It had been years.
Akito looked in the mirrior. She looked like a man, but she was a woman underneath.
She was supposed to dress, look, and sound like a man, but she wasn't. No amount of training and abuse could really change that. She could try as hard as she could to be the man they wanted her to be, but part of her will always be a woman.
A woman who would always love a man.
It had been years, and it seemed he hadn't forgotten either when he looked at her that way and spoke those words.