It was dark out now, and only a few buildings still had their lights on. These scattered lights provided little patches of clarity and safety for the trio on their journey to the abandoned Fukuda Street courthouse.

Most businesses in Japantown closed for the night around 7:00 p.m., which was a reflection of the closing time of most businesses in the metropolitan areas of Japan, and now it was just past 7:30 p.m. So the trio were quite lucky some Japantown business owners chose a more American approach to business hours, and stayed open ‘late’.

And that curfew was just one of many ways Japantown reflected the country­ it was modeled after. Like many major cities in Japan, Japantown was much more commercial than residential, filled with Asian-themed, Asian-run supermarkets, beauty salons, restaurants and at least one strip club that Ruse in particular knew of. This meant that most folks were there to work, while they had their homes outside of town.

There was, however, a small percentage of actual residents, the majority of which lived in the town’s sole gated neighborhood. Ruse did not live in that neighborhood, but she assumed that was where Breanna lived, since she hadn’t once seen her on the streets in the more bustling area of town where she herself lived. And Ruse’s side of town happened to be where all other Japantown residents lived in their tiny little dinky apartments, ones which usually shared at least one wall with some sort of retailer or restaurant.

It had only been around eight hours since Ruse had last departed from said apartment, but the pain of being homesick had begun to weigh on her. Her bed was there, and her phone charger, a change of clothes, her manga collection, her sewing machine, her only slightly spooky mannequin she modeled clothing on, her fridge full of fruity little snacks and drinks...all there waiting for her. She hoped they wouldn’t be apart for much longer.

With her longtime best friend Kevin to her right, and a thief girl named Astra—who Ruse hoped would be a fun new addition to their group—to her left, the three made their way down a dark sidewalk toward Fukuda Street. They were hoping to stay at the old abandoned courthouse on that street for a while, until this issue with Ruse’s ex Henry blew over. This was Astra’s idea; she was a quick thinker. Ruse liked that about her. She also liked how Astra offered to carry her bags. So chivalrous!

Of course, this act of kindness let Astra see what was in Ruse’s goodie bag from the convention. And she saw that Ruse had scored herself a lacy pink parasol, much like the one Princess Peach used in several of the Mario video games, from the Lulu Sparklefest booth. She opened the parasol and told Ruse to stay hidden under it, away from all the building and street intersection security cameras, so Henry couldn’t track her that way.

Every chance she got, Ruse was not-so-inconspicuously checking her thoughtful new friend out, from which she concluded that Astra seemed somewhat sporty. Or perhaps that was just the red and white baseball raglan she was wearing. The dirty and holey shirt was tucked in and spread taut across the thief’s long, flat, lanky torso. So, Astra was either naturally flat-chested, just as Ruse herself was, or she had her chest bound to achieve a straight up and down appearance. Either way, Ruse was totally digging the look, dirt and all. Astra was also tall for a girl, probably five inches taller than Ruse, who was the average height for a woman.

“Astra-san,” Ruse said to her, “tell me what happened that led to you tryna steal from Kevin’s shop.” She placed her free hand—the other one was grasped onto the parasol handle—on Astra’s arm to show how genuinely curious and interested she was. To her right, Kevin loudly sighed. He was really not having this.

“Well, my parents kicked me out when they found out I’m into girls,” Astra replied, looking down into Ruse’s big sparkly eyes as they walked. “I was supposed to graduate high school this year…”

Graduation had already commenced a few weeks prior, though, as it was now mid-June. That meant she must have missed the ceremony… Why’d they have to do her like that?

“But then…yeah…” A bitter look crossed Astra’s face. “I guess I just talk too much. I was probably a little too forward about it to some classmates, too. I can’t help it sometimes, man, I just get these urges to chat up girls and impress them and stuff. Those Japanese girls in their cute little uniforms and thigh-high socks and those volleyball shorts that are practically just underwear… I got rejected so many times…” She laughed, but it sounded as bitter as her facial expression. “Anyways…word got around. I thought doing really good in my extracurricular activities would like, offset it,” Astra said, most likely in regards to her parents’ unjustifiably bad reaction to her attraction to the same sex, “but it didn’t…and I did four years of track and baseball…four years down the drain.” She blew a raspberry in defeat.

So Astra was an athlete. This probably also meant she was strong and therefor a proper threat. This would help to calm Ruse’s mind. Now she felt she had two gallant protectors, one on either side, to keep her safe on this long walk in the dark.

“I even lettered in choir… I woulda graduated with a 4.0, too,” Astra said with a cracking of her knuckles. Then she concluded her backstory with a: “but nah…”

“That’s terrible!” Ruse exclaimed, wrapping her arm around Astra’s. She couldn’t imagine being kicked out and forced to miss her high school graduation due to some jerks who thought it was okay to out folks. And she would have probably turned to theft as well if it weren’t for her extremely lucky circumstances after moving to Japantown. She didn’t blame Astra even a little bit for what she did. “I get it, you were desperate. I was kicked out of my mom’s house for being gay too.” She wiped away an imaginary tear. Sure, that happened when she was in her twenties, but it was basically the same situation...

“Heh…” Astra gave a chuckle at Ruse’s ongoing antics. “I don’t know why my parents didn’t assume I’d be attracted to women, I thought that was normal for people who have a Y-chromosome.”

Kevin raised an eyebrow at this tidbit of information and peered at Astra from behind Ruse. “And you have a Y-chromosome?” he asked, addressing her directly for the first time. If she was being serious, her statement would sure explain to him her lack of tits.

“Yeah, I was born with Swyer syndrome, I’m intersex,” Astra replied matter-of-factually, ignoring Kevin’s accusatory stare. She swung her green backpack around to her side, showing off, amongst other buttons featuring the faces of Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, a particular yellow enamel pin with a purple ring in the center. The intersex pride flag. Ruse looked over the various pins in fascination.

“Well, Ruse isn’t into dudes!” Kevin proclaimed triumphantly. As if he got her. He didn’t have any idea of what Swyer syndrome was, but it sounded nefarious, and it was up to him to keep all other nefarious Y-chromosomes away from his bestie.

But Ruse found his attempt to protect her as insulting, and ended up scolding him for being so rude by glaring at him from over her shoulder.

Astra chuckled once again as the three strolled under the light of a sidewalk lamppost. She slipped her backpack back around so it hung behind her, and let her long blonde ponytail fan out over it. “I’m not a ‘dude’. I was assigned female at birth. I have a vagina. I identify as female. And a lesbian.” She waggled her eyebrows at Ruse at the last part, showing she had clearly received all Ruse’s funny little signals.