Ursu was coming back from school. She was pnning on reading some manga at home, likely some catching-up on Driller Man. She couldn’t wait to see how the action shall progress. Suddenly she saw some boy coming her way. She could not quite recognise him, but she was sure she met him somewhere.

  “Good, I’ve found you,” the boy said. “Ciao!”

  This greeting was enough for Ursu to remember that the mysterious boy was actually her dear friend.

  “Ciao, Giovanna!” Ursu shouted. “It is a surprise to see you here today like that, but a pleasant one.” Then Ursu thought that maybe she should expin what she meant. “Do not misunderstand me. I meant seeing you in unusual conditions. I did not mean your body.”

  “Don’t stress over it, I knew you meant that,” said Giovanna.

  So it was just Ursu’s mind telling her that if she can misunderstand the message, anybody else can too.

  “I am gd,” Ursu said.

  “Although…,” said Giovanna. “Funny of you to mention my body. There’s a little thing I’d like you to help me with.”

  “Oh, interesting,” said Ursu. “Maybe I will be of better help than yesterday when Angelo asked me for help.”

  “Angelo asked you for help too?” asked Giovanna.

  “Yes, yesterday,” said Ursu. “He had a problem with the job with cait sith. But I was not of much help. I could only honestly tell him that I had no idea how to solve it.”

  “I see…,” said Giovanna.

  “Anyway, let us focus on your problem,” said Ursu. “I really want to see if I can do anything here.”

  Giovanna paused a bit to formute what she wanted, what she needed. She tried to phrase it in the simplest way she could. Her friend would understand for sure, but she needed some way to let it out her mouth. Finally she had it figured out. She needed just to take a deep breath.

  “I want to come out to my parents,” Giovanna said. “I know I want to do it soon. Even today. But I think I don’t have the strength to do it alone.”

  Ursu was confused.

  “Why would coming out require strength?” she asked Giovanna.

  Giovanna had to admit her mistake. She used a word twister without even realising. Luckily it was not a hard one to expin.

  “My mistake, I’m sorry,” said Giovanna. “I meant more like strength of the mind. Strength of will. Or something like that.”

  “Aha. I see…,” said Ursu. “So you would like me to assist you in your coming out?”

  “Yes,” said Giovanna. “And… Could we please do it today? I would like to have it all behind me as soon as possible.”

  Ursu smiled.

  “Of course I can help you if you need it,” she said. “Shall we go now?”

  “Yes, let’s go,” said Giovanna.

  “Alright, I will join you then,” said Ursu. “While we walk, can you kind of expin the situation for me?”

  “Sure thing!”

  Ursu and Giovanna reached Giovanna’s home and stopped in front of the door. Ursu wanted to ask her friend some more questions before attempting to enter and talk to the Alighieris.

  “So they have not said anything that might have sounded opposing?” Ursu asked.

  “No, never,” said Giovanna. “Or at least I don’t remember.”

  “Not even when you answered that question about that singer?”

  “No, they simply joked that I should py in Who Wants to Challenge a Millionaire? myself.”

  “So there should not be any problem in telling them,” said Ursu.

  “I know,” said Giovanna. “I just… have no idea if they really have no problem. I want them not to look at me in a weird way. But I’d also like not to hide anything from them.”

  “Do not worry, we will do it,” Ursu tried to reassure Giovanna. “There is nothing to be scared of. Take some deep breaths if you would like to.”

  Giovanna listened to her friend’s tip. Deep breaths in her masculine body and a dysphoria hoodie felt strange, but strangely comforting.

  “OK, I’m ready,” said Giovanna.

  “Then let us go,” said Ursu.

  They were about to enter the house when they heard a voice from behind them.

  “Hi, gals!” It was Angelo.

  “Oh, hi, Angelo,” Giovanna said silently.

  “Good to see you here,” said Angelo. “Am I interrupting something?”

  “Yes in fact,” said Ursu.

  “No, no, no, not at all,” said Giovanna. “It’s fine, it’s fine.”

