Kawamura Takashi

1. His gentle nature was one of his best and worst aspects.

The good thing about being quiet and kind was that you were approachable. While he didn't make close friends all that easily, very few people had a problem with him simply because of something he had done. However, those that did have a problem with him – especially those whose reasons were nothing more than that they enjoyed picking on the 'nice kid' – knew they could walk all over him, because he was so nice. It was both a blessing and a curse, and many times – especially during his earlier years of school – he couldn't figure out which.

2. He believed in true love

He knew it was a stupid sappy thing, and the type of thing that even teenage girls had given up existed in the world. But he was absolutely positive it existed in the world, and no matter how many times he'd been laughed at for his ideas he made sure to stick to them. And, in the end no matter how many half-relationships he had it was worth it because when he met her and she also believed in true love – well, he knew he'd been right all along.

3. He gained confidence when holding something because he wasn't entirely defenseless.

People often looked at him as though he had two heads when he went through his "change" from being the timid man he was to somebody much fiercer the moment something was handed to him. In reality, though, this stemmed for a number of occasions where he'd started out defenseless and a number of other occasions where, when he'd had something that could be used as a makeshift weapon in hand, he had not been bothered. It made sense if you thought about it, really, and after the initial incident involving a bully's fist versus his chopstick in their arm, it was comforting to know something could get people to back off.

4. It was his idea to quit tennis after junior high.

If his father had had his way, he would have continued playing. As it was, Kawamura had realized that if he was truly going to be serious about his future he needed to focus on his sushi training harder than he had in the past. It'd hurt to know he was going to give up a sport he loved, one of the reasons so many people – both friends and not – refused to believe that he had been the one to make the decision to quit. Nonetheless, the thought of beginning what would be the rest of his life was exciting enough to make the transition positive.

5. There was a part of him that really regretted giving up karate.

It had been a large part of his life, and something he was truly passionate about. He loved tennis, he really did, but quitting karate had taken its toll on him. Hard. Still, every time he looked around the courts at his teammates, watched them warm up and joke with each other and run lap after lap to avoid Inui's "juice"… every time they headed to a competition and the atmosphere turned fierce with the extreme competitiveness that permeated the air…

Every time that happened, every single day with his other hobby gone was worth it.

6. He hated winter.

It was a dreary time of year where everything seemed to slowdown and stop. Yes, there were holidays to enjoy and the cold weather meant you could cuddle up with someone you loved and have a nice time, but there was also the snow and the ice and the other awful weather conditions that you were met with during the season. No matter how great the cuddling (or other activities) may have been, the frigid winter wind one had to bear to get there wasn't worth it in the least.

7. He struck up a bizarre but interesting friendship with Hyotei's Kabaji Munehiro that lasted throughout high school.

It was really more of an accident than anything; he hadn't meant to, but the silence when they'd both been rather forcefully carted to the hospital had been awkward so he'd filled it with what was supposed to be meaningless chatter. Despite this fact the younger boy actually responded and it was clear from the things he said that he was actually listening. Their light chat had ended in an exchange of contact information, and somehow over the rest of the year they'd ended up as friends. Even after Kawamura had quit playing tennis the younger boy kept him updated, and though neither had any idea how it happened they still exchanged emails and occasional phone calls well into their adult years.

8. He was only ever close to a few people.

Outside of his family, there were few people he was close with. He'd been acquaintances, with Akutsu, friends at best if you stretched it. Fuji had grown on him during junior high, and Kikumaru had a way of doing that to everyone as well. He'd developed a weird but nice friendship with Hyotei's Kabaji as well. Overall, though, the rest of the team hadn't entirely appealed to him, and by the time he'd moved on in high school he had friends such as Aizawa-kun and Ooka-kun and Taira-chan to talk to have serious discussions with. But though he'd met a number of nice people all over there were only a handful he would ever truly entertain as being friends.

9. He barely graduated high school.

And he didn't even bother with University. It made sense, though some people gave him weird looks about it: he was already being trained in the family business, and he was planning to partner and then take over once his father could no longer contribute. It was what had been planned for him for life doing what he loved to do. He'd begun working more and more hours during high school, too, and by his senior year he barely managed to pass math despite the fact that it had been his best subject at one point in time.

10. He did what he loved every day of his post-grad life.

Many people assumed he simply followed in his father's footsteps and took over the family business because he'd been pressured into it, but the truth was he truly loved everything about it. He loved making sushi – watching the eyes of old businessmen and young children alike light up whenever he did something particularly out of the ordinary – and he loved serving people. He loved the restaurant from the atmosphere to the people to making the food and while there were some nights he worked late hours and some mornings he rose before dawn he loved every minute of it.