Damon Maitsu

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**Damon Maitsu** is one of the 16 students of Eden's Garden Academy and the protagonist of the Killing Game featured in Project: Eden's Garden. He is the Ultimate Debater, and his motif is the **snake**.

## Biography

**"There was never a doubt in Damon's mind that he was destined to be the Ultimate Debater. From an early age, Damon would argue with anyone that tried to confront him. This led him to learn how to argue from any position in any topic. Such frequent confrontations left Damon isolated from his peers, further leading him down the path of ignoring others solely to train his talent, with the hope that one day he will be admired by everyone for his skill."**

## History

### Before Entering Eden's Garden Academy

Not much is currently known about Damon's past, but his biography indicates the path he took to becoming the Ultimate Debater. Early in his life, Damon was known to argue with his peers frequently, especially when they tried to confront him. While this led to Damon being isolated from his peers, either out of personal choice and/or social ostracization, it did further Damon's skills when it came to arguing, no matter the topic. As such, he decided to train himself to become the Ultimate Debater, ignoring anyone who gets in his way. Due to his hostile relationships early on, Damon wishes to be admired for his skills, as a way of earning back respect from everyone.

Because of Damon's strong desire for admiration and respect, once his Ultimate status was given to him, he took great pride in it. Upon recieving a letter of recognition and invitation to Eden's Garden Academy, Damon Maitsu was thrilled to finally be among fellow Ultimates, those he deems as admirable as he is. On top of this, it was a chance for Damon to further improve his skills and truly become someone commendable. However, upon entering the train to Eden's Garden Academy, he immediately expresses disappointment when seeing the 15 other Ultimates, due to their colorful, yet unusual appearances, lacking the professionalism he had in mind. While many of the students try to get Damon's attention, he ignores them and ends up sitting by himself. However, his peace didn't last long, as a sleeping gas was released from an unknown bag in the back of the car, which resulted in all the students passing out, including Damon. He was then presumably kidnapped and physically transported to Eden's Garden Academy.

### Eden's Garden Academy and the Start of the Killing Game

Damon wakes up in the Boiler Room of Eden's Garden Academy, where he finds another student who was brought there, Eva Tsunaka. She appears to be asleep, so Damon tries to wake her up, only to be scared when it turns out she was awake the whole time. Eva was apparently "testing him" by seeing what Damon would do upon finding a body laying on the floor. While Damon is confused by this, the two end up discussing their situation, and that's when Damon discovers the electric wristband that was forcibly attached to him when he was unconscious. Damon attempts to remove it, only to get shocked. It's after this that Eva asks Damon to introduce himself. Damon gives both his name and talent, despite Eva never asking for the latter. Eva on the other hand, only states her name and doesn't talk about her talent.

Trying to escape this ominous situation, the two students began investigating the room. After Eva throws a lightbulb in the water and concludes that it isn't conductive, the two step through the water. The two take interest in the vent on top of the generator on the far right side of the room. To look through it, Eva suggests that Damon get on top of her shoulders to see what's on the other side of the vent, although he expresses frusteration at having to be given a boost rather than him carrying Eva. However, he agrees to her demands and gets on top of Eva's shoulders. After removing the bars, Damon notices an unconscious man on the other side, laying on the floor of the Dining Room. Wanting to meet him in case he knows anything about the situation, Damon decides to head over to the Dining Room with Eva. It's then when they meet Wolfgang, Grace, and later Toshiko. Toshiko, having already met the rest of the students, decides to lead the group towards the others so they can all introduce themselves to each other.

Damon meets the rest of the students in the Courtyard and Cental Building, alongside Eva, Wolfgang, Grace, and Toshiko. Upon hearing many of their talents, Damon expresses bewilderement and exasperation, as they are not the "ideal" Ultimates with more academic talents he had in mind when coming to Eden's Garden Academy. Once all the introductions are finished, everyone meets up back in the Courtyard. It's then when Damon formally introduces himself and his talent to the other students, only to be unfortunately be called a "bargin bin lawyer" by Cassidy, much to his frusteration. The group asks Eva to reveal her talent as well. After Damon comments on how she never revealed her talent despite Damon telling his directly to her in their introductions, Eva decides to reveal herself as the Ultimate Liar, shocking the whole group, including Damon.

