Mayl, Yai and Dex still had a bit of trouble getting to talk to Dial during that morning. At each break between lessons, the other classmates would talk to her. Even though Dial was famous for her heroic achievements from the past, she never got as much attention as that morning. However, when recess arrived, everybody calmed down, the initial surprise and emotion turning milder. That was the moment when the original group of friends got together for the first time.

“Sorry! Everybody wanted to talk to me!”, apologized Dial a bit embarrassed to her friends. “They sure made a lot of questions, but they were nice!”.

While it happened before, Dial was not used to getting so much attention from everybody. In the past, those moments felt strange and uncomfortable, talking only about her heroic deeds and hearing so many ‘masculine’ comments. But that time, she was being her true self and people accepted that. And even she couldn’t talk to her friends until that moment, she knew it was no different with them. For the first time in a long time, she felt relaxed.

“Don’t worry, Dial”, said Yai to calm her down. “It’s normal everybody was excited. That’s why we wanted to give you some space. We are doing fine, right, Mayl?”.

Yai asked that question to her friend with a slightly teasing tone. Mayl, who was already a bit nervous before talking to Dial, caught the indirect, her face blushing even more.

“Y- yeah, sure! I am… I mean, we ALL are happy to see you again!”, exclaimed Mayl nervously, trying to correct herself. “And well, you… you look fantastic!”.

“You… you really think so?”, asked Dial embarrased.

This time, it was Dial who blushed at hearing Mayl’s words. Although she tried to hide it by lightly scratching her cheek, Yai could see how happy she was. She saw that during that morning: all the compliments and nice words from the other kids made Dial blush. In contrast, Yai could remember some instances when Dial was still Lan. Moments in which she was complimented by her ‘masculine’ appearance and how she always dismissed those comments. At one point, she could even hear Dial saying “I don’t get why this is good”. Back then, Yai didn’t give much relevance to that comment, but seeing Dial so happy that day, it was all clear then. After a while, Dial relaxed and looked back at Mayl.

“Listen, I… I wanted to thank you, Mayl”, said Dial, Mayl opening her eyes widely. “When I stopped saying all those things, I… I got really nervous. I didn’t know what you all were thinking. But seeing you clapping and smiling… You calmed me down. Actually, you made me really happy!”.

All Mayl wanted at that moment was throwing a desk on the floor and hiding behind it because of how embarrassed she was. In the end, in her mind, she didn’t do anything special. When Dial showed her true self and how happy she was, how wouldn’t she be happy for her friend? For a moment, Mayl couldn’t say a word, mumbling and stuttering while shaking her own hands.

“Of- of course I- I’d do that!”, exclaimed Mayl nervously. “I mean, you look so great and happy now! Sure I’m happy for you! You are my friend and… and I want to be there for you! I…”.

Realizing how close she was to confessing her feelings, Mayl blushed again and stopped talking, only the fidgeting with her hands and her right foot moving in circles being the signs of how embarrassed she was. Yai let a small giggle out. It was funny seeing how hard it was for Mayl to hide her feelings when, in the past, she was more unnoticeable. Trying not to raise suspicions around her, Yai added:

“Sure thing. You can count on all of us. If you need some fashion or trends advice, you can rely on my natural elegance. I’d say though… you are doing fine! I like that outfit!”.

“Thanks, Yai”, said Dial with a big smile. “I’m still trying different styles, but I wanted something casual for school. This feels so good!”.

Maybe other people wouldn’t understand it, but Dial was so looking forward to something like that. Having that kind of conversation with her friends, about the things she liked, clothing she actually enjoyed… It all felt so natural for her. It was like that when talking to other trans girls, but being with her friends felt so much better. However, Dial noticed something was missing, something rough and overbearing: Dex.

The big boy was right there, next to the three girls, but during all that time, he didn’t say anything at all. Instead, Dex remained silent, his mouth slightly open and his eyes lost into the void of nothingness, as if he was trying to understand a really hard math problem with no success.

“Hey, Dex!”, exclaimed Dial to catch Dex’s attention. “You’ve been silent all this time. Nothing you wanna say?”.

“Yeah, Dex. It is proper etiquette to praise a beautiful lady when you have one in front of you”, added Yai with teasing tone.

Now that Dial showed her feelings more openly, Yai found out how easy it was to tease her as well. The girl could only say “Come on!” while her face turned red. However, that situation didn’t cause the reaction Yai expected on Dex. The boy remained silent for a few seconds, but suddenly:

“Waaaaaaaaaah!”.

Out of nowhere, Dex began crying loudly, a stream of tears coming out like an open tap, accompanied by some little snort. The girls were in shock. Sure, it was not the first time they saw their friend crying, but it was quite unusual.

“Hey Dex, what’s wrong? Calm down and tell us”, asked Mayl with worried tone.

His crying was so loud it even echoed through the classroom, making some kids look around and wonder why Dex could be crying. Not that Mayl, Yai or Dial could actually answer that question. They were as dumbfounded as anybody else. Finally, in a moment when Dex needed to take some breath, he muttered:

“I… I didn’t want… it to be… like this…”

Those few words not only shocked the girls, but terrified them as well, especially Dial. Suddenly, her fears came back to her mind. Didn’t Dex accept her as a girl?

“Dex… don’t tell me… you…”, muttered Dial nervously.

During all that morning, she thought everything was fine. She even saw Dex clapping and cheering for her as well! Was he having second thoughts? After seeing Mayl and Yai giving her such a warm welcome, would Dex be against it?

Yai and Mayl could see it. Dial’s eyes showed how terrified she was. And then, a natural instinct surged in them: protecting her friend.