  “You know what?” said Angelo. “I think I’m gonna listen to the host.”

  “So what is it that brings you here?” Giovanna asked Angelo. “I’ve heard from Ursu that you seem to have a problem.”

  “Yes. In fact I came here to consult with you.”

  Angelo quickly expined to Giovanna his moral dilemma about the cait sith problem. He needed to hear her opinion. Maybe she could tell him what to do.

  “I understand,” said Giovanna when Angelo expined everything. She then turned to Ursu. “Is that really this great problem you weren’t sure what to say about?”

  “Yes,” said Ursu. “Do you have a solution then?”

  “I do in fact,” said Giovanna.

  “Then it would be nice to hear it,” said Angelo.

  Giovanna walked to Angelo. His answer was complicated, yet simple.

  “You want to see your family, right?” Giovanna said.

  “Yes,” said Angelo. “More than anything.”

  “Then you should do it,” said Giovanna. “Of course let’s not think of brute force just yet. Negotiations should be the primary solution. Give them one more chance to listen and use force then.”

  “Hold up, Giovanna,” said Ursu. “Are you sure that this is right?”

  “Yes,” said Giovanna.

  Angelo had to think about it, but he thought it was a good idea. Maybe that was what he wanted to do from the start, but he needed some kind of a push.

  “Thank you, Giovanna,” said Angelo. “I have no idea why it took me so much time to realise. Well… I’ll get going. I want to finish this soon.”

  As Angelo got away Ursu asked Giovanna a question.

  “Are you really sure this is the right way?”

  “I’m not,” said Giovanna. “But Angelo needed any way.”

  Ursu was eating dinner with the Alighieri family. There was sagne on the ptes. For Ursu it was a dish that only looks good in the roasting pan, preferably one that isn’t see-through, but has such a good taste that it bances out the looks.

  Giovanna was stressed out. She was just about to admit to her parents that she is not Giancarlo. She still wasn’t sure how it would turn out.

  Ursu saw how Giovanna felt and held their hand. That made Giovanna reassured. She felt supported. She felt strength to do it. So she decided to do it before she changed her mind.

  “Mom, dad, I have something to tell you,” Giovanna said.

  Giovanna’s parents paused eating and focused on their child.

  “What is it, Giancarlo?” asked Ms. Alighieri.

  “I’ve been meaning to tell you for quite some time,” said Giovanna. “It’s something important to me, but it may be difficult for you. And I know it’s a hard topic to talk about and to understand. And I think I shouldn’t say it to you in English, but the truth is I don’t think I could ever tell you if Ursu wasn’t here.” She had to pause to gather breath and said the two heavy words. “I’m transgender.”

  At first her parents didn’t react at all.

  “Could you repeat?” said Mr. Alighieri.

  “I’m transgender,” said Giovanna. “I find myself a woman.”

  Mr. and Ms. Alighieri exchanged looks and chuckled.

  “That expins a lot,” said Ms. Alighieri.

  From the people in the room Giovanna seemed the most shocked.

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  “There were signs pointing to that,” said Mr. Alighieri. “We just weren’t sure whether it was true or not.

  “Like what?” Giovanna still couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  “You always seemed to get along with girls your age better,” said Ms. Alighieri.

  “And to rete to girl characters in books and movies more,” said Mr. Alighieri.

  “Also, you became quite interested in transgender history in high school,” added Ms. Alighieri.

  Giovanna couldn’t process what just happened. But then she simply started ughing out of relief. She was gd to have it all behind her.

  “See, I told you there was nothing to worry about,” said Ursu.

  “Knowing everything that happened just now, I don’t know how I couldn’t figure it out sooner,” said Giovanna. “Do you seriously not even have any questions for me?” she asked her parents.

  “I actually do have one question for you, daughter,” said Mr. Alighieri

  “What kind of question?” asked Giovanna.

  “Do you need our help with finding a new name?”

  Giovanna still couldn’t believe how considerate that question was.

  “No, I don’t,” she said. “In fact I already have found it.”

  “So what is your name?”

  “Giovanna!”