Akane Haruto

"There are many roads in life, leading to different destinations. Plan your trip through life carefully so you can reach your desired location. Open the right doors. And if anybody tells you otherwise, give them a smile and tell them "No". Don't let the options and biases of others become your reality— even if you don't think you do, you have the strength and courage to stand up when something knocks you down!"

- Akane

Akane Haruto (あかね はると Akane Haruto) is a female wizard from the guild Basilisk Fang. Due to her impish and cheeky nature and her Smoke Body Magic, Akane has been given the title of The Impish Phantom (其の 悪戯っぽい ファントム The Impish Fantomu). She is the main character of Identity Crisis, a fanfiction by Obotrash. Akane is a member of Team Skyreach alongside Subaki Heart and Dahlia Rominski, who are the main characters and are in charge of the search for the notorious killer Hell's Lion, as well as uncovering their true identity.

Akane is one of the most famous members of Basilisk Fang, having a reputation for being a wielder of the rare magic Smoke Body. She is known to be one born with a nature that goes against the use of magic, making learning magic an extremely hard task for her. Very few people are actually aware of how she went to the imposingly powerful mage she is today, though the people of her village suspected the Smoke God Branos took pity on her and granted her the usage of magic. Akane has confirmed this to be an untrue rumour and learnt from pure willpower and Hinoka, the village's guardian, teaching her the usage of Smoke Body.

History
Akane was born to Mei Haruto and Hiro Haruto of Kani Village, one of the Guardian Villages. Kani Village was the only village which held the knowledge of Smoke Body, a rare magic which grants the user to change into a ghost-like, transparent and smoky form. Whilst learning the magic, Akane often failed and lagged behind the other students, often being known as "The Disappointment Of Kani". Furious at both those who whispered negative words about her and herself for her failure in magic, Akane went to the village guardian Hinoka and demanded for her to teach her. After countless occasions of Akane's merciless pleading and persuasions, Hinoka finally gave in and accepted Akane as her pupil, warning her of the hardships.

Akane was worked to the bone, getting very few breaks and undergoing strict and ruthless training. However, the pain of training paid off, Akane's torments and fury becoming a fuel for her willpower and determination to use Smoke Body. When Akane finally reached fourteen, after six years of hard work, she had finally completed her training. She surpassed the other children leaning the magic from the village mages who taught them in collective groups, earning the admiration of her village. She continued to train and push herself, wanting to become a great mage and surpass the holy deity Branos, who was Kani Villages's God figure. After the worshipping sessions her parents attended, she would always ask of Branos' strength. Hearing their tales, her already scarce belief in the god began to diminish until all it meant for her was an obstacle to overcome. From that day forward, her only goal was to be seen as stronger than Branos the Smoke God by Kani Village.

When she reached sixteen, Akane went to Kani Village's elder Yoku, with the request of leaving the village. Simply telling him her reasons for leaving were "to become stronger and show the world the power of Smoke Body", Yoku was left unaware of her true intent. Akane hid her true reason, believing it would offend Yoku and destroy her chances of leaving. Yoku, however, gave her a mysterious smile and asked about her true reasoning. Akane tried to lie, but she was figured out. Yoku smiled and told her how he admired her seemingly impossible resolve, and told her of a wizard guild Kani Village was once affiliated with. Shocked he was aware of her true reason for leaving, Akane quickly gave him her most sincere thanks and told him how grateful she was.

Hinoka is sent by Yoku to bring Akane to Basilisk Fang, a guild Kani Village is allied with. Hinoka takes Akane to Highcrest Town, where the guild hall is situated, and talks to the master about Akane. She then quickly leaves and travels back to Kani Village, leaving Akane with the guild. She is accepted into Basilisk Fang upon hearing of her Smoke Body magic, and is quick to meet Dahlia Rominski after said girl hits her with a chair. They are quick to develop a rivalry, but form a team alongside Subaki Heart, a girl who aims for perfection. They form Team Skyreach, and become a known team through the wizarding world.

Basilisk Fang Mini-arc
After completing a job, Team Skyreach travels back to Basilisk Fang's guild hall. Instead of the usual loud atmosphere Basilisk Fang is known for, the team is greeted by a somber and eerily quiet hall, causing confusion. Akane is the first to speak up, asking what was wrong. Subaki, however, silences her as she picks up a newspaper on one of the tables. The three soon find out a multitude of wizards were murdered, each having a lion mark carved into their body parts. Still confused, Akane then asks why this is so bad the guild is dead silent. One of the members, Rika, speaks up by telling them Hana, an S-class mage of Basilisk Fang, was one of the victims. Consumed by rage, Akane throws a furious fit and begins to ramble mindless words. Dahlia is quick to silence her, then demands she speaks with the master of Basilisk Fang. Arcaia the master, listens to their request to chase after 'Hell's Lion' and capture him. After some consideration, Arcaia accepts their request and tells them she will speak to the Magic Council about it.

