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sugarcube2014-10-04 11:24 pm
sunshowered) wrote in sugarcube2014-10-04 11:24 pm
Entry tags:
app || cerealia || kumou tenka
Applicant Info
◎ Name: Dana
◎ Journal:sunshowered
◎ Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
evergrace
Character Info
◎ Character's Name: Kumou Tenka
◎ Character's Canon: Donten ni Warau
◎ Character's Age: 24
◎ Canon Point: Post-Chapter 23 (Chapter 25 according to EasyGoing Scans)
◎ Background/History: Donten ni Warau wiki!
... that said, it's pretty clearly rather lacking, so I'm happy to fill in the gaps!
Long ago, the Orochi came to be. The Orochi is basically an evil spirit, of sorts, that revives every 300 years in the Shiga Prefecture, bringing cloudy skies to the normally peaceful area. It picks a human vessel, typically someone in a bloodline that is naturally opposed to the Orochi, and will slowly eat away at the vessel's humanity until it is gone completely. The Orochi makes the vessel kill rampantly and brings misfortune to all. The only known way to remove the Orochi for centuries was to "seal immediately after hunting it down" and wait until it comes back 300 years later.
Now in the aforementioned Shiga Prefecture, Tenka was born as the first son of the Kumou family, therefore automatically making him poised to succeed as the 14th Head of the Kumou bloodline. The Kumous also just happened to be one of those families who had a natural predisposition to opposing the Orochi. They have their own shrine in Shiga known as the Cloud Shrine and were also in charge of the ferry that brings criminals to the Condemned Prison Gate, which was a high-security prison in the middle of Lake Biwa. Regardless, their ancestry was known for their warmth and they were loved by the people of Shiga. Even though Tenka's parents were odd and melodramatic, they were also loving and kind.
Then when Tenka was 8 years old, he became a big brother. From there, he was kinda doomed. Soramaru was the second Kumou brother and Chuutarou was the third, rounding them out to be the Three Kumou Brothers.
On top of being a big brother, Tenka was also the Captain of the Yamainu. The Yamainu were basically a government force created to serve the Minister of the Right and the Japanese government. Their ranks included many people who were candidates to be vessels of the Orochi, including Tenka himself and his childhood friends Abe no Sousei and Sasaki Kiiko. Tenka's father, Kumou Taiko, was the instructor of the Yamainu (no favoritism though, definitely not) and had taken in both Sousei and Kiiko to live with their family. It was at this age that Tenka developed the dream of becoming the nameless heroes that saved the country, invigorated by the idea of serving the nation and doing great things to help people. He passed on this dream to Sousei, who Taiko appointed as Tenka's right-hand man because honestly, Tenka might've been inspiring and eager, but he's really not the captain-type. Regardless, he was considered one of the pillars of the group.
With his loving parents, sweet younger brothers, and team to back him up, Tenka's life was pretty good.
Of course, it couldn't stay that way for long. When he was 13, Tenka's parents were murdered by a white-haired man in a fox mask. While attempting to save his younger brother, Tenka was slashed down his back and almost died. Sousei was the one to come across the gruesome scene and at some point, Tenka's body was collected by a Secret Chemistry Division in the government to save him as he was on the brink of death. The method they used was to administer a special medication that was basically made out of the Orochi's cells and see how it would affect the human body. Of course, since Tenka already came from a bloodline that was a candidate to be the Orochi's vessel, he reacted very well. His cells were revitalized, his wounds were healed, and his life was saved. However in the beginning of the process, this led to him being entirely paralyzed on his left side. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to serve the country with the Yamainu and only be dead weight, he abandoned his position as captain and instead chose to stay in the shrine with his brothers. (Chuutarou was 2 years old at the time of the incident and remembers nothing whereas it was so traumatizing for Soramaru that he repressed the memory entirely. Tenka alone lived with the knowledge of the incident ever since.)
That said, Tenka couldn't bear to be unable to take care of the people around him, so when he was offered the chance to continue undergoing experiments, he leapt at the opportunity. This continued all the way up until recent canon. Tenka agreed, knowing entirely that once he took too much of the medication and the Orochi's cells poisoned his mind, he would have to immediately accept the death penalty and have his body be dissected for further research.
A year after his parents died however, he found a stray injured albino boy in the snow. Even though the boy's white hair and violet eyes denoted him as a Fuuma, someone from a clan of ninja that specialized in assassination and had no loyalties, Tenka took him in. The boy became part of their family and took on the name Kinjou Shirasu. From then on, Shirasu was the shrine keeper and Tenka's closest confidant.
For another ten years after that, life was good. The people of Shiga became unbearably fond of the Kumou brothers and took care of them after their parents died. In exchange, Tenka became a known face around town to play with neighborhood kids and do good deeds for the villagers, including making extra money on the side by rounding up criminals that the police lost track of due to their incompetence. On the side, Tenka and Shirasu worked together to try to find a way to separate the Orochi from its vessel, as it had always been Tenka's goal to protect the vessel and save them from having to be killed.
Underneath the cloudy skies of Shiga, a town cursed to experience misfortunate, Tenka became the resident sun.
