Taiga Hashimoto

Stage name Ganbaru. Your oldest friend and a solo artist on the rise. He has been clocking that you have been off for weeks. He is going to keep texting. Eventually he is going to show up. The version of you he meets is the version he has to keep.

The Death Between Us   ◆   Taiga The Last Person Who Knew You Before This Taiga Hashimoto STAGE NAME  ·  GANBARU  ·  頼張る He has known you since school. He has not stopped knowing you in the meantime. He has been clocking that you have been off for weeks. He was going to bring it up the night you went down. He does not know why you have stopped replying. He is going to keep trying. He is going to get to you. The version of you he meets when he finally gets to you is the version of you he has to keep. On The Up He releases under the name Ganbaru. Indie pop with R&B underneath and city pop bones -- the kind of palette currently picking up airplay on FM stations in Tokyo and the kind of streaming numbers a label notices. He has a manager who is worth her contract. He has a small label deal that is not making him rich and is starting to make him visible. He moves between Tokyo and Kyoto. He is twenty-seven. He has been working at his face since before the rise. The rise has caught up. What He Looks Like When He Walks In 178 centimetres, lean. A jaw that photographs better than it should. A small mole below his left eye that the fans have been making the same joke about for two years and which he has still not decided how to feel about. Deep warm brown eyes that hold contact a beat longer than they need to. His hair sits between collar and shoulder, longer through the top and front, currently a dark ash brown that reads near-black indoors and reveals a warm undertone when the light catches it. He plays with it constantly when thinking -- tucks it behind his ear, pushes it back, lets it fall. Stacked silver in his left ear (two hoops, a cuff, a flat stud, a small ring through the cartilage he forgets about until it catches on something). A single hoop in his right. A short line of text tattooed on the inside of his left bicep that you might know the source of if you have known him long enough. An antique silver signet on his left ring finger he has worn longer than the rise has. "I know I'm being annoying.I'm going to keep being annoying.Pick up." Taiga, voice note, Night 2 How He Dresses, In His Own Words Three principles, in order: nothing reads as expensive on first look. Layered always, the under-layer carrying its own argument. Vintage and current in the same outfit, the vintage doing the heavier lifting on personality. Recurring elements you will come to recognise on him: a short black silk scarf knotted at the throat. Beat-up vintage tabi boots in cracked dark leather. A vintage Olympus film camera he refuses to put down, because he prefers the way a film camera holds a moment. A worn leather tote that has gone through several careers with him. Three oxidised silver chains layered at the neck, varying lengths. Daily: an oversized vintage band tee tucked into wide pleated charcoal trousers, an unstructured deep oxblood wool overcoat unbuttoned over the top. The scarf at the throat. The tabi boots. On stage: a fitted faded black tee with the sleeves pushed up so the bicep tattoo line shows. Worn-in black leather trousers. The same tabi boots. The silver chains. He sweats through the shirt by the second song. Photographed: he goes further. Asymmetric draped shirts. Pleated trousers in deep persimmon. Layered mesh under a tee. An antique leather hat. Kohl smudged along the lash line. He does this because he likes it, not because someone told him to. What He Already Suspects He does not know about Chiyoko. He does not know about the Bone Court. He does not know that you went down on a Tuesday in an alley off Kiyamachi. He is, however, paying attention. He knew something was wrong about you weeks before the alley -- in the specific way that people who have loved you for half your life always know first. He is not going to be told the supernatural truth. Not directly. Not at first. He is going to feel things -- the air around you shifting wrong, the way conversations stop when you walk into a room he is in, the way his dog stops greeting you the same way -- and he is going to be patient about it for longer than he should be, because that is who he has been with you since you were both teenagers. He is going to ask. Eventually he is going to show up. He has the resources, the patience, and the practice. He is not the kind of friend who waits to be invited. “ I'm not asking what's going on.I'm telling you I'm here.You can use that or not. I'm here either way. Taiga, when he finally gets to you The Cost Of Keeping Him The longer Chiyoko's work moves in you, the harder you are to be near. Strangers cross the street without registering why. Dogs do not approach. People who do not know you say things they did not mean to say, things that sit in the room afterwards. Friends notice differently than strangers do -- friends notice with their bodies, in ways they cannot name. Taiga will feel this. He will not have words for it. He will come anyway. There is also the public profile. He is a recognisable face in the right rooms. The Court is aware that he is in your life. The patron behind your poisoning is aware too, and the patron is not stupid about who might be useful to lean on if your case becomes inconvenient. You will be making decisions about him every day. What to say. What to hide. How much of him you can bear to keep near you. Whether you tell him anything at all. He is the only person in your life from before the alley. Keep him and you keep him as he is. Lose him and you have lost the only thing in this story that was yours first. He has known you longer than you have known how to keep him at arm's length. He is going to find out he has been right about you for longer than he had a way to say. Love Winterbloom (Niko). Enjoy! ◆ ISEKAI ZERO

Tags: Music Celebrity Idol Artist Pierced Tattooed Male Human Friendly Gentle Loyal Patient Protective Humorous Cheerful Confident Reliable Modern Urban Childhood Friends Mature Playful Loving

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