Background

Wataru had never really been the musical type. If you had asked him, when he was a young child, tattered cape wrapped around his shoulders like a superhero, what he wanted to be when he grew up, he would have, at that time, immediately responded with the simple dream of wanting to be a ‘movie star’. Abandoned by his parents and raised by a kindly old man and old lady, Wataru found himself wanting almost for nothing, only to ever repay his new parents in any way he could. At first he wanted to do it in a monetary fashion, wanting to be successful in whatever jobs he picked up in order to repay them, but soon, Wataru learned quickly that there were more ways to repay someone back other than through money…

The death of his mother

Wataru’s adoptive mother grew sick one day, and ended up having to be hospitalised. Unsure what to do, Wataru and his adoptive father visited the hospital every day, just to be by her side, no matter what happened. It was a difficult time for all of them, but Wataru soon realised that more than anything, he missed the way his mother would smile and laugh -- and soon began to turn to simple magic tricks and jokes in order to make her smile, or to at least bring a small twinkle to her eye. She would hold his hand, and watch his tricks, and laugh and smile, and Wataru would do his best to support her with everything he had. In the end, it felt like it was all for naught -- one day, his adoptive mother passed away quietly in her sleep, and Wataru felt like his entire world was melting down around him.

...Still, he chose not to give up. He knew, that at least in her final days, she was smiling. This, eventually, led to him starting to perform his tricks to other patients, as a special guest hired by hospitals around Japan, which led to meeting Eichi Tenshouin.

Meeting Eichi Tenshouin

It was a simple sunny day. Wataru was hired by a fancy, high-end hospital in order to entertain a child in one of the larger rooms. Bringing his best tricks and his brightest smile, Wataru found himself in the presence of the Tenshouin heir -- Eichi. Still, despite him being a scion to a large family, Wataru didn’t back down. He was a child like him after all, and his status changed very little as to how Wataru saw him. Thus, Wataru performed for him, performing small magic tricks and acting out plays he’d memorised the monologues to, and before he knew it, he’d gotten the other boy smiling and laughing, and Wataru decided, at that moment, that he wanted to see that smile again and again. Perhaps they would never meet again, but Wataru carried the memory of that smile in his heart as he continued to grow.

Learning the Guitar

It had happened by complete accident. He had returned one day to his adoptive father with a guitar in his hands, cleaning and fixing the guitar strings. It wasn’t like Wataru hadn’t seen a guitar before, but he’d never had the opportunity to hold one, or hear what it sounded like in real life. So, the moment they’d quietly managed to fix the guitar together, Wataru’s adoptive dad began to play, and Wataru fell in love without a second word. He used some of the funds from his performances at the hospitals to purchase himself his own secondhand guitar, and sat by his father to learn how to strum chords.

And that, the quiet moments where only the soft sound of gentle guitar chords echoed through the house, was where Wataru Hibiki fell in love with music.

Trivia

• Wataru has at least 11 doves that live in his hair.
  • Each dove has a certain person they’re personally fond of.
  • Naturally, each Oddball has a dove.
  • So does Eichi.
  • And Keito.
  
  
• Wataru picked up the ability to hypnotise people through the Internet.
  • It’s funny, because the article he read about it was meant to be a joke…?