Again, everything was going well until Tenka suddenly collapsed one night after returning from a fancy dinner party he was forced to attend (and proceeded to spend most of the time there drinking alone while all dolled up. Productive adult stuff). This was the first sign that the Orochi cells were invading his body too strongly and beginning to override his system. His local doctor was someone from the Secret Chemistry Division and confirmed that the medicine that he was giving Tenka to suppress the signs of it was no longer working. Tenka then told Shirasu and Botan, Chuutarou's grade school teacher and one of Tenka's allies, to take care of his brothers. (At this time, Sousei and the rest of the Yamainu were led to the conclusion that Tenka was the actual Orochi vessel. Soramaru and Chuutarou were also told the same thing.)
When he was taken to be executed as had been agreed when Tenka began to undergo the experiments, Sousei visited him, not as his right-hand man but rather the new Captain of the Yamainu. They clashed as Tenka admitted that he chose to be a good brother than to take on the weight of the nation. An empty explanation as he couldn't bring himself to tell Sousei the entire truth of his condition. Soramaru and Chuutarou, following in their brother's rebellious footsteps, weren't able to accept the execution and made a large show of disobedience at the execution sight. Following them was the entire village, protesting against Tenka's execution and the reason that the government gave (which was that Tenka caused an explosion at the Condemned Prison Gate which was actually caused by Shirasu for other canon reasons, oops).
Touched by the scene but unable to fight against something he had agreed upon years ago, Tenka acted as if he accepted his fate. He said his goodbyes to his brothers and the villagers, stepping confidently toward the scaffolding to face his death.
They pulled the lever and to everyone's knowledge, Tenka died that day.
A few weeks and many nightmares later, Tenka woke up in what amounted to a dingy cell. Admittedly, this dingy cell did have an open door. Confused as to why he was still alive, it was explained to him that just before he was executed, a small faction of the police force received an order that he was to be kept alive. Apparently the government had found more use for him. Though rebellious as Tenka was, he took that as a sign that he was still free and regularly left his cell to save weak traveling families from bandits in his spare time. He at least tried to keep a low profile by wearing a big swooping cloak.
However at this time they were still administering the medicine to him so he could remain mobile and his doctor did try to continue giving him suppressants as well. Tenka faced the ultimatum that if he stopped taking the medicine, he would be bedridden. If he kept taking it, he would suffer from a complete mental breakdown.
Unable to accept being helpless, Tenka kept taking the medicine. For an unknown amount of time, life continued on for him like that. Suffering and being experimented on, giving only rare moments of autonomy. However one day Botan came, just as Tenka nearly went over the edge and completely gave into the Orochi, to tell him that Shirasu had betrayed their family. Soramaru was the true Orochi's vessel and he was in trouble. Without hesitation, Tenka decided to go and have one of the policemen that he trusted come along so that if he were to lose control and go full Orochi, his friend would cut him down.
Eventually, Tenka was tearfully reunited with his brothers. He also came completely clean to Sousei and told him everything - the paralysis, the experiments, the fear that Tenka had been keeping to himself all those years about being useless. The Orochi is vanquished once and for all without costing anyone their life. The only relationship that Tenka was not able to repair was the one he had with Shirasu. His confidant and closest friend had no interest in returning to their family, consciously choosing to walk off the edge of a cliff before he went with Tenka again.
By the end of the series, Tenka had stopped taking the Orochi medicine. He lost his ability to walk and instead became a total speed demon in a wheelchair. Regardless, he openly dreamt of being able to travel around Japan for years and eventually actually does it. He wanted to go alone, but luckily his childhood friend Kiiko will always be infinitely smarter than Tenka and decided to go along with him. And that's the last we've heard of Tenka's dumb as hell adventures.
◎ Is the character a hacker and/or do they have a sixth-sense? Nope!
◎ Personality:
In Shiga, they haven't seen the clear sky in years. With the promise of the Orochi, there is always a thick blanket of clouds covering the sky over their prefecture. Regardless, the people are happy because in their village, Tenka is their sun. Tenka is bright, warm, and downright obnoxious - he shines even if you don't really want him to or have the patience to deal with it. In the Cloudy Shrine, people always reflect on how warm it is and how loud and happy the brothers who live there always are. Truly, Tenka loves the idea of family and bringing people together so that they can laugh and smile to their heart's content. While he is alive, he only wants to be happy and even in the most desperate times, he will tell people to smile and eventually they will get through it if they only try.
So in this way, Tenka has an enormous heart. Even after tragedy fell upon their family and he lost his parents, he agreed to undergo experiments because he has two brothers who need him. When things seemed at their darkest and revenge would have been an option, he instead chose to focus on the positive and take care of his family members who were left alive. Another big reason why he kept taking the Orochi medicine even though he knew that it would greatly shorten his lifespan was because he wanted to repay the villagers of Shiga who took care of him and his brothers after his family had died. And even when Tenka was just a teenager who had to look over a 6-year-old and a 2-year-old, when he found Shirasu in the snow, he took him in and offered to give him a family. This mentality doesn't change at all by the time he reaches adulthood. When a serial killer tries to get into the Condemned Prison Gate and threatens both Chuutarou and Soramaru to get access to it, Tenka fights him and protects his brothers, of course he does - but he also offers himself up as a target for the serial killer's hatred so that he won't be as consumed by it anymore. It's absolutely unreal the lengths that Tenka will go to in order to save people.
