Just a brick in the wall

Takami Tsuyoshi (高見剛史）is a first-year student in our school. I don't like him particularly much.

Maybe he has ADD or some other mental/behavioral/learning disorder (a case against him: all teachers have been informed about two other 1st-years with learning disabilities, and Tsuyoshi is not one of them), maybe he has some problematic family background that I am not familar with (his older brother behaves similarly in a way but less extremely), but sometimes I just want to throw him against a brick wall and see what happens.

At first I thought he's just an odd one. His default state during class is staring into space with his mouth half-open and pouting. His slouchy body language always seem like an intentional pose because something about it is just never quite natural. Sometimes he frowns, or turns his head (but never his body) and stares, with tremendous interest or disgust or indifference, into a different point in space. As far as I can tell that point can be his desk, his neighbor's eraser, the clock, the door, or the wall socket, but it's probably just anothing nothing in particular.

Occasionally and spontaneously, he makes other odd movements with his head. It's hard to describe them. Sometimes it's a constant rocking back and forth; sometimes it's a swoosh from one side to another (followed by a fixed stare); and sometimes it's like a slowly accelerating dipping of the head, concluded by a jerky but slight bounce at the end, kind of like Homer's favorite water drinking bird or a shishi-odoshi in Japanese gardens.

But when he's called on in class and asked to stand up and answer a question, that's when he pulls out his go-to move. This one is similar to the water drinking bird move, but with the head cocked to the side. It really reminds me of those wood sprite thingys in Princess Mononoke:



This was funny at first, but since Tsuyoshi also refuses to answer the question while he stands and cocks his head indefinitely, it quickly got really annoying. I used "refuse" because he wouldn't say "I don't know," or just take a guess, and because it usually takes minutes of cajoling to get him to mouth the answer as you tell it to him. One time, Mitsushima decided to make a point and just left him standing. It took Tsuyoshi about 15 minutes to go through his moves and finally settle into a dead but wide-eyed stare at the wall. If there are detentions in Japanese Jr. high schools, Tsuyoshi would probably never leave the principle's office.

The worse part is, outside of the classroom, I think all the teachers not only condone him, but actually love him and think he's funny. At least the other students seem to have more common sense, as they tend to tune him out or ignore him. I think he needs to be thrown into solitary confinement and his parents be evaluated by social services.

Just one last bit to close it up. At the beginning of the year, all 1st year students chose a Chinese character with explanation to sum up their new year's resolution as part of their Japanese homework. Inevitably most boys choose 力 (strength) or 勉 (study, or preserverence, also tatooed on Marcus Camby's left shoulder), and girls choose 友 (friend) or 笑 (laugh). What did Tsuyoshi choose?

壁　（かべ）
Pronunciation: kabe
Function: noun.
Definition:
a) a high thick masonry structure forming a long rampart or an enclosure chiefly for defense -- often used in plural.
b) a masonry fence around a garden, park, or estate c : a structure that serves to hold back pressure (as of water or sliding earth).
c) one of the sides of a room or building connecting floor and ceiling or foundation and roof.

His explanation? "どんな壁に負けないようにしたい。”
"Because I don't want to lose to a wall of any kind."