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There were some things that were better to keep quiet about at times. Things that no one ever needed to know about. However, Bamba took that a bit too far at times. He kept a lot more secrets than were needed. Especially around close friends.
Everyone was becoming increasingly aware of this fact. It took a lot of effort to learn such simple things about him. Even if everyone else had shared similar things with everyone, he still refused to answer most times.
The newest event in this area had taken his literal ex to tell them. Despite everyone else being open about their sexual preferences, no one had learned that one, Bamba was gay and two, that he had actually had a boyfriend at one point. It had taken his old boyfriend to bring that all to light.
...
"Nada, don't you think you're pestering Bamba too much?"
"Hmm? He doesn't care."
It was not long after they had all saved Nada from Gaisorg. They had gone to the house to relax after all of that. Nada had started getting all up in Bamba's space. Bamba was mostly ignoring him.
"Really?" Everyone knew Bamba to not deal with nonsense like this. It was surprising he hadn't given Nada a few words yet.
Bamba remained silent throughout the conversation. He didn't seem to have any interest in talking about what was going on here. That was also quite normal.
"He's used to his boyfriend getting in his face." Nada responded.
"Ex-boyfriend..." Bamba corrected quietly, seeming not pleased that the secret was out.
"Eh?!" Everyone was quite shocked at the news.
"Come on! We never really ended our relationship. Don't be so cold." Nada protested his response.
Bamba just stared at him. Nada rolled his eyes and faced everyone again.
"You guys..." No one seemed to know what to think of this relationship that had once been.
"Yep." Nada smiled.
"Did you know about this?" Melto leanedover and whispered in Towa's ear.
"I knew he had a boyfriend before but... not who it was." Towa replied.
...
The only person that knew more about Bamba was Towa. It was only natural that his little brother would pick up on some things others wouldn't. Bamba did tell him a bit more than he would ever disclose to anyone else. However, there was one thing he absolutely refused to let anyone know about.
He had tried to reason that at least Towa should know this secret, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything. It was arguably a trauma response to keep this one secret under heavy lock and key. He had been treated horribly by all that knew, so now he feared letting anyone in. Even his own little brother.
It wasn't that dire of a secret that needed to be told, but it was one that Bamba felt should be disclosed. They were all close friends. They deserved to know the truth. And yet, he had kept quiet about it for so long.
It all started coming undone one day. They had received a tip that there was a minosaur around the town. Off they went to go intercept it before it could cause too much damage.
"Ryusoul Change!"
They located the minosaur and wasted no time jumping in to fight it. The six Ryusoulgers fought as hard as they could.
"Lie... lie..." The minosaur chanted.
"Lie?" Asuna repeated. "What does that mean in this context?"
The minosaur fired a shot at them. Everyone managed to dodge it. No one wanted to find out what the minosaur might be able to do if it hit them with its power.
The battle was interrupted as someone stumbled toward them. At first, everyone was concerned that a civilian had been injured, but then they saw the rage in their eyes. And, saw that they were wearing clothes of the tribe. Just who was this?
"Who're you?!" Koh yelled at them.
The person ignored him and kept walking closer. They soon stood beside the minosaur.
"Did this person... make the minosaur?" Canalo whispered.
"Possibly." Melto replied.
Bamba's eyes widened as he realized who was standing there. He knew this person quite well. But not for good reasons at all. He was thankful he was transformed and no one could see the look on his face.
"Ryusoulgers!" The person address them all. "There is a liar amongst you."
"A liar? So this is a minosaur born from you." Koh stated.
"Listen to me!" They were not happy that no one was heading their words the way they wanted.
"I don't think you're telling the truth." Asuna shot back. "None of us are liars like that!"
The person locked on to Bamba with their gaze. "I'm amazed a fraud like you has made it this far. Too bad it won't last forever. You're going to pay and I'll expose you all at the same time."
"Trying to tear us apart by creating distrust?" Bamba did his best to act natural. "You haven't changed since back then."
"You know them, nii-san?" Towa questioned.
Bamba simply nodded. He didn't want to explain things right now. They were on the battlefield. Now was not the time to tell a story.
"I'll be back. And then it's all coming out."
The person and minosaur vanished into the town. Everyone undid their transformations and looked at each other.
"Let's head back. We have a lot to discuss it seems." Melto stated.
Everyone agreed and they began the wall back. It was a bit of a tense walk. There was obviously something going on and no one knew what to think of it.
It wasn't too long before they arrived back at the house. They all gathered around the table to discuss, Nada now joining them. For the time being, he was not to help them with any minosaurs. He still needed time to recover.
"So, who exactly was that?" Melto questioned.
"She... is a member of the tribe. Audrey. She tried to train to be a Ryusoulger but was rejected for her attitude." Bamba explained.
"Eh? You met that ass?" Nada also seemed to know who that was.
"Yeah. She actually created a minosaur from her negative emotions too." Asuna frowned. "So, why does she hate you?"
Bamba didn't reply right away. How was he meant to explain things. He didn't want to tell them the whole truth. Not yet.
"She got into a lot of fights with both Bamba and I. That's why she probably resents him so much. I believe it was because of a fight shw started between the two of them that got her banned from anymore training." Nada took to explaining at Bamba's silence.
"So, was she trying to become the black Ryusoulger?"
"I guess so."
"So... why did she call you a fraud? Because you got the role she wanted?"
"She's called you that even before you-"
Bamba gave Nada a hard glare, making him stop in his tracks. He didn't want this to be out there. If they could play it off as this being a new development, it would be easier.
"This isn't an isolated incident then."
