Kiyotaka Ayanokōji

Kiyotaka Ayanokōji is the main protagonist of the You-Zitsu series. He is a first-year student of Advanced Nurturing High School.

Following the entrance exam which he scored precisely 50 points in every subject, he was placed in D-Class. He is situated at the rear left corner of the class seated next to Suzune Horikita.

Background
Almost everything about his past, prior to the entrance exams, is unknown. During a flashback shown in Episode 6 however, Kiyotaka was seen as a child, where he was a part of some sort of an unknown organization called the White Room which was headed by his father. While there were several children who were lined up and assembled. He appears to have maintained his stoic expression even as a child, as he showed no emotion and looked on, even when another child, situated next to him at his left, was having difficulty breathing, and probably fainted for unknown reasons. There was also a time where a man who was hinted to be his father approaching and telling him those who don't reveal their talents are fools. From his time there, Kiyotaka underwent various training regiments, presumably including martial arts, while taking heavy and challenging written examinations giving him both extreme physical abilities and mental prowess. As time went on, more children started suffering like the previous child, leaving him the lone survivor of the group. His training caused him to believe that all humans are nothing but tools and that victory is all that matters in the world. With this point of view, he became determined to win no matter what and sacrifice anything or anyone to achieve his goal of obtaining victory.

At some point, he left the White Room and enrolled at the Advanced Nurturing High School to live a normal school life. After Kiyotaka took the entrance exams to enter Advanced Nurturing High School and scored exactly 50 out of 100 points on every subject, for his entrance exam. It was heavily hinted by a few others, that this act was done on purpose, just so he can avoid unwanted attention from the school. However, he denied such a thing by claiming it to be merely a coincidence.

Appearance
Kiyotaka is a young man of average height with brown hair, brown eyes, and a fair complexion. He is usually seen wearing the standard school uniform. When outside school, he wears a white hoodie covering a green shirt with an orange stripe along with brown pants. He also wears a blue vest over a white shirt and brown pants.

He is considered to be very handsome, as it was mentioned in the light novels, by Kikyō Kushida, that he ranked 5th in, amongst the first year boys. This is somewhat confirmed as he has attracted the attention of many girls in his class, some of whom are even very popular.

He also has an incredibly well-built body which was pointed out by Suzune Horikita at the swimming pool. She noticed the immense muscular structure of his body and his arms, particularly his lower arms and questioned if he did sports, but he denies this. The reason for this is most likely due to his extensive training he went through as a child in the White Room.

Most of the time, he is shown to express a carefree and idle look, which suggests an unconcerned attitude. This can be interpreted as indifference or a relatively passive demeanor. It is shown in a flashback, that even as a child he possessed a similar unmoving expression that he would keep until adolescence.

In contrast to the anime, the light novel depicts Kiyotaka with more dynamic facial expressions, however to an extent.

Personality
Kiyotaka is an inconspicuous and unobtrusive student, as while his grades are average, he possesses extreme insight for someone of his class as he is able to study the emotions of those around him.

He is very well-versed with history as he quotes many historic figures who are all well known for their intelligence. He tends to comes up with ingenious and imaginative plans as seen when he used the school rules to make his plans acceptable, so that he could obtain old test questions from a D-Class upperclassman by giving him 15,000 points. He also used knowledge of the rules and the purpose of points to bribe his teacher into stopping the expulsion of a student. In fact, it is hinted by a select few that he could have easily ascended to the higher ranking class because of his talents.

He is somewhat socially awkward, as he is very poor at communicating with other people and fails at properly associating with them. As a result, he speaks in a very monotonous way (in the anime) and tends to isolate himself from his peers not getting involved with social activities. These traits tend to leave the impression on others that he is cunning, uncaring, insouciant, and carefree, while also hinting at aloofness, latency, or generally an absence of enthusiasm for anything besides issues that specifically concern him. However, this appears to not truly be the case; he is shown to be capable of holding conversations, though in a somewhat dull and toneless way, as shown in his interactions with Kikyō Kushida and his other classmates.

