[The Devils See] Application
P L A Y E R
☓ Name: Phoenix
☓ Personal journal: thexenoqueen
☓ Age: 27
☓ Other characters in The Devils See: N/A
☓ Email: thexenoqueen@gmail.com
☓ AIM/MSN/Yahoo! Messenger: (AIM) xenoqueen, (Raptr) thexenoqueen
C H A R A C T E R
☓ Name: Naoshi Haruki
☓ Series: Starry☆Sky
☓ Reference: Official Site (Japanese), Wikipedia, Leo Episodes 1 and 2 (Though my inspiration is taken from the game, as a reference these episodes do not contradict his personality.)
☓ Canon point: October 12, his ~in Autumn~ game route, after the Culture Festival but before developing feelings for Tsukiko
☓ Age: 24
☓ Personality: The quickest way to summarize Naoshi is "a Leo", given that he was designed with that zodiac sign in mind, but it would be unfair to call him a total stereotype. Certainly he is a loud, outgoing personality, tackling even simple tasks with a ridiculous amount of enthusiasm and noise to the point that students and fellow teachers alike call him "hot-blooded", as much with an exasperated sigh as with fond amusement. It is his policy in life to be "completely focused in everything" and once he has begun something, he will not stop until the end. He was not always like this, however. In fact, through most of his youth, he was a boy devoted to studying to the exclusion of everything else. It took the intervention of another high school student, Hiroki, to break Naoshi out of his shell and show him the fun that could be had in life.
As a result, Naoshi is enraptured by the idea of "youth", determined that all of his students should enjoy their high school years to their fullest, as he wasn't able to. In his determination to infect them with his own enthusiasm, he is often perceived as childish and is even criticized by student teacher Iku Mizushima for being more like a friend than a role model. At first look it seems like Naoshi's students do not respect him, as it is a daily game for them to set up pranks in their homeroom class -- an eraser set above the door, or a tripwire set at ankle-catching level, for example. If Naoshi is caught in one of these traps, the victors lay claim to the side-dishes of his lunch. They might be considered bullies, except Naoshi plays this game quite willingly and enjoys it. Though the teasing and mockery Naoshi gets from his students is relentless, it is good-natured and never intentionally cruel. Even if he's not always taken seriously, he is dearly loved because of how dedicated he is to his students in his own hot-blooded way.
Naoshi is so strongly dedicated, in fact, that he takes it as a failure on his own part should he let them down in any way. He wants to be someone his students feel they can rely on. When the giant sign his homeroom class painted for the Cultural Festival was accidentally exposed to rain and ruined, he stood out in the downpour, staring at the wreck and blaming himself for not noticing the inclement weather sooner or being faster to get the display back inside the school. It took the students themselves to assure Naoshi that it wasn't his fault and cheer him back up with their eagerness to make a new sign. Naoshi was, in fact, moved to tears by their enthusiasm, though he embarrassedly claimed it was just the rain when he was teased for being so deeply emotional.
Another unexpectedly gloomy side to Naoshi's otherwise vibrant character is his pessimistic view of romantic love. Hiroki, his best friend, has been in a coma for an unstated number of years after being struck by a car. The reason Hiroki was in the car's path to begin with was to save the girl he loved from being run over, herself, even though she already had a boyfriend and Hiroki's love was unrequited. As a result of this tragedy, the only thing Naoshi sees in love is the pain it can cause everyone involved in it, especially when it's unrequited, and calls the idea of romantic love "scary". He has never experienced it, himself, nor does he want to.
Nevertheless, Naoshi is a bright and energetic more often than not, devoted to his friends and students alike and always putting them before himself -- when an unsteady pile of cardboard fell over him and Tsukiko, he didn't even realize he'd been more badly bruised than she until after he had brought her to the infirmary and had the school nurse look her over. Similarly, he tries not to trouble them with his own problems, when they arise. If he starts to get too introspective and melancholy while he's speaking, he hurriedly apologizes for "saying something strange" and puts his usual smile back on his face. When it comes to wanting to look after those around him, the little Leo is most definitely lion-hearted.
