Tadashi Kikuchi

**Tadashi Kikuchi** (菊池 (きくち)  忠 (ただし) , *Kikuchi Tadashi*?), known in "S" as **Snake** (スネーク, *Sunēku*?), is a character from the *SK8 the Infinity* anime series. He is Ainosuke Shindo's secretary and the person who originally taught him to skate.

In "S", he is in charge of managing the baseball capped men behind the scenes.

## Appearance

Tadashi is a tall and slender man with short purplish-black hair (he used to have slightly longer hair in the past when Aiichiro Shindo was alive), green eyes where there is a mole under his right eye and he always displays a calm and flat face where he is able to look like a professional person and not easily ignited.

He usually wears a black formal suit with a lavender-colored tie and dark-brown dress shoes.

In "S", he wears a green bomber jacket with a red cap and black sweatpants.

### Gallery

Tadashi in his "S" attireTadashi as a child
## Personality

During the series, Tadashi seems to display a formal and professional attitude in front of Ainosuke Shindo, just like a normal secretary. He also displayed a calm demeanor, even when Adam referred to him as a 'dog' due to his position as an obedient servant.

Tadashi is unable to display his dissatisfaction with his treatment in the Shindo household. He seems like the person Adam trusted the most, enough to let him know about secret races like "S" and Ainosuke's identity as **Adam**.

He has been working for the Shindo family ever since Adam was a young child  and he seems to care for Adam, shown by him trying to rebuke Aiichiro Shindo (Adam's father) when he set fire to his skateboard. It seems he feels guilt from it and is willing to take blame for anything wrong Adam did, including the risk of possibly dealing with the police. Tadashi has shown brief moments of concern when he feels Adam is making a bad decision, but always shuts down when confronted and often states he "has no opinions,".

Tadashi finally stood up to Adam and entered the tournament under the name "**Snake**" with the objective of making Adam renounce skating. He taught Ainosuke how to skate and regrets that he introduced Ainosuke to skateboarding as it became Ainosuke's only breather from his strict life and it was a hobby that Ainosuke could not share with a child of similar social standing to him, which led to Ainosuke's father forcing him to quit. He plans to take skating away from Ainosuke if he wins the tournament. Tadashi's skating includes a form of dancing and fluid movement, similar to how Ainosuke dances.

## Abilities

Although not one of "S"'s well-known members, Tadashi is an extremely skilled skater, having been practicing the sport in his free time since his childhood. He arguably may even be a stronger skater than even Adam as he was the one who taught Adam to skate  and the politician's unique 'dancing' style seems to have stemmed from Tadashi's own.

* **General Prowess:** The full extent of Tadashi's abilities is unknown, however he was easily able to outmanoeuvre Miya Chinen, a national team hopeful, during the qualifiers race, showing that he definitely has a large amount of skill at the sport.

* **Unique Style:** Tadashi has a similar style to Adam, albeit his own doesn't include the same level of physicality. He moves almost like he's dancing when he skates, showing his ability to fully control the board he skates on in order to evade any obstacles in his path.

## Background

Tadashi is Ainosuke Shindo's secretary who also runs the behind the scenes of 'S' where he watches on security cameras when Adam is skating and tells him where the opponent is. He is quiet most of the time and does everything Adam tells him to do. They have known each other since childhood where Tadashi had been the one to teach Adam how to skate. As the son of a servant, Tadashi has been working for the Shindo family since childhood. When he was a child, Tadashi found Adam when he was crying and asked him if he wanted to try using a skateboard.

After that, Adam started sneaking around and looking for Tadashi to play with him, who despite being prohibited from being around Adam due to the differences in social standing, let him play with him with a friendly smile.

