Saichi Durami

Saichi is the second leading male protagonist of the *Time Gate* series.

A childhood friend of Uzuki's, Saichi's strong moral grounds and ability to endure hardships have proven to be an asset to Uzuki's well-being for years. Though, despite his convictions as a trusted ally and friend, he's not without his own obsessions - namely that of the Fairy Tree Man, a demon he began researching at the age of twelve, and yearned to hunt at the age of sixteen, at this point with Uzuki and Mikumi in tow. It wasn't until he convinced Uzuki to help him compile his monster compilation book that he began to put his hunting plans into motion, with the goal of hunting down and taming the Fairy Tree Man.

## Background

Saichi was born in Adythiel, on the 275th day of the 4585th cycle.

At age three, he met Uzuki, and ended up becoming close friends with her over the course of a year. By the age of four, he and Uzuki were practically inseparable, though they weren't without their differences - while Saichi was a reserved child, Uzuki was almost the complete opposite.

At four years old, Saichi and Uzuki both began to hear of rumors surrounding the scythe-wielding murderer, Springlock. Despite his wanting to remain hidden and protected from the killer's wrath, Uzuki still managed to drag him out into the alleyways in the search for Springlock. After being discovered by Springlock himself, Saichi made a run for his home with Uzuki, but upon realization that Uzuki had disappeared, Saichi became backed into a corner. When he opened his eyes, all he saw was Uzuki standing over Springlock's body, a knife in her hand and a pool of blood at her feet.

Due to Uzuki's actions, her family was forced to relocate, leaving Saichi without his friend in Adythiel. The events weren't without their personal setbacks, however - Saichi suffered from anxiety and stress for years after the incident, until he was finally able to receive help in accepting what had happened and moving on.

During the years that followed, Saichi went on to befriend Mikumi Jishiru.

When his family planned a trip to the neighboring kingdom of Kalasia, Saichi found Uzuki in Ura Village, and was reunited with her. Though the memories were painful to relieve, reconnecting with Uzuki helped bring him the closure he needed to bid the memories farewell for good, and his fears of Uzuki that spawned from the events he witnessed as a child were diminished.

Saichi would once again be reunited with Uzuki, for good, when she moved back to Adythiel to attend the Adythiel Academy. Saichi stayed by Uzuki's side, despite the stigma that surrounded her as a murderer, alongside Mikumi, as well as Uzuki's new friend, Yashiro Takahashi; though Saichi was the only one to be truly aware of what Uzuki had done, as a witness and emotional victim to the crime.

## Abilities

A human with limited magical power, Saichi's main strengths lie in his melee combat skills, vast knowledge of monsters and weapons, and logical, strategic processes during the heat of battle. Because of this, Saichi is not one to rush into battle, and often stays on the sidelines to observe the flow of battle and those participating.

### Monster Summoning

After enrolling in Coach Ruin's Strategics and Defense class at the Adythiel Academy, Saichi meets Sabria Ruin, the daughter of Coach Ruin, who has extensive knowledge of monster summoning. Saichi then requests that Sabria take him on as a monster summoning apprentice, and teach him the summoning arts. With only a small amount of training so far, Saichi's only progressed far enough to summon monsters at a pre-developed state - leading to most of them looking like globs of goo, with very little ability to interact with others.

## Time Gate: Reaper

At the onset of Time Gate: Reaper, Saichi once again began obsessing over the Fairy Tree Man, something he had dropped for a few years after he, Uzuki, and Mikumi determined it would be too dangerous to pursue the creature while they were still training students. Saichi did, however, begin his work on his monster-hunting book, with the hopes of getting far enough in his monster training and observations to be able to track the Fairy Tree Man at a later time. After some tense negotiations, he convinced Uzuki to join him on the project as an illustrator.

To progress his training even further, Saichi soon approached Sabria Ruin, a master of monster summoning, and requested to be her apprentice so he could learn it himself. Despite it being a lost art, Saichi has already made decent progress, and continues his training after every Strategics and Defense class, one-on-one with Sabria.