Characters/Sensei
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| Personal Information | |
|---|---|
| Name | Sensei |
| Birthday (Age) | ?? (31) |
| Type of Character | Main |
| Additional Information | |
| Hair Color | Brown |
| Eye Color | Black |
| Height | 6′0′′ (182cm)′ |
| Job(s) | Teacher at Kumon-Mi High |
| Hobby(s) |
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| Like(s) |
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| Dislike(s) |
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| Family |
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| Affiliation |
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| First Appearance | Every Day I Grow Some More |
Sensei is a teacher at Kumon-mi High, responsible for an all-girls class of students. To say that he teaches them may be an overstatement. Described by some as "creepy", by others as "hot", and by most "a terrible teacher", strong opinions on Sensei are the norm.Sensei's memory about much of his past is hazy at best, and unfortunately his students and friends are not very interested in filling in the blanks.
— Official Lessons in Love website
Sensei is part of the Main Cast of in Lessons In Love. He is the protagonist of Lessons in Love.
Background
Due to his backstory being a central plot element of Lessons in Love, and his own amensia, very little of Sensei's past is explained and he remembers even less. The blanks are only filled in by those with connections to his past, such as Ami, Noriko, Niki, Ayane, and sometimes Maya. However, even these hints are often only indirect or heavily obfuscated through surreal imagery.
What is known, though, is that Sensei is the brother of Nozumu Arakawa, and is the son of a woman named Saki and an unnamed father. Growing up, he spent most of his time over at the neighboring Nakayama's house, spending his time primarily with the family's two daughters, Niki and Noriko. Due to how often he'd come over, the family viewed him as a fifth member. As time went on, Niki and Sensei began to spend more and more time alone together, eventually starting to date during their teenage years.
Around eight years before the start of the game, an unspecified accident caused Sensei to suddenly disappear, abandoning the previous life he had. He eventually moved to the Old District, becoming a tutor and teaching various girls, including Noriko and Maya. He'd eventually abandon this life as well, disappearing for a second time and landing a job at Kumon-Mi High.
As explained by Maya in A New Beginning, there have been numerous versions of Sensei before the current incarnation, and they've all eventually succumbed to Kumon-Mi's cyclical loops. While it's implied this part of his life is a fabrication, the girls all have preconceived views of a 'previous version' of Sensei. They all remember him as a serious, respectable, and great teacher before First (?) Day of School. Makoto and Futaba in particular deeply respected and idolized him.
Characteristics
Despite being the teacher of over ten students, Sensei has very little interest in actually teaching, and has little energy in general. He spends class napping, pushes all paperwork and procedural work onto Makoto, and speaks to his students casually without any regard for the expected distance between them. When off the clock, he can be found aimlessly wandering the streets of Kumon-Mi, usually in an attempt to find and speak to one of the various girls in his life. This extreme lack of direction extends itself to his relationships, often expecting nothing of his friends and wanting them to expect nothing from him, being hesitant to even refer to some of the girls as his 'friend'.
Perhaps the most defining trait of his is his near insatiable lust. He lusts after most girls he meets and spends a lot of time indulging in his fantasies. He pursues nearly all women around him and goes to great lengths to achieve said goal, frequently risking his social standing in addition to the risk of possibly hurting the girls. While the depths of his lust are somewhat dependent on player choice, he can generally be characterized as someone whose lust guides him.
He's also deeply cynical, often spiraling into nihilistic monologues in his head, and sharing these thoughts with his students when prompted. He usually jumps to the worst-case scenario and often advises his students from said position. Perhaps as a result of this deep pessimism, few things are shown to be able to phase him, often taking the brunt of emotional outbursts and tense situations with little more than a slight frown. When he is feeling stressed, he's reluctant to admit this to anyone, or even express this, preferring to silently brood over the fact until the feeling subsides. During these moments, his pessimistic monologues turn on himself, and he spends a considerable amount of energy belittling or dehumanizing himself.