## Trivia

* Tadashi's name contains the kanji for "chrysanthemum" (菊, *kiku*?), "pool, pond" (池, *chi*?) and "loyalty, devotion, fidelity, faithfulness" (忠, *tadashi*?).
	+ **Snake** (Tadashi's "S" name) follows the biblical references of **Adam** (who's represented by Ainosuke Shindo) and **Eve** (the person whom Adam believes is Snow), being the snake that tries to manipulate Adam into giving up skating if he loses to him.
* Tadashi's "S" appearance had been referenced in the opening *Paradise* since the first episode, seen reflected as a still after Tadashi's secretary appearance.
* Tadashi is a "regular" skater, meaning he prefers to skate with his left foot at the front of the board.
* Tadashi is a Sagittarius.
* Tadashi was a secretary to Aiichiro Shindo (Adam's father) before becoming Adam's secretary, which is one of the reasons Tadashi could not object when Adam's father forced him to quit skating.
* Based on his outward appearance, Tadashi has his future plans most firmly sorted out and prioritizes Ainosuke's success before worrying about his own life.
* Tadashi is resigned to the lifestyle he leads, even if things don't go as he plans.
* As a young child, Tadashi worked as a gardener alongside his father before becoming Aiichiro's secretary.
* For white day, Tadashi would probably give a really cold obligatory gift out of a sense of responsibility, and a date would be based on something he would find on the internet or in a book and follow the plan exactly without skipping anything. A really loveless, unpersonal date.
* Tadashi would have a strict bed-time schedule and routine.
* Tadashi would like a surprise proposal. He would not like a grand reception. He would not want "see ya" kisses everyday. He would not want to go anywhere special for his honeymoon. He has no autonomy so his spouse would be the one to make decisions, but he would take action in unexpected ways in emergencies. He has many skills, like piloting, being a secretary, and organizing events, and would be loyal to those he chooses.
* Tadashi's favorite food is oysters.
* Tadashi doesn't really have a hobby.
* Tadashi is unranked on Joe's rankings of the muscles of S. Joe's comment: He’s an unknown variable. However I can feel his hidden muscles……!
* Tadashi is ???% on Adam’s Passionate Love Parameter, how much passion he has for each skater. Adam’s comment: No comment.
* Tadashi's daily schedule when there's no S:
	+ 5:00-6:00 - Wake up, gets dressed
	+ 6:00 - Wakes up Ainosuke (Waking up Ainosuke is a very executive role. The method he uses is top secret)
	+ 7:00-11:00 - Checks mail at office, write documents, confirms meetings
	+ 11:00-17:00 - Accompany Ainosuke
	+ 17:00-19:00 - Greets the supporters, gets ready for social gatherings with business leaders
	+ 19:00-22:00 - Writes documents, prepares for tomorrow
	+ 22:00-24:00 - Returns home, prepares for S (Since he always receives lots of orders from Ainosuke, it isn't rare for him to have 2-3 days of sleepless nights to work on it)
	+ 24:00-1:00 - Goes to bed
* Tadashi would stay home for a summer date. He's not an active person and wants to spend time with a person he can let his guard down around and relax. His date may see another side of him when he removes his emotionless mask. If there was unexpected rain, he would say excuse me and wipe his date politely with a handkerchief.
* Tadashi doesn't have a preferred fashion sense, similar to how he states he has no opinions. He has various things for Adam in his bag, like hair wax, a lint roller, mirror, chapstick, deodorizer to get rid of the smell of Adam's cigarette smoke, and anything else Adam could possibly need. For a date, he wouldn't wear anything outrageous because he's a respectable adult. He'd go with the safe choice in clothes and also plan a safe date. It is questionable whether Tadashi would feel attraction to any sort of fashion style on someone. He's very mysterious. Tadashi doesn't care about what he wears in private, and he'd buy sets from fast fashion stores, though if Adam saw him in those sort of clothes he'd harshly criticize it. He makes sure to wear nice, but plain dark colored suits at work to not embarrass Adam as well as to enhance Adam's look, but he doesn't care about the style at all. Tadashi would enjoy a simple date. Since he has a job, he can buy his partner whatever they want and wouldn't waste any time. A nice date with him would be going to the supermarket to buy ingredients and then cooking a meal together. He probably gets his suits dry cleaned. If someone snapped a picture of him on the street, he'd continue on as normal.
* Tadashi is a very good secretary and so for that reason he's a very important person to Ainosuke. If there's a problem with the lighting when Adam appears he probably holds meetings with the capmen to talk about it. However, Ainosuke never says he respects Tadashi for his work. Tadashi doesn't get many rewards but "gets the whip" instead. The two of them are the most complicated, their relationship is like they're connected with unbreakable chains.
* Tadashi probably believed in Santa when he was young since he was loved by his father, though of course when he grew up he stopped believing. Before loving skating, Tadashi would probably have wanted books and stuff like that for Christmas. When he was young, if he got snacks, he would have shared them with Adam.
* If Tadashi was a dog, he'd be a black shiba inu. If somehow Tadashi turned into a dog, Adam would be a little disturbed at first and avoid him, having a hard time accepting it. Then instead of apologizing, he'd take good care of him and feed him too rich food that would upset Tadashi's stomach.
* Tadashi is used to giving skilled omotenashi because of his occupation.
* Tadashi rarely shows emotions, but when he does, it's always about Ainosuke.
* Tadashi has no food he dislikes.
* Tadashi's tournament card is the Four of Diamonds.
* Tadashi's blood type is A.
* Tadashi's animal motif is snakes, which he uses as his skater name and he even has one underneath his board.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 *SK8 the Infinity* Official Guidebook
2. ↑ *SK8 the Infinity* Official Website
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Skater’s Backstage
4. ↑ SK8 DESIGN WORKS
*SK8 the Infinity* Anime: Episode 10.
*SK8 the Infinity* Anime: Episode 8.
*SK8 the Infinity* Anime: Episode 11.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Animedia Magazine April Issue: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
9. ↑ Animedia Magazine May Issue: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Animedia Magazine March Issue: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
11. ↑ Animedia Magazine May Issue: *SK8 the Infinity* Marriage Certificates
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 *SK8 the Infinity* Anime: BD&DVD Vol.4
13. ↑ *SK8 the Infinity* Anime: BD&DVD Vol.5
14. ↑ Animedia Magazine August Issue: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
15. ↑ Animedia Magazine September Issue: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
16. ↑ Animage Magazine November Issue: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
17. ↑ Animage December 2021: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
18. ↑ Animage December 2021: *The ones who are devoted* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
19. ↑ Otomedia December 2021: *SK8 the Infinity* Q&A with Hiroko Utsumi
20. ↑ Adam's 2022 birthday merchandise