A Main Character

Areku is a major character, and a cycle repeater.

Appearance
He is skinny, short, with messy long black hair and pale blue eyes. He has dark shadows under his eyes from lack of sleep. He wears an over-sized washed-out dark blue shirt with stars on the sleeves, collar, and bottom edge, that covers his hands. He has a dark purple sweater tied around his waist, and washed-out dark purple pants with rips in them. He also has a bandana around his neck, which he wears an hourglass necklace over. He wears high, black, army boots. He has a bag slung from his shoulder.

Personality
Areku is very quiet, meek introvert who has a lot of difficulties socializing with other people. He prefers to be alone, or with someone he trusts. He sometimes stutters when in situations where he has to speak with strangers. Due to the way Fuji had treated him, he has an intense fear of being a burden, and will often try to hide his own emotions to prevent thinking that. Fuji's treatment has also caused him to be afraid of being yelled at, and will go out of his way to seem as neutral and non-confrontational as possible so that doesn't happen, causing him to come off as very meek. Although his people skills are very limited, he's a lot braver and happier when exploring by himself, and he always has felt a certain pull to adventure, and never really was one for settling down.

Areku also struggles with self doubt, often questioning his own abilities despite the fact that when he does act he's actually very competent because of his explorer skills, but he doesn't realize it. He talks down to himself a lot, just like his bullies used to talk down to him. When other people treat him badly, he normally thinks that he deserves it, or that if he ignores them that they'll go away, but if the other option is someone else being hurt, he always decides that it's better him then them. In fact, he can be overly selfless due to his own low self esteem and genuinely kind nature. But although he is kind, he isn't trusting. He thinks that the people he cares about will leave him, and often questions if he even deserves the people in his life.

Areku is so quiet that he blends into the background easily, and sometimes people don't even realize that he's in the room, thus earning him the nickname Ghost.

Despite his gloominess and his distrust that he won't be abandoned, Areku does always tend to see the best in people, and thinks everyone has some good in them, no matter how small it is. Even when people hurt him, he still tries to sympathize with them. He understands that everyone acts the way they are for a reason. He has a lot of empathy, is good at understanding others, would probably die for the people he loves. His nightmares about them tend to be more upsetting to him then when they're just about himself. He feels anxious for other people's safety, and cries a lot when he's alone when he knows that they aren't doing well.

Likes

 * Seashells
 * Flowers
 * Sea glass
 * Alone time
 * Rainy days
 * Cats
 * The smell of lavender
 * Exploring

Dislikes

 * Mid summer
 * Crowds
 * Nightmares
 * Yelling
 * Feeling like a burden
 * Anxiety
 * Coffee

Early life
Areku was born on November 12th, but Masaru and Tokino, who already had a child to follow in Masaru's footsteps as a scientist to continue his research, gave him up for adoption since they didn't need another child. He only had to stay in the orphanage for around a year and a half before he was adopted by Fuji and his wife. Ever since Areku was a young child, he suffered from nightmares, which were usually written off by his new family. He also never really felt like he belonged with them, which wasn't helped by them treating him like he was lesser. In fact, they had only adopted him for the money, and to raise him to one day make them more money. Minori, who was only a year younger then him so they basically grew up together, treated him like he was apart of the family. Him and Minori would bond by trying to play the piano together, but Minori always seemed better at it then Areku. This did upset Areku a bit, because he wanted to prove himself to Fuji, who he looked up to, but still tried to be happy for Minori, even if it hurt. When he started school, he was picked on by the other students for his more light-weight body-type and quiet nature. He was often thought of as odd because he was always alone, so he was thought of as an easy target. Areku cried a lot back then, but that stopped soon. Areku never fought back, he was too soft-hearted.

The First Adventure
When Areku was seven, him and his family went on a trip to a pretty distant place. They went to go get gifts, and left Areku outside to wait. While Areku was waiting, he caught sight of a beautiful flower on a small, nearby hill in the woods. Areku never was someone to disobey, and he didn't want to be yelled at, but Fuji and them were taking so long, and he had never seen a flower like it before. Older Areku might of just waited out of fear, but younger, more energetic, somewhat more bold Areku decided to go after the flower. On top of the hill as he was getting the flower, he saw a flower field full of flowers he had never seen before. Full of childish glee, he started picking flowers, and happily running through the field. But by the time he decided to go back...he had run too far out, he was lost. He tried to walk back, but it seemed longer then before, and he was very tired. Eventually, he just gave up and started crying. He ended up staying out there alone all night, since Fuji didn't tell anyone he was missing until way later thinking the brat would turn up eventually. He was eventually found curled up sobbing in the flowers, but when Fuji realized what happened...he got an idea. He decided to twist the story and tell the local news, who were dying for a wholesome story, and make it sound like Areku had wandered away to explore the wilderness, and that he wanted to be an explorer when he grew up. The sound of a little explorer was very endearing to the readers. Fuji realized how much money this could make him, and decided to take it one step further and enroll Areku into the explorer's guild, even though he was only seven. (Add more later)

Masaru Swan
Masaru is Areku's biological father, who he never met for fifteen years of his life. Masaru doesn't really care about Areku as anything other then a science experiment, and thinks he's too weak and pathetic to be of any use to him for anything else. Areku never knew about his father's role in Alpine, and genuinely wanted to learn more about him, but when he did find out he regretted it. He knew he could've lived without knowing his own father felt nothing towards him, but when he did learn it he felt lost. He didn't hate Masaru, though thinking about him made Areku feel very upset. (Add more later)

Minori
Minori is Areku's adoptive brother who he's very close with.