Fukura's Mountain Arc
After hearing more innocent civilians have fallen victim to Hell's Lion, Akane and the rest of Skyreach travel to Fukura's Mountain, where their corpses were found. Subaki informs the group that Fukura's Mountain is alternatively known as 'Hell's Summit', which causes Akane to make the connection that Hell's Lion and Fukura's Mountain may be connected somehow. Deciding to investigate the mountain, Team Skyreach splits up to explore. Akane, in the west side of the mountain, runs into a group of mountain bandits. She gets into a fight with them and takes them down, hearing them murmur something related to lions. Her suspicions telling her it's related to Hell's Lion, she sets off to find Dahlia and Subaki.

After locating Subaki in the north side of the crescent-shaped mountain, said girl tells Akane that she ran into a group of bandits. Akane expresses shock, telling her she too ran into a group of mountain bandits. The two continue to the east side of the mountain and notice a shocked, hollow Dahlia. She emotionlessly blunders out that there was another group of corpses, all with the lion insignia, then takes the other two of the group to the corpses. Noticing that they were wearing hiking clothing, Subaki presumes they were targeted hikers. However, Dahlia points to the shape the bodies were arranged in, Akane noticing it spells "ETH". The group escapes the mountains and travels back to the guild hall, alerting Arcaia of the bodies found. They also ask her what "ETH" stands for, to which Rika butts in and tells them it is often associated with Eventide Hotel, one of the most luxury resorts inFiore. Subaki is the first to speak up, offering to get tickets and investigate after Akane mentions it may be a clue left for them. Dahlia responds by saying it may be a trap to send them on a wild goose chase and send them off course, but Akane responds by angrily kicking her to the floor and snapping at her. The two get into a childish scuffle, stopped by Subaki. Arcaia agrees that they should go before shooing them out of her office.

Appearance
Akane has long, silky blonde hair usually left out, with a bright red hair tie pointing up from the back of her head. Her hair is rather wavy and eventually gets curlier and curlier as it goes down. She has round, ocean blue eyes and peach-coloured skin, usually donning a faint pink blush, even when she isn't embarrassed or in an emotion that causes blushing. Akane wears a sailor uniform with a large blue collar and an extremely long orange tie, as well as a blue pleated skirt the same colour as the collar. The sleeves are long and wide, the entire outfit being quite loose. Akane wears black tights that reach her upper thigh, as well as chocolate brown loafers as her choice of footwear.

Akane's Basilisk Fang guild mark is a light grey/purple colour and is right above her waist, on the right side. It is often hidden by her clothes.

Akane also has an alternative outfit, similar to her main but a different colour. Her collar is dark red and has two points on each side, and her shirt is more tight-fitting and a dark lilac colour. Her cuffs on the top are pointed and red like the collar. A tie, the colour of her skirt, with a triangular red line, is attached to top of her shirt. Her shirt has a pointed end lined with red, turning into her dark purple skirt. Like her main outfit, Akane wears black tights, but has pointed, formal black shoes instead. Her blonde hair is tied up,though still curly and a long length. During the Eventide Hotel arc, Akane temporarily changes her outfit once more to blend in with the tropical, casual crowd and fashion style vistors tend to wear. Her hair is tied up with the regular red bow, and she sports a white scarf with multicoloured stars dotting the fabric. Four white stars are on the end of the scarf. Her top is black, with a sparkly hot pink tank top over the black one. Akane wears a denim jacket that reaches her elbows, as well as denim shorts with an uneven yellow belt. Her shorts are frayed and have a hole in them, as well as the edges growing stringy and pale. She wears odd, black and white striped socks and pinkish brown combat boots with black laces.

Akane's swimsuit is a triangular, striped bikini with salmon-coloured and white stripes. This is first shown off in the Eventide Hotel Arc, and later in the Sea Kingdom arc.

Personality
Akane is a loud, boisterous and wild individual, never passing up an opportunity to have fun and fight. She is known to love brawling and will often be found clashing with Dahlia Rominski. She is loud and often causes a fuss, making it easy to be alerted of her presence. Akane is known to act prideful and egotistical, loving to flatter herself. Despite this, Akane can be impressed easily and is a very curious individual. One of her key flaws is the fact she is slow and somewhat oblivious, not being able to notice things quickly.

Akane's hotheadedness and short temper is a very noticeable trait, as she is quick to explode after even the smallest insult. She is an impish, mischievous person by nature, poking fun and making suggestive or annoying remarks to her friends and guild. Akane is embarrassed easily and hates it when her flaws are pointed out as shown in the Eventide Hotel arc when Subaki points out her inability to fight in water. When drunk, Akane turns to a giggly, happy person who acts like a hyperactive child.