After this, Tozu, hidden behind a speaker, tells the Ultimates to enter the First Floor of the Dormitory to begin the proper orientation. It's then when everyone discovers Cara's fake body, which shocks Damon as he never encountered it while going through the building with Eva and later Wolfgang, Grace, and Toshiko. In spite of his reluctance, when Tozu asks everyone to investigate Cara's murder and discuss the truth behind her death in the Class Trial, Damon agrees. Upon gathering all the necessary evidence, Damon heads to the Trial Room alongside everyone else. Once the Trial begins, Damon remains active in helping the cast solve Cara's murder, slowly piecing the crime together using evidence. However, once the entire murder is figured out, things get complicated when Wolfgang insists that they must discuss the killer's motive to bring the victim justice. In spite of some of the cast not deeming this necessary, especially Wenona, Damon agrees to discuss it. While Wolfgang declares this murder to be an unjust act of sadism, both Wenona and Eva argue that this could have been self-defense, as the victim was holding an assault rifle. Depending on the route Damon goes down, he collaborates Wolfgang's argument using either logic or an emotional argument, as this is the first time he has to decide between Logos or Pathos when it comes to swaying the other students. After encouraging the cast to believe in Wolfgang either by nature of his talent or the sadistic and calculated method of murder by the killer, Eva lets it go and everyone sees Cara's killer as a sadistic psychopath.

Once the Trial is over, Tozu formally introduces himself to the others and formally announces the Killing Game, shocking the entire cast, Damon included. Tozu declares that the entire cast won't be able to escape Eden's Garden Academy unless they resort to murder. However, Wolfgang refutes this accusation, wholeheartedly believing in the Ultimates as a whole, stating they don't have the heart to kill, and as people in charge of the betterment of society, will not easily succumb to Tozu's whims. Through his encouragement, most of the cast put their faith in Wolfgang and agree that they, nor anyone else, will ever resort to murder. Despite everyone being so hopeful, Damon refuses to go along with them, and even admits in his mind that their attitude made him sick, but he couldn't understand why. However, once Eva rejected Wolfgang's assumption and stated that Ultimates have more reason to kill, not less, and by getting them to blindly trust each other, they'll only be more vulnerable, Damon stood behind her beliefs, answering why he felt contempt for those that put faith in Wolfgang's words.

As the other students admonished Eva, Damon decided to back her up, even claiming the whole idea that "we're all Ultimates" is pretty inane, as nobody here has the same goals in his mind. As Wolfgang expresses surprise at Damon's statement, asking "Don't we all carry the same obligation to improve the world we live in?", Damon's frusteration turned into furious anger. Unable to hide his true feelings, Damon goes on a tirade against the other Ultimates, claiming most of their talents are "niche fixations" who don't do anything to improve society. The other students fight back against this defamation of their status, asking why Damon thinks his talent is so much better than theirs. Barely managing to articulate his words, Damon claims he can actually accomplish important things with his talent, such as arguing policy, and even states his talent is what allowed him to get everyone through the Trial in the first place. Unfortunately to Damon, most of the other students take this statement as proof that Damon is trying to assert his superiority over others in spite of the seriousness of the situation. As everyone turns against Damon, he expresses shock in his internal thoughts, as in his mind, he was only trying to help them by making sure they didn't trust each other too easily. Due to feeling alienated, Damon concludes "it's me against them" as the Killing Game finally starts.

## Appearance

Damon is a young man of average height and build. He has pale white skin with green eyes. He also has medium-length, light blonde hair with an ahoge at the top.

He wears a black sweater with a green triangle pattern. Underneath his sweater, he wears a light brown vest, a white formal shirt, and a green tie with a green snake design on it.

He wears gray pants with brown shoes.

