Board Thread:Wiki Discussions/@comment-10733658-20161106155157/@comment-24.205.148.140-20161106175747

Kind of sad that the scanlations didn't reflect it, but when Mutsuki called themself a girl, it was in scare quotes in the raws (before netabare took it down). (I'm using "they" for the sake of neutrality for now.) Scare quotes are either used as air quotes or emphasis, so it could go either way.

However, I believe that Ishida / Mutsuki used the scare quotes as air quotes both because Mutsuki looked uncomfortable when he said that and because Mutsuki didn't immediately switch to "watashi / atashi (or even boku)" when he said that. Usually, when girls passing as men for social reasons finally reveal their true gender and selves, they drop the masculine speech and switch to a more neutral or feminine one. Mutsuki still talks the same way and doesn't change his speech mannerisms after coming out, even privately with Saiko, so I don't think he sees himself as a girl. In addition, due to differences in cultural acceptance and understanding of transgender people in Japan, trans men in the media will sometimes refer to themselves as girls while introducing themselves to an audience uninformed about transgender issues. So I think that Ishida having Mutsuki and Saiko refer to Mutsuki as a "girl" and then girl, could be Ishida's version of how a trans boy explains his situation to a non-trans female comrade in a way she would understand.