Kiyotaka has voiced intentions of making friends, but his temperamental and emotionless attitude tends to leave him exempted from such matters. However, he has been capable of forming associations with others and seems to leave an impact on them. This was seen when he was quick to intervene when Suzune was about to be attacked by her brother, though he had no reason for getting involved. Whether he is simply going with the flow or genuinely looking out for Suzune is unknown, as both patterns are definitely plausible. He appears to show this caring side again after sacrificing 50,000 of his points so Ken Sudō wouldn't be expelled after the latter was on the verge of being expelled from school due to his failure on the recent exams. He also had no problem referring to himself as a friend to Honami Ichinose of B-Class (even though they had just met) when she reached out to him for help. Though whether this was a ploy on his part to ease her or a genuine display of consideration for her is unknown but it seems their later interactions suggest friendship. He quickly came to the aid of Airi Sakura when she was nearly assaulted by a crazed stalker and comforted her after the attack.

He does not like drawing attention to himself as after purchasing answers from old tests, he had Kushida take full credit even though he invested a lot of money to get them which probably could have improved his status in the class. This was seen again when he gave full credit to Suzune in stopping Sudō's expulsion after failing a test despite it being his plan and Kushida hinting it was him. He also allowed Sudō to believe Suzune planned the events that stopped his case after he was accused of hurting three students. In that time he denied his involvement in stopping it several times in the events of Sudō's case, in spite of Ichinose, Manabu, and Chabashira all hinting that he was the orchestrator for saving Sudō. He appears to not enjoy showing off his talents, which was the main reason for his concealing himself from unwarranted attention. It's unknown why he hides his intellect but it is shown in a flashback that a mysterious man (hinted to be his father) informed him that those who would hide their talent are fools. From this event, it could be that he does so to prove that he can do something without revealing what he is truly capable of.

He does not seem to want to extend his energy unnecessarily in other matters. This was shown when he refused to become a secretary of the Student Council despite directly being offered the position by the Student Council President.

It appears part of his aloof and standoffish personality stems from his mysterious past that he doesn't speak to people about. He gives vague answers about the matter and shows a dislike for when people press him on his past which causes him to reflect on it and leave him in anger. In his anger, he is more serious in his tone of speech as shown when he sternly told Suzune not to pry into his personal history.

In his anger, Kiyotaka is not above threatening people as he refused to comply with Sae Chabashira's order for him to aim for Class A after stating to have been asked to expel him at the request of an unknown person later revealed to be his father. He even resorted to threatening her and grabbing her by the collar, unafraid that she was a teacher and could have expelled him for assault.

Due to his upbringing and training in the White Room, he has come to see everyone around him as tools and is only intent on winning. He does not mind manipulating others nor concerning himself with sacrificing a pawn as long as they help obtain his goal. Because of this mindset and his actions, it is unknown on whether he actually cares for those he has befriended or if he just gained their trust to use them. In the light novels however, he seems to care about a few of those he is close to and befriended, meaning he may not be too entirely jaded in his views. This appears as the case since there are some of his classmates he refuses to manipulate for his own purposes, showcasing his moral side.

Abilities
Kiyotaka's past is very mysterious, however, he is shown to be extremely intelligent. Other than his claims of participating in after-school activities such as piano, calligraphy, and tea ceremonies but it is unknown if he really did any of these things. There is no known information regarding his past prior to the entrance exam of the school, that currently exists. In Episode 6, he is shown to have been a part of an unknown organization in his younger years, though how long he was there or how he left it is unknown.

While Kiyotaka would try to make friends, his inexperience in social matters has caused him to miss out on forming a group. While he does find an associate in Suzune Horikita, he is put off by her dislike of friendship and aloof nature. In spite of his desire to live a normal life, he finds himself helping people in their times of need as shown when he helped Suzune avoid pain inflicted by her older brother, Manabu Horikita, the Student Council president, Ken Sudō avoid expulsion twice and when he saved Airi Sakura from a stalker as well as possibly gaining her affections. His efforts to make friends has allowed him to make associates out of many people besides Suzune, including those of other classes, like Honami Ichinose, from Class 1-B.

Physical Abilities
It is presumed that there is more to Kiyotaka than he lets on as during his encounter with Manabu Horikita. Though Kiyotaka doesn't attack he was able to evenly maneuver and evade strikes directed at him in the skirmish with an air of relative indifference. He also displays excellence and a very high proficiency in all forms of grappling-based martial arts, as Kiyotaka utilizes quick reflexes on par with Manabu, to not only evade the latter's strikes but also enough to get him to back off. This act earned him praise from Manabu who inquired what fighting arts he practices as he is told that it was piano and calligraphy.

