DarkestDash
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Takagi Haruka (高木 遥花)
Basic Info
| Name | Takagi Haruka |
| Gender | Male-Identifying |
| Height | 176cm |
| Weight | 75kg |
| Birthplace | Toyama City, Toyama, Japan |
| Ethnicity | Japanese |
| Age | 24 |
| Birthday | November 22nd, 2001 |
| Languages | Japanese English (Conversational) |
Character Theme
General Appearance
Haruka’s vibe is a balancing act between unassumingly plain, and fashionably minimal. He has a penchant for sweaters, which always plays a part in his casual wear. His favourite sweater is blue and gray - a good all-around colour that he likes to wear between autumn and winter. In spring, he will adopt something with pink and yellow hues. Even in summer, he can be seen sporting a sweater and beanie, albeit with appropriate summer colours and lighter fabrics.
The beanie has also taken a permanent place in Haruka’s look. His favourite beanie is red, as it acts as a good accent regardless of the time of year. On top of that, Haruka also likes to wear a jacket alongside his sweater (except in the summer months). Typically a dark blue, but this will sometimes be a lighter colour in spring. Aside from that, loose-fitting jeans and sneakers complete his day-to-day outfit.
Despite the attention he seems to give his wardrobe, Haruka tends to blend in with crowds. His face is plain and unassuming, meaning he doesn’t command much attention, even with his sense of fashion. On top of that, his posture and the way he presents himself is more often than not, overly polite. His typical disposition does not stand out - by design.
The beanie has also taken a permanent place in Haruka’s look. His favourite beanie is red, as it acts as a good accent regardless of the time of year. On top of that, Haruka also likes to wear a jacket alongside his sweater (except in the summer months). Typically a dark blue, but this will sometimes be a lighter colour in spring. Aside from that, loose-fitting jeans and sneakers complete his day-to-day outfit.
Despite the attention he seems to give his wardrobe, Haruka tends to blend in with crowds. His face is plain and unassuming, meaning he doesn’t command much attention, even with his sense of fashion. On top of that, his posture and the way he presents himself is more often than not, overly polite. His typical disposition does not stand out - by design.
Personality
Haruka has a strong sense of social and communal identity. He often makes great efforts to blend in and not stand out among his peers. It is important for him to be a useful and productive member of his community. Likewise, he is deeply considerate of the others. He approaches everybody with utmost politeness and propriety, and will often apologise at length for even minor indiscretions. This does mean however that he rarely voices his own discomfort. If ever he does air an opinion or grievance, he has made a habit of doing so in a long-winded and roundabout way. This is to make sure that nobody would assume that he’s pushing said opinion on others.
Though this sense of community and social identity are deeply rooted in him, it is only but one aspect of Haruka. He has a variety of interests that matter to him on a personal level - highest among those being photography (specifically wildlife photography). Though a part of Haruka yearns to commit to his passion full time, he understands that it cannot pay the bills and does not provide much utility to his community. Thus, his photography skills are put to use in a more service-based context.
Haruka deeply values moments of peace and serenity. He spends a lot of time alone in nature. He is a lover of art and history, and will make efforts to visit museums as often as they rotate exhibits. Though he enjoys solitude and quiet, it doesn’t mean he particularly enjoys being alone. Sometimes he wishes he had a friend to sit with him in silence.
Though he has very few friends, those he does end up close with get to see a completely different person than who he presents to the general public. While public Haruka is dull and stilted in terms of his expressions and feelings, private Haruka is thoughtful and musing, often pondering the meanings of things. Private Haruka is also a bit of an oddball. He finds silly situations and visual gags utterly hilarious. Typically, if a joke is nonsensical and the situation ridiculous, it will be easy to get a laugh out of him. Though it’s rare, the opportunity to share a laugh (and sometimes a drink) with a friend is deeply meaningful for him.
Though this sense of community and social identity are deeply rooted in him, it is only but one aspect of Haruka. He has a variety of interests that matter to him on a personal level - highest among those being photography (specifically wildlife photography). Though a part of Haruka yearns to commit to his passion full time, he understands that it cannot pay the bills and does not provide much utility to his community. Thus, his photography skills are put to use in a more service-based context.
