arai tougo
Name: 新井透吾 (Arai Tougo)
Born: 27th November
Starsign: Sagittarius ("Iteza" in Japanese)
Blood Type: AB
Manga Summary: Commuting to school on a prohibited bike, (Arai is) a problem student for whom arriving late and leaving early is an everyday occurance. However he is popular in school on account of his street smart personality and showy spirit.
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Arai Tougo is the "bad boy" of the Seiryuu Academy, and he doesn't care how many rules he breaks so long as he has a good time. He speaks back to the teachers, answers his mobile phone in class and is often back after curfew, causing him to climb in through the window (or more usually Takagi's window) to get back into the building.
Arai has a reputation as a flirt and as someone popular with the women, but his social life is not as clear cut as all that. He also has an on-off involvement with a former senpai Kawazoe Haruka who was head of the Photography Club when Arai was a first year. (In the PLUS manga, it's indicated that Kawazoe was the first person to best Arai in a clash of strength, and their mutual respect for one another grew up from that.). He is also the subject of Mikimaro's affections - although unwillingly!
Arai and Yuusuke are close friends, and Yuusuke looks up to Arai's experience and skill with the girls (although sometimes he thinks its competition and gets hot under the collar about it). Arai and Nakamoto also have a developing bond of friendship which becomes quite strong over the course of the manga - especially the PLUS manga. Although diametrically opposite in character, after having been roommates for a year, they have come to understand one another. Despite his swaggering and attitude, Arai has a good heart at the bottom of it and a strong sense of justice and injustice, even resorting to violence on occasion when someone he cares about is in trouble.
Arai is fond of Mikimaro, though not in the way Mikimaro would like him to be. Although he can be mean and teasing towards his classmate - though Mikimaro is older by a month, Arai often calls him a kid on account of his small stature - he can also be very understanding and it's Arai who Mikimaro has confided most of his family doubts to over the course of their acquaintance. Arai and Takagi have an ongoing rivalry which occasionally comes to blows as each of them tries to outpace the other, but at the root of it is a respect for one another and they can, on odd occasions, even team up towards the same important end. Takagi's cool sarcasm often sparks Arai's irritable temper, but on the whole the two of them knock along fine.
Arai is failing his classes (at the end of the PLUS manga it's revealed he has to repeat the final year, which comes as no surprise to him!) but he is not stupid. Rather, he is 'street smart' and 'people smart', generally able to read people's concealed motives and emotions and utilise this information to both his and their benefit. He is popular among his classmates and holds a fair amount of influence which, had he wanted to exploit it, could have probably landed him on the school council. However, he prefers not to do anything which involves work and would rather spend his time drinking in clubs in the Roppongi district of Tokyo.
Arai has a motorbike (which is forbidden on school premises, but it doesn't stop him from using it) and a driver's licence, since he sometimes drives his father's car. Arai and his father have an odd relationship which can probably be summed up as "ships in the night." Arai Yoshiki is a famous fashion designer and very successful, so Arai's background is wealthy and priveleged. However, Yoshiki has a lot of ideas which his son isn't at all interested in following. Arai's entrance to the Seiryuu Academy was at Yoshiki's behest, and in rebellion, Arai refused to wear the school uniform, skipping out of the house on the day they were meant to go get it. His mother appears to be a fairly ineffectual woman who has no control over either her son or her husband, although she loves both dearly and despairs of their being so divided.
Although Arai doesn't get on with his father, he doesn't hate him either - it's just a case that they have nothing in common and that Yoshiki was always away when he was a kid, which separation led the young Tougo to believe he wasn't important in his father's life. He is not involved in Yoshiki's fashion empire, but is acquainted with and friendly with several of the people who work for him, often running errands to help them out.