BACKGROUND

▮▮▮ BIRTH

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▮▮▮ QUIRK DEVELOPMENT

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▮▮▮ CHILDHOOD

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CAREER

▮▮▮ SURVIVAL

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▮▮▮ SECURITY SPECIALIST

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▮▮▮ BECOMING A HERO

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▮▮▮ A PROPER NEMESIS

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▮▮▮ TROUBLE IN LOVE

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CURRENT STATUS

▮▮▮ CLIMBING THE RANKS

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▮▮▮ SETTLING DOWN

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FAMILY

▮▮▮ YOKO ARAGAKI

    〔 grandmother 〕

The Aragaki children were often left with their paternal grandmother when their parents were busy. Yoko Aragaki was every bit as strict and proud as her son, but unlike him she had a more realistic view of the children's capabilities and individual personalities. Touma often sought shelter with her during particularly fraught periods at home, sleeping on her couch or in her garden rather than returning to his father's cold disappointment. Yoko attempted to teach him self-reliance and discipline, with mixed success; Touma legitimately tried, but the skills seemed to elude him in a way they did not for his siblings. Yoko realised in time that this was not an issue of personality or willpower, but was unable to convince her son to work with Touma's individual strengths rather than against them. When Touma left his family at eighteen, she took him in for eight months before he found a job and an apartment of his own. When she died, she left the majority of her estate to Touma, which further drove a wedge between him and his father.

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▮▮▮ NAOFUMI ARAGAKI

    〔 estranged father 〕

Touma's relationship with his father has always been strained. Naofumi subscribed to a traditional view of fatherhood in which he provided resources for his family and enforced discipline and respect, but had little else to do with childrearing until his sons and daughter were of age to fulfil the role he expected of them. Touma, as the eldest son, had originally been intended to follow Naofumi into the family business. From the age of nine to sixteen, father and son were locked in an epic battle of wills over Touma's future, with Naofumi determined to shape the son he viewed as a lazy, undisciplined genius into a capable businessman, and Touma being equally determined that the family business would never be his calling. He regularly drove Naofumi into a fury by skipping classes and tutoring sessions, forgetting homework, breaking out of the family home at night to roam the city with his friends, and many more deliberate and accidental transgressions. After seven long years Naofumi finally gave up, shifting his attentions to Touma's younger sister and refusing to acknowledge his son as a full member of the household. Touma put up with this treatment until the day he turned eighteen, upon which he moved out of the family home and refused to speak to his father at all for the next ten years.

He has met his father on a very irregular basis since his twenties. Once Touma made a name for himself in the Hero circuit, Naofumi reached out to reconcile with his son. Touma was willing to agree to an initial meeting, but ten years had not softened Naofumi's demeanor and pride at all, and the meeting was not a success. Since then, they have spoken perhaps five times, all within the context of formal and family events. For the most part, Touma refuses to acknowledge his father at all.

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▮▮▮ ICHIKA KATAHADA

    〔 mother 〕

Touma's mother is far from the motherly sort. Ichika, the sole heiress of an extremely wealthy family, gave birth to three children and immediately handed much of their care to a succession of au pairs and governesses. Touma's fondest memories of her are of the handful of times he was able to present to her a perfect exam score. Ichika was affectionate, generous, and genuine when pleased, and ice-cold in disappointment. As Touma grew older, her general attitute toward him was increasingly one of disappointment.

Unlike her husband, Ichika's high expectations stemmed from an inability to recognise that her children, despite sharing her genetic material, could not be fairly expected to match her own capabilities. Ichika had been an incredibly gifted child who excelled at most things she tried. Of her three children, Touma possessed a similar natural gift, but his seeming inability to use his full intelligence confused and frustrated Ichika. As his stubborn independence developed, she concluded that he was intentionally sabotaging himself, for no purpose that she could understand. During his teenage years, she gave up on trying to help him. She did not shun him the way his father had, but she also did not try to defend him. When Touma left home, she sent him two hundred thousand US dollars in a bank account, of which he could only withdraw a thousand dollars each week, then told him she couldn't do anything else for him. Touma, incensed, cut her off alongside his father, and refused to touch the money in the account at all.