He isn't completely callous, though, and has shown moments of sensitivity, kindness, or emotional sincerity. He's often hesitant to admit when he cares about others, but has slowly become more open to the idea over the course of the game. From the start, though, he's shown to be vulnerable to bursts of emotional sincerity, such as his initial meeting with Chinami sparking a protective instinct in him, leaving him speechless for most of the interaction. He was similarly awestruck during Chika's contest during the first Dorm Wars, and Noriko's contest in the second. And, while he is self-admittedly bad at it, he often does try to cheer others up when they need it.
Relationships
Ami
Being his niece, Ami and him have a much more friendly and familial relationship than the other girls. Due to living together, they spend a majority of their time together, and he often playfully pokes fun at her, much to Ami's chagrin. The lengths of Sensei's love for Ami is dependent on player choice, but regardless from this, Sensei cares deeply about Ami and admits to himself that he does love her beyond normal courtesy. He often mentally notes how easily Ami has made his life, and relies on her constant supervision to make it through the day.
Despite this, he's reluctant to rely on her emotionally, or let her know about various aspects of his life, such as refusing to explain his situation with Molly. While he appreciates all Ami does for him, he often finds her excessive love for him suffocating, or even detrimental and he's not above flexing his authority over her in order to suppress it.
Ayane
Ayane immediately interests Sensei, being the only girl who readily throws herself at him from the start. Sensei immediately hits it off with Ayane, being able to play off her constant flirting and advances. Sensei views Ayane as "crazy", a sentiment he continues to hold even after he's become acquainted with her passion for him and her her passion for him and her unsettling habits. While he often has to fight off these habits, he never shows any signs of finding her annoying.
His relationship with Ayane is the first to deepen, and the two share a more intimate relationship as a result, with Ayane taking The nearly every opportunity to make passes at him. This only deepens as the game goes on, with Ayane becoming one of the first people Sensei can admit he'd miss if they disappeared. Their bond is strengthened once Ayane makes it to the rooftop and she's able to break him out of his spiral of self-loathing and pessimism. From then on, the two confide in each other about the nature of Kumon-mi, with Sensei able to relate easier due to their shared inexperience.
Maya
Due to Sensei and Maya being, at first, the only two capable of experiencing the end of the world, the two share a more surreal and permanent bond than the other girls.
Maya and Sensei share a past that is obscured in mystery. What little is known is that Maya was one of Sensei's reoccurring students back when he tutored in the Old District and that the two hit it off almost immediately. Noriko blames Maya for being the cause of Sensei's second disappearance, though this a biased recount.
Maya immediately strikes Sensei's interest, due to the suggestion that she has some clue as to what the 'true nature' of Kumon-Mi is. Despite Maya's animosity towards him, he enjoys aggravating her and repeatedly visiting her during her shrine maiden duties. While he often leaves their conversations confused, he repeatedly attempts to break down the thick walls around her. As the game progress, Maya lets him in more and more, confiding in him, inviting him out for her birthday, and, eventually, admitting she does care about him.
Schoolstaff
As stated by Wakana, Sensei has garnered a reputation among the school faculty for being a failure of a teacher. His unhealthy obsession with teenage girls and his general apathy towards actually doing his job are all well-known facts among the other teachers, although the lengths of their knowledge have yet to be confirmed.
Memorable Quotes
- "Teenagers are exhausting..."
- "Despacito consumes me whole."
- "If you’re unhappy with yourself now, you can always change, Molly. Don’t let anyone, not even me, tell you that you can’t. Because it’s all shit right now, but there really is a beautiful world out there. I promise."
- "This is the worst hot boy summer ever."
Trivia
- Sensei has the ability to understand birds like Noodles, Todd and John.
- In Noodles' case, Tsuneyo is also able to understand him, perhaps due to their "familial" bond.
- According to Ami in Slumber Party, Sensei considers watching a movie without popcorn a 'sin'.
- In No Romeo, Ami mentions briefly how Sensei used to act out Shakespeare's plays with her when she was younger, sometimes even being joined by Ami's mother.
- According to Touka in Lives and Minds of Laymen, Sensei has an extensive background in literature, explaining his knowledge of classical poetry.
- This knowledge seems to extend beyond fiction or verse, as he easily identifies a quote from Aristotle in the same event.
- In the past, Sensei used to love horror movies, watching them all the time with Niki when they were kids.
