Tetsu Akatsuki

Tetsu Akatsuki is the main protagonist of The Prison Boys. He joined TOKKOH because of Nagi Saeki, his roommate and brother (adopted by the Saeki household).

His partner is Naoya Saeki.

He begins to hold doubts about the Empire of Japan and the 12 Story Prison as he carries out his duties.

Personality
Tetsu is generally more serious than others. He holds a strong sense of justice but can be seen doubting the morals of TOKKOH as the game progresses.

Appearance
Tetsu has brown, middle-parted hair and red eyes. He's shorter than other TOKKOH members, as he himself comments on it occasionally.

In the main story, Tetsu wears a standard black TOKKOH Uniform with gold embellishments/buttons. The band on his peaked cap is red, as well as part of his collar.

In the special story, Tetsu is younger and wears a standard white dress shirt with black suspenders.

Background
After Tetsu (as a child) had witnessed his mother getting murdered and also being at a point where he was close to death, he became traumatised to the point that he often has nightmares about it and experiences flashbacks, screaming in terror or waking up in cold sweat which is depicted several times throughout the main story.

Tetsu had woken up in a hospital room with both the doctor and a policeman present. He hadn't known anything and was curious as to how he had gotten there, verbally expressing his thoughts by asking where he was. The policeman prompted him by asking Tetsu if he remembers what had happened. Tetsu falls silent and then gets a flashback to his father murdering his mother and begins suffering from a panic attack with the doctor attempting to calm him down. When Tetsu is asleep again, the doctor informs the policeman of Tetsu's 'memory disorder' where the brain shuts off memories that should remain forgotten, suggesting that the policeman should just leave Tetsu alone, saying that Tetsu's health is more important than the details of the case being disclosed to the public. The policeman reluctantly agrees and leaves Tetsu alone. It is unknown as to what happens to Tetsu after that as the scene switches to that of Tetsu's relatives speaking about him and their unwillingness to adopt him.

As a result of his father going crazy (due to Hades grass), he had killed Tetsu's mother and many of their servants which led to none of Tetsu's relatives wanting to take him in, believing that his father was cursed and that Tetsu was also cursed. During the discussion among relatives and potential adoptive parents, someone from the Saeki family says that they will take him in although it's unknown as to who said it, whether it was one of the parents or Naoya acting on his discretion, so on. After a while, he is taken in by the Saeki family where Nagi is the first to greet him, instantly exclaiming that Tetsu must be his new minion. Bewildered and surprised by the unfamiliar boy's declaration, Tetsu attempts to protest, saying that he's not a minion and doesn't want to be one either however Nagi continues to insist that Tetsu is his minion. Naoya cuts into their conversation, reprimanding Nagi to stop acting that way and that Tetsu is their new brother, treating Tetsu kindly.

Nagi acts as Tetsu's guide, showing him around the house. Later, Nagi suggests that he and Tetsu should head to the kitchen as he can smell the cookies. As they head to the kitchen, Tetsu begins suffering from flashbacks to his father murdering his mother again and then heading towards him. Just as he was about to scream from the panic and terror, Nagi pulls on his hand strongly and says that if he's scared, he should just run away. He compares the experience to Nagi saying that he's afraid of his butler but he (the butler) can't catch Nagi if he runs away. Tetsu was instantly comforted by those words and they entered the kitchen, eating the cookies. It was Tetsu's first time eating cookies and fondly remembers that they tasted warm and sweet, which is the reason as to why Tetsu's favourite food are cookies.

The scene switches back to Tetsu and Nagi's time as TOKKOH officers before the whole incident (in the main story) took place where Nagi has just returned back to their room after being dragged around Asakusa's stores by Mitsuru. Nagi hands a wrapped package over to Tetsu who unwraps it to reveal a box of cookies. He gratefully thanks Nagi, purposely calling him 'Boss' and the past memories resurface to Nagi who blushes of embarrassment. Nagi tells Tetsu to quit it although admits his guilt since he was the one that started it after all.

Chapter 1 - The Special Political Police
The chapter begins with Tetsu getting a nightmare about a woman lying on the ground was killed by a man with a blood-soaked sword. The man then raised his sword and attacked Tetsu. He mentions had the same dream repeatedly over the course of several months.

Under General Kongou's orders, Tetsu is sent to investigate Meiichiro Ohkawa's house in Kanda with his partner, Naoya Saeki. Upon solving and unlocking the lock of the painting, they discover documents tying into a rebel group, connecting Ohkawa to the group and having decisive evidence to convict him. Once they both return to report to the General, Tetsu felt uneasy due to the fact that it meant Ohkawa would be executed. Naoya later reassured him and gave him a chipped wax seal stamp with the Saeki emblem engraved into it.