“Dex, you better watch out what you say because-!”, tried Yai to threaten Dex, but her words were interrupted by the boy.

“I didn’t want to be Den City’s best Netbattler like this!”.

Yai didn’t even finish her threat. In fact, nobody said anything else. Everybody’s face, including Dial’s, changed once again, showing confusion.

“Whaaaaaat?”, exclaimed the three girls in unison.

They tried to understand it. Really, they used all their brainpower. And still, they couldn’t understand why Dex would bring up Netbattling in that situation. However, Dex kept crying and wailing as if their reaction was meaningless. As if his words made all the sense in the world.

“Dex, what are you saying?”, asked Mayl with concern. “Nobody was talking about Netbattling!”.

“We are talking about Dial, remember? Dial, right here, in front of you!”, pointed out Yai, trying to bring Dex back to the conversation.

“That’s what I mean!”, exclaimed Dex, making even less sense than before.

Nothing about that conversation made sense anymore. In the meanwhile, Dial remained silent, observing the situation. Even though their friends didn’t know, she had learned a lot about emotions during that last month. And she knew Dex had a reason for reacting like this, whether it was a logical one or not. Instead of adding more nervousness to the situation, she took a deep breath and said with a gentle voice:

“Dex, why don’t you calm down and tell us what you mean?”.

It was so simple, but so effective. Seeing Dial so relaxed, Dex stopped crying progressively, only sobbing now and then. That action also had a positive impact on Mayl and Yai, who relaxed as well. In fact, they were a little surprised at seeing her friend handle that situation with ease. That sure was a new side they just found out from their friend. Finally, when Dex had somehow calmed down, he said:

“Well… now that you are a girl… it means…”, began saying Dex with some reluctance. “You’ll probably spend more time now with Mayl and Yai. You’ll talk about clothing and… whatever girls talk about. That means you won’t Netbattle anymore and… and… I wanted to defeat you! I wanted to be Den City’s best Netbattler after defeating you! That won’t happen now!”.

Dex was on the verge of tears again. It was hard for him to open up. For a moment, Dial understood that feeling. She knew very well how she felt the pressure of not expressing her feelings before. Not that she believed Dex would have such deep feelings, but there is always something in everybody’s heart. She wanted to say something comforting… but that didn’t happen.

Instead, the three girls looked at each other in silence, Dex’s words still present in their minds… And they began laughing uncontrollably. Once again, their friend made no sense at all, as if his words had no logic to begin with. However, Dex didn’t like his friends laughing like that.

“Hey, I’m… I’m being serious!”, complained Dex.

“We know, Dex, but…!”, said Mayl after her laughing got quieter, “you know we girls Netbattle too, right?”.

“Yeah, you fought Glide and Roll so many times, Dex!”, added Yai. “We even won sometimes!”.

Dex was about to complain again, but he turned speechless, his face turning pale as he realized the truth his friends had exposed. Yai mumbled “Yep, he actually forgot”, seeing it was just one more instance of Dex’s little understanding of the situation. On her hand, Dial was still giggling.

“You scared me there for a sec, Dex!”.

After saying that kindly, Dial stood up, approached Dex and grabbed him lightly by his arms, catching her friend’s attention.

“I said it before: I’m not a completely different person”, explained Dial with confidence. “I’m just… me. My true self. I’m expressing the ‘me’ that I’ve always been. Sure, I have new interests now like clothing, some movies and stories and playing different things. And I’m ditching away things I never enjoyed like soccer. And you’re right: I want to spend more time with Mayl and Yai to talk about things we share in common. Of course, if you two want as well”.

Saying that, Dial looked back at Mayl and Yai, who remained next to the desk. The two girls were ready to welcome her friend, but seeing Dial wishing to share more time with them and being closer to them make Mayl and Yai really happy. They didn’t say anything though, but there was no need. For Dial, seeing them smiling and nodding was enough proof. However, she still had something important to say to Dex.

“But you can be sure of one thing”, added Dial, removing her hands from Dex’s arms and reaching her waist to bring out her PET and show it to her friend. “I still love Netbattling! So you better forget about being Den City’s best Netbattler, because you gotta defeat Mega Man and me first!”.

Sure, her expressions were different. She wasn’t as snarky as before. But Dex could still see it in Dial’s eyes: her passion for Netbattling. The unwearying flame of fighting. Maybe they were not the best friends before, but for Dex, his rival was really important… and she was still right there in front of him. However, asking for Dex to keep showing his emotions would be too much. Instead, the boy turned around, dried his tears and laughed aloud arrogantly.

“In your dreams, Dial! Once I finish GutsMan’s new upgrade, we’ll be unstoppable! We’re gonna crush you two!”, bragged Dex with confidence.

Deep inside, Dex felt satisfied for keeping his close rival next to him, although he really believed he would defeat Dial one day. The three girls observed their friend. They sure were happy at seeing that Dex was still the same, although they expected a different reaction at Dial’s coming out. Quietly, Dial approached Mayl and Yai and murmured:

“I gotta ask… Was I THAT dumb before transitioning?”.

Mayl and Yai didn’t know what was more surprising: Dial finally understanding Dex’s low emotional intelligence or her questioning her own one. Still, it was a pleasant surprise.

“Nobody can be as dumb as Dex”, assured Yai. “But… you could be a bit clumsy and oblivious sometimes!”.

Dial felt a bit embarrassed at her old self, but still, she knew her friends meant well. While Dex was still laughing at his own arrogance, the three girls giggled together. Finally, after some months with doubts and mystery, Dial felt great at having her friends back in her life, but also for feeling closer with them than ever before.