Early Life

Noboru is the second son of Fokuhiro and Sanomi Satō.
His father met his wife during a business trip working for the company they were supposed to negotiate a merger with. The merge was successful and the two of them ended up working just one floor apart from each other, their relationship soon developted into a romantic one and they kept it a secret for half a year, after which Noboru's father filed for a transfer so they could become public.
They had their first child, a son called Ichiro, into whom they put all of their efforts. Ichiro did well in school, his parents encourage him to study hard to get into whatever university he could want and make his family proud. With Ichiro already in primary school, Sanomi expected her second child, another son they named Noboru. Unfortunately a rare event during his birth caused his mother to become infertile, rendering her unable to have any more children - and any daughters. This hit Sanomi unexpectedly hard, since she herself had grown up feeling ignored by her parents as the only girl in a family of many sons and had wanted nothing more than to have a little girl of her own, a dream that was now forever out of reach.

She tried to take it with stride, but couldn't help but neglect little Noboru in favor of her first born son, who was already 7 years old at the time and picked up on his mom's change - and what caused it. He would tease his little brother by taking away his food and making him cry, purposefully waking him up when he was sleeping, hiding his favorite toys when he got older, eating sweets and blaming it on Noboru, always with his mother on his side. The longer this behaviour went on, the worse it got and though Sanomi seemed to be blind to her son's lies, it didn't take Fokuhiro long at all to figure out what was happening.

Elementary School and a Split Family

The siblings' relationship caused many fights among their parents and one day when Noboru was 9 years old, 16-year-old Ichiro snuck up on his brother while he was outside swimming in a plastik pool their parents had set up for the summer, hid his clothes and chased him off around the neighbourhood in his swimming trunks, ending with Noboru humiliated and crying with the pain caused by running around barefoot on hot asphalt for so long.
When his father heard about this and saw the bloody scrapes on his feet he snapped at Ichiro and screamed at him, resulting in a huge fight with his wife who still refused to take harsh action against her oldest son, still defending what happened as a brotherly quarrel. Furious, Fokuhiro accused her of punishing Noboru for her becoming infertile, which she obviously didn't take well. The two of them split up and she left the household, along with Ichiro, who was old enough to pick who he wanted to be with. It was a messy divorce, but what neither of the three knew was that when Sanomi finally caved and admitted that maybe, just maybe, he might be right and she just couldn't love Noboru as she does his brother, the little boy hid under the balcony, listening to every word.

The abuse from his brother and neglect from his mother had caused Noboru's self-esteem to tank, resulting in a passive, scared little boy trying to get through elementary school. He masked his pain with jokes and reckless behaviour, trying to push himself into the center, surround himself with distractions. He let the other kids use him and make fun of him just to not scare them away, but he was never the best friend, always the kid that got invited to birthday parties for others to laugh at his pranks. He was popular among his classmates in the sense that he always knew how to tell a story or joke to make it land, he'd always know how to avoid fighting or calm others down and was helpful at keeping the class under control, also increasing his popularity with the teachers.
But Noboru did not belong. He wasn't really anyone's friend, he was a clown, and that was what he felt like. A clown to step on. But he was fine with it, because what more could he be?

Growing Up

When Noboru made it to secondary school, he decided enough was enough.
He and his father had moved to a different city close to a nice school he thought would fit his son, which also got Nobu away from all the kids still remembering his involuntary race around the neighborhood. He decided that he was done being a victim and wanted nothing more than to fit in and find some friends, so he got new stuff for school, a new jacket, a new backpack, new cases for his pencils. He also died his hair dark red, which took some convincing, but his dad eventually caved under the condition of using temporary die until he was older. So from seventh grade on Noboru was the same cheerful kid he used to be, only now did he put on a suit of confidence, always taking risks, engaging with all the other kids, cracking jokes behind the teacher's back and basically dominating the entire room - and the other students rallied around him.

His new look immediately got him high up on the social hierarchy and he even got his wish - he got along great with one of the classes most popular students: a boy called Takuyatsu. Noboru felt pulled towards this boy who was so confident, so funny, so caring, always taking the lead. The boy who lived everything Noboru pretended to be. So they became friends, with Yatsu making him feel like he actually belonged somewhere for the first time.
Of course Noboru's father loved Yatsu and they grew closer, with an accepting circle of friends around him Noboru finally gained some self-esteem, he became actually confident and started to raise pet rats, learning about responsibility for himself and others.
When he got into High School he followed Yatsu to the same one, he didn't even care if it suited him, because what didn't suit him was being away from his friend again. With Yatsu settling down as a result from the pressure his own family put on him, Noboru became the brighter light of the two, always making sure everyone was entertained and comfortable, thought he preferred to wander below the radar and leave the tip of the mountain to his friend. Eleventh grade is also the first year his father agreed to let him colour his hair with real, permanent die, something that took a lot of work off Noboru's plate. He's now more fun-loving, adventurous and motivated than ever - but below all of that glitter is still a boy who's simply terrified to be the victim.