Holly Heights App
Apr. 12th, 2010 04:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wearsheartoncheekIC INFORMATION;
Characters Name: Takuto Ashikiba
Age: 17
Canon: Yowamushi Pedal
Canon Point: Chapter 245, immediately after he thanks Fukutomi for his encouragement.
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Orientation: There’s really no indication anywhere of who he’s attracted to, so for the purposes of housing either is fine!
Appearance: Here! Standing tall at 202 cm/6’7.5, he’s probably around 180 lbs (80-81 kg).
History:
Since the wiki page for him is… empty and Ashikiba is not shown in any of the chapters before his initial appearance, I’ll skip out on describing all of the events of the 1st interhigh given that he was not present for them and only heard about them after the fact.
Ashikiba’s story, as told through flashbacks, really begins years before the beginning of the manga. In elementary school, he was good friends with Sohoku’s new captain Teshima, and the two bonded over a love of music (classical and j-pop) respectively. Teshima, however, introduced Ashikiba to road racing bicycles, which caught Ashikiba’s interest when he saw that their structure and sound were similar to musical instruments. Teshima revealed his desire to reach the top of the bicycle racing world, a wish that Ashikiba wholly supported and promised to achieve with him. Unfortunately, the pair was separated when Ashikiba’s family moved from Chiba to Kanagawa prior to his first year of high school, and they did not see each other until the latter half of their second year, when Ashikiba is formally introduced in the manga as a member of the Hakone bicycle club.
Ashikiba’s introduction to the club was not a smooth one. While he was able to participate in his middle school’s club due to being 10 cm shorter (even if 192 cm is… slightly tall for your average 7th grader), his performance suffers because of his size and lack of relative muscle in comparison to his weight. Discouraged by his own anxiety and his teammate’s taunts, Ashikiba tearfully and quietly resigns himself to lagging behind and doing chores for the club, resorting to thinking of quitting the team itself and becoming the laundry manager. However, after hearing about a certain miserable giraffe-sized boy’s lagging behind, Ashikiba’s upper classmen Fukutomi and Shinkai decide to check on him one night in the club room. After finding him miserably accepting his decision to become the manager, they decide to give him some encouragement. They ask him what he truly wants to be, and when Ashikiba responds with “the greatest cyclist”, they suggest trying to use his size and qualities he already possesses in order to create his own riding style. With the help of some adjustments to his bike in order to accommodate his large frame, Ashikiba develops his own riding style that incorporates using his beloved music inside his head to rhythmically ride. It succeeds to the point where he places first in one of the freshman races, cementing his status as a cyclist rather than potential laundry manager.
With this newfound confidence and ability, Ashikiba is chosen by his upperclassmen to represent the school in an official race. He’s initially very excited about the prospect and gladly agrees to do so as form of gratitude for his upperclassmen’s faith. However, in his own words, “reality was different”. He found that he couldn’t live up to his promises and win, falling behind the other competitors. His mind went blank from panic, and due to the resulting intense anxiety from not being able to make good on his promise and pay back his debts, he turns around in the middle of the race and begins to ride backwards in an attempt to “restart” the race from the beginning. Needless to say, this incredibly dangerous decision did not sit well with racing officials, and not only is he disqualified from the race but is also barred from racing in general for the year and from attending that year’s interhigh which also conveniently explains his absence from the first part of the manga, I see what you did there, Watanabe.
Coming back to the present/Ashikiba’s second year, after a crushing defeat at Sohoku’s hands at the interhigh, Hakogaku is left to determine the new team for the next interhigh given that the third years are leaving. Along with his classmates Kuroda and Izumida, Ashikiba is chosen as one of the members… much to the suspicion of everyone else in the room, given what happened last year. However, Shinkai remains unfazed, and asks Ashikiba to race against Sohoku’s new captain Teshima in a local race that Hakogaku usually doesn’t race in- partially to gain experience but also to scope out the new champion Onoda. For the sake of gratitude towards Shinkai, Ashikiba agrees and enters the race.
By using his signature “metronome dancing” (rhythmic tilting of his bike to classical music that plays inside his head), Ashikiba easily passes by the other racers in front of him and assures himself that he will place first for the sake of his upperclassmen. Smiling excitedly, he reaches Teshima, Onoda and Imaizumi at the front… but not without getting the information he heard about the latter two really, really wrong and thus mistaking Onoda for someone else and Imaizumi for two other people before being corrected. Teshima then calls out to him, and the two exchange melancholy greetings while addressing each other by their childhood nicknames- Jun-chan and Shikiba. After a reveal of their shared past, Teshima expresses his disappointment in hearing that his friend is now on his team’s most prominent rival team… and Ashikiba responds back with congratulations and praise of Teshima for becoming captain of his team, saying that it definitely suits him. Teshima asks if he remembers their childhood promise of getting to the top together, and after Ashikiba says he does, Teshima says he must challenge him as Sohoku’s new captain anyway. Ashikiba agrees, from the stance of Hakogaku’s new ace.
