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[finatic]

Applicant Info

◎ Name: Laura
◎ Journal: appliances
◎ Contact: melodrama
◎ Current Character(s): none

Character Info
◎ Character's Name: Naoto Kagami
◎ Character's Canon: Donten ni Warau
◎ Character's Age: 36
◎ Canon Point: chapter 29
◎ Background/History: sparse wiki curse--

Kagami Naoto comes from a fishing family in the Choushuu area. At a young age he demonstrated a proclivity towards violence and extremism, a habit that eventually estranged him from his family. In school he was basically possessed by his teacher's ideals for an imperial rule for Japan and the mass expulsion of foreigners. This became his cause and he worked toward it with similar-minded people for a while until his violent habits got the better of him again and his comrades started to disapprove of his methods. Eventually, he was left alone again, because no one really wanted to deal with his extremes.

From there he kept trying to get in with like-minded people, but soon discovered that the people he was working with were, in his view, "corrupt" - i.e. they spoke badly about the Emperor. His natural response to this was to overreact again and kill his allies. As this point Kagami's ideals had basically warped into a severe extremism where only "God" (that is, the Emperor) mattered to him and would definitely save the country from the influx of "barbarians" and corruption. Then came the "sword ban" that dissembled the way of the samurai, which Kagami took 100% personally. He believed they had been betrayed and decided from there that the only thing left for him to do to exact his revenge was kill the Emperor - "deicide," as he calls it, "god killing." He garnered a reputation as a murderer and went into hiding.

When he shows up in the present events of the story, it's with a bunch of military people on his tail because he's literally a serial killer. He shows up at the Kumou shrine asking if he can be taking over to the prison gate to deliver something on orders from the government, only to be distracted when Soramaru shows up and challenges him. Soramaru, who claims he is Tenka, stars a fight and Kagami all but wipes the floor with him until Shirasu and then Tenka arrive to shut him down. Tenka then tears down Kagami's fanatical ranting about the government and god killing, saying he's selfish and can't protect anything, to which Kagami responds Tenka is wrong and tries to kill him a few more times. He eventually tells Tenka that there isn't anything left in him but hatred and regret, and if Tenka doesn't kill him, they will be left to Tenka instead. Tenka steps on his face and tells him to shut up, and then the Yamainu arrive to arrest Kagami.

He's later briefly involved in the information-gathering incident at the prison, where he's seen coming out of the punishment chamber, harassing Soramaru, and talking to ~the mysterious prisoner~ i.e. Fuuma Koutarou mk. II about giving Fuuma some mysterious item (turns out to be opium). He then breaks out of prison during the mass escape, which was his goal in volunteering to go to prison all along, and doesn't turn up again until after Tenka has "died."

At that point, Kagami turns up to emotionally shatter Chuutarou and convinces him to dedicate the rest of his life to avenging Tenka's "murder." Chuutarou, being 12 and grieving, agrees! And they go on what might as well be an awkward road trip, just on foot and in the woods. Kagami spends most of it berating Chuutarou for being spoiled or weak or simply not driven enough to avenge anybody, and continuously goads him about how Chuutarou is loved and wanted and he has never been, and that sucks. Chuutarou in turn pisses him off by telling him how said his (Kagami's) life is, and demands to know what he's really trying to do when they wind up back in Shiga instead of in Kyoto, where they have supposedly been heading in order to kill the whole government.

By the time they wander into the final battle against the Orochi and Kagami has made it clear that he has nothing to live for except revenge which isn't a great life to begin with, Chuutarou declares that even if life seems like it sucks, being around people who care for others makes it worth living. This is to counter Kagami's assertions, in an effort to convince him to not run off and keep being miserable. Kagami does run off in the end, anyway, but he manages to admit that Chuutarou's words are nice and good. While it seems like he disappears entirely then, at a crucial moment he throws Chuutarou a piece of his weirdo megasword from wherever he's hiding out and watching the fight against Orochi from, enabling Chuutarou and co. to cut the big snake monster in half.

A bit later, he watches everyone else be happy and relieved about their victory, and then he gets the hell out of there.

◎ Is the character a hacker and/or do they have a sixth-sense? nope

◎ Personality:

Kagami Naoto is an extremist. He lives in a black and white world where all things go south in the end and everyone will eventually betray him or leave him behind. There is very, very little wiggle room for most things, and living like this for so long has done him no real, lasting favors. Still, despite his attitude, he carries himself like someone who's having a pretty good time all the time! He's almost always grinning and defaults to treating interactions with most people like a fun challenge or a game, especially when it comes to violence. Given he has no friends and has long since left his family behind, and he is literally a terrorist, violence is his default. He starts fights on a whim and drops into other people's fights uninvited, and has a slight tendency to get overly into fights with particularly strong people; Kumou Tenka in particular steps on Kagami's face several times, and Kagami's take-away from that fight is that the Kumous are "new prey."

