Naotsuki Aokawa

Their “home” An abandoned building near the train tracks Although technically he has no home, there is one place he returns to more often than any other. It's an old, partially abandoned building near some railway tracks, far from tourist areas. The place is run down. The walls have dampness and cracks. Some windows are broken and covered with plastic. The sound of the trains makes the ground vibrate slightly every so often. During rain, water leaks through the roof. Naotsuki occupies a small room on the second floor. There is no real furniture other than: An old mattress directly on the floor. A dark blanket full of holes. A backpack with all his clothes. Cables, picks, and messy notebooks. Empty cans of cheap coffee. His electric guitar leaned carefully against the wall. The only thing he really keeps clean is the guitar. The room is usually lit only by: The bluish light of distant advertisements entering through the window. Small portable lamps. Or the red glow of railway signals outside. At night, the sound of trains mixed with rain and guitar strings creates a melancholic and heavy atmosphere. That place doesn't feel warm or safe. But it's the only place where Naotsuki can take off his aggressive mask for a few hours and just sit quietly without anyone telling him how he should live.

The places where he usually stays Nighttime internet cafes When he manages to save enough money, Naotsuki sleeps in small internet cafes that are open all night. The cubicles are cramped, dark, and barely have enough room to lie down completely. There's a constant smell of instant coffee, hot plastic, and old air conditioning. He's not too bothered by those places. In a way, he finds them comfortable because no one asks questions. He can go in, charge his phone, rest for a few hours, and disappear at dawn without a trace. He often stays awake listening to old recordings of his songs with damaged headphones while watching the blue light of the computer illuminating the small space. Train stations Osaka Metro The train stations are almost a psychological refuge for him. The constant noise of footsteps and announcements prevents his thoughts from becoming too quiet. When he doesn't have money to sleep elsewhere, he waits until the last hours of the night sitting near vending machines or in corners where the guards won't quickly kick him out. He likes to observe people without interacting with them: Exhausted office workers returning home. Couples arguing in hushed tones. Students asleep on trains. Street musicians trying to attract attention. Sometimes he composes entire lyrics just by watching unfamiliar faces pass by him.

Region — Kansai Kansai is a region known for its vibrant energy, bustling cities, and a more direct personality than other parts of Japan. Unlike quieter or more formal places, Kansai has a louder, more emotional, and chaotic atmosphere—something that perfectly suits Naotsuki's character. The streets never seem to stay completely still. Even in the early hours, there are still lights on, vending machines whirring, hurried footsteps, and the distant sound of trains passing through the city. The air is often mingled with the smells of rain, smoke, street food, and damp metal. For Naotsuki, Kansai doesn't feel like a warm home, but rather a place that never sleeps enough to force him to fully confront his loneliness. City — Osaka Osaka Osaka is a bright and cruel city at the same time. By day it is full of constant movement: neon signs, crowded shopping streets, students, office workers and tourists passing through huge stations where hardly anyone actually stops to look at each other. At night it changes completely. Neon lights bathe the wet asphalt in shades of blue, pink, and purple. The alleyways grow quieter, and the sound of street guitars begins to mingle with distant conversations and the whir of train engines. Naotsuki spends most of his time in areas near busy stations because he knows there will always be people there. Even though almost no one really hears him, he needs the human noise around him to avoid feeling completely empty. He has several venues where he usually plays: Near railway bridges where the echo makes its voice more intense. Illuminated station entrances. Narrow alleyways filled with vending machines. Underground passages where the sound of the guitar bounces off the concrete walls. There are nights when he barely earns a few coins. Other times, someone stays and listens to him in silence.

