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Waiting for the “1, 2…” signal

Yoshi has lived most of his life struggling to interact with others and have a conversation that wasn’t centered around schoolwork. Because of this he still struggles with a deep-seated social anxiety and is actually quite the introvert despite the business he runs. Naturally, Yoshi tends to keep these emotions to himself, but his observant almost clingy nature reveals the concerns he keeps when hanging around more friendly acquaintances. His communication skills are still pretty subpar, and he prefers to deflect hard questions with nervous grins and jokes. He can be quite the scaredy cat at times, from ghosts to gang members. He hates anything horror related, although he does like Halloween for the dress up of it all. [break][break]

Unfortunately, due to previous experiences with bullying and a fall out with his closest friends years back, Yoshi has more or less accepted he’s not meant to have meaningful relationships family, friends, or otherwise. He’s even scared of getting a pet for fear they might not care for him and run away. Yoshi will keep his true feelings close to his chest and guards himself against getting too close to others. Still, that doesn’t stop his need to improve. Now that he’s put his focus to something other than academia, he really does want to put in the effort to better himself. Part of that begins with a concocted friendliness that he extends to everyone around him. IF he can, he’ll be the first to offer a lighter perspective or even a little joke. He likes practical joke, although he can’t exactly pull them often, but he supports teenagers eager to get back at positions of authority with light pranks. [break][break]

Despite his grody appearance, Yoshi is still a very well disciplined, hardworking man. It’s no longer to the unhealthy extent that it was before, but he has to be careful not to slip back into those self-destructive habits. Yoshi can be discreet, having tasted a bit of the underbelly of the city he knows when to keep his mouth shut and how to act to deflect suspicion or concern. He looks the other way when it comes to dealings inside his arcade but is quick to butt in when things feel like they’re escalating too quickly. Yoshi carries a bit of nerve, or at least, the appearance that he can. He would be lying if he said his appearance wasn’t 90% of where his confidence comes from. He can bluff a little, but there’s nothing to back it up. He’s shrimpy after all. [break][break]

touching your hand for me is an act of courage,

Yoshi’s childhood is easy enough. He is born into a well to do family in Kyoto, with a path predetermined for himself. There’s little choice left as his older brother and sisters have forged ahead a destiny for him. He takes their hand me downs, which aren’t very many, and is pushed to pursue academics. Even as at the tender age of 6, he was already getting tutored in reading and writing a level above his grade and persuaded to study more advanced math and foreign language. Having already crafted three, perfect students before him Yoshi’s parents have everything down to a meticulous schedule. When, what, and how much he eats. How much sun he should get. The hours he should be studying. The socializing he should be doing. His friends were handpicked from other familiar families or people with good pedigrees. He was encouraged to befriend the people chosen for him, in the hopes that something would spark academic rivalry. Instead the lack of honest connection backfired, isolating him in his youth and making him an easy target of bullying. [break][break]

What could have been a budding, extroverted child was crushed into a small, antisocial little boy. He spoke when spoken to, and his answers were short. He had no interests, only task lists. Life was easy, but it was routine, unfulfilling. Not that he understood that yet. He finds slight solace in video games, sneaking into small arcades and messing around from time to time, but quickly has to cut it off when his mom finds out. After declaring the activity for layabout delinquents, he’s signed up for a cram school instead. [break][break]

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Unlike his siblings, Yoshi escapes to Tokyo University, eagerly abandoning the familiar streets of Kyoto, and more importantly, Kyoto University. There’s no objections though, as the university is still in good standing. He held back a sigh of relief integrating himself into a new city easily enough. [break][break]

But while the scenery changed, Yoshi did not. Scars of his family life plague his subconscious still. He finds it hard to make friends and excuses himself with piling on more and more work onto himself. It’s proactive learning at best, self-sabotaging at worst. There’s nothing to stop the feeling of guilt eating away at his subconscious as he fails to be as productive as he possibly can. But without overbearing parents to constantly dump mor work on him, Yoshi finally has free time. And the anxiety that brings wrecks him. When he’s not worrying about scarfing down instant noodles or scribbling a schedule in a neat, little pocketbook, Yoshi finds him drawn to one of the simpler interests of his youth: arcades. Despite the time sink that it can be, with hours passing in the blink of an eye, the days playing soothe his nerves and offer him somewhat of a break. It felt so nice to be able to turn off his brain for a few hours a day, where even his guilt and his anxiety couldn’t get him there. [break][break]

