As promised, here’s more info on the middle-schooler quartet of my Ibun “Kids investigating mysteries with shady uncle Jikaku” AU :’3
Houmei is 12-year old going on 13 (his birthday will happen during the vacation). He lives in Yokohama and is sent to visit his Great Uncle Jikaku for the summer, who used to live and work in Tokyo but has retired in a rural village in the Tohoku region, where he hails from.
Given we literally don’t know anything about Houmei’s backround, I’m having a hard time coming up with anything too specific linked to his family life; as a general rule, I’d say his family situation isn’t the easiest. He lives with a caretaker, and Jikaku is related to them. The two are completely estranged, and the reason he was sent to him was because of issues between him and his caretaker; as he’d become increasingly rebellious and problematic growing up, hoping that Jikaku would straighten him : D But caretaker definitely has issues with their life as well. Overall, things at home aren’t the best and Houmei isn’t all too unhappy to live at his uncle’s for a couple of months, despite having troubles adapting to such a different lifestyle at first : D He’s an extremely intelligent and curious kid, a day-dreamer, and an avid reader of mystery and fantasy novels. He comes off as extremely well-mannered at first, which surprises Jikaku given the situation he was told, but he soon learns that it’s all an act of course : D He knows how to hold a façade in order to get away with things, and is extremely manipulative towards adults and kids his age alike. At first the other boys find him odd as he talks of weird stuff and acts ditzy at times, but as they’re all misfits they end up taking the outsider in pretty much right away. He’s the type to hide his problems , real feelings and thoughts behind a dorky smile. He doesn’t have much interest in leadership, but thanks to his natural charisma and adventurous spirit he ends up being the driving force of the group by default. On the other hand, he can be a bit of a slob at times and gives into laziness easily. Much like Sho'un, he has a problem with authority, but unlike him he’s able to find sneaky ways to break the rules. As for now he has no definite life plans nor dreams; he knows that if he’d work hard enough he could easily enter any college and take on any career, but he also very little interest in formal studies and he’s the type who prefers researching stuff on his own (he has a very broad knowledge for a kid his age, but he’s not driven enough in his studies for his level of intelligence and pretty listless). His favorite subject is literature, but he wouldn’t have troubles with anything if only he applied himself. His hobbies include reading and writing, skateboards, videogames and daydreaming. He’s learning to play guitar but he’s too lazy to practice often (he also has a pretty good voice).
Jyoan is a 13-year old going on 14 (his birthday is in late September). He lives with his mother and two sisters (one older and one younger) and his younger sister’s father. His biological dad is not in the picture. He doesn’t have a good relantionship with his step dad and his family situation also isn’t ideal, and for that reason he tries to stay away from his house as much as possible (he usually stays at Ganpuku’s house most days of the week). His family was also struggling with money a lot in the past, even though nowadays they’re doing better economically after his mother got married again, he’s still known as the “poor kid” at school, and he was being made fun a lot for being… extremely feminine (no day has gone by without him being called a fag by classmates or his step dad). He used to be bullied a lot more in the past, until he started to clam back (also his friendship with dangerous kid Sho'un made the transition easier :D He’s considered a bit of a punk himself by his peers). Of all his friends, he’s the one who hates living in the village the most and dreams of moving in the city as soon as possible. He’s an extremely ambitious and driven kid, and puts his status above all; he lives for receiving praise and attention by others and puts a lot of efforts in everything he does for that; he has good grades but he’s the type to truly shine only in what he likes (he excels in arts). He’s a sensitive boy, pretty mature and deep for his age (or so he thinks lol), but at the same time can act pretty bratty and and has a really bad temper; the more he’s obedient with teachers and authorative figures the worse his attitude towards with his friends and siblings. He’s also extremely foul-mouthed and gets reprimended for it a lot by adults. He may or may not have a one-sided rivalry with Houmei, as he basically represents everything he wishes to be… or so he thinks (not that he would dare to admit that of course). His hobbies include fashion, drawing, pretentious movies and books that are way beyond his comprehension level for his age (but he still watches/reads them anyways ‘cause that’s what cool kids do right?) and singing.
