Aoba Seragaki

Aoba Seragaki (瀬良垣 蒼葉 Seragaki Aoba) is the main protagonist of the DRAMAtical Murder series. He is the adopted son of Nine Seragaki and Haruka Seragaki and the twin brother of Sei. He resides in the East area of the Old Resident District with Tae Seragaki, his grandmother.
Aoba was conceived from Toue's research, along with Sei, his twin brother. They were children born with specific genetic engineering from Toue's research labs. Their genes were manipulated to give them natural abilities to control people's will. These powers were based on the theories of Tae Seragaki, who once worked for Toue on neural research. Sei and Aoba were born with no pigments and they were connected via their hair which had nerves in it. However after being born, by pure bad luck, the two of them had died. Sei was revived after the scientists cut their hair that connected the twins together but Aoba's breathing did not return. Tae, feeling immense guilt that a child had died due to her assistance in the research, took his body away, wanting to at least give him a proper burial. Along the way, Aoba had somehow regained consciousness, relieving her to the point of tears. Not being able to keep him, she drops him off at a nearby church by the beach, hoping he would be better off there than back with Toue.
As he grew into a child, Aoba's skin pigment started to gain color as well as his hair, his appearance hiding any proof that he was not born normally. Aoba heard voices arguing in his head when he was younger. Unable to hear people talking to him, Aoba would often stop and sit at the beach alone with his thoughts. It was there that he met Nine Seragaki, his future father, who would often talk to him about the world and many other things. Soon after, Aoba is adopted by Nine and Haruka Seragaki and returns to Tae, much to her surprise. She believed this to be fate and easily welcomes him back into her life. Aoba used to have a different name, but he was named 'Aoba' by Nine. As he grew up, Haruka and Nine were often gone for long periods of time due to them being "free spirits" and not liking to be in one place for a long time, according to Aoba. Tae raised Aoba in their place but she too was often gone due to her job as a nurse. Though they all loved each other without doubt, Aoba was often left alone, causing him to go to the park and cry by himself. It was then that Koujaku came into Aoba's life and became his best friend as well as his hero.
Koujaku and Aoba would often play together, since Koujaku's mother and Tae got along well. Aoba was often teased for having long hair and feminine appearance and would get severely picked on, but Koujaku always came to his rescue. Although they did not spend much time together, they both cherished each other deeply. Later, due to family matters, Koujaku left Midorijima with his mother, and Aoba was left alone once again.
As he grew older, Aoba finds a discarded, old-model AllMate in the trash that had the form of a fluffy, dark blue Japanese Spitz dog. Aoba, feeling sorry for such a sight, decided to take it back home and fix it up himself. At some point, Ren transmitted his consciousness into the AllMate. Aoba had then become heavily involved in participating in Rhyme, earning a reputation amongst other players. Along the way, he met Mizuki, Virus and Trip. Aoba went under his Rhyme name, "Sly Blue" and often got into street fights. He became very violent, breaking his opponents' minds and causing permanent damage from using Scrap on them. However, after a certain incident, he was sent to the hospital and ended up losing all memories of his previous personality before. Due to his power, Aoba's mind was divided in three: the Aoba everyone knows, another personality symbolizing Aoba's Scrap power (often called "the other Aoba" or Sly Blue), and Ren, whose role was to maintain the balance between the personalities as a guardian. However, after losing his memories years before the story; Ren had also lost his, becoming an entirely different entity in the process and believing he was truly just an Allmate.
After being released from the hospital, Aoba began having severe headaches daily, which Tae suspected was from Scrap wanting to be released. She prescribed him pills and watched over his intake of them, relieved that they were effective. Afterward, they both began living a normal routine again.
Aoba's first appearance.
Aoba ends up getting a part-time job at Hum-Drum Junk, working as a sales clerk and claims to have been there for a long time now. He had no interest in participating in Rhyme or Ribsteez, declining offers to join teams, including Mizuki's. Koujaku had also returned, overjoying Aoba, and they remain in touch as much as they did when they were kids. Just as Aoba's life had begun returning to normal, the events of the game begin.
Appearance
Note: Depending on the route taken, Aoba can be seen with a total of two other different appearances, excluding his usual one.
Brain Nuts
Aoba is known and often commented on by other characters, for his long blue hair which gradients into a lighter blue color. Aoba states that he dislikes people touching his hair because it pains him from the nerves inside. He trims his own hair since he knows he is the only one who is able to ease the pain. He has very light brown eyes, sometimes shown as multicolored in some CGs. He has a very slim frame and is also noted by other characters of the game for having pale skin. When taken over by the other Aoba, his eyes are a gold color.
Though smaller and not noticeably fit, Aoba proves himself to be quite an experienced fighter from his Rhyme days. He normally lands roundhouse kicks to his opponents, Mizuki jokingly calling it "Fox's Heel Drop" when he first appears. Aoba has also apparently broken some jaws in the past, something he brushes off as it being years ago. He seems to be on equal fighting ground with Noiz as he was able to block and dodge a decent amount of his blows, until eventually being defeated.
Aoba's default clothes include him always being seen wearing a white and blue Brain Nuts jacket. Underneath is a navy long-sleeve shirt, blue jeans and a blue studded belt. He wears matching shoes with dark blue leg warmers, and in certain CGs is shown to have lemon-yellow socks. He wears a blue and black glove on his right hand and his coil on his left wrist. Aoba's trademark trait is him always being seen wearing large, retro pink headphones that hang around his neck.