It was also mentioned in the light novels, he has great speed as shown when he ran incredibly fast during the relay race at the sports festival.

Similar to hiding his true intellect, he prefers to keep this hidden as shown when he barely put effort in a volleyball game at the pool. This led Suzune to question him as to why he hides it, as she witnessed his excellent athleticism, when he faced off against her brother and displayed extreme nimbleness, not to mention, incredible agility and speed. He is probably hiding most of his physical abilities, so the full extent of his physical feat, as well as, fighting skills are yet to be seen.

Intellectual Abilities
Along with his several other incredible talents, he is shown to be extremely intelligent as he strangely and intentionally scored exactly 50 out of 100 points for each subject on his entrance exams, where he even did it in a very obvious way, for unknown apparent reasons. In the manga, it is hinted that he is even more intelligent than Suzune Horikita who would later force him to aid her in reaching Class A. He is also a very skilled negotiator as he was able to get old test answers from an upperclassman by using both Kikyō's charms and his own persistence. He further displays this by halting the expulsion of Sudō by offering his teacher points while knowing it was within the school's rules and with the help of Suzune, his plan succeeded.

He has an incredible perceptive side to him, where he is shown to be very accurate almost all the time, since he was able to study the exact personalities in others as shown when he deduced Sakura's fear of strangers and Suzune's fear of her brother. He picks up on situations very fast as he deduced that Chihiro Shiranami was Ichinose's admirer, that Sakura was in danger from an attack by a stalker, Kōenji's and Kakeru's plan after dropping out of the survival test, and saw through Suzune's façade of being healthy as she was ill in the survival test. He also knew Kakeru Ryūen was still on the island just from seeing a communicator that he had and picked up on Mio being a spy for Class C and outsmarted her by sabotaging her camera and making sure she'd steal the leader card before he made himself class leader.

The greatest display of his intellect is when he was able to figure out the plan of Class 1-A and Class 1-C. He showed great, as well as, superior skills in the art of manipulation, where he knew all along what motives both parties would use and carefully put his plan into action with different methods and successfully outsmarted them allowing his class to pass the survival test. This was very incredible as his quick wit surprised Kōhei Katsuragi and Kakeru Ryūen, who resorted to various methods to pass the test. His plan had earned him praise from both Suzune Horikita and Sae Chabashira who both were amazed at his accurate calculations and quick wit.

Academic Abilities
While he prefers not drawing attention to himself and would much rather fade in the background, he possesses outstanding talents in his academics. This was seen when it was heavily hinted by the Student Council President and his homeroom teacher that he intentionally entered Class D to hide his vast intellect. Kiyotaka even declined an offer to join the student council, just to avoid the extra tiresome work, this shows he has great talent in the art of being inconspicuous though some others have caught onto his talents. Most notably, Manabu Horikita, Honami Ichinose, Sae Chabashira, Suzune Horikita and Chie Hoshinomiya all hint that Kiyotaka is clearly the smartest student in his class and could have effortlessly gotten into the upper classes but conceals his profound intelligence from others.

It appears this was confirmed in Episode 8 as Sae Chabashira told him to start reaching for Class 1-A immediately or be expelled for not showing his true intelligence, strongly implying that he could easily reach that class with such ease if he applied himself to it. He had even showed his intellect and ingenuity exceeded the intelligence of Kōhei Katsuragi who is the second intelligent person of Class A. His actions in the survival test even caused Suzune Horikita to question what drives him since he has proven that he is more than qualified to reach Class A.

Plot
During the bus trip to school, he witnesses Kikyō Kushida trying to plead for Rokusuke Kōenji to move from his seat for an elderly woman to no avail. Watching the scene, he comments on the situation as he takes notices of another girl looking on with a cold stare. After someone else gives up their seat, the students arrive at the school where Kiyotaka talks with the other girl who inquires as to why he was looking at her as he stated he saw a similarity between them in the bus incident. She tells him not to compare them as she chooses not to involve herself in such trivial manner as he notes she is worse than him.

He attends the opening ceremony where he and are later shocked to learn they are classmates to which the girl who is named Suzune Horikita states was a bad coincidence after they seated next to each other in class 1-D.

