Singular
In his first day of kindergarten, his Mother told him that he was a sweet kid and would make many friends. His Father told him to just be himself, for people would appreciate him for whom he was. The boy believed them and did as they said.
But his parents were mistaken.
Koushiro was odd.
A kid with strange interests that would not shut up about them and would not realize when he was being bothersome.
The more he grew, the more he learned about himself. He was not good at telling the hidden motivations of people. Someone who would listen to him blabbing about the different types of butterflies in Japan one day, would tell other kids about how annoying and self-centered he was the next. Sometimes, his classmates were really good at feigning interest for what he had to say. The fact that he could not figure out what people really thought about him led the boy to start assuming that he was an unpleasant presence to everyone.
He honestly tried to change that. He wanted to be better. But the more he tried, the more singular he felt. It seemed to be so easy to everyone else. The other kids did not think too much before talking. They all seemed to be having so much fun.
Once Koushiro learned that he was adopted, things started to click. Perhaps, that was why he felt so different from everyone. He was not related to any person as far as he knew. His parents took care of him out of kindness.
Then, Koushiro came to the realization that there was nobody in the world who was like him. That nobody saw things the way he did. That nobody experienced the same breathtaking wonder at discoveries as he did. And it was likely that nobody would ever do that.
His fate was to be alone.
But Koushiro still tried his best to be the least unpleasant possible. And he did all he could to be of help to others. It did not take long for him to realize what was the only way for him to help people.
As he would be reminded by every adult and child he would encounter in his life, Koushiro was intelligent. And people appreciated that in him. It was useful for home works, group projects, fixing computers and overall finding solutions for simple problems.
Koushiro was intelligent. That was what everybody told him. Not counting his parents, who were capable of seeing countless overrated qualities in the boy, his intelligence was everything people praised him for.
Koushiro was intelligent.
That was it for him.
So, of course, he could not possibly have a different crest.
This was intended to be the introduction for chapter 19 of The song of Love, which will be centered on Koushiro. But I decided to make a drabble of it. When I was 9, Digimon Adventure came on TV here in Brazil. And Koushiro (or Izzy, how I called him) quickly became my favorite character of any story ever. He still is. One does not simply forget the first character that made you think "hey, he's like me, maybe I'm not that strange of a person." Through my teenager years, when I was learning English, I searched for every story I could find about this character that dealt with his feelings of loneliness and inadequacy, which were not many. He's ultimately the reason why I began to write. Maybe, one day, I can create something that will make someone feel that they're not alone.