Akiba Tanegashima

Akiba Tanegashima is the eldest son of the Tanegashima Family and a second year in Beacon. He is part of Team SSAN and alludes to Oda Nobunaga.

Appearance
Akiba is a 5'6 tall with long rust-colored hair with red highlights, blood red eyes and long eyelashes that make him look somewhat feminine. He has long front and side bangs while the back is flipped-up, with the rest of his long hair tied in a ponytail that reaches his lower back. Around his neck is his trademark long red scarf that reaches down to his thighs, while on his head are his autumn themed closed headphones. At the start of his second year he ordered a new scarf, with this bearing the emblem of his family on both ends. He ties them the same way as his other but with the ends draped in front of him.

He wears a tight, sleeveless, buttoned-up orange-red vest with his family's emblem painted on its back in shiny gold. Tied around his waist by a golden-buckled black belt was a white and orange kimono lined with golden trimming. Sewn on the back of the vest and covering his shoulder blades are metal plates with the left side featuring a retractable magnetic arm to holster his new weapon. Segmented plate armor is sewn at the vest's sides, as well as a kusazari attached to his belt''. ''A black hakama covers his lower parts while specially made tabi protect his feet.

Protecting his right arm is a thickly-woven, leather-plated armored sleeve that covers his whole right forearm and leather gloves on both hands.

Whenever disguising as Mr. Fox (which is usually for his detective work), he wears a smiling noh fox mask to cover his face and a closed orange trench coat. He combs his hair to a sweep back style and uses his original plain red scarf, sometimes he'll even remove his headphones to complete the disguise.

Personality
Akiba is a passive and silent person, with the latter part being that he's mute and as such cannot speak. Hes's usually laid-back as well as being distant to others but despite this he's actually quite friendly, as well as also being very perceptive, sharp and can tell when a situation will go bad so well that he gained a foreboding feeling of dread he describes as "death looming over him" that tells him something bad is going to happen soon. These traits aid him well in his investigations, as he's able to find evidence or minute details that one may have never noticed unless told otherwise, catching a person's lies and body language, as well as knowing when he, or others, is in a dangerous position. Yet despite his insight and carefulness, he somehow always gets into a situation where he gets injured, and what's worst is that he shows little to no care for his injuries, shrugging them off until they start to hinder him.

As stated before, Akiba acts laid-back most of the time and because of this people look down and underestimate him, but for him he shows no concern for his image or what others think of him and simply does what he wants to do regardless of what others say. But just because he's seen sleeping sometimes in class doesn't mean he's not smart, in fact its the opposite. He has the intelligence to match even his own leader if he's serious enough, and its thanks to his hobby of reading books, listening to the many war stories from the veteran hunters and generals in his family, and the knowledge he's gained from his involvements in many cases in the past. He also quite insightful thanks to the amount of things he's exposed to/ forced to learn and accept.

But, even after going through, and overcoming, many trials that had his morals and beliefs challenged and his whole being changed, in the end he is still a boy whose surprisingly kind and caring, whose will give out his own life for the sake of others. A boy who understands the weight of a person's life and is not afraid to take it if he is left with no choice, but will try to help those who are in the wrong to change for the better if he has the chance to. He also doesn't have anything against the Faunus, but rather has gained a great deal of respect for them, and will help a faunus if they need it without hesitation.

A few of his hobbies is listening to music, although its more than that as he's almost never seen without his headphones, and their always playing music. His taste in music is diverse, but he loves jazzy instrumental music the most. Speaking of music, he's also learned to play a number of musical instruments (mostly just to help his sister and her idol friends), with wind instruments being his forte. Another one of his hobbies, other than his obvious love of reading, is making blueprints of weapons or robots.

Background
Akiba is the firstborn of a noble family in Zen. He lost his parents in a murder incident when he was very young and has since been traumatized. After going through multiple sessions of rehab, and with the help of his grandfather and his two younger sisters, he was able to recover but the trauma had lasting effects on his psyche and personality. He along with his sisters were then taken in by his grandfather.