As an adult, his relationship with his mother is distant and full of regrets. Ichika provided the initial financial investment that allowed Touma and Kin to set up their Hero Agency, but on the condition that they would not allow the transaction to be publicly declared, as she had gone behind her husband's back to provide the money. She regularly sends him smaller amounts of cash, which Touma is well aware is guilt money. He sends her birthday gifts and Mothers' Day cards, and occasionally works up the courage to visit her when he knows his father isn't home.

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▮▮▮ RIRIA ARAGAKI

    〔 estranged sister 〕

There are two years between Touma and Riria, enough of an age gap to make things complicated. Riria was also a gifted child who regularly excelled in school, but unlike Touma she escaped their parents' intense expectations for two reasons: she was not quite as naturally gifted, and (in the case of their father) she was a girl. Riria became jealous and competitive as a result, boasting often about her better grades and report cards, trying to convince Naofumi that she was the better choice of successor. Touma figured out her angle sometime in his teenage years, repeating her arguments to Naofumi. Incensed, Naofumi punished Touma for trying to use his sister as a shield to avoid his responsibilities, and punished Riria even more severely for trying to usurp her brother's position. Touma, caught between a rock and a hard place, began to simply avoid his sister entirely. Riria, reeling from what was for her a rare punishment, blamed him for it, and he did not argue; he was not entirely sure she was wrong.

Eventually, Naofumi gave up on Touma, choosing to train Riria as his successor instead. Riria followed her father's lead in freezing Touma out, and their relationship has never recovered. Riria barely acknowledges his existence in public, and Touma follows her lead. When he was younger, he had hoped that she would change her mind one day and they could rebuild their relationship away from their father's influence, but over time his attitude hardened. She has made her choice, and so has he in turn.

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▮▮▮ SORATA ARAGAKI

    〔 younger brother 〕

Twelve years younger than Touma, Sorata escaped the conflict of his older siblings. They had a close relationship for the first five years of Sorata's life, with Touma often helping the au pairs and entertaining his little brother after classes and while their parents entertained guests. After Touma left home, his father forbade him from seeing his siblings, and so he was never given the chance to explain to Sorata why he had to leave. They did not see each other for the next twelve years, until Sorata skipped a day of classes in his last year of high school and went to Touma's Hero Agency several cities away, looking for an answer. The ensuing conversation was awkward and heated, but Sorata left satisfied. He visited several times again that year, then chose to attend a university in the same city. Over time, they gradually became closer again.

Touma hadn't intended to turn Sorata against their father, but in telling his story he had not left much out. Sorata had never felt particularly close to Naofumi, and afterward he became increasingly distrustful toward the man. He chose to study and work in a different field to avoid having to join the family business, and is often not shy about sharing his resentment. Touma worries that he has ruined his brother's relationship with their father as well as his own.

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LOVE INTERESTS

▮▮▮ KIN TSUKASA ⸻ ❛ Field Marshal ❜

    〔 partner 〕

The cofounder of his Hero Agency and an old friend, Kin is Touma's near-polar opposite. They first met while she was still a high school Hero student, working an internship with a well-respected Agency. The Agency's operation against a small cabal of villains went badly, and Touma (still an unaffiliated Hero at the time) was the only Hero close enough to help when the SOS went out. Working together, Touma and Kin took down the villains and rescued her Hero employer, earning Kin accolades from the press and Touma grudging respect from the establishment. After Kin graduated, they worked together on several more occasions, finding that their personalities are well-matched despite their differences and their Quirks are very complimentary. Despite being nine years younger, Kin's self-assured confidence and emotional maturity outweighs Touma's and he knows it. Kin has never held his comparative immaturity against him; she'll tease him and hold him to his promises but she knows more than anyone else what he's been through and she has a deep well of patience where he is concerned. He often goes to her when he needs advice, trusting her with his secrets and fears over anyone else. Her disapproval, when it comes, strikes him deeply, and he does his best to live up to the few expectations she does set.

They work near seamlessly in battle together. Their Quirks intersect in a very useful way; Kin's is balancing forces, while Touma's is acceleration, and they work in a very similar way, allowing both Touma and Kin to interact with the same objects at the same time. Kin's specialty is in close combat, while Touma's is in ranged combat. Kin generally plans operations before they begin, while Touma is very good at in-the-moment tactics and adapting the plan on the fly. They communicate constantly during battle, where it's at all possible, and after seventeen years of teamwork they are very good at anticipating each other's choices without needing to be told.

