Akihiko Nirei (楡井秋彦, Nirei Akihiko?) is a first-year student at Furin High School and is a member of Bofurin's Vaisravana Unit. He serves as one of First-Year Grade Captain Haruka Sakura's Vice-Captains, along with Hayato Suo.[1]
Appearance
Nirei's full body appearance
Nirei has messy short blond hair and wide dark brown eyes and brows. He appears to be shorter than most of his peers and often wears the standard Furin High uniform with a pair of black school shoes for footwear.
Personality
Nirei is generally calm and quite cheerful. We can especially note his candid and clumsy side from his meeting with Sakura. However, his character changes radically when he has to face danger. He becomes much more stressed and frightened, this being due in particular to his past of being bullied and by the fact that he doesn't know how to fight. He also feels rather pathetic about joining Furin without a combat skill, though his classmates say otherwise.
History
Throughout his middle school years, Nirei was constantly bullied until he was saved by a student of Furin High School. This leads to him joining Furin in hopes of becoming a hero and protecting the town. On the first day of class, he visited Kotoha Tachibana to show off his new uniform. It was at this moment that Nirei meets Haruka Sakura.
Story
Nirei first met Sakura during The Hero of My Dreams (chapter).
Relationships
Haruka Sakura
Nirei is Sakura's right-hand man and class co-delegate. Nirei first meets Sakura in The Hero of My Dreams (chapter), having labeled the latter as a weirdo based on his appearance and resolve. His opinion on Sakura quickly changes after he was told he wasn't pathetic by the latter. Although scared of Sakura's rough way of speaking, Nirei views him as someone cool and wants to collect data of him. Taking an immediate liking towards Sakura, he offers to take him to the top. Nirei always views Sakura as someone strong or impressive, yet in Visit His Home, Nirei's view on Sakura slowly starts to change. He becomes aware of Sakura's loneliness. Later on after Sakura reveals his true feelings, Nirei's resolve to help Sakura grew stronger. Nirei wants to be at his side when the latter's at the top.
Kotoha Tachibana
He occasionally visits Cafe Pothos to have his regular breakfast made by Kotoha. They have a friendly relationship.
Skills
Memorization: Nirei is shown to have a great memory, as he is able to memorize the names and faces of all the students at Furin High School under one night.
Self-Defense: In the beginning, Nirei is defenseless in combat situations. But after training with Suo, he learns two techniques to defend himself. This includes the 'Duck' technique where he ducks down to trick a charging opponent to fall over him. And the 'Beetle Throw' technique where he grabs opponents around the waist and tosses them to the side.
Etymology
- The name Nirei means "Japanese Elm (Ulmus davidiana var. japonica)" (楡) (nire) and "well, well crib, town, community" (井) (i).
- Nirei's given name Akihiko means "autumn" (秋) (aki) and an antiquated term for "boy, lad" (彦) (hiko).
Trivia
- He loves hats and sunglasses
- He's running out of space to keep his clothes
- He likes pop-styled covers
- He usually has gummies in his pockets
- He loves melon soda
- He prefers folding wallets
- He is actually not a fan of loud, ruffian patterns (like what he wore on the first day)
- He likes to roll up his pants
- He loves thrifted, button-down colored shirts (he's the cheap type)