Malcolm (aka Ganpuku) is 13 (he was born the same year as Houmei but has had his birthday already). Being born in May he started school one year earlier and so he’s in the same grade as Jyoan and Sho'un (they’re all classmates as there is only one class per grade in the local middle school, too). He lives with his parents and one older sister, and his family owns the local convenience store. Ever since he was a child he has been helping his parents carrying it voluntarily as he really likes working there, so he spends a lot of time inside the shop. He has quite the business acumen and loves money and hopes to be able to better his family’s average income someday with a business-oriented job. He has a very good relantionship with his parents, especially his mother. His family hails from the US, but he and his sister were born in Japan. Because of their western appearance and names, they have been both seen as outsiders in the village small community and could never really fit in, if not with the other misfits. For that reason he hates using his real name and goes under “Maru” instead, as it’s close to the japanese pronunciation of “Mal”. He and Jyoan have been best friends since kindergarden, and he gets along with his sister a lot too. He’s a very bright, loud and cheerful kid, he’s the friendlist of the trio and he’s the one who accepts Houmei into their group right away. His hobbies include eating and cooking, as well as manga and videogames: one could say he’s a bit more childish than the others, but he’s often more insightful and smarter than people give him credit for. He’s also extremely affectionate and protective of his friends and family. His grade are pretty good, and he’s basically excels in everything his deskmate Jyoan doesn’t and viceversa :D He’s good with maths, science and economics (and English ofc as it’s the language spoken home), while Jyoan is better at humanities and art. He has pretty clear plans for the future and he definitely wants to go to college and land a high-paying job in the economics field, to grant his family and himself financial stability. Much like Houmei, he also falls victim to laziness pretty often, which may be a hindrance to his dreams of success :D (I’ve talked about his hobbies before, I would include that he’s learning to play the piano but wishes to switch to something more “fun”, like drums; he’s also into soccer and baseball and fantasy books/videogames)
Sho'un is 13 going on 14 (his birthday is in December). He’s an only child and his father is a monk and owner of the local temple (in Japan monks can marry and have children). As you can imagine from his appearance and rebellious attitude, he isn’t exactly the dream heir his father wishes, and for that reason his relantionship with his parents are extremely tense. He also tries to avoid being at home as much as possible and sleeps over at either Ganpuku’s or at his cousin Ryuzen’s student apartment in the city(he doesn’t really get along with him all that much, but he likes his cooler roomates better lmao). From a very early age he was considered a “difficult kid” for a his rebellious strike and attraction to… darker things (he’s the type who idolizes yakuza, smokes in the school bathroom and steals shit as a test of courage). For his reason he has a pretty bad reputation in town and peers and thier parents are pretty scared of him. That, coupled with the failed expectations of his parents, just reinforced his bad attitude and made things worse. He used to be pretty lonesome until he became friends with Jyoan and Ganpuku when they started middle school, thanks to their involvement with the music club. In fact music is his biggest passion, he plays bass and guitar and wishes to start a band someday (school band secondary plot? Probably lol). Music and art are the only subjects that interest him, as for the rest he’s a pretty much a slacker who doesn’t put effort in his studies and has terrible grades. He often says that if he can’t make as a musician, he would open a tattoo and piercing studio. Despite his “tough” exterior, he’s actually a pretty laid-back and reserved kid, not very talkative but mindful, and once you get to know him he’s actually very caring and approachable. He’s the type to defend his friends no matter what, and follows his own moral code that doesn’t accept dishonesty nor ambiguity. He has a somewhat melancholic and pessimistic streak that he tries to conceal with his insolence; of all the four he’s the one who has more… grown-up interests (meaning he’s the only one who’s very much into girls, the others are a bit of late-bloomers in comparison^^’); he’s also the one who tries to bond with the older guys via his cousin, and he tries to emulate them. His hobbies include gravure magazines gangster movies, rock and punk music, playing instruments and sketching out tattoo design.
