Aihara Takahiro

Aihara Takahiro is a ghoul that used to work in Anteiku. Previous to that he once worked in a Florist shop.

He currently lives in the sixteenth ward and appears to be the sole guardian of his two siblings.

## Appearance

Taka has a light build, and is fairly slender. A large portion of his body toning is located in his legs and shoulders, as those are the muscles he uses more frequently while hunting. He has a semi-pale complexion with various light sprinklings of freckles across his forearms. Atop his shoulders sits a neck, which ends in a head with a slightly angular facial shape. His eyes are slanted upwards at the ends and ‘almond’ in shape. These eyes are a dark cocoa colour with some varying rings of lighter brown and amber, and above them sit neat eyebrows. He has pale and frequently-dry lips, and his nose is of average size with a slightly upturned end.

He has medium-short, raven black, glossy hair that falls in little waves across his forehead and at the sides. The back of Taka's hair halts at the nape. He combs his hair often, but due to its natural waviness it often ends up looking slightly dishevelled despite his efforts.

Taka has an old and faded light-pink scar stretching the side of neck. It is approximately four centimetres in length.

His old work clothes for his job at the Florist Shop consisted of the florist shop's uniform: a semi-dressy white shirt, black dress slacks, a black tie (tucked in), and a light brown work apron. He also wore a pair of black shoes as well as the occasional pair of cloth gloves (when handling flowers with thorns, such as roses).

His other previous uniform was that of Anteiku's.

When in his casual clothing, Takahiro might wear a pair of light grey jeans, a light blue tee shirt, a dark grey sweater and a pair of white sneakers. At home he walks around in a pair of blue socks. He might also wear a pair of navy sweat pants in place of jeans when at home.

## Personality

Takahiro is family-oriented, kind, and fiercely loyal in nature. His self-determined purpose in life is to provide for and raise his siblings, and to do so he would do anything within his power (regardless of whether or not his actions in doing this may or may not be against his own ethics).

Takahiro is fond of animals, plants, and children. He has a talent in artistic expression which is how he eventually managed to secure a job at the local florist shop prior to its eventual closure.

Unfortunately, Taka can sometimes be paranoid to a fault- he rarely trusts others (particularly when he is disguised as Dragonfly) and can over-react in situations where he is worried or confused. He appears to have trouble understanding true compassion and has some difficulty overcoming the idea that every action by another person has strings attached. Despite this frequent anxiety, Takahiro is naturally curious by nature, and these contradicting traits can drag him into serious trouble. This inquisitiveness of his appears to be hereditary, as it also manifests itself in Haru.

Despite being a generally cheerful individual, Taka can almost literally worry himself to the ends of the earth over his siblings and has an unhelpful tendency to fret extensively when he believes they may be in serious danger.

Takahiro has a (usually) happy-go-lucky outlook on life, when he is not subjected to his own paranoia. However, when he used to leave for his hunting sessions prior to his involvement with Anteiku, it was like he would become another person entirely. Taka did not attempt any unnecessary form of communication with his prey or any other being (human, ghoul or otherwise). Takahiro also actively avoided any unnecessary eye contact with any individual, despite them not being able to see his eyes through the slits in his mask in the first place. Furthermore, he would remain in the shadows throughout his hunts despite naturally loving the light. This was due partially to a feeling of intense guilt regarding those that he killed: he spent so much of his daylight time around humans that he felt (not inaccurately) that hunting them was a form of betrayal. Even after returning from his hunting, he would prepare the human flesh as much as possible so that it would no longer resemble a human being or taste like how it originally smelled. Even with very limited ingredients, Taka would do this by means of cutting, cooking or even stewing the meat until it would be unrecognizable. The meat actually tasted worse afterwards (as by being cooked it took on a flavour that was unappetizingly alike human food), but all three siblings preferred it this way for ethical reasons.

After joining Anteiku, Takahiro appeared to have developed a less guarded and guilty identity as Dragonfly (as a result of no longer having to hunt and drive away innocent ghouls to live). Though still a little isolationalist in methods, he seemed to be attempting to learn and participate in more teamwork.

