The sunrise barely started to break through the the dark tint of Koyama's bedroom window, its rays slowly rising up from his chin and washing his face in its light. As it rose up his face, Koyama drifted into a lighter sleep until it reached the crack in his eyes, where they immediately shot open as he sat up in an almost mechanical motion. He leaned forward and heaved a soft sigh, but immediately regained the energy he had when he first woke up. Despite his futon being extremely close to the floor Koyama was able to spring to his feet and look around his desolate room. The room was barren with only a hardwood floor, an even harder futon, a crumpled up school uniform tossed into a corner, and an under dressed man who was already sprinting out to the world.
Barefoot and in his boxers, Koyama dashed through the urban suburbs he lived in, going down one street as fast as he could. His calm and picturesque face showed he wasn't having any trouble pushing himself to such an intense speed passing through the empty roads. For a good fifteen minutes he was all alone until a businessman emerged from his house and saw the almost-nude teen going for his morning run. With nothing more than a puzzled expression on his face he called out to Koyama, "He-Hey kid! What're you doing out here dressed like that at this time in the morning? Isn't that bad for your health?"
As soon as the words reached his ears, Koyama dug his heels to a complete stop and proceeded to walk to the man's home, examining it with a quizzical eye, then looking back from where he came. With a smirk he looked up to the man and commented "I was beating my record. I passed my goal of 300 houses and made it to 325. Ya see that?" Koyama pointed over towards a small house in the distance with a blue roof. "That was where I was stuck at for the longest time. Kind family too, but I had to move on. I appreciate your concern about me but I'm completely fine. Don't worry, I've been doing this for years now." Leaving the businessman in an even more confused state than he was before, Koyama turned around and started to jog back home, waving back without even looking at the man who stopped him this morning.
On his way home, other people were coming out from their houses, and those who have seen his practice over the years gave him a polite wave and cheerful words of encouragement for him. It was these kinds of people that he liked, those that didn't force what they thought was better down onto him like it was their decision to how he lived. There was one woman who he had issues with every morning - who always soured his mood - and her shrill voice broke through the peaceful morning air like a whip crack against the skin.
"Why you little prick! Why do you constantly insist flaunting your naked body to everyone else! It's impolite, immoral, and disturbing if you ask me!" A fairly young looking woman wearing a lavish bathrobe and having curlers strewn throughout her hair was leaning out of her window just to yell at him. "And another thing! You can't expect people just to give into this bullshit you do! They all talk behind your back about how horrible of a kid you are and how you have no respect for anyone else but yours-"
"You know what lady, if you would just shut the fuck up for one moment in your life, maybe I would take you seriously for once." Koyama stopped his jog home, his peaceful face swapped with that of an angry one. His eyes lost their sparkle and became dull and intimidating; and his smile was crushed and thrown away to be replaced with a scowl. "If someone wants to be such a picky little bitch then I guess I can join in as well since I know we both aren't gonna listen to each other. You're nothing but a leach on your husband's resources because all you do is sit on your lazy ass and watch TV all day - and trust me I've heard this from others. You feel so afraid about the way you look that you spend countless hours working on your appearance just to boost your confidence; but in the end all you end up doing is looking stupid with those obnoxious looking curlers in that swamp hair of yours form all the chemicals you put into it. You're so fucking shallow that I bet the only reason why you get up this early is because you want to yell at me because you get a kick from making others feel bad." Koyama's body was straight, tight, and focused on one thing - and that was taking her down a peg. "You know, I'd actually listen to you if you didn't sound like such a whiny, entitled ass all the time. I've had discussions with other neighbors about this and changed what I was doing because they gave me real reasons why what I was doing was being a nuisance to the good of everyone else. I've cut down on the noise I make, I've stopped running into people's yards, and I am even wearing more clothes than when I first started my routine. What you are," Koyama took a step towards her house so he was right at its front gate, "is trash that should've been kicked to the curb for how much she smells like shit. Now, while I wish to continue to berate you, I must be off... I have someplace to be unlike you." As he jogged away from the house where the woman continued to scream and yell at the mere thought of him winning the argument, he raised his middle finger high in the sky until he couldn't hear her voice anymore.
When he arrived home he quickly jumped into the shower and whistled a happy tune to himself. "What a fuckin' bitch she is. She's gonna piss someone off who's more dangerous than me and she's gonna get hurt... but she's gonna deserve it still. The day she turns out to be like everyone else is the day that my hair finally becomes a natural color for once. Ah well, I still one that one and she didn't even put up a fight compared to last time."
After only taking a minute long shower he quickly threw on his normal clothes and stepped out of the bathroom. Looking at the house clock it read: 6:30 AM. Smirking at the thought of shaving more time off his usual morning routine, he started to cook a pan full of eggs and tossed some bread into the toaster. After a few minutes he had two plates set at the table with a generous helping on one and a meager amount on the other. While he began to brew some coffee he called out into the house, "Mama, if you don't get out of bed your breakfast is gonna get all cold."
A few moments later a very tired looking woman came out from the bedroom, stretching her arms and giving a big yawn to start off her day. Despite having grey hairs grown around her head and bags coming around her eyes, she was only 40 years old. When her husband abandoned the family her reality was shattered and she never was able to reclaim her composure after that. When she saw her son though, she gave a smile that would melt ice, and walking over Koyama to give him a hug. "Aww, Koyama you are so kind to do this for me every morning. You really don't need to do this for me."
Koyama couldn't help but smile back at his mother's embrace and comment. As he poured a cup of coffee for both of them, he softly told her, "But I love to do it for you mama. I mean, you're always workin' so late, so it is hard to get up in the mornings. It's the least I can do. Now let's go eat - we want scrambled eggs not scrambled mush. You get the big one and I get the little, just like usual. I know you never eat dinner so you have to have a big breakfast!"
Throughout breakfast the two of them chatted about his mother's previous work day and about her friends and projects she needed to get done. Working at a news station was a major time drain on any one person, but she was willing to do it so she could provide for Koyama. This unfortunately meant that he wasn't able to see her at all unless it was at this time of day. By the time she finished eating, Koyama was already finished with a box lunch for her. Everyday he went through this process just to show her that he wasn't going to leave her anytime soon.
"Well mama, I have to get to school. I was asked to go early just to meet some friends and plan some stuff for our club. I'll see you tomorrow morning?" His mother responded with a meek nod as she stood up from the table to go and get changed for work. With the best smile he could ever have, he walked out the door and started towards school with absolutely nothing that would signify his standing as a student.
As he walked down the streets leading towards the academy, he let his smile fade away for a much more serious and focused look. He knew that this meeting for the JSO wasn't going to be something happy, and with the recent death of Chiharu he couldn't help the feeling that things just weren't going to get any better. "I hope none of those assholes forgot about this meeting. They need to stop taking it so easy and focus for once. We have to stop pretending to be adults and actually act like them for once."
For most people, entering the academy without the proper uniform would be incredibly tough since it was such a high class and private academy. Unless you were specifically allowed under special circumstances, you'd be chased off if you were caught by anyone who was staff. But coming into the school at 7:10 AM made it very easy for Koyama since security wasn't quite at its full capacity. He was able to swiftly make it into the meeting room without anyone noticing him and it came to his attention that no one was in the room but himself. "You gotta be kiddin' me. How late does Haruo want to start this? I can't believe he'd waste so much time and start it later than this." With a miffed expression, he decided to just lean against the doorway since there was nothing better for him to do. He figured it'd be better to just wait on them all to arrive than leave and come back. It'd show he was impatient, and he wanted to prove that he was diligent enough to at least wait a few minutes.