"Oi. Don't make eye contact. It's for your own sake."
Beauty as the Beast - Kaori Sadohara
(Lyrics here.)
"Tall? Very. Dark? Not so much. Handsome? I'll let you decide. Knight in Shining Armor here to save the day? You bet. How can I help, princess?"
| Name | Izayoi Akatsuya. As he'll proudly inform anyone - or at least, anyone female - his surname, Izayoi, refers to the 19th day of a month, right after the full moon, where the night is the most beautiful. Meanwhile, his given name means "Red Glow." Overall, his name indicates a scarlet full moon - a beautiful and welcome sight for a monster, and one he thinks fits himself quite well.
| Nickname(s) | Katsu, a nickname of his own making. Considering it means "Victory," it's no surprise why he encourages people to use it. Otherwise, he mostly goes by Izayoi.
| Age | 17
| Grade | Junior.
| Gender | Male.
| Role | Tall, Dark, and Handsome.
| Romantic Interest | He doesn't really have anybody special in mind aside from every member of the female sex close enough to his age to appeal to him, although this is largely just sport and self-sustenance rather than any sort of genuine infatuation. He might find the Human who has recently entered the academy quite appealing, though, as one of his deepest, most secret desires is a longing for the normality his nature has taken away from him. See Personality and History.
| Sexuality | As an Incubus, he derives the most of the energy he needs to survive from the love and adoration of females. Even without this rather limiting fact, he'd still probably gun exclusively for pretty girls, anyway. He's just that type of guy.
"Look, let's get one thing straight. Me? I'm a nice guy. I'd be more than happy to help you work out whatever issues you might have. But if you lay a hand on a girl, then all that changes. Maybe you don't understand my point, dumbass, so here, I'll make this so clear even an intellectually deficient rat like you can catch my drift. You do not hurt girls, especially not those I care about, or else I kill you. Got it?
| Appearance | Akatsuya's appearance and attitude are two vastly different things. Were it not for his somewhat flirtatious manner around members of the opposite sex, he'd probably seem completely nondescript save for a few basic aspects, like his height and less human features.
Standing at the rather impressive height of 6'3", he generally finds himself looking down on most of the girls he flirts with. He's certainly not bad on the eyes, with a lean, albeit somewhat muscled physique, soft, unusually clear skin, and a somewhat boyish complexion with little facial hair to speak up, bright emerald eyes, and mid-length, soft blonde hair. If he paid more attention to his appearance, he'd probably make quite the dandy. However, as things stand, he seems more like a delinquent, with his admittedly quite fetching golden locks going largely unkempt, and his usual clothing consisting of a sleeveless white shirt, tight fitting blue slacks, and a two-tailed, hooded black and green duster, the accompanying cloth belt of which he prefers to leave undone, serving as a sort of scarf that flaps about wildly in the wind around him, something which he generally finds quite cool.
What is odd is that despite his usual confident attitude, he's almost never seen without his hood raised and his hair partially down over his eyes, concealing the green gaze that is without a doubt his most catching feature from view. This is for personal reasons, explained in the Personality section. Another item he's never seen without is a small pair of wired earbuds, always fastened to the phone in his pocket and generally blaring music to help him shut out the world when he's not actively participating in it.
Naturally, though, his most notable feature is his ears, which are very obviously pointed in shape, and quite easy to spot. However, these are actually the only monstrous features he usually displays, save under special circumstances. If especially incensed, and with the feelings of someone close to him to strengthen him, one can occasionally see his unfastened, oftentimes gravity-defying cloth belt begin to behave like a pair of batlike wings, a tail emerge from his back, and his fingers sharpen into claws. During these usually unintentional transformations, his entire appearance changes, as his casual manner disappears entirely, replaced by a confident, sarcastic, and more charismatic self who has a much more adult look about him - not to mention a more inhuman one. His eyes darken several shades, and a smirk appears upon his lips, much more threatening than his usual cheerful half-smile. In any case, however, these transformations are generally few and far between.
