Shuji
Kiritani Shuji was an ordinary boy. Happy, friendly and always helping his friends when they needed aid. He had a strong will and lots of ideas and visions for his future. But of course, like every human, he had a weak point, too. His was the other peoples views. He gave far too much credit to what other people where thinking of him and was always bending to their will and wishes. He learned how to put on an obedient mask and attitude at a very early age so that he wouldn't disappoint his parents and his little baby brother.
But of course he had an opinion of his own, too. He just didn't show it on the outside. Always swimming with the flow. Deep down he was afraid of losing his friends should they discover that he wasn't that kind of person they all believed him to be. He wasn't as self-confident as he made them believe he was. He always had doubts about what he had to do, what he should say, what was the right thing to do. But of course...being Kiritani Shuji he never showed any of these emotions on his face. He was always collected and knew just what to do should there be problems or misunderstandings. He had another side, too. At home he was a completely different person. Always laughing, doing funny things, telling stupid stories and he was even cooking for his family. His father was working all day long and his mother was overseas doing whatever she was doing at the moment. He never could tell in which country she was running around. Therefore he was taking over nearly all the housework like cleaning, cooking, washing and other things which had to be done. You could say that he had a second personality but the truth was....he never showed his true self to someone. Whether his friends nor to his own family.
Shuji became a popular guy when he started highschool. He couldn't understand why the girls were all running around him, trying to get his attention. He never considered himself good-looking or attractive. He thought he was just a bit above average because he had seen more sexy and hot guys running around on the streets and everytime when he met another one of those guys he always tried to think of the various things they had to do for their looks to be like that. And he never understood why someone would voluntarily waste so much of their precious time just standing in front of the mirror trying to get their hair into the perfect position or why they spend so much money for beauty-products like creams and other cosmetics. And of course he was always stunned at hearing how often someone could go to the hairdresser to get their hair cut just one centimeter. He would probably never understand.
He himself never wasted his time and money that way. But he started to look out for cosmetics when he entered his 2nd year in highschool. He knew why he began to be choosey but he would never admit it to himself let alone his friends. .... The reason was a boy in his class. A boy named Kusano Akira.
He immediately noticed the other youth when he first entered his new homeroom. The boy was sitting on the other side of the room while he was seated next to the windows. They locked eyes for a spit second but it was enough for him to burn this picture unerasable into is mind. He doubted that he would be able to ever forget the positively surprised yet sad and lonely look in the brunettes eyes. He swore to himself that he would get those attracting and beautiful eyes to shine in pleasure and pure happiness. Shuji didn't know why he made that particular vow to himself but he was determined to put everything he had to do into action to fulfill his oath to himself.
Just a few weeks after the start of the new school year Shuji was surprised by a certain girl who was telling him that she liked him and would like to go out with him when he had similar feeling for her like she had for him. This particular girl was his soon-to-be girlfriend Uehara Mariko. Shuji had listened to the other guys talking about her. Telling rumors about her beauty and such but he himself hadn't been interested in talking about that girl. He never gave much about girls anyway. He thought that he wasn't grown up enough to be ready to start a relationship with somebody but deep down he just never wanted to admit the truth to himself. The truth that he already gave his heart away to one of his classmates. A boy non the less. A boy with light brown hair and sad eyes.
And then there came the day where he finally got to talk to Kusano Akira without any bystanders listening. It was a normal day. He was just about to eat lunch together with his girlfriend when he saw his sad class mate slowly walking down the hall straight towards the stairs which lead to the rooftop where Shuji himself enjoyed staying when he needed some time to himself to think. He apologised hastily, saying he had forgotten something and couldn't join Mariko for lunch and without waiting for an answer rushed away from the room he was just about to enter and followed Akira to the roof. He waited some minutes in front of the door before he took a deep breath and went out into the fresh air just to be surpised with a sight he would have never expected.
There he sat. Kusano Akira. Alone and staring into space while drinking his beloved soymilk. Oh yeah. Of course Shuji noticed the other boys liking for this special drink. But he couldn't concentrate on that thought. Slowly he made his way over to the other boy just to be frozen to the spot just a few steps away from him. He noticed the silent tears which were running down the youths cheeks and Shuji couldn't remember to have ever seen the other boy cry. He didn't know what to do and therefore he was shocked again to see the other ones head fall on top of his folded armes where he started to cry and sob. That was the moment where Shuji decided to approach the other boy because it was obvious that Akira hadn't noticed that he wasn't alone anymore.
He closed the last gap between them, placed his hand on one of the trembling shoulders and whispered the only words that would come to his mind at that moment. "Are you OK?" Afterwards he could have hit himself for being so dumb and saying something so foolish like that. It was crystal clear that the other teen wasn't ok. He wouldn't be crying just for fun, would he? But Shuji's mind stopped working after this point because the other one whirled around and was staring at him with eyes wide open and definitely way too shocked to do anything else than staring into Shuji's eyes.