As most of the students introduce themselves, Kiyotaka evaluates most of their personalities before he is asked to introduce himself. His unsure thoughts cause him to be unable to properly introduce himself though he is able to give his name and his hopes to be friends. The class meets their teacher Sae Chabashira who tells them about points and how the school operates.

Days go by, Kiyotaka is unable to make friends but does find an associate in Suzune Horikita who sits next to him in class. He later meets Kikyō Kushida who is one of the few in the next person besides Suzune to interact with him.

After a month passes, the class is told they won't get points after squandering their points, they put hopes in an upcoming test. Kiyotaka is tasked by Suzune to gather up a group of students for a study group but none comply however, he brings in Kushida who easily gets them to join.

One night, while getting a drink, he finds Suzune about to be assaulted by her older brother Manabu Horikita but he quickly intervenes by grabbing the man's hand telling him to release her. He is then told by Suzune to not get involved and releases Manabu before avoiding the latter's strikes with ease. He is asked which fighting arts he practices but he gives a vague answer, Manabu recalled him from his test scores and left after implying that Kiyotaka is hiding his intelligence.

He is thanked by Suzune but he shrugs it off, when she compliments his fighting skill he states its nothing special just piano and tea ceremony to which she calls him out on his contradictory statement. He is then questioned by Suzune if her brother's statement about him scoring half of what he should of made was true but he doesn't give her a clear answer. Suzune then remarks that everything about him is a mystery, in which he asks her if she was really done with the study group which she confirms stating those who fail doesn't concern her. Ayanokōji soon inquires, on whether if it was this distant and cold behavior personality of hers that got her placed in Class D but she couldn't answer it.

When Suzune decides to disband her study group, Kiyotaka decides to use the school rules to his advantage. With the help of Kushida, he makes a request from an upperclassman to give him answers to an old test in exchange for points while also having Kushida use her charm to further convince him to lower his payment. Not liking attention, Kiyotaka has Kushida take credit and a majority of the class passes except Ken Sudō who would be expelled. Kiyotaka then used his points to bribe the teacher to halt this decision, to which she agrees but only if he gives her a large price which he can't pay but he is supported by Suzune who puts some of her own points as well. Because of this, Sudō is saved and the teacher tells them to keep making things interesting for her since they did something for a classmate that no one else did in Class D.

At a celebratory party at his room, Kiyotaka is asked by Kushida if he had a hand in stopping Sudō's expulsion as the latter and his friends listened to see if this was true. However, Kiyotaka casts the credit to Suzune to her dismay. Much later, he goes to return Kushida's phone but witnesses her violent personality and his presence is made known to her and she threatens him with sexual assault if he tells anyone, which she could prove doing so by placing his hand on her breast. After she asks whether she can trust him, he swears not to tell anyone as she goes back to her cheerful personality as he questions himself over her real self.

Kiyotaka soon makes another acquaintance named Honami Ichinose of Class 1-B, and helps her in facing a love confession from a friend by giving her the courage to be honest after she requested he pretends to be her boyfriend. When that was done, he gained her gratitude and she helped in proving the innocence of Sudō after he was accused of attacking three boys of Class 1-C.

He and Kushida soon meet Airi Sakura who witnessed the fight but she doesn't want to get involved but after her camera breaks she asks for their help. In two instances, first by helping her with the camera and the second was by telling her not to burden herself with the current event. These encouraging words later motivate her to call Kushida to tell her that she will help at Sudō's hearing.

At the hearing, he helps a nervous Suzune return to her senses and she calls upon Sakura who provides her evidence. After the hearing, when Manabu stated he expected more from the hearing, Kiyotaka shrugged it off and once more avoided Manabu's strikes, with ease, after affirming his belief in Sakura.

After that, Kiyotaka and Suzune devised a plan to get the trio of class 1-C to withdraw their complaint which had Kiyotaka borrow points from Ichinose to get cameras. The plan is successful as Suzune and Kiyotaka have them believe the Student Council President is aware of the truth causing them to withdraw their complaint. Soon after, he talks with Ichinose and with her help he saves Sakura from being assaulted by a crazed stalker. After the stalker is apprehended by security, Kiyotaka makes another acquaintance from his class.