Still, Ashikiba admits that he doesn’t want to beat or “destroy” Teshima’s team so much as he wants to join it, but he still has pay back his upperclassmen’s kindness, and thus races forward while declaring this fact. He gets far ahead, past more competitors, but Teshima keeps on him… much to Ashikiba’s surprised delight. He calls him amazing, praises him for catching and keeping up with him, and says that he was right to doubt the dismissive words of his upperclassmen who doubted Teshima’s skills as captain. The two continue to climb, Ashikiba continuing to praise Teshima, until Teshima begins to reach the limit of his abilities. At this point, much to Ashikiba’s surprise, Onoda sprints to catch up with them. Ashikiba finally breaks away from them in a sprint to the goal, but Onoda catches up, slips past him, and beats him to the finish line. Ashikiba then sees Sohoku’s, and Onoda’s strength, and agrees that they are opponents to beat at the next interhigh.
Ashikiba then catches a train to the spot where he’ll be picked up in a van to get back home. Extremely worried about how to tell/apologize to Fukutomi that he lost in a race he promised to win after the fiasco last year, he spends the ride in miserable thought. After giving up his seat for an old lady, he then realizes that his stop was three stops ago… much to the concern of the teammate that was supposed to pick him up at the missed stop. It doesn’t take long for Fukutomi to ask about the topic that Ashikiba initially tries to avoid- the result of the race he was just in. Anxiously, he recounts what happened during the previous race as well as his past and chokes up, unable to apologize or say anything else to the very upperclassmen who “saved him”. Fukutomi expresses his disappointment, much to Ashikiba’s distress, and then says that to repay him he must win the next race he’s in- as Hakogaku’s ace. Ashikiba realizes that this means Fukutomi is giving him a second chance to pay him back, and tearfully accepts while smiling.
Personality:
When choosing the ace of a sports team, there’s usually some certain qualities that the other members search for- namely, a steadfast and unshakeable personality, a commanding presence that inspires all club members under them, the ability to think sharply and, of course, superior ability in their sport of choice.
Save for that last one, Ashikiba isn’t exactly the pinnacle of… any of those, but man does he try.
Even if he’s entrusted with the highly regarded position of ace on his team and has an airheaded disposition about most other things, Ashikiba has a very anxious and nervous personality when it comes to pressure and the expectations placed upon him. As his upperclassmen were the first of anyone in the Hakone bicycle racing club to have faith in his abilities as a bicyclist despite his disadvantageous size, he feels a huge debt of gratitude towards them for their kindness and encouragement. Ashikiba puts the value in his cycling in paying back people for their time rather than for his own benefit or pride. Because of this, he gets done what he needs to get done, and by any means possible. When he feels he’s failed to live up to these expectations and therefore has failed to pay back their kindness, he becomes extremely anxious and prone to panicking to the point of making very rash decisions- such as turning around in the middle of a race when he believes he can’t win as promised. Likewise, when he feels that he’s failed to live up to the standards he’s measured for himself, he’s quick to jump to the worst possible conclusion- if he fails at what he was asked to do, he’ll have to stop riding, or he’ll be kicked off the team, or he’ll cause massive disappointment from the people he cares about most. It’s not that he thinks the worst of the people placing the expectations on him; rather, it’s his own anxieties about himself that cloud his judgments on what others will think of him for not being able to measure up to standards (that he’s really putting on himself most of the time). Therefore, when he’s not putting up a smiling face, he’s melancholic and openly upset at worst and very jumpy and prone to overreacting about trivial things at best. Still, this nervous portion of his personality doesn’t mean he’s barred from enjoying the things he does. During races, when anxiousness or melancholy doesn’t get the better of him, he loves what he does and rides excitedly with a very wide smile and classical music playing in his head.