On a final note, he's actually gotten permission from staff to allow him to wear his usual hooded coat instead of the uniform's blazer, since it helps him avoid eye contact, and, by extension, avoid accidentally charming people with the powers he can't fully control. Granted, most people don't pay much attention to this story, so consequently, he's gotten something of a reputation as a rebel amongst the student body, a fact which, as one might have guessed of an Incubus, makes him quite interesting to the female student body.
| Hair Color/Length | Bright golden-blonde, medium length.
| Eye Color | Bright emerald green.
| Height | 6'3"
| Weight | 174 pounds. He's kind of slim for his height.
| Nationality | Japanese, although not entirely of Japanese descent, as evidenced by his unusual blonde hair.
| Ethnicity | Half-American, half-Japanese.
| Scars | No major defining scars.
| Tattoos | No tattoos.
| Birthmarks | No birthmarks to speak of.
| Piercings | N/A.
| Oddities | Even when not tapping into his powers much, his ears usually still retain their pointed shape.
| Likes/Dislikes | As for his likes: long walks on the beach, rare steak, poetry, and the company of a beautiful lady - is what he'd say if he wanted to seduce someone. While technically true, however, he's actually something of a closet otaku. Given his difficulties interacting with people following the awakening of his powers, he's turned into something of a hikkikomori over the past few years, passing whatever time he doesn't absolutely have to be out doing something holed up in his room browsing the internet, playing video games, or watching anime. Not that he lets anyone know that. Most of his fangirls just assume that he spends all his time doing something manly like collecting rare motorcycles, or something similarly strange, testosterone-associated, and high-class.
As for what he dislikes, he utterly hates two things. The first is falsehood. Be it people lying to better themselves, or pretending to be something they're not, it utterly disgusts him. As such, he always tries to do everything through his own strength, talents, and virtues alone. Naturally, this leads him to abhor using his power to charm the hearts of others and control them, as it's a mere mockery of true affection, and nothing more - hence why he always tries to hide his eyes from view and avoid direct eye contact, so as never to accidentally use his powers instead of his own personal charms to win over the hearts of any of his admirers.
The second thing he despises is violence towards or degradation of women. Chivalrous by nature, he's always willing to stand up for a damsel in distress - and not just because he needs their love and devotion to survive. It's probably because of a certain event in his past, but nevertheless, if someone tries to hurt a girl in his presence, he's bound to step in and do his damnedest to kick the offender's ass. Naturally, this personal trait also contributes strongly to his dislike of his powers, as by charming women with them, and removing their free will, he's becoming one of the things he hates the most.
| Fears | His greatest fear is without a doubt that his powers will lead him to manipulate an innocent girl into becoming his own personal slave, and that his nature as an Incubus will make him unable to resist the temptations that such a situation would create. Considering how close this fear came to becoming a reality, it's definitely not unjustified. However, this isn't the only major worry on his mind. Quite simply, he's paranoid, always afraid that any praise, love, or achievement he earns was only given him because of his powers. This inferiority complex drives him to constantly test himself, always trying to prove that he's not just skimming through life by virtue of forcing those around him to love him. Ironically, this also means that the emotion that he can easily induce just by batting his eyes is the one thing he most fears he'll never truly have.
| Powers | At present, he has very little control over his abilities. Precise manipulations such as illusions are completely out of the question, and although he's certainly stronger and faster than an ordinary Human, and several orders of magnitude more durable, he's still only very average in power for a monster. This is partially because of his fear of his abilities, partially because of his voluntary choice to withdraw from social interaction, thus limiting the amount of love and affection he can absorb, and partially just because he has no bloody clue what he's doing. In any case, he's still very weak at the moment, although that may change the more he comes to accept himself, and especially if he finds someone he's willing to risk loving again.
| Skills/Talents | He's surprisingly agile and strong, making him a natural when it comes to combat. On a less violent note, however, he's also pretty good at most jobs, having a good mind for details and the skill needed to deal with problems, and can play the guitar very well. He's also pretty good at creative writing, although he'd never admit it to anyone but his most trusted confidantes. Also, his enhanced reflexes and lack of better things to do have made him a very skilled gamer.
