Iwao Hoshino

Iwao Hoshino is a huntsman graduated from Beacon Academy, and currently radicated in Vale.

## Appearence

Iwao has lightly tanned skin, with brown eyes and black short messy hair.

### Combat Outfit

Iwao's field clothes consist of a keikogi styled shirt bearing his emblem on the back, with a pair of black umanori hakamas tied with a black sash. Under the sash, a grey belt can be seen to which there are attached three pouches.

He wears fingerless black gloves and waraji styled sandals with white socks.

## Family Background

   The Hoshino family name can only be tracked down with certainty to the beginning of the Great War, as the surname of a group of human artists and artisans who served as soldiers and spies for the Individualist faction. It is unknown if this Individualist group was truly comprised of members of all the same family or was actually a guild existing before the Great War whose members adopted 'Hoshino' as a codename of sorts.

After the Great War, there were former members of the Individualists faction carrying the Hoshino surname spread all across Vale.

Members of the Hoshino family gained prominence once more during the Faunus Rights Revolution, opposing the faunus deportation to Menagerie.

The vast majority of members of the family appear to had resorted to pacific methods of protests, mainly expressing themselves through the arts. It is known, however, of several cases of people carrying the Hoshino name helping faunus escape deportation and even fighting on the front lines for the Faunus Army.

After the peace was signed between humans and faunus, the surname started to appear among faunus and people of faunus heritage from all across Remnant.

## Personality

Iwao acts carefree and laid-back most of the time, projecting even an image of foolishness. He presents himself as a  flirt, indiscriminately hitting on women despite having no intentions to pursue a relationship outside of his marriage. However, he can and will show a more serious and cunning side if a situation demands it, such as battle. If something or someone he holds dear is threatened, he will not hold back.

Iwao doesn’t ask questions about people’s past, caring only about who people are now. So, while he is not ignorant of his wife's previous affiliation, he is not interested in the details of her doings.

He deems the primary mission of a huntsman to be fighting the Creatures of Grimm, considering intervening in human and faunus' conflicts outside of his jurisdiction. That said, Iwao is a man of strong convictions and character, which manifest as a strong sense of right and wrong, and a tendency to step into situations he might witness; always using poor excuses to justify himself.

## Biography

Iwao was born and grew up in the City of Vale.

Coming from an economically comfortable background, Iwao's mother was a retired, relatively famous, contemporary dancer. She owned her own dance studio located in down town Vale, where she imparted private classes.

Iwao's father, from whom he inherited the Hoshino surname, was a huntsman, painter and philanthropist.

Iwao grew up on a highly artistic environment, and manifested from a young age an interest for the history and legacy of the Hoshino surname.

Encouraged by his parents, Iwao sought out admission to Signal Academy.

When he was 15 years old, he met Marĕʼáh Aliyá, who had recently arrived to the Kingdom of Vale. Marĕʼáh came under the protection of Iwao's father and started working at the Hoshino household as his assistant and a family guard.

When Iwao successfully moved on to Beacon Academy at the age of 17, Marĕʼáh accompanied him. She found Iwao during the initiation and they subsequently became partners.

While Iwao was still training at Beacon, his father died on a mission trying to help evacuate the underground settlement of Mountain Glenn. Iwao's mother died of natural causes shortly after his graduation, her health having started to quickly deteriorate after the lost of her husband.

Iwao and Marĕʼáh married almost intermediately after graduation, with her adopting his surname and changing her first name to Kyoko; something that some family acquaintances judged an opportunistic move from Marĕʼáh.

After graduation, Iwao and Kyoko parted ways from their team.

Iwao would go on to focus on missions at villages outside of the Kingdom of Vale, occasionally accompanied by his wife.

Six years after graduating, Iwao and Kyoko came across a destroyed village overridden by Grimm. Surveying the area for survivors, they found a 12 years old.

Having unsuccessfully tried to conceive a child, Iwao and Kyoko would go on to adopt him.

## History

### Volume 1

Iwao spent Volume 1 on missions on and off Vale.

### Volume 2

Iwao spent most of the Volume on a mission outside of the Kingdom, hastening his return to the city after learning of the Breach.

### Volume 3

Iwao stays in Vale to attend the Vytal Festival. However, after the events of "Fall", he joins the forces trying to contain the Grimm closing on Vale.

After the defences of Vale fall, Iwao rushes to the city and eventually reunites with the authorities trying to secure a safe zone. As of the end of Volume 3, he is stationed at the safe zone in Vale.

## Trivia

* Hoshino, written 星野, means "star field" in Japanese, which can bring to mind the night sky and the colour black.
* Iwao, written 巌, means "stone man" in Japanese, which can bring to mind stone sculptures.
	+ Stone sculptures can make one think of marble, which brings to mind the colours white and grey.