Back and Forth, like a Pendulum

• Kei was born in Tokyo, Japan, only son of a very poor family. He lived a harsh life in the slums where not just strength, but wits were needed to get by. His parents were not a good example. At the age of four, he devised and executed a fairly simple plan to sneak into a tourist cruise ship to steal food and belongings. However, he allowed himself to become too distracted by these, and missed the timing to escape.
• He was eventually discovered by a young couple in their late twenties. He begged them to keep the secret, but they did the opposite, instead. In hindsight, it was the most natural course of action. He was scolded for his misbehavior and told he would be sent back to Tokyo on the way back. However, after explaining his situation to the captain, the latter reluctantly agreed to become his new guardian. With time, they would become close.
• At the age of eight, the two moved to New Paris. Business was good there. During early school years, he was bullied because of his weird asian surname. He was given the option to change it to something more adequate, but insisted on keeping it out of sheer stubbornness. As a result, the bullying continued. Kei knew how to fight, but he had no chance when he was being constantly outnumbered. Young wannabe gangs beat him up quite a few times, but were expelled from his school as a result. He didn't make many friends.
• During high-school, his good looks granted him the opportunity to become a little more popular. However, he threw it out of the window due to his strange personality, and even more strange hobbies. You see, it is uncertain at which point it happened, but Kei became attracted by the study of the arcane, of the supernatural. Granted, none of it was real, but boy, he believed it was and that put other people off. He made a few friends, but it was a small circle. At the end of Sophomore year, business forced his step-father to move once more, and he was dragged along with him. At first it was supposed to be just a few months, but it turned out to be years.
• Kei resumed his hunt for supernatural happenings, but soon found something to be different in this new city. Its "aura", to put it in a way, was not as "rich" as New Paris'. Not letting this discourage him to continue the only real passion he had found, he attempted to create an after-school club to carry out his duty and recruit a few disciples along the way. Now if this were Japan, he might have been able to find five members and realize his dream, but this was Europe, so his goal was denied from the get go. Late-night excursions? Summoning Ritual and Questionable messages? That's not the kind of thing the high-school wanted to do anything with. After all his effort, he did manage to form a small group to go on adventure, but as no 'rumor' ever proved to be anything interesting, he was eventually left as its only member.
• After graduation, Kei decided he just had to return to New Paris. He would abandon his studies and become an investigator of the paranormal. He even managed to find a cheap, good place to set his office. But... Business wasn't good. Before he knew it, he was taking requests to solve minor understandings or follow individuals suspected to be cheating on their former "soul-mate". He soon became uninspired.
  
  Until one day, he laid back on his chair and closed his eyes, wondering if he'd ever feel like he did back in the day, when he felt that the arcane was real.
  
  And the city responded in kind, by calling down a snowstorm.