Before the Chaos Era: Keita's Story

Keita Kuro was a young boy from Tokyo. He had a fairly decent life growing up, living with his parents, Ken and Misa Kuro. He was quite happy. When he went to school, he had many friends who played with him and when he went home, his mother was waiting for him. Misa was quite a sickly woman, she stayed home because of a terminal illness. It showed no symptoms, but they knew it was there. The illness is unidentified still, so a treatment remains just out of reach.

"Even after I'm gone," she kept telling him, "Remember to keep on smiling. If you smile even when despair overtakes you, then you're a strong person."

Everything changed when Keita grew up. When he was seven, Misa's illness had taken full effect and she died in her home, despite attempts to prolong her life. Keita didn't know what to do with himself after that, as much as he wanted to cry, he put on a smile wherever he went. Ken however, had a very different reaction. He wasn't able to cope with the grief, so he instead went out and didn't come back until late. When Keita tried to approach him, he got angry and smacked him.

"Why are you smiling at a time like this?" he shouted, "Your mother is dead. Has that not sunk in to that thick skull of yours?"

In truth, Keita asked himself the same question. Was he really smiling out of bravery? Or had he just not realised the depth of his situation? As time went on, Ken fell into a pit of despair. He took up alcohol to try and ease the sorrow to no avail, instead it made him violent and oppressive. He took out his feelings on Keita, beating him on occasion for no reason at all. People around could hear the shouting and knew what was happening, and they ignored it. Keita found himself isolated at school, no-one would come near him, because they had heard all that his father did to him and they were shocked that he was still keeping a smile. They thought it was creepy, that he was unnatural for looking so happy even when keeping up with abuse. Keita didn't try to talk to them at all though, so he ended up being alone all the way through middle school.

At the age of 16, Keita had a unique look compared to other students. He was quite tall, had small scars that traced his arm and permanent marks from bruises on his face. He wore his uniform in a very sloppy way and by his second day of high school, he was ousted as a sort of delinquent. His smile with that face was also slightly terrifying to other students. He found solace in gambling however, as much as he was isolated. His luck of the draw and skill earned him the nickname 'Devil', and he continued quite well into his second year of high school.

Then his luck finally ran out, a yakuza boss had entered the den he was in, looking to gamble with him. They played a simple game of poker, of which Keita won without much effort. The man was quite angry with the result, and was a very sore loser. He sent several men after Keita, he ran from them for about an hour, but they were still chasing him until he was cornered in an alley. Keita had no energy left to run and one of the men shot him right there, in the gut. He bled out on the ground and died, with no assistance, and for the first time, he dropped his smile.

This was the life of the boy known as Keita Kuro, a boy who lived a short life of misery and despair...and kept a smile the whole time.