Akiba Tanegashima

""The wind only speaks in whispers.""

Akiba Tanegashima is the eldest son of the Tanegashima family and heir to the company, the Tanegashima Foundation (Formerly Tanegashima Weapons Research and Development). He is a second year and strategist of Team SAAN. He alludes to Oda Nobunaga.

Appearance
Akiba is a slim yet physically fit teen with long brown hair and red streaks, a red right eye and a gray left eye, and a horizontal scar running across his neck. Akiba usually ties his hair in a long ponytail that reaches his thighs, wears a long red scarf in a reverse drape and autumn-themed headphones.

Main Outfit
His main attire consists of a skin tight, long-sleeved jacket. Over the jacket are four-plated shoulder guards with an orange-red cloth attached to it. A large buckled belt wraps around his waist, which is where he puts most of his equipment.

For pants he wears a long, ballooning hakama, shinguards and modified boots.

Casual Outfit:
Akiba's indoor clothes and pajamas. He wears a brown long-sleeved sweater underneath an orange-red sweat jacket and white baggy pants with a red line that runs down to the bottom and fluffy red flip-flops.

Personality
Akiba is silent, passive and aloof. He can't speak due to his muteness so he lets someone else speak for him.

He is intelligent but somewhat dense, has a fondness for cooking and an appetite to match. He also sketches weapon and mecha blueprints as a hobby. He isn't quite the people person, avoiding any form of interaction excluding his friends, teachers, and his family. Yet despite being unsociable he is polite and respectful. Being raised in country where honor is a necessity and a social status, he is very conscious of this fact. He acts like the big brother of the team, helping with assignments, acting as support during missions, and even cooks for them.

He can be rather secretive whenever the subject is his past. He isn't someone who gets angry easily but when he does he isn't someone to mess with. He also can't stand others being bullied or discriminated, especially if the victim(s) is a faunus, and will immediately act to protect them. Whenever he has free time he either goes to his part-time job or does detective work, again in secret. This usually earns him punishment from his teammates.

But he isn't a pure soul. Behind his polite and respectful attitude is a dark and callous persona that he tries to hide no matter what from his friends and most importantly his family. During his time in school he was forced in many occasions to either hurt or kill a person to secure the safety of others. He was able to prevent killing another but after a certain incident it has forcibly became his second main method of stopping criminals. But his will to protect others even at the cost of another's life, or even his own, keeps him from becoming corrupted.

Backstory
Akiba is the firstborn of the Oda Clan family branch the Tanegashima family in Zen, an island located in the middle of the 4 great continents, in the coastal capital town named Tōgan. He was a sheltered child, but he did not fear others. He disliked them. He was very disciplined and loved his family, but despises strangers due to the insults of businessmen and lower-class peons alike towards his family. During his first days in school he immediately avoided others. He acted cold to strangers keeping a stoic look to scares away others. Whenever someone did try to approach him he would threaten them to stay away or simply stare down the strangers in silence until they back off.

This attitude though changed when he lost his parents to an assassin and was almost killed himself when he was 9. The trauma from the attack caused Akiba to develop Anthropophobia or the fear of people, which forced himself out of school for the next two years of his life. Natsumochi Oda, Akiba's grandfather and current head of the Tanegashima Weapons Development And Research, now simply the Tanegashima Foundation ever since the attack, felt worried that Akiba will become a shut-in for the rest of his life if he didn't do anything, but also feared that this attacker or others may preform another assassination at him if he was let out again. So he let Akiba be secluded within his home, the Tanegashima Manor, until he is deemed ready.

After losing his parents Akiba feared everyone, even those he once trusted and loved, with the only people he still trusts being his sisters, Fuyuka and Tempera, and his grandfather. Wishing to cure this phobia, Natsumochi devised a plan, which is basically a homemade therapy for Akiba's phobia. He ordered his closest friend and bodyguard to have his daughter befriend Akiba.

At first it seemed useless but after a month of persistent requests from the little girl Akiba finally gave in and accepted. It started of slow but he slowly started to warm up to her and they quickly became close friends. After a few more weeks getting used to his new friend, Akiba started to open up more and began to befriend again, just as Natsumochi planned.

