TATSUYA TARO
OVERVIEW
Name: Tatsuya Taro
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Role: 1st-year Student
House: House of Evolution, Silvolver
Rank: A-rank
Deck Played: D/D/D
Ace Monster(s): D/D/D Flame King Genghis
APPEARANCE
Faceclaim Name: Jun Sazanami
Faceclaim Series: Ensemble Stars
Hair Color: Black (dyed blue)
Eye Color: Hazel
Height: 175 cm
Weight: 63 kg
Tatsuya is a rather intimidating figure to behold. While not incredibly muscular, one can tell that he puts a great deal into his physical activity and cold, strong image. His resting expression resembles that of a glare, even if he isn’t particularly angry about anything: though this has led to a few misunderstandings, he resists the urge to escalate the situation further every now and then.
PERSONALITY
LIKES:- Sappy love songs (secretly)
- Chess/checkers
- Motorcycles
- Nighttime walks
- His grandmother
DISLIKES:- “Nerds”, “dorks”, “geeks”, etc.
- Other people’s egos
- Bullies (besides himself, of course)
- Sugary snacks
- His mother
Tatsuya is a defiant soul who thinks he’s too cool for school. He is infamous for the dirty looks he tends to shoot people, and mostly keeps to himself as a result. He doesn’t seem to want to start any serious trouble, but consistently states that if trouble comes to him, he would be more than willing to reciprocate tenfold. Rumors about his elementary and middle school life circulate every so often: most notably that he was a massive bully who practically ruled his grade. These rumors are TRUE, yes… But knowing his track record as of his last year of middle school, one could mistake him for a model student with occasional threats thrown around.
Past his cold exterior, the boy possesses a reluctantly warm and open heart. In particular, it seems that he’s a lot more respectful and comfortable speaking with older people. Other rumors spread about him state that he volunteers at a local convalescent home during breaks and holidays, and that some students attest that their grandparents think he’s “a bright, kind young boy”. These are also true. Tatsuya possesses the potential to be a compassionate, charitable person, but chooses to bear thorns at those his age. Through a mix of mild social anxiety and a need to make a name for himself, his true colors only show when those he wants respect from aren’t watching.
HISTORY
Tatsuya Taro’s life was never an easy one. He was born overseas to a single mother after losing a father in a car accident when he was six, and shortly after his father’s death the mother and son moved to Silva, his father’s old hometown. His father was a relatively wealthy man… But interestingly enough, Tatsuya’s grandmother was entitled to the majority of his assets while his mother inherited the bare minimum. This fact infuriated her.
The grief of losing a loved one combined with the added stress of establishing herself in the workforce without reliable support from her inherited funds sent Tatsuya’s mother into a dark bitterness. She began working double overtime at many different jobs over the years, downing several cups of coffee a day just to keep powering through. It was necessary to provide for herself and her son, but in that mad dash for cash, the boy felt neglected. He had trouble making new friends at his new school, and his mother was either too exhausted to give him any attention, or fast asleep on the sofa.
This seed of worry and despair blossomed into a rose bud of hurt and betrayal by the time Tatsuya was twelve. At long last, the bullies in his school picked up on the loner who liked to play Duel Monsters in the corner by himself with two cheap structure decks. He was called names, pushed, taunted, and denied even school lunch when those punks rolled up with those smug grins on their faces. Tatsuya was a smart kid, but this harassment dropped his performance in school drastically. His mother was called in for a parent-teacher conference to discuss his lackluster performance in class… And she lost it. Then began the fatal mistake that set poor Tatsuya against his own mother ever since, as she blamed the boy for his own “laziness” as he “leeched off of her”.
He had enough. Tatsuya would be sent to the office countless times for his actions following. He fired back at the kids who picked on him tenfold: Dueled them and took/ripped their cards, physically attacked them, and more. That hatred for those kids went deeper than anyone could ever know, and each incident got worse and worse. It was a miracle that he wasn’t expelled before the last incident, which sent a child to urgent care for a broken arm. Tatsuya’s mother couldn’t understand why her son was doing this, but in his words, “she was to blame”.
