Tilo

Artist: anchored-down

## Backstory

### Early Years

Tilo was born in Lübeck, Germany, to his mother and father as an only child. He of course grew to be fluent in German, but he would also learn faint English from some British passerbys. His father, Archibald, would accompany him whenever he wanted to go out into town, but hardly let him wander, despite Tilo’s constant need to explore at a young age. Each time his father would restrict him from talking with the locals and the tourists and setting off on his own, Tilo grew rather distrustful towards him. This led him to favor his gentle mother, Edith, who would encourage his curious nature. They’d sneak past Archibald in the middle of his studies (He worked as a prosecutor, having to go against multiple cases a week; it was all he thought about/talked about. Edith worked as an artist, which doesn’t pay much, yeah, but she loved doing it), and Tilo’s mother would take him out to the places his father would tear him away from. His interests revolved around nature at this time, and sewing, surprisingly, as his mother would teach him how to do it. He was only around 9 at the time, so he certainly wasn’t a pro at it quite yet.

School grew to be a different situation than home for young Tilo, as he would grow distracted during classes, whether it be drawing or talking with other students. His grades weren’t top tier, and although he was certainly known as a very benevolent and helpful student, he didn’t qualify for any special opportunities. Granted, he only attended school in Lübeck until he was around 11 years old. It was early that year that his parents revealed to him that he would get a sister soon. They’d been keeping this from him for a few months, until it clearly became evident. He constantly helped around the house for his mother when his father couldn’t, looking after her the best a 10 year old could. A little before his 11th birthday, the day came. He was locked out of the operation room, and frankly, quite stressed the whole time.

He sat alone in the hallway of that hospital for what felt like weeks before he was finally allowed in. Everything seemed to have gone swimmingly, his mother recovering, and his father was pressed at her bedside. The piercing cry of his newborn sister was the only thing Tilo was focused on at that moment, and in fawning over her, he missed all the news the doctor brought. Edith insisted on choosing the name for her daughter, without any help from her husband or son. She settled on the name Umi, which was the name of her great-grandmother. And although they safely returned home a few days later, the air around the family seemed tense, and almost fearful.

Tilo spent a lot of his time with his new sister, and was not unaware of his mother’s weakening condition. He simply took it as the relief of having Umi successfully with her was making her sluggish. Though… he could only hope this was the case. Tilo’s mother had lost a lot of blood during labor, and something inside her had been damaged in the process. This was something the doctor overlooked - making sure to let Edith and Archibald know of her condition, but making it seem like it was just a small complication, and if there was any sign of it worsening they should return to the hospital. They didn’t return, as Archibald was far too busy with his work to take her, and Tilo was only 11. The hospital was miles away… and by the time he realized that she wasn’t simply tired, it was too late. His mother had died while Tilo and his father were at school and work, and the young boy returned home to the lonely cry of his sister.

The funeral was long and draining for the three of them, and the rest of the family who had attended. The usually sociable and friendly Tilo was deathly quiet the entire day, his tears ever flowing despite the cold winds of that February afternoon. His father blamed Umi for his wife’s death, blaming her for the complications and blaming Tilo for not telling him about Edith’s state weeks prior. Tilo had never seen his father so angry, so lost. Archibald shut himself in his room for a few days after the funeral, escaping simply to a nearby pub, leaving Tilo to look after Umi every way he could - she was still less than a year old, after all.

### A New Environment

One day, his father spoke to him for the first time in almost a week, and it was to usher him into the car, bringing Umi with him. The trip that would soon follow was certainly one Tilo had least expected. They drove as far as their car could take them, rode a few trains, and one final boat. Tilo was exceedingly tired at this point, clutching his sister close as his father dragged him across Europe and Asia - it took them about a week to do so, with few hotel stops. Before he knew it, Tilo was on the Japanese countryside, standing in front of the mossy, off-white picket fence of his grandfather’s farm. Edith’s father, Mamoru, to be specific. Tilo was kindly invited inside the farmhouse by his grandfather, still holding Umi close. He tried to listen to what his dad and grandpa talked about, but after that trip he could hardly stay awake.

His father abandoned him there.

Continuing to blame him and his helpless younger sister for Edith’s death, and simply handing them over to his grandfather.

The next morning, Tilo waited outside in the open field for his father’s return, unable to accept it. He grew bitter after a few days of off and on waiting, coming to finally accept that his father was never coming back. A deep resentment boiled up inside him after that, but he’s managed to stuff it down and suck it up.

