songofthefoolish | ♫ paradisa application // semi-spoilers for BBL inside

CHARACTER
CHARACTER NAME: Sakuya Le Bel Shirogane
SERIES: Hatoful Boyfriend
CANON POINT: BBL/"Hurtful" route, 5th class; before confronting Shuu in the infirmary
LOSS: Being a bird. Sakuya will look like the human form displayed by the ICPSS instead.

Sakuya's entire identity is still based around this idea of bird aristocracy. Everything that he is comes down to the Le Bel name and his pedigree, essentially. There's nowhere to go but down-- and with the extreme distaste that he shows for humans (despite dating one in his otome route.......), honestly it couldn't get much worse for him to not only become a "commoner," but a primate one at that. His world pretty much comes crashing down the instant he's no longer a valid heir to the Le Bel name, since he's never known so much as the idea of anything else, so it seems like an appropriate loss to me!

ABOUT:

"Your words are haughty and immature, as always.
Do as you please-- if you can."

"I will indeed. Remember my face, villain."

Once upon a time, the H5N1 virus (or avian flu) underwent a mutation that allowed it to infect humans in addition to birds. This mutated strain was incredibly infectious and deadly, and posed a great threat to humanity; in order to combat this, scientists engineered a virus of their own that targeted birds, in hopes that it would wipe out the carriers before too much of the world was infected.

It backfired. Rather than killing birds, it caused them to grow larger and more intelligent, starting with doves-- hence their position as nobility, now. As H5N1 continued to spread and more humans died, birds began to establish a society that paralleled that of humans. Though there have been wars and conflicts in the past, the current state of the world has what few humans that remain coexisting peacably with birds.

St. Pigeonation's is now the premiere bird academy in Japan, and the setting of Hatoful Boyfriend; Sakuya is a transfer student there, originally hailing from France. There's little notable to say about his school life, except for the part where at the start of the first term of his junior year, the human representative to the school-- and his friend-- has been found murdered, with parts of her body distributed to every classroom.

What follows is a murder mystery, naturally! Just the kind where there are crazy scarecrows who want them dead. And an iron dome surrounding the entire school with a mob of angry humans outside of it. And everyone is a suspect. Sakuya and his classmate Ryouta still haven't found any answers, but it hasn't been for a lack of trying. The only thing there is to be sure of anymore is that there is way more to St. Pigeonation's than there seems to be...

(This was supposed to be a silly game about dating pigeons...)

"That is because you think with a peasant's values.
My world is different from yours!"

First and foremost, Sakuya is an aristocrat. Raised in an incredibly strict if not downright oppressive household of bird nobility (yes), his entire life has been built around following the wishes of his father, as the sole heir apparent to the entire Le Bel estate. Monsieur Le Bel is a harsh, judgmental man, with little taste for lowbloods and activities he deems exclusive to such, such as the creation of art; he has impressed these ideas quite thoroughly onto Sakuya, who has adopted a certain form of arrogance in being reminded of his superiority so frequently. This egotism is the basis for much of his behavior-- everything about him has been based on these ideas of being purely bred, of being nobility, and succession in the Le Bel household. It's impossible for him not to view everything without a large disparity between him and... everyone else.

As his father did not even believe in allowing Sakuya to speak with the common folk, Sakuya's perceptions originate entirely from atop his pedestal. He is discriminatory, rude, and insulting, favoring a deep-seated racism that extends not only to "lesser" breeds but humans as well. (Birds are genetically superior, after all!) He is also both entitled and easily offended, frequently getting huffy or riled up over the most immaterial things; the instant a situation features something that does not immediately cave to his whims, Sakuya is likely to cause at least a minor scene.

Sakuya looks like he still has something to say, but he reluctantly comes over to me.
I think maybe he's acting angrier than he really is.
Sheesh! What a kid.

The aggressiveness he displays is mostly a front, however. Between all the pressure on him to act in a manner befitting a genetically superior dove (l o l) and being a goddamn teenager, Sakuya's overreactions and anger tend to be far more extreme than his actual feelings. This doesn't make him any less vehement or passionate about things, in the end-- but certainly, he's a lot more logical when he's pushed to a point of actually feeling so strongly, and never over the petty things that he focuses on in every day life. His temper is still poor, but it's fairly easy to stop dead. Sakuya is far more likely to be flustered rather than truly mad.

Though he is cold and standoffish at best, that isn't mutually exclusive with caring. He values his friendships very strongly, as long as there's somebody willing to put up with his rudeness long enough to form a friendship. He's the sort of bird who's hard to explain your friendship with in daily life, given how his insults and complaints certainly never stop regardless of how much he likes you-- but in reality, he's incredibly hard working and loyal.

He's very solid and reliable in a true crisis as well, capable of both staying level-headed and reacting quickly enough to danger to get others to safety. (After Hiyoko's murder, he is the main driving force that helps Ryouta continue his investigation. Every time Ryouta shows hesitation, Sakuya has no problem stepping in and doing what needs to be done. Such is the Le Bel way, after all.) Overall, he does care deeply for what few people are close to him (though he has trouble showing it), and he's even capable of overcoming his prejudices for them-- but only for them.

Due to his sheltered upbringing, Sakuya also just doesn't understand a lot of things. He tends to be overly serious, has little idea of how to act around others, is in complete ignorance about other cultures and customs (ironic, given his condemnation of those who don't excel in their studies the way he does), and is just plain obtuse. He has little patience for anything that doesn't fit into his established worldview, especially (very real) things that outwardly seem far-fetched, such as the occult. Unless something is repeatedly shoved in his face, he will continue to believe and act as though it doesn't exist.

But I am no longer sure.
What is blood?
Why does it divide us so?

Sakuya is also slowly beginning to reconsider his foundations. The trauma of having one of your classmates murdered and being trapped inside the school with certain death awaiting you (in various ways!) cannot be denied. His and Ryouta's continued investigations into Hiyoko's sudden death have caused him to begin reconsidering his prejudices and views of the world.

Given a bit more time, he would've changed completely; unfortunately, that requires a later canon point than what he has. Alas, all he has managed to gain so far is the tiniest seed of doubt, one that threatens to be swallowed up entirely just from his arrival at Paradisa.

ABILITIES: Aside from (normally) being an unusually large fantail dove-- a good size for a Christmas dinner, according to canon-- Sakuya is, unfortunately, the only bird in Hatoful Boyfriend without anything particularly insane to his name. He is, for all intents and purposes, a normal (bird) high schooler; Sakuya does have a certain talent for music, though, particularly the piano.

ALSO HE HAS A GIRL FRILLISH NAMED JUSTINE WHO HE IS TERRIBLE AT TAKING CARE OF JSYK