Takashi Saitou (西東 天, Saitou Takashi) is the father of Jun Aikawa and the grandfather of Magokoro Omokage, as well as the leader of The Thirteen Stairs.
Personality
Takashi is the worst human being in the world, one who does not fit anywhere. As such, he set his goal as the destruction of the world. He has a blatant disregard for human life, shown by the fact that he abandoned his daughter, Jun, without any hesitation, once he figured that she was useless.
Takashi believes in destiny, and he thinks that there is no way to change it. His philosophy is that no matter what they try, humans cannot escape fate, and that the only true decisions they can take are meaningless ones, anything else being corrected to happen according to this destiny. As such, he belives the world to be like a story, and his true goal is to set foot outside of the story, and of the destiny of the world, in order to be able to observe and enjoy it fully, and he thinks this is possible. He explains that once, when he was young, he attempted to go against fate, and as a result, he was "exiled from karma".
When talking, Takashi has the habit of repeating phrases that the person he is talking with has said. His favorite phrase is "It is all the same either way". He has a glasses fetish, and so he set the condition for joining The Thirteen Stairs to wearing glasses (this condition was broken by the thirteenth stair, Magokoro Omokage). He loves manga, and his favorite car is a white Porsche.
According to I, Takashi is very similar to Aikawa, from his confidence and unreasonable way of talking, as well as his lack of care and understanding for other people's situations, despite the two's very different outlooks on life.
Appearance
Takashi is a tall middle-aged man with short black hair. His face is always obscured by a kitsune mask while in public, and he is usually seen in a white yukata covering a white T-shirt. When he takes off his mask, his face is described as being manly and handsome, with an angry expression on it.
Another outfit of his is a white suit with white pants, and a brown fur scarf around his neck.
History
When he was 10 years old, he fathered Jun Aikawa, through incest with one of her twin older sisters, after which, the two disappeared. His parents both died when he was 13 years old.
He, along with Akira Kajou and Junya Aikawa, created Jun Aikawa in an experiment to create the strongest human, but they deemed her a failure and threw her away. They also created Puniko Yuigahama as a different approach to this goal. After Takashi abandoned the experiment, his colleagues continued it and came up with Magokoro Omokage.
At some point in the past, Yaku Kigamine was a former subordonate of Takashi Saitou.
It is mentioned that after Akane Sonoyama left the Seven Fools, Takashi was the most likely to take her place.
Plot
Soushiki Zerozaki's Human Experiment
Takashi inviting Hawatari
It was revealed that Takashi sent Izumu Niounomiya to attack the Sawarabi siblings in order to see if any of them are fit to become members of The Thirteen Stairs, but Hawatari Sawarabi was out on a job while this happened. Since Izumu defeated Naguma Sawarabi and Yumiya Sawarabi, he deemed that the only one he could invite was Hawatari.
While the man was finishing up a job, Hawatari was approached by Takashi and invited to join the organization, telling him that he deserves better than to be a hitman for some branch family. Hawatari declines his offer.[1]
Cannibal Magical
After I visited Tomo Kunagisa's house, and realized that she was gone to the hospital, he was about to leave for his apartment when he noticed a peculiar man in traditional Japanese garb and a fox mask, who was, of course, Takashi Saitou. I was getting on his Vespa, when the fox-masked man aproached I. He explained that he felt a "karmic connection" to I, which made the boy quite confused. Takashi says that he, like I, has also been stood up by someone he was waiting for, and so he says that the two should spend time together. I, feeling creeped out, attempted to leave, when Rizumu Niounomiya, who came to meet Takashi, recognized him.
After scolding Rizumu for making him wait three whole hours, Takashi has her explain how she knows I. She tells him that I took care of her when she passed out, which annoys the man, who pulls out 4000 Yen to pay I back. After that, Takashi says that since I even knew Rizumu, the karmic connection between the two was too strong to let the boy go, and so he dragged him along in his white Porsche. Since the car was a two-seater, I had to make Rizumu sit in her lap.
After arriving at their destination, a traditional high-class restaurant, and taking their seats, Takashi explains that he is Rizumu's "client", and that he asked her to look for Hitoshiki Zerozaki. I is quite flustered at this, and he says that he doesn't know anything about Hitoshiki, although Takashi and Rizumu both look suspicious of him. Takashi tells I that he was looking for him because he found the killer interesting, and thought that destiny may connect the two.
After that, Takashi start a conversation, although mostly one-sided, about his beliefs with I, where he explained all his views about destiny. Rizumu fell asleep during this. I found himself interested, almost touched, by Takashi's perspective, agreeing with a lot of what he thinks. At some point, I commented about Yaku Kigamine, which got Takashi very riled up. After rapidly inquiring I about what he knows of the woman, he mumbled to himself, amused. Then, he kicks the sleeping Rizumu in the rib, waking her up, and then told her that they have business to do, before leaving I a 10000 Yen for the bill, and exiting the building. I is left intrigued by the man, noting how similar he is to Aikawa.[2]
Uprooted Radical (Part One)
Uprooted Radical (Part Two)
Uprooted Radical (Part Three)
Abilities
Back Nozzle: Takashi Saitou explains that, as the "story" cannot be changed, events important to it would happen in some form or another anyway. As an example, he says that even if I didn't meet Takashi and Rizumu in front of Kunagisa's house, they would have met anyway in another way. Therefore, the only events that can be truly affected by humans are those unimportant to destiny.
Jail Alternative: Takashi Saitou explains this concept as the fact that events intended to happen will happen anyway, even if the individual needed for it are different. Even if one procrastinates on something that must be done now, they will have to do it later, and even if they don't, someone else will do it. As an example, he says that even if I didn't meet Rizumu then, he would have to meet Izumu sometime and somewhere else.
Trivia
- Takashi's last name, Saitou, is made up of the characters for "east" and "west" (西, Sai = East; 東, Tou = West).
- Takashi's first name means "heaven".