Name: Matsuoka Minoru (松岡 実)
Age: 15
Gender: Male
Appearance:
Standing at around 174cm, Matsuoka Minoru is actually above-average in height for most Japanese men in his demographic, and in fact just a bit under the average height for westerners. With a lean frame and slight musculature that has resulted from decent exercise and participation in sports, the raven-haired, youthful-faced boy has a general air of dependability, though it's more common for his posture to scream "exasperation" or "deep thinking". He's also commonly used as a mannequin by a friend for fancy costumes, hence his general blandness towards needing to wear anything strange.
Personality: Matsuoka Minoru is very much a personable and supportive friend, and despite generally preferring not to start a conversation, is in fact always capable of exchanging any amount of words on even the most trivial of subjects with those who have garnered his trust and companionship (despite what that hat-garbed Kuzunoha may think, however, just because he watched some Super Sentai as a kid doesn't mean he knows what she means by suit actors or kaijin or V-Cinema limited edition release or whatever she's spouting). At times he may be exasperated by their antics, but he tends not to voice such thoughts out of a desire to remain polite and maintain decorum. However, to those few people that he dislikes, it is in fact the opposite. Beneath his generally amicable air lies an incredibly toxic snake, one that will lash out at his "enemies" with surprisingly fierce venom. It's a trait he acknowledges as unsustainable at times, knowing that there could be a number of long-term consequences, but he struggles to maintain this ferocity in check, even when he seeks to make an apology (which are rare and too far between for his tastes).
The long-term, in fact, is something he focuses on quite a bit, even to the point where one could say he is single-minded. Indeed, the emphasis he places on long-term consequences blinds him to the short-term, and frequently his friends need to remind him of the effects his actions may bring about (it was quite fortunate that he befriended Suzuki in the end). What could happen tomorrow is less important to him than what could happen in a year, and he frets quite a bit over the latter. His conscious awareness of those consequences can be quite admirable, but its detriment manifests in his inability to find his path, shuffling his feet in regards to what he wants to do. He is a man of indecision, and at times could be considered cowardly, always struggling to find the optimal decision and wasting time in the process. He tries to take responsibility either too often or too rarely, and his conscience berates him for such. At other times, he knows exactly what to do, but his feet fail to budge. He hates himself for that.
However, Minoru is definitely a man of conviction. His strongly-held beliefs on what is fair and right are dear to him, and it tends to be attacks on those convictions that drive him to venomous insults. He tries his best to remain true to them and act as expected by his creed, but his indecision at times can get in the way. Yet in the end, he will stand up (sometimes literally, if that outburst at his final school assembly was any indication) and fight for them no matter what. He can be flexible with his beliefs if they turn out to be incorrect, but otherwise they can be almost unshakeable. Especially his distaste for harming children - the teenager is incredibly protective of adolescents, and will tear anyone who dares act against them apart without restraint, even if he physically cannot. Forcefully separating people is another hatred of his, and to a much lesser extent, seeing someone cry.
He doesn't want to see someone scream and cry for help again.
In regards to hobbies and general quirks, the Japanese teenager is a well-read young man, even perusing translations of foreign works from time to time. Sure, he plays video games and watches daytime soap operas on weekends, but there's something about books that interest him, especially those by the great orators. As a former member of his middle school debating team, he adores debate, and his immense oratory skills assist in that regard. He has a habit of making speeches from time to time, especially on issues that he finds important. In fact, his inner narration is rather long-winded at times, as well as being in possession of some strange leaps of logic (whether or not this has been influenced by his eccentric friends or his obsession with Cicero's works is suspect). He is an avid fan of the spicy foodstuffs, with a mouth capable of handling even the highest of Scoville ratings (though his favourite food is still the rather mild mapo tofu).
He's a good guy to have around. Especially one that will acknowledge his own mistakes.
Don't knock his accent 'cos he's from Kansai, you bloody Tokyoite. You're the one speaking weird.
Skills: Compared to the average Japanese teenager, Minoru is surprisingly fit, having thrown himself (well, more like the Chief and Mogami had gotten him into all the strange things around town) into a decent amount of trouble, as well as a history of sports, being a reserve player on the school baseball team (he only ever played a single game for them, but he had turned up at every training session as ordered, so he's actually pretty good at the sport). He's very intuitive and bright as well, capable of logical, lateral thinking even in a pinch, though his school grades have fluctuated quite a bit. It's what helps with his incredible oral skills, as noted before, and it's not too hard to say that he has a certain charisma about him that helps out. He knows how to talk, he knows what to say, and he knows how to appeal to emotion in the perfect amount of words. Fighting isn't something he's strongly focused on, but he knows to handle himself in a scrap, and has experience with the sword as well as unorthodox situations (the stench of garbage is still lingering on that school uniform). The Ritual Device is new to him though, but he thinks he's got a decent handle on the thing with his creative usage of its powers?