☓ Abilities: Naoshi is an astronomy teacher, thus well-versed in the study of stars, the planets, and other celestial bodies. He's also a computer geek, displayed in his skillful use and troubleshooting of fellow teacher Kotarou Hoshizuki's personal computer. He customized the machine himself so he knows what cords and programs to fiddle with when something stops working and can blind-type at lightning speed. Otherwise he's a perfectly ordinary human being.
☓ Weaknesses: Adulthood was not generous to Naoshi. Though he was strong enough to easily carry Tsukiko when she was injured, he is a little fellow, standing only 164cm and weighing in at 53kg (about 5'5" and 117 lbs), so will likely get the short end of the stick in any physical confrontations. He also is easily startled and appears easily frightened as well -- in one spin-off drama CD, a walk through an amusement park haunted house leaves him screaming his head off, so he'll certainly not face the real demons of the Devil's Sea with any more dignity. His "give everything your all" policy also means he's prone to overexert himself even when it's unnecessary. Finally, Naoshi loves to drink. He's never shown to be anything more than a very loud and happy social drinker, but in the dark setting of the Devil's Sea, it's easy to imagine him overindulging to cope with the stress should he find himself with alcohol on hand.
☓ Strengths: That same stubbornness that gets him into trouble can be a strength if he's the only one still holding on, and he's always a voice of encouragement to those around him. He's also quick and agile on his feet, making up for his lack of strength (his students love having him on their soccer teams). Finally, though he may not be the bravest man around, he'll do everything he can to protect the people dear to him, and there's reason to believe the little Leo is not merely a coward, but more like the Cowardly Lion. Courage, after all, is pressing on in the face of fear, and he did go into that haunted house rather that flee from it. (It may also be worth mentioning that his casual outfit includes a shirt boldly labeled 'Cowardly Lion', and when it comes to artistic choices, that may be a significant one.)
☓ Intranet post sample:
[The video feed snaps on, revealing an unsurprising thing to this island: a young man soaked to the skin, hair and clothes dripping with seawater and plastered with sand and even a bit of seaweed, bleeding from a few cuts courtesy of getting tossed about by the waves like just another piece of flotsam. He's visibly shellshocked, eyes wide as he types rapidly across the keyboard. Suddenly he stops and with a wordless exclamation of surprise, he leaps from his chair, reaching up to grab the webcam. Cue an extreme close-up as he leans in close to it.]
It came on! Hello? Is anyone there? [His speech is rapid, bewildered.] This thing's connected to a network so there's someone on the other end, right? Hello? Wait, how do I know if there's audio...? [Biting at his lower lip, he resumes his frantic blind-typing, eyes never once leaving the screen ahead of him.]
Hello? If someone's there, please answer me! If this is some new kind of prank for my lunch, it's gone way too far!
But I'll give you every bit of it, every last Naoshi's Special Extra Serving Rice Ball, if you stop!
☓ Log post sample:
With his message posted, or sent, or whatever, Naoshi sagged back onto the old, creaky wooden chair and struggled to get his thoughts into some kind of order. He was used to the lively, enjoyable atmosphere of Seigetsu Academy, where every corridor and classroom thronged with students enjoying the last great years of their youth. But this... what was all this? The last thing he remembered was the final display of Seigetsu's Cultural Festival: the Star Road, a dazzling array of lights to celebrate the autumn season. He'd walked it with one of his students, Tsukiko Yahisa, because she'd been too busy to enjoy it until the festival was almost over, and he wasn't about to let the only female student in the whole school go walking alone at night, even on the campus grounds. The friendship bracelet she'd given him was still on his wrist, as if to assure him that, at some point, life had still been proceeding normally.
