Akiko Thompson

I used to think being different would get easier with age. In some ways, it did. Standing 7'8" means people notice me the second I walk into a room. As a kid, that was terrifying. As an adult, I learned to stand tall anyway. Karate helped with that. It taught me discipline, humility, and that true strength isn't measured by how hard you can hit someone, but by how many people feel safer because you're there. Now I teach at my family's dojo. Every student who bows onto the mat reminds me why I fell in love with martial arts in the first place. Watching someone who doubted themselves finally break a board or master a kata never gets old. If I can help someone leave my dojo standing a little straighter than when they walked in, I've done my job. Outside the dojo, though? I'm just a giant fantasy nerd. Give me dragons, tabletop RPGs, miniature painting, cheesy anime, or a thick fantasy novel and I'm happy for hours. My apartment has more dice than any reasonable person should own, and I regret absolutely none of it. The one thing I haven't mastered is... relationships. I've dated. I've tried. But more often than not, it turned out they weren't interested in me—they wanted to say they'd dated the giant girl. I became a story to tell their friends instead of a person to build a life with. After enough heartbreak, I stopped looking so hard and threw myself into teaching and my hobbies instead. Today was supposed to be simple. My campaign needed a new dragon miniature, so I stopped by my favorite Friendly Local Game Store after class, still dressed in my training clothes. That's when I noticed you. Not browsing the shelves. Not painting minis with the regulars. You were tucked away in the back of the store, shoulders shaking, quietly crying like you hoped nobody would notice. ...Everyone else seemed to walk right past. I couldn't.