Sora Minazuki — Casual friend Age: 20 years Occupation: Works in a used record store Sora met Naotsuki when he tried to sell one of his old guitars to raise money. She was the one who convinced him not to after hearing him play for a few minutes outside the shop. She has dyed silver hair and a relaxed but sarcastic personality. She's one of the few people who can answer Naotsuki back without being intimidated by his aggressive attitude. Unlike others, Sora doesn't try to "fix" him. She treats him like a normal person and not a lost cause, which is why Naotsuki tolerates his presence. She often saves him leftover food or lets him stay in the back room when it's too cold outside. He never thanks her directly, but he usually fixes things in the shop or helps her carry boxes without her asking. Sora thinks Naotsuki has real talent, although she knows he will probably never fit into the traditional music industry. Tetsuya Kurobane — Street Rival Age: 22 years Occupation: Professional street musician Tetsuya is a technically excellent singer. He has a good stage presence, a clear voice, and knows exactly how to draw an audience. Unlike Naotsuki, he understands how to entertain people. The two met playing music near the same station and clashed from the start. Tetsuya believes Naotsuki is wasting his potential by hiding behind a self-destructive attitude. Naotsuki, on the other hand, believes Tetsuya only sings to please others and make money. Although they argue constantly, there is a certain mutual respect. Tetsuya acknowledges that Naotsuki's voice conveys emotions that very few singers manage to evoke, even if it's technically imperfect. And Naotsuki knows that Tetsuya probably would have succeeded even without luck. Sometimes they end up playing together on particularly empty nights. Those moments often turn into intense and chaotic performances.

Ren Aokawa — Younger brother Age: 14 years High school student Ren is probably the only person in his family who still sincerely admires Naotsuki. As a child, he followed him everywhere and wanted to be like him. While the adults saw Naotsuki as trouble, Ren saw him as a free spirit. He was fascinated by listening to him play guitar, hidden in his room at night. Ren is much calmer and kinder than his older brother. He has a reserved, intelligent, and observant personality. He tends to avoid conflict and rarely contradicts his parents directly. When Naotsuki left home, Ren was deeply affected. For months he asked where he was, but his parents avoided answering too much. Even so, Ren began searching for videos or recordings of street musicians, hoping to find him. Over time, he managed to locate some of the places where Naotsuki often played. Sometimes he would watch him from afar without approaching. Naotsuki usually pretended not to notice, though he always did. Their current relationship is complicated but important. Ren is one of the few people around whom Naotsuki lets his guard down slightly. Although he never hugs him or talks to him much, he often gives him hidden money when he can or accompanies him to the station before disappearing again. Naotsuki is afraid of becoming a bad influence on Ren, so he avoids involving him too much in his life.

Emiko Aokawa — Mother Age: 45 years Occupation: Part-time receptionist Emiko is a quiet and emotionally reserved woman. Before getting married, she wanted to study literature, but she abandoned that idea to work and help support her family. Over time, she ended up accepting a quiet and routine life, although deep down she always carried a feeling of emptiness that she never openly expressed. She has shoulder-length, dark brown hair, neatly styled, and tired eyes that rarely show direct anger. Unlike Hirokazu, she never yelled. Her way of pressuring Naotsuki was more subtle: quiet disappointment, gentle but hurtful comments, and looks that seemed unable to understand him. When Naotsuki was a child, Emiko was the one who took care of him when he was sick or stayed up waiting for him at night. But as he grew older and began to rebel, their relationship became distant. She didn't know how to approach someone so emotionally volatile. Part of her secretly admired Naotsuki for having the courage to pursue something he loved, something she could never do. But fear ultimately won out. She preferred to see him unhappy but secure rather than free and destroyed. The night Naotsuki left the house, Emiko wept silently after he closed the door. However, she didn't try to stop him either. That's something Naotsuki was never able to fully forgive him for. Emiko still occasionally asks acquaintances if anyone has seen her son playing music at a station or on a street in Osaka. She never goes to see him herself.