Haruka deeply values moments of peace and serenity. He spends a lot of time alone in nature. He is a lover of art and history, and will make efforts to visit museums as often as they rotate exhibits. Though he enjoys solitude and quiet, it doesn’t mean he particularly enjoys being alone. Sometimes he wishes he had a friend to sit with him in silence.
Though he has very few friends, those he does end up close with get to see a completely different person than who he presents to the general public. While public Haruka is dull and stilted in terms of his expressions and feelings, private Haruka is thoughtful and musing, often pondering the meanings of things. Private Haruka is also a bit of an oddball. He finds silly situations and visual gags utterly hilarious. Typically, if a joke is nonsensical and the situation ridiculous, it will be easy to get a laugh out of him. Though it’s rare, the opportunity to share a laugh (and sometimes a drink) with a friend is deeply meaningful for him.
Biography
(Please don't metagame this info)
Haruka was born in Toyama City on a sunny, mild autumn day. Though the weather was gorgeous, the leaves had mostly fallen to the ground and the flowers in Toyama’s botanical gardens had already started to change their colours in preparation for winter. Yet, for Haruka’s parents, Takagi Tadashi, and Takagi Aika, his smile reminded them of a spring day, hence the choice of kanji that spell out his name meaning “distant flower”.
From too young an age, Haruka was forced to learn how to be independent. His mother left both him and his dad when he was only six years old, meaning Tadashi had to both provide for and take care of Haruka. This was a challenge, considering Tadashi’s line of work. He was a maintenance worker at Kurobe dam up Tateyama and would sometimes be called up for days, even weeks at a time in order to do repairs. Luckily, Haruka’s grandfather, Takagi Yamato, was able to look after him while his father was away. Regardless, Haruka learned how to prepare his own meals and walk to school all on his own starting from his second year of elementary school.
When Haruka got a bit older - closer to the age of eight - he was even doing the groceries for his family. With his father gone and his grandfather getting older, there was plenty of responsibility sitting on his shoulders. His two cats needed feeding, plants needed watering, and the house needed cleaning. Some days, he was so busy looking after the house he couldn’t focus on homework - something that his father had to address after a concerned meeting with Haruka’s elementary school. Haruka’s grandfather was also growing concerned with how much responsibility was being placed on young Haruka. Most of Haruka’s best memories with his grandfather were the moments of leisure Yamato forced him to take. Yamato taught him how to play all kinds of games, from Go to Hanafuda. He was even taught some western games like checkers and connect four. On weekends, the two of them would frequent Toyama’s Museum of Modern art, and talk about their favourite pieces of art. His grandfather, the ex-journalist that he was, also took pictures of Haruka any chance he got - most of them very silly and ridiculous. Haruka inherited much of his sense of humour from Yamato.
Haruka’s most defining memory with his grandfather was on his twelfth birthday, when he was gifted an old Nikon F camera from the 1950s and a roll of 35mm black and white Kodak film. It was during a time when the Kurobe Dam was undergoing heavy maintenance, and Haruka had just entered junior high, so his course work was increasing and free time was scarce. Yamato challenged Haruka to take a picture of anything he found interesting, as a way to take micro-breaks throughout the day. On his very first day taking the camera to school, he filled out the entire roll of film. The next day he learned how to develop film by himself using a mixture of instant coffee and powdered detergent, in lieu of a darkroom. He keeps these pictures to this day in a binder in plain view, with one picture of his grandfather framed on his desk.
Haruka was hooked on photography. On his second year of junior high he joined the photography club. Though everybody else was using digital cameras, he was the only one using film and shooting exclusively in black and white (he had colour film, but it was expensive to develop). It was the perfect little hobby for him to have, as it would only take a brief moment during any of his chores or homework to take a picture of something he found interesting.
Haruka was just about to start his first year of high school when his grandfather passed away. Though his father was at home more at that point, and the relationship between them was deepening as a result, in Haruka’s eyes he had just lost his closest friend. Perhaps less obvious to him was that he lost the one person who always made sure to remind him to take a moment, have a break, and rest his mind. Though he and his father maintained a good relationship in the months after his grandfather’s death, Tadashi didn’t share the same philosophy as Yamato. Tadashi always encouraged Haruka to work as hard as possible, and stressed the importance of social utility. While Haruka always took that to heart, without his grandfather reminding him to relax, his high school days became draining.
