Tetsujin Takejime

17 ✦ male ✦ born 08/02 in Osaka City ✦ The Delinquent; the bancho of polytechnic

If you ask all the other kids at school, one trait has defined Tetsujin over everything: Anger. Tetsujin is just. . . unnaturally, unrelentingly angry. It's not really something he talks about or discusses, but there's just this feeling he gets. Some kind of irritation or stress just weighs on his mind at all times. This doesn't mean he cannot behave or act agreeable, just that he more-often-than-not won't. He's never seen anyone who isn't worth his ire. No one's ever seen Tetsujin help another person, either.

It all boils down to his worldview, the idea that everyone is more or less in his way. It's not some kind of paranoia or caution, it's just the way life is now. Everyone is stuck in a race that they can't win, watching other people lavish themselves and relax in their villas. All while claiming that what they're actually doing is to help extend the human race further. What's further is that he doesn't pity anyone for their shortcomings or failures despite knowing the pain. Instead, those people are simply pathetic to him, those that cannot continue to fan their flames and keep going.

No one ever calls Tetsujin misunderstood. Not like he stays up at night thinking about this or anything, but it's a little funny. You see a man yelling at the top of his lungs and your first instinct is to gawk. This continues to reinforce the idea that people aren't pitiable, given that he doesn't believe he's been met with the same hospitality. What makes them more deserving of forgiveness? Is it the fact that they're no longer a threat to you and your success? He knows from the look in peoples eyes as they view him that he's not someone you absolve.

Which is fair, Tetsujin has done a bunch of terrible things already. He's a petty criminal in the Naniwa police records since he is still just a minor. He gets into fights because fighting is the only thing that seems to make him happy. It's actually become such a big part of his life, consuming MMA and puroresu media, and staying as physically fit as he can. Worse is that he doesn't care if you don't want to throw hands, he'll just grab you and go for it. That's just not the mood you want to find him in.

Tetsujin Takejime was successfully delivered on August second in a hospital in Azumino. Of course, we're not going to focus on that at the moment. Those precious beginning years where every little thing matters and you're worried every night about the health of your baby. Distracted from the idea that your wife is running away from you with another man. Ahh, such amazing memories are enough to break a man's spirit. Which is exactly what it did to his father, causing him to take his son with him to Osaka City's neighborhood of Shinsekai. It was strange being homeless at such a young age, having to find places to stay after school because your dad was busy working after making terrible, lifelong decisions.

Tetsujin didn't ask for this. He didn't ask to grow up in a mediocre fashion or be discarded by some women he barely knew. It started pretty young, this vague, indescribable feeling he's still coming to terms with. For a while, it just stayed there, clouding his mind while he was supposed to be learning his basics. Not like he didn't get through the education system. . . at some point, but that's not what we're discussing at the moment. Instead, we'll talk about his first outlet for it: Baseball. Tetsujin was quite the slugger back in elementary school, which is what helped him get into a nice, prestigious  little middle school. Coaches said he could do it all: swing, pitch, run, you name it! He was going to be sensational!

What amazing and inspiring words of praise. . . that he never heard from his father. His dad was still a little disillusioned with life and the great prospects that his son had. Mostly due to working two jobs, not having a good place to rest, and still dealing with the unnerving trauma of possibly never finding love again. Outside of that, I'd say he was doing pretty well as a father given his son wasn't dead yet. They still didn't have a permanent residence, even going some nights without a roof over their head. It wasn't all that bad, at least he had a reason to keep living.

Even with all the accolades and the compliments, Tetsujin just wasn't happy. He didn't really like baseball, he merely played it for the attention it was capable of giving him. Friends on a sports team when he previously didn't have any or guidance from coaches about tough issues. Of course, he never really spoke openly about himself at this time, knowing the shame of his predicament. It's the one thing his dad didn't really want him to talk about. It's probably the last request Tetsujin ever honored from his old man.

For a while, he went through a cycle every year: He tried out a couple of new sports, would impress a few people with his natural athleticism, and maybe join the team. After that was done, he'd be asked to play for the baseball team, and they'd work out a schedule for him. It kept him busy, the thoughts and feelings couldn't bother him if he was busy! Until he got to wherever home currently was, saw his sad sack of a father, and attempted to finish his homework. After a while, the latter half of his routine became a struggle as homework became harder and his father just didn't have the energy to help him.

That was probably the first inclination that his father had, for all intents and purposes, given up. The rut he stuck himself in was too deep and he didn't have it in him to dig out of it. This view was only cemented in his head when they had to prepare for an interview to the junior high school he'd go to. Apparently, his father had just barely gotten the day off of work to make this very important date. That's why he looked like a mess, with dark circles and drooping eyes, trying to stand his best in whatever good clothes they could muster. At least. . . he stood his best as they walked through the city. . .

Being inside the office and actually interviewed seemed to change his demeanor, watching his father meekly speak to these people. These people that roared "The baseball kid is here!" when they walked in, not even designating them with a name. His identity as this point was as an attraction, something his father stood by and allowed to happen. There was this great schism in his naivety at this moment as he silently watched everything go down, talking about how much it usually would cost to go there and how he was being given a special offer. His dad would've taken whatever load of crap they fed him to get this over with as soon as he humanely could.