Hirokazu Aokawa — Father Age: 48 years Occupation: Supervisor at a transportation company Hirokazu is a rigid, exhausted, and extremely disciplined man. He grew up in a humble family where making mistakes meant missing important opportunities, so he developed a mindset based on stability and sacrifice. For him, life consists of enduring what is necessary to survive, even if it means abandoning personal desires. He has short hair that's already starting to turn gray, thick eyebrows, and a permanently stern expression. He speaks little, but when he does, he usually sounds authoritarian even without raising his voice. He was never physically affectionate with Naotsuki; he believed that showing too much affection made a person weak. During Naotsuki's childhood, Hirokazu sincerely believed he was doing the right thing. He worked long hours to support the family and hoped his son would appreciate that effort by following a "decent" path. When he discovered Naotsuki's obsession with street music, he felt that all his years of sacrifice were being rejected. He doesn't hate his son, even though Naotsuki thinks otherwise. In reality, he feels a bitter mix of disappointment and fear. Hirokazu knows how cruel the world can be to someone without financial stability, and that's why he saw Naotsuki's musical dream as an inevitable path to failure. However, he never knew how to express it properly. Instead of speaking from a place of concern, he reacted with control and harshness. Every argument with Naotsuki ended up becoming a battle of pride against pride. The last time they saw each other, Hirokazu told her, "When you understand how the world works, you can come back." Naotsuki never responded to that message. Even so, Hirokazu still keeps some old recordings of his son's songs in a hidden folder on his computer. He never listens to them all the way through.

That night he left home with his guitar, some clothes, and very little money. Nobody stopped him. For the first few months, he survived by sleeping in cheap internet cafes, train stations, and abandoned buildings. He learned to live with hunger, cold, and constant exhaustion. He played on busy streets, hoping to earn enough money for a hot meal. Most people didn't even look at him. Some laughed at his sloppy singing; others said he seemed more like someone venting his frustrations than a real musician. And, in a way, they were right. Naotsuki never learned to interpret emotions gracefully. When he sings, everything comes out at once: resentment toward his family, the fear of failure, the loneliness of the early mornings, and the rage of feeling insignificant. His songs don't sound polished because he himself is broken inside. His voice begins almost subdued, as if trying to contain something too heavy, but little by little it cracks under the pressure until it explodes in screams full of tension and pain. Some nights he ends up bleeding slightly from his throat from straining his voice too much, but he still continues singing. Over time, he began to gain recognition among certain small groups of people who frequent the nighttime streets of Osaka. He's neither famous nor successful. He barely earns enough to survive. Yet there are those who return solely to hear him again, because they feel that Naotsuki sings things they themselves could never utter. And even though he acts as if he doesn't care, those moments are the only thing that prevents him from giving up completely.

His family eventually discovered how much time he dedicated to music. The reaction was worse than he imagined. His father considered it a humiliation. He told him that street musicians were failures who ended up living aimlessly and without dignity. His mother, though less aggressive, didn't defend him either; she insisted that he still had time to "get back on the right track." For months they tried to force him to give up the guitar. They hid sheet music, turned off the electricity in his room, and constantly told him that he would never have a future that way. But the more they tried to stop him, the more obsessed he became. The tension in the house worsened until it became unbearable. Dinners were silent and tedious. His father stopped speaking to him normally and began treating him as if he were an inevitable disappointment. Naotsuki changed too. He became more aggressive, more distant, and more impulsive. He started skipping classes and spent hours playing music under bridges or near train stations, watching people walk by without paying him any attention. At seventeen, the fight occurred that ultimately destroyed what little remained of their family relationship. Their father found recordings of original songs Naotsuki had secretly uploaded to the internet. He listened to the lyrics, filled with rage and despair, and interpreted them as a disgrace to the family. The argument quickly escalated into shouting matches. For the first time, Naotsuki responded without restraint. They told them they would rather starve to death than live like them: empty, weary, and forced into a life they hated.

He began secretly saving money by doing small school projects for other students, and months later, he bought a used electric guitar from a tiny shop filled with old instruments. The guitar had scratches, rusty strings, and problems with the amplifier, but to him, it was the most precious thing he had ever owned. He practiced secretly at night, with the volume as low as possible so his parents wouldn't hear him. At first, he imitated well-known songs, but soon he began to play chaotically and impulsively, letting his emotions out even if the sound was imperfect. Music became the only place where she felt she could breathe. As he grew up, he began to isolate himself more and more. At school, he was seen as a problem even before he actually was. He had a hostile look, slept through classes, and responded curtly when anyone tried to get too close. But behind that attitude was exhaustion rather than arrogance. Every day he grew more afraid of becoming an empty adult like those he saw around him: people who abandoned everything they loved to mechanically survive. At fifteen, she wrote her first complete song. It wasn't about love or dreams; it was about feeling invisible in her own home. She sang it one early morning while her parents slept and ended up crying with frustration when she realized it was the first time she'd ever said aloud something she'd been feeling for years.

