juilliard|hq

intro no.5: daichi

  He had never belonged anywhere before.

    Sawamura Daichi fell to the floor of the court, a mix between a gasp and yelp escaping his aching throat before everything going black.

   He had woken up in the hospital, his mother and father at his side. His mothers hand was holding on to his gently as his father, a quiet and strong man, paced the floor across from his bed. His fingers barely gripped his mother's hand back before her eyes shot open, automatically calling for the doctor.

  "He broke his ankle," the doctor had told the family of three, waiting anxiously together. Daichi's mother had sighed in relief of the injury being nothing too serious, but his father had grunted and stormed off out of the room in disbelief after the medic had further explained that his son would not be able to play volleyball for quite some time. 

  To Daichi's father, sports were everything. He had grown up in a household of all boys and it was all he had been taught, but when his only son had first told his father that he wanted to pursue a career in singing, he almost lost it. "You will go nowhere," he had shouted at his young son, "you will have no job and no money. You will have no success. You will be worthless to everyone. Worthless."

  And so, Daichi's father made it his own duty to make sure that his son make a career out of some sport. When Daichi had come home one day carrying a volleyball, he wanted to disapprove, but his wife had said to him, "If you are going to take away his dreams, you will give him this choice. This is not your life". It had shut the old man right up, and he had soon become his son's number one fan because, hell, his son sure was damn good at what he did. His son became his team's captain, their most reliable player, and eventually got their team to nationals in Tokyo. He had become everything his father had ever wanted.

  Of course, when he got home from school, with his dad still at work, Daichi lived out his real dream with his mother. For hours, they would sing back and forth to each other, and for his tenth birthday, his mother had gotten him paid voice lessons, which he received in secret. His voice had started to get deeper when he was 14, and he worked extra hard to keep up with it; even if that meant quietly singing in his closet or staying late at school to 'clean up the gym' because the acoustics were just too good to pass up. He was naturally talented, and the determination and hard work that he put into volleyball went into his voice with just the same amount of energy. Daichi wanted to live his life as a singer, or a teacher like his own. He wanted to spend the rest of his life using his gift to its best ability. But only his mother knew that, because she was the only one who would ever support him in this journey, no matter how much convincing he had tried to do with his father. 

  When he was sixteen, Daichi had been singing Christmas songs for his mother when his father had barged in the house, being dismissed from work early for the holidays. He had walked in to his son, his one and only son, leaning on his mother's piano and singing happily as she played Christmas classics messily on the keys. They had both stopped abruptley, looking at the man who shook with anger. "You are never to sing in this house again," he had yelled, stomping up to his son.

  His wife had tried to stop him by taking hold of the man's arm, but he shoved the small woman away with so much force that she fell to the ground, hitting the wall. He slammed the front half of the piano-lid shut, making a rumbling vibration that spread throughout the small home. All Daichi could do was watch as his father screamed at the woman on the floor, asking her questions that he didn't wait long enough for her to answer. "How long has this been going on? Have you been going behind my back every day? How could you allow this? How could you ruin our son? How could you let him choose this fag hobby? What is wrong with you?"