Hayami Masaki

## Masaki Hayami

**Hayami Masaki** (速 (はや) 水 (み)  正 (ま) 樹 (さき) ; *"Masaki Hayami"*), also known as **The Killing Throw** (一 (いっ) 投 (とう) 必 (ひっ) 殺 (さつ) , *Ittō Hissatsu*; lit. *"One Throw Certain Kill"*) is an affiliate fighter for Toyo Electric Power Co. for his father, Hayami Katsumasa, who dispatched him to fight in the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament. He is also a clone of Meguro Masaki, created through the Worm's technology.

## Appearance

Masaki is a tall, stocky, muscular young man with messy spiky black hair and large, round eyes. As Meguro Masaki's clone, this Masaki is almost identical to his genetic template, only looking younger and less bestial. When fighting, Masaki sports a regular judogi with a black belt signifying his rank.

## Personality

Masaki is a polite, jovial and overall very relaxed individual. He is able to remain calm even in stressful situations, possessing the qualities of a great negotiator and leader who's able to lighten the mood when necessary.

Masaki is also well-read, having also read even Tokuno'o Tokumichi works, and is informed about fighters and martial arts.

While Masaki had a lot of respect for his father as a businessman, the same couldn't be said for his father's reckless ambition. Said ambition was what would lead to Masaki killing his father before he could make a mess of the Kengan Association.

On the other hand, Masaki seems to have a close bond with his sister Rino, as it was her who warned him about the bombs Katsumasa had implanted in him.

## History

At an undisclosed time, likely a year after Katsumasa found Meguro Masaki, Masaki Hayami was conceived with the intent of surpassing his genetic template due to the original's unstable behavior.

After his creation, Masaki regularly battled his genetic template, who would always use lethal throws against him.

According to Yamashita Kazuo, Masaki never fought in any judo team from primary school to university. When he was in middle school, Masaki attended a judo class, where he was well-liked until graduation.

Masaki is a part of the judo club (known as the "J-Boys") of his university, Ohkei U. Thanks to his friendly and polite behavior, Masaki was able to have his club attend joint practices with the judo team of his university, who initially looked down on their casual counterparts. Masaki is also involved in a volunteer circle and sometimes teaches judo to children.

Masaki registered as an affiliated fighter three years before fighting Utsubuki Kokuro, but went unnoticed due to not entering any matches.

## Plot

Masaki made his Kengan match debut by defeating Kokuro Utsubuki in a Kengan match, to the shock of everyone present for his resemblance to the late Meguro Masaki.

Masaki later showed up at his father's house while Kazuo and Akiyama Kaede questioned Katsumasa. Kazuo was left baffled by the striking similarity between Masaki and the deceased Masaki. Masaki would later become a part of the Kengan Association's roster in the upcoming tournament against Purgatory. When Kazuo asked if he was related to Meguro, Masaki claimed they were brothers.

Masaki's existence was reported to Katahara Metsudo by Kazuo, who then passed it on to Hideki Nogi while discussing the possibility of Tokita Ohma being cloned.

On the day of the tournament, Masaki spent his time on the flight reading a book, musing on the eagerness of his two teammates, Akoya Seishu and Wakatsuki Takeshi, raring to go at each other.

During the tournament itself, Masaki commented on the fights with his team, occasionally adding in information about Purgatory's team and their martial arts. After Kanoh Agito's win against Lu Tian, he and the other fighters met the Purgatory in the middle of the ring to explain how the Worm was acting behind the scenes of the competition. Upon hearing gladiator Rolón Donaire say that there could also be Worms on Kengan's side, Masaki, unbeknown to him, was looked at with an inquisitive eye by Takeshi and Naoya Ohkubo.

After Kure Raian's disqualification, Masaki quickly calmed Okubo and the rest of his team from arguing with each other. Masaki also revealed to have read Tokumichi's entire bibliography, labeling it as "unique" (with some hesitation) and earnestly defined Tokumichi as an intellectual.

