Jyushi Aimono/Story

Warning for Depression, Bullying, and Suicide.

### Second Year

Jyushi was heavily bullied in school and was too anxious and nervous to make any close friends. Jyushi met Iyogi at school, whom he instantly befriended. Jyushi was overjoyed to share interests and tried his best to befriend Iyogi, going to bed every night happy to find a friend. However, Iyogi grew jealous of Jyushi after a karaoke night.

After the incident, Iyogi grew cold towards Jyushi, prompting his insecurities before he began to bully him. Jyushi was heartbroken after Iyogi revealed a secret he shared to him, one of his stuffed animal Amanda. Jyushi was heartbroken and didn’t understand why Iyogi switched sides, but form then on he began to severely bully and harass him. Iyogi would steal Amanda and attempt to rip her, dump milk on Jyushi and lock him in a stall, and different forms of ridiculing and harassment. However, Jyushi’s life switched around when Hitoya stepped in and demanded Iyogi and his cronies to stop bullying Jyushi.

Hitoya told Jyushi to try his hardest in life to become a great person, and Jyushi was greatly inspired by these words. However, the bullying didn’t stop, and Jyushi grew severely depressed as he was unable to share to his beloved grandmother how he was bullied. Jyushi decided to leave Amanda at home to protect her. Jyushi tried to pretend that the bullying didn't affect him and adopted a vain and strong persona to switch into when he was scared, inspired by Hitoya and his favorite band. Iyogi began to pick on Jyushi less after his burst of confidence, but things went horribly downhill.

Jyushi left Amanda with his grandmother, thanking her and requesting for Amanda to be fixed after many bullying incidents. As revenge, the bullies heckled Jyushi's grandmother while walking on side of the street, and in her attempt to get away from them she was tragically killed in a car collision. Iyogi took a video of the death, and after Jyushi found out at the hospital, he prepared to kill himself.

Sobbing, Jyushi overheard Iyogi discussing how his grandmother was killed, and this sent him over the edge. With one last effort he decided to give proof of the bullying and proof of the student's involvement in his grandmother's death to Hitoya. Jyushi wrote a letter begging for Hitoya’s help, leaving a suicide note in the process. Jyushi stood atop a building while preparing to jump, unable to cope with the anguish. However, Hitoya rushed to find Jyushi and begged him to reconsider. Hitoya managed to talk Jyushi off the edge of a roof by telling him about how Hitoya's own brother had killed himself years prior, and how Hitoya had never been able to move past it. Jyushi resolves to stay alive and with Hitoya's help, was able to prosecute the bullies.

However, after Iyogi was sentenced to 15 years in prison, Jyushi felt intense guilt despite everything he was put through. But afterwards, Hitoya helped Jyushi mentally and looked after him, trying to get him to go back to school or leave his house. He was able to connect with Jyushi over music and inspired Jyushi to join a band, as music was what helped Hitoya recover from his brother's death. Jyushi eventually thanked Hitoya for helping him, saying that Hitoya saved his life, and was his hero.

### Challenging Champions (Chaser from the Past)

Kuko and Jyushi continued to train at the temple with Kuko scolding Jyushi to slack off during meditation. Kuko then thought about improving their teamwork and called Hitoya to the temple for a practice, although Hitoya said that he has an affair in Shinjuku. Kuko assumed that Hitoya went to challenge Matenro, so he grabbed Jyushi and went to Shinjuku to catch up with him. Kuko and Jyushi went to the Fragrance host club where Kuko started to cause chaos, demanding to bring him Hifumi Izanami and forcing all customers to leave.
Eventually, Hifumi arrived at the club together with Doppo Kannonzaka and Kuko said that even though he respects them as the champions of the Division Battle, they came as their enemies. Kuko then challenged them for a battle and even though Hifumi and Doppo were able to fight back, Kuko and Jyushi didn't go down. Suddenly, the police arrived at the club to deal with the chaos and Jyushi, being scared that they might be arrested, grabbed Kuko and ran away from the club, much to Kuko's fury.