Natsuki Akabane

"I can't deny that it can... But I prefer to see things from a more positive perspective."

- Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc.

Natsuki Akabane (赤羽 夏樹) was a student at Hope's Peak Academy's Class 78th and participant of the Killing School Life. Having broken countless sporting records, specially competitive swimming, since he was in elementary, he received the title of Ultimate Swimming Pro (超高校級のスイマー, lit. Super High School Level Swimmer).

Appearance
Natsuki was a quite tall, tanned skin young man with a muscular build, short, dark brown hair and golden eyes; his fringe was kept tied with a silver hairpin. He wore a white button-down shirt with two open, black sports jacket, matching pants with a leather belt and white sports shoes with yellow accents. Underneath the shirt, he had a silver necklace.

Personality
Natsuki was an energetic and friendly individual who got along with others quite easily. He had an open mind and was quite easygoing about himself and everyone else, being easy to live with. Although very athletic, he was not dumb and actually quite intelligent. Natsuki could deal even with the most antisocial people and didn't take things to personal. As he used to pass a lot of time with Suzune Tsukishima, he "inherited" some of his traits as his tenderness and was quite optmistic about everthing.

Talent and Abilities
Natsuki was a very athletic person and such, quite strong himself. He would always leave his room before Monokuma's morning announcement with Suzune (and Enju Otsuka, while she was alive) to exercise a bit around the school area. He also trained a bit with Suzune and such, was able to defend through the basic he knew about martial arts. Natsuki was quite intelligent himself and could at least help in the trials.

Early life
Natsuki was born in a normal family as the older brother of two younger sisters. Although he had to help his fathers out by taking care of them, he could focus a bit in sports and was breaking records since he was in elementary school. His favorite sport would also be swimming so he trained very hard to this one in specific. He also had a part-time job to help his family with money. With all this, he was beyond diligent and responsible with what he had to do and his hobbies.

As he gained attention all over the country and even the pros wanted him in the Olympics, Natsuki was invited to attend Hope's Peak Academy as the Ultimate Swimmer Pro. Before doing so, he attended Summer Road Boys High School (夏路男子高校).

Killing School Life
Natsuki was among the ones who were trapped inside Hope's Peak Academy. He woke somewhere near the bath house at the despair hotel site. He was found by Amaya Hayama and Yukio Shizukane and introduced himself to them. He was also there when Monokuma presented their eternal lifes. Although quite panicked, he managed to stay calm. Suzune asked him and to exercise a little earlier than Monokuma's announcement. Natsuki got worried about his parents and sisters who were in his motive video.

One day, Natsuki met Suzune to exercise as usual, but Enju was quite soaked. They thought that she maybe took a shower before coming but that was impossible due to Monokuma's rule. Later, everyone found Ryo Fukukado's body in his own room and Yukio injured. Natsuki was one of the few that preferred to believe that he wasn't the culprit. When he discovered that Enju was the Ryo's killer, he blamed himself for not remembering the nighttime rule.

For chapter two, Natsuki got excited about the new pool in the second floor and he started to pass all his time with Suzune there, leaving before the nighttime announcement. In a day, Miki Kagurazaka went to the exercise room to work out a bit but couldn't open the door to the girls' locker room. She called Suzune and Natsuki, who were in the boys' locker room, and asked for help. Thinking that it would not be a good idea to open it as they were guys, they said that they should call the rest of the girls.

Along with the girls, the boys also came and all the female students forced the door open. Yozora Hoshinomiya was the first one to see the two bodies in the locker room and the investigation started shortly after. As Natsuki was with Suzune the whole time, they had alibis. At the class trial, Natsuki didn't want to believe that Mayumi Kirisaki was the culprit and also panicked when Monokuma said that they missed the vote. To his despair, they weren't executed. Instead, Mayumi and Yozora were killed to let them live and continue the killing game.

At chapter three, Natsuki was quite depressed by the recent events with four deaths in a row. Suzune tried his best to cheer him up but it was quite difficult. He passed all his time with him at the pool or somewhere near doing exercises. One day, they heard Momoe Izumihara's scream at the third floor and rush there, only to find Anna Kiryuin's corpse at the equipment room. Three people found the her dead so the body discovery announcement played, warning the other students. Again, Natsuki and Suzune were together the whole time so they had alibis.

At the class trial, he was sad due to Kotaro Koshimizu's motive to kill Anna. After that, Natsuki became even more depressive as everyone around him was dying and was afraid that Suzune would die, too. However, he cheered up a bit as the fourth floor opened and revealed the chem lab with protein drinks. He agreed with everyone else that Miki and Momoe should keep an eye on the shelves so that no one could take the poisons. He continued training with Suzune, but in a specific day, he came along to the chem lab to drink some protein only to find no one there. Natsuki thought it was strange, but decided to ignore this. Unknown to him, though, Momoe came from behind and attacked him with a hammer in the head, dying instantly. She then took his body to the Music Room's entrance in the fourth floor and used darts sheathed in slightly fatal poison to mask the real cause of death.

Creation and Development
Natsuki is basically a male version of Aoi Asahina from the original game as said by Yukio, although he is quite different and equal at the same time from her. His name is based on Natsuki Hashiba and Karma Akabane; his surname means "red wing" (赤羽) which is contraditory with his main sport and his first name means "summer tree" (夏樹).

Trivia

 * Yukio's first impression about Natsuki was as follow: "Asahina male version, to be honest I really liked him, I think he will be very useful for the cases (if he survives), and I will definitely try to make at least one free time event with him, and well, I already see him as best friend of Yukio."
 * Natsuki likes k-pop.