Seki Masumi

Masumi Seki is one of Punpun's childhood friends and is Shimizu's best friend. He has a rough personality and a fear of fire. His family owns Seki Lunches, which used to do business with the now abandoned miso factory.

Appearance

Seki has short and shaved hair in elementary school, which gradually grows out over the manga until it passes his shoulders when he is 22. Sometimes he wears it in a ponytail and likes baseball caps, he even has a shark fin cap in the third grade. Seki has very discreet facial features, with a small nose and eyes, thin eyebrows, and a soft chin. He usually has a cold and indifferent expression even when he is upset. There is a permanent scar on the tip of his nose that is covered by a band-aid for most of elementary school. He is a bit lanky and tends to keep his hands in his pockets. Many of his outfits consist of an unbuttoned shirt over a t-shirt and cargo shorts. He wears the same coat during his high school and preparatory years, as he cannot afford another one. After receiving a beating at the end of Volume 12, it seems that he is missing a tooth.

Personality

Seki has low self-esteem as a child, which he compensates for by acting tough. This idea is most clearly shown in a kindergarten flashback, where the drawing of his mother that Seki makes is much, much smaller than the other children's, reflecting his opinion of himself. His own father and Shimizu's mother also notice that he is actually shy as a child. He never enrolls in high school, deciding that book smarts will only help him become a con artist. Despite not being academic, his thoughts tend to wander in a very philosophical direction, which often depresses him. Physical work distracts him from these thoughts, so he ends up taking on many jobs as he gets older. When his construction job gives him too much time to waste chatting with his coworkers about hypothetical questions and bad memories, Seki decides to quit, covering it up by saying the work is too dangerous. These coworkers also think he is too cynical and pretentious. Seki seeks many ways to numb his mind, even considering getting married and having children for this same purpose. He is a rough and rowdy child who gets into fistfights from kindergarten. He even once threatens to hit his alcoholic father with a bat. Although he has no qualms about fighting the bully who stole Shimizu's money, he has never hit his girlfriend, and is surprised when she lies to her father about this to get Seki in trouble. Although he does not see himself as someone who abides by conventional morality, he has a sense of honor. This is seen when he is ultimately unable to kill a man for money, and when he later accepts the suspicious job of "pushing buttons" for Wada with the sole condition that it does not cause harm. It is also seen in his hatred of liars and his attitudes toward money in general.

Seki firmly believes that nothing in life is free. After seeing his parents struggle to make ends meet, he develops strong feelings about money. When his friends decide to go after the promised money in Lil' Chubster's video, Seki helps them to prove that the video is a hoax and that plans to get rich don't work. Seki starts smoking cigarettes in elementary school. After he and his friends explore the old miso factory, he witnesses an explosion caused by his dropped cigarette, with Shimizu still inside. This incident traumatizes Seki, causing him a deep fear of fire and making him dislike smoking. He is beaten twice, once in high school and once at the age of twenty, when his attackers pull out a lighter and compare his reactions to those of a dog.

Family

Vain, prejudiced, and ignorant. They are a clear example of the archetypal scum of society. -Seki, about his parents Father Seki used to enjoy going with his father to the miso factory to get supplies. However, he usually sat in the truck instead of talking to the adults, and the other workers teased that Seki must be shy like his father. After the miso factory sank and it became harder to get supplies and keep the family business afloat, Mr. Seki became depressed and started drinking. Seki begs him to reopen the store to get some cash, even threatening to hit him with a baseball bat. In high school, his frustrated classroom teacher tells Seki to bring his father to a meeting, and although Seki agrees to bring him, he warns that it won't be productive since his father is a drunk. When Seki is 15, his father suddenly leaves and his mother struggles to make ends meet. In Chapter 94, it is implied that his father returned at some point when Seki tells his co-workers that his parents watch TV and play all day. In the epilogue, he and his father have supposedly reopened the store together. Mother Seki's mother is too busy with work to pick him up from kindergarten, so the teacher asks Shimizu's mother to make sure he gets home safely. When Seki is 15, his father suddenly leaves and his mother struggles to make ends meet. Seki bitterly jokes that they could soon be homeless if she can't pay the rent. During this time, he decides to get his first job with the goal of living on his own.