Despite being very sensitive to what (he thinks) his upperclassmen expect of him, Ashikiba’s true opinions of others are not influenced by what anyone else says about them. Underneath the airheaded demeanor and nerves, he’s generally a sweet person. He’s supportive to his friends, even if he hasn’t seen them for some time, and is not hesitant at all to praise and encourage them in their accomplishments and desires respectively. Teshima describes him as a “tall guy with a kind heart that’s always praising others”, which is a very apt description of him- after finding out that his former teammate has become the captain of the very team he’s supposed to defeat in order to regain Hakone academy’s title of champions, he has nothing to say but kind words, congratulating his friend and saying that he’s well-fit for the job. It’s rare, if not never, that he has unkind words to say about someone even if they are his opponents or “enemies”. A true “gentle giant”, he’s sweet and friendly to most, and speaks freely without expecting the sort of respect a third-year ace usually commands in a sports team, especially from a school as prestigious as Hakone Academy. He’s not embarrassed or hesitant to display appreciation or affection, and is quick to give affectionate nicknames to his teammates and friends. Even if said teammates are prone to teasing his airheaded moments, and strangers often comment on them not-so-sympathetically, he never gets seriously angry at anyone for poking fun at him. If he does get bothered, it’s quick to pass and never explosive in any shape or form. Despite having such deep nervousness about his role in the team, he really does try hard to keep up a cheerful or “strong” face when he needs to.
Having gotten in to a fairly exclusive private school by passing their entrance exams, Ashikiba isn’t exactly a total idiot, but… he’s the type of person who, if told there was “gullible” written on the ceiling, would probably look up. Quite simply, and as pointed out by more than a few exasperated people, he’s a bit of an airhead at times. He tends to be literal minded when it comes to subtleties and exaggerations, and tends to believe what his friends are saying at face value. Likewise, jokes tend to be lost on him if they’re said completely seriously and without any indication that they are jokes. He has difficultly placing names to faces and visa-versa, and more often than not mixes up the identity of who he’s talking to when first introduced to them. Even when it’s laid out to him, he often fails to realize that he got it wrong in the first place because of this sort of obliviousness. Still, he’s not so much stupid as he is lacking a bit (sometimes a lot) of common sense and reading between the lines. Ashikiba’s intelligence lies not traditional areas but instead comes out through his talents- not only has he developed a style of riding that perfectly accommodates his unusual size, he also incorporates his love of and talent in classical music. Because of his musically-minded nature, he has almost impeccable timing when it comes to reflexes, a talent very useful in races when timing is key to winning.
So he’s not the perfect ace, sweet but flawed as he is, but who is anyway?
Characters Name: Takuto Ashikiba
Age: 17
Canon: Yowamushi Pedal
Canon Point: Chapter 245, immediately after he thanks Fukutomi for his encouragement.
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Orientation: There’s really no indication anywhere of who he’s attracted to, so for the purposes of housing either is fine!
Appearance: Here! Standing tall at 202 cm/6’7.5, he’s probably around 180 lbs (80-81 kg).
History:
Since the wiki page for him is… empty and Ashikiba is not shown in any of the chapters before his initial appearance, I’ll skip out on describing all of the events of the 1st interhigh given that he was not present for them and only heard about them after the fact.
Ashikiba’s story, as told through flashbacks, really begins years before the beginning of the manga. In elementary school, he was good friends with Sohoku’s new captain Teshima, and the two bonded over a love of music (classical and j-pop) respectively. Teshima, however, introduced Ashikiba to road racing bicycles, which caught Ashikiba’s interest when he saw that their structure and sound were similar to musical instruments. Teshima revealed his desire to reach the top of the bicycle racing world, a wish that Ashikiba wholly supported and promised to achieve with him. Unfortunately, the pair was separated when Ashikiba’s family moved from Chiba to Kanagawa prior to his first year of high school, and they did not see each other until the latter half of their second year, when Ashikiba is formally introduced in the manga as a member of the Hakone bicycle club.
Ashikiba’s introduction to the club was not a smooth one. While he was able to participate in his middle school’s club due to being 10 cm shorter (even if 192 cm is… slightly tall for your average 7th grader), his performance suffers because of his size and lack of relative muscle in comparison to his weight. Discouraged by his own anxiety and his teammate’s taunts, Ashikiba tearfully and quietly resigns himself to lagging behind and doing chores for the club, resorting to thinking of quitting the team itself and becoming the laundry manager. However, after hearing about a certain miserable giraffe-sized boy’s lagging behind, Ashikiba’s upper classmen Fukutomi and Shinkai decide to check on him one night in the club room. After finding him miserably accepting his decision to become the manager, they decide to give him some encouragement. They ask him what he truly wants to be, and when Ashikiba responds with “the greatest cyclist”, they suggest trying to use his size and qualities he already possesses in order to create his own riding style. With the help of some adjustments to his bike in order to accommodate his large frame, Ashikiba develops his own riding style that incorporates using his beloved music inside his head to rhythmically ride. It succeeds to the point where he places first in one of the freshman races, cementing his status as a cyclist rather than potential laundry manager.
