Let the moment arrive,
With no more tears to cry,
The spirit will wave goodbye,
And step into the light.
- "Into The Light" by Masterplan
}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{}{
She wakes with a groan, the constant tiredness seeped into her being as it has for years. At this point she'd forgotten what it was like to not feel at least a little tired. She's had tests for it, but it never amounted to much, she's just sleepy all the time naturally, it seems. Still, today's the first day she's…
She pales, more than she normally is (which is a significant amount of paleness). Today's the day!
A combination of panic and elation fight inside her before her usual sleepy nature reasserts itself.
Clambering out of her bedsheets, she stumbles, zombie-like, to her bedroom door, opening it. Her mother, passing by, smiles at her. "Good morning, dear." She says, going off to fold some clothes from the laundry.
She grumbles a response and makes her way to the bathroom, after fetching her day's clothes, to look away while she does her morning business, trying not to see it. Then, after washing her hands, she disrobes from her pyajmas and steps into the western shower her father had had installed in the house. They still had a furo but this was great for cleaning yourself in the morning when you were in a hurry or didn't feel like contemplating yourself.
She ignores her body, having the usual existential crisis at waiting for the conditioner on her hair to work before washing it out. Her hair's still not long enough yet, but that's fine for now. With time. She idly rubs at her chest. Her chest hurts.
She blinks.
Her chest hurts!
Finally! Finally, the hormones are starting to work. Maybe.
She prods at her still-too-flat chest and sighs, wincing at the ache. Maybe not? Still, she was told hurting would be the start.
Smiling for the first time that morning, she gets out of the shower and pays no attention to the wrongness of everything as she dries herself. Then she goes about readying herself for the day to be even a little presentable.
On goes the gaff after a tuck, then the panties, then the shorts with pads on the hips and backside, to give her stick-thin self something of a figure. Then she slides on the bra. Struggling with her hands behind her, she takes a moment to figure the hooks out again (seriously, she really needs to figure this out properly one of these days). Once done, she fills the cups with the silicone-filled, chicken-fillet-alike breast forms, settling them in and then deliberately looking at herself in the mirror before putting on a slip.
She dresses slowly, making sure everything is on properly. The blouse, the dress, the bow tied perfectly behind her. The tights, instead of socks. She's made some modifications to the uniform though. Playing into her ghostly appearance.
The dress is black, the bow purple, with black tights under that have patterns of webbing in silvery thread running down them. She's painted her nails black and the finale to it is the makeup she puts on her face. She plays into the dark circles around her eyes, first smoothing out her skin with pale foundation followed by smokey, dark eyeshadow and liner, with false eyelashes that stick far out. She chooses silver clip-on earrings and paints her lips a dark purple.
She smiles at the subtle contouring she's done to reduce the edge of her jawline and make her eyes appear bigger than they already did. She clips up her hair using bobby pins to keep it flat, ready.
She returns to her room a moment, picking up the wig from the Styrofoam head it lives on when not on her own head and placing it over her pinned hair, then pinning the wig with quick, professional movements. She's used to wigs after all of the disguises she's worn.
Returning to the bathroom, she puts her wig up into a long set of twin tails, the black hair cascading down to the small of her back. She's thankful her parents are so supportive, thankful they're willing to put money into her transition.
Thankful they still love her. Some of her friends aren't so lucky.
The girl looks at her reflection properly for the first time, and a slow, at least partially sinister, but still happy smile covers her face.
She looks perfect.
She knew that with her sallow skin and wide, dark-circled eyes, she'd never look anything other than a ghost.
But now she's a pretty ghost at the very least. Euphoria bubbles inside her as she strikes some poses.
She wonders if she's going to get yelled at for her modified uniform. But then again, several students already flaunt the rules and honestly, it's Fuurinkan. No one cares.
The worst offender is Saotome, of course.
She grinds her teeth at thinking of that lothario. Dragging all of the women along behind him (though since that wedding he did seem to be gravitating to Akane more and more) and calling what she'd kill for the chance to have a curse!
