[Little rumors do a lot. For someone as uptight as Tokiomi, it feels like having the world he's carefully crafted for himself chipped at ruthlessly, pulled to bits right out of his arms.

Being stared at is hard. Being laughed at harder. The assumptions that go with the rumors are quick to go beyond their starting points, and soon enough he finds people he doesn't even know making the kinds of faces and gestures at him that he generally considers rude to make in public.

It's all behind the teachers' backs, of course. But classroom bullying is quick to spiral -- after a few weeks he's feeling both humiliated, frustrated, and scared. A hand where it doesn't belong in the hallway is the last straw, and he finally finds himself marching up to Cyrus after school feeling closer to violence than he ever has been.]

Stop.