Yuzuru Saeki

Yuzuru Saeki (冴木 弓弦, Saeki Yuzuru ) is a supporting character in CollarxMalice. He is introduced as a police officer who works inside a police box and a long-time friend of the heroine, Ichika Hoshino.

History
Yuzuru and Ichika Hoshino attended the police academy together and eventually joined the police force in the same district as well. Yuzuru is a rookie cop and as of the beginning of the plot, he had only been an active duty police officer for six months.

Yuzuru is revealed to have taken his identity from another individual who the police assume is dead or missing, his true identity is the son of the current Prime Minister of Japan, but more importantly, the leader of the terrorist organization, Adonis, under the alias Zero. As an illegitimate child created as a result of an affair, his father had him and his mother locked away in a remote area in order to hide their existence. However this was not forever, as when his mother succumbed to her illness, he went to continue his life outside the confinement of his father. It is unclear whether or not his father allowed this to happen, or if he no longer cared enough to confine him.

In order to complete his own ideals surrounding justice and the world, he decides to "test" Hoshino and attach a poison collar on her. As Zero, he would instruct her to investigate the X-Day Incidents and find out the truth, whilst keeping this undercover from the police. Throughout the routes, he typically makes no personal moves as Zero, neither does he ever take full advantage of his position in the force, save for during Aiji Yanagi's route.

Personality
From what can be seen from Yuzuru typically, he is a positive, earnest young man that sometimes shows naïve ideas about happiness. It seems that he gets on quite well with other people in the station, though he does seem to value his friendship with the heroine quite highly, often praising her sense of morality. He values peace and the happiness of the world, despite believing those things need sacrifice, and it was a contributing factor as to why he originally joined the police force to begin with, other than to infiltrate the ranks personally. He also mentions that the Repeal of the Swords and Firearms Law was a very tragic mistake, and that the citizens were introduced to a new kind of terror with the introduction of the repeal - however, he did admit that the repeal provided some benefit for him, as it did further his own plans.

Yuzuru is mentioned to be a very empathetic person, to the point that he feels the sorrow of others intensely - to the point he wished to erase human ego in order to counterattack the cycle of sadness breeds sadness and malice instigates malice. Furthermore, Rei Mikuni explains that Yuzuru did not feel sad at his mother dying; he had felt saddened at her suffering before death, implying that he feels more attuned to others' sorrow rather than feeling it himself. His plan for X-Day was to finally take a large step in creating his ideal of peace, regardless of the sadness he created through the X-Day killings - he feels their pain, but believes that sacrificial pawns are needed to grant reality to large dreams such as his own.

Yuzuru is also clever, in that he is shown to know how to use his advantages well; this is heavily emphasized in when his identity is figured out, and during the final chapter of Kageyuki Shiraishi's route. Being able to listen into the conversations between Hoshino and the romance options, whilst also being able to communicate to them through her without ever revealing himself, is something that he strategically uses - being able to threaten Hoshino's life or, at times, save it, worked well to his advantage during nearly all of the routes. This shows that Yuzuru is capable of understanding the information discovered - and what that means for Adonis and himself - and how the people around Hoshino could be affected by certain actions.

Appearance
Yuzuru has green eyes and medium-length blond hair that covers his ears.