The walk home wasn't that much better, first a short conversation until it raged into a bitter argument. Why was he so okay with the way they were being treated by those people? Why was he so damn agreeable about every little thing they said?! They've had other invitations to similar private education settings and he just went with the first one they got to! If he actually understood the importance of it, why won't he just be honest with him? That he didn't care and had better things to do with his time. That was the feeling he was left with, one he knew about but didn't put a name to until now: betrayal.

That ambiguous, indiscernible feeling finally had a name. He knew of it when he thought about the idea of his mom, whatever kind of lady she was. He just knew she didn't love him. He started thinking the same about his dad, how he decided they didn't need respect from others. At this point, entering secondary school, he didn't really have anybody to look up to. Even with the fact that he was still occupied physically, nothing felt right anymore. The year after wasn't much different, continuing the tradition of trying out for other sports, just to return to baseball and the same team of guys. It just wasn't the distraction that he hoped could get him through life.

Well, until he tried out for wrestling, finally finding an individual sport for once. In elementary school, it was all team sports, having also been on the soccer team. He just didn't manage to outshine practically everyone on that team, though he was admittedly one of the better players. Wrestling was a different experience for him, especially once he learned about the world of professional wrestling. Ahh, yes, the world where everyone's differences are solved through acts of violence. Although most of those moves were never found in any actual competition he'd ever go to, the spectacle of it captured him.

He never really got to see much of it, very rarely was there a television to watch anything on. Also the fact that he had to get his homework done, something he started to slack on as he got to his third year in junior high. It got so bad to the point that he had to be held back from graduating, making sure he learned the material the right way. He honestly assumed that they were keeping him for sport reasons, mostly because he stopped seeing the importance of being properly educated. He was coasting through academic life off of physical achievements and it was catching up with him fast. He barely managed to make it out of middle school and into the next grade levels.

He was scouted for high schools as well, but he didn't bother to tell his father this time. It was such a hassle for him the first time and he was getting bored of baseball. Above all, he wouldn't be treated as some kind of pawn to further a schools reputation. It was decent for the first few weeks, going to Imamiya high school as a fresh start, getting started to do the exact same thing as he had previously done. Of course, he was more enthused to join the wrestling team, knowing he'd be an easy fit due to his experience and talent. Which was exactly true, impressing the coaches there on the very first day.

This drew a bit of ire from the older guys on the team, guys who should be more concerned with which college they were going to go to. Instead, they tried hazing him, which ended in some very bad results. Tetsujin wasn't exactly in the right place of mind at the time, knowing he was alone in that school and well. . . that feeling continuing to bug him. That feeling of betrayal, the idea that the guys you train with are your friends. It was immediately disregarded and was met with resistance from the moment they tried to play that prank. A black eye, busted lip, broken nose, and a call home were his rewards for not letting himself get pushed around.

That day was different. Coming to see his father after nursing his wounds, his father who was so tired from work all the time. This is probably the one time his dad actually tried to act like a man, trying to scold him for getting into that fight. "What were you thinking?!" was the first question that was yelled at him, only to be met with a fiercer yell back from his son. After that, it was a slew of hurtful statements and insults, followed by the door slamming. You could tell from the point on that Tetsujin's relationships were strained-- not just the one with his father, either.

He got suspended for that fight, only to come back and end up in another fight. He expected the same result, the intense yelling that came between him and the man taking care of him. There was none of that the second time. Just another suspension, another week spent loitering Osaka, another week where it seemed like he didn't have any family. That's what it was really, that feeling of attention he finally got. It was gone now, never to be found again. This was when his father stopped caring entirely, yet still too spineless to do himself in. Tetsujin was done suffering in his reality.

You'd think he would stop after he was ignored, but there was something about how he felt when he fought. It wasn't like wrestling for sport, there was some greater challenge. To be honest, that first fight was one of the only times that the young man had been physically bested. Of course, he was outnumbered, but there was still this thrill to the idea. To him, these were just contests without rules, outside of subduing your opponent by any means necessary.

At this point, he's been kicked out of Imamiya high school and is now continuing his education at Imamiya Polytechnic high school. Although, continuing is a very loose way to put what he's been doing. He uses the school more like a training ground, fighting anybody he chooses whenever he wants. It's not as though they were open to the idea, but they tolerated it more than his original school did. He wasn't the first person causing problems there, he was just working up the ladder. Since then, he's spent less time in the classroom and has been left back yet again.

All of these factors have lead to Tetsujin no longer growing emotionally or mentally, leaving him with an immature sense of entitlement. Other people respect him because he can kick their ass, that's all the validation he receives now. It's only caused him to become more morally corrupt as time has gone on. His conscience is too selfish to consider anyone else, never thinking about all the work his dad did to make sure he could even make it this far. All the pain he went through dealing with the ungrateful child that came from a scorned lover.

played by the delinquent ✦ yamazaki sosuke of free!