Naoshi Usui

**Naoshi Usui** (甘水 直, *Usui Naoshi*?) is the founder and leader of the Gifted Communion.

## Appearance

Naoshi is a middle-aged man in his forties. He has dark brown hair, mixed with grays and whites in places, which is rather short. His face is long and his features are finely chiseled. Whenever he puts on a facade, he has a gentle smile and a delicate voice. However, his eyes still have an uncanny sparkle and hawkish twinkle, which leaves an especially striking impression on people, for they completely contrasted with his amicable expression. When he smiles, wrinkles crease at the edges of his eyes.

He wears a pair of round, black-rimmed glasses. He is dressed in hakama pants and a richly colored kimono, with an Inverness coat thrown on top. His outfit is of decent quality.

## Personality

Naoshi considers personality a trivial thing that he can fabricate as many as he pleases, especially if it’s in pursuit of his goals. To others, his mannerisms are totally inconsistent. It is impossible to tell just what he is thinking or predict what he would do next. He is chaos and contradiction given human form.

## History

Naoshi is born as the eldest son in the Usui family, one of the Usuba branch families.
Due to the strict code of conduct placed on the Usubas, the Usuis as one of their branch families also had to lead secretive existence and their name is outside the area of knowledge of most people.

During his childhood, Naoshi is known as a terribly cold-hearted, cruel, and out-of-control child. He had a violent temper and was undisciplined. He would commit violence against other children of the same age and killed dogs, cats, birds, fish and other small animals for no reason. Unprovoked cruel impulses would always emerge in his heart from time to time. Even if a servant is assigned to serve him, if things don't go his way, the servant will be beaten and kicked. He is a problematic child that leaves adults helpless. As if that's not enough, a strong Gift within his body awakened, the ability to manipulate the five senses, which would make it impossible for anyone to restrain him anymore. Although the awakening of a precious Usuba Gift in an era where the number of people with Gifts are getting increasingly smaller should have been a joyful event, the adults of the Usuba family realizes that if he continue to act recklessly like this, one day people's lives would be lost and decided to seal his Gift while he was still young and his abilities as a Gift-user were not yet mature.

Before the sealing happened, Naoshi met his distant relative Sumi Usuba, who is the daughter of Yoshirou Usuba, the head of the Usuba family at the time. Sumi was a cheerful and somewhat nosy girl. Without any care, she got close to a person who caused different problems every day and made adults worry, and stayed by Naoshi's side to take care of him. At first, he found her annoying, but when he was faced with someone who was always worried about him and sometimes scolded him harshly, he unknowingly opened his heart and became quite dependent on Sumi. With this change in mood, Naoshi gradually became less willing to hurt others. The adults, who didn't want to destroy a Usuba Gift if it's not necessary. thought that such a change was a good thing, so they delayed the implementation of the plan to seal his Gift, and just let time pass by. The relationship between Sumi and Naoshi's relationship evolved into that between a princess and a courtier, or like a pet owner and a loyal dog.

As Sumi herself awakened the Gift of Telepathy, she was expected to give birth to a Gift-user with Dream-Sight, which is considered the strongest Gift of them all. To try to increase the chances as much as possible, Yoshirou wanted to marry her to a Usuba member with the Gift. Naoshi is chosen as her prospective marriage partner for when she is of marriageable age. Since he already had feelings for Sumi beyond their marriage arrangement, and Sumi also reciprocates that affection, it seems to be the best match and they would be the ones to lead the Usuba clan into the future.

However, the business of Tsuruki Trading, the Usuba family's firm and their main source of income, started to slump. The family could no longer entertain any thoughts of marriage between them. When Sumi fell in despair, Naoshi knelt before her, holding her hand, and pledged to find a solution to her problems. Sumi was skeptical, believing her oppressor held an undefiable high status, but Naoshi vowed to dismantle everything causing Sumi distress and pain and replace it with gentler alternatives. Sumi's assumption of a high power is correct, as it turned out the Emperor himself was behind it. The Emperor is especially fearful of the Gift of Dream-Sight, ever since he was the crown prince, because it could even surpass the Gift of Divine Revelation that he himself possesses. Although the power of the Usubas had already been plenty suppressed, the Emperor still considered it insufficient. Using his influence behind the scenes, he ensured business went poorly for Tsuruki Trading, causing a period of economic slump and the Usuba family barely able to support themselves.

Just before the whole family was about to be forced into the streets, the Saimori family somehow heard of their plight and offered a marriage for Sumi in exchange for financial support. It turned out that the Emperor was also behind this, as he feared Sumi would marry another member of the family and produce a child thick with Usuba blood. He was worried that the more Usuba blood the child had, the stronger the power of Dream-Sight in the child would be. He obstructed her from marrying Naoshi by linking her to a family that was almost entirely lacking in Gift-users, and whose fall from nobility was clearly on the horizon. He disclosed the power of Dream-Sight to the Saimoris, passed them a heavy sum, and incited them into pursuing Sumi. All that mattered to him was separating the woman from her family.