When he returned to school he was a shell of his former self. Not only was he emotionless but also anti-social. These two traits caused him to graduate with no friends. Fearing for his future his grandfather planned on having a friend's daughter come live at his manor when Akiba enters the local combat school. Though he didn't care and simply ignored her at first, he slowly opened up and soon enough became best friends with her which lasted throughout his time in school.

During his time in school, he had also started training in a dojo nearby. There he found an unlikely friend who happens to be the third youngest son of the dojo's master. The boy had a fire for competition that, one way or another, helped Akiba with his rehabilitation as the two quickly became friends despite their frequent challenges to each other.

Having a friend with him when going to the combat school helped in the betterment of his personality, and with another friend helping him in training was even better. Instead of being anti-social he is instead shy, while being more lax and open when beside his friends. He didn't treat others with hostility anymore and also began to trust his friends more. He even showed that he can express other emotions besides the poker-face he always wear, albeit are very small.

He also made some new friends as well, like Azsfar Al-Debraan and Copper Ventuo. During his 2nd year in the combat school he was involved in a murder of a classmate. With his family's murder in mind he tried to avenge her by asking the detective at the time, Douglas Moore. He agreed and after helpng him to successfully capture the criminal, was asked to be taught under him which he agreed. As he helped out in these cases with the detective, he was exposed to things like killing and the like. These did have some effect on his personality but he didn't mind the work. Also during this he has met with a young girl around his age who was training to be the "perfect soldier" as she describes it, as well as a few vigilantes and other detectives.

A week before graduating he was suddenly attacked by an assassin who claims to be have killed his parents. Akiba foolishly challenged the assassin despite carrying no weapon and with no help in a blind attempt of vengeance. He failed and almost died if it weren't for his teammates saving him. Though he was cut at the neck, it wasn't deep enough to kill him. He was able to fully recover but at the price of losing his ability to speak.

He didn't care about this, and simply continued on and recovering fast enough just before the graduation ceremony. After the graduation he was sent into training with his grandfather, which was just a distraction so that he can enroll Akiba into Beacon. He found this out eventually and also found out that he was accepted.

His first years in Beacon was quite the experience, and has re-met many old faces while finding new ones too.

Kannagara (Separable High-Powered Dust Sniper Katana)
This is Akiba's former main weapon. Was heavily damaged beyond repair with some of its parts salvaged to make a new replacement.

Furukizuna (Dust-Powered Heavy Oodachi-Rifle)
Akiba's second weapon after the destruction of the first, is a large Oodachi/rifle hybrid similar to his previous albeit larger. The weapon still keeps some of Kannagara's design like its flat tip and use of dust. Other similarities include large magazines, its rectangular barrel, and its ammunition. The large contraption is jet black and has a very conservative design with an overall weight of 7-8 kg.

Like Kannagara, the weapon uses dust rounds but now has a better mechanism to increase efficiency in firepower and projectile velocity, as well as improving the inner chambers and barrel to further increase efficiency. The weapon now packs an even bigger punch, but at consequence also increases recoil but this can be lightened thanks to vents located at the base of the barrel-blade. These vents are movable and closable with the help of a rotating knob located at the left side of the weapon's body. Although the rate of fire is worser than its predecessor at 2-3 per minute, Akiba doesn't mind it as he's still very conservative with its use. The barrel-blade is has a length of 148 cm and a width of 2 1/2 inches while the body and handle combined is around 30 cm in length and 6 cm in width. The weapon has two handles, the traditional main handle, around as long as his forearm and designed to look similar to that of a katana's, and the secondary handle, which is connected to the main handle at the middle and onto a guard (imagine Strider's Cypher but with a guard). The gun's trigger is located on the top of the second handle and is large enough for two fingers.