Unfortunately, Nada had said enough that everyone knew the truth. That this wasn't a new occurrence. He had been dealing with her insulting him that way for years.
"It doesn't matter." Bamba stated harshly.
The fear of them finding out the truth was rising in him again. He didn't want them to know. Wasn't anywhere near ready to try and tell them.
"I think it does." Melto stated, "We need to know why she feels that way so we can solve this."
"We just need to defeat the minosaur. Ignore her. She just wants attention." Bamba stated.
Bamba had enough and walked out of the house. He needed air. He couldn't do this right now. He was starting to snap at them. He didn't want to be doing that. It would only make them more concerned if he kept getting defensive about this.
He decided to go take a walk for now. Clear his head a bit. Hopefully he wouldn't run into her while he was doing this. The last thing he wanted was to deal with her yelling at him again. He thought he had long escaped her but now she had found him again. Why couldn't he just get to live his life happily?
"Nii-san?"
Bamba paused in his step at the voice. Towa had come after him.
"What's going on?" Towa asked, "Why are you hiding from us? You haven't even told me whatever is going on."
"It's none of your concern." Bamba replied.
"But..."
"This isn't something you need to concern yourself with."
"But, nii-san!" Towa continued to complain.
A shot was fired at them. Both managed to dodge to the side in time to miss getting hit.
"You're back..." Bamba growled as he faced the attacker.
Audrey was back with her minosaur. She looked even more aggressive than earlier.
"The minosaur listens to her...?" Towa said quietly.
"Be on high alert." Bamba replied.
It was worrying that she was able to get the minosaur to do as she said. That wasn't how any of the other ones had acted. Was this minosaur more dangerous than the ones before it?
"So... have you told them the truth?" Audrey asked.
"I don't have to disclose anything I don't want to. Get lost."
"Hiding away? Because you know they'll hate you~" Audrey laughed.
Bamba didn't have a rebuttal because she was right. That was why he was hiding this.
"Nii-san?" Towa questioned.
Audrey took a few steps closer to them. "Don't you think it's about time you stop pretending to be a boy?"
Bamba went still. It was over. There was no way to continue keeping this secret. Not when someone was set on destroying him. At least... at least it was only Towa right now. But even still, what did he say to explain any of this?
"It's a shame only one person was here to hear that... but I'm sure this is the most exciting one to tell your little secret to." Audrey taunted, before she promptly left, the minosaur trailing behind her.
"Nii-san?" Towa sounded very confused by what had just happened.
Bamba was silent. He had no idea how to get out of this. No idea what to do at all. That wasn't like him. He always thought of something in the end and yet... he was at a loss for how to proceed.
He couldn't exactly get out of this completely. Towa knew enough to start trying to pry. There wasn't much he could do to convince him that was nothing.
"She's just saying things to mess with us..." Bamba tried to see if somehow pretending it was a lie would work, but he could immediately tell Towa wasn't buying it.
"What's going on, nii-san? Why does she hate you? What does she mean?" Towa questioned firmly. He wanted an answer.
"I... just forget what she said. It doesn't matter."
"Nii-san!" Towa wasn't giving up. "What is going on? Tell me! Please..."
Bamba turned away. He didn't know what to do. How could he explain any of this?
"Sometimes... people aren't born the way they feel inside." Was all Bamba said. He didn't want to have this conversation. Had been trying to avoid ever having this.
"What does that mean? You're not making any sense." Towa complained.
Bamba sighed. He really wasn't getting out of this without having to say a lot. Towa really wasn't letting this go. Then again, he hadn't met with many people so... he really didn't know much. A fault on his end.
"I... wasn't born as a boy. Everyone said I was a girl. But, I never felt like one, so eventually I was able to change how I looked to fit how I felt."
"Eh? But, I never..."
"This happened all before you were old enough to remember."
"Then why didn't you ever tell me?! Do you not trust me enough with this?" Towa yelled.
"I... I'm sorry." Bamba didn't know what else to say. He knew he should've told Towa a long time ago.
"Why...?"
"Because everyone that knew hated me."
"Eh? Everyone... hated you?"
"That's why Audrey hates me so much. Because I got to do so much and yet she thinks I shouldn't even be alive."
"Nii-san..."
"I'm sorry for keeping this from you, Towa. I just never knew how or what to say. I figured it didn't really matter."
"Do you... have to tell everyone else now?" Towa asked quietly.
Bamba finally turned back to face him. "I don't want to but... better it be me who tells them than her."
"Does Nada know?"
Bamba shook his head. "I kept it a secret even from him."
"He's gonna be mad too."
"You act like I should care."
"Just admit you two are getting back together. We can all see it."
"We can discuss that later. Let's go back. I owe them an apology for leaving like this." Bamba stated.
That whole thing was another can of worms he wasn't ready to open yet. One thing at a time. After they dealt with this disaster, maybe he would consider figuring out what was going on in that area of his life.
For now, Towa and him walked back to the house. Neither spoke as they walked. There wasn't much to say.
"Just so you know, I'm mad at you for never telling me." Towa huffed as they neared the house.
"I'm sorry."
"You're forgiven. But I'm still mad."
Bamba sighed at his antics. "Fine. Can I ask one thing before we go in?"
"What is it?" Towa asked.
"If... I don't say anything for a while, answer what they asked if you can. I may need a push to tell them some stuff."
"Okay! I'll make sure you can't keep hiding this from them." Towa promised.
With that, the two of them entered the house. This certainly wasn't the ideal situation for Bamba to have to admit something so personal like this, but he ahd no choice. Hopefully... for once he wouldn't be hated just for trying to be who he was.