Shuichi Saihara

***THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR BREAKING KRYS 1.***

## **Appearance**

Most of the time, Shuichi wears a black cap with three white stripes lining the back of it, and a silver star pinned near the front. Underneath the cap, he has short dark blue hair with a small ahoge. He has very pale skin and a slim figure. His eyes are gambogeish grey, with thick, feminine eyelashes that are completely natural.

Shuichi's outfit is double-breasted and pinstripe, thin, grey stripes over a black uniform. His pants match his uniforms design, black with a pinstripe design to accentuate his long legs. His former school's emblem is on the breast pocket of his uniform, the pocket accentuated with a dull golden color to stand out from his generally dark, monotone uniform. His shoes are dark blue loafers that are both fashionable and easy to walk in, making it easy for him to investigate comfortably. (Written by: Danganronpa Wiki)

## **Personality**

Shuichi appears to have quite a serious and polite personality. However, he is also stated to have a weak personality, and he is abnormally timid when it comes to speaking. He often has negative remarks, frequently blushes and suffers from a cold sweat. With his unsure demeanor, he has a tendency to assume that other people can do things better than him, and he comes across as quite unreliable at first glance. Among the sixteen students, he is a boy who stands out for his submissiveness but also for his level-headedness.

However, Shuichi can also have a stronger attitude at times when the situation calls for it. He is the first to immediately suggest going after the mastermind during chapter 1 and goes to great lengths to trap them, showing an affinity towards proactivity. His hat is an especially sore subject for him and he dislikes to look at other people's eyes, which is why he wears the hat. When meeting Miu Iruma, she accused him of being a pervert with no reason, causing him to angrily yell at her to leave him alone. She had said that boys wear hats to hide their staring, which is obviously very poor reasoning, and Shuichi angrily told her he doesn't need an excuse to wear a hat.

Even though he is a very skilled detective with superior ability and insight, Shuichi lacks self-confidence, as he claims he hasn't accomplished enough to be called a famous detective. He also feels he doesn't deserve his Ultimate title because he only happened to solve a murder case by chance, frequently referring to himself as "kind of a detective", although Kaede Akamatsu says she doesn't believe something like this is possible. In the bonus mode, he also feels inferior to fellow Ultimate Detective, Kyoko Kirigiri, who possesses far more experience as a detective than him. However, he later reveals to Kaede that his biggest issue with detective work comes from the first murder case he solved, which gave him a fear of uncovering the truth, which is something a real detective would never have in his opinion. He fears the guilt, consequences and the hatred he might receive and the pain he might cause if he reveals the truth.

Whenever Shuichi feels depressed, he tends to stay in his room and doesn't eat nor shower and at times, but he can get moving with his friends' support. With Kaede assuring him that she believes in him and he should be more confident in himself, Shuichi promises he will try although he's not sure if he can. After Kaede decides to put all her thoughts on him and believe in him, and with Kaito's assistance, Shuichi's timid veil breaks considerably and he even stops wearing his hat, feeling that it was "getting in the way". He begins to show more profound confidence in his abilities as a detective and when interacting with other people. He always takes a very large role in every single Class Trial after the first one, choosing not to look away from the truth anymore and keep his promise to Kaede. He also becomes noticeably more vocal than before, displaying immense outrage during the final Class Trial.

Shuichi is also shown to take romantic relationships very seriously. During his Free Time Events, when Kaede asks him if he feels uncomfortable about women and romance due to seeing so many tough adultery cases in his detective work, he fiercely denies this and says he would never be unfaithful. During his Love Suite Event with K1-B0, it's shown that he only feels a bit uncomfortable about the idea of dating the robot because of the fact that he assumes he is asking for a pretense relationship. He tells K1-B0 he doesn't want a relationship based on lies, but gladly agrees to have a romantic relationship with him after he confesses that he truly is in love with Shuichi. In general, Shuichi is shown to be a bit shy about romance, but also very supportive and willing to make the other happy even if it's just dream-like situations like the Love Suite Events. Since he is a bit submissive, some other characters tease him by calling him a masochist in Chapter 4, as he often looks so pleased to obey orders (mostly from Kaito). Miu uses this as an excuse to boss him around and Shuichi looks a bit saddened that everyone thinks of him like that. During one of the conversations beginning Miu's Free Time Events, he even obeys Miu's non-serious suggestion and plays tricks for her like a dog. Miu even calls him Kaede's "little beta boy toy" during the first trial.

## **Backstory**

Shuichi's parents are a famous actor and a screenwriter, who went overseas for business, which is why Shuichi began to live with his uncle and his wife. While Shuichi claims there isn't any sad story behind it all, his parents are neglectful towards him, and he smiles bitterly whenever he talks about them. To show his gratitude to his uncle, Shuichi helped him by working as his assistant in his detective agency. While he was only helping out and had no desire to be a detective himself, he learned to be a detective this way. Shuichi's first detective case was unofficial but a tough one, as his classmate asked him to find her miniature pet alligator, and he had to do a lot of research, prepare tools and eventually climb around mountains and swim up rivers. As thanks for finding her pet, Shuichi's classmate later gave him chocolate for Valentine's Day, though he assumed it was done just as friends. Shuichi was mostly happy to be useful and memorized her words "thank you". His first official case was an infidelity case, which was nothing compared to the alligator one.

Most of the cases that happened to come to his uncle were small things like investigating infidelity, but on the one rare occasion, Shuichi managed to solve a murder case faster than the police and became publicly known as the junior detective, gaining him his Ultimate title. However, Shuichi does not believe he deserves the title, claiming that he only happened to solve this one case by chance.

In reality, the situation was more complicated. When the culprit was captured thanks to Shuichi, his eyes were full of hatred and malice as he looked at Shuichi, and the boy never forgot that gaze. Shuichi heard later that the culprit had killed the victim to avenge his family and the victim was a horrible person who had tricked the culprit's family and driven them to /no/. Shuichi felt guilty for "siding with" the victim and felt everything was his fault because he exposed the truth. He gained a fear of exposing the truth, considering himself a pathetic detective, and he began to wear a hat because he couldn't look at other people's eyes anymore.