That's where the boyhood dream to serve also originated from and honestly, even though Tenka isn't part of the Yamainu anymore, that doesn't really stop him from being utterly infatuated with his country. Japan is important to him, especially in the time of transition that it's in now. Tenka constantly reflects on how vast he thinks the world is and how important it is to him to see all of Japan at least once to fully grasp the way that the world is changing around him. He calls it a time of growing up, as if Japan is a teenager and turning into an adult and it's that sort of time that Tenka loves the most. He talks about it with his younger brother and ironically every time Soramaru appears to be taking a step forward to get out of Tenka's shadow, Tenka is immediately reaching for the days of when his little brother depended on him. As an older brother, Tenka is constantly caught between waiting for Soramaru to surpass him and wishing that his younger brother could rely on him for a bit longer.
Admittedly a lot of this does reside in Tenka's burning need to be depended upon. Whether it was the Yamainu, his brothers, or the villagers, Tenka never wanted to feel as if he was a burden - which was his ultimate reasoning for leaving the Yamainu in the first place. What kind of captain was half-paralyzed and constantly inching toward his death? He couldn't stand the idea of dragging his friends behind and instead he let them go. After the Orochi is defeated in canon and Tenka is left in a wheelchair, he's honestly in a depressed slump as he reflects to his parent's gravestones that he's afraid that he'll only be a burden on his brothers now. What could he do, after all? Only after he's made all his decisions and been left with the unfortunate aftermath that might trouble other people does Tenka begin to question the steps that he took along the way.
Despite Tenka's smiles and constant laughter, he does have a tendency to completely shut himself out from the rest of the world. He tells Soramaru, "We're family, so why don't you rely on me?" but has no response when Soramaru asks the same thing. Tenka constantly keeps secrets from his younger brothers in hopes that it will keep them happier and unburdened - Soramaru and Chuutarou have no knowledge of Tenka's involvement with the Yamainu, Tenka never tried to remind Soramaru about the day of their parents' deaths, and his brothers never knew anything about the Orochi until the day of Tenka's execution. Even when it comes to catching criminals, Tenka will try to tell his brothers to stay at home because it might be dangerous. Even Shirasu merely sighs, "That guy is constantly taking everything upon himself" and it's true. As everyone goes to the final battle with the Orochi, Tenka lets them go and gives them that responsibility, but as soon as their backs are turned, he's ready to let himself collapse alone. Burdened and tormented as Tenka can be, he has a habit of abandoning people simply because he doesn't want to involve them in his problems. On the flip side of being the sun, Sousei addresses Tenka's problem head on, "Even the exalted sun gets lonely if he can't achieve what he desires. Disappear. High, mighty, and alone."
Though as high and mighty as Tenka can act, and boy does he ham it up, he actually doesn't appear to think too much of himself and his own acts. There's no denying that Tenka is loved. The grand majority of characters in the series are affected or troubled by his sudden death in one way or another and for those closest to him, they were emotionally ruined for weeks. The entire village quieted and lost its liveliness without him. Without a doubt, Tenka is important - and not because he is the 14th Head of the Kumou or because he was the former captain of the Yamainu - but simply because he is Tenka.
Yet when it's brought to his attention that he's loved, through none other than Shirasu directly telling him, "You're loved, Tenka," what does he do? He merely answers, "It's wasted on me." The villagers are in a riot, storming the gates in anger and desperation, and all he can think is "Everyone has a lot of free time today." The extent to which people care about him is a constant surprise to Tenka. He knew since he agreed to the experiments that he would have to eventually die early but all he could think was that he wanted to store up happiness until that day came. If he could live out his days as a Kumou, laughing and smiling with his brothers and the people of Shiga, he would. It never occurred to him that when that day came, the people he left behind would have to deal with the sudden absence of Tenka. In truth, they don't deal well with their sun disappearing at all.
Though most entertainingly, for all of Tenka's apparent maturity and his huge heart, he actually acts like a buffoon.
He'll take payments under the table for catching criminals so that he can support his own private booze fund, he'll stand out naked in the rain until Soramaru comes back in some act of solidarity and displeasure, and he'll beat up little kids for making fun of Chuutarou even when he's twice their size. There are so many things that Tenka should not be able to get away with and yet when he shows up in the middle of town, dressed in women's clothing and carrying Soramaru on his back as an oversized baby, the villagers merely laugh and ask him what he's up to. Seriously. Even the police officer that responds to complaints of a naked pervert standing in front of the Cloudy Shrine merely says, "Just please don't do it again!" once he realizes that it's Tenka and leaves.
Even though Tenka is capable of deep, complicated thoughts and honestly keeps a lot of his past under lock and key, it's really easy to just mistake him for a boisterous idiot. He'll tell his brothers to praise him and openly accepts compliments. When he gets frustrated, he looks for a punching bag and either picks a fight with Shirasu or Soramaru - though he's not against knocking Chuutarou around either. When he's stuck at a fancy party, he'll spend most of it pulling at his collar and drinking, reflecting the entire time that he sticks out and that Soramaru's homemade meals taste better than the fancy stuff that they've got laying around. There are so many things that betray Tenka's tendency to be utterly simple in terms of his personality. If someone is kind to him, he will be kind in return and if they're unkind, he's got no issues socking them in the gut even if they're a snotty teenager who doesn't know better - he might even do it especially because they're a snotty teenager who doesn't know better.