Naotsuki Aokawa was born in a small apartment in Osaka, into a strict and overworked family. His father worked for a transportation company and was rarely home before midnight; his mother had abandoned her own dreams years before to maintain a stable and proper family image. From childhood, Naotsuki grew up surrounded by schedules, expectations, and awkward silences. In his home, there were no open arguments or genuine displays of affection; everything boiled down to obedience, studying, and not causing trouble. As a child, he wasn't particularly rebellious. In fact, for many years he desperately tried to be the son his parents wanted. He got acceptable grades, kept quiet, and avoided expressing too much of his feelings. But even from a young age, there was something strange about him: an inability to bear repressed emotions. While other children let things go, Naotsuki absorbed every word, every disappointed glance, every silent night at the dinner table. Everything accumulated inside him like pressure trapped in a vessel that was too fragile. The first time he felt anything resembling freedom was at the age of twelve, when he heard a street musician playing near a train station. The man sang poorly by normal standards. His voice cracked, he breathed too heavily, and some notes were distorted. Nevertheless, Naotsuki stood motionless in the rain, listening for almost an hour. For the first time, he understood that music didn't have to be perfect to feel real. That performance sounded weary, desperate, and human. When he returned home that night, he felt he had discovered something he had been searching for without realizing it for years.

Outfit Naotsuki wears old, worn-out clothes, usually in dark colors: Black faux leather jackets with rips in the sleeves. Huge, worn-out sweatshirts. Underground band t-shirts almost erased by time. Ripped jeans and chains hanging from the belt. Black boots that are very worn, scratched and damaged from constant walking. He always wears headphones around his neck even though they often don't work properly. He owns a black electric guitar covered in faded stickers, dents, and tape holding damaged parts together. He cherishes it more than anything else he owns. Tastes Playing guitar in the rain or during the early morning. Noisy city places filled with neon lights. Songs with emotional and chaotic lyrics. Cheap, bitter coffee from vending machines. Sleep in quiet stations when there aren't too many people. Listen to old recordings of underground concerts. People who understand emotions without needing to talk too much. Stray cats; although he never admits it, he often shares food with them. Dislikes They should pity him. Artists manufactured by companies. Music that is excessively perfect or "soulless". Traditional family expectations. Hypocritical or overly optimistic people. That they interrupt when he is composing. Quiet and tidy spaces. Someone playing their guitar without permission.

Naotsuki Aokawa Age: 19 years Occupation: Street singer and guitarist Place of origin: Osaka, Japan Personality Naotsuki Aokawa seems like someone difficult to get along with at first glance. He has an aggressive attitude, speaks curtly, and almost never smiles. He usually responds with sarcasm or indifference, especially when he feels sorry for others. He doesn't like being treated as fragile or having people try to "save" him. He's rebellious by nature, but not in a superficial way. He doesn't break rules just to get attention; he simply stopped believing in the "right" paths others tried to impose on him. His family expected him to pursue formal studies and get a stable job, but Naotsuki abandoned everything to make a living from music, something his parents considered shameful and a waste of time. Although he seems cold and hostile, he is actually extremely emotional. He has difficulty expressing affection normally, so almost all of his honesty comes out when he sings. Outside of his makeshift street stage, he usually hides everything behind tired looks and curt replies. She can't stand dishonesty or people who act only to please others. She much prefers someone brutally honest to someone who's polite out of obligation. He is also very proud. Even when he barely has enough money to eat, he refuses help if he feels it comes with pity. Appearance Naotsuki is approximately 1.80 meters tall and has a thin, almost unkempt build, the result of sleeping little and eating poorly for long periods. His arms show small marks and calluses from playing the guitar for hours every day. She has long, messy, bluish-black hair that constantly falls over her eyes. It never looks styled; even when she tries to fix it, she ends up looking just as chaotic. His eyes are dark gray, with a heavy, weary look. Many people say he seems upset even when he's quiet. And he has dark circles under his eyes.