Jataro Kemuri

Name: Jataro Kemuri Gender: Male Age: 12 years old Height: 4'3" Birthdate: February 29th

Appearance: Jataro is a slender boy who wears a stitched-together leather mask resembling something from a horror movie. The mask is equipped with a breathing tube hanging below his chin. He has gray eyes, with a scalpel pattern as the iris. Aside from his mask and clothes, he has fair skin and shoulder-length light brown hair underneath it.

He wears a baggy brown dress shirt with a red tie, orange-brown shorts, a brown work apron, ankle-high white socks, and brown loafers with dark brown soles. The apron has the silver Warriors of Hope badge pinned to the breast and his various tools attached to it. He also carries a white randoseru decorated with a flame motif and filled with more tools. These items are branded with the emblem of the "Priest" class.

Background: Jataro was born and raised in Towa City to a mother who regretted having him. To raise Jataro, she had to sacrifice several things she wanted to do in life, including obtaining qualifications and licenses, taking lessons, and working more. She was bitter because she felt her life had become nothing more than a platform for his life. Every night, she wished her son would be dead by the next morning, and she sighed in disappointment because he was not. She wished he would stop being healthy and disappear. Her disdain was exacerbated by Jataro's beautiful face, making her feel guilty for not having a shred of affection for him.

Despite her conflicted feelings, Jataro's mother was still cruel enough to force him to wear a stuffy mask every single day. She was ashamed to show him to anyone and told him he did not look like other children, which, unsurprisingly, warped Jataro's self-perception. He was convinced that his face was so awful and ugly that the mere sight of him would cause the eyeballs of any beholder to explode or rot away. She deprived her son of feeling any happiness and mentally scarred him enough that Jataro could tell which adults genuinely hated him based on how they looked at him. To cope with the constant abuse, Jataro internalized hatred itself as something that possessed a comforting quality, so he could always be at peace even when he was abused. He believed that it was necessary, because he knew his home life wasn't going to get better.

While living under his own mother's scrutiny, Jataro discovered his knack for the creative arts, such as drawing, prop-making, and sculpting, and subsequently attended Hope's Peak Academy Elementary School as the Li'l Ultimate Art.

Personality: Jataro is a somewhat quiet, shy, socially awkward, crafty, and scatterbrained boy, even if he can be cheerful and upbeat at times. While he speaks normally, he is poor at conversation, as he tends to go on lapses called "yawns" and ramble on about things. However, given his obsession with being hated and his distorted view of violence, he likes to blurt out violent or repulsive imagery impulsively, which would make anyone around him disgusted. For Jataro, blurting out this repulsion and receiving hatred for it feels good and brings peace to his mind. In fact, being reprimanded or attacked usually excites him and makes him feel happy (as part of his coping mechanism), whereas being liked makes him sad or even angry.

Still, Jataro's abuse from his household has more consequences for his mind than just being hated. His mother's verbal abuse also warped his mind into believing that his face is horribly ugly, and he panics if anyone tries to strip it off. Despite this standard, he tends to put himself down whenever he can, mostly to get attention and validation. He may also incite rage in others in any way he can for that attention, as he finds it one of the best ways to get people to take notice, better than doing positive things. He believes that it's easier to be hated, because it leaves him free to do what he wants without worrying about pleasing people.

Despite Jataro's off-putting tendencies, he can sometimes play the straight man within his friend group.

Talent: Jataro is an arts-and-crafts prodigy whose portfolio includes woodworking, prop-making, sculpting, drawing, and more. His notable works include a life-size diorama made from adult corpses and a photo cutout board he installs in front of Towa Tower. He carries chisels, scalpels, and knives for sculpting and is highly adept with tools.