Haruka remained in the photography club during his first year of high school, however he found himself taking less photographs overall. His studies were his highest priority, and getting into a good university was paramount. Of course, at that point in time he was undecided on what he wanted to do, but he figured if he worked hard and provided results, everything would fall in place.
The epiphany happened during one of his father’s extended work trips to Kurobe dam, early in his second year of high school. Haruka was at that point maintaining the house all on his own. At some point, he found himself so frustrated with chores and homework that he finally decided to just take one day off and go visit Toyama’s botanical gardens - a place he loved in his early childhood. He brought his camera, just to be sure. It was a quiet day in spring, where the flowers had just started to bud but weren’t quite yet in bloom. He found himself fixated on a small group of crows. He couldn’t explain why at the time, but those crows ended up the subject of a two hour photo shoot and two rolls of film. Upon displaying his ‘Crow Series’ to his photography club, the president of the club encouraged him to submit them to a local wildlife magazine - one of his photos was selected for the ‘Urban Wildlife’ section.
Wildlife photography became a solace for Haruka. It sustained him through the rest of his high school life. Haruka and his father even grew closer as a result of this hobby, as Haruka joined his father on a handful of trips to Tateyama in order to photograph some mountain animals. Though his school and home life were filled with endless studies and tasks to juggle, being outside and calm in nature brought him great joy and allowed him to maintain a connection with his late grandfather.
Haruka was accepted into Toyama University’s biology program. Though he wished to be a photographer as his career, he was worried about the feasibility of such a profession. At least as a biologist, he could learn about animals and anatomy, which would aid with his wildlife photography. Haruka wasn’t enrolled in any photography courses (he felt he could learn everything he needed on his own), however he did join his university’s photography club, which gave him access to a dark room for the first time. Of course at that point, he had already purchased a digital camera (A Nikon D500, which he saved money for 2 years working a part time job in order to buy) and was already getting into the weeds of raw digital image processing. Of course he was raised with film so that was always his preference.
Though Haruka did have a bit of a social life throughout university, none of his friends were ever interested in taking a bus out into the wilderness and sitting in silence for hours on end - something Haruka did on many of his free days throughout university. Through all four years of his bachelor, it never ceased to make him feel at peace. Naturally, he believed that every photo he took before his second year of university was garbage (despite getting some brief recognition by an indie wildlife website), and that only a couple of photos he took in his fourth year are actually worth talking about. Despite this reluctance to share, Haruka has thousands of photos across over a hundred rolls of film (and more than a fair share of SD cards when he was in the mood to shoot digitally) to show for it.
Schooling wise, Haruka ended up taking some forensics classes during his second year - something he ended up having knack for. With some encouragement from one of his professors and the results of some impressive grades, Haruka ended up finishing his Bachelor of Biology, with a minor in Forensics. Though that biology degree never ended up coming in handy, outside of his now rich knowledge of Japan’s diverse ecosystems and animals (plus their anatomies) aiding his wildlife photography, it was that minor in forensics, plus his photography skills that landed him a job with one of Toyama’s Forensic labs. It took him only about eight months as an intern before he became their defacto forensic/crime scene photographer.
Adulthood proved surprisingly draining for Haruka. While he loved his job as a forensic photographer, and found his colleagues to be delightful, he did end up pursuing photography on the side as a freelancer in order to keep up with his monthly payments. As a result of always being booked, he had to stop doing wildlife photography altogether. There would be some fleeting moments where he could take a trip and snap some photos, but true wildlife photography requires building a routine and allowing the animals to get used to your presence, which was something Haruka had no more time to do.
Then came the tipping point. For his first year on the job, every crime scene Haruka was called to was either a break-in, robbery, or a vandalism cases. He was a natural at the job, and his superiors often complimented him on the clarity of his evidence photos. It was when he was called to his first murder scene that things started to spiral out of control. Haruka had studied murders and murder scenes throughout his forensics courses, but it was not even close to adequate enough in order to prepare him for the real deal. Seeing the blood, the wounds, and the cold lifeless eyes of a victim who was all too young rendered him incapable of performing the job, forcing one of his coworkers to take over in his stead.