But for some reason, this idiot is so well-loved that no one holds any of that against him.
Truly, despite all his dumb ideas and foolish actions, Tenka is ultimately a kind person. He trusts easily, welcomes people into his home without hesitance, and is quick to forgive. He is earnest even if he is not always honest and only wants to do his absolute best for his brothers and the people who depend on him. All he wants to do is live a life with the people he loves, laughing and shining bright, whether the skies are cloudy or clear be damned.
◎ Powers/Abilities:
Since Tenka's father, Kumou Taiko, trained the Yamainu (the Minister of the Right's personal squad, who are said to be a team of unrivaled skill) it's reasonable to believe that Tenka, who was appointed as the initial captain of the Yamainu, has a considerable amount of physical strength and skill. Even when he was 14, he was tied exactly with Abe no Sousei in over 800 sparring matches. At that young age, he was already apprehending criminals without a single concern as to whether or not he'd be beaten. Since then, Tenka has only further honed his skill with a traditional metal fan that was passed down through his family. Even against enemies who wield swords and considerably more dangerous weapons, Tenka has been shown to defeat an entire squad of military men by himself without breaking a sweat. He's even taken down the youngest member of the Yamainu in a single punch - but keep in mind that even that member was later shown subduing an entire prison breakout by himself.
Simply put, Tenka's strength is rivaled only by the current Captain of the Yamainu, aka Sousei.
But past that, Tenka's also assisted by the fact that the Orochi medicine that was given to him increased his strength. So he's capable of remarkable feats like carrying his poor 16-year-old brother up a huge set of stairs to get back home even though Tenka himself was stabbed just a few hours earlier. He's strong enough to be able to cause rockslides by throwing a punch at the wall and he comes out mostly unscathed after.
Put these two things together and it's shown that Tenka is capable of ridiculous feats of strength to go along with his almost unparalleled skill as a fighter to begin with.
◎ Weapons & Other Special Inventory: - metal fan
- choker & bracelets
- packets of Orochi-based medicine
- spare shrine clothes
CEREALIA-Specific
◎ Element: Air.
◎ Sense: Touch. Tenka interacts with people physically very frequently, stopping his brothers in their tracks by pulling them close or reaching out to Shirasu. His paralysis only really enhanced how important it is to be able to hold the people who are close to him.
◎ Seven Character Traits: [ + ] charismatic, warm, determined [ - ] obnoxious, fears being a burden, secretive [ + / - ] big-hearted
Samples
◎ First-Person Sample: test drive!
◎ Third-Person Sample:
It was too much all at once.
Aliens? Data? Extrapolated? There were so many words in the presentation that meant things to Tenka but at the same time lost a lot of their meaning when he tried to apply them to the situation. Glancing down at his hand, he couldn't help but squint. Data? He's data? His existence was recorded?
To him, it doesn't have much meaning. To be recorded meant that you had to be watched, studied, and done something worth being remembered for, didn't it? Or maybe not - this was apparently the future. Maybe they were less picky about what made it into the history books now.
Regardless, the main concern that he had was in one thing: everything he knew was destroyed.
It made his blood run cold as the thought hit him again, freezing him for a moment as he thought about the damn game they'd made him run through. Everyone he knew was gone, his brothers - his hand clenched into a fist, nails digging into his palm - and the entire village. His world had been destroyed? And it wasn't even by the Orochi? What was the point of everything that he'd been working toward then? Why had he been looking for a way to separate the Orochi and its vessel if that wasn't even the cause of the end of the world?
Gritting his teeth, Tenka braced himself for pain as he ran his fist into the closest wall. The pricks and shocks of pain came, though not as strongly as they would for a normal person. No, his cells were too strong for that - as proven by the fact that he'd left more of a dent on the wall than it had left on him.
Staring at the mark he'd left, Tenka breathed in and then out.
His brothers' voices calling for him were too fresh in his head. "Aniki!" and "Ten-nii!" they would echo in his ears and his shoulders slumped. He allowed himself a moment to clear his head, shutting his eyes as he remembered their smiling faces or even Chuutarou whining to him about something inconsequential while Soramaru sighed fondly in the background.
A quiet breath left him as Tenka forced a smile onto his face.
"You guys can't be too far...." he murmured to himself before straightening his back again and squaring his shoulders. From there, he forced himself to keep walking.
There was no way that he would live longer than his brothers - his time would be up a long time before theirs was. Those weirdo scientists and their technology had told him a lot of crap, but none of it took into consideration the spirit of the Kumou family.
Smiling more confidently, Tenka nodded to himself.
Somehow, he'd see his brothers again. He'd accomplish that much or die trying.
It's not like it was anything he hadn't done before anyway.
◎ Is your character retaining any previous game memories? Nope!
◎ Name: Dana
◎ Journal:
sunshowered◎ Contact:
Character Info
◎ Character's Name: Kumou Tenka
◎ Character's Canon: Donten ni Warau
◎ Character's Age: 24
◎ Canon Point: Post-Chapter 23 (Chapter 25 according to EasyGoing Scans)
◎ Background/History: Donten ni Warau wiki!
... that said, it's pretty clearly rather lacking, so I'm happy to fill in the gaps!