At first, Yoshirou rejected the offer, even though the Saimoris were persistent and doggedly pursued her, and tried their best to solve the problem themselves. However, they found that no matter what they did, someone would always interfere, and the situation did not improve. In the end, when the family was completely at their wits' end, Sumi insisted on taking on the offer despite the opposition from around her. Nao, who had become much gentler and more honest as he grows up, was also one of the opponents. He believed that Usuba's bloodline should not be leaked out, and it was unreasonable to let Sumi sacrifice herself alone. He believed all Usuba members should go down together. However, he was unable to convince her. He even asked Sumi to run away with him, but she refused, as she feared the consequences for the Usuba family. Eventually, the Usubas had no choice but to agree to the marriage, something that Naoshi could never accept. He didn't listen to any of the pacifying by Sumi, Yoshirou, Usuba members and his parents and began to show his former cruel temperament again. Naoshi felt powerless and began to hate the Imperial family and the country. Even though Sumi and himself both possess outstanding Gifts, but just a decision by the Emperor or people in power can cause their life to hit rock bottom.

After Sumi was married off, Naoshi broke away from the Usubas and left for parts unknown. According to the Usuba family laws, those who are disloyal to the family are met with severe punishment. In order to trace his whereabouts, they mobilized everyone in the Usuba family. At the time, the family was facing an existential crisis, so they didn't have much power left to do anything. Furthermore, Naoshi's extremely outstanding Gift complicated the search. He was pursued but never found. Some members of the Usuba family continue to search for him twenty years later, but they haven’t obtained any pertinent information as to his whereabouts. After leaving the Usubas, Naoshi's hate turned into determination to create a new world where Sumi, himself, the Usubas and other Gifted people could live freely as they wish. Believing that power should be held by those with equal strength, yet in the current system, outstanding Gifted people like the Usubas are marginalized, while ordinary people arrogantly cling to power, he deems the current system unjust, with the emperor, whose Divine Revelation is inferior to Dream-Sight, mistreating and oppressing other Gifted people. He envisioned a new government that is led by Gifted people.

In order to realize his vision, he traveled around the country, collecting talents, intelligence and funds, and established a secret base to conduct research on Grotesqueries and Gifts. He founded the Gifted Communion, an emergent religious group that is previously referred to as the Nameless Order by the government, military and other Gifted families. He lured followers with the idea that the Gift is an outstanding ability that now runs the risk of being exterminated by science. In his new world, every human that accepts his teaching is given the chance to receive supernatural abilities, regardless of lineage or circumstances.

While busy preparing to overthrow the government, he learned that Sumi had died several years before. For a period of time, he fell into despair, believing that nothing mattered anymore. However, after learning that Sumi has given birth to a daughter, Miyo Saimori, he cheered up again. He also learned about Miyo's abuse and wanted to involve her in the new world where she and the others no longer had to suffer anymore. Before he could contact her, she met Kiyoka Kudou and she no longer hated the Saimoris for causing her so much pain and became content with an ordinary life that is in Naoshi's eyes meaningless. Even if temporary satisfaction can be obtained, the unfair treatment suffered by the Gifted and the Usuba family has not changed at all. The current situation clearly required change, but he realizes that Miyo fails to understand this.

## Abilities

### Gifts

* **Opinokinesis**: He possesses the ability to manipulate the five human senses.

He has had a large number of people successfully take on the form of Grotesquerie and artificially create Grotesqueries. Furthermore, he has succeeded in creating Grotesqueries that can be seen by people who do not have the talent of seeing them.

## Plot

### Volume 3

After a fiend attacked multiple people in the farming village near the Kudou villa, Kiyoka heads there and encounters a Houjou. The man invites Kiyoka to join the cause of the Gifted Communion and accept the teachings of Naoshi, the founder of their organization. It is a name Kiyoka had never heard before. Kiyoka ends the conversation by trying to capture the man but fails. Later, he shares information about the incident with Arata Usuba and mentions the name. To his surprise, Arata reacts strongly. Arata informs Kiyoka and Miyo about Naoshi's background and relation with the Usuba family. After hearing the information, Kiyoka is convinced that Naoshi is the greatest threat he could imagine.

### Volume 4

Miyo dreams of a moment in Naoshi's past, when he was a student and Sumi an early teenager. Sumi scolds him for fighting again, which left his opponent hospitalized, while he himself doesn't even have a scratch.

During the raid at the unit station, Miyo stepped out in front of the soldiers to protect them. This act reminded him of Sumi, whose decision for self-sacrifice he criticized as foolish and even repugnant.

## Trivia

* Naoshi is a point of view character in chapter 4 of the fifth volume of the novel.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1  Novel, Volume 3 Chapter 5
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1  Novel, Volume 4 Prologue
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5  Novel, Volume 4 Chapter 1
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5  Novel, Volume 3 Chapter 6
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6  Novel, Volume 6 Chapter 1
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1  Novel, Volume 2 Chapter 3
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1  Novel, Volume 4 Chapter 2
8. ↑  Novel, Volume 5 Chapter 2
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1  Novel, Volume 2 Chapter 5
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4  Novel, Volume 5 Chapter 4
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1  Novel, Volume 3 Chapter 3
12. ↑  Novel, Volume 4 Chapter 5