Kats

I suppose if you want to start somewhere, start with Katsui. He's the closest thing to a key to this story, having grown up in the outside world. If you're insane or enlightened then you should go check out Koi.

None of us comes to the monastery by our own choice, but Kats is the only one here under court order. Sensei O'Neill and Sensei Nara attended his well-publicized trial, where Kats was painted as the under-age victim of lecherous attacks by a small-city councilman. The story goes: while walking home from school a studious boy accidentally wanders into the seedy side of town, where a horrible deviant grabs him from a dark alley (picture him with black cape and thin mustache saying "muhaha"); the boy cries, recognizes his assailant in an election ad, and calls the police.

In reality the councilman was just a senile closet case and Kats the cocky adolescent aggressor out to cause trouble. Kats loves to tell his side of the story, but it's never the same. He was probably just trying to get his name in the papers, if he even thought that far ahead.

Kats had already been in Juvenile Detention for theft and battery, so when the court found out his real identity (Shithead judge actually thought my name was Charlie Chan!) he was going to get sent to adult lockup. After a night in the holding cell Kats broke down (though he wouldn't admit it) and begged for leniency. The Senseis worked out a deal where Kats would be under a kind of house arrest at the Lodge.

For his First Day initiation, Kats got an unprecedented 6 hour sesshin with the Abbott (who usually spends only 15 minutes with the parents and initiates on First Day). Nobody knows what happened during the sesshin, but Kats is still here and reasonably well behaved.