His inclinations toward violence stem from his very extremist views of... everything. In particular he's motivated primarily by the state of Japan's government: at a young age he was inspired by the ideals of an imperialist government and the expulsion of foreigners and took it to the next level more than once. Throughout his life he's joined up with various rebel groups who do genuinely want his support and strength! Only for his excess violence and "act first, ask questions later" attitude to turn them off or completely against him. He's brutal, and uses violence to solve every problem because that's all that really occurs to him--once someone or something has done something that he considers "betrayal," that's it, it's over. Even when his own rebel comrades express views he doesn't believe in, he skips talking things out and just kills them, because he doesn't care for (his own perception of) corruption in the ranks. For a very long time, the Emperor was Kagami's God, and he used this as his reason for being so ruthless with comrades and enemies who opposed him and his ideals. When the sword ban was put in place, however, Kagami took this as the ultimate betrayal from God himself - how could this happen to people who worked for God, who respected and needed God, how could they be betrayed for their loyalty? - and he reached the pinnacle of his extremist views: wanting to kill the Emperor for betraying the country. He is very, very serious about it, and even claims that his revenge is his plan to protect the country and its people.

The problem that arises is that he is ultimately really selfish. He knows this, to a point, such as when he tells Chuutarou that revenge might be violent and harmful, but "it makes [him] feel better" so it's worth doing just for that reason alone. But it's still a shock to the system for him when, in his fight with Tenka, Tenka lays him flat with the simple statement that his revenge isn't protecting anyone and he's only doing what he wants without anyone else in mind. Kagami is offended by this, really offended for someone who behaves the way he does, and it's largely because he wants to believe that he can protect something and isn't wholly alone, working selfishly. There's a contradiction that arises there, as he's obviously really selfish to the point where he repeatedly states that people have to take care of themselves and not rely on others or even hope, but he's angry about being called out on it.

The real underlying cause for his abundant selfishness is his genuine belief that he will always, always be abandoned and left alone. As a child his parents and younger brother were disgusted by him (given that he was, well, gross and just as prone to violence then as now), and he "learned" through their rejection and subsequent rejections from basically everyone else he met that he wasn't ever going to be loved. This settled in him early and set in motion his "all for myself" lifestyle; he believes that, because he was always abandoned and betrayed, it should be fine if he only acts for himself and essentially rejects the rest of the world in turn. He believes this, but on a deeper level he knows it's left him hollow; he's long since passed the point where he has nothing left to live for except his revenge, and if he doesn't accomplish it he might as well die. He suggests this early on to Chuutarou before he says it outright, saying that living for revenge requires a level of dedication that's "do or die," no exceptions. It turns out all he's ever wanted is for someone to praise him and just appreciate that he's there, screwed up as he is.

Despite really wanting to be cared about, he isn't good at dealing with the concept. He resents people who grow up loved, calling them spoiled and from a situation completely incomparable to his own, so he rejects their opinions as well. Hope and naivete about how good (or not) the world is are for people who grew up loved, and in Kagami's reality where he will never have that, strength is all that matters. He's thrown himself into his revenge under the belief that at this point he might as well just be dead if he can't act toward it - only act, because at the point where he considers his wish granted, he decides he might as well be dead then, too. He's depressed and lonely, more or less.

When he is actually faced with someone who gives a damn about him trying to throw his life away, he has no idea what to do about it. He doesn't understand that another person might want to help him or even protect him because it's never happened before! So, naturally, his first response is to run for the hills. The possibility of getting what he's wanted for this long is kind of beyond his comprehension, so he avoids it. That's not to say he has no reaction to Chuutarou's aggressively telling him not to give up on life, because he does - he just, you know, gets upset and leaves in the end anyway. It's a work in progress.

Aside from his crippling loneliness, Kagami can be quite manipulative. He knows how to push buttons and do it well, and pretty easily cuts to the bone when he wants someone to take his side or do what he wants them to do. He's also very frank overall, and doesn't bother to hide anything about his revenge quest or violent habits. This again circles back to how he believes everyone's going to ditch him anyway - he doesn't sugarcoat anything or pretend to be someone he's not because the end result will be the same! Surely! And, you know, he's also just a murderer and all around bad person. He might be self-professed to be full of nothing but old, old hatred and resentment and regret, but his overall disposition is pretty cheerful. Being fast and loose with morals and ethics let you have a good time no matter what's going on, sort of.

All in all, Kagami is a bad person. He is, he's a criminal and a murderer and notorious for it. But he's the end result of a lifetime of believing everything would go from bad to worse no matter what he did, and now that he's sort of been shown that isn't true, he doesn't know what to do with himself.

◎ Powers/Abilities: Nothing supernatural, but he's known for his illogically high arm strength (probably from carrying that bizarre sword around), speed, and agility. He's generally Very Good at combat overall, simply from his long past of killing a lot of people. And he's ambidextrous!
◎ Weapons & Other Special Inventory: The dodo meki, this unnecessarily huge "katana" that is really just a bunch of blades screwed together. As seen in the gif, it folds and collapses for easy portability - usually tucked into his massive sleeves. He can swing it around with surprising accuracy, as well as take it apart to use each piece as its own blade. It's stupid. It's a really stupid weapon.

Other than that he's just going to have his "outfit" or "gross rags and a scarf."

CEREALIA-Specific
◎ Element: water
◎ Sense: Touch, for two incredibly simple reasons: The first, because he's good with his hands - see fishing barehanded, also murder; second, because he confesses at one point that all he really wants is for someone to pat him on the head and tell him he did well. So, touch.
◎ Seven Character Traits: ( driven, clever, persuasive ) | ( lonely, bitter, brutal ) + passionate

◎ Is your character retaining any previous game memories? no