## Personality

Damon is a person who is immensely proud of his talent and wishes to go Eden's Garden Academy in order to not only further train his skills, but to finally receive admiration for them. For this reason, Damon deeply admires Eden's Garden Academy, as he sees it as a place where he can finally be around people as admirable as him. This shows him as a very prideful and ambitious person who expects immediate recognition for his talent, and can only be around those he deems to be on his level. However, his extreme confidence and over-expectations is what causes him to be disappointed upon meeting his fellow classmates, as they are not the "ideal" Ultimates he had in mind.

Damon has been shown to be a very judgmental person, as he looks down on the other Ultimates for their exotic appearances and personalities. For example, he dismisses Diana as "just a makeup artist", and shows contempt of Jean due to his pirate-like appearance and boisterous demeanor. He also sees their talents as useless and of very little significance in the world. At the end of the Prologue, Damon gives a speech to everyone about how most of their talents are just "niche fixations" who contribute nothing to society. This shows Damon's superiority and arrogance over others, seeing himself as above them due to him fitting the definition of a "true Ultimate".

In Damon's past, he has been known to argue frequently with those that tried to confront him at an early age. While this led to isolation among his peers, it did train his debating skills, which resulted in his Ultimate talent today. Most likely due to his upbringing, Damon comes across as a loner who prefers to be by himself. During the Prologue, when Wolfgang, Toshiko, Grace, and Eva all leave to the "outdoors" area in order to meet everyone else, Damon comments that everyone has already left, but "he works better alone". Furthermore, at the end of the chapter, when everyone fights against Damon when he accused them of having useless talents, he was quick to conclude that it's "him against them" during the killing game. All of these factors combined proves Damon to be a very anti-social person, possibly as a result of his lack of proper social interaction growing up.

Despite his condescending and arrogant personality, there are a few signs that Damon is not entirely irredeemable. For once, he reluctantly admits that Wolfgang's ability to understand others well is "admirable". Also, while Wolfgang is arguing that Cara's murder was an unjustified act of sadism, the other characters are willing to argue against this, thinking it was possibly just self-defense. However, during the Emotional Route, Damon is willing to believe in Wolfgang's talent, knowing his personal experiences allow him to understand the criminal mind in ways the common person can't, so he stands by his belief. While Damon shows contempt for a lot of the other Ultimates, he seems to have some level of respect for Wolfgang, most likely due to his talent benefitting humanity more due to preventing unjust verdicts and sentences being held out. While Wolfgang may just be the "ideal Ultimate" Damon has in mind, it does show that he doesn't think he is above everyone besides himself, as there are some he acknowledges to be on his level, showing his words were not a false narrative.

On top of this, Damon is shown to have some standards and not entirely bad intentions. For once, upon seeing Cara's corpse, he is disgusted by the level of brutality inflicted on the victim. In addition to this, despite it being a fake dummy rather than a real dead body, he is still hesitant to examine it. This shows that while Damon may be a rather rude person, he isn't heartless. Also, while his speech at the end of Chapter 0 came across as arrogant and unnecessary, Damon claims during his internal monologue that he was only trying to help them. By making sure that everyone doesn't falsely believe that no one would murder another, Damon thought he was preventing them from getting betrayed through unnecessary trust. At the end, Damon is truly surprised when everyone calls him out for his sense of superiority over others regarding Ultimate-level talents, showing he might not have intended for his words to be as harsh as they came across. For these reasons, Damon shows himself as a very flawed, but possibly redeemable person.

## Relationships

### **Eva Tsunaka**

Eva Tsunaka was the first person Damon met in Eden's Garden Academy, as they both woke up in the Boiler Room. Eva first tries to "test" Damon by pretending to be unconscious on the floor in front of him, when in reality she woke up before him, all to see what he would do. However, even after her test, Eva still doesn't trust Damon enough to tell her admittingly suspicious talent as the Ultimate Liar despite Damon immediately stating his without her even asking. This distrust seems to go both ways, as during the investigation of Cara's murder, Damon comments to himself that Eva is more likely to cause a murder than solve one. While the two do cooperate and investigate together for much of the Prologue, they don't seem to have a particiularly friendly and trusting relationship. Regardless, Damon doesn't seem to express any contempt for Eva unlike some of the other Ultimates, most likely for not even knowing her talent for the first half of Chapter 0, when the major reason Damon acts so arrogant is due to much of the cast having "useless" talents in his eyes.