His hands trembled on the arms of the chair, and not just from the chill of being soaked through the layers of his clothing. Naoshi was frightened. Despite his computer message, he knew this couldn't be some kind of trick by his students. If nothing else, it was too cruel. His students covered his desk with chalk dust or drew on his face with markers when he accidentally fell asleep -- they didn't conceive ways for him to suddenly come to, drowning, choking on water that tasted like salt and dead fish, battered by rough waves until he was finally thrown onto an unfamiliar shoreline. Seigetsu Academy wasn't even anywhere near any ocean!
What had happened to the school? Where were all his precious students? Yahisa, Nanami, and Tohzuki? Awata, Nashimoto, the rest of the pranksters, and everyone else from his homeroom class? If Naoshi wasn't there with them, who was going to look after them? His student teacher, Mizushima, was more likely to find someplace to hide and slack off until Naoshi dragged him back to work, and Kotarou-sensei had to look after the infirmary.... The more Naoshi thought about it, the more worried he got. It was his nature to worry about his students before himself. He could assume they were all still safe at Seigetsu, but what if they weren't? He didn't have an explanation for what had happened to him, to leave him floundering in the sea, but what if something had happened to them as well?
Suddenly Naoshi couldn't stay seated any longer. "Okay!" he exclaimed, goading himself up from the chair with his own voice. The computer wasn't responding to him in any way he could discern, so if any of his students were in trouble, this might not be the best way to find out.
His sneakers squelched wetly as he exited the rundown shack, wiping his sand-gritty hair back from his forehead and surveying the surroundings outside. Battered shoreline this way, eerie treeline that way, cold wind all around. What Naoshi focused on, however, were the stars in the dark sky overhead. They weren't quite in the places he expected them to be, but he could still read them. He taught astronomy to those beloved students of his, after all. He'd just go do a little bit of reconnaissance and follow the stars back here. If he found anyone, this shack was shelter he could bring them back to. Even if he didn't find anyone, maybe something on the computer would change by then. After that... well, he didn't know, but he'd find out when he got there.
Taking a deep, shaky breath to steady himself as much as possible, Naoshi struck out on his new task, footsteps crunching through the sand. His students depended on him. If they were here as well, no matter how confused and afraid he was, he couldn't let them down
☓ Name: Phoenix
☓ Personal journal: thexenoqueen
☓ Age: 27
☓ Other characters in The Devils See: N/A
☓ Email: thexenoqueen@gmail.com
☓ AIM/MSN/Yahoo! Messenger: (AIM) xenoqueen, (Raptr) thexenoqueen
C H A R A C T E R
☓ Name: Naoshi Haruki
☓ Series: Starry☆Sky
☓ Reference: Official Site (Japanese), Wikipedia, Leo Episodes 1 and 2 (Though my inspiration is taken from the game, as a reference these episodes do not contradict his personality.)
☓ Canon point: October 12, his ~in Autumn~ game route, after the Culture Festival but before developing feelings for Tsukiko
☓ Age: 24
☓ Personality: The quickest way to summarize Naoshi is "a Leo", given that he was designed with that zodiac sign in mind, but it would be unfair to call him a total stereotype. Certainly he is a loud, outgoing personality, tackling even simple tasks with a ridiculous amount of enthusiasm and noise to the point that students and fellow teachers alike call him "hot-blooded", as much with an exasperated sigh as with fond amusement. It is his policy in life to be "completely focused in everything" and once he has begun something, he will not stop until the end. He was not always like this, however. In fact, through most of his youth, he was a boy devoted to studying to the exclusion of everything else. It took the intervention of another high school student, Hiroki, to break Naoshi out of his shell and show him the fun that could be had in life.
As a result, Naoshi is enraptured by the idea of "youth", determined that all of his students should enjoy their high school years to their fullest, as he wasn't able to. In his determination to infect them with his own enthusiasm, he is often perceived as childish and is even criticized by student teacher Iku Mizushima for being more like a friend than a role model. At first look it seems like Naoshi's students do not respect him, as it is a daily game for them to set up pranks in their homeroom class -- an eraser set above the door, or a tripwire set at ankle-catching level, for example. If Naoshi is caught in one of these traps, the victors lay claim to the side-dishes of his lunch. They might be considered bullies, except Naoshi plays this game quite willingly and enjoys it. Though the teasing and mockery Naoshi gets from his students is relentless, it is good-natured and never intentionally cruel. Even if he's not always taken seriously, he is dearly loved because of how dedicated he is to his students in his own hot-blooded way.