Two years afterward he was given the chance to go to school again by a special academy, whose headmaster strangely wanted him enrolled. Prior to this he was homeschooled and started gaining an interest in machinery after helping out the engineers who work within the many underground facilities, as well as reading all books available within the manor's library.

Also during this time he was given training by the many active and retired hunters living within the manor to become stronger and more prepared, starting with his grandfather. One of the things he learned that he was/became interested in was judo, firearms, and a sword style he witnessed during a special program on TV.

Akiba entered school again at the age of 11, but not alone. He was introduced to a girl a week prior named Sétanta Lily by her father, Cuhullin Lily, who is a good friend of his grandfather as well as an investor of the the now hidden company.

He was forced to get along with her since not only will they be going to the same school together, but she will be staying at the manor for the period of her enrollment.

They entered Zen's national school, Sengoku Academy. They formed a love-hate relationship together that lasted even after graduation. They also made other friends like Azsfar Al-Debraan, lion faunus and Copper Ventuo, an aspiring photographer.

Also during his time in school that he took up being a junior detective after assisting the local police in capturing a murderer. He became a local hero after capturing a local serial killer who had murdered and raped 4 young girls from his school. After successfully solving the case, his sister Fuyuka made a promise to him that he will never kill anyone, even for her sake.

These crimes, or incidents, have been plaguing his hometown for months so he wanted to help, mostly to ensure the safety of his friends. But as he faces each incident, the pressure of solving it before someone else dies increased. Not only that, he was forced in many situations to kill the criminal which he didn't. But it was due to this that the criminals did more damage.

On one case though, the danger of the criminal was so high that Akiba had no other choice but to take his life. He kept this fact a secret from his sister, and vowed to never do it again. But soon enough all incidents after it forced Akiba in some way to kill them in the end.

When he was in his 4th year in Sengoku he got used to taking lives. His personality changed again, as well as his resolve, which was now to protect others even at the cost of his life.

He unfortunately became a victim again in his last week in school by an assassin who revealed himself to be the killer of his parents. He tried to avenge his parents by defeating the assassin but ultimately failed.

The assassin slit Akiba's neck, knowing that it was the fastest way of killing anyone but Akiba survived thanks to his friends intervening. They were successful at defeating the assassin but were heavily injured in the process.

The cut the assassin made wasn't deep enough to cut the major arteries in his neck which resulted in Akiba's survival, but the trauma made Akiba mute. Once again though he persevered through his life-threatening injury and made a full recovery, and just two days before graduation.

During the first month of his break he began training again with his grandfather to further increase his abilities. Out of all of his friends, he has yet to discover his semblance, so his grandfather thought that through training that he can discover it. After a month his grandfather confessed that he enrolled Akiba into Beacon Academy without his consent 2 weeks prior, and will be expecting a letter soon. The news made Akiba more anxious than excited, but he was nonetheless.

A few days later he finally received the letter from Beacon and was surprised that he was accepted, despite being mute. Believing that Ozpin saw a potential in him he trained even more until the day he set off to Beacon.

Combat Prowess
Akiba is a nimble fighter with who focuses on agility and flexibility. He doesn't use brute force but instead the skills he hardened through training and his wits.

In CQC he is a counterattack-oriented fighter who usually waits for his enemies to make the first move. His weapon of choice are longswords like a nodachi. He mostly uses it defensively or to catch another's weapon. He also trained himself to use a gun in CQC, and is capable of using both a firearm and sword at the same time.

His true specialty though is long-ranged combat. Akiba is adept with using most sniper rifles and semi-automatic firearms but has difficulty handling automatic weapons. He complains that the recoil of automatic firearms make his muscles ache and wishes for a more far reaching firearm, hence why he prefers sniper rifles.

Akiba is very skilled in shooting from afar. He has a good spacial awareness and even better accuracy. He also tries to be as efficient and precise as possible, making every shot count and looking for the easiest way to do so (i.e. shooting a car's tires instead of shooting the driver.), He may even attempt to hit multiple targets with one shot so that he can conserve ammo.