Takahiro is friendly towards humans, but prior to joining Anteiku, often tried to avoid other ghouls whenever possible due to many of them having a territorial nature. Despite this, he frequently found it necessary to hunt in other ghouls' territories in order to limit CCG suspicion in 'his' Ward. It is because of this that “Dragonfly” is still not a very well-liked name among ghouls in the northern wards of Tokyo.

As a result of his involvement with Anteiku in the few months prior to its dissolution, Takahiro had become slightly more tolerant of the presence of ghouls in his everyday life (though he was still wary of those that he was unaccustomed to), and he seemed less inclined to violent reactive behaviour. This change had been a slow one, and although he was adjusting fairly well he still occassionally had doubts about the security of this new-found lifestyle.

## Mask/Kagune

Dragonfly's mask covers the entirety of his face, and pointedly lacks detail- his original intention had been to remain unrecognizable to the CCG and other ghouls, with no alias or means of identification- but this had backfired because others had simply started to recognize his distinctive kagune instead. The mask is white in colour and composed of cloth with two small slits to see through. Around these eye slits are purplish-blue scales of shiny luminescent cloth that spread about an inch from the outlines of the eye slits. Otherwise the design on the mask is undistinguishable from any other white cloth mask. Imprints where the nose and mouth are located are visible but Taka’s actual features are disguised. He receives air through small slits on the sides of the mask, atop the jawline. Because the mouth of the mask does not detach from the rest, many ghouls and CCG officers correctly assume that he does not eat at the scenes of his hunts.

Takahiro’s kagune takes the form of sharp feathery tendrils that fan out behind him. They resemble long, fiery, silver and white luminous streaks that jet out from behind his shoulder blades, and their distinctive paired shape gives them the rough appearance of dragonfly wings. Because of their peculiar shape, he is incredibly fast. However, because of their long and wispy composition he is (ironically) incapable of flight-like movement (an ability of some ukaku-type ghouls). Because Taka utilizes so much energy attaining this impressive speed, his stamina is even lower than the average for ukaku-users. This also means that he has a high metabolism.

Because Dragonfly’s kagune also serves as his only weapon, a common strategy of his is to launch himself off of surfaces (such as the tops of walls or even the roofs of short buildings) and tuck into a roll- exposing the sharp fibres of the kagune as he rapidly spins. The fierce momentum of his twirling body makes slashes from his kagune more devastating, and presents less of a target for his opponent to hit. Another frequent tactic he employs is to twirl around like a top (when there are no available higher vantage points) for the same reason.

His unique style and velocity, paired with the odd shape of his kagune, have earned him his alias from the CCG and other ghouls that occasionally spot him.

Takahiro's author teasingly likes to joke that his kagune and fighting style resemble 'fairy wings', which doesn't give a very manly impression.

## History

Takahiro's history is still being developed and revealed as the roleplay's plot proceeds, but some aspects of his life before the events of the roleplay have been imparted through one-shots.

It has been revealed in Velvet Poppies as Dark as Lipstick that at one time Takahiro lived in a very large house, and had (in addition to Kana and Haru) another sibling named Masami who was very close to him. This sister also made an appearance in When She Stands at the Foot of the Bed and in All that Glimmers in Gold. Takahiro was additionally revealed to be the one who named Haruhiko and he presumably raised both of his younger siblings with Masami's help.

At some other point in time, Takahiro, Kanako and Haruhiko have been shown to be living outside in the winter, in unfavourable conditions. Masami is not present in this scene.

Takahiro seemed to be notably less apprehensive and more cheerful when he was younger.

## Trivia

* Takahiro has a strong affinity for Art and Mathematics subjects, but a weakness in subjects that require scientific approaches.
* Takahiro additionally has quite an abstract thinking process, though this can be a liability in situations where straight-forward thinking is more beneficial.
* His favourite colour is royal blue.
* Having been born on March 5th, Takahiro is of the Pisces zodiac.
* His favourite number is 23.

## Relationships (WIP)

Below are the characters that Takahiro has encountered throughout the course of the roleplay and in oneshots. Some may have had little interaction with him or may have only met him briefly.