Kobayashi Akihiko

For Kikuen

Name 　　 Kobayashi Akihiko 小林明彦
Gender 　  Male
Age | Era    23 • modern
Height   　 5'8" • 178cm
Tree 　  　 Willow Tree
Dorm  　　 Summer (winter)

Personality
　　At first impression, Akihiko appears to be a sleep-deprived, but polite and soft-spoken shakaijin; upon closer inspection, you will realise that he is dead inside™. In reality, he is an introverted, pessimistic guy with a sense of self-depreciating humour (only ever on himself, and never on others); and due to his outlook on life, he has a relatively weak confidence & self-esteem. His outward persona is his attempt to keep a distance from others to avoid being compared. Once he opens up, you will see that he is actually a bit of a daydreamer, and a people person who likes listening to others talk. He is very non-judgemental and a very good listener, albeit a bit awkward, he is very caring and will try his best to comfort people.

Likes | Dislikes

Introduce yourself! 
　　"Even dying is hard, huh?" ((nervous chuckle)) "Looks like I really can't do anything..."
　　"Hello, I am Kobayashi Akihiko. Nice to make your acquaintance... Uhm, you may call me anything you like."
　　"... don't worry, I've had enough rest," ((soft laughter)) "I've been told that I look tired all the time... more importantly, how are you?"

Reason of death
　　tl;dr- turned into a hikki after life crashes, and got stabbed by his ex's jealous bf the day he finally picks himself back up. whoops.

　　Akihiko's name meant "bright child", but this was only true up until middle school. Stress from his studies, societal & family expectations etc has brought out his pessimistic side and it has stayed ever since. Even so, he has strived to do his best as everyone expects him to and has somewhat succeeded to enter a good university. Everything was well until a ton of problems hit him in one go: his friends boycotting him out of nowhere, his grades dropping from stress, pressures from his internship workplace, family nagging him about everything, etc, etc... He graduated in the end, and continued to work fulltime at the place he interned at, but his girlfriend deciding to break up with him was the final straw. Instead of becoming a successful businessman™ as he was expected to, his mental state completely collapsed, and he quit his job and shut himself at home to become a full time hikkikomori. He was too tired to deal with anyone's expectations anymore, convinced that everythinig was his fault, that he had no talent in anything, and was better as society's scum than society's workforce.

　　It took him some time to pick himself back up after the encouragement of friends from online communities, but he managed to find a part time job at a nearby cram school where he would help out with paper filing and general administrative work. He had also started to reconnect with his old friends (and even his ex) and chatted with them occasionally. He claims that he wasn't excited to start his new job, but he was actually quite looking forward to taking his first step to pick himself up again and change his current life around. As he walked to work, he felt as if someone was following him, but he ignored it.

　　After his work ended, it was near midnight and the streets were very quiet. Akihiko walked home while listening to music, unaware that the same person who had followed him in the morning was once again on his trail. Just before he reaches the block of his residence, someone slammed his head into a wall and plunged a knife into his stomach. "Don't you dare to touch my girl..." the man hissed, pulling the knife out of Akihiko before promptly running away from the scene. Akihiko immediately dialed the number for emergency, but fainted before he can notify the phone operator of his location. Akihiko was then discovered by the rescue team soon after - dead, on the sidewalk.

Why that specific tree? 
　　Meaning of willow tree: Fulfilling wishes of the heart, learning from the past, inner vision and dreams
　　Akihiko tells everyone that he picked this tree because it felt like it'd be comfortable to take a nap under, but he really picked this tree in hopes that he would find "hope" in life, so that he can once again be the cheerful and bright person that he was when he was a child.


Trivia

• He appears as someone who is constantly spaced-out, but reality is that he's just listening to music and can't hear you properly. (Can't feel judged if you can't hear people judging you //rollsafe)
• He would have stopped listening to music 24/7 if he remembered how he died
• Probably has an existential crisis... not sure if it's mentally or physically tho (coughs)
• He really likes Hello Usa (Mascot like Hello Kitty). If you show him something related, he'd look slightly alive for a few secs　　
• PLEASE ADD HIM ON YOUR MOBAGE
• He's wearing his pajamas... he picked clothes that look presentable enough for him to go out with it too so it's less "troublesome"
• Has a lot of Hello Usa stuff, and he's kinda petty about sharing it or letting other people see his collection (lol)

LINKS

• Eric Lee >> Akihiko's first impression towards Eric was that he is a very awkward and insecure man, making him want to treat his room mate with extra care and gentleness. After warming up a bit more, Akihiko started to find Eric cute (despite him being a man) and very defenceless - giving him a huge urge to make Eric his so he can take good care of him. He was attracted to Eric's physical charms first, but eventually fell for how selfless Eric was when it came to others. They are currently dating!
• Valerie Le >> Akihiko couldn't seem to deal with the younger girl's over enthusiasm to "hang" at first, but after being constantly pestered, Akihiko finally opened up to Val a bit more, seeing her as a little sister figure.

Initial appearance: kikuen