During summer break, he was part of a group of boys who planned to peep on the girls changing room under the name "Argos-4" though he didn't really want to participate, his actions were to make sure the class didn't suffer more problems. Knowing that boys probably would proceed behind his back, he decided to join but enlisted Suzune's help to stop it. He invited her to the pool and told her of the boys plan to ask her to get the memory cards from the camera after everything was done. He later invited Airi Sakura the pool as well to have fun and they met up with students of Class B. At the outing, Kiyotaka tried to use this as a way to get Suzune to lose her cold demeanor and associate with people though it was tough to get through to her. When the boys plan hit a problem, they signaled Kiyotaka for help and he had Suzune perform a speech which distracted everyone. This allowed the boys to safely abort the plan, after the speech Suzune collected the cards. Kiyotaka thanked her for the help before asking if she had fun after getting a negative reply, he pushes her into the pool and she does the same though his action somewhat works as everyone starts to play with Suzune.

On a school cruise, he talks to Ms. Chabashira who informs him there was an unknown man who said to expel him. She promised to protect him but only if he will start working to reach Class 1-A but he refuses to comply as she promised that he will be expelled which causes him to grab her by the collar and warn her not to manipulate him. After that he goes to the bow of the ship, where he contemplates of whether he should reveal his talents just to stay in school.

He later spends his time with 3 Idiots of D-Class being confused over why they were excited about Ike asking Kushida if he can call her by first name. He was even more confused when Sudō asked what Horikita's first name was as he gave his answer before they all go to get lunch. Kiyotaka notes on how out of element they were as Sudō grabbed one student for insulting them before he meets Kōhei Katsuragi and after he breaks it up Kiyotaka leaves taking note of Katsuragi. At night, he approaches Sakura while she was on the deck of the ship practicing a confession for him, if he can perhaps go out on a date with her, and his presence startles her getting her flustered but he assures her, that he didn't hear what she said, after she asks him if he heard or not, she is relieved as he inquires on to what it was. Sakura instead tells him that she needed his help in associating with their classmates, where she is seen to be still nervous around them. He agrees to help her, saying that it was nothing special, as she becomes elated at this, grabbing his hand out of gratitude. However, the moment between the two ceases when Kushida appears and Sakura quickly excuses herself by leaving.

He talks with her and notices that her bubbly nature almost makes him forget about the more persona he saw before. When he tries to leave, Kikyō stops him shifting back to her darker personality to make him talk with her. She inquired if he was nervous and wary being alone around her, to which he confirms, as she goes back to her other personality, and tells him that she just gets lonely when left all alone. She tries to tell something but decides not to go through with it and leaves as he is put off by this.

The ship arrives at island and is told that they are meant to survive on the island for a week in order to achieve bonus points. After receiving the provisions, Class D moves out with Kiyotaka talks with Suzune about his future after graduation but he doesn't give her an answer. After Hirata asks for everyone to gather supplies for camps, Kiyotaka volunteers telling a surprised Suzune its best to not stick out. He is paired with Sakura and Rokusuke Kōenji though he loses track of the latter since he hopped through the trees.

When they discover a spot, Kiyotaka has to hide Sakura as he felt someone was coming and cover her mouth just as Kōhei Katsuragi and Yahiko Totsuka appears. Kiyotaka overheard them talking and noticed a glimpse of Kōhei's leader card but knowing he was a cautious man, he deduced Yahiko was the leader. After the two left, he released Sakura and apologized for his action but she was seen still heavily blushing and squirming on the ground to his confusion, nervously mumbling that it was fine.

They investigate the spot and decide to report to Suzune how long she was going to be pretend to be healthy and she tells how long she's been sick.

The day after the underwear theft, the girls demand for the boys to separate from them. They make Hirata stand guard while Suzune states as a boy himself he needed to be watched as well and nominated Kiyotaka as another guard as he didn't seem like the type to peep on girls. While some of the girls note on his lack prominence in the class, they nevertheless accept him as a guard as he complains about being a last resort but accepts his circumstance.

With the class distracted by the fire, Kiyotaka put his plan into action after helping Suzune return to the ship. He secretly made himself leader to throw off Class A and C, giving the leaders of those classes to Hirata and informing him that Suzune discovered them.

