favourite author is back with another poorly written, self indulgent Yu-Gi-Oh fic?
I'm so sorry for this.
Setsuko didn't get why everyone made such a big deal about gender. It was just another thing in your genes, like having brown hair and blue eyes. Being male wouldn't change anything about her.
But for some reason, everyone seemed obsessed with gender. If you were a girl, you should behave one way. If you were a boy, you behaved another way. What was the point?
Even the language was unnessecarily gendered. From lowly waiters and waitresses all the way to businessmen and businesswomen, everyone seemed to need to shove gender in your face. None of it made sense!
However, when she met Mokuba, she realised there was one gendered word she didn't mind: brother.
As much as she loved Mokuba, she wasn't blind to the rest of her family. After her mother's death, it was plain that her father had lost the will to take care of them, leaving Setsuko to take care of her brother.
She would have been content to stay where they were following their father's death, but their relatives didn't see it that way. Instead, they seperated the siblings, claiming it was "for their own good". What they meant, of course, was that it was easier for them.
Setsuko was outraged. They had torn her away from Mokuba just to make their lives simpler? It looked like she was going to have to fend for herself and Mokuba again. Of course, nothing could be that simple. Mokuba had been sent to a boys' orphanage, ostensibly to get him to "man Up".
Setsuko had always known that being a boy wouldn't change anything. Now was her chance to prove it.
No one at the orphanage paid much attention when a young boy called Seto showed up.
Fortunately, Seto was young enough that hiding his sex wasn't hard. The hardest part of the ruse had been explaining everything to Mokuba without anyone overhearing.
But Seto wasn't stupid. He knew that sooner or later he'd be too old to keep up the pretense. That's why he had to find a rich patron as soon as possible.
Fortunately, Gozaburo's visit was the perfect excuse.
One thing Seto hadn't thought about was what would happen if Gozaburo found out. So naturally, he did, not long after adopting Seto.
After all, the shame of nudity was a wonderful teaching tool.
The only thing that kept Seto from being kicked out was the fact that Gozaburo had already announced Seto as his heir, and a girl would be too weak to head Gozaburo's company.
Instead, Gozaburo bought Seto a binder and told him never to reveal his secret to anyone.
And if that first binder was covered in bloodstains not long after it was bought, there was no one to know.
After Gozaburo's death, Kaiba could theoretically have revealed his sex to the world. However, he was still trying to turn the company to games, and he couldn't afford any weakness.
After that came tournaments, and then world saving, and there just wasn't a good opportunity. Besides, he still didn't care enough to lose the benefits that came with being percieved as male.
He assumed Mokuba had all but forgotten that he had once had a sister.
That was, until the day he came into the office to find a website about trans terms on his screen.
He scoffed and went to close the window. Why did it matter? He had far more important things to do than conduct yet another examination of his soul, especially over something as trivial as gender.
However, a term at the top of the list caught his eye: agender.
Reading the brief description, it seemed to fit well enough. It was nice to have a term to describe his ambivalent feelings towards gender.
And if Mokuba thought anything was strange about the fact that his brother left the office just a little earlier, he didn't say anything.
