BATES, Kaito

Twenty-one ✦ Male ✦ Barista ✦ Merfolk Shifter✦ College Student

✓ Confident
✓ Loyal
✓ Cheeky
✓ Adventurous
✓ Flirtatious

✘ Aggressive
✘ Short-Tempered
✘ Impatient
✘ Overprotective/Jealous
✘ Gullible

Kaito was born from a mermaid and shifting father. The name given to him at birth was based off the Greek God 'Acheilus' which was the Shark Daemon, son of Zeus and Lamia. His mother saw it fitting since his teeth were abnormally sharp. Most of his time was spent with his mother by the ocean. She would take him there whenever they had free time, usually when his father was at work, and teach him how to swim like a proper merfolk. They had a ritual where they'd stop by a flock of pink hibiscus flowers because his mother found their beauty to be the most breathtaking. She would then follow that up by saying how Kaito was the most gorgeous thing on Earth to her.

Not being a pure-blood merfolk like his mother, Kaito wasn't as swift in the water as her. When they would stop for a break, his mother would tell him stories of other creatures that roamed the land they walked on. Angels and Ghouls, Elves and Faeries! It was all so fascinating to him. He has never met any others in person but the idea of seeing these beings in real life was captivating. Itt was like a fairytale 

Kaito's father was more cautious about the world they lived in. He wanted their family to live normally like humans instead of exercising their abilities. Kaito never knew why his father was always so uptight about these things, his mother refused to talk about it. 

It wasn't obvious to Kaito at first since he was just a child, but his mother and father started to grow apart from one another the older he got. His mother's love was only aimed towards Kaito, his father only receiving the scraps. There were fights. Kaito would hear them yelling at one another constantly. His father complained that Kaito was becoming too exposed to a life his father didn't accept, while his mother retorted with the need for diversity to become a mature adult. They had such conflicting views that it had Kaito question whether they truly loved one another in the first place.

One time when his mother was taking him to the ocean, they brought materials when visiting the flock of hibiscus flowers. They both hand-crafted one another a personalised flower crown that each wore to the ocean shore. During their time in the ocean, Kaito was starting to become swifter in his swimming skills. He started to do more tricks under the water as his mother admired his beauty. He then challenged his mother to a race to the closest rock. The two shot off like cannons, his mother slowing it down to make him feel more confident in his abilities. She started to fall behind (on purpose), causing Kaito to become cocky. He thought it would be the perfect time to show off and began spinning like a twisting torpedo. He didn't realise how fast he was going until his head smashed into the rock he pinpointed as the finish, causing him to go unconscious.

When he woke up he was lying on the ocean shore staring up at the clouds. There was yelling in the distance but he couldn't make anything of the situation until his father came over to console him. Kaito was forced up by his father as they walked away from the ocean. He asked where his mother had gone and the response he received was simply, "She went for a swim". 

He never saw his mother after that day.

Kaito assumed she ran away after the confrontation with his father. It was incredibly confusing. Kaito would go visit the same spot that his mother would take him, just in case she would return. He would wait for hours but never see anyone except for the occasional passerby. He became desperate for closure but his father would never talk about it.

When Kaito turned eighteen he moved out of the house he shared with his father and into an apartment. He started going to college and got a job as a barista in a local cafe. 

He went back home to get one of the boxes he forgot during his move but had trouble finding it. Every inch of the house was searched but the box was not there. The only room that was left unchecked was his father's bedroom. There was not a second thought when he entered the room and searched inside. There was no box. Kaito innocently roamed through his father's closet until he made a horrific discovery. A perfectly polished brown frame with the end of a crimson fin inside. The plaque on the frame read "In loving memory...". Kaito obviously was in a state of disbelief, thinking that it couldn't be his mother. He confronted his father who eventually told him that indeed his mother didn't just go for a swim. He didn't directly say it, but Kaito assumed that his father murdered his mother.

Rightfully horrified, Kaito cut any and all ties with his father, disgusted with the lie he was so foolish to believe. 

When Kaito celebrated his twentieth birthday alone, he found out that his father had committed suicide via the media. He would probably have been more dejected if he had any love invested in his father. He didn't really feel anything to be completely honest.

Kaito ended up changing his name from Acheilus to Kaito for his personal birthday present. The reasoning was simple; He wanted to fit in with the rest of society by not having such an uncommon name and because he wanted to start fresh by building a life full of happiness rather than desolation from the past. It was all about the future now, he couldn't change the past but he could mold his own future.

• Kaito still visits the ocean shore where his mother would take him, sometimes putting a hibiscus flower on top of the water in her memory.
• He finds comfort in female companionship/company but finds males to be more interesting Totes bi
• He currently works as a barista at Cafe Lite because of his love for coffee but he's going to school to become a psychiatrist
• Kaito's never been in a formal relationship but he had lots of crushes in his youth
• The way to his heart is spicy food!
• Although he's flirtatious with most people, he's actually a hopeless romantic and desires a companion to treat like a prince/princess

played by Emile ✦ Rin Matsuoka of Free!