After the test, Class D is declared the winner of the test due to correctly deducing the leaders of the other classes. Upon returning to the ship, Kiyotaka is met by Suzune who questioned him on how the class passed the test and he tells her his plan and how he outsmarted the other classes with various tactics, which leaves her in amazement at his intellect. He also gave her credit for the correct guessing of the other class leaders, much to her dismay.

As this happens, Kiyotaka is contacted by Sae Chabashira who requests he meets her at the theater. Once there, Kiyotaka's plan is complimented by her and she reveals it was his father who requested he be expelled though the latter said Ayanokōji would leave on his own accord. Chabashira soon asks him on what he plans to do now, to which vaguely answers as she laughs at his response.

He wanders the ship just as Suzune confronts him once more and he calmly states she needed allies having noticed she finally changed her anti social behavior. After he confirms he did everything to help her, she gets flustered and blushed before begrudgingly thanking him as she stated she will see him as an ally though she warns Ayanokōji not to get too friendly with her as all she wants is to get to class A.

While she goes on, Kiyotaka internally notes that he doesn't acknowledge her, Kushida, and Hirata as his allies but merely pawns in helping him win. As it turns out, Kiyotaka 's time in the White Room has made him more than willing to do anything to accomplish that goal even use people for that purpose believing that all of humanity are nothing but tools. He ends his monologue by stating that all that matters is him winning in the end.

Quotes

 * (To Suzune Horikita in Episode 6) "I will help you get into A-Class. But… don't pry into my life."

Trivia

 * It is heavily hinted by five characters that Kiyotaka is hiding his true vast intelligence and physical capabilities, so that he could enter D-Class, to intentionally hide them from others, for unknown reasons. Those five characters are Manabu Horikita, Suzune Horikita, Sae Chabashira, Honami Ichinose, and Chie Hoshinomiya.
 * Manabu Horikita- The former student council president who met Kiyotaka when he nearly attacked his sister but was stopped by him. After a skirmish where he praised Kiyotaka's skill, he recognized Kiyotaka as the first year student who scored fifties on his entrance exams after questioning this he was told it was a coincidence. He has tried to invite him to the Student Council but was rejected though continues to maintain an interest in him.
 * Suzune Horikita- His classmate and acquaintance who started to use him to reach Class A due to his insight but started to wonder about the depths of his true intelligence and capabilities after an event with her brother. She has questioned him on these issues various times but always receives vague answers or is told not pry into his life.
 * Sae Chabashira- His homeroom teacher had became interested in him after he spoke to her about equality and stopping the expulsion of Ken Sudō. She spoke with Suzune telling her that Ayanokōji possesses great talent and could be the smartest of the class but hides it for unknown reasons. She tried to blackmail him into reaching for Class A by threatening to expel him after his father requested it but he refused. She later seems to accept his choice but tells him to keep her amused.
 * Honami Ichinose- A student of Class B who became an acquaintance of his after he helped her. She recognized his intelligence after he outsmarted Class C and was confused as to how someone of his intelligence could be in Class D but chose not to press it out of respect of his privacy. She would later seem to be in deep thought as to why he hides his talent from others after a talk with her teacher.
 * Chie Hoshinomiya- The homeroom teacher of Class B despite not knowing him very well, she has come to recognize his talents and to instinctively watch out for him.
 * According to Sae Chabashira, since Class 1-D is for those with defective traits Kiyotaka is the most "defective" student of the class due to hiding his true talents.
 * Chie Hoshinomiya, the teacher of class 1-B seems to recognize Kiyotaka's true talents, despite not knowing him. Honami Ichinose also wonders about him, more specifically on why he hides own capabilities in spite of his great talent.
 * In Episode 6 where a glimpse of his past has been shown it is suggested he was part of an unknown organization which may coincide with his excellence in his martial arts fighting skills.
 * It is mentioned in Episode 8, by Sae Chabashira that there is an unknown man who wants him expelled.
 * It is heavily implied that this man knows of his mysterious past, this man may also be connected to his mysterious past somehow.
 * In Episode 10, another glimpse of his past is shown with an unknown man telling him he should use his talents rather than hide them.
 * It is heavily implied that the unknown man, may presumably be his father.
 * In Episode 12, it is confirmed that the man was his father.
 * In the Light Novels, Arisu Sakayanagi from class 1-A has stated that she knows Kiyotaka very well in fact, as well as, everything about his hidden secrets and mysterious past.