However, their unremarkable relationship takes an interesting turn once the Killing Game offically begins. After Wolfgang encourages all the Ultimates to stick together and not succumb to the Killing Game, as none of them have the heart or will to kill in his eyes, Eva expresses exasperation as his naviety. Eva claims that Ultimates have more reason to kill, not less, as they would do anything to accomplish their goals, including outside of the Killing Game. The only way they can accomplish their dreams is by resorting to murder, and Eva states that getting them to trust each other will only make them more vulnerable to getting killed. While many fight against Eva and defend Wolfgang, Damon ultimately decides to side with her, as he also felt a sense of irritation at the others being so willing to believe in one another. Eventually, Damon gets heated to the point where he makes an entire speech about how most Ultimates have useless talents that are nothing more than pointless hobbies, doing nothing to better the world. This results in the cast fighting against Damon, and he feels alienated as a result, concluding "it's me versus them". However, Eva never argues with Damon regarding his stance on Ultimates, most likely because she doesn't possess a normal talent and thus doesn't feel particularly aligned with the others. Ultimately, Damon and Eva have largely similar beliefs, which both result in them being alienated from the others, although to a much bigger extent with Damon. Due to this, their relationship has the potential to become friendlier in the future, as they are the main people on each other's side currently.

### **Wolfgang Akire**

Despite Damon's sense of superiority over many of the Ultimates, he does seem to have some level of respect for Wolfgang. A major reason is that his talent as the Ultimate Lawyer benefits humanity on a much larger scale than the majority of the other Ultimates, at least on paper. However, Damon also admires his ability to handle others well, as shown when Wolfgang encourages Eloise to come out of hiding and stop being so scared, resulting in her mood taking a much happier turn. However, Damon is still unfriendly towards Wolfgang for the most part, as when he calls Damon a friend, the latter rejects this assumption as they barely know each other. In the same sentence, he bluntly remarks that Eloise likely doesn't want to know the others are stuck in the same situation as her, although his assumption is proven wrong when Eloise does end up coming out due to Wolfgang's words. On the other hand, Wolfgang still gives Damon the same amount of respect as everyone else he meets, showing any hostility to be one-sided.

Once the Trial for Cara's murder begins, Wolfgang and Damon's relationship becomes much more involved. Both of them take a major role when it comes to running the Trial and getting everyoe on the right track, with Wolfgang even bringing up the motive before Damon does. As Wolfgang insists that the killer was a sadistic monster who didn't murder in self-defense, Damon ultimately decides to take his side. Through either logic or an emotional argument, Damon sways the cast into believing Wolfgang.

However, in spite of this, their relationship quickly becomes more argumentative once the Killing Game officially starts. Wolfgang tries to hold the Ultimates together by promising that no one here will ever resort to murder, as they are all in charge of bettering society. In spite of almost everyone ralling behind Wolfgang, Eva and Damon fight against this assumption. They claim that Ultimates have a clear motivation to murder, and their status will only give them more reason to resort to killing each other. Damon even states it's "inane" to bring the group together on the basis that "we're all Ultimates", as it's clear after he met everyone that no one in the cast has the same goals. After Wolfgang expresses confusion, as he believes every Ultimate has an obligation to improve the world we live in, Damon eventually goes on a tirade about how the title doesn't mean anything and their useless talents won't improve society in the slightest. Damon states that their only purpose is to leech off of public attention for their own goals. With this stark contrast in beliefs and Damon's argument against Wolfgang, it's highly likely that their relationship from now onwards won't be a very positive one, possibly setting up a potential rivalry.