"If it's us, we can do it. There are some things only we can protect.
Together, let's become the nameless heroes who'll protect this country!"
Together, let's become the nameless heroes who'll protect this country!"
Long ago, the Orochi came to be. The Orochi is basically an evil spirit, of sorts, that revives every 300 years in the Shiga Prefecture, bringing cloudy skies to the normally peaceful area. It picks a human vessel, typically someone in a bloodline that is naturally opposed to the Orochi, and will slowly eat away at the vessel's humanity until it is gone completely. The Orochi makes the vessel kill rampantly and brings misfortune to all. The only known way to remove the Orochi for centuries was to "seal immediately after hunting it down" and wait until it comes back 300 years later.
Now in the aforementioned Shiga Prefecture, Tenka was born as the first son of the Kumou family, therefore automatically making him poised to succeed as the 14th Head of the Kumou bloodline. The Kumous also just happened to be one of those families who had a natural predisposition to opposing the Orochi. They have their own shrine in Shiga known as the Cloud Shrine and were also in charge of the ferry that brings criminals to the Condemned Prison Gate, which was a high-security prison in the middle of Lake Biwa. Regardless, their ancestry was known for their warmth and they were loved by the people of Shiga. Even though Tenka's parents were odd and melodramatic, they were also loving and kind.
Then when Tenka was 8 years old, he became a big brother. From there, he was kinda doomed. Soramaru was the second Kumou brother and Chuutarou was the third, rounding them out to be the Three Kumou Brothers.
On top of being a big brother, Tenka was also the Captain of the Yamainu. The Yamainu were basically a government force created to serve the Minister of the Right and the Japanese government. Their ranks included many people who were candidates to be vessels of the Orochi, including Tenka himself and his childhood friends Abe no Sousei and Sasaki Kiiko. Tenka's father, Kumou Taiko, was the instructor of the Yamainu (no favoritism though, definitely not) and had taken in both Sousei and Kiiko to live with their family. It was at this age that Tenka developed the dream of becoming the nameless heroes that saved the country, invigorated by the idea of serving the nation and doing great things to help people. He passed on this dream to Sousei, who Taiko appointed as Tenka's right-hand man because honestly, Tenka might've been inspiring and eager, but he's really not the captain-type. Regardless, he was considered one of the pillars of the group.
With his loving parents, sweet younger brothers, and team to back him up, Tenka's life was pretty good.
"In the end, I was all talk... I couldn't do anything. Selfish words.
I chose being a brother over the nation's future."
I chose being a brother over the nation's future."
Of course, it couldn't stay that way for long. When he was 13, Tenka's parents were murdered by a white-haired man in a fox mask. While attempting to save his younger brother, Tenka was slashed down his back and almost died. Sousei was the one to come across the gruesome scene and at some point, Tenka's body was collected by a Secret Chemistry Division in the government to save him as he was on the brink of death. The method they used was to administer a special medication that was basically made out of the Orochi's cells and see how it would affect the human body. Of course, since Tenka already came from a bloodline that was a candidate to be the Orochi's vessel, he reacted very well. His cells were revitalized, his wounds were healed, and his life was saved. However in the beginning of the process, this led to him being entirely paralyzed on his left side. Realizing that he wouldn't be able to serve the country with the Yamainu and only be dead weight, he abandoned his position as captain and instead chose to stay in the shrine with his brothers. (Chuutarou was 2 years old at the time of the incident and remembers nothing whereas it was so traumatizing for Soramaru that he repressed the memory entirely. Tenka alone lived with the knowledge of the incident ever since.)
That said, Tenka couldn't bear to be unable to take care of the people around him, so when he was offered the chance to continue undergoing experiments, he leapt at the opportunity. This continued all the way up until recent canon. Tenka agreed, knowing entirely that once he took too much of the medication and the Orochi's cells poisoned his mind, he would have to immediately accept the death penalty and have his body be dissected for further research.
A year after his parents died however, he found a stray injured albino boy in the snow. Even though the boy's white hair and violet eyes denoted him as a Fuuma, someone from a clan of ninja that specialized in assassination and had no loyalties, Tenka took him in. The boy became part of their family and took on the name Kinjou Shirasu. From then on, Shirasu was the shrine keeper and Tenka's closest confidant.
For another ten years after that, life was good. The people of Shiga became unbearably fond of the Kumou brothers and took care of them after their parents died. In exchange, Tenka became a known face around town to play with neighborhood kids and do good deeds for the villagers, including making extra money on the side by rounding up criminals that the police lost track of due to their incompetence. On the side, Tenka and Shirasu worked together to try to find a way to separate the Orochi from its vessel, as it had always been Tenka's goal to protect the vessel and save them from having to be killed.
Underneath the cloudy skies of Shiga, a town cursed to experience misfortunate, Tenka became the resident sun.
Again, everything was going well until Tenka suddenly collapsed one night after returning from a fancy dinner party he was forced to attend (and proceeded to spend most of the time there drinking alone while all dolled up. Productive adult stuff). This was the first sign that the Orochi cells were invading his body too strongly and beginning to override his system. His local doctor was someone from the Secret Chemistry Division and confirmed that the medicine that he was giving Tenka to suppress the signs of it was no longer working. Tenka then told Shirasu and Botan, Chuutarou's grade school teacher and one of Tenka's allies, to take care of his brothers. (At this time, Sousei and the rest of the Yamainu were led to the conclusion that Tenka was the actual Orochi vessel. Soramaru and Chuutarou were also told the same thing.)