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▮▮▮ SHOUTA AIZAWA ⸻ ❛ Eraserhead ❜

    〔 developing love interest... 〕

Opposites attract, despite all reasonable expectations. They meet via a drunken one-night stand, which Aizawa initially considers a very bad decision, knowing of Touma's reputation for promiscuity. Touma is struck by Aizawa's blunt honesty, but due to the circumstances they did not exchange names and Touma spent three fruitless months afterward trying to track him down. Then, by chance, they end up working together to bring down a villain at the tail end of a long night shift. Touma immediately recognizes Aizawa's voice. He finds several excuses to work in the same area thereafter, resulting in several more not-quite-chance encounters. Aizawa is initially not enthused about this, but finds over time that Touma is capable of much more than his obnoxious show persona would indicate. Their relationship takes on a physical dimension without a corresponding jump in emotional intimacy, because neither man is particularly keen on talking about it and they're both carrying around personal baggage that makes doing so feel like a dangerous risk to take. Touma finds out about Aizawa's tendency to try and work through injuries, and begins carrying around extra first aid supplies, becoming something of a mother hen. This irritates Aizawa at first, but over time he realises that it has come from legitimate concern and begins to submit to Touma's surprisingly knowledgeable ministrations.

Neither is currently quite sure what is going to happen between them. Aizawa knows he doesn't have the patience for anything but a long-term commitment and is reluctant to stay friends-with-benefits without that commitment, knowing Touma's reputation. Touma is afraid of committing too soon, as he had done in the past, and getting himself stuck in a toxic relationship with too many costs sunk to easily escape. The physical intimacy continues, but they're going to have to sit down and have a serious conversation sooner or later.

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FRIENDS & ACQUAINTANCES

▮▮▮ KAZUMA KABETANI ⸻ ❛ Barrier Baron ❜

    〔 friend 〕

Touma, like most older Heroes, has worked with Barrier Baron several times. He respects the old man's gruff straightforwardness and ability to cut straight through corporate bullshit and analyze situations. Personally, he gets along well with Kazuma, primarily because he trusts Kazuma's judgement even when he's the subject of Kazuma's judgement. Kazuma has a reputation for taking in and successfully training those who others have dismissed as failures; Touma's pride won't let him come out and ask for this sort of tutelage, but when he knows he's in need of guidance he will hang out with Kazuma for a while and watch closely to see what advice he can pick up without having to ask for it. Kazuma knows that he does this, and is not above taking advantage of Touma's presence to boost his Agency's firepower. Touma knows that Kazuma knows, and he's not quite sure what to think of it, but Kazuma's presence makes him feel grounded, for once in his life, so there's a lot of dented pride he'll put up with in exchange.

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▮▮▮ RENSHOU SHINOZAKI

    〔 friend 〕

Characteristically for both men, Touma and Renshou met at a seedy nightclub, twenty-three years ago. Renshou was a grad student playing bass in a small-time band as a hobby despite his parents' wealth, and Touma was working a stressful cashier job at the time. Late at night, after the band finished playing, Renshou was recognised and accosted by several petty villains who attempted to mug and extort him. Touma fought them all off, quipping 'stress relief' when asked why he stepped by the police in the aftermath. Grateful for the save, Renshou gave Touma his number, telling him that if he ever needed a hand, Renshou would do what he could do help. Touma called the number the next day, when he walked into his job with a badly-disguised black eye and was promptly fired. Renshou hired Touma as an unofficial bodyguard several times, then suggested that Touma should get his Hero license and look into work beyond the budget personal protection circles. They have been good friends ever since, sharing a love for loud parties, mind-altering substances, good music and watching the world go by.

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▮▮▮ KIYOMI TOMOSHIBI

    〔 family friend 〕

Renshou introduced Touma to his mother, Kiyomi Tomoshibi, shortly after the initial mugging incident. Kiyomi made Touma's legal issues go away with a phonecall, invited him to a Shinozaki family dinner, and proceeded to scare the shit out of him. Kiyomi remains the only person Touma makes an effort to be formal and respectful around, a fact which Renshou will probably never stop ribbing him over.

