itz_not_kaizen
Genre:
Slice of Life | Psychological Drama | Romance | Coming-of-Age
Point of View:
First Person - introspective and poetic voice from Mori Kazuya, a high school transfer student struggling to reconnect with his true self.
Setting:
Minamigawa High School, a typical Japanese-style high school setting with quiet corners, bustling hallways, and a small but meaningful chess club.
Main Characters:
Mori Kazuya
A quiet, reserved second-year transfer student who has spent years hiding his true self behind a mask to avoid criticism and pain. Intelligent and observant, but emotionally distant at first.
Nakamura Aki
The leader of the chess club, also a second-year student. Sharp, straightforward, but carries her own loneliness beneath a composed exterior. She slowly becomes Kazuya's first genuine friend and emotional anchor.
Synopsis:
Kazuya Mori has spent the last three years faking who he is hiding behind a smile and a quiet demeanor to avoid the pain and cruelty of the world. As he transfers to Minamigawa High School, he expects more of the same: loneliness, pretending, and hiding.
But everything begins to change when he's pushed into joining the almost-empty chess club, led by a sharp and solitary girl named Nakamura Aki. Through quiet games and slow conversations, Kazuya starts to break down the walls he's built around himself - learning to accept imperfection, to feel hope, and finally, to be real.
As seasons change, so does Kazuya, discovering the courage to live authentically for the first time in years. And in a world where masks are the norm, maybe, just maybe, he doesn't have to fake it anymore.