"You... want me? But... but I'm... I'm trans... Can I really be an idol?"

The answer was yes, apparently. She was still welcome into the group. It was weird. She didn't think they would let her.

But, it was still a battle. People found out despite how hard she tried to hide that information from anyone she didn't trust. It was hard to keep going on this path when so many people were against her now.

At least she had her friends. They were all still there for her. They defended her whenever someone tried to hurt her. They stood up for her when she couldn't do it. She... couldn't imagine life without them.

"Maya? You seem nervous."

Today was a concert. And she was scared. There were so many groups here. It was intimidating.

"Yeah... it's just... I'm scared..."

"What's wrong?"

"There's just... a lot of people here."

"You'll be okay, Maya. Come on, let's go get ready for our show."

"Eve? Can we... go the back way?"

"Sure."

Maya didn't want to walk past all of those other performers. Didn't want to see the glares some sent her. Didn't want to hear what they had to say about her being here. Didn't even want to be here currently.

"It'll be okay, Maya. We won't let anyone hurt you." Eve was trying to reassure her.

"But what if the audience is the problem? What if... what if they yell at me?"

It had happened before, back when they first started out. Maya never forgot. Never recovered. She was always terrified it would happen again.

"If that happens, we'll handle it. Don't worry. We got this, Maya. You don't need to work yourself up over it. We can handle everything for you."

"I hate relying on you guys so much..."

"We don't mind it. We want you to be who you want to be."

Maya still felt bad that she was making them fight all of her battles. But, what could she do? She never couldn't stand up for herself. She always failed. Always with the other person walk all over her. Because she was afraid fighting back would get her hurt even more.

"Let's get changed."

Maya dreaded this. That meant it was almost time. Every moment putting on her outfit she felt sick. She hated this. Hated how nervous she was anymore. She didn't want to live like this. She wanted to be herself. But the world said no.

"Hey guys! Guess what!" Hina ran into the room.

"First off, where the hell have you been?" Chisato glared at her, "We're on stage in ten minutes."

"I was talking to someone." Hina stuck her tongue out, "Anyway, guess what."

"What?"

"A fan gave me these! They're little pride flag pins we can wear!" Hina held out her hand.

There were five pins. All different flags. Each one representing something about a member. Hina had the gay flag, Chisato the lesbian flag, Aya the asexual flag, Eve the bi flag, and Maya the trans flag. They each had their names on it, to signify it was meant for them.

Since Maya had been outed, the others outed themselves too, to make her feel better. To show she wasn't alone in her struggle. And some fans were like this, sending them gifts related to what they came out as.

These were the fans Maya loved. They made her feel better. And it was helping her today. Knowing some of those people were here to see them made her relax a bit.

"Management said we could put them on our outfits today." Hina added.

Everyone took theirs. Maya was last. She hesitated. Hina smiled at her and walked over. She put the pin on Maya's outfit.

"There you go." Hina stated.

Maya touched it. A smile formed on her face. It gave her a bit of a confidence boost.

"Girls! Line up!"

It was time to go on. They headed to the backstage area. Eve grabbed Maya's hand as they walked.

"You ready?"

"Yeah. I... feel better after that."

"Good. I'm right next to you if you need me. You know that."

"Thank you, Eve."

"Let's do this, guys!" Hina jumped up and down.

"Good luck to everyone. I'm sure we'll do well." Chisato said.

"Yeah. We got this." Aya nodded.

"Let's show them who we are." Eve added.

"We'll show the other groups that we don't care what they think of us." Maya stated in determination.

Everyone smiled and nodded. They weren't letting the other groups bring them down with their hateful comments. They would stand strong and above them.