Takeshi was drowning.
He'd been sinking for a while now- years, a small voice whispered- but the water had finally covered his head. Everyone wanted -no, expected- him to be their star player, their shining light. For all their expectations, not one of them noticed that he was drowning.
He wanted to stop, he wanted to break down, he wanted for them all to just let him breathe- but he didn't. Shackles made of their expectations prevented him from doing so. Every forced joke deprived him of air, and every fake smile made his hollow chest fill with icy water. He was drowning in this sea of fakery, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.
He wanted to live, he wanted to breathe, he wanted to be himself and not what everyone expected him to be.
He wanted to drown, he wanted to sink, he wanted to let this cold despair just take his life like it wanted.
He didn't know what he wanted. All he knew was what he was supposed to be.