Gen Ishihara

### Occupation

Usually involved in construction and mechanic-type work(But can he repair his relationship with his son?)

### Status

Alive

Gen Ishihara is a minor character and the father of Kunio Ishihara. He is one of the main answers to the question "Kunio, why are you like this?"

## About Gen

Gen is a very stern, somewhat surly man who has emotionally repressed himself to hell and back for 18 years, resulting in him having difficulty expressing any emotion aside from neutrality and anything in the annoyance-anger spectrum. He can't stand being seen as weak or vulnerable, but as long as he is able to avoid that in the process, he's still usually willing to admit when he is wrong.

It is glaringly obvious to most people who interact with this man at length that he has a lot of deep-rooted issues and insecurities. But he does *NOT* want to talk about them.

## Blog History

### Childhood Incidents

As a boy, Gen admired Kazuo Sakai, a boy in his junior high class who was known for being kind, athletic, and a friend to everyone. This admiration soon developed into romantic feelings he didn't know what to do with. He couldn't very well tell anyone, especially not *Kazuo*, so he expressed his feelings when they got to be too much by writing love letters in a notebook. He kept the notebook closely guarded, only writing in it when he was sure no one was around, and never letting it leave his side. The letters within were never supposed to be read by anyone.

Unfortunately, there was another boy in their shared class, Seiji Hamada. Seiji was lively to the point of being disruptive, and often went too far in messing with other people. Gen was not exempt, and throughout their time sharing a class, he became increasingly irritated with Seiji's acting out. Not long after they all entered high school, Gen told Seiji off for his behavior during after school cleaning. Annoyed with being lectured, Seiji swiped Gen's "homework notebook" out of his bag while he wasn't paying attention to get back at him, but it wasn't until he got home and took a look inside that he realized what he'd really gotten ahold of... And what kind of payback he could really dish out.

The next day, Gen entered the classroom to find his letters all over the walls and all eyes on him. Everyone was talking about it loud enough for him to hear what they thought of him. He ran away from the room, ran until he collapsed, and hid away from school, but the damage had been done and he had to go back eventually. When he did, word had spread and he was tormented mercilessly every day. As much as he wished that Kazuo would come to his aid, he never did. Gen understood why. Over the years, he'd remained popular as a friend to all... Meaning that as soon as the letters surfaced, there were a lot of people watching him, ready to turn on him if he gave them a reason.

He understood. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

When Gen came home with injuries that couldn't be explained away as friendly roughhousing one time too many, his family moved to Morioh and enrolled him in a new school without asking the reason for the bullying. Kids don't need a reason to be cruel, they figured.

Gen was determined to prevent what happened at his old school from happening at this one. He would work on getting physically stronger, but until then, he needed to get close to a girl. This is when he found Mayu Takigawa. She was small and cute, very outwardly feminine, and became flustered when their eyes met, which is to say, she was *perfect*. He took his first opportunity to begin talking to her, and kept at it from then on, spending as much time with her as she'd allow, showering her with praise all the while. It wasn't long before it was clear she'd fallen for him completely, and Gen wasted no time in establishing them as a couple. From then on, he displayed even more affection towards Mayu very publicly, and they quickly became cemented in the eyes of their peers as obnoxious lovebirds.

Good. This was what Gen wanted. No one could possibly suspect him of anything this way. And maybe... Maybe if he kept this up, he'd start loving her for real, and he could finally be normal.

Gen and Mayu got married as soon as they graduated high school. They had Kunio not long after. This happened so quickly because they were so in love, and definitely not because Gen had anything to prove.

### Present Relationship with Family

Gen's first appearance on the blog was when Kunio returned home after his surprise haircut. Gen expressed his approval and was that it was "About time Kunio got himself a real haircut". Later, desperate to stop seeing the ghost of Sasori Ljime, Kunio drank a can of his father's alcohol and wandered outside. Aoi Watanabe intended to return him home, but the vaguely threatening encounter she had with Gen at the front door made her fear for Kunio's safety and take him to her house instead.

Suspicious of Gen's intentions, anons began to question him about his family life, and he admitted that if Kunio was being harassed at school despite raising him in a way that he thought would keep that from happening, then perhaps he's going about it the wrong way. However, the anons struck several nerves during the conversation, resulting in Gen becoming angry and ceasing to answer any questions.

Some time after, Gen was contacted by Celari Yukikara regarding what Kunio had told her during their therapy sessions (with Kunio's permission to disclose the information), and ultimately suggested that they attend future sessions together. Despite everything, Gen didn't want things to get worse between him and his son, so he agreed.

He did not enjoy the session.

## Further Elaboration on Relationships

### Family

Kunio Ishihara is Gen's son. He'd planned to raise Kunio in a way that would make him strong and keep him from being bullied in school "so things would be different for him". This upbringing only really succeeded in making Kunio angry and insecure, and formed a fairly large rift between the two. Now that he's aware his methods don't work, he's open to alternatives and trying to fix things with Kunio, but it's slow going.

Mayu Ishihara is Gen's wife. They met when he transferred to her high school, where he quickly started spending time with her and doing anything that could express interest in her, which she returned soon enough. They were together throughout high school where he made their relationship as public as possible, and married soon after graduation, later followed by Kunio's birth. Over the years, Gen has been showing affection less and less openly than he did in the beginning, but he hasn't actually noticed that anything's different. Mayu has *definitely* noticed.

### Acquaintances

Gen knows he agreed to attending Kunio's therapy sessions with Celari Yukikara, but that doesn't mean he likes it or is at all comfortable with it. He has no ill will towards Celari, and knows she's doing her job, but doesn't really want her knowing weird, soul-bearing stuff about him.

Gen is aware of Aoi Watanabe, Naomi Sawaragi, and Merridith Beleza and the gist of their relationships with his son. Or, at least he thinks he does. he hasn't seen Naomi in a few years since Kunio doesn't bring her over anymore so he doesn't know what they get up to, and he thinks Merridith and Kunio are dating when they're t-totally not, baka!

## Abilities

Gen doesn't have a stand, but he is pretty physically strong, and he does his best to keep it that way.

*Not for any particular reason or anything, though. He is very secure in his masculinity.*