His decisions in battle are defined by, a.) is the target a Grimm or human/faunus? b.) how dangerous is the target/s? Akiba is more reserved against humans since he wishes not to kill them, so he aims for either their weapons or to simply incapacitate them. Whenever its Grimm, or very dangerous people, though he is far more callous and calculating and will use any means necessary to eliminate them.

Masamune [Experimental Dust-Powered Sniper Katana]
Is a prototype sniper rifle that solely uses dust as its ammunition. The weapon's design is based on a musket, only with a more modern and sleek design and implements a thin rectangular barrel instead of the usual rounded barrel. On each side of the base of the barrel are closable vents that works like a muzzle brake that lessens recoil. It switches to its melee form by having the barrels sides merge together, then the metal plates on the bottom slide back to reveal its bladed edge, which is replacable. The handle of the weapon can rotate from 0 to 45 degrees at maximum, and a removable scope. The weapon's ammunition are large specially made dust rounds comparable to a .50 caliber cartridge, which Akiba personally makes, fitted inside a large magazine clip which have a capacity of 5 rounds.

The weapon has a range of approximately 1000 yards, a recoil strong enough to propel him backwards and is capable of using almost any type of dust. Although it has very poor rate-of-fire (at a rate of 3-4 rounds per minute) and clip size, it compensates with it's firepower. It is capable of shooting through 3 2-inch thick metal plates and still be fast enough to be lethal. The weapon may be powerful, but needs a great deal of maintenance and understanding to use it fully. It is susceptible to overheating, easily runs out of ammo, needs to be cleaned regularly, and the blade must be sharpened or replaced if needed. Akiba prefers using it in its melee form due to how easy it is to run out of ammo, and only uses it's gun form against Grimm.

Equipment
To increase his effectiveness as the team's support shooter, Akiba is armed with a variety of gadgets to widen his team's chances of victory and/or survivability.

Dust Bombs/Grenades
explosive grenades that are infused with different types and combinations of dust. To differenciate each is a color band around the body of the grenade. Akiba can hold a maximun of 4 grenades, hidden behind the right side of his belt, and may be any combination of the ff.
 * Red - Incendiary; highly explosive, causes fire around blast radius.
 * Blue - Freeze; immobilizes, forms ice crystals around blast radius.
 * Yellow - Static; incapacitates, useful in crowd control.
 * Gray - Air pressure; least harming, creates shockwaves.
 * Light Blue - Smoke; creates a cloud of smoke, inhibits sight.
 * Light Red - Heatwave; Similar to Red; powerful explosive, can cause lethal shockwaves.
 * Light Yellow - Flashbang; creates a flash of light, blinds.

Tsubame
Specially-made boots made for Akiba. The boots have a metal outsole and insole that houses a gray dust crystal inside. The dust crystal, when activated, creates a cushion of air underneath. The dust crystal can be replaced if The amount of air used can be regulated by how much Aura is being sent into them. Akiba can use these boots to enhance his movements, like enabling him to glide, dash in mid-air, or to soften landings.

Headphones
One of Akiba's most notable accessory, these large closed-headphones sport not only a autumn-themed design but also a special piece of tech. The headphones are modified to read Akiba's brainwaves, then displays it on his scroll. It can show either words or memories and is Akiba's main form of communication.

Etymology
Akiba (秋葉) is an abbreviation of the kanji 秋の葉 (aki no ha) meaning autumn leaf.

Tanegashima (種子島) is the name of the an island comprising the Osumi Islands as well as the japanese musket which was also produced within the island as well as its namesake.

Masamune (正宗) is derived from the japanese swordsmith Masamune who is renowned for being the most legendary swordsmith of japan's history who lived during the 13th to 14th century.

Tsubame (ツバメ) means "swallow".

Trivia

 * Akiba's sword style is based on the character Hakumen from the Blazblue series, while his weapon Masamune is based on Gundam Virtue's GN Bazooka from Gundam 00.
 * When frightened, he smiles wryly instead of having a shocked expression.
 * Akiba has never danced before.
 * Akiba sketches blueprints of weapons and mechas as a hobby.
 * He can also play the trumpet, violin, and the piano.