Haruka vomited several times that day - once at the crime scene, and twice more throughout the remainder. The rest of the week was spent sleepless and workless, as his superiors suspended him for almost ruining a crime scene. Thinking about the scene forced his mind to spiral into thoughts about his grandfather, the fear he had of losing his father, and the fear he had of dying himself. All the stress, which he had managed to keep in check up to that point, came gushing out of him. Haruka resigned from his job, and though he managed to do so civilly, this marked a major failure in his life. There was immense guilt and shame from failing to perform his job and be of use to his colleagues and community.
Haruka was able to sustain himself for a while with freelance work, albeit with a significant reduction in his quality of life. He maintained his usual air of politeness and professionalism, but there was no denying the hollowness that tainted his work. Oddly enough, it wasn’t until a chance (and tense) meeting with his estranged mother that convinced him to take the next step in his life.
Seeing his mother again during such a raw moment in his life only added fuel on top of the fire. She brought with her memories of the pain he and his father suffered through in his childhood. However, once they got to speaking, he learned that Aika had also went through a similar phase of guilt and shame (something that Haruka did not hold back on saying was a justified feeling). However, after a civil end to the discussion, he did take some time to reflect on himself and his mother’s story. He realised that wallowing in his shame and guilt did nothing to repair his situation. So, for the first time in his life, he took a page out of his mother’s book and decided to leave.
It was time for a change. Even a city as small as Toyama was able to weigh on him and hold him down. He always preferred a slower pace of living anyway, and decided that he would move to one of Kyoto’s smaller islands. Living in a more rural are would save on costs, so he could just focus on doing freelance photography instead of doing two jobs at once, and it would allow him more time to pursue his hobby and passion for wildlife photography. Though his father was against the idea of Haruka leaving, he understood his need for a change of pace. Tadashi, however, made it clear that he believed Haruka wouldn’t like living there for very long and would eventually move back. This put a slight strain on their relationship, and Haruka left with some tension still between them.
Thus, Haruka found himself on a train to Kyoto, with a transfer ticket that was bound to Byakuyakoku station in Norowarejima. He was taking a shot in the dark, but was hopeful it would make dividends. For the first time since resigning, Haruka found himself optimistic and hopeful once again. Only time will tell if that optimism was warranted.
Haruka was born in Toyama City on a sunny, mild autumn day. Though the weather was gorgeous, the leaves had mostly fallen to the ground and the flowers in Toyama’s botanical gardens had already started to change their colours in preparation for winter. Yet, for Haruka’s parents, Takagi Tadashi, and Takagi Aika, his smile reminded them of a spring day, hence the choice of kanji that spell out his name meaning “distant flower”.
From too young an age, Haruka was forced to learn how to be independent. His mother left both him and his dad when he was only six years old, meaning Tadashi had to both provide for and take care of Haruka. This was a challenge, considering Tadashi’s line of work. He was a maintenance worker at Kurobe dam up Tateyama and would sometimes be called up for days, even weeks at a time in order to do repairs. Luckily, Haruka’s grandfather, Takagi Yamato, was able to look after him while his father was away. Regardless, Haruka learned how to prepare his own meals and walk to school all on his own starting from his second year of elementary school.
When Haruka got a bit older - closer to the age of eight - he was even doing the groceries for his family. With his father gone and his grandfather getting older, there was plenty of responsibility sitting on his shoulders. His two cats needed feeding, plants needed watering, and the house needed cleaning. Some days, he was so busy looking after the house he couldn’t focus on homework - something that his father had to address after a concerned meeting with Haruka’s elementary school. Haruka’s grandfather was also growing concerned with how much responsibility was being placed on young Haruka. Most of Haruka’s best memories with his grandfather were the moments of leisure Yamato forced him to take. Yamato taught him how to play all kinds of games, from Go to Hanafuda. He was even taught some western games like checkers and connect four. On weekends, the two of them would frequent Toyama’s Museum of Modern art, and talk about their favourite pieces of art. His grandfather, the ex-journalist that he was, also took pictures of Haruka any chance he got - most of them very silly and ridiculous. Haruka inherited much of his sense of humour from Yamato.
