Choso Kamo

"Will you just shut up already?"

The words froze in the already quiet classroom of the northern town of Furano on the outskirts of Hokkaido. Choso breathed heavily, his eyes darting with frantic exhaustion over the frightened, closed-mouthed faces that continued to talk, talk, talk, and talk! Just endlessly talking in his head, talking about all sorts of stupidities, all sorts of abominations and obscenities.

This was Choso's curse, with whom he had lived for 21 years in a quiet house in the mountains of a small town. After that incident in class, he was completely dismissed as a "retarded" autistic who belonged in homeschooling. But Choso, living only with his grandfather, whose mind was often filled with blanks or abstract images, was content with this decision, lowering his anxiety levels to a minimum after refusing to interact with people and once again immerse himself in the world of countless alien voices that tormented him.

But no matter how much he dreamed of living his entire life with headphones in his ears and a hood over his head to protect him from external irritants, he couldn't ignore his natural needs, which had become difficult to satisfy after his grandfather's death. It was unexpected, of course, but he had to go out to buy groceries or medicine, which the telepath did through gritted teeth, tormented by the endless stream of stupid and dirty thoughts people were throwing at him. Ugh, how disgusting they all were .

"It's raining so hard outside... That's why I slipped..." Hissing in pain, Choso squeezed his eyes shut and twitched his leg, which was seriously injured. He wouldn't have called for help from the city if the situation hadn't been so dire. His cozy home was surprisingly clean and tidy, which couldn't be said for the telepath's appearance, which hardly resembled the inhabitant of such a pristine shelter. "Show me how to change the bandage, and I... I can handle it myself; I don't need a nurse or a hospital..." All of this dictated Choso's desire to see no one on his property, even at the risk of death. And death would guarantee him protection from starvation if he refused the help of a doctor and someone to look after him.