Biodata
| Feature | Value |
|---|---|
| Name | Ayanokoji Kiyotaka (清隆) 2 |
| Gender | Male 2 |
| Affiliation | First-year Class D, Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing School 2 28 |
| Occupation/Role | Student 2 |
| First Appearance | Chapter 1 1 |
Background
Kiyotaka spent his first sixteen years in the White Room, where instructors trained him to pursue victory but did not teach him much about ordinary social life. Hoshino En later questions how Kiyotaka entered a school that, according to En, requires a middle-school recommendation letter 41 43.
On the bus to school, Kiyotaka watches En give his seat to an elderly woman and decides En might be someone with whom he could have a comfortable high-school life 1. Both are placed in Class D. Kiyotaka's flat, hesitant self-introduction receives a chilly response from their classmates 2.
Appearance
Kiyotaka is described as clean-featured and usually expressionless 2 43.
- His voice is generally flat and emotionless 4 43.
- Even when he tries to look troubled, his face may remain unchanged 59.
Personality
Kiyotaka wants to live like an ordinary student and make friends, but struggles with social cues and initially finds En's advice about sincere friendship difficult to understand 2 28 43. He approaches his deskmate Horikita Suzune partly because a poor relationship with her would make daily life troublesome 28 43.
His White Room training leaves him strongly focused on winning and wary of threats to his freedom 41 48. As he grows closer to En, he begins to feel unfamiliar emotions, including guilt, and to distinguish wanting to win from acting on a conditioned need for victory 41 42. He remains guarded enough to question En's motives despite their friendship 40 41.
Abilities & Skills
Academic Ability and Score Control
- Kiyotaka reports scoring exactly 50 in each of five subjects—Japanese, mathematics, English, social studies and science—on the entrance exam. En warns that such uniform scores make his deliberate control conspicuous 49 50.
- He helps Horikita tutor Yamauchi Haruki, Ike Kanji and Sudo Ken before the midterms 59 61.
Physical Ability
- After observing Kiyotaka in swimming class, En judges his physical ability to be excellent and nearly on par with Koenji Rokusuke's. En treats a contest between himself and Kiyotaka as an open question, not a settled result 43.
Observation and Deception
- Kiyotaka quietly records Sakayanagi Arisu and Ichinose Honami for En, then returns while concealing his role as a lookout 57 59.
- During their chess game, En uses Kiyotaka's response to competition to prompt him to examine what he personally wants 42.
Relationships
- Hoshino En — Classmate, neighbor and close friend. En coaches him on social interactions, shares late-night meals with him and encourages him to think beyond victory; Kiyotaka remains curious about why En helps him 28 31 41 42 51.
- Horikita Suzune — Deskmate whom he repeatedly tries to befriend. He later helps her tutor struggling classmates and works to change her approach to them 3 28 59 60.
- Sakayanagi Arisu — Knows of Kiyotaka from seeing him at the institution associated with his training and wants to defeat him. She also objects to his closeness with En 18 43.
- Kushida Kikyo — Classmate with whom he practices conversation during a dinner at En's room 41.
Story Role
- Settling into Class D: Kiyotaka tries to make friends while concealing his abilities. His attempts to approach Horikita are met with resistance, and En becomes a source of social advice 2 4 28.
- Friendship with En: Their meals and conversations bring Kiyotaka's White Room upbringing and fixation on victory into focus. A chess match helps him recognize a desire to win for his own sake 31 41 42.
- Class D's exams: He helps tutor classmates for the midterms and discusses score control with En and Horikita to help Sudo pass 59 61.