He was homeschooled part-time by Mamoru, who didn’t teach him German, but rather Japanese. It was a struggle at first, but after a couple years of avidly learning, Tilo’s Japanese was improving. Umi aged quite well, too, being looked after by both Mamoru and Tilo, in between playing around with the farm animals that Tilo had to help take care of. As a young teenager he would have to harvest the crops for his grandfather, as well as feed the cows and chickens. Feeding the chickens brought on an unknown fear inside him, as every time he’d go in to drop a few corn kernels he’d get attacked by the feisty feathery beasts, which eventually developed into his alektorophobia. Mamoru took over chicken-feeding duties after a couple years.

In his free time, Tilo would explore the vast farmhouse and all its nooks and crannies, leading him to find a dusty old bookshelf in one of the unused rooms. On its shelves were countless books; Shakespearean plays. He couldn’t read the English, so he begged his grandfather to teach him on top of his Japanese lessons. His native language was tucked away for the time being, as he avidly worked to be able to fluently read the plays. The first one he read successfully, after a couple years of learning English, was Much Ado About Nothing. This has always been his favorite play ever since.

During the time that he wasn’t being homeschooled by his grandpa, nor helping around the farm, Tilo did indeed go to school. This was only after his Japanese was good enough to attend school, after all. His loquaciousness and enthusiasm was hardly tarnished by this public school - in fact, he made a few friends in his middle school years. The bullies were the only ones who brought him down through the day. They taunted him for his poor family and lonely lifestyle, and for his German accent… all things he couldn’t control. He did his best to drown out these hurtful words with the Shakespeare plays, which always seemed to help him feel better.

Now age 16, Tilo knew a good hand of Japanese and English, and was able to get a job in the city. He worked at a library and a convenient store for a good while, and with some financial help from his grandfather, he was able to pay the rent of a cheap apartment in the city. He moved in with Umi, and with his own funds, he helped her attend primary school at last, where she quickly became a social butterfly, just like him. Paychecks were small, but his grandfather’s harvests helped support him and Umi’s life in the city. They would use coins they found throughout their day to call Mamoru on the payphones, always wanting to stay in touch with their last loving guardian.

Tilo brought the plays from the farm into their apartment, and when he had finally finished with school, and his shifts at work (or if he had a day off) he’d come home and read them through, over and over. It didn’t matter whether he’d read them all before, because the joy of reading them was all the same. He even tried his hand at writing some in his early high school years, with the encouragement of Umi. It was then that his Ultimate Talent was born, and he received a surprise invitation to Hope's Peak Academy at age 17. Thrilled, he accepted, having to drop his job at the library to put more hours into his classes. He’d miss the books in that library, but he was well aware that his new school would have a library for him to pick plays from as the Ultimate Playwright.

### Danganronpa: On Deck

It was then that the poor playwright was dragged into his first Danganronpa game.
He lost all his memories at the start of the game, and the first motive caused him to remember Umi, as well as grow closer to Haru and Yuuto over it. Yuuto ended up being the first blackened, which pained Tilo greatly, and their group of three became just him and Haru. He met Ran and Ryuji too, and grew fond of them, deeming them his closest friends besides Haru. Though he was basically friends with everyone besides Serena, Tatsu, and Yasumi. He confessed his love for Haru a month into the game, and they witnessed Rae, Yasumi, and Lien’s deaths, making it through many hardships between the other members and each other. They adopted three starfish that they found around the ship, Benedick, Beatrice, and Brain Balthasar.

About five months in, around the beginning of Chapter 4, the group was able to break out through an opening in the cruise ship's boiler room thanks to Haru, and make it out into the open waters. Only problem was that there was no land in sight, and the remaining survivors opted to floating to shore on some broken wooden boards and pipes they had taken from the boat.

### Breath of Freedom

Tilo and Haru remained on their boards together with their starfish, convinced they could make it to land together and finally settle into the future they had dreamed of. However, a day after the escape, they were separated when the board snapped during a very windy night, leaving Tilo to float out on his own with Benedick, who clung to his shoulder the entire time. He reassured himself that Haru was able to make it to land with their other starfish, but after a couple days of simply drifting he was convinced this was the end of his time. No food, no clean water... the least he could do was give Benedick some company before he would die of starvation or thirst. On around the third or fourth day of floating further out into sea, Tilo was found by a ship... a pirate ship to be exact, that was led by Haruma and his crew. Tilo was offered to join this captain's crew in return for his rescue, and the playwright gladly accepted, sadly throwing out his old outfit from On Deck, and taking on a new look. From then on he worked as Haruma's scribe and quartermaster, learning the ways of a pirate by looking up to his captain. Until, of course, both boys were pulled into VIIX.