| Hobbies | Baseball, swimming and cycling, but mostly video games and anime.
| Weaknesses | In addition to his lack of control over his abilities, he has several other issues. Firstly, he can't transform at will, making his claws and wings pretty much useless save in lucky circumstances when he can use them. Secondly, even when he does transform, his personality completely changes, meaning he can't always act to complete the goals he wants to. Finally, currently, due to how little love he's receiving, he's actually fairly close to death, oftentimes becoming sick or exhausted for seemingly no reason at all. He doesn't fully realize this fact, but even if he did, he would never tell a soul. After all, should he disappear, it's just one less monster to twist the hearts of those innocents who deserve real love rather than his own unspeakable imitation...
| Strengths | Since his power level is almost solely determined by the amount of love he receives from those he cares about, he theoretically has no upper limit on the growth of his abilities, given time and practice. It's quite possible he could achieve S-Rank levels of power simply by forming a stable, mutually loving relationship and learning to control himself better. However, for the time being, he's still one of the weakest students at the school when it comes to combat.
| Flaws | Although kind by nature, he oftentimes finds it impossible to resist his urges as an Incubus, leading him to retreat from social interaction to avoid the temptations that come with literally being sustained by love and pleasure.
"Never underestimate the power that lies within the heart of a raving fangirl. Trust me, my brother. You will not live to regret it."
| Race | Incubus
| Ranking | Although most Incubi count as A-Ranked Monsters, Akatsuya, due to his lack of experience and energy, is only a B-Rank at present.
| Personality | Friendly, yet paradoxically aloof. Akatsuya is the sort of person who will greet anyone who talks to him with an enthusiastic hello, joke with them, and send them off with a smile, but never actually reach out to others. He's charismatic, polite, and gentlemanly, but never actually extends himself out from within his shell. Not wanting to draw anyone into the snare his powers present, he avoids social interaction when possible, just gathering the bare minimum of respect and adoration he needs to assuage his wounded pride and to keep himself from dying. He's seen what happens when his powers get too great of a hold on people, and doesn't ever want to see it again. If he's ever to truly love anyone, above all else he wants it to be someone who loves him for himself, rather than a mere puppet trapped within his eyes.
Chivalrous by nature, he'll never hesitate to stop and help someone who needs it. Be it a cute girl who's run out of money on her train pass and needs a loan to get home from school, or a tired elderly gentleman who needs help carrying his groceries home, Akatsuya is more than willing to help. Nice almost to a fault, he feels that it's his solemn duty to make others as happy as possible, to make up for the threat his powers present him. At least then, at the very least, if they like him or reward him, it'll be because he's earned it.
However, Akatsuya is also somewhat unstable. Unused to drawing in particularly powerful emotions from those around him, or forming strong bonds with pretty much anybody, he finds himself heavily influenced by what those important to him feel. For example, supposing he were to develop a genuine crush on someone. Were that person afraid of something, he would become violently, almost psychotically devoted to ridding her of her fears, tapping into the full extent of his powers to protect her, no matter the cost to himself. Although this is just because he wants those he cares about to be happy, it nevertheless can serve as a trigger into a full transformation into an Incubus, at which point his personality changes completely.
When in his fully transformed state, he becomes arrogant, toying with the feelings of women and getting off on the feeling of power it gives him. A megalomaniac and a manipulative Casanova, he loses all of the restraints and kindnesses that otherwise define his character, becoming exactly what you'd expect a demon who feeds on love and pleasure to be like. Until he learns to master his powers, the threat of this transformation, and his Dark Half's existence, hang continuously over his head.
| Dominant Emotion | Love, both platonic and romantic, and self-loathing.
| Danger Level | 2/10 in normal form, just because looking in his eyes can temporarily result in a charming effect among females. Should he ever transform into a full-fledged Incubus, his ranking would rise to A, and his danger level would accordingly reach somewhere close to 6 or 7 due to his manipulative, sadistic nature in that state, and his level of physical abilities.
| Opinions | Having been raised amongst them, Akatsuya envies Humans greatly, and does not fault them for shunning his kind. If anything, he wishes he could just be like them, instead of being caught in the society of monsters.
| Average Grade | B, but that's partly because he never really tries if he doesn't have to. He's smarter than he lets on - just lazy. Besides, it helps him avoid being noticed save as a rebel, and the mere existence of fangirls is enough to sustain his vitality.