His words were misinterpreted, and some digging into his records showed that Tatsuya had a school lunch account, but never used it since he was twelve: ever since then, he either did without or stole it from someone else. The principal suspected parental neglect, and with his mother’s busy work schedule taken into account, they had a case. By the end of the month, Tatsuya was transferred to the city of Silvershine to live with a relative: his father’s mother, Momoka Taro.
Momoka, unlike Tatsuya’s mother, was living off of retirement funds and her son’s will. She had more than enough cash to spare, and was the best contact that he had. Tatsuya was reluctant to stay there given that he didn’t have the best track record with single guardians, but after several slip-ups and firm broom handle whacks later, he learned to hold his tongue around his grandmother. The old woman was stern, but fair. She showed genuine interest in Tatsuya, who had been kept from her for years by his envious mother, and sought to reconnect with her grandchild.
Tatsuya was taken aback by her hospitality. She arranged for private tutoring sessions during the summer to help him catch up in school again. She bought him new clothes: both proper attire to dress formally as well as whatever he thought looked cool. There were always two meals at home a day, and every time he went to school, he came with a small lunch box with a note reminding him to have a good day. Every day after school, she would sit down with him in front of the TV and ask about his day. Within two months, this feeling of warmth and love had broken the yoke of the embittered boy’s heart. His grandmother felt like a genuine motherly figure to him: something he hadn’t experienced before.
Returning to those days of being a no-good bully in retaliation would just disappoint the old woman. After all that she had done to accommodate him and to make him feel appreciated and heard, it didn’t sit right that he would turn around and betray her like that. One heartfelt talking session came and went, and Tatsuya promised to clean up his act… Sort of. While his pride was too large to admit that he was entirely in the wrong, he did confess that he felt he went too far at times. His classmates and peers were shocked when the infamous bully Tatsuya Taro came up to them and mumbled an apology. He still seemed a bit cold and reluctant, but the apology was of his own accord. The tutoring sessions paid off, as he rose to the top of his class once more when it came to academics. He accompanied his grandmother to the senior center, where he joined up with a small volunteer group that helped elderly convalescent home residents. All of these actions happened within the span of a few months, which baffled the school. Tatsuya Taro, the infamous troublemaker, had supposedly turned over a new leaf!
...Well, sort of. There have been a few cases where someone tested his patience a little too much, but nothing on the scale of how frequent it was when he was younger. This time around, he would be the one to mumble remorseful apologies to his grandmother who came into the office. Additionally, his biological mother still persists in wanting to violate a court order to see him again. His only response was a middle finger sent via a picture in text, followed by a “sorry, no thank you” after his guardian reprimanded him for the disrespectful gesture.
Momoka decided that it was time that Tatsuya receive a huge reward for all of his hard work. One of the summer tutors she had hired for him was a Dueling coach as a side job, and she knew that Tatsuya loved to Duel. Even though his means as a child were selfish and impure, the boy had a talent for the game. His moves in chess against the senior citizens reeked of a dedicated strategist’s work. For his sixteenth birthday, his grandmother presented him with a small Deck Box and a new Duel Disk: the latest model, to be specific. It was black with many different lines of color dashed along it, and the Field Zones held spectacular designs that wowed the boy. His first Duel against the Dueling coach was a blowout, with Tatsuya demolishing him in four turns.
D/D/D Flame King Genghis called to him, and within moments his board was stacked. His grandmother was proud of his work, and suggested that he apply to the Liberta Duel Academy: only fitting for someone who has come as long a way as him. He agreed, attended the tests, and passed with flying colors. He recognized shortly after the examination that the excitement got to him and he made one or two careless estimations, but nonetheless his performance was enough to rank him into the A-rank of Silvolver, the House of Evolution.
Now if only he could make friends. That’s the hard part.
PLAYED BY HydraFrog#1342