Later in the cafeteria, when Mitsuru Fuwa told him that Naoya wasn't feeling well and he started to get worried. The next day, Naoya was late which was unusual. Tetsu remembered that Naoya wasn't feeling well and he started to get more concerned. He rushed to Naoya's room with Mitsuru and Nagi with him. Entering the room, the three saw Naoya's dead body hanging from the ceiling. Nagi attempts to get to Naoya, but Mitsuru holds him back, telling him to not touch anything. Mitsuru orders Tetsu to get help as Nagi struggles.

Chapter 2 - Suspicion
Tetsu and Nagi find a spare key for Room 318 (which was Naoya and Mitsuru's room) to find more of the truth about Naoya's death. While searching, Tetsu asks Nagi about his health condition after his brother's death, which was not pretty well. He asks about Nagi's doubts about Mitsuru being the murderer, yet Nagi says that he wants to prove that he has nothing to do with Naoya's death. As well as asking him about finding the spare key, Tetsu says he feels like they won't be able to get back once they do. He feels like finding the truth about Naoya's death would change something. He also asked Nagi about what he was supposed to do with Naoya's Shonanoka (a memorial service on the sixth day after the death) and Nagi told him that he was going to the ceremony but things changed, if he came back to his family now, he would become the heir of the Saeki and he would lose his freedom.

After finding the spare key, they decide to go inside Mitsuru's room and find the sealed envelope containing Naoya's suicide note in invisible ink, which was Something horrible is happening, Nagi, Tetsu, run away!. Nagi tells that it was his handwriting. But then, Mitsuru arrived in the room and caught them snooping around late at night.

Nagi was supposed to throw a fit but Tetsu stopped him to do so in order to get back safely to their room. After doing so, Nagi tells Tetsu that he is completely now suspicious of Mitsuru and think he is the killer, for he had a lot of chances in killing Naoya. He also tells Tetsu that he'll be fine being partners with a suspect, since he might be able to avenge his brother, even if they stab each other to death. The next day, Tetsu starts patrolling around Sensou-Ji Temple with Yamato as his partner.

Note: Shonanoka is a Japanese funeral practice wherein sutras and prayers are offered to the deceased in the seventh day, not the sixth day, according to the web.

Chapter 3 - Secret
Mitsuru is cleared of suspicion for now. In the morning, Nagi and Mitsuru visit Tetsu in his room and demanded Mitsuru to spit out everything about the incident two years ago, like their senior colleague had said back at some chapter, Naoya's death was similar to the incident two years ago, resulting Tetsu to wonder what this is. Mitsuru tells them anyway, and this was about the prominent Shugo Ohkawa (Mention Only), son of Meiichiro Ohkawa, whom was found dead hanging in his room after about a year entering the 12-Story Prison.

The incident was identical to Naoya's case, yet it was put under gag order and nobody was allowed to talk about it. After Mitsuru finishes telling them, he tells Nagi and Tetsu to stop playing their little detective game and keep their mouths shut. This made the two boys completely shocked, they tried to refuse yet Mitsuru told them to stop doing stupid things or it'll make Naoya sad, as well as locking them up in their room, in which they gave silence as an answer.

After Mitsuru leaves the room, Nagi and Tetsu still refused Mitsuru's little punishment for them, and still continued to find out the secrets and the mysteries of Naoya's suicide/murder.

Character Gallery Card 2
"'We had the idea of making something with [Taisho period, a compromise between the East and West, military uniform], and this project, [PRISON BOYS] began. To be exact, the characters are police officers so they don't wear military uniforms. [PRISON BOYS] became this story after changing several times. In the original story, the main character sneaks into 12-Story Prison to find the truth of his brother's death. He is cold-blooded and said things like 'We gotta expel red pigs that are against the nation.' While we tried to make the story better, Tetsu, Nagi, and Yamato were born. The background takes place in Japan and the Great Kanto earthquake hadn't happened (Hypothetically). TOKKOH, Asakusa, Ryouun-kaku, the Empire, mental illness, and war are the motifs. We couldn't talk about Tetsu's father much but he (Kousei Akatsuki) went on a warpath during World War 1. Even though Japan won, they suffered a large amount of damage and it had a lot of influence. [PRISON BOYS] is an imaginary fantasy, but we'd like you to feel the air of the Taisho period that was in turbulent times together with the main character, Tetsu.'"(Parts have been slightly altered to help the understanding of the quote.)

Trivia

 * Tetsu's first name (哲) means sage, wise man, philosopher, disciple. His surname (暁) means dawn.