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[Character Name] Leo 
[Canon] Fire Candy
[Point Taken from Canon] After the manga
[Age] 16
[Birthday] 1st January (fanon)
[Gender] Male
[Species] Half Lion
[Sexual Orientation] Heterosexual
[Height] 170cm (5’57’‘)
[Weight] Thin body with toned muscles.
[Likes] Drugs, sex and rock and roll
[Dislikes] Worrying, scary things
[Language] Japanese
[Appearance]
Leo is half lion; he was created by the project to keep the human race alive, his genetics are a mix of human with lion, possibly a tanned skin human or even black. Leo’s skin is dark (recent canon images show him to be much darker than just tanned) and he seems to have in him traces of African linage in him (big somewhat rosy lips, chocolate skin and bigger eyes), although I cannot be sure since it’s a manga style; Ryoki mentioned Leo looks like a foreign.
His hair is almost-dirty blond, having some black hair strands here and there, and it doesn’t appear to be his natural colour.
Around his eyes there are black marks, characteristic to all halfs that are a mix of big cats, possibly as a way to recognize them. He has fangs and pointy ears and yellow cat eyes to match. He also has a cat tongue.
Leo is still a teenager and has the body of a regular teenager who works out daily; his body is toned, with developed muscles.
Leo tends to wear baggy clothes, but he shows no actual care for fashion, most likely because he has no money, so he just wears whatever it fits him and doesn't get in the way.
[Powers & Abilities]
Being half lion gave Leo many abilities a regular human doesn’t have. Since he is a cat, he can see in the dark, he can roar and has a cat tongue that allows him to heal flesh wounds (actually, it’s the saliva. While this is actually a myth – animal’s saliva doesn’t heal a thing in real life, it just stops the blood due to its enzymes, but even humans can do that – the manga shows a scene where this happens, so I’m going with canon).
Perhaps his earring is excellent as well, like most animals, though he shows no ability to sense someone else’s smell, so perhaps that area isn’t covered.
To add, he is great agility. He is able to jump really high, has great elasticity and force. He also has a lot of speed even without his Rollerblades and finally we can add the great damage his fangs can do if he ever used them.Think of a lion, yup.
Leo owns and is able to use a special kind of Rollerblades called “motor blades”. There is a two-stroke engine on the left boot that allows the racer to easily go over 40 hm/h. The only wheel affected is the last wheel on the left boot, which is also the switch for the engine: if you step hard enough the engine will start up, and the speed will vary depending on how hard the wheel is pressed to the ground.
The lion can work well with those and he even has pretty nifty moves that he based on his own agility and strength.
[Background and key words] Please read the manga, check.
Attention: Gore, sex, drugs and violence ahead.
The manga begins with these words:
“Year 209X A.D., in the last city, Shinjuku.
We were born against God's wishes. We are born here, without anything to believe in.
Long ago, over thousand, ten thousand years, in order for 'people to live like people', the concept of 'people living because they are people' was born. And with the advancing of science and culture-- the people sang, danced, laughed, cried, angered, grieved, loved, hated, met, parted, created, coveted, destroyed, reincarnated, prospered, repeat, repeat...
Below this sky, on this planet, the people lived 'like people' and lived well 'like people'.
And in the shadow of that light, darkness was born.
The balance between organic hormones related to environmental hormones brakes down. Freedom of sexuality - Men becoming women, women becoming men, sexual identity disorder, homosexuality, and such – made "Logical Sex" disappear.
And in the shadow of human prosperity, the gears between nature's will and humans made no noise as they crumbled, rotted, and were destroyed over a time so long you could lose yourself in it. And then, ironically--- the majority of humankind lost the ability to reproduce.
So humankind used their sinful science to increase their sin.
Experimentation using many animals: the project was called a complete success by them, and the danger of the extinction of humankind was avoided.
The genes of humans mixed with others, they were born against the will of Nature-- The Halfs.
And then, what we acquired, in order to live was unwavering solidarity, dash, violence and Fire Candy. The liquid drug was passed off as legal and started being sold 10 years ago. Advertised as "harmless to humans", it spread like wildfire. But... we are not humans, right?
That demon drug made the government start a large-scale emergency reform to "standardize the criteria for the licensing of stimulants", but it was already too late.
Many sacrifices went to the darkness in flames. Just like the name, Fire Candy, we disappear in flames of spontaneous combustion.
Everyday we find a new function to our body. As humans and as beasts."
The Humanity fell into darkness for their disagreement with nature, and as punishment, most Humans were unable to reproduce anymore. In order to revert this, they used their science and they created the Halfs project.
Mixing human DNA with animal DNA, a new subtype of bio-engineered humans was created, and brought to life from the wombs of several animals. The Humanity was able to go on, without having to change what they have been doing so far, without having to worry about their downfall.
To this world, half are created and quarters (quarters, children of half parents) were born. Humans still existed, however it was no longer required for humans to have babies, most of them did not want them, and most of them didn’t feel like they needed them: after all, science could create the babies while they kept living.
The idea behind this was that, with time, the Quarters would procreate together and with this continuation they’d restore the fertility once more, without having to rely on the last humans who were fertile. Of course this brought general disgust from the true Humans, even if the government saw this project as the most viable option they had.
No matter what and no matter how many years went by since the project first started, society would not accept the existence of this “beings”. Considering them a lower species – even if they were their salvation, ironically – the two sides battled and Halfs demanded equal rights. The word “Half” was banned by the government and those who used it were Halfs themselves, for irony and mockery.
To make matters worse, the police would not fight against these beasts. They were expensive and important pieces of technology, precious samples born from a project, and the fact they were so, police refused to touch them and the government overlooked most things they did.
You’d think that would be enough, but things were even more chaotic due to a special drug called “Fire Candy” (or liquid). It begun to be sold ten years ago as “Harmless to humans”, but somewhere along