#15 Kougami

tbd

Wakabayashi was a man born and raised in Aomori, living a life of simplicity before his death. He worked at the Samidare Daycare and was an activity leader. He was adored by the children and many of them tried to seek a teacher's pet kind of approval. Single mothers, fathers, and co workers were charmed by his ability to connect with kids, and would constantly try to seek him out for a date, or suggest a friend of theirs as a candidate; all of these were followed by rejection, never finding anyone to be appealing enough for a long term relationship. Regardless, he had a mundane but fulfilling life that he enjoyed, having many friends to be around, despite his more tired nature. Wakabayashi was an everyday good guy.

Unfortunately, he would meet his demise after staying for overtime at work. He and a few co-workers were caught up planning an end of the year festival for the children, and all of them went home relatively late, clocking out around 8:00 PM. Wakabayashi gets caught in a Hollow Night while getting supplies, and was cornered and bitten numerous times by several Voids of different types. He tried desperately to claw through the insanity, but he was quickly overpowered once he felt control. The last thing he did before corrupting was throwing up profusely. There he laid on the sidewalk, wide-eyed as he slowly felt his existence being ripped away from him as hard as he tried to keep it together. A combination of blood and vomit surrounded him, until his body was no more. After his corruption, his mother and father would file a missing person report after several missed calls, marking it unusual for Wakabayashi. All the co-workers, the children, and management of Samidare Daycare would live in false hopes, assuming that he would eventually be found by law enforcement. Little do they know, Wakabayashi no longer exists in their realm, now a Void roaming around searching for purpose. The Wakabayashi they knew is gone.

With only his first name tied to his non existent memories, Kougami roamed to find the reasoning for this realm's purpose, and the purpose as to why he can think so eloquently, why he can feel the emotions that he feels, and the meaning for the form he takes. He would get caught by the Aomori Lab Committee, all whom were obsessed and interested in this new type of Void; a Void with humanity would surely advance the genetic research of their kind. He was used and essentially forced into submission into being subject to experiments to discover ways to weaken Voids cost-efficently for the Mass Eradication Project. Kougami has some scarring on his legs from these events.

Kougami is eventually put into the hands of Nagi Tsujino, a neurotic but studious geneticist with around 2 years of experience. She was instructed to calm him down with the serums available, as he was allegedly acting too hostile. Nagi naturally agreed to the order, but upon close inspection, she saw bits of scarring peeking from his messed up clothing. She questioned it, and Kougami spoke, "This is what you all have done to me. You all try again and again to tear my vessel, bit by bit." Nagi was appalled, angered and upset that she had been so left in the dark about the Experiment Phase Branch. She responded, "You need to get out of here. I-I need to get you out. Look at how hurt you are. All these scars..." Kougami, surprised that Nagi could hear him first and foremost, was skeptical if this was a trick for Tsujino's ulterior motives. After Nagi poured out her heart, he gave her the benefit of the doubt after seeing her breakdown over how foolish she felt. She slit the top of her head and let herself bleed all over her scalp to lure Kougami to attach to it with its raw EXS, and then sealed him with the "EXS Taming Wax." They proceeded to defect and escape the Aomori lab, security and researchers hot on her tail.

Once she lost them on the train station, she went home and hastily packed everything. "Everything is going to change now, so p-please don't be alarmed. We-we have to get out of here and move." Kougami responded with a gentle "I understand." Thus, they moved all around Japan for ten years, eventually settling in Kanzakai, a relatively small city that was perfect for hiding. Kougami eventually became a teacher for Iroha Academy, seeing no harm in it. It is a dual middle school-high school building, and he now teaches Japanese and English. The more he works there, the more he does yearn for the idea of getting out of hiding...