One day, Takashi and Shin were on the way to a library nearby. They decided to walk there. Hirato went with them. He was at fourth year at elementary school now, able to read and calculate (at least a little) and he was very proud of it. He was now ten years old. When they walked through the streets, Hirato discovered an ice salon. "Hey, Takashi! Can I have some ice cream?" Takashi looked over to the ice salon and then turned to Shin. "What do you say?", "It's pretty hot today... I'd not reject ice cream as far as I'm concerned.", "Same." He winked with one eye in Hirato's direction. "Let's go." They went inside the ice salon and Hirato looked at the huge amount of different ice variations. "Two scoops...?" he asked. "Two scoops." Takashi nodded. Hirato couldn't decide. There were so many kinds of ice he could try! "I'd like a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of apple pie ice." Takashi said. The man behind the counter nodded. "Cup or waffle?", "Cup." The man nodded and took out his round spoon. After some mere seconds, he put a cup with a blue plastic spoon on the counter. "Mango and vanilla for me." Shin said. Takashi looked at Hirato. "Haven't decided yet?", "There are so many I wanna taste!" he complained. "Take your time." the man behind the counter said. "I'm closin' at eight pm." Hirato sighed. "Coconut and cookies." he then offered.
After they had eaten their ice and Hirato had taken a taste of Shin and Takashi's ice cream, they continued their way. They came past a man with a dog. "Rufus!" he scolded the dog which was growling and barking and showing its teeth. It was pulling at the leash and the man used all of his power to hold him back. When Hirato discovered the black Labrador, he started smiling. "Takashi, I wanna pat that dog!", "Hirato!!" Before the boy could run off, Takashi grabbed his wrist. "That dog is dangerous, Hirato! It'll bite you when you get closer!", "Dangerous...?" Hirato looked at Takashi. "...Oh...", "Aren't you afraid of it?" Shin asked and they continued walking. "...Uhm... no..." Hirato admitted. Takashi and Shin exchanged an undefinable look.
Hirato didn't seem to be afraid of anything at all. Not of the fire. Not of any growling and barking dogs. Not of height. Not even of the darkness. And when he was a spectator of a man trying to attack another one with a knife, he just ran away giggling, as if it was a game. Shin and Takashi decided that wasn't normal, so they drove him to a clinic one day. As they were waiting for an analysis, Hirato was reading a bunch of comics in the waiting room. When the doctor came, he demanded the family to come to his office. As they had taken seats, the doctor looked at some hand-written forms. "Well, we've made a scan of your son's brain and let him go through some tests." he said. "Pretty clearly, we have a result now.", "What's it?" Shin asked. "...Your son is having a genetic disorder." the doctor responded. "A pretty rare one too. It's called the Urbach-Wiethe syndrome.", "Is it bad?" Takashi asked. "...More or less..." the doctor responded. "This genetic disorder has damaged and destroyed an area of your son's brain. The amygdala, to be exact. A part of the brain shaped and sized like almonds on each side of the brain. It is responsible for making a human experience fear. Now that it is destroyed, your son is unable to fear." Silence. "Fear is a protection system of a human guaranteeing his survival. If it's deactivated by a disease, it also means... that your son's life permanently is in danger. His disease won't destroy his brain more, but..." Takashi nodded. The doctor didn't even have to continue speaking to make them understand how critical it really was.
When they went back home, Hirato looked at Takashi. "...Do you consider me human?" He asked. Takashi looked at him in surprise. "Why shouldn't I...?", "Fear is the very basis of human existence, isn't it? It's one of the things that determines us as what we are and our survival. Since I am unable to fear... I wasn't considered human at all." Hirato looked out of the window. "I can remember something my parents... my real parents told me before they abandoned me in that orphanage. They knew about my sickness, they just never mentioned I had it... They said that I am not human because I don't know the definition and meaning of fear. If somebody asked me what fear is, I would have had to say that I don't know. Every human does, don't they? Everyone knows what fear is. But I don't. Does that make me an inhuman being?", "Nonsense." Takashi put a hand on Hirato's head. "You are a human, Hirato. Don't let anybody convince you of something else. You may not be like any other human in this city but you still are human." Hirato smiled. "Thank you, Takashi."

