Ryuichi Shiyokubo

Ryuichi Shiyokubo is the eldest son of the Shiyokubo family, son to Roselyne (Cedric's first wife) and a romantic interest for the protagonist of Tsumi no Kunshu.

Ryuichi is unstable - like his brothers - yet has more of a tendency for suicide and self-harm than the others. He is the only one to not threaten to murder the heroine and, instead, suggest inflicting harm instead. He is the favourite child out of the four Shiyokubo.

Personality
Ryuichi is cold-hearted and distant from his brothers, being the favourite child and only one who still has a mother. He was taken away from his brothers both emotionally and psychically as his mother only wanted him associating himself with “the best”. Due to this kind of a childhood, he has grown to only accept things that are better than everything else and cannot stand to be anything other than number one.

He loves his mother dearly even with her tough treatment towards him as a child, ordering him to punish himself for not being like his father. He self-harmed from a young age as his idea of punishment and grew unhealthily attached to the form of pain, continuing to endanger himself by inflicting harm on himself to force himself to become the best.

Ryuichi does not swear and instead uses insulting words to hurt others. He is not a psychical abuser, only going as far as to verbally abuse the heroine. By doing this, however, it is she who psychically harms herself, taking his advice in self-harming, eventually driving him over the edge, claiming himself as the “offspring of a sinner” before attempting suicide.

Appearance
Ryuichii has breathtakingly bright red eyes, angled yet curved beautifully. He has straight black hair cut in a neat style that is kept out of his face. His complexion is sweetly pale and his build is slim yet toned – a body of a man who takes great care of his self and cares deeply for his appearance.

On his lowers arms are patterns of scars overlapping and covering him like sleeves, haunting him as a reminder of his lonely past, his mother forcing him to be the best and “just like his father” and, when he wasn’t, she would order him to punish himself which, in-turn, caused him to have an unhealthy obsession with self-harming.

His casual attire consists of a plain white dress shirt and grey pants with black dress shirts. He wears a black glove on his left hand and uses thin rectangle-rimmed glasses.

His school uniform is the usual black and white. He has a white dress shirt underneath his black vest and grey jacket. His pants match his vest and he wears his black dress shoes to complete the outfit. He always wears his glasses and can be found wearing the optional red tie with his uniform. He does not wear his glove to school.

History
His father, Cedric married Roselyne and bore a single child with her – Ryuichi. The family grew close but it was only once he left them that Ryuichi realised he did not truly love them. Still, he held a deep admiration for his father. Roselyne blamed Cedric’s abandonment on Ryuichi being a “pathetic son” and he took this extremely personally, creating this idea of being the best and nothing less.

He loved his mother and father though, striving to please them by being the “perfect son” and finally won over his mother when he acted exactly like his father, promising to marry and have a son, just like his father did once he turned (physically) twenty and claim the throne to rule the underworld.

His father, however, threatened to leave Roselyne and Ryuichi once he had murdered his mother and father and, in a pathetic attempt to force him to stay, Roselyne attempted suicide. Ryuichi was broken by this – traumatised by the possibility that his mother was going to die and he would be left alone without any parents. He was so afraid of abandonment that he chained and trapped his mother in a cage – refusing to let her out for as long as he lived to force her to stay alive and with him. Roselyne suffers between a love-hate relationship with her son and Cedric, although he is aware of what Ryuichi did to keep her with him, does not really care about it.

He doesn’t blame his father for locking him and his brothers, however, often reminding his brothers that if they were in the same position, it would only make sense that they’d lock away all possible contenders to the throne. Power was more important than family.

Ryuichi was caught only once by his father when stealing a kitchen knife to inflict harm on himself, his father uncaringly letting him so do, only telling him to wash the blade afterwards to avoid burdening the chefs. In the mansion, he still takes it upon himself to care for his brothers – cooking, cleaning and keeping them in line although he sometimes does it in worryingly dangerous ways.

Trivia

 * His shoe size is 26cm
 * His favourite colour is the shade of red that appears like blood
 * He is claustrophobic
 * Cooking and photography are his hobbies
 * His birthday is the 14th of October