"It's very fun to watch her get so attached to you. Everytime we fly over, you're the first one she comes to. I'm surprised though, you love taking care of her - and you want to take her everywhere with you whenever we come visit. It makes me wonder how they're doing right now. We should both visit them once everything's all over."
- Lu
Lu lived his life as a renown celebrity throughout Asia, and continued to make his living singing. He was on tour around South Korean and discovered a beauty that struck his heart and he fell in love quite hard.
Lu married Kisung, a rising model, actress and singer in the pop music industry. They typically performed in the same country before but they eventually retreated to China for a small-time hiatus to have their wedding. Not long Kisung was already pregnant with their children - a beautiful pair of twins that they loved dearly.
Twin boys, Kibo and Shinko left China as infants to live in Japan as their mother wished to continue her modeling and singing career, where Lu retired early after recent events with his twin brother Ming that joined an affiliated gang crime (either Yakuza or Triad). But after such cases were closed, Lu didn't want to continue his singing career and much rather stayed home to take care of the twins.
Sometimes, while their mother was on tour, Lu would take this opportunity to fly to America with his twin children in order to see one of his beloved friends; a young woman who recently gave birth to a little blind girl.
So the twins grew up, they started their singing career quite early (possibly as soon as they were able to talk and sing), solely because they wanted to continue their father's legacy and follow their mother's footsteps. But for Kibo... he was rather inspired to sing after he sung a lullaby or two to the infant child he'd visit every once in a while in America. He wanted to practice his singing just for her.
And at the age of eight years old, they were both rising stars in the music industry in Japan.
But a year later, the constant climbing of becoming celebrities stopped abruptly. Their mother became severely weakened and ill from a disease that was too late to be cured or stopped. Soon after she passed from breast cancer. The death of their mother, who stood as their role-model caused them to retreat from the mass media. They simply took the time to learn new instruments and new skills such as drawing or cooking. But majority of their focus was towards school.
Aside from seeking refuge and comfort from his family and best friends, the harsh feelings that went towards his late mother still lingered. For some reason, he found a little bit of happiness and true comfort when he flew to America for a few days - singing and spending time with a little girl that grew attached to him every time he visited.
But when Kibo flew back to Japan, a month before he entered middle school, he didn't realize that this would be the last time he was going to see the little girl. He busied himself to a point that there was no was no time to fly across the countries and eventually lost interest.
"Kirisawa is not only the highest in the class, but in the school. He taken part in so many activities and excels are every level and almost every skill, that the entire campus knows who he is. He's very good. But he's too good."
- Yurakawa-sensei, Homeroom teacher.
He, his twin brother, and best friend entered a prestigious academy after graduating from their elementary years, solely covering most of performing art subjects, but also general studies. Although Kibo, who was supposedly known for bring a child celebrity in Japan, that title simply died down and eventually forgot such a child ever existed. But the longer he was in that academy, the more famous he became throughout the campus... and eventually it reached outside the campus to a point that producers and directors were constantly pursuing him and his talent and looks.
But the teenager didn't really want to be back into the limelight once again. He performed to make his school happy, but Kibo was reserved and didn't seem to become attached to anyone in the campus except for his twin brother and two best friends. In short, Kirisawa wanted to be an ordinary student like everyone else in the campus.
But at this point, it was more than just producers coming after him. Everyone's acknowledgement eventually piqued the interests of an organization set beneath the public surface. And Kibo, instead of being disgusted, was rather intrigued by it.
The organization, the Prodigal, brought out one of its Administration representatives to help mentor the young man who agreed to take part of something greater than just being at the center of the stage.
With the help of his mentor, Kibo, Shinko and his best friend Chanse graduated the academy before anyone else in their year - allowing them to move out of Japan to the United States to pursue a higher education in University.
"Looks like you're just walking around in circles, Hope. You got a lot of time in the world, so how about being a teacher with me? You like teaching as much as me, right?"
- Chanse
When he officially joined the Prodigal as one of its Administration members, he renamed himself as Hope, although a direct English translation to his original name - he felt like a new person compared to who he was in his teenage years.
His brother eventually departed to enter to a prestigious culinary school to become a cook, in hopes of opening up his own restaurant soon after he pushes through. While Hope, didn't have any plans except for serving the Prodigal throughout the rest of his life. He entered University even though being an artist was admittedly easy to have as an profession, wanted something more than just painting for money.
Chanse suggested that he should become a teacher like he continued to do in college - and so Hope did the same. Together in University they shared an apartment. Eventhough the Prodigal and Hope's father were able to pay for the tuition fees and a portion of the apartment, Hope and Chanse still worked to pay for rent, food, and other luxuries they could have as a college student. The two often took part in photography studios as temporary models for promising pay.
Eventually the two of them graduated and both landed a job in the same Elementary school within a large, familiar city.
"I-I don't remember anything! I was baby, wasn't I?! How should I know if I liked him or not- He's right here! Please stop talking about it, it's embarrassing... especially now! Right, Hope? I was just a baby... surely kissing you back then was just something babies do right...?"
- Emery
It's been a little over two years since Kibo and Chanse got their job as Elementary teachers in a small school, but it made Hope realized how much he loves teaching.
He'd find himself sitting in a nearby park during his lunch hours, where he discovers a mysterious sketch portrait of himself tucked between the pages of his sketchbook as he looked away momentarily. No where he found the portrait odd, but rather happy as the mysterious artist has meticulous put all the time and effort into the beauty that Kibo never realized about himself.
He kept the piece in his folder without leaving any creases or fold, as if it was precious - despite it being a single page ripped off from store-brand sketchbook - in hopes that he'll find the artist that drew it.
To his surprise, this secretive artist was someone that he hasn't met in a long while.
- Hope was born in China, but him and his family moved to Japan so that his mother could continue her modeling and singing career.
- Hope and twin brother Faith wanted to follow their father's footsteps as a singer because their father retired early. They became rising child celebrities before their mother died of cancer.
- After the death of their mother, the twins stopped their career abruptly and decided to stop and go to school and focus on other skills like cooking and drawing.
- Hope entered a prestigious academy with his brother and best friend. Became top in class and a popular student that was targeted by producers.
- Ended up joining the Prodigal around the same time, this gave him the opportunity to graduate early with his best friend and twin brother.
- Graduated University in America and became an elementary teacher, out of Chanse's suggestion (because Hope didn't know what to do as a profession).
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