The first unique feature added to Furukizuna is the closing barrel. Normally, the barrel-blade is split apart, revealing an inner metal railing around 3 inches thick inside the top and bottom of the barrel-blades. The barrel-blade can then be closed up via turning the weapon's handle a whole 180°. To help with turning the whole handle, a grip is installed onto the body of the weapon close to the handle. Another feature newly added by Akiba is an experimental Dust Ventilation System (or DVS for short) that is connected to the main vents at the base of the barrel-blades and vein-like tubes that spans the insides the barrel-blades. The DVS is powered by its own power source, which is also a dust round and loaded at the top of the weapon. As the name suggests, the ventilation system works like an engine, controlled via a break-pedal trigger close to the base of the handle, that blows dust out from within the weapon and exits through either the main vents or small vents around half an inch thick at the edge of the blades. This enables the blade's to be coated with a consistent layer of dust unlike its predecessor, with the output being regulated by the trigger, or to use the weapon to propel him via the main vents in a similar manner to his previous weapon. The only thing that hasn't changed much are the cartridges, only made a bit larger to fit into the larger barrel, but also now acts like batteries for the DVS to use.

The weapon's size is remarkably light, but obviously heavier than Kannagara, thanks to the DVS, smart structuring, having most of the weight being on the body of the weapon, and the use lightweight metals and materials for its construction. Though this does make the weapon a bit more easier to break unlike its predecessor it's way more easier to repair and clean as all parts can now be disassembled piece by piece, though the parts are numerous and can take some time to reassemble.

Physical
Akiba has a slim yet toned, flexible body that is capable of doing acrobatics but also able to endure through a decent amount of damage thanks to fighting against the Grimm and the spars he's fought in his first year in Beacon. He is surprisingly strong, as well as quick to react and agile. He was trained not to be a powerhouse but rather to outlast and outsmart his opponents using his wits, skills and his experience with fighting against a diversity of other fighters, all having a unique fighting styles of their own that he had to learn to counteract, and usually prefers to use his swordsmanship and CQC training rather than his marksmanship which is good if given enough time (Hilariously though, he can't use any type of automatic firearm).

Unlike most fighters, Akiba applies a more tactical approach, gaining information of his enemy during battle and using that to gain victory or at least an upper hand. During this time he doesn't engage his opponent, and if they do he'll simply back off. Sometimes he may try to test the waters, like firing off a couple of rounds to check on his opponent.

He has a relaxed swordstyle that focuses on keeping a certain range with his opponent, close enough for him to attack but far enough to be able to dodge or retreat safely if needed, all while waiting for an opportunity to present itself. He can combine this swordstyle with his judo training, like using the weapon's shape as leverage to incapacitate, grapple, or disarm his opponent.

He has a habit of using his right arm to block or redirect attacks, as well as for grappling and sometimes to hold his weapon in an iai stance. His left on the other hand is usually holding onto his weapon, either on its holster, on his hand, or just freehanded.

Mental
Intelligence-wise, he is considered as a great tactician. This may be due to most of his family being either generals, strategists or tacticians who have either recorded their experiences or told him first-hand, added that he is also a bookworm and loves listening to war stories. He is calm and cool-headed, even at the direst of situations. He is also very resourceful and creative, finding and using anything around him to benefit him or his plans.

He is very mindful of those around him, and will effectively use the quirks and qualities of others and himself to achieve his goals. He also tries to make sure to alleviate the risks in his plans as much as possible, even if its just a little.

He does, however, get himself in trouble frequently by forgetting his own condition in battle, which leads to him getting injured. He usually doesn't mind getting hurt though, which is worse since it contributes to the severity of his injuries. Also, if he were to fail he will be haunted by the failure for days, weeks, even months, like having nightmares of his failures.

He also has quite the skills in mechanical and electronics engineering, and has repaired his teammates' weapons whenever they get damaged, as well as gadgets like his scroll and even building a new weapon with parts salvaged from his previous weapon. He can also cook, and damn is he good at it.

Sly Fox
Akiba creates a rune that summons a fox familiar that has 1-9 tails (based on his current aura upon activation) that Akiba can command. The tail number decreases whenever Akiba's aura goes down, and can be used offensively, like to attack or grab and throw objects, defensively, like shielding Akiba, and to empower his weapon's attacks by wrapping a tail(s) around it.

The familiar is connected to Akiba's consciousness and subconsciousness, enabling it to act even without Akiba's direct orders. The downside to this is that its actions are also affected by his emotions and may act on its own without or even against Akiba's orders if the intensity of the emotion is great enough.

