“I know what it’s like to feel…different” your nose crinkles at the words, not sure if they came out right. Shoji was one of the most wonderful human beings you’ve ever come across, yet here he was, reducing himself to less than nothing.

“Do you really?” His words sound slurred and weary. He was normally stronger than this. He’d dealt with beatings and far worse because of his appearance, so how did a few words, ‘your kind doesn’t deserve to be here’, destroy him. You chased after him the second he rushed out, and he’s grateful.

“Do you really…know what it feels like?”. He receives a solemn nod. Sure, you weren’t a hetoromorph. You were ridiculed for other things. Instead of having four arms it was because the size of your nose, maybe the tone of your skin, the texture of your hair, or the color of your eyes or because your lunch“smells funny” and looked different. Or maybe it was because you didn’t deserve to be there, just like him. Maybe you just couldn’t meet the standard in a sea of button noses, straight blond hair and blue eyes.

Despite that, you’ve learnt how to stand up for yourself and your people, how to embrace the features they see as flaws, how to move on and love yourself once more. Now, you’re hoping he will too.