Haruka’s most defining memory with his grandfather was on his twelfth birthday, when he was gifted an old Nikon F camera from the 1950s and a roll of 35mm black and white Kodak film. It was during a time when the Kurobe Dam was undergoing heavy maintenance, and Haruka had just entered junior high, so his course work was increasing and free time was scarce. Yamato challenged Haruka to take a picture of anything he found interesting, as a way to take micro-breaks throughout the day. On his very first day taking the camera to school, he filled out the entire roll of film. The next day he learned how to develop film by himself using a mixture of instant coffee and powdered detergent, in lieu of a darkroom. He keeps these pictures to this day in a binder in plain view, with one picture of his grandfather framed on his desk.
Haruka was hooked on photography. On his second year of junior high he joined the photography club. Though everybody else was using digital cameras, he was the only one using film and shooting exclusively in black and white (he had colour film, but it was expensive to develop). It was the perfect little hobby for him to have, as it would only take a brief moment during any of his chores or homework to take a picture of something he found interesting.
Haruka was just about to start his first year of high school when his grandfather passed away. Though his father was at home more at that point, and the relationship between them was deepening as a result, in Haruka’s eyes he had just lost his closest friend. Perhaps less obvious to him was that he lost the one person who always made sure to remind him to take a moment, have a break, and rest his mind. Though he and his father maintained a good relationship in the months after his grandfather’s death, Tadashi didn’t share the same philosophy as Yamato. Tadashi always encouraged Haruka to work as hard as possible, and stressed the importance of social utility. While Haruka always took that to heart, without his grandfather reminding him to relax, his high school days became draining.
Haruka remained in the photography club during his first year of high school, however he found himself taking less photographs overall. His studies were his highest priority, and getting into a good university was paramount. Of course, at that point in time he was undecided on what he wanted to do, but he figured if he worked hard and provided results, everything would fall in place.
The epiphany happened during one of his father’s extended work trips to Kurobe dam, early in his second year of high school. Haruka was at that point maintaining the house all on his own. At some point, he found himself so frustrated with chores and homework that he finally decided to just take one day off and go visit Toyama’s botanical gardens - a place he loved in his early childhood. He brought his camera, just to be sure. It was a quiet day in spring, where the flowers had just started to bud but weren’t quite yet in bloom. He found himself fixated on a small group of crows. He couldn’t explain why at the time, but those crows ended up the subject of a two hour photo shoot and two rolls of film. Upon displaying his ‘Crow Series’ to his photography club, the president of the club encouraged him to submit them to a local wildlife magazine - one of his photos was selected for the ‘Urban Wildlife’ section.
Wildlife photography became a solace for Haruka. It sustained him through the rest of his high school life. Haruka and his father even grew closer as a result of this hobby, as Haruka joined his father on a handful of trips to Tateyama in order to photograph some mountain animals. Though his school and home life were filled with endless studies and tasks to juggle, being outside and calm in nature brought him great joy and allowed him to maintain a connection with his late grandfather.
Haruka was accepted into Toyama University’s biology program. Though he wished to be a photographer as his career, he was worried about the feasibility of such a profession. At least as a biologist, he could learn about animals and anatomy, which would aid with his wildlife photography. Haruka wasn’t enrolled in any photography courses (he felt he could learn everything he needed on his own), however he did join his university’s photography club, which gave him access to a dark room for the first time. Of course at that point, he had already purchased a digital camera (A Nikon D500, which he saved money for 2 years working a part time job in order to buy) and was already getting into the weeds of raw digital image processing. Of course he was raised with film so that was always his preference.
Though Haruka did have a bit of a social life throughout university, none of his friends were ever interested in taking a bus out into the wilderness and sitting in silence for hours on end - something Haruka did on many of his free days throughout university. Through all four years of his bachelor, it never ceased to make him feel at peace. Naturally, he believed that every photo he took before his second year of university was garbage (despite getting some brief recognition by an indie wildlife website), and that only a couple of photos he took in his fourth year are actually worth talking about. Despite this reluctance to share, Haruka has thousands of photos across over a hundred rolls of film (and more than a fair share of SD cards when he was in the mood to shoot digitally) to show for it.
