What we can definitely say for certain is that Nekomiya is femme-presenting. Enough that it's everyday at school. Not as much a hobby as general gender presentation. Regardless, they're "josou" (女装), whether that means just a normal girl wearing feminine clothing or a crossdressing guy.
What's rather clear is that from the backstory panels, it seems like Nekomiya is generally a loner (by choice or ostracization, who knows). That could hint at the fact there's something different about them than the rest of everyone. Whenever everyone else is talking and socializing during class break, Nekomiya is
Interestingly enough, to further add to the mystery, I checked the raws, and Nekomiya uses the pronoun "boku" (ボク) but never the more masculine-aligned kanji (僕). (Some girls, often tomboys, do use boku from time-to-time, after all.)
For people aware of Japanese culture reading this, they're also playing with a lot of different aspects which add to the Mystery:
- Nekomiya is shown multiple times and multiple ages in PE. PE is often gender-segregated in Japan, but sometimes not, and Nekomiya is always set to the side like an observer.
- Regarding seating arrangements, it is very common to be gender segregated in classrooms, but some schools do offer more progressive seating. Since Nekomiya's seat is between our protagonist and some other boys, it would hint they are amab if the seating arrangement is girls-in-front, boys-in-back.
- Nekomiya's name (猫宮) translates to "Cat Princess/Princess/Royalty" depending on reading. However "miya" (宮) can also refer to an ancient punishment which, for amabs, is castration. Regardless, for the Japanese queer community, being a cat (neko / 猫) is also slang for being a bottom, but also has connotations of sadism as well, which we can see hinted at as they toy(?) with the protagonist.
The Pixiv sauce is tagged by the artist with "Schrodinger's Panties" as well, which is a double-meaning. It applies to the story obviously, but it also is used for images in which the artist teases you, but doesn't let you see the panties, as we see in the last page.
The author says there's not going to be a sequel to this because they want to leave everything to our imaginations, as the story is basically perfect for what they set out to make.
Regardless, as a trans woman I am completely fine with this one-shot. While it falls into the same pitfalls of gender essentialism and stuff like most media does, the conclusion is kinda the important part. That regardless of what they have under the skirt, friendship and romance are possible. That connection transcends gender, if you will. I will personally interpret this character as a trans girl for my own headcanon, but, true to name, Nekomiya's character exists in superposition of gender.
I will point out, however, that I think Nekomiya has wanted to be friends with him for a long time. He's the only one who noticed them really, always on the sidelines, not behaving like everyone else. I think they sensed he was capable of transcending society's boundaries to establish a connection, and that in itself is beautiful.
Anyway, I've written way too much for this one-shot~
last edited at May 31, 2019 11:21AM
