Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-24187738-20180225155956/@comment-34850450-20180228144926

Hello, everyone. This is my first time doing something like this; I am sorry if I sound a bit too formal or awkward.

My best girl is Yohane and my Discord is togekiss#2290.

I have not had a pleasant past. I came out as transgender to my family when I was about sixteen and got kicked out of my house; I lived as a runaway for a few years which eventually sent me into a depressive spiral and got me put into the hospital for attempted suicide. I remember that very clearly because it was during the Nico score match event in the mobile game (she has an SR that looks like she's holding a water gun ready for a fight) and I was upset that I couldn't tier. My priorities were a bit skewed during that time, clearly, but my time in the hospital stands out to me especially because of my dedication to every u's event and how disappointed I was in myself. After I got out, I decided that 1. I was never going to do that again and 2. It was time to watch the original anime. I believe very firmly that this was a turning point in my life.

After u's ended, I was heartbroken. I understood that the voice actors needed to move on to other roles, and that the characters of u's also had to grow up and move on, but it hurt so much to see the ones that had become such an integral part of my life singing for the last time. I cried for days and refused to even think about Sunshine. When they started an Aqours event for the mobile game, I tiered in T1 and then fed the SRs to other units out of spite. I was extremely upset, but I found it rather useless to do anything past this; today, I am thankful that I didn't because I found Yohane.

Yohane struck a chord in me somewhere. Many times when I read her unit stories or find out some new piece of trivia I feel as though I am being called out. I have been called many things in my lifetime, not the least of which is "demon child" or "abomination" by my parents who seem determined to view me as some type of unworthy scum and something that does not belong in this world. But Yohane takes her bad luck and other people's comments and transforms it into her own persona; it is a type of facade she puts on for the world so that she won't be hurt or upset by things that most other people would. In one of her interviews, she says that any of her fans getting bad luck means that they must be a really dedicated follower of the fallen angel, Yohane. So it's silly, but I like to think that for all of my bad experiences, it must mean I'm something of a superfan, right? But even besides that, Yohane's personality about not letting these things get to her has inspired me to become more confident in my life about the things that matter to me. Today, I can speak up for myself and take action without worry for what others will say about me because of who I am as a person, and that means more to me than anything.

Thank you, Yohane.

I don't know so much if I'm doing this for the contest anymore. If my entry finds someone who really needed to read these words, then that's OK too.