Schooling wise, Haruka ended up taking some forensics classes during his second year - something he ended up having knack for. With some encouragement from one of his professors and the results of some impressive grades, Haruka ended up finishing his Bachelor of Biology, with a minor in Forensics. Though that biology degree never ended up coming in handy, outside of his now rich knowledge of Japan’s diverse ecosystems and animals (plus their anatomies) aiding his wildlife photography, it was that minor in forensics, plus his photography skills that landed him a job with one of Toyama’s Forensic labs. It took him only about eight months as an intern before he became their defacto forensic/crime scene photographer.
Adulthood proved surprisingly draining for Haruka. While he loved his job as a forensic photographer, and found his colleagues to be delightful, he did end up pursuing photography on the side as a freelancer in order to keep up with his monthly payments. As a result of always being booked, he had to stop doing wildlife photography altogether. There would be some fleeting moments where he could take a trip and snap some photos, but true wildlife photography requires building a routine and allowing the animals to get used to your presence, which was something Haruka had no more time to do.
Then came the tipping point. For his first year on the job, every crime scene Haruka was called to was either a break-in, robbery, or a vandalism cases. He was a natural at the job, and his superiors often complimented him on the clarity of his evidence photos. It was when he was called to his first murder scene that things started to spiral out of control. Haruka had studied murders and murder scenes throughout his forensics courses, but it was not even close to adequate enough in order to prepare him for the real deal. Seeing the blood, the wounds, and the cold lifeless eyes of a victim who was all too young rendered him incapable of performing the job, forcing one of his coworkers to take over in his stead.
Haruka vomited several times that day - once at the crime scene, and twice more throughout the remainder. The rest of the week was spent sleepless and workless, as his superiors suspended him for almost ruining a crime scene. Thinking about the scene forced his mind to spiral into thoughts about his grandfather, the fear he had of losing his father, and the fear he had of dying himself. All the stress, which he had managed to keep in check up to that point, came gushing out of him. Haruka resigned from his job, and though he managed to do so civilly, this marked a major failure in his life. There was immense guilt and shame from failing to perform his job and be of use to his colleagues and community.
Haruka was able to sustain himself for a while with freelance work, albeit with a significant reduction in his quality of life. He maintained his usual air of politeness and professionalism, but there was no denying the hollowness that tainted his work. Oddly enough, it wasn’t until a chance (and tense) meeting with his estranged mother that convinced him to take the next step in his life.
Seeing his mother again during such a raw moment in his life only added fuel on top of the fire. She brought with her memories of the pain he and his father suffered through in his childhood. However, once they got to speaking, he learned that Aika had also went through a similar phase of guilt and shame (something that Haruka did not hold back on saying was a justified feeling). However, after a civil end to the discussion, he did take some time to reflect on himself and his mother’s story. He realised that wallowing in his shame and guilt did nothing to repair his situation. So, for the first time in his life, he took a page out of his mother’s book and decided to leave.
It was time for a change. Even a city as small as Toyama was able to weigh on him and hold him down. He always preferred a slower pace of living anyway, and decided that he would move to one of Kyoto’s smaller islands. Living in a more rural are would save on costs, so he could just focus on doing freelance photography instead of doing two jobs at once, and it would allow him more time to pursue his hobby and passion for wildlife photography. Though his father was against the idea of Haruka leaving, he understood his need for a change of pace. Tadashi, however, made it clear that he believed Haruka wouldn’t like living there for very long and would eventually move back. This put a slight strain on their relationship, and Haruka left with some tension still between them.
Thus, Haruka found himself on a train to Kyoto, with a transfer ticket that was bound to Byakuyakoku station in Norowarejima. He was taking a shot in the dark, but was hopeful it would make dividends. For the first time since resigning, Haruka found himself optimistic and hopeful once again. Only time will tell if that optimism was warranted.
Character Relationships
Name | Status | Thoughts |
|---|---|---|
| Iekami Nui | Stranger - Positive | "Though we never shared names, it was pleasant sharing pictures of cats." |
| Rin Touka | Stranger - Positive | "Thank you for having lunch with me... and for not asking me to destroy my roll of film." |
| Watanabe Naganori | Stranger - Wary | "Potentially my first client in Norowarejima... but the risk to my life and my equipment may be too great." |
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