What else could Hub say? Whenever he heard his human name, he knew Lan was serious about something. Not that Lan had been recently in the mood for funny things though. Without further questions, he transferred himself inside the homepage of Lan’s PC.

“Hey, Lan. What’s…”.

But Hub couldn’t say anything else. With the better camera installed in the PC, Mega could take a closer look at Lan. It took him a few seconds to recognize her, with her new hairstyle. But it wasn’t just that. A light pinkish tone highlighted her cheeks and her eyes trembled slightly. She was obviously nervous, but that was a side from his sibling that Hub had never seen before. He finally let out a brief “Woah”, making Lan more conscious about herself.

“W- what?”, asked Lan nervously.

“No, nothing!”, answered back Hub, just as nervous as Lan. “Just… you look cute”.

Hub didn’t think about that too much. It was just something easy to say, a truth that was just there. However, it meant much more for Lan, At first, she felt really happy, just like a few minutes before with her mother. However, realizing the situation, that happiness vanished, replaced with sadness. Even though she ignored him for so long, Hub was kind enough to call her ‘cute’. Deep inside, Lan felt she deserved some kind of scolding from her brother, like she didn’t deserve that kindness. She tried not to cry, but a few tears came down her face.

“I’m sorry, Hub”, apologized Lan.

It wasn’t the apology itself that surprised Hub, but seeing his sibling crying. He could remember her crying that day to their parents, but that felt like an isolated situation. But Lan was right there, crying her heart out. And she was… sorry?

“Wait, what do you mean?”, asked Hub nervously.

“I pushed you aside!”, exclaimed Lan. “You’re my brother. We used to talk a lot. But I just… stopped talking to you! I’m sorry”.

“Lan, it’s ok!”, said Hub to comfort Lan. “I mean, you felt really bad. Of course you didn’t want to talk to anybody, including me! You never pushed me away, I… I didn’t try enough to help”.

“How can you say that?”, asked Lan. “You tried to talk to me! You asked me how I was!”.

Lan was right. Hub could remember those moments, trying to talk to his sibling, always getting a negative answer. But there was no way Lan had the blame for that situation.

“No, it was my fault”, said Hub with sadness. “I never tried to understand. I knew you had a problem, but I always stepped back. You’re right: we used to talk, but about school, the Net, our… daily lives. But not about our feelings. I didn’t know how to handle that. I thought… No, I convinced myself I couldn’t help you at all. And when you talked to your therapist and said you wanted to be a girl… It sure was a surprise”.

Lan gasped in shock. She didn’t expect Hub to mention her identity as a trans girl.

“Wait, you… knew?”, asked Lan with broken voice.

Hub couldn’t help but giggle a bit. Lan surely had so many things in her head, she didn’t notice something so basic.

“I was right there, hanging on your waist. I heard everything”, said Hub with a mix of fun and shyness.

Lan wanted to laugh. How could she forget that? Hub was always by her side. She wanted to laugh, but she couldn’t. All she wanted was to ask one simple question, but she was scared. Would the answer be good or bad? She wanted to believe, if there was no problem with her parents, there shouldn’t be with Hub.

“And… are you ok with me… being a girl?”, asked Lan shyly.

Once again, Hub was surprised. But not at the question itself, even if he found it a bit redundant. It was Lan’s reaction that he found most surprising. Her eyes trembling while looking down, avoiding to look at him directly to his eyes (or more like looking at the camera). Her hands fidgeting nervously, naturally grabbing a lock of her hair and twirling it. Hub was seeing a new side of his sister, but it was so fitting. There were so many things he could say, but somehow, there was one that he felt Lan needed to hear.

“Lan, you don’t need my nor anybody’s permission to be yourself”, said Hub assertively.

Lan surely didn’t expect that answer. She wasn’t asking for permission, she just wanted to be accepted by her brother. Wasn’t that different?

“But… you’re my brother!”, complained Lan.

“And you are you”, answered Hub back. “You deserve to be yourself, no matter what others think”.

Even if she wanted to complain, Lan understood Hub meant well with his words. He wanted to offer her the freedom to be herself, without depending on others accepting her or not. She knew that. She talked about that with her therapist. But they were talking about two different things.

“I know that. It’s just… You’re important for me”, confessed Lan. “I want to have my brother in my life. I want us to be siblings, just like before”.

Lan smiled at Hub. It was a gentle smile that tried to hide her nervousness, although Hub could notice it because of the slight trembling of her lips. Even if she was expressing it in a new way, the Navi knew his sister cared as much about him as always.

“Don’t worry then. I’m more than happy of having a nice sister like you”, said Hub with a smile.

The happiness Lan felt at that moment made all her nervousness vanish in an instant, making her sigh in relief. She was so nervous at the idea of losing her brother after coming out to him, but there he was, accepting her. There was nothing else she could ask out of Hub than that.

“Thanks. You’re the best, Hub”, said Lan. “And thanks for saying I look cute. That made me happy”.

“Hey, you are cute. I wouldn’t say it if it weren’t true”, said Hub jokingly. “Next time, you can ask mom to arrange your hair in a different way. Braids look really nice. They are popular nowadays”.

“What?”, asked Lan surprised. “How do you know that?”.

How could Hub know about hair styles? Lan was still quite unfamiliar with all those things, she didn’t expect that kind of advice from her brother. Hub blushed a bit and scratched his helmet out of nervousness. Then, he took out a folder out from his pocket and displayed it next to him. There were a lot of links and files.

“Well, I wanted to help you, but… I didn’t know anything. So… whenever I was alone, I went into the Net and looked for pages about clothing, styling, accessories… You know, things you may need one day”, explained Hub nervously.

At first, Lan was speechless, her mouth open out of the shock. She couldn’t believe Hub had gone that far to help her. But slowly, the initial shock faded, turning into a nervous smile, trying to refrain herself from laughing. She could imagine Hub getting into those pages, talking to other girl Navis and asking them for advice about those things. But she wasn’t going to mock Hub. That was the kindest gesture her brother could do for her in that situation. The only thing she wanted to do at that moment was hugging her brother, even if it was impossible. Instead, she giggled and said:

“Wow, thanks! So… what did you find out?”.

For the first time in a long time, the two siblings talked naturally, just like they always did. But that time, it was about something new. Something that made Lan happy and Hub found somehow interesting. He wanted to know more about things that could help Lan be herself and, even if he didn’t want to admit it, seeing how deep and varied all those things could be was really exciting. He had never stopped to think about the different ways girls could express themselves and then found himself wanting to know more. They were so focused on their conversation that they didn’t notice Haruka eavesdropping through a very tiny gap of the door. She was so nervous about her children that she couldn’t help but spy them. However, it was evident all her worries were unfounded. She closed the door quietly and walked away, thinking to herself:

“Keep taking care of each other, my sweet children”.

Later that night, when Yuichiro came back home and they all had dinner together, including Hub, they could feel it. They couldn’t put it into words, but they finally felt once again like a full family. There was nothing holding them back from talking and sharing happy moments. That day, the Hikari family was united again and it was all thanks to some nail polish and butterfly hair clips.