## Quotes

### Chapter 0:

* "I, Damon Maitsu, am the Ultimate Debater. A prodigy among prodigies — someone who simply can't be outmached. I hold onto my title dearly, because it defines me. It's who I am. It's what gives me my purpose. Among a sea of mediocrity, I am a shining example of talent. And now...there's a school worthy of me."
* "In my eighteen years of living, I have accomplished more than most people can dream of. With this random and chaotic existence, it feels like I was destined to be great."
* "This is the start of my new life. The start of an even greater career. For the first time in my life, I'll finally be among people as great as me."
* "...What the hell? Are these creepy people...really attending the same academy as me?"
* "That's what I'm wondering. A kid's got no business with people like us."
* "This was where that loud golfer girl — Grace — woke up. It would've been funnier if she was stuffed in the refridgerator instead."
* "Looks like the others are gone. Whatever. I work better alone."
* "That's probably the last thing she wants to hear...and since when were we friends?"
* "Wolfgang knew how to handle the situation pretty well. Or maybe he knows how to handle people in general. ...I guess it's admirable."
* "Funny. He was every bit as dumb as his apperance. What was the academy, inviting someone like him...?"
* "Better than machines, huh? People have always told me my skills were impressive, but I've yet to be compared to a computer or something. How come a blacksmith can recieve that sort of acclaim before me?"
* "No wonder she gave off such an intese aura. This girl probably has enough money to buy an entire country... Still, that doesn't mean I'm going to let her talk down to me!"
* "...While her talent is pretty frivoulous, her attitude towards video game competitions is somewhat impressive. It's sort of like how I feel about debating."
* "A makeup artist and an influencer... Were this any other academy, I wouldn't bat an eye. The Ultimate Talent Program is a shell of itself. It'll hand out Ultimate titles to anyone who asks. But Eden's Garden Academy...said it was above that. It said it proritized academic talent. And now...it thinks I'm on par with these two!?"
* "Jesus... I don't want to believe anything this speaker guy says, but if this murder really is based on true events... Damn, the killer is totally sick in the head."
* "If his lawyer's intiuition tells us that the killer was in the wrong...then we have no reason to disagree. We're all Ultimates for a reason. We need to trust in talent."
* "At present, we don't have enough information to reveal the killer's true identity. But their actions haven't been forgotten. That is the truth behind this case!"
* "One by one, the students raised their voice in solidarity with Wolfgang. All of them were so confident in what they were saying, so willing to blindly put their faith in each other......And for some reason, it made me sick."
* "Look, I get it. You want to make the situation less scary for everyone.......but Eva made a good point. All of us have a clear motivation to leave this place, even at the cost of other people's lives. Whether it's to see our families again...or for the sake of our talents."
* "This whole 'we're all Ultimates' thing is pretty inane anyways. After meeting all of you, it's clear none of us have the same goals."
* "Look, the title barely means shit nowadays, alright? Most Ultimates are just dullards obsessing over some pointless hobby. Their talents don't contribute anything of worth. The only thing they're capable of is leeching on public attention for their own goals."
* "I could feel their words worming their way into my soul. 'What makes you so special'? W-Well, I can actually achieve many things with my talent. I can argue policy, consider ethics and morality... Better yet, I was the one who got you guys through that trial."
* "I'm trapped in a killing game...with people who despise me. How...how did this happen? I just wanted to help. I wanted to make sure we didn't trust each other too easily......and now I'm being treated like the bad guy. Will these people practice what they preach? Will they really...refuse to kill? ...I can't trust anyone here. For better or for worse...it's me verus them. So cued the beginning of an end... The beginning of an unfathomable nightmare...an unrelenting despair... The beginning...of the Killing Game.

## Name Etymology

His first name "Damon" derives from the Greek given name "Δάμων" (Damōn) which derived from the Greek verb "δαμάζειν" (damazein) meaning "to overpower, tame, subdue, conquer". His surname "Maitsu" doesn’t seem to have any documented etymology, but is said to mean "emotional, systematic mind and serious".