With this newfound confidence and ability, Ashikiba is chosen by his upperclassmen to represent the school in an official race. He’s initially very excited about the prospect and gladly agrees to do so as form of gratitude for his upperclassmen’s faith. However, in his own words, “reality was different”. He found that he couldn’t live up to his promises and win, falling behind the other competitors. His mind went blank from panic, and due to the resulting intense anxiety from not being able to make good on his promise and pay back his debts, he turns around in the middle of the race and begins to ride backwards in an attempt to “restart” the race from the beginning. Needless to say, this incredibly dangerous decision did not sit well with racing officials, and not only is he disqualified from the race but is also barred from racing in general for the year and from attending that year’s interhigh which also conveniently explains his absence from the first part of the manga, I see what you did there, Watanabe.
Coming back to the present/Ashikiba’s second year, after a crushing defeat at Sohoku’s hands at the interhigh, Hakogaku is left to determine the new team for the next interhigh given that the third years are leaving. Along with his classmates Kuroda and Izumida, Ashikiba is chosen as one of the members… much to the suspicion of everyone else in the room, given what happened last year. However, Shinkai remains unfazed, and asks Ashikiba to race against Sohoku’s new captain Teshima in a local race that Hakogaku usually doesn’t race in- partially to gain experience but also to scope out the new champion Onoda. For the sake of gratitude towards Shinkai, Ashikiba agrees and enters the race.
By using his signature “metronome dancing” (rhythmic tilting of his bike to classical music that plays inside his head), Ashikiba easily passes by the other racers in front of him and assures himself that he will place first for the sake of his upperclassmen. Smiling excitedly, he reaches Teshima, Onoda and Imaizumi at the front… but not without getting the information he heard about the latter two really, really wrong and thus mistaking Onoda for someone else and Imaizumi for two other people before being corrected. Teshima then calls out to him, and the two exchange melancholy greetings while addressing each other by their childhood nicknames- Jun-chan and Shikiba. After a reveal of their shared past, Teshima expresses his disappointment in hearing that his friend is now on his team’s most prominent rival team… and Ashikiba responds back with congratulations and praise of Teshima for becoming captain of his team, saying that it definitely suits him. Teshima asks if he remembers their childhood promise of getting to the top together, and after Ashikiba says he does, Teshima says he must challenge him as Sohoku’s new captain anyway. Ashikiba agrees, from the stance of Hakogaku’s new ace.
Still, Ashikiba admits that he doesn’t want to beat or “destroy” Teshima’s team so much as he wants to join it, but he still has pay back his upperclassmen’s kindness, and thus races forward while declaring this fact. He gets far ahead, past more competitors, but Teshima keeps on him… much to Ashikiba’s surprised delight. He calls him amazing, praises him for catching and keeping up with him, and says that he was right to doubt the dismissive words of his upperclassmen who doubted Teshima’s skills as captain. The two continue to climb, Ashikiba continuing to praise Teshima, until Teshima begins to reach the limit of his abilities. At this point, much to Ashikiba’s surprise, Onoda sprints to catch up with them. Ashikiba finally breaks away from them in a sprint to the goal, but Onoda catches up, slips past him, and beats him to the finish line. Ashikiba then sees Sohoku’s, and Onoda’s strength, and agrees that they are opponents to beat at the next interhigh.
Ashikiba then catches a train to the spot where he’ll be picked up in a van to get back home. Extremely worried about how to tell/apologize to Fukutomi that he lost in a race he promised to win after the fiasco last year, he spends the ride in miserable thought. After giving up his seat for an old lady, he then realizes that his stop was three stops ago… much to the concern of the teammate that was supposed to pick him up at the missed stop. It doesn’t take long for Fukutomi to ask about the topic that Ashikiba initially tries to avoid- the result of the race he was just in. Anxiously, he recounts what happened during the previous race as well as his past and chokes up, unable to apologize or say anything else to the very upperclassmen who “saved him”. Fukutomi expresses his disappointment, much to Ashikiba’s distress, and then says that to repay him he must win the next race he’s in- as Hakogaku’s ace. Ashikiba realizes that this means Fukutomi is giving him a second chance to pay him back, and tearfully accepts while smiling.