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▮▮▮ HAZUKI SHINOZAKI ⸻ ❛ Heatwave ❜

    〔 honorary niece 〕

Touma has known Renshou's daughter since she was a baby; he was one of the first people to meet her outside of her family. Hazuki has grown up with Uncle Touma being a regular fixture in the household; she idolised him as a kid, which gave Touma a real good reason to get a handle on his partying ways. (It wasn't entirely successful, but he's managed to keep his messier habits to himself, so that's progress). Touma is the main reason Hazuki decided to pursue Hero work; she'd been thoroughly put off by her great-grandfather's expectations around the subject, but found Touma's relaxed, no-pressure attitude a relief. He taught her some tips and tricks and self-defence skills just in case, telling her that they might come in useful even if she decided to do something else with her life. Hazuki had a lot of fun with his lessons, and decided to apply for high school Hero Courses ━ not for the glory of the Shinozaki family, as the patriarch expected, but so she could help people, like Uncle Touma.

Touma thinks of Hazuki as sort of like a little sister. He is protective of her, but to a sensible point; his philosophy has always been that children need to be allowed to take risks and make their own mistakes, because he's pretty sure he might have been less messed-up if his parents had let him do that. He offered Hazuki her first internships, and then recommended her to Barrier Baron when her Quirk began to cause problems. With Kin's help, he has been a surprisingly stable and practical mentor for her.

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▮▮▮ TATSUNARI TAKANOWAKA ⸻ ❛ Dragonforce ❜

    〔 biggest critic 〕

Early in his freelance Hero career, Touma had a run-in with Dragonforce that left him freaked-out and very wary of the man. Tatsunari was the No.3 Hero at the time, gunning for Endeavor's spot, and he displayed such vicious brutality against a villain Touma did not think required it that it made Touma take a good hard look at his own villain interactions. Shortly afterward, Tatsunari's own son became known as a minor villain, which spelled the end of Dragonforce's career in the field. Tatsunari pivoted into an industry commentator role, where he became known for his conservative, tough-on-crime attitude ━ and became one of Touma's most frequent detractors. Touma reacted to this attention in typical style: by going out of his way to provoke disapproval. He keeps his personal dislike of the man secret, because Tatsunari's influence with the Hero Public Safety Commission is considerable, and puts on a show of friendly respect when they interact directly, then completely disregards Tatsunari's input afterward.

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▮▮▮ TOSHINORI YAGI ⸻ ❛ All Might ❜

    〔 frequent acquaintance 〕

Touma was thirteen when All Might made his debut; and like much of the nation, he was instantly fascinated. As he grew older and more cynical, his view of All Might shifted to one of skepticism and doubt ━ surely a man like that couldn't actually exist? Touma entertained a number of half-considered conspiracy theories about All Might's origins, but in general had more important things to be thinking about. Then, one night as a newbie Hero on patrol, Touma stumbled into a fight against a pair of villains that nearly killed him... and All Might dropped out of the dark sky like a ton of bricks, defeating both villains and giving Touma first aid that probably did save his life. Touma woke up in hospital the next day with a much more positive view of the man.

Over the years since, they have worked together on a handful of cases. Touma enjoys being around All Might and respects his drive to protect and help people, but he still can't shake the persistent feeling that something about the man is not quite right. By the time of the Kamino Ward disaster, he'd ruled out most of the usual deceptions. The revelation that All Might was badly injured and fighting on borrowed time answered that question, but also plunged Touma into his own personal crisis: if the world is just and bad things happen to people who deserve it, then how did All Might deserve that? This conundrum, and the events that followed the fall of the Symbol of Peace, are what finally drove Touma to seek out therapy.

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▮▮▮ ENJI TODOROKI ⸻ ❛ Endeavor ❜

    〔 friendly acquaintance 〕

Touma likes to think of Enji as a friend. Enji thinks of him primarily as an annoyance. Touma is aware of this to an extent, but he happily works alongside Enji and will go out of his way to greet him in casual social situations because he likes Enji’s manner and doesn’t really care if he ends up being insulted because he knows Enji does that to everyone. Touma developed a lasting crush on Enji almost ten years ago, which certainly plays a role in why he so easily tolerates Enji’s less than friendly behaviour. He has never acted on this crush, due to both the existence of Enji’s wife and children, and the growing realisation that he has a consistent tendency to develop crushes on people who are not at all good for him. (He is also very certain that Enji is straight, so there’s that too.) Enji is blissfully unaware of his crush, and Touma intends to keep it that way.

