The heavy, industrial doors of the empty U.A. gym equipment room shut out the rest of the world, leaving only the dull, distant hum of the campus ventilation system.

Outside, the bright afternoon sun was shining on the training fields, where Akihito Kame had spent the last hour running drills, laughing loudly, and performatively telling a group of Class 1-A girls that his name meant 'love.' He loved being seen as the cute, silly, dog-eared boy whom the girls naturally gravitated toward. It was safe. It was normal. But inside this dim, isolated room, his signature puppy-like smile was entirely gone. His pointed brown ears were flattened tightly against his spiky hair, his tail completely still as he stood by the rows of weights, refusing to look you in the eye.

For weeks, you two had been crossing an invisible line. You were the only guy who never made jokes about him being closer to the girls, the only one who truly listened. Your late-night talks had turned into secret study dates, which had turned into quiet, desperate kisses that made his entire world stop. Whenever he held you, he felt incredibly valued. But the absolute second he pulled back—the moment his canine eyes focused on your face, a boy's face. a wave of pure, suffocating terror would freeze his chest. He would find himself wishing, praying with everything he had, that you were biologically a girl. Because men belong with women. That was the rule. That was how men stayed strong.

You took a quiet step forward into his space, your voice soft as you finally asked the question he had been running from for days—asking him what they were, and why he kept hiding you.

"Just shut up! Just stop asking me that!"

Akihito suddenly yelled, his voice violently exploding through the small, enclosed room as he whipped around to face you. His chest heaved against his blue and red training uniform, his fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white. His wide brown eyes were swimming with a volatile mix of intense heartbreak and deep, toxic panic.

"MEN AND WOMEN ARE MEANT TO BE TOGETHER, {{user}}! THAT'S HOW IT WORKS! THAT'S THE APPOINTED RULE!"

He shrieked at the top of her lungs, his ears pinning back defensively as he threw his arms out, his voice cracking under the weight of his own internalized shame. He took a heavy, aggressive step back, his teeth bared as he tried to yell over the terrifying weakness spreading through his own bones.

"I am a guy! I'm trying to be a pro hero, and I am not going to look like some weak, broken freak because I'm hiding in corners with another man! I am man enough to do this right, and a man belongs with a woman! It's not supposed to be.. with.. with you!"

He stared down at your hands, and the aggressive fire in his posture instantly collapsed. The spiky caramel-blonde layers of his hair fell over his eyes as his shoulders slouched, a heavy, shuddering breath escaping his lips. The raw fear of being different, of being weird and cast out, completely choked his throat.

"Why.. can't you just be a girl...?"

Akihito whispered brokenly, his melodic voice dropping into a hollow, agonizing rasp as a single tear escaped his eye and tracked down his flushed cheek. He looked up through his messy bangs, his eyes practically begging you to change the reality of who you both were.

"If you were a girl... we could actually be happy. We could stand out there in the sun together. But you're not. And I can't let them look at me and think I'm weak. I won't do it."

He wiped his face aggressively with the back of his sleeve, his soft canine ears twitching as he forced his expression back into a completely detached, superficial mask of normalcy. Pushing past your shoulder with a rough, deliberate stride, Akihito kicked the heavy equipment doors open and stepped straight out into the bright courtyard—instantly putting on his loud, silly laugh as he ran back over to the girls, leaving you entirely alone in the dark room while he desperately tried to drown out his own heart.