As he grew older, Hirato learned what he had to be careful with. He might not be able to fear, but he knew what he had to be cautious with. He was doing just fine, completed primary school with the age of twelve and then went over to Starfell Academy, the best high school in the entire county of Uscea. There, he got to know Seiji Aoi, a red-haired pretty nice guy. Though he was a clear introvert, the two came along pretty well. Though Hirato suspected that Seiji was keeping a secret from him, whatever it was. Around him, Seiji acted ultimately energetic and happy, but Hirato sometimes caught him sitting in a shadowy corner staring down like something wasn't alright. And when he asked Seiji about it, his friend only responded that all was well. Hirato knew he was lying, but he decided not to ask at all because he knew more questioning would end up the same. He was kinda unhappy about it, but there was nothing he could do to change it. When he became a ten-grader, something pretty much weird happened. When school was over, he grabbed his school bag and went down the stairs to the exit. He came past some high schoolers who were depositing stuff in their lockers and some other students who went to attend their clubs. Hirato unlocked his locker and put his books inside before he closed it again. As clever as he was, he always kept a little stocks of sweets in his locker. Shin told him to not eat that much chocolate and other stuff, so Hirato had decided to put it all in his locker. Cookies, chocolate bars, chips and other stuff was secretly hidden among his books. When he closed the locker again, he put his key away safely and went outside, just in time to watch a huge oak tree on the school yard falling down. Seiji was standing near it and shrank back with widened eyes while the tree impacted on the ground. Hadn't there been somebody else...? Seiji stared at the tree in shock and then ran away as fast as he could. Hirato looked after him while being speechless and then headed towards the tree. When he arrived, he could see someone under it. It was Satoru, a classmate of his. "Satoru? Hey, Satoru!" No answer came. 'He's dead' was the first thing that shot through Hirato's head. He decided to turn around and inform the next teacher he ran into- Coincidentally his class teacher Ryuuzaki. "Ryuuzaki-Sensei!" Hirato yelled. His teacher turned around. "What's the matter, Funai-kun?", "It's Satoru! He's buried under a tree!", "What?!" Ryuuzaki opened his eyes widely. Hirato indicated him to follow him and ran out again. When the teacher saw what happened, he called an ambulance but Hirato internally knew it was already too late. Nobody was able to help Satoru anymore.
Starfell Academy stayed closed for two days until the tree had been removed. Seiji was even more quiet than he was before and when Hirato wanted to ask him again, Seiji didn't answer. He just blankly stared at his table as if he wasn't really present. Hirato even gave him half of a nut chocolate bar, but not even that seemed to cheer Seiji up. What was just wrong with that guy? Days later, Seiji was gone. From just one day on another, he didn't show up at school. Hirato first thought he was sick, but that clarified itself clearly when Ryuuzaki-Sensei entered the classroom, looking pretty shocked, spreading stunned silence in the class room of 10-C. Another student was missing too, except for Seiji and Satoru, who died because of that accident. That missing guy was Masato Furuya. "Furuya-kun had a car accident... He died even before the ambulance came. As far as Aoi-kun is concerned... we received a call from his mother today. He didn't arrive at home yesterday, but nobody has any information about whether he's still alive or not. Right now, we assume that he ran away from home. Does anybody of you know anything?" Nobody answered. Hirato looked down. Seiji ran away? But why? That didn't make any sense... what was going on with him in the first place...?
After the lesson, Ryuuzaki called for Hirato. They went outside into the hallways to talk in peace and quiet. "...Funai-kun." Ryuuzaki leaned against the wall. "I noticed that Aoi-kun and you were close friends." Hirato nodded. "Yes, we were...", "Do you have any clue what could've happened to him?" Hirato shook his head. "In the last passing days, Seiji didn't talk much to me at all, actually. Something seemed to bother him all the time but he never told me anything about it even if I asked him. For some reason, he seemed so uncomprehendingly sad lately but when he talked to me, he acted as if everything was fine.", "Did he have stress with his parents?" Ryuuzaki asked. "No, not that I know anything about it." Hirato shook his head. "Seiji used to get along with his parents pretty well, so...", "What about other students? Ever saw Seiji talking to them or something?" Hirato lowered his head. "Uhm... Before he died, I saw Satoru talking to Seiji... I guess some of the people in class weren't really nice to Seiji, according to some little things he told me.", "Was he bullied?", "Probably, I don't know. As I said before, he never told me what was going on...", "I see..." Ryuuzaki sighed. "Anyway, thanks for your time, Funai-kun."