Personality:
When choosing the ace of a sports team, there’s usually some certain qualities that the other members search for- namely, a steadfast and unshakeable personality, a commanding presence that inspires all club members under them, the ability to think sharply and, of course, superior ability in their sport of choice.
Save for that last one, Ashikiba isn’t exactly the pinnacle of… any of those, but man does he try.
Even if he’s entrusted with the highly regarded position of ace on his team and has an airheaded disposition about most other things, Ashikiba has a very anxious and nervous personality when it comes to pressure and the expectations placed upon him. As his upperclassmen were the first of anyone in the Hakone bicycle racing club to have faith in his abilities as a bicyclist despite his disadvantageous size, he feels a huge debt of gratitude towards them for their kindness and encouragement. Ashikiba puts the value in his cycling in paying back people for their time rather than for his own benefit or pride. Because of this, he gets done what he needs to get done, and by any means possible. When he feels he’s failed to live up to these expectations and therefore has failed to pay back their kindness, he becomes extremely anxious and prone to panicking to the point of making very rash decisions- such as turning around in the middle of a race when he believes he can’t win as promised. Likewise, when he feels that he’s failed to live up to the standards he’s measured for himself, he’s quick to jump to the worst possible conclusion- if he fails at what he was asked to do, he’ll have to stop riding, or he’ll be kicked off the team, or he’ll cause massive disappointment from the people he cares about most. It’s not that he thinks the worst of the people placing the expectations on him; rather, it’s his own anxieties about himself that cloud his judgments on what others will think of him for not being able to measure up to standards (that he’s really putting on himself most of the time). Therefore, when he’s not putting up a smiling face, he’s melancholic and openly upset at worst and very jumpy and prone to overreacting about trivial things at best. Still, this nervous portion of his personality doesn’t mean he’s barred from enjoying the things he does. During races, when anxiousness or melancholy doesn’t get the better of him, he loves what he does and rides excitedly with a very wide smile and classical music playing in his head.
Despite being very sensitive to what (he thinks) his upperclassmen expect of him, Ashikiba’s true opinions of others are not influenced by what anyone else says about them. Underneath the airheaded demeanor and nerves, he’s generally a sweet person. He’s supportive to his friends, even if he hasn’t seen them for some time, and is not hesitant at all to praise and encourage them in their accomplishments and desires respectively. Teshima describes him as a “tall guy with a kind heart that’s always praising others”, which is a very apt description of him- after finding out that his former teammate has become the captain of the very team he’s supposed to defeat in order to regain Hakone academy’s title of champions, he has nothing to say but kind words, congratulating his friend and saying that he’s well-fit for the job. It’s rare, if not never, that he has unkind words to say about someone even if they are his opponents or “enemies”. A true “gentle giant”, he’s sweet and friendly to most, and speaks freely without expecting the sort of respect a third-year ace usually commands in a sports team, especially from a school as prestigious as Hakone Academy. He’s not embarrassed or hesitant to display appreciation or affection, and is quick to give affectionate nicknames to his teammates and friends. Even if said teammates are prone to teasing his airheaded moments, and strangers often comment on them not-so-sympathetically, he never gets seriously angry at anyone for poking fun at him. If he does get bothered, it’s quick to pass and never explosive in any shape or form. Despite having such deep nervousness about his role in the team, he really does try hard to keep up a cheerful or “strong” face when he needs to.
Having gotten in to a fairly exclusive private school by passing their entrance exams, Ashikiba isn’t exactly a total idiot, but… he’s the type of person who, if told there was “gullible” written on the ceiling, would probably look up. Quite simply, and as pointed out by more than a few exasperated people, he’s a bit of an airhead at times. He tends to be literal minded when it comes to subtleties and exaggerations, and tends to believe what his friends are saying at face value. Likewise, jokes tend to be lost on him if they’re said completely seriously and without any indication that they are jokes. He has difficultly placing names to faces and visa-versa, and more often than not mixes up the identity of who he’s talking to when first introduced to them. Even when it’s laid out to him, he often fails to realize that he got it wrong in the first place because of this sort of obliviousness. Still, he’s not so much stupid as he is lacking a bit (sometimes a lot) of common sense and reading between the lines. Ashikiba’s intelligence lies not traditional areas but instead comes out through his talents- not only has he developed a style of riding that perfectly accommodates his unusual size, he also incorporates his love of and talent in classical music. Because of his musically-minded nature, he has almost impeccable timing when it comes to reflexes, a talent very useful in races when timing is key to winning.
So he’s not the perfect ace, sweet but flawed as he is, but who is anyway?
