<div class="floatright">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/7/74/TaroIkeda.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Taro Ikeda (Western name order, i.e. Taro = given name, Ikeda = family name)<br/><strong>Age:</strong>19<br/><strong>Year:</strong>Second (he's old for his grade, as he missed a year in middle school he had to repeat)<br/><strong>Sex:</strong>Male<br/><strong>Orientation:</strong>Straight<br/><br/><strong>Background:</strong>Taro's parents both have superpowers. His father, Renzaburo, has an inhuman endurance and a bit of a healing factor, while his mother, Makie, has an agility that surpasses an Olympics-level gymnast. Sadly, Taro never manifested any sign that he had inherited either trait from his parents. Nonetheless he grew up in a loving, caring family. But that doesn't mean his childhood was all that perfect.<br/><br/>From a young age he was teased remorselessly by other children, humiliated for not being "super" in any way. Secretly those other kids were afraid of what he might do if Taro had any powers, and they turned that fear into teasing and bullying when they realized he had no powers, but he didn't know that then, back when he was but a child. All Taro knew was that he had to prove himself. He would show them that he didn't need any powers. Kendo, martial arts, soccer, academia – he through himself into every field with a vengeance and soon stood head and shoulders above his classmates, surpassed them all, but that also made him arrogant.<br/><br/>For a time Taro even looked for fights with "supers", just to prove to the world that he could be a man, even if he didn't have powers. That lead to a few good beatings – not always with him being the winner he expected to be. It was at this point in Taro's life (he was 14) that his parents decided that the boy needed a break, needed to get out of the whole normal/abnormal conflict. So they took time off, pulled Taro from his school, and went far away to the poor parts of the world. For a time they lived in an ashram in India, for a time they volunteered in a refugee camp in some remote African country, then found work at a wildlife refuge at the edge of the Amazon.<br/><br/>In those places they were all outsiders, no matter the passport stamp that said "abnormal" or "normal". Unlike home, no one cared who they were, as long as they could pull their weight and Taro came to realize that what he had thought of as 'problems' were nothing compared to what other people had to go through on a daily basis. When they returned to Japan Taro had missed a year at school, but when he enrolled again he was also a changed person. His constant training and all the work had made him strong, resilient, but the experience had also made him humble.<br/><br/>It no longer mattered what his parents were – or what he was not. He would excel to become someone who could make the world a better place. He would no longer seek fights. Instead he would fight inequality. He could be a hero if he could manage to do some good in the world – and all that needed was hard work and diligence.<br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/a/ac/Taro03.jpg)</div><strong>Powers:</strong><span class="bbc_u">As far as everyone knows (including himself), Taro has no powers</span>. As far as he knows he is just a normal human being. But while his powers are not flashy or obvious, they are there.<br/>Taro has actually inherited powers from his father, but they are subtle. Instead of the obvious healing factor his dad has, Taro has a perfect immune system. He heals wounds at a normal human rate, but he never falls sick. As far as he is concerned he just has a good constitution, but in fact his blood, if injected into someone, could cure diseases in others. It's just never been done, so he isn't aware of that.<br/>He also has inherited his father's abnormal stamina, but again in a subtle way. Instead of running a marathon without feeling exhausted, Taro needs very little sleep. He can, and does sleep, but he can get by with 2 or 3 hours a night. He can also go several nights without any sleep, but that has its drawbacks.<br/><strong>Drawback:</strong>If Taro goes for a few nights without any sleep, the speech center in his brain begins to play tricks on him and he begins to mix up words, starts speaking in tongues without even realizing it. In his mind he forms perfectly fine sentences, but what he actually says might be complete gibberish. Same happens with his writing. So he can get some extra study time from his limited need for sleep, but if he crammed for a few nights without any sleep at all for a test, the test results would be a disaster.<br/><del><br/><strong>Clubs Interested In:</strong> Kendo, <del>judo</del> aikido, <del>soccer</del> abnormal support club.</del><br/><strong>Club Membership:</strong>Martial Arts club, active in Kendo and Aikido (club member, no official position). Abnormal Support Club (role in the club to be determined during the clubs founding)<br/><strong>Living arrangements:</strong>Taro lives in a small one-bedroom apartment in town, rented for him by his parents. Not many people at the school are aware of this, as he often leaves the school late in the day when other students have already gone to bed, and returns so early in the morning that hardly anyone ever sees him arrive. To most people it would appear like he is always around the school and therefore it is usually assumed that he lives there.<br/><div align="center"><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Apartment layout</div><div class="spoiler_body">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/6/65/Taro_Apartment_JPG.jpg)</div></div></div><hr/><div align="center"><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Theme song</div><div class="spoiler_body">Couldn't find a version of this song that I could embedd into my post, but Taro's theme song would be 'American Heartbeat' by Jimmy Barnes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QN_ViPf5BA&amp;feature=player_embedded<br/></div></div><br/><em>And every generation<br/>They feel the new sensation<br/>All day long<br/>Were they find that hunger<br/>Keep on chasing thunder<br/>Never give in</em></div>