Equipment:- Ritual Device - While on vacation in the Italian capital of Rome, Minoru managed to establish a contract with the minor Roman deity Cloacina; aspect of Venus, the spirit of the "Great Drain", goddess of filth and purity, protector of post-marital sexual intercourse, and controller of sewers. The device that symbolises their union is quite simple, appearing as a silver ring engraved with flowers and has tiny, tube-like structures (that contains a number of miniature pistons that begin pumping olive oil around upon activation of its powers) barely protruding from its surface that he wears upon his left middle finger. Unlike other contracted gods, Cloacina lacks a physical manifestation, instead acting as a "mission control" voice inside Minoru's head that is connected to his thoughts, although despite her disembodied state is perfectly capable of communicating with the outside world through control of Minoru's body (a state which can be noted by the Japanese teenager's eyes turning from their standard brown to a bright, sea blue).
Which doesn't help when she's quite talkative.
Indeed, the goddess is quite an energetic figure, especially in comparison with the boy she has tagged along with. She possesses an incredibly idealistic view of romance, and has a strange propensity for spouting out random facts about sewage systems. Very rarely is she ever gloomy, but she is known to make sarcastic comments every once in awhile, and clearly adores her contractor in a platonic fashion, considering him to be similar to a little brother of sorts (her second one actually, she still fondly remembers her original contractor, the one who brought her out of obscurity).
- "Type 94" Shin Guntō (九四式軍刀) - Minoru's great-grandfather was an officer in the Imperial Japanese Army during the nation's aggressive expansion into East Asia, and following the end of the War the elder Matsuoka managed to avoid getting his weapon confiscated by authorities, hiding it in the family home to keep it away from prying the eyes of the American occupiers. While Minoru is distasteful of the use of the weapon, holding uncomfortable feelings in regards to its history and the crimes that were associated with it, as well as the important fact that his possession of it is clearly illegal under Japanese law (according to Articles 3 through to 24 of the Japan's Firearm and Sword Possession Control Law), given that as a "war sword" it wouldn't pass evaluations during the Torokusho.
Abilities: Thanks to Minoru's pact with the spirit of Rome's impressive Cloaca Maxima (parts of which have actually been connected up with the city's modern-day sewage system), the teenager is granted the ability to direct and distribute the flow of things in different directions. Examples of this use could be diverting attacks away from his person or changing the movement of the wind to keep his scent from being detected by the nasally-talented (like canines). At times he has also been able to redirect the flow of electrons by reversing the polarity.
Brief Backstory: A resident of a small city in Japan's Kansai region, somewhere south of Kobe, Matsuoka Minoru was raised in a decently large family home alongside his aunt and uncle's family, so despite his lack of siblings, grew up alongside his cousins, who were essentially his brother and sister in all but name. This was the status quo for the early years of his life, a simple and average Japanese existence that he was entirely content with, but some time after his entrance into elementary school, tragedy struck, leaving him traumatised and in great despair. The family was too rocked by this occurrence, and the two branches of the Matsuoka clan rapidly split apart, abandoning their shared home for their own places on opposing sides of the city in order to deal with the pain they had been afflicted with. For a few years, the young Minoru was unable to deal with his feelings, blaming himself for the tragedy and waking up at early hours in the morning with nightmares. He struggled with it, but soon began to repress his memories of the event, and by the time he entered secondary education appeared to be quite well-adjusted.
It did however, prevent him from making many deep and meaningful relationships for a while, unconsciously keeping an arm's distance away from others. Oh, he was personable and a contributor to his class relationships, but he was never really close to any of them. Only following his encounter with an abrasive upperclasswoman (or as he liked to refer to her as, "the Chief") did he finally begin to develop true and honest relationships, growing closer to his lab partner and the guys who sat next to him as the years went on. It was with them that he went to Rome on a vacation, where he, during an incident with the Ponte Ritto Bridge that almost left him needing to pay bail for his friends, encountered the fading spirit of Cloacina, who was once again disappearing with the growing degradation of Rome's Great Sewer. They found themselves talking for a while, and in a decision that would change his life, Minoru chose to establish a contract with her, bringing him further into the world of the fantastic, their pact manifest upon a ring that he chose to wear on his left middle finger.
While he now attends a different school from those precious friends of his, he still remains in frequent contact, and refers to their advice whenever possible. Indeed, it can be said that they are the most important parts of his life, given that away from their presence, he has regressed somewhat, taking a bit longer to establish friendships with those of this new school.
Seems immune to ageing, and is actually pretty huge for a Japanese woman--5'9.
