Hayate Araki

"Hey, you’re cuter when you smile, you know. Why don’t you come real close, and I’ll play you a song?~"

## Status

### Fate

Executed by Monokuma at the end of Trial 1.

## Appearance

Medium length red hair, longer on one side than the other, framing his face. His bangs are swept to that side, and his hair is overall kept shorter in the back than the front. His ears are pierced, once with a simple stud through the lobe and a couple rings through the top. He carries a pair of sunglasses for outdoor use, but doesn’t wear them all the time. He wears a somewhat fancy black button-up shirt over a casual orange t-shirt, on which is written the phrase “NO MUSIC NO FUTURE” in block lettering. His sleeves are rolled up in order to prevent his movement from being restricted. Around his neck is a key, made into what is basically a necklace, since he never takes it off. On his left wrist is a simple leather strapped watch. His eyes are a light red, matching his hair. He’s always seen carrying his guitar to the point that the case may as well be chained to his wrist.

## Backstory

Not too much is known about Hayate Araki, at least not in the long term. But around four years ago, he became famous when a nationally recognized guitarist mentioned in an interview that the best guitarist he’d ever heard was some kid that he saw on the streets, playing for a living. He said that there was something special about the way that the kid played that you couldn’t find in a thousand pros, and asked for help finding the child. The nation searched for this child, a child that had no idea. He was found playing in the same place the famous guitarist said he would be, asking for donations just the same as he always had.

Hayate was just as surprised as the media was. He had never really had problems providing for himself. He did know that he was a talented guitarist, but this media recognition prompted him to become incredibly popular. He received book deals, interview invites, album deals, band offers and other things, but he didn’t really want anything to do with them. He declined them all, saying that all he really wanted was to play his guitar, but this only sparked even more interest. Trying unsuccessfully to hide from the spotlight, he began moving around the country, playing anywhere he could, never staying in the same place for too long. Eventually, though, someone from Hope’s Peak got a hold of him, giving him a letter of invitation, which he accepted, hoping to finally get some peace and quiet.

## Relationships

### Angela Bellini

Angela was one of the first people he interacted with after arriving in the resort, and he quickly expressed an interest in her, suggesting a duet. Eventually, they did perform a song together, with Hayate earning some small amount of respect from Angela. The two spent more time together, making a promise to play more music together: Hayate would teach Angela to play guitar and she would teach him to read music, something he never learned. Their team members teased on a few occasions that there was some kind of crush, at least from Hayate, but this would never be elaborated upon due to Hayate's early death.

After his execution, Angela received a gift from him: the guitar she had chosen to play and a note of apology, leading her to immediately burn the note in anger. While the final product of their relationship is unclear, evidently she felt close enough to the guitarist to feel betrayed by him after her murdered Kanata.

### Hana Ichii

Hana had prior knowledge of Hayate's status as a famous musician and quickly latched onto him, going so far as to have him sign her hand. Though there was some mild flirtation between the two early on, this dissolved rather quickly, though the two continued a friendly relationship with a mutual respect forming between the two.

In particular, their interactions with the rest of their team were notable, leading the two to try and explain the concept of love to Koharu while the rest of the team fought back against this.

### Ran Fujisawa

Despite being teammates, the two didn't interact too terribly much due to Hayate's early death. Their first interactions involved Hayate's plan to take Ran with him to pick up girls, which led to confusion and discomfort on Ran's part, though the two seemed to be relatively friendly regardless. After Team Monomi's failed meeting in Chapter One, the two seemed to display a mutual respect for one another since they were relatively uninvolved in the team breakdown that occurred around them.

### Kanata Kazekara

Kanata was one of Hayate's first targets for flirtation, and she responded very negatively to his attention, though he persisted for a short while. After she got mad, he left her alone, but toward the end of chapter one, he selected her as a target for a murder plan. Whether this was related to their previous interactions or if it was just bad luck on her part is unclear.