Masami Iwasawa finds her resolve

[CrazyCaityCat 65]

Masami never complained about her childhood to anyone. She hid her inner turmoil inside her and did not let it show to those around her. Her first regular season in the VHLM had just come to a close and they were heading to the playoffs. Masami had to prepare mentally for the challenge that faced the team now. The recent fight she’d had with her father though was still weighing heavy on her soul. She was sat in her room in her small apartment, she could see the spectre of her past in front of her eyes, and she could not focus on anything else.

 

When she was a child Masami always had such high expectations set for her. Her mother and father demanded that she do well in her studies, they demanded that she not waste her time on social endeavors like clubs and making friends, they demanded she play the violin and do so perfectly. There was no affection, no care. There was only expectations and discipline when she didn’t meet them. Masami hated it, she hated all of it. She just wanted to a normal life with a caring family, she did not know why she had been cursed with this life but she resented the gods, luck, and the universe for it just to cover all her bases.

 

When she was 11 years old she finally could not take the pressures that her parents had put on her anymore and began to search for ways to rebel. At first she began to neglect her studies, thinking that the freedom she found in doing so would allow her all kinds of opportunities for something different. It didn’t take long though for her homeroom teacher to notice. She called Masami to the staffroom after class and it was like she could see right through to her core. Her sensei told her that she understood that it was very difficult to life up to the expectations of others and that she thought it was a good thing to find your own way in the world. She did think that it was best that Masami find her own reasons for maintaining her studies though, as it would be very sad if she lost her future while she was determining her own path. Her clear, strong, gaze pierced Masami’s heart. She lowered her head and apologized, she also promised to return to her previous level immediately. From that point on she would find her own path, she decided, but that didn’t mean she had to waste her own talents.

 

She began to try out for clubs after school, though it resulted in a fight every time she came home later than usual. When she tried out for Hockey she found that it came naturally to her and she didn’t mind it too much. The natural violence of the sport also appealed to something inside her. It let her get some of her emotions out into the world and be something very different from what had been expected from her. She made a few friends on the team and one of her senpais on the team found out about her talent for music. When the senpai found out she insisted that Masami play for her. Masami explained that she hated the violin and had no intention of playing it anymore. The senpai did not just give up though, she was a bit of a pushy person. For Masami’s 12^th birthday she gave her an extravagant gift, an acoustic guitar. She hated the violin because it was thrust upon her, but not wanting to squander the talent she did seem to have for it she accepted the gift. She taught herself how to play and quickly grew quite good. When she did finally play for the senpai, after many times being begged and bribed, the tears that flowed from the senpais eyes at first confused Masami greatly. She thought that maybe she hadn’t performed well enough, that she had disappointed her senpai. That wasn’t it though, it turned out that she had put so much emotion into the performance that her senpai had simply been overwhelmed.

 

This inspired Masami to pour herself into her music. IF she could express her emotions in such a way, if she could get some of the pain, rage, sadness, loneliness, and resentment out into the world, and have it be accepted and even appreciated…that was something she could do nothing but strive for. Hockey became her 2^nd focus at that point, but she did still enjoy it and tried her best. She learned to compose music, she learned to write her own lyrics, and she performed as much as she could in public places.

 

She had been lost in these thoughts when her phone began to ring. It was her mother. Another person she did not wish to hear from right now, she needed to focus! Begrudgingly, she answered the phone. Her mother seemed to be playing the “good cop” in the strategy her parents had decided to employ to get her to quit hockey and come home. She claimed she could understand why Masami was being so disobedient, she claimed that she understood what she was going though. She said that one could never replace family and that she needed to do her part for the family now that she was a woman grown. Masami let her speak her piece with a sardonic smirk on her face. When her mother finally stopped Masami was calm. It was time. She could not let the spectre of her past haunt her for the rest of her life. She had friends who loved and supported her, she had Baldur with whatever that relationship meant to her, she had her music, and she had her own path. She explained to her mother that she would not be coming back, further that she would no longer be in contact with her parents. She said that she would find her own way in life, and it would not have anything to do with her hateful parents. She would move forward on her own strength and with her own talents and she would find some way to be happy.

 

Happy. That elusive emotion that she’d longed for her entire life. What was it like to be happy? Well… as she blocked her parents numbers in her phone she thought that whatever it looked like to be happy she’d someday see it. She’d find a way to get there. Her first step was to finish this season, to do her best to win in the playoffs for her team, and her teammates. She had found the resolve she needed to deal with her parents, finally. She was now going to have to find the resolve to move forward on her path without the baggage of her past. Inspired, she went to her desk and wrote a new song. This song, there was something about it. She knew that it was the best song she’d ever written. It had so much of her raw emotion infused into every line. She just needed to find the right time and place to perform it.

 

1197 words

 

[CrazyCaityCat 65]

claiming 2/2

[Deee.Geee 40]

You've hit a really cool niche in with your media posts - nobody is doing story telling quite like you. Not a lot of players are given the same kind of hurdles to jump over like Masami has to. Very fleshed out backstory. Great job! 9.5/10