HIKARU HIYAMA – character intro“People are tiring, aren’t they?”

HIKARU HIYAMA– character intro

“People are tiring, aren’t they?”

Name: Hikaru Hiyama (飛山光, Hiyama Hikaru written with the kanji for “to fly”, “mountain” and “light”)
Age:15
Appearance: Average height for his home country, slightly shorter than average abroad; very lean and light to maximize flying speed; fair skin; short, fluffy hair that can look black or dark brown depending on lighting; dark brown eyes; intelligent-looking but expressionless face
Familiar: A very large komainu (one half of a pair, with the other one belonging to his twin sister) named Fuyu
Strengths: Flying; “speaking in tongues” (talking to animals); enchantment
Magic type:~~Light~~

The surprisingly powerful son of an average Light Mage family. Outwardly stoic, though mostly just bad at expressing emotions; only as nice as the other person is to him, and petty and spiteful when provoked. Not very good with people despite his best efforts; strongly prefers animals to humans. Easily stressed by the sound of human voices.

Excerpt:

Why should I be jealous of the guy no one would care about if he wasn’t this fast? He knew, of course, but he hated to hear it. He didn’t want to hear it, not from someone like the ace of this team, Finnian Day, who could have anything he wished for with a snap of his fingers. Finnian, who could be an arrogant, insufferable person and still have lots of friends because he wasn’t like Hikaru, he was normal, and he could easily fit in with the other normal people.
Why don’t you try to play with the other kids? You’re always alone.
Hikaru’s weird. We don’t wanna play with him.
Why are you always so quiet? You should socialize, you know.
What do I do with this child?
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to fit in or have friends. It was just—people were so loud, and confusing, and they rarely seemed to say what they meant. And Hikaru was too straightforward, too literal, too bad at figuring out all the hints and clues and subtleties that seemed to come easily to everyone else.
He was better at it all now, through years and years of painstaking study. He had learned to maintain eye contact. He had learned to understand when people said one thing or meant another—mostly. He had learned to bite his tongue instead of rambling on and on about the things that fascinated him, not realizing that he was boring everyone else with them. But it was still the difference between a native speaker and someone who had only ever learned the language from books and classes.
Finnian was right, Hikaru thought, as much as that thought angered him. If not for his exceptional flying skills, even his parents would think he was no good.

Note: I’m aware that the creature in the moodboard is, in fact, not a komainu but an Okinawan shīsā. However, since the creatures are very similar and it was impossible to find a free image of a komainu that would’ve fit into the color palette, I decided to take this liberty. My apologies.