Damage to the familiar is shared to Akiba, and feels pangs of pain at different intensities depending on the damage inflicted on the familiar. If it fails to be unsummoned by Akiba and is destroyed, Akiba loses aura and is hit with a wave of pain that persists for around an hour or more.

After prolonged use with his semblance, Akiba discovers that he can use it defensively, which is to use the rune while his familiar is still inside as a reactive shield at the sacrifice of using his aura. If hit, the fox familiar inside the rune will either repel or bind the attacker to it by using its tails and if binded will keep hold until either Akiba wishes to remove it, his aura drops significantly, he moves 2 meters away from it, or if the trapped target destroys the rune, just as long as the maximum area of damage is more than 2 inches in diameter and must be hit with a significant amount of force, if not it instead just breaks apart like shattered glass. This reactive shield can be infused with dust, but Akiba hasn't tried it yet.

With Dust
The semblance can be imbued with dust to give it a multitude of effects.

The familiar is enveloped by dust and changes color to the the respective dust that lasts for around 5 minutes. Akiba can also command the familiar to "release" or use up the dust in one or more tails for a special attack, but of course releasing it removes the dust on the tail(s). This can also be applied to empowering his weapon's attacks as well.

Weakness
Akiba is a little shorter than the average teenager and isn't intimidated by opponents larger than himself, which can be either a blessing or a curse. He is also quite weapon reliant, as well as always thinking his way out of battles. He shows difficulty with defense-oriented fighters like Summer or dust-users like his leader as well as armored Grimm like Deathstalkers or Boarbatusks. His skills are also only effective in a one-on-one fight and not fighting a group alone. A 2-on-1 is still okay for him but once it's 3 or more he's at a disadvantage due to his weapon.

Additionally, Akiba can't handle getting damaged too much, as even with the training he's been through he still can only handle two direct hits before hitting the ground, which is why he dodges or redirects the attack away from him and doing everything in his power to not get hit or at least protect his head and torso. Consequently, due to this there are times that he may get tired quickly, though this mostly depends on his opponent but its usually against agile or range opponents.

His greatest weakness is his bad aura control. Akiba isn't sure how much aura he has, but due to lack of training in it makes any amount of aura he has almost useless other than to shield or heal him. Though there are times he was able to use his aura to augment an attack, its usually by complete instinct and nothing else.

Another main weakness is that he is mute. He can't speak nor make a sound other than the sound of his breathe which is both a good and bad thing depending on the situation, but usually its the latter. He can't give out orders nor warn anyone of impending danger so he needs to find other ways of interact with others. To talk he uses a scroll or hand gestures.

A new problem for Akiba now is his new weapon, Furukizuna. Due to the technicalities like repairing it makes it difficult even for him sometimes. The size is also another problem, even with its weight being centered at the body to ease use. Not only that, it is terribly slow in terms of rate of fire.

Etymology
Akiba (アキバ) is derived from Akibagahara (秋葉が原) meaning "autumn leaf field". while the word Aki (秋) means autumn.

Tanegashima (種子島) is the name for an island that is part of the Ōsumi Islands. It also refers to the japanese matchlock of the same name. The matchlock's usual colors are maroon or red-orange, which is also where I based his colors off.

Kannagara has mutliple meanings but it can simply mean "The will of the gods or kami." or "Because of being a kami."

Furukizuna is the combination of both furukizu (古傷) meaning "old wounds" and kizuna (絆) meaning "bonds".

Trivia

 * Akiba's character is loosely based on the character Hakumen from the Blazblue series.
 * Akiba's firstweapon on the other hands is inspired from the Beam Bazooka used by Gundam Vitrue in the series Gundam 00. His second weapon on the other hand is referenced from Gundam Barbatos' Smoothbore Gun and Launcher Strike Gundam's Beam Cannon.
 * Akiba has never danced before.
 * Akiba smiles wryly when frightened.
 * He has a surprisingly high alcohol tolerance, and can drink almost anything without getting drunk. Prefers sake.
 * This character is owned by Lux Capacitor.