Ryosuke

Overview

Ryosuke is the entity that lives inside Shun Sato's shadow and answers when the Lord of the Tower calls his name. Through Chapter 18 he appeared only as an unnamed voice in the dark; Chapter 19 names him, gives him a body, and shows what he is kept for. He is the title figure of that chapter, "The Devil of Indulgence."

Appearance

Ryosuke rises out of Shun's shadow at roughly his master's own height. His eyes are narrow vertical slits that glow red like a viper's, set above a wide mouth crowded with razor teeth. He wears a broad straw kasa over dark hair tied in a low ponytail, a blue yukata, and wooden geta whose clack carries across open ground, and he carries a katana in a plain wooden scabbard.

The form is not fixed. As the fight with Arata Hikari escalates he grows visibly more monstrous, and heavy bat-like wings tear out of his back. In this state he drools continuously and his breathing is described as reeking of hunger.

Manner

He speaks in a heavy rural drawl, addresses Shun only as "M'Lord," and treats violence as recreation, giggling and hollering through it. Before Chapter 19 this same voice had counselled Shun from the shadow, telling him plainly that his hesitation would get people killed — the only voice in the household that speaks to him without deference.

His obedience is genuine but visibly strained. When Mimi Sato blocks his path he drops the grin and glares at her with open malice before laughing it off and claiming he would never defy his master. He withdraws, but the moment establishes that his appetite is checked by Shun's authority rather than by his own restraint.

Combat and appetite

Ryosuke fights by disappearing entirely and reappearing as a flash of black and red, moving faster than his opponent can track. Arata, trained in the Raijin style, is able to parry these charges only on reflex, and each parry throws him bodily across the field.

At the Battle of a Thousand Shadows Shun released him with the single order to "dance," and told him to show Arata a fate worse than death. Ryosuke took the usurper's legs at the knee, then his sword arm, then began eating him alive while he was still conscious, and continued to feed after Arata died of shock. He complains that the flesh sours once life leaves it, which frames the cannibalism as appetite rather than as punishment carried out on instruction.

Relationships

- Serves Shun Sato, who alone commands and restrains him. - Deferential in the presence of Mimi Sato, whom he calls "lil' Mimi." - Belongs to the Household of the Tower.

Undisclosed details

His origin, his nature, how he came to be bound to Shun, and the meaning of his self-description as an old sword are all still undisclosed at this boundary.

The pommel strike

Chapter 21 gives Ryosuke a different kind of order. Called by name in Shun's study, he materialises from his master's shadow and, without a heartbeat of hesitation, strikes Mimi Sato on the side of the head with the pommel of his blade, knocking her unconscious so that she cannot follow her father. He answers the command to carry her to her room and return to his post with “As ye' wish, m'lord.” The narration notes that his own dark heart is heavy with the weight of the deed.