Takumei Zenya

*You may be looking for Takumei Akihiko.*

Takumei Zenya is one of the main characters in *Astral Academy*, alongside Asahi, Sayu, and Namida.

## Appearance

Zenya has long sea green hair, with most of it tied up in a ponytail. His ponytail noticeably looks like fire. Part of his hair covers his eyes, which is why he wears two hairclips to keep his hair up. He wears a turtleneck on top of his ruffled blouse, and also has a brown sweater above both.

## Personality

Until his real self is revealed, Zenya is normally rude and vicious to others, especially Sayu. In the middle of Chapter 4, Zenya becomes more vulnerable, and reveals that he's a cowardly boy who uses his rudeness as a self-defense shield.

## History

### Early Life

Zenya was born from angel parents two years after his brother, Akihiko. The two were nearly identical, with one difference- one had wings and the other didn't. Because of this, Akihiko was held in higher regards, while Zenya was left alone. His brother spent time with him a lot.

Zenya was a shut-in who spent time in his room all day. His life was never too interesting, although he had remarkable fire powers. He and his brother were similar in many ways, like appearance and powers, which made Zenya see himself as boring. Compared to his brother, Zenya felt inferiority, especially when he hanged out with his friends. Hundreds of dull days passed by until Zenya heard a faint voice begging for help. He ran out of his room, and looking at the living room revealed Takumei Akihiko's unconscious body, accompanied with a phone and a letter. Smoke was filling the room, causing Zenya to cough and gag.

The phone showed Akihiko's message history with Mizumi, and more tears had filled Zenya's eyes since he was desperate to have a friend like him. Turning over the letter, it was an invitation to Astral Academy, and it seemed like it was about to burn up. While Zenya still felt inferior to his brother, he wanted to keep his brother's legacy and attend the school, even though he only saw himself as a "worse" version of him. Eventually, Zenya began impersonating him in order to attend the school.

### Astral Academy First Year

Up until Chapter 4, he disguises as his brother, Akihiko, in order to get a "chance that my brother could never get in his life". He was paired with Mizumi, his brother's childhood friend. Zenya says to Sayu and Namida that the more he hangs out with Mizumi, the more guilt he feels for lying. In Chapter 4, Liz summons the group to call out Zenya for impersonating his brother, everyone being shocked. This is where Zenya's mean personality goes away and Mizumi does his best to comfort him.

In Chapter 8, Akira summons Zenya to a room and pins him to the wall. That's where he says that he's responsible for his brother's death, which causes him to run off. Akira says his initial plan was to burn Akihiko's invitation letter because Akihiko was a threat to him, but he messed up on accident and killed him. While discussing with Sayu, Namida, and Asahi, Zenya says that "You can't just murder on accident like that".

At the end of Astral Academy, he grows wings, something he was lacking when he was initally born. In Astral Academy's sequel, he takes flight classes.

## Relationships

### Shakkuri Mizumi

His brother's childhood friend. He originally envied him because he was so close with his brother. Since he was posing as Akihiko, he tried his best to seem like him to Mizumi, until in Chapter 4 when he cried in his arms. Mizumi forgave him, and said it was still good to be friends with Akihiko's little brother.

### Nakigoto Akira

Since Akira is his brother's murderer, Zenya has mixed feelings about the assassin. In their first meeting, where Zenya was still impersonating him, Akira was looking away from him, sure that he had died.

## Trivia

* Zenya has an inferiority complex.
* He wears so many layers of clothing because he hates the cold.