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INTERN

▮▮▮ KATSUMI NAGATO ⸻ ❛ Violet Morpho ❜

    〔 Hero student 〕

Touma first hears of Katsumi through Aizawa's tired venting on slow night patrols. He had worked with Katsumi's mother on a few occasions, and immediately recognises the similarities between them. He cynically predicts the breakdown of Katsumi's first internship long before it happens, telling Aizawa that if it ever became necessary, he would be happy to put in a good word for her with his partner at the Double Impact Agency. Aizawa initially tells him to forget it, but revisits the idea later on. Katsumi joins the Agency as Touma's intern, and thus begins a lasting mentorship.

They get along very well from their first meeting, thanks to similarly energetic personalities and Touma's laid-back inability to take offense. Touma quickly realises that Katsumi is deeply insecure of her ability to live up to her mother's legacy, and notices not long after that many of Katsumi's self-identified faults are traits that Kaori had also had, magnified many times by Katsumi's impulsivity and emotional intensity. He takes it upon himself to bring her high expectations of herself back to earth, and succeeds, primarily by being blunt and honest and not taking anything too seriously. Katsumi eventually finds that his lack of expectations in turn allows her to stop holding herself to impossible standards, at first within the context of her internship and then outside of it as well.

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OTHERS

▮▮▮ YAMI RAUTAKIVI

    〔 ex-fiance 〕

The most recent of Touma's doomed relationships, and the breakup which prompted him to swear off romance entirely. Yami was a friend and sometimes coworker of Touma's during his private security days. After a year or so of friendship, they both developed an intense attraction toward each other and began a three-year relationship. Unfortunately, after the initial feeling of whirlwind romance had faded, they found their personalities (and Touma's past traumas) were subtly ill-suited for each other. Where Touma was spontaneous, emotional, and insecure, Yami was unempathetic, impatient, and could be brutally critical. They often saw the world from perspectives so different that they could not understand each other's viewpoint, which often resulted in misunderstandings. They fought often, particularly in the last year of their relationship. Eventually, Yami decided that they were not going to get along any better no matter how hard they tried, and broke up with Touma.

Despite the bitter end of their relationship, this was not the worst relationship in Touma's past — in fact, it was one of the best. This, Touma thinks, is why it hurt so much. His preference would have been to stay together and keep trying, because the bad times might have been frequent but the good times were amazing, and, in his opinion at least, worth a little discomfort. He hasn't fully realised yet how toxic such a relationship would have been, because all of his other relationships were so much worse.

Since their breakup, their paths occasionally cross in the pursuit of their respective occupations. Yami heads a well-known private security company, exploiting a loophole in the Quirk Use laws which allows limited Quirk use by non-Heroes in order to directly defend human lives. Yami moved on after their breakup fairly quickly, and is currently an important point of contact for the Double Impact Agency. Touma avoids him wherever possible, leaving Kin to deal with him on work-related issues.

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▮▮▮ KENJI SESSHOU ⸻ ❛ Landslide ❜

    〔 villain nemesis 〕

Early on in his career, Touma was involved in several conflicts with the criminal organization headed by Kenji Sesshou, an old and canny villain with the ability to destabilise and warp the upper layers of the ground. Their first clash was coincidental; those that followed were not. Kenji was infuriated by the nerve of this young upstart Hero who hadn’t even bothered to set up his own Agency yet, while Touma found Kenji’s attitude pretentious and entitled, on top of being disgusted by his actions as a villain. At each subsequent battle, Touma went out of his way to be as obnoxious as possible. This infuriated Kenji almost as much as being consistently forced into retreat. Their enmity eventually reached the point where Touma had to fend off more than one legitimate assassination attempt. Touma badly wanted to rise to meet Kenji’s challenge, but many of his closer friends warned against it, telling him that that was exactly what Kenji wanted. Eventually it was decided that Touma would in fact act as bait for Kenji, carrying out his Hero work as normal while other Heroes shadowed him in disguise, waiting for the villain to make a misstep. It took several years of gradually whittling down Kenji’s forces before the effort paid off.

Kenji spent five years in Tartarus before escaping during transport to a hospital on the mainland. He continued to cause trouble for everyone but especially Touma for the next eight years. Eventually, Kenji cornered Touma on his own, forcing him to fight for his life, one against five. Touma surprised everyone involved, but especially Kenji, by killing all five.

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