Why Is Aku Missing An Eye?

Why is Aku missing an eye?

Since I made Aku’s reference sheet, you should have probably noticed that he’s missing his right eye, as well as having a few other scars.

I realized that I should probably explain why he doesn’t have an eye.

TW: ATTEMPTED MURDER, MUTILATION, NON-SEXUAL GROOMING

So, when Aku started middle school he became friends with another kid named Riku and they became friends since Riku liked the fact that Aku could play the violin and also since Aku didn’t have any other friends. After a few months of being friends it got to the point where Aku’s parents started letting Aku stay the night at Riku’s house and this is how Aku met Riku’s older brother, Ichiro. When they first met, Aku was almost twelve and Ichiro was seventeen however they both had something in common, they both liked the play the violin. After a few sleepovers, Ichiro offered to teach Aku how to get better at the violin and since Ichiro was older and in Aku’s mind “more experienced” than him, he accepted the offer. Almost every day after school and every weekend, Aku would go over to visit Riku and Ichiro, but moreover to visit Ichiro so they could play violin together and they both became close, Aku even started calling Ichiro “Ichi-man” as a nickname.

After a few years, Aku started playing violin more publicly and so the more popular he got in school because of it. Kids at school wanted to hear him play music all the time so much so that they were even willing to pay him, so Aku and Riku decided to make use of that and would split the money that Aku made so that they could have fun outside of school. However the more that Aku and Riku were hanging out and making money, the less time Aku and Ichiro were practicing violin together. Not to mention that it had been a few years at this point and so Ichiro is pushing twenty and Aku isn’t even in high school yet and so Ichiro started to believe that Aku is was avoiding him on purpose. When Aku did come over, Ichiro would basically hog all of Aku’s attention from Riku because they needed to “practice” and that he wanted Aku to be the best at violin as he could possibly be. In reality, Ichiro was jealous of his own brother and wanted all of Aku’s focus to be on him despite the fact that he knew that it was really, really strange that he was a legal adult and he was trying to be best friends with thirteen-year-old. Despite this, Aku gave Ichiro the benefit of the doubt because he believed that Ichiro just wanted the best for him even after Aku’s parents and Riku started to question Aku and Ichiro’s relationship.

What Aku didn’t know was that at this point, Ichiro was completely obsessed with him. Ichiro didn’t feel like he could connect with anyone on the same level as Aku because no one else shared the same passion that he and Aku had for violin. He believed that the only reason that Aku is as good at violin as he is was because he taught him everything that he knows, so to see him spend less and less time with him just to play violin for other people was a huge slap in the face to him. Ichiro felt like Aku was doing it on purpose, that he was intentionally trying to trigger him by not spending time with him, hanging out with Riku, playing violin to make money, in his mind it was all intentional so Aku could hurt him. Obviously, that wasn’t true and Riku tried to tell Ichiro that they were just trying to have fun and it was nothing personal but Ichiro didn’t believe him and told him that he was a horrible brother. After a month or two, Riku didn’t hang out with Aku as much and Riku never told him why. Even though he was still pretty popular, Aku still felt lonely because his best friend was now ignoring him for no reason. Eventually one night, Aku got a knock on his door and to his surprise it was Ichiro and Ichiro lied saying that Aku’s parents sent him here to watch him since they were going to be out this night, which they were so Aku believed him.

Aku didn’t remember a lot of what happened after that, but when he woke up, he was tied up in a chair in what looked likes to be his basement, with some cloth tied around his mouth, some blood dripping from the side of his head and a few cuts on his face. Ichiro was leaning against the door with a knife already coated in some blood, his blood to be exact, he walked closer to Aku and the only thing he could process being said to him as Ichiro brought the knife closer to his right eye was, “You deserve this..” After that, Aku completely zoned out, the only thing he could process was the pain he was feeling. When he finally came to, he was in a hospital bed and his face was covered in bandages and he felt like he couldn’t breathe. He could hear his parents arguing with Riku and Ichiro’s parents. However, those words that Ichiro told him before he zoned out stuck with him, he couldn’t stop thinking about them. He believed that it was his fault that everything happened..

This was actually reality, Ichiro had tried to kill him. In fact, he didn’t just try to kill him, he disfigured him and tortured him and then was going to kill him if his parents didn’t catch him before he did it. After that night he never saw Ichiro or Riku or any of their family again, but the memories were still with him. Aku knew that Ichiro went to jail, he knew that Ichiro probably hated him, he knew that Riku was probably traumatized, but despite that, Aku was the one who felt the most guilty about the whole situation. It was him and his talent that was the core problem behind what Ichiro did, Aku felt like he didn’t deserve to be known and loved for playing violin, so he stopped, he couldn’t even pick up a violin without thinking about what happened, however, it seemed that it was to late to ignore his talent. A few months after, his parents got a letter in the mail and it was addressed to Aku. When he opened it, the letter read…

From Hope’s Peak Academy, we accept you into our school as Aku Harusaka, The Ultimate Violinist.

(From Hope’s Peak Academy, we accept you into our school as Aku Harusaka, The Ultimate Violinist.)