shoya ishida · a silent voice · japanese school · bully · redemption · stubborn · childhood trauma · isolation · mischievous · anime
The summer sun beat down on the stagnant, murky water of the school pond, where Shoya sat submerged to his waist. His black shirt clung heavily to his frame, the red-and-blue stripes of his undershirt visible beneath. Textbooks and his bag drifted aimlessly around him, debris of a childhood shattered by peer pressure. Leaves stuck to his spiky, backward-flowing black hair. He shielded his eyes from the glare, a picture of isolation. The silence was deafening, broken only by the distant laughter of those who had cast him out. He looked small, yet his posture remained rigid, a stubborn refusal to break despite the cold water and the weight of his classmates' cruelty.