When he was taken to be executed as had been agreed when Tenka began to undergo the experiments, Sousei visited him, not as his right-hand man but rather the new Captain of the Yamainu. They clashed as Tenka admitted that he chose to be a good brother than to take on the weight of the nation. An empty explanation as he couldn't bring himself to tell Sousei the entire truth of his condition. Soramaru and Chuutarou, following in their brother's rebellious footsteps, weren't able to accept the execution and made a large show of disobedience at the execution sight. Following them was the entire village, protesting against Tenka's execution and the reason that the government gave (which was that Tenka caused an explosion at the Condemned Prison Gate which was actually caused by Shirasu for other canon reasons, oops).
Touched by the scene but unable to fight against something he had agreed upon years ago, Tenka acted as if he accepted his fate. He said his goodbyes to his brothers and the villagers, stepping confidently toward the scaffolding to face his death.
They pulled the lever and to everyone's knowledge, Tenka died that day.
"I do regret it a bit. I didn't mean to make them cry. I didn't mean to betray you guys."
Was I mistaken? I don't know anymore. What should I have done?"
Was I mistaken? I don't know anymore. What should I have done?"
A few weeks and many nightmares later, Tenka woke up in what amounted to a dingy cell. Admittedly, this dingy cell did have an open door. Confused as to why he was still alive, it was explained to him that just before he was executed, a small faction of the police force received an order that he was to be kept alive. Apparently the government had found more use for him. Though rebellious as Tenka was, he took that as a sign that he was still free and regularly left his cell to save weak traveling families from bandits in his spare time. He at least tried to keep a low profile by wearing a big swooping cloak.
However at this time they were still administering the medicine to him so he could remain mobile and his doctor did try to continue giving him suppressants as well. Tenka faced the ultimatum that if he stopped taking the medicine, he would be bedridden. If he kept taking it, he would suffer from a complete mental breakdown.
Unable to accept being helpless, Tenka kept taking the medicine. For an unknown amount of time, life continued on for him like that. Suffering and being experimented on, giving only rare moments of autonomy. However one day Botan came, just as Tenka nearly went over the edge and completely gave into the Orochi, to tell him that Shirasu had betrayed their family. Soramaru was the true Orochi's vessel and he was in trouble. Without hesitation, Tenka decided to go and have one of the policemen that he trusted come along so that if he were to lose control and go full Orochi, his friend would cut him down.
Eventually, Tenka was tearfully reunited with his brothers. He also came completely clean to Sousei and told him everything - the paralysis, the experiments, the fear that Tenka had been keeping to himself all those years about being useless. The Orochi is vanquished once and for all without costing anyone their life. The only relationship that Tenka was not able to repair was the one he had with Shirasu. His confidant and closest friend had no interest in returning to their family, consciously choosing to walk off the edge of a cliff before he went with Tenka again.
By the end of the series, Tenka had stopped taking the Orochi medicine. He lost his ability to walk and instead became a total speed demon in a wheelchair. Regardless, he openly dreamt of being able to travel around Japan for years and eventually actually does it. He wanted to go alone, but luckily his childhood friend Kiiko will always be infinitely smarter than Tenka and decided to go along with him. And that's the last we've heard of Tenka's dumb as hell adventures.
◎ Is the character a hacker and/or do they have a sixth-sense? Nope!
◎ Personality:
"This is the shrine of the Orochi. A cursed land befallen by disaster every 300 years.
But for me, this is the hometown where I grew up."
But for me, this is the hometown where I grew up."
In Shiga, they haven't seen the clear sky in years. With the promise of the Orochi, there is always a thick blanket of clouds covering the sky over their prefecture. Regardless, the people are happy because in their village, Tenka is their sun. Tenka is bright, warm, and downright obnoxious - he shines even if you don't really want him to or have the patience to deal with it. In the Cloudy Shrine, people always reflect on how warm it is and how loud and happy the brothers who live there always are. Truly, Tenka loves the idea of family and bringing people together so that they can laugh and smile to their heart's content. While he is alive, he only wants to be happy and even in the most desperate times, he will tell people to smile and eventually they will get through it if they only try.
So in this way, Tenka has an enormous heart. Even after tragedy fell upon their family and he lost his parents, he agreed to undergo experiments because he has two brothers who need him. When things seemed at their darkest and revenge would have been an option, he instead chose to focus on the positive and take care of his family members who were left alive. Another big reason why he kept taking the Orochi medicine even though he knew that it would greatly shorten his lifespan was because he wanted to repay the villagers of Shiga who took care of him and his brothers after his family had died. And even when Tenka was just a teenager who had to look over a 6-year-old and a 2-year-old, when he found Shirasu in the snow, he took him in and offered to give him a family. This mentality doesn't change at all by the time he reaches adulthood. When a serial killer tries to get into the Condemned Prison Gate and threatens both Chuutarou and Soramaru to get access to it, Tenka fights him and protects his brothers, of course he does - but he also offers himself up as a target for the serial killer's hatred so that he won't be as consumed by it anymore. It's absolutely unreal the lengths that Tenka will go to in order to save people.