She schools her expression and joins her family at the breakfast table. Her mother and father look at one another and then her.
"Is that uniform allowed, dear?" Her mother asks. She smiles her oddly sinister smile again.
"I don't think they'll care. I am looking forwards to the reactions to it though."
Her father puts a hand on her shoulder. "That's my girl. If anyone bullies you, I'll take care of it."
"That's okay, dad." She says. "No one really notices me anyway."
And it's true, she ponders, as she eats her breakfast and gathers her school bag, then slips her shoes on. No one ever seems to notice her, even with the weird occult things she does. She snickers to herself as she shuffles her way to school, humming the first few bars of a western song she'd heard on the radio that seemed appropriate.
Her prediction is shattered at the gates when she comes across Kunou Tatewaki standing there. "Halt, maiden! I have never seen thy face at these gates."
The girl stops, her heart hammering in her chest.
"Nay," Kunou continues, "I would certainly hath remembered a fair maiden of the magical persuasion. Mayhap I shall request a reading of love later from thee."
"A-ah… sure, Senpai. I will have things set up later…" She mumbles, relieved he won't do what their class had referred to as 'pulling a Tendou' on her. He nods and lets her pass.
"Then, be well, magical maiden. I shall seek you for a reading later for my quest for love."
She squeaks and moves past quickly after that. Eventually she reaches the door to her classroom and stops outside, hand on the handle, breath hitching, anxiety rising up in her. She swallows thickly and is about to try again when there's a small throat clearing noise behind her. She turns to see Hinako-sensei standing there.
"Are you new?" The child-size teacher asks. The girl freezes and plays with one of the twintails on her head.
"S-sort of." She mumbles. The teacher's eyes widen a moment and she peers, then she beams.
"Oh! Sort-of new! Well, how about we introducies you to the class as your new self huh?" Hinako-sensei beams at her and offers a tiny hand. When she takes it, the tiny teacher nods.
"None of them will laugh or hurt you in our classroom. I promise." She says, holding a coin up. "Not even that delinquent Saotome."
She swallows. "I-I don't think he'd bully me about this." She manages. Hinako-sensei looks thoughtful.
"You're right!" She exclaims, then slams the door open and half dragging the girl into the classroom. "OKIEDOKIE! We've got a lovely new-ish student in our classroom today! Why don't you let her introduce herself?!" The girl freezes up, standing in the curious stares of her class. Hinako nudges her. "Come on, don't worry."
She writes her name on the board, deliberately writing her given name in hiragana do differentiate it from her old name. 五寸釘ひかり.
A gasp runs through the room, rippling out as she bows. "H-hello. I'm…" She swallows nervously. "I-I'm Gosunkugi Hikari." She tries a smile, though it's as creepy as ever. Weirdly that seems to make everyone relax. "P-please take care of me."
Hinako-sensei looks over her class with satisfaction. "No delinquency or bullying in our class!" She says happily. "None! And I want you all to look out for our new girl, got it?"
A chorus of "Yes, Hinako-sensei!" rings out across the room.
Hikari looks out from under her wig's bangs, an unsure look on her face, and she sees her class properly for the first time since coming in. Most look at her, interested. Sayuri and Yuka are looking at her like they've suddenly gained fresh meat for some kind of task. A couple of the boys are blushing at her. A few nudge each other and she can hear a whispered conversation about 'goth gf' somewhere at the back that earns someone a ki draining.
Akane looks at her with that soft and friendly smile she loved before. Even Saotome, the lech, is looking at her curiously. As he seems to register his eyes widen and she's about to cringe when she sees them… soften? An understanding crosses his face and he gives her a grin, a thumbs-up and then starts clapping, nudging Akane to do the same. After a moment the whole class is applauding her, a few wolf-whistles coming her way.
Hikari's own smile becomes as blinding as her name.
She didn't think it would feel so good to step into the light as herself.