Naoshi is so strongly dedicated, in fact, that he takes it as a failure on his own part should he let them down in any way. He wants to be someone his students feel they can rely on. When the giant sign his homeroom class painted for the Cultural Festival was accidentally exposed to rain and ruined, he stood out in the downpour, staring at the wreck and blaming himself for not noticing the inclement weather sooner or being faster to get the display back inside the school. It took the students themselves to assure Naoshi that it wasn't his fault and cheer him back up with their eagerness to make a new sign. Naoshi was, in fact, moved to tears by their enthusiasm, though he embarrassedly claimed it was just the rain when he was teased for being so deeply emotional.
Another unexpectedly gloomy side to Naoshi's otherwise vibrant character is his pessimistic view of romantic love. Hiroki, his best friend, has been in a coma for an unstated number of years after being struck by a car. The reason Hiroki was in the car's path to begin with was to save the girl he loved from being run over, herself, even though she already had a boyfriend and Hiroki's love was unrequited. As a result of this tragedy, the only thing Naoshi sees in love is the pain it can cause everyone involved in it, especially when it's unrequited, and calls the idea of romantic love "scary". He has never experienced it, himself, nor does he want to.
Nevertheless, Naoshi is a bright and energetic more often than not, devoted to his friends and students alike and always putting them before himself -- when an unsteady pile of cardboard fell over him and Tsukiko, he didn't even realize he'd been more badly bruised than she until after he had brought her to the infirmary and had the school nurse look her over. Similarly, he tries not to trouble them with his own problems, when they arise. If he starts to get too introspective and melancholy while he's speaking, he hurriedly apologizes for "saying something strange" and puts his usual smile back on his face. When it comes to wanting to look after those around him, the little Leo is most definitely lion-hearted.
☓ Abilities: Naoshi is an astronomy teacher, thus well-versed in the study of stars, the planets, and other celestial bodies. He's also a computer geek, displayed in his skillful use and troubleshooting of fellow teacher Kotarou Hoshizuki's personal computer. He customized the machine himself so he knows what cords and programs to fiddle with when something stops working and can blind-type at lightning speed. Otherwise he's a perfectly ordinary human being.
☓ Weaknesses: Adulthood was not generous to Naoshi. Though he was strong enough to easily carry Tsukiko when she was injured, he is a little fellow, standing only 164cm and weighing in at 53kg (about 5'5" and 117 lbs), so will likely get the short end of the stick in any physical confrontations. He also is easily startled and appears easily frightened as well -- in one spin-off drama CD, a walk through an amusement park haunted house leaves him screaming his head off, so he'll certainly not face the real demons of the Devil's Sea with any more dignity. His "give everything your all" policy also means he's prone to overexert himself even when it's unnecessary. Finally, Naoshi loves to drink. He's never shown to be anything more than a very loud and happy social drinker, but in the dark setting of the Devil's Sea, it's easy to imagine him overindulging to cope with the stress should he find himself with alcohol on hand.
☓ Strengths: That same stubbornness that gets him into trouble can be a strength if he's the only one still holding on, and he's always a voice of encouragement to those around him. He's also quick and agile on his feet, making up for his lack of strength (his students love having him on their soccer teams). Finally, though he may not be the bravest man around, he'll do everything he can to protect the people dear to him, and there's reason to believe the little Leo is not merely a coward, but more like the Cowardly Lion. Courage, after all, is pressing on in the face of fear, and he did go into that haunted house rather that flee from it. (It may also be worth mentioning that his casual outfit includes a shirt boldly labeled 'Cowardly Lion', and when it comes to artistic choices, that may be a significant one.)