That's where the boyhood dream to serve also originated from and honestly, even though Tenka isn't part of the Yamainu anymore, that doesn't really stop him from being utterly infatuated with his country. Japan is important to him, especially in the time of transition that it's in now. Tenka constantly reflects on how vast he thinks the world is and how important it is to him to see all of Japan at least once to fully grasp the way that the world is changing around him. He calls it a time of growing up, as if Japan is a teenager and turning into an adult and it's that sort of time that Tenka loves the most. He talks about it with his younger brother and ironically every time Soramaru appears to be taking a step forward to get out of Tenka's shadow, Tenka is immediately reaching for the days of when his little brother depended on him. As an older brother, Tenka is constantly caught between waiting for Soramaru to surpass him and wishing that his younger brother could rely on him for a bit longer.
"I was so scared. Scared of becoming a burden.
I was afraid of my own useless self. I wanted to be needed."
I was afraid of my own useless self. I wanted to be needed."
Admittedly a lot of this does reside in Tenka's burning need to be depended upon. Whether it was the Yamainu, his brothers, or the villagers, Tenka never wanted to feel as if he was a burden - which was his ultimate reasoning for leaving the Yamainu in the first place. What kind of captain was half-paralyzed and constantly inching toward his death? He couldn't stand the idea of dragging his friends behind and instead he let them go. After the Orochi is defeated in canon and Tenka is left in a wheelchair, he's honestly in a depressed slump as he reflects to his parent's gravestones that he's afraid that he'll only be a burden on his brothers now. What could he do, after all? Only after he's made all his decisions and been left with the unfortunate aftermath that might trouble other people does Tenka begin to question the steps that he took along the way.
Despite Tenka's smiles and constant laughter, he does have a tendency to completely shut himself out from the rest of the world. He tells Soramaru, "We're family, so why don't you rely on me?" but has no response when Soramaru asks the same thing. Tenka constantly keeps secrets from his younger brothers in hopes that it will keep them happier and unburdened - Soramaru and Chuutarou have no knowledge of Tenka's involvement with the Yamainu, Tenka never tried to remind Soramaru about the day of their parents' deaths, and his brothers never knew anything about the Orochi until the day of Tenka's execution. Even when it comes to catching criminals, Tenka will try to tell his brothers to stay at home because it might be dangerous. Even Shirasu merely sighs, "That guy is constantly taking everything upon himself" and it's true. As everyone goes to the final battle with the Orochi, Tenka lets them go and gives them that responsibility, but as soon as their backs are turned, he's ready to let himself collapse alone. Burdened and tormented as Tenka can be, he has a habit of abandoning people simply because he doesn't want to involve them in his problems. On the flip side of being the sun, Sousei addresses Tenka's problem head on, "Even the exalted sun gets lonely if he can't achieve what he desires. Disappear. High, mighty, and alone."
Though as high and mighty as Tenka can act, and boy does he ham it up, he actually doesn't appear to think too much of himself and his own acts. There's no denying that Tenka is loved. The grand majority of characters in the series are affected or troubled by his sudden death in one way or another and for those closest to him, they were emotionally ruined for weeks. The entire village quieted and lost its liveliness without him. Without a doubt, Tenka is important - and not because he is the 14th Head of the Kumou or because he was the former captain of the Yamainu - but simply because he is Tenka.
Yet when it's brought to his attention that he's loved, through none other than Shirasu directly telling him, "You're loved, Tenka," what does he do? He merely answers, "It's wasted on me." The villagers are in a riot, storming the gates in anger and desperation, and all he can think is "Everyone has a lot of free time today." The extent to which people care about him is a constant surprise to Tenka. He knew since he agreed to the experiments that he would have to eventually die early but all he could think was that he wanted to store up happiness until that day came. If he could live out his days as a Kumou, laughing and smiling with his brothers and the people of Shiga, he would. It never occurred to him that when that day came, the people he left behind would have to deal with the sudden absence of Tenka. In truth, they don't deal well with their sun disappearing at all.
"Next time you mess with my kid, I'll throw you into the cesspool, you little shitheads!!!
Don't mess with grown-ups!"
Don't mess with grown-ups!"
Though most entertainingly, for all of Tenka's apparent maturity and his huge heart, he actually acts like a buffoon.
He'll take payments under the table for catching criminals so that he can support his own private booze fund, he'll stand out naked in the rain until Soramaru comes back in some act of solidarity and displeasure, and he'll beat up little kids for making fun of Chuutarou even when he's twice their size. There are so many things that Tenka should not be able to get away with and yet when he shows up in the middle of town, dressed in women's clothing and carrying Soramaru on his back as an oversized baby, the villagers merely laugh and ask him what he's up to. Seriously. Even the police officer that responds to complaints of a naked pervert standing in front of the Cloudy Shrine merely says, "Just please don't do it again!" once he realizes that it's Tenka and leaves.
