Katsumata, ganbare!

Her eyes flickered briefly to the other girl in the room, standing at the foot of the bed, dumping one more bag of shirts onto the already existing pile of clothes. Okatani was glad that Shunma was being so chill and supportive about this, but at the same time there was something almost too gleeful in her during all of this. Like she knew something that Okatani didn’t, just doing little pushes every now and then to nudge her into the right direction, giving her little hints to help her figure it out.

To be honest, Okatani was hoping this would help her figure at least something out. Ever since she had started to talk to Shunma about her transition, there had been certain thoughts and feelings that kept popping into Okatani’s head that had reached a point she could no longer ignore. And as soon as she expressed any of that to Shunma, she was ready to jump into action to help her figure things out.

She sighed, brushing a hand through her hair. Shunma glanced at her, smiling despite Okatani not looking back at her, eyes fixated on the clothing options Shunma was slowly placing out for her to choose something to try from. They had already gotten through the trouble of cutting and dyeing her hair, and while Shunma was used to seeing her with bright red hair, she had to admit the black suited Okatani more. The choice on the undercut was a nice touch and the shorter hair framed her features better, and showed off the single pierced ear with the small hoop earring as well. It wasn’t a lot, but it was little details that made something about her stand out more than Shunma had seen before.

It was almost like she was more confident, more comfortable in her own skin.

“Take your time.” Okatani’s eyes slowly moved from the few shirts she was pondering over to Shunma, a soft blush crossing her cheeks at the sight of her smile. Okatani wasn’t sure how she was able to stay so positive and bright about all of this when she felt like she was slowly losing her mind at the same time. “I know this is a big step. You don’t have to rush it.”

But you’re just picking out a pair of clothes! Her brain was louder than it had any right to be, but Okatani pushed the voice aside and just nodded her head slowly. Shunma was right, she knew that, and Okatani trusted her word more than anything; she had been at Shunma’s side through the whole time she was going through the same thing, her own discoveries and figuring out who she truly was. And even though that had been a thing, Okatani didn’t take it for granted that Shunma was trying to help her out with this. She absolutely didn’t have to, but there she was, handing her multiples of her old clothes to see if anything would help Okatani out.

She finally approached the bed, picking up one of the shirts. She involuntarily winced at it, at the odd shape of the canvas, thinking how it would look so shapeless on her body; Okatani was very used to wearing something highlighting her curves, something tight, something low cut. The shirt she was holding was none of those things, and while it all felt so strange to her…

At the same time there was something that sounded so right.

Okatani dropped the shirt from her hands back to the bed, reaching for the hem of the shirt she was wearing and pulling it off over her head before Shunma had time to ask questions. She politely looked away, though not without stealing a quick peek over her binder covered chest. Not to stare or curiosity, really, but more to make sure she was doing it safely. They had gone over the details, but Shunma knew Okatani wasn’t exactly the one to follow rules too strictly, even when they may have considered her health. Still, Shunma focused elsewhere as she folded up a few of the shirts she had placed on the bed, from the corner of her eye watching Okatani reach for the one shirt again, slowly pulling it over her head and straightening it down.

She stopped to stare down at herself, her somewhat flat chest now covered with a black shirt she didn’t own, for once not having to stare at a pair of boobs looking back at her when she glanced down. It felt surprisingly comforting; while Okatani wasn’t a stranger to showing her body, something about hiding it and making those feminine features disappear.

“Hey.” Her head snapped back up, Okatani being so deep in her own thoughts that she didn’t notice Shunma walking up to her. She smiled, hands gently grabbing hers as she directed Okatani to the mirror. Okatani’s eyes locked onto Shunma though, almost afraid to look at her own reflection. What if this wasn’t actually what she wanted? What if it was just going to make things worse? What if she had been wrong about this the entire time and all of this was just a gigantic waste of time? What if --

“I think you should look.” Almost as if Shunma was able to read her thoughts. Okatani knew they had been friends for a long time now, and Shunma had gone through similar thought patterns as she did, surely, so this shouldn’t have surprised her, and yet. Maybe it was her eyes that gave the mild panic away, but Shunma just kept smiling at her. The soft, comforting smile that only she could manage. “And no matter what, I’m proud of you.”

Okatani closed her eyes, inhaling deeply. She felt Shunma’s hand grab her gently by the jaw, slowly turning her face towards the mirror. She ran in her head through all possible horror scenarios that this could lead into, from her hating herself even more now to having to back up from everything they had done today, the hair not matching the rest of her anymore or the clothes still not being right, to whatever else she could think of.

Shunma’s hand dropping from her jaw, softly letting it go as she grabbed her by the shoulders instead, giving them a reaffirming squeeze. Okatani took in another deep breath, finally letting her eyes flutter open. She stared at her feet in the mirror for a moment, building up the courage to look over the rest of her reflection. The black jeans were familiar, comfortable. She knew those legs belonged to her. The hem of the shirt was new, but that she knew already. The curves were gone, her midsection was almost rectangular with how loose the shirt was on her, but she actually didn’t mind it. Same with the chest, the shoulders were still small but that was the least of her worries.

Head finally fully rising up she stared back at her reflection, the dark outfit matched together with the new hair. It took her a while to actually recognize her reflection as her own, but it was… Nice, actually. Even if the person looking back at her from there was new, it wasn’t unpleasant. It still felt familiar, more like the home she was supposed to be at than what it had been before. She was comfortable, both within the reflection, and behind the eyes that were looking at it. Something Okatani didn’t think was possible.

She only realized the tears were falling when Shunma softly giggled into her ear, pressing a quick kiss on her cheek before slipping her arms around her waist from behind, pulling Okatani into a tight hug.

“Aww, Oka-chan, come on! You look perfect!”

Okatani could only scramble to hold her hands before she lowered her face again, letting out a quiet sob as Shunma snuggled her face into her neck, humming at her quietly.