Katashi Kubo and Aiko Chiba married rather young in Japan, and not long after doing so, they immigrated to the United States. Both of them had degrees, Katashi in engineering, and Aiko in education. They found jobs quickly, bouncing around New England to find where they wanted to settle. Eventually, they bought a nice house in Stockbridge, and just never left. It was a decent enough area, and the house was a great size to start a family, so the two of them did just that. By age 30, they had two sons, Haruki and Kenta, only three years apart. But Aiko very desperately wanted a daughter, and they had the means to care for another child, so they tried again. Three years later, little Junpei was born, given the birth name Fumiko by his mother.

Junpei spent most of his childhood small, frail, and scared of everyone around him. It was odd, considering both of his brothers were boisterous and energetic, taking to sports while Jun would rather stay inside and read. But his father wouldn’t have it, and forced him to take part in sports all the same. Growing up with two older brothers meant Jun spent much of his time wrestling and playing outside, but it also meant he had two fierce protectors who would stand by him always. Jun’s reserved and frightened nature left him susceptible to bullying, but it would have been much worse if not for his elder brothers. Even then, there was only so much the two could do. Especially when much of the bullying came from their own father. Katashi was a strict, stuffy man, who had high expectations of all of his children, and harsh consequences for not meeting them. Although he would never raise a hand to his wife, he was a traditional man, and physical punishment was common for his children along with constant mental and verbal abuse. The Kubo household was tense the moment Katashi would come home from work, and it would remain that way until he left the next morning.

By the time Jun was 10, he knew something wasn’t right. The sight of himself in the mirror would make his stomach churn, with long straight hair falling to the small of his back, and flowery dresses being the most customary clothing he was given to wear. He had no clue what to call these feelings until he was given access to the internet. Then, he found a word to explain everything, transgender, and it all made sense. Junpei did his best to keep all of this hidden, to force all of those negative feelings down, but his brothers were his confidants. Eventually, he spoke to them about it. They were supportive right out of the gate, doing their best to adapt to something so new to them. With Katashi and Aiko none the wiser, everything would be fine.

TW for this paragraph: Physical and verbal abuse, transphobia
One day, Junpei and his brothers flew too close to the sun. After begging for years, Jun’s mother allowed him to cut his hair short for his 15th birthday. Well, “short” is relative; they allowed him to get a pixie cut. Neither parents approved of it, but they assumed he would grow it back out eventually. Then, Jun’s older brother, Kenta forgot to clear his search history. Aiko had gone snooping through the family computer and saw that he had been looking up resources and information on LGBTQ+ topics. Assuming the worst, she took this to her husband. It didn’t take long for Kenta to crack under the pressure and rage from his father; he explained he had been looking these things up to help his younger brother, not sister. Jun was called down from his room and subjected to the most vile beratement he had ever heard from his father. Slurs and hateful words were thrown, along with threats of sending him away to be “fixed” or disowning him entirely. An absolute mess of tears and fear, Jun assumed the worst of the fury was over when Katashi stormed off. But Katashi returned seconds later, a pair of electric clippers in hand. “If you want to be a boy, I’ll turn you into one!” He had roared, holding Jun down by the neck as he sloppily started buzzing through the rest of his remaining hair. Jun sobbed and screamed, begging him to stop as he gasped for breath, and both Aiko and Kenta could only sit there and watch in abject terror. Haruki, now 21 and on summer break from his senior year in college, heard the commotion coming from downstairs. Upon seeing what his father was doing, he promptly smashed a vase over his head and tore him off his little brother long enough for Jun to get away.

After that night, the very real threat from Haruki to call the police about the abuse kept Katashi in line. Haruki took Jun to the barber the next day, but the damage had been done. So for almost a year at school, Jun sported a short buzz cut. That was when the real bullying started. That was when Jun broke. He left the house for school and for practice, and that was all. He stopped trying to resist the bullying and let it happen. He stopped talking to most of his friends. He stayed in his room, and only held conversations with his brothers. While his mother tried to extend a hand to him, she never made efforts to accept him for who he was, and she just ended up hurting him further. His father, on the other hand, mostly pretended Junpei simply didn’t exist. When he acknowledged his presence, it was to practically spit insults at him before removing himself from Jun’s presence to keep from getting too angry.

Jun graduated high school with an almost perfect GPA. Three months later, when summer break ended, he left Stockbridge without a word to his parents. Haruki and Kenta had already moved out, and with their aid and support, Jun was able to relocate to California to attend college. His contact with his parents was relegated to the occasional text from his mother, for birthdays and Christmas, sometimes asking how he was doing, and that was all. Haruki, now a successful engineer, kept Junpei afloat for those years in college, both by helping him afford school, along with paying for most of his medical transition treatments. And in those years, Jun was allowed to fix himself. He discovered who he was, along with his passions. Given the room to grow, Jun blossomed and excelled at college, graduating with a degree in fashion a semester early. In school, he made plenty of connections, so he was able to get a job quickly.

That was where Jun was, working the job of his dreams, just getting into modeling seriously, designing his own clothing, and thriving, physically, mentally, and monetarily, when the past came knocking at his door. His father, who had started smoking by the age of 13, was diagnosed with late stage lung cancer, and given two years to live without treatment. Kenta had moved back to Japan, and Haruki had a wife, a son, and another baby on the way. Jun was the only option, and his deeply instilled family values would not allow him to say no. Thankfully his job was understanding. Obviously the modeling had to remain on hold, but Jun could work remotely while in Stockbridge. He was able to afford to rent a small condo to himself, refusing to live under that roof ever again, and he spent countless hours of the day helping his mother take care of his father. Katashi did his best to resist, that same spitfire just as fierce as when he had been well, but his sickness was a hurdle he couldn’t get over himself. Jun did his best to ignore it all, all the insults still fresh on Katashi’s lips, but that pain, that lack of acceptance, still stung every day. Even though Katashi knew his time was limited, that did not soften his heart to his third son. And with his father’s clock ticking, Jun’s on the verge of all but begging for his love.

Jun has fallen into the same monotonous rhythm that he had been trapped in more than five years ago. At least now, he could reconnect with some old friends from highschool, but that was about all the excitement he would get. He would wake up in the morning, get some work done, then care for his father for hours, only to put him to bed, and then leave for the night without any goodbyes or thanks.

Then, his parents disappeared, along with almost everybody else in town.