Even though Tenka is capable of deep, complicated thoughts and honestly keeps a lot of his past under lock and key, it's really easy to just mistake him for a boisterous idiot. He'll tell his brothers to praise him and openly accepts compliments. When he gets frustrated, he looks for a punching bag and either picks a fight with Shirasu or Soramaru - though he's not against knocking Chuutarou around either. When he's stuck at a fancy party, he'll spend most of it pulling at his collar and drinking, reflecting the entire time that he sticks out and that Soramaru's homemade meals taste better than the fancy stuff that they've got laying around. There are so many things that betray Tenka's tendency to be utterly simple in terms of his personality. If someone is kind to him, he will be kind in return and if they're unkind, he's got no issues socking them in the gut even if they're a snotty teenager who doesn't know better - he might even do it especially because they're a snotty teenager who doesn't know better.
But for some reason, this idiot is so well-loved that no one holds any of that against him.
Truly, despite all his dumb ideas and foolish actions, Tenka is ultimately a kind person. He trusts easily, welcomes people into his home without hesitance, and is quick to forgive. He is earnest even if he is not always honest and only wants to do his absolute best for his brothers and the people who depend on him. All he wants to do is live a life with the people he loves, laughing and shining bright, whether the skies are cloudy or clear be damned.
◎ Powers/Abilities:
Since Tenka's father, Kumou Taiko, trained the Yamainu (the Minister of the Right's personal squad, who are said to be a team of unrivaled skill) it's reasonable to believe that Tenka, who was appointed as the initial captain of the Yamainu, has a considerable amount of physical strength and skill. Even when he was 14, he was tied exactly with Abe no Sousei in over 800 sparring matches. At that young age, he was already apprehending criminals without a single concern as to whether or not he'd be beaten. Since then, Tenka has only further honed his skill with a traditional metal fan that was passed down through his family. Even against enemies who wield swords and considerably more dangerous weapons, Tenka has been shown to defeat an entire squad of military men by himself without breaking a sweat. He's even taken down the youngest member of the Yamainu in a single punch - but keep in mind that even that member was later shown subduing an entire prison breakout by himself.
Simply put, Tenka's strength is rivaled only by the current Captain of the Yamainu, aka Sousei.
But past that, Tenka's also assisted by the fact that the Orochi medicine that was given to him increased his strength. So he's capable of remarkable feats like carrying his poor 16-year-old brother up a huge set of stairs to get back home even though Tenka himself was stabbed just a few hours earlier. He's strong enough to be able to cause rockslides by throwing a punch at the wall and he comes out mostly unscathed after.
Put these two things together and it's shown that Tenka is capable of ridiculous feats of strength to go along with his almost unparalleled skill as a fighter to begin with.
◎ Weapons & Other Special Inventory: - metal fan
- choker & bracelets
- packets of Orochi-based medicine
- spare shrine clothes
CEREALIA-Specific
◎ Element: Air.
◎ Sense: Touch. Tenka interacts with people physically very frequently, stopping his brothers in their tracks by pulling them close or reaching out to Shirasu. His paralysis only really enhanced how important it is to be able to hold the people who are close to him.
◎ Seven Character Traits: [ + ] charismatic, warm, determined [ - ] obnoxious, fears being a burden, secretive [ + / - ] big-hearted
Samples
◎ First-Person Sample: test drive!
◎ Third-Person Sample:
It was too much all at once.
Aliens? Data? Extrapolated? There were so many words in the presentation that meant things to Tenka but at the same time lost a lot of their meaning when he tried to apply them to the situation. Glancing down at his hand, he couldn't help but squint. Data? He's data? His existence was recorded?
To him, it doesn't have much meaning. To be recorded meant that you had to be watched, studied, and done something worth being remembered for, didn't it? Or maybe not - this was apparently the future. Maybe they were less picky about what made it into the history books now.
Regardless, the main concern that he had was in one thing: everything he knew was destroyed.
It made his blood run cold as the thought hit him again, freezing him for a moment as he thought about the damn game they'd made him run through. Everyone he knew was gone, his brothers - his hand clenched into a fist, nails digging into his palm - and the entire village. His world had been destroyed? And it wasn't even by the Orochi? What was the point of everything that he'd been working toward then? Why had he been looking for a way to separate the Orochi and its vessel if that wasn't even the cause of the end of the world?
Gritting his teeth, Tenka braced himself for pain as he ran his fist into the closest wall. The pricks and shocks of pain came, though not as strongly as they would for a normal person. No, his cells were too strong for that - as proven by the fact that he'd left more of a dent on the wall than it had left on him.
Staring at the mark he'd left, Tenka breathed in and then out.
His brothers' voices calling for him were too fresh in his head. "Aniki!" and "Ten-nii!" they would echo in his ears and his shoulders slumped. He allowed himself a moment to clear his head, shutting his eyes as he remembered their smiling faces or even Chuutarou whining to him about something inconsequential while Soramaru sighed fondly in the background.
A quiet breath left him as Tenka forced a smile onto his face.
"You guys can't be too far...." he murmured to himself before straightening his back again and squaring his shoulders. From there, he forced himself to keep walking.
There was no way that he would live longer than his brothers - his time would be up a long time before theirs was. Those weirdo scientists and their technology had told him a lot of crap, but none of it took into consideration the spirit of the Kumou family.
Smiling more confidently, Tenka nodded to himself.
Somehow, he'd see his brothers again. He'd accomplish that much or die trying.
It's not like it was anything he hadn't done before anyway.
◎ Is your character retaining any previous game memories? Nope!