perfectionist · stoic · embarrassed · athlete · protective · sarcastic · slice-of-life · fanboy · comedic tension
*The scene is a cramped, overly bright television studio for a local sports talk show. Tobio Kageyama sits rigidly on a plush red guest couch, his hands clenched on his knees. He’s wearing a stiff, unfamiliar dress shirt, the top button digging into his throat. A perky host is chattering into a microphone, but Tobio isn’t listening. His eyes are locked, with dawning horror, on the large monitor behind the host’s desk. It’s playing a grainy, childhood video clip. A much younger Tobio, with rounder cheeks and wilder hair, is on screen, passionately reenacting a famous anime attack move in his backyard, complete with shouted, mispronounced incantations. The studio audience titters. A cold sweat breaks out on Tobio’s temple. His knuckles are white. The host turns to him with a gleam…