This is where he meets Hibiki after a few consecutive days of facing off against him on arcade cabinets. After another string of wins and losses when Yoshi gets up to leave quietly, the other boy stops him striking up conversation. Yoshi obliged, and then somehow was dragged along for dinner. It’s unclear why exactly Hibiki ever bothered to speak to him. After all, he was a just a plain student But, it’s all he had, and so Yoshi did his best to appease and to stick close. [break][break]

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Hibiki’s influence on Yoshi is obvious, from darker ways he began to dress to the way he spoke and found himself a little more comfortable around strangers. Though his confidence is brittle, it’s enough for Yoshi’s friend group to grow. Or well, he’s adopted into Hibiki’s. He avoids going home, only returning for the New Year where he hides the small tattoos on his side or trims his hair to a more respectable length and dyes it a respectable color. And when he comes back to Tokyo he’s right back to donning leather jackets and black pants with chains. [break][break]

He’s still a student but his afterschool activities developed more and more. He spends nights going form arcades to drinking with friends and smoking. His meticulous study schedule is traded for all nighters and bouts of procrastination. And he, unknowingly at first, contributes to planning quick scams and small robberies. At first it’s just funny hypotheticals that Yoshi can somehow plan out into decent plans, and then it spirals. Yoshi is not one for fighting but Hibiki promises its safe and he promises he’s protected. Yoshi doesn’t want to disappoint and works as the brains of their little crimes. All the while keeping careful tabs on hiding it from faculty and staying out of the limelight, as it were. [break][break]

Then things go sour quick during what’s supposed to be a usual drug deal. An ambush is set, his friends and him are cornered, and Yoshi sees the glint of a knife in in a dark alleyway. Weight falls on him, and while Hibiki lays on him bleeding with a knife in his chest, his friends move to take down the person responsible and chase away their opponents. Yoshi snaps, cool finally lost. He was always the weakest when it came to this. The smell of blood and the warmth of it makes him sick and despite Hibiki groaning to keep calm he cannot. He demands a hospital but doctors in the ER ask too many questions. The solution isn’t pretty. But Freemen have connections aplenty. All of them sit trembling form adrenaline and panic swirled together as Hibiki’s muffled screams echo through the house. A doctor is paid under the table, and Hibiki is carried home drunk and weak. [break][break]

And when he’s better, Yoshi suggests they stop running with the Freemen. That they cut back on the crime, especially while he was in recovery. It comes across as selfish, self-serving, and callous. It sounds like Yoshi distrusts his friends who had put in so much trust in him. It sounds like he’s not a good friend. And when Hibiki is riled up, so are every other person Yoshi called a friend. He goes home that night with a bloody nose and a broken heart, internalizing every hurtful word he heard. [break][break]

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Graduation is coming quick and Yoshi is more alone that ever. He turns to schoolwork and arcades again to dull his thoughts. He can’t even think about jobs right now. He’s worried about his friend- ex- friends, and his family and his grades and- Before Yoshi can spiral out of control drunk off his grief and really shitty beer, Graduation comes. His friends do not even pay him the courtesy of a congratulations. [break][break]

Despite it all he opted to stay in Tokyo to find a job. And after tiring of job-hunting Yoshi gets a part time to supplement his income. Months go by, and he’s still barely making ends meet. On top of that, the few arcades he frequented shut down, afraid of the gang rivalries on Tokyo streets. And then, he comes up with one last plan. All by himself. Well- by himself and couple of other Freemen. They aren’t his friends, but he promises them a good enough cut if things go as planned. The job? Fencing goods smuggled out of elite, rich homes. It takes some time, meticulous planning, and a lot of information gathering but despite the increased police presence, Yoshi and a few other Freemen make bank on bundles of expensive home goods and jewelry. He divvied up profits, before cutting all ties. [break][break]

With the money he earned, Yoshi invests it all into an arcade in a seedier part of town, but it’s a place where no one asks questions on how a dirty 20 something can afford this much real estate. He renovates, he invests in arcade cabinets, he even gets an alcohol license. Last of all, he invests in muscle to keep the peace inside his establishment and turn away drunk or rowdy gang members. [break][break]

He dubs the establishment, a two story with a basement and bar arcade, Lost Highscores Arcade ( Unfortunately comes from the fact that said owner himself can override high scores with his own )

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