☓ Intranet post sample:
[The video feed snaps on, revealing an unsurprising thing to this island: a young man soaked to the skin, hair and clothes dripping with seawater and plastered with sand and even a bit of seaweed, bleeding from a few cuts courtesy of getting tossed about by the waves like just another piece of flotsam. He's visibly shellshocked, eyes wide as he types rapidly across the keyboard. Suddenly he stops and with a wordless exclamation of surprise, he leaps from his chair, reaching up to grab the webcam. Cue an extreme close-up as he leans in close to it.]
It came on! Hello? Is anyone there? [His speech is rapid, bewildered.] This thing's connected to a network so there's someone on the other end, right? Hello? Wait, how do I know if there's audio...? [Biting at his lower lip, he resumes his frantic blind-typing, eyes never once leaving the screen ahead of him.]
Hello? If someone's there, please answer me! If this is some new kind of prank for my lunch, it's gone way too far!
But I'll give you every bit of it, every last Naoshi's Special Extra Serving Rice Ball, if you stop!
☓ Log post sample:
With his message posted, or sent, or whatever, Naoshi sagged back onto the old, creaky wooden chair and struggled to get his thoughts into some kind of order. He was used to the lively, enjoyable atmosphere of Seigetsu Academy, where every corridor and classroom thronged with students enjoying the last great years of their youth. But this... what was all this? The last thing he remembered was the final display of Seigetsu's Cultural Festival: the Star Road, a dazzling array of lights to celebrate the autumn season. He'd walked it with one of his students, Tsukiko Yahisa, because she'd been too busy to enjoy it until the festival was almost over, and he wasn't about to let the only female student in the whole school go walking alone at night, even on the campus grounds. The friendship bracelet she'd given him was still on his wrist, as if to assure him that, at some point, life had still been proceeding normally.
His hands trembled on the arms of the chair, and not just from the chill of being soaked through the layers of his clothing. Naoshi was frightened. Despite his computer message, he knew this couldn't be some kind of trick by his students. If nothing else, it was too cruel. His students covered his desk with chalk dust or drew on his face with markers when he accidentally fell asleep -- they didn't conceive ways for him to suddenly come to, drowning, choking on water that tasted like salt and dead fish, battered by rough waves until he was finally thrown onto an unfamiliar shoreline. Seigetsu Academy wasn't even anywhere near any ocean!
What had happened to the school? Where were all his precious students? Yahisa, Nanami, and Tohzuki? Awata, Nashimoto, the rest of the pranksters, and everyone else from his homeroom class? If Naoshi wasn't there with them, who was going to look after them? His student teacher, Mizushima, was more likely to find someplace to hide and slack off until Naoshi dragged him back to work, and Kotarou-sensei had to look after the infirmary.... The more Naoshi thought about it, the more worried he got. It was his nature to worry about his students before himself. He could assume they were all still safe at Seigetsu, but what if they weren't? He didn't have an explanation for what had happened to him, to leave him floundering in the sea, but what if something had happened to them as well?
Suddenly Naoshi couldn't stay seated any longer. "Okay!" he exclaimed, goading himself up from the chair with his own voice. The computer wasn't responding to him in any way he could discern, so if any of his students were in trouble, this might not be the best way to find out.
His sneakers squelched wetly as he exited the rundown shack, wiping his sand-gritty hair back from his forehead and surveying the surroundings outside. Battered shoreline this way, eerie treeline that way, cold wind all around. What Naoshi focused on, however, were the stars in the dark sky overhead. They weren't quite in the places he expected them to be, but he could still read them. He taught astronomy to those beloved students of his, after all. He'd just go do a little bit of reconnaissance and follow the stars back here. If he found anyone, this shack was shelter he could bring them back to. Even if he didn't find anyone, maybe something on the computer would change by then. After that... well, he didn't know, but he'd find out when he got there.
Taking a deep, shaky breath to steady himself as much as possible, Naoshi struck out on his new task, footsteps crunching through the sand. His students depended on him. If they were here as well, no matter how confused and afraid he was, he couldn't let them down