Splatoon 3: Rise of the cephalopods

Chapter 3: The lonely Octoling

(WARNING: This part may make you cry)

It's been years since Kouta and Yukio were executed by Valkotako's henchmen (including a mysterious black hooded figure who is a tyrant and maniacal scientist loyal to the afore mentioned villain) trying to prevent the Shigaki clan from taking possession of Chikkaikrakku (one of the Kraken beasts that killed hundreds of humanoid cephalopods over the years since the Great Turf War).

The only way to prevent Chikkaikrakku from falling into evil hands for the good of the Octarian nation (or even the entire world) was just like his ancestors did. Seal the Beast inside a baby cephalopod. They sealed it inside his newborn baby: Jihei.

Jihei laid among the dead bodies of his parents. Valkotako and that figure found him and due to the insubordination and betrayal of his parents the baby was sentenced to training camp to become an Octarian soldier and serve his nation to pay for the "crimes" of his parents. .

Octarian Army Training Camp

In the first 3 years Jihei was left in the custody of a babysitter (That's right, in the Octarian army there were also nurseries that take care of newborns so that mothers can dedicate themselves to the army without  worries) to take care of him until he reaches minimum age to shoot weapons (In Octolings it is 7 or 8 years old, while in Inklings the age is 13 or 14 as you know for this reason the Octolings are more bloodthirsty and more violent than the Inklings).

Being a baby, Jihei could not adopt a humanoid form, until he finally transformed into an Octoling for the first time and was transferred to the Octarian Academy (a place where he would theoretically be prepared to later make the real training as an Octarian soldier).

Jihei had autism or ASD (he didn't know it, however his now-dead parents knew in some way and another as they mentioned in the previous chapter) showing his first signs of the disorder, he didn't like leaving the Academy to even inhale fresh air. He preferred to stay inside the Academy as if he wasconfined there, like if something would happen to him when he left, or perhaps as if he were scared or repulsed by whatever was out there.

When the babysitters called him by his name Jihei simply ignored them while trying to hide his angry face (even though he wasn't angry since it is commonly difficult for people with autism to make gestures) as if he didn't like being called by his name. his name or even if in one way or another Jihei hated his name.

The saddest part: everyone knows that one of the first social interactions in the life of any living being is interacting with other children of that young age. Jihei didn't do that, he lived alone and isolated even as a very young child. While the other Octoling children played with each other, Jihei did not play with them, the other children found Jihei a "freak" for being alone and separated Jihei from the rest of the children, Jihei did not want to interact with them either.

Another trait of autism is restricted interests (doing or being in one thing even over doing or being in other things with better priority (like doing math), such as drawing at the table instead of going outside to have fun). Jihei was simply drawing octopuses on paper and one day he found a toy keyboard in a corner and from then on he started digging into that instrument by pressing the keys at random and trying to compose something even without knowing anything about music theory.

A few days later he played the black keys in the following order and with an atmospheric effect:

D#         C#-D#       C#-D#     C#-D#-C#-A#-C#-D#           C#-D#      C#-D#      C#-D#-C#-A#-C#-D#

Those are the first lyrics of Spicy Calamari Inkantation (the song of the Squid Sisters that can alter the minds of the Octolings and make friends with the Inkling race, just as it happened to Agent 8 long ago) that made Jihei experience an even greater change. (autism enhanced his sense of hearing and brain activity) and felt dizzy (mental reprogramming to become an Inkling-friendly Octoling began).