It would forever make me wonder where Inocchi-kun gets his overflowing energy. He’s probably the wildest and most hyperactive person I’ve ever met. And whenever I see him doing crazy things with Ken and Go, I couldn’t help but think he’s more like a member of Coming Century than I am! Constantly funny, he never fails to make everyone laugh.
But just when I was about to believe that Inocchi-kun was pure craziness personified, he made me see a side of him that many people probably wouldn’t have thought existed.
Walking into the dressing room one day, I found Inocchi-kun sitting alone at one corner of the room with his guitar, writing a song. There was really nothing new about this scene, it was just that Inocchi-kun gets distracted easily, and when one walks into him while he was doing something by himself he would soon drop whatever it was he was doing and start chatting away because he was talkative like that. But when I walked into him that time, he was so absorbed with the song he was writing that he didn’t even realize I was there until I opened my mouth.
"Nice song," I remarked after hearing a few stanzas of Inocchi-kun’s new composition, making him look up from his guitar.
The man looked a bit surprised to see me there, but smiled anyway.
"What is it about?" I asked, walking towards him.
"A girl," he replied plainly.
"A girl?"
Slit-eyes looked up at me, perplexed. "Yeah, a girl. Why? Would you rather I tell you it’s about a dog?"
"Quit it," I told him, as I grabbed myself a seat and probed some more. "So, what about this girl?"
"What about her?" Inocchi-kun repeated, trying to come up with an answer. "Well, she’s the one that got away."
"I see," I nodded. Wanting to see how far I could take the conversation, I threw him another question. "She got away because the guy never let her know that he loved her?"
"Oh no, she knew," the man countered. "She knew well that the guy loved her, which made it all the more harder for her to understand why he couldn’t be with her."
"And why couldn’t he?"
"Because the guy was stupid!" Inocchi-kun exclaimed. "He listened to what others were saying instead of listening to his heart. And he was a coward too. He didn’t fight for her, even though he loved her very much. . .and that’s why she left."
"That’s tragic," I remarked quietly.
"I know," replied the man, staring blankly at the paper in front of him.
"So. . .do you still love her?"
"Eh?" Inocchi-kun snapped out of his thoughts, taken aback by the question. "Baka-- W-what made you think it was about me?" he replied, looking a bit uncomfortable.
"Well, the way you talked about her, I just thought-- "
"Well you thought wrong!" he shot back and got up from his chair.
"I’m sorry," I apologized.
"No! How dare you think you know me so well," he told me, sounding insulted as he walked over to the table where props for the Gakkou e Ikou! segments were laid. "It could have been a friend of mine, you know!"
Following behind him, I apologized again. "I said I’m sorry, Inohara. What else do you want me to say?"
He didn’t answer.
"Inocchi?" I placed a hand on his shoulder only to have it shrugged away.
After a few seconds, with his back still on me, he then replied, "Say. . ."
"Yes?" I said in anticipation of what he was about to tell me.
"Say, ‘I think you have the most amazing smile in the world.’"
"Eh?" was all I could say, completely baffled with his answer.
Then, slowly, the man turned to me, a big grin plastered on his face. "You are *so* easy," he told me condescendingly, tapping a Nerf bat on my forehead before strutting away.
"Bastard!" I growled, grabbing for a Nerf bat myself. Then, I jumped on his back and began whacking him repeatedly with it.
Inocchi-kun fought back until we both fell on the floor, laughing hard.
They say people seem to act a little crazier with Inocchi-kun around, and even I was not spared. But as wild as he was, I guess there’s still more to him than he’s letting us on -- and I’m thankful to get even just a glimpse of that side of him.