"I'm sort of like Son Goku, only instead of being an airheaded monkey-man from outer space, I'm a monster who feeds on your love and adoration to sustain my own twisted existence. Don't worry, though. You can trust me. After all, 'Ongaeshi' is my motto! I always repay my debts!"
| Keepsakes | His phone was a gift from his adoptive family for his last "birthday." He cherishes it even after he's parted from them.
| History | Akatsuya never knew who his real parents were. Left by the side of the road in a small town in northern Hokkaido, he was taken in by a family who lived there. Given his name due to the scarlet full moon that shone brightly on the night he was found, he thus became an ordinary member of the household. Raised as a Human, he never realized the true extent of his nature, even into his teenaged years. Throughout his early life, he was doted on by everyone around him. Far from giving him an overinflated image of himself, however, the strict but loving care of his foster parents instead shaped him into a person who felt a passionate desire to repay every one of the favors that were given him. Taking on "Ongaeshi," or "showing kindness to those who are kind to you," as his personal motto, he strove to pay back each and every debt he owed to those around him. This, in turn, prompted them to continue giving him favors, resulting in an endless cycle of payment and repayment that reinforced his need to keep on showing kindness to others, no matter what.
However, things changed for the sinister in his adolescent years. A favorite of his female classmates, he found himself asked on dates by several. He was a kind boy at heart, but his very nature was one that desperately sought love and companionship in as great a quantity as possible. Consequently, he found himself surrendering to his monstrous desires, and began dating several individual girls in secret, cheating at least half a dozen times over before he was inevitably caught. His parents were deeply disappointed in him, and he vowed he'd never do it again... but strangely enough, many of the girls he'd dated came back the next week and offered him second chances, as though they hadn't even been hurt by his betrayal. This was the first tip off he received to his true nature. The second was the strange growth of his ears whenever he had a particularly passionate moment with one of his many one-time girlfriends or admirers. Although it horrified him to admit it, he began to realize that he was something other than human, and was manipulating those around him to his will, a suspicion that was only confirmed when a young woman ten years his senior arrived in town, a flurry of controversy and rejected suitors following in her wake, and approached him, revealing to him the truth. She was a Succubus, and he, an Incubus, her male counterpart. Explaining to him how his powers worked, she demonstrated her own, giving him a few tips on how to control those he desired for himself, encouraging him to give in to all his darkest desires, use those who he could so easily break into his disposable pleasure slaves, and then throw them away like discarded dolls.
For all his kindness, he nearly gave in, pushing his powers to their limits to draw in one of his classmates, to make her submit and offer herself to him. But in the end, he just couldn't do it. Pushing back his Incubus self, he looked with horror on what he'd done, turning a girl he'd once genuinely loved into nothing but thoughtless toy for his own amusement. It hit him in that moment that all the love and affection he'd ever received in his life had probably been just as fake as the adoration he was being shown unquestioningly at that very instant. Even his adoption had probably been caused by his powers, as the adults who found him had been infatuated by his eyes, and desired him as their own child. In short, he'd never earned any of the favors he had tried so desperately to repay, nor could he ever hope to match the kindnesses shown him when he was the one forcing those around him to bend over backwards to accommodate him in the first place. He was an abomination, a being who couldn't even control his own selfish lust for satisfaction, a monster who did not, and could never hope to belong in Human society.
So, he ran, fleeing his hometown, his would-be slaves, and the misleading advice of his mentor. All he wanted was a place for people like him. A place where even he could belong. A place, where maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't have to be afraid of what he was, or what he could do.
And so he came to a school for monsters like him.
| Other | His Face Claim is Dark Mage Badhabh Caar from Cardfight!! Vanguard.