Back when Aoba used to play Rhyme and went by the name "Sly Blue", with the exception of his wardrobe, his appearance was basically the same. He wore an orange-to-white gradient sleeved, dark blue jacket with a very dull baggy green shirt and white shirt underneath. His pants were a dark gray and noticeably much baggier on him . He wore a different kind of silver and dark blue headphones, which hung around his neck, and is not seen to be wearing gloves or his coil.
In Ren's Route, when Aoba and Ren are confronted by Sei, the other Aoba appears to them as well. It's explained that how they look right then is their true appearance from when they were born. Since they are both the same person, Aoba's true form consists of his body being completely white with black markings that range from his neck to his arms and legs. His hair is much longer and thicker, the tips being able to touch the floor past his feet, and on his wrists and ankles are a set of two white, glowing rings.
In the end of Koujaku's good ending, Aoba's hair has been cut short by Koujaku since it has been Koujaku's dream to cut Aoba's hair. It took Koujaku nearly two hours to carefully trim Aoba's hair without hurting him. His hair is cut up to his neck, to which Aoba says that the back of his neck gets chilly and that his head feels much lighter.
In Koujaku's bad ending, distressed and in despair over failing Scrap on Koujaku, the other Aoba takes over him completely, changing both his personality and appearance. Aoba's whole body becomes pure white, as well as his hair and eyes. He wears a long white robe with various tassels and large beads that are a contrasting red. He also wears what appear to be some sort of red socks that go under his white and black boots. In his hair, he wears two red hair ties on each side. This version has been dubbed "Shiroba" by fans, "shiro" meaning "white" and "ba" tagged on as the end of Aoba's first name.
In Mink's good ending route in Re:Connect, Aoba's hair in shown to have been decorated with feathers and is even braided in some places. In additional official art, Aoba is seen wearing a white, zipped up jacket, a pair of blue jeans, pink leg warmers that end just above his ankles and a pair of a hiking boots with fur cuffs.
As with each main character being identified with a certain color, Aoba's commonly associated color is sky blue.
Personality
Aoba is usually a calm and caring person who smiles often and he is very kind to others as he offers his help in any way he can. He can also stand up for himself and know when to hold his ground when he's being insulted or preyed upon, such as when two newbie Bug Bombers attempted to hassle him before Mizuki stepped in. He isn't afraid about revealing his true feelings and can be straightforward at times, whether he knows the person or not. He's shown to be quite the leader, often suggesting methods to their plans and asking questions as a precaution on whether something will succeed or fail.
Despite getting involved with many different kinds of colorful people, Aoba doesn't judge others based on appearances or personal preferences. He would rather get to know them better first, showing interest in their personalities and themselves as people.
Aoba implies to have dated a little in his time prior to the main events of the game. Depending on the route, Aoba will mention that he has either never been with another man before (usually before or during a sex scene), but has been out with men before that only involved touching and kissing, or never even considered the thought of being with another person of the same sex. Besides that, he doesn't question himself or others a lot, often going with the flow of things and how they come naturally. Aoba does become very flustered with Noiz the most, though (due to Noiz's habit of suddenly kissing him in the most inappropriate times), asking him if he played for "that" team, much to Noiz's confusion.
Throughout the game, Aoba's choice of words and actions influence each main character to the point of either giving their lives a new meaning or completely destroying them. He's shown to change many of their lives by becoming a big impact on them, whether they wanted it to be that way or not. Aoba has also shown that, just by saying the right things or by simply continuing to smile, he managed to completely change the minds of Koujaku and Mink, both who had plans of taking their own lives at one point.
The other Aoba in control.
"The other Aoba" is a different story however. Being an entity that represents Scrap, he gives off the impression to both Aoba and the player of being mentally unstable, continuously desiring destruction and mayhem. When taking control of Aoba's consciousness, he loses all fear and has no problem using Scrap as freely as he wants, shown when everybody at the Oval Tower gathering had collapsed to the floor from his power in Ren's Route. He's shown to become much more physically stronger than Aoba normally is, able to actually lay hands on Mink, something Aoba could not do.
The other Aoba takes in pain as pleasure, often laughing in hysterics when being kicked, punched, slapped, or forced on to have sex. In Koujaku's bad ending, after the other Aoba took over permanently, Koujaku bites through Aoba's arm enough to draw blood. Aoba hadn't even flinched or cried out, huskily laughing in a mocking tone how much it had hurt. In reality, it didn't hurt him at all but instead made him feel good. His masochism is more explicit in the Re:Connect bad endings, specifically Koujaku's and Mink's. In Koujaku's bad end, he has no objections when Koujaku's sharp teeth grazed along him as he gave Aoba oral sex, even to the point of drawing blood. In Mink's bad ending, he appears yet again before Mink brought harm to Aoba, and when Aoba begins to mock Mink to his face, it quickly turns into a brawl. Even though he managed to land a few punches on Mink, the other Aoba was beaten to the ground, laughing and becoming aroused as he did so.
His true nature is revealed in Ren's Route as Sei explains that all he wanted was for Aoba to acknowledge his existence. He felt pain and loneliness knowing that Aoba tried to suppress him by taking medication and refusing to listen to him. He is later acknowledged and while he does not completely disappear, he is suppressed and Aoba can now control himself without fearing his berserk tendencies anymore. And he has a fat fucking ass.