Even before she returned to Japan after graduating from the University of Missouri, Kaede had been obsessed with the sailor fuku, the typical uniform worn by Japanese schoolgirls. Dressing like Sailor Moon would give her a superpower: the courage to live as a trans woman in her home country whose laws remained hostile to sexual minorities.

          One morning, Kaede spotted a girl in such a uniform waiting for a train on the subway platform.

          “What are you looking at?” the girl snapped, as she wrangled her hair into a ponytail.

          Kaede wanted to tell her that she’d only been studying the girl’s sailor fuku, imagining what it would be like to be swathed in the navy fabric.

          “I'm sorry,” Kaede apologized, looking down.

          “You pervert!” the girl mumbled before getting on a train.

          Kaede didn’t run after the girl; she didn’t want to frighten her. She never wanted to frighten anyone.

          To Kaede, the sailor fuku symbolized grace, beauty, and justice. She had wanted to be Usagi Tsukino, better known as Sailor Moon, since she was a preschooler in Kawasaki.

          Kaede had sat in the sandbox with a group of children playing with pails and shovels. She glanced at the sandcastle they had built together.

          “Who wants to be Usagi?” Maki asked, brushing away a few stray strands of hair with her free hand. Even though Maki had hardly acknowledged Kaede’s existence, Kaede had always admired her from afar.

          “Me?” Kaede raised her hand, nervous. She looked around, measuring others’ reactions.

          “You can’t be Usagi!” Maki exclaimed.

          “Why not, Maki?” Kaede asked, tilting her head.

          “Because you’re not a girl, you silly boy!”

          The other kids jeered, and Kaede fought hard to hold back tears. She kicked down the sandcastle and stormed away without turning back. Hot tears scorched her cheeks.

          As Kaede left the station—too ashamed to wait for the next train—she bit her lower lip and pondered Maki and her friends. She hadn’t kept in touch with any of them.