When Arashiyama Jurota stepped out as the next fighter, Masaki suggested that he would fight him, as they're both judoka. Upon entering the ring, Masaki was asked by Jurota if he was related to Meguro Masaki, albeit to his confusion. Moments before the match started, Shiina Alisa called a time out to ask Masaki to remove his earbuds he forgot to remove. After giving them to Narushima Koga, Masaki entered the ring again, changing his initial stance. As the match began, he attempted to grab Jurota, only for him to swiftly retaliate with his unique style of throwing.

Though pained, Masaki got up at the count of eight. However, though Jurota continued to throw him, Hayami remained unfazed despite his damage. Eventually, Hayami was able to grab Jurota into a triangle choke. Jurota, on the other hand, was convinced that Masaki was is in fact the Masaki he wished to fight. Masaki continued to push through Jurota's throws with little effect on his performance, eventually finding an opening to break Jurota's right clavicle, neutralizing his right arm.

With Jurota's ability compromised, Masaki soon defeated him upon finally getting him in a throw and pummeling him while he was down, winning the match. Brushing off the congratulations he received, Masaki went on his way to the infirmary, passing by his adoptive sister, Kurayoshi Rino. Listening to his "brother's" life through his earphones, Masaki swore to surpass both him and Jurota, with tears of blood running down his face.

When Katsumasa rejoiced at the news of Erioh’s passing and starts plotting to overtake Kengan Association once more, Masaki suddenly declared that Katsumasa was a maggot and decided to remove his father from power. Believing that Masaki's mental stability is declining due to the lack of brain surgery, Katsumasa sends his top enforcer to subdue him, but Masaki handled him swiftly. Katsumasa then tried to detonate the bombs in Masaki, though was swiftly stopped when Masaki revealed that he knew about them and tricked him into thinking they were already removed.

Masaki revealed to Katsumasa that it was Rino who warned him earlier about the bombs, and that augmentations Meguro received weren't the cause of his degraded sanity by the time of the Annihilation Tournament. Upon that revelation, Masaki would then kill his father by snapping his spine in half and smashing his head to ground.

## Power and Abilities

Masaki is a very capable fighter and judoka, able to almost instantly knock out Kokuro Utsubuki in a single throw, without even injuring him. Kokuro himself estimated that he might be even stronger than Ryuki Gaoh. Though he comes from a non-competitive background, Masaki's prowess, technique and tactical genius is enough to place him alongside high-rank fighters. Apart from judo, Masaki also has some knowledge in striking.

By design, Masaki is something akin to an "ultimate version" of Meguro, possessing the talent Meguro had in martial arts, but able to control himself as well. Like Meguro Masaki, this Masaki has a similar physiological response to pain. In his fight against Jurota, Masaki is able to shrug off the damage received as he becomes more and more enraptured by the pain. Masaki's resilience allowed him to survive his brother's lethal throws. Presumeably, the 'pleasure' Masaki receives from the pain had been dialed back to help retain his reasoning.

### Huisheng

Using the same tradition of the Wu Clan, Masaki listens to his "brother's" confessions on continuous loop. Eventually, Masaki will assimilate his genetic template's memories as his own, effectively becoming his brother, albeit a version who can control his urges.

## Etymology

* **Hayami** means "speed, quick, fast" (速) (**haya**) and "water" (水) (**mi**).
* **Masaki** means "right, proper" (正) (**masa**) and "tree" (樹) (**ki**).

## Trivia

* The book Masaki was reading while on the plane to Mt. Godslayer was *Innumeracy*.
* According to Sandrovich, Hayami only wears glasses for fashion.
* According to the author, Hayami's madness hasn't gone completely out of control.
* Hayami's hobby is Judo and his relationship with Meguro wasn't particularly bad.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Chapter 97 (Omega)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chapter 45 (Omega)
3. ↑ *1 win against Utsubuki Kokuro in a Kengan match(ΩCh45)*
4. ↑ *1 win against Jurota Arashiyama in the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament(ΩCh102)*
5. ↑ Chapter 101 (Omega)
6. ↑ Chapter 102 (Omega)
7. ↑ Chapter 46 (Omega)
8. ↑ Chapter 54 (Omega)
9. ↑ Chapter 44 (Omega)
10. ↑ Chapter 57 (Omega)
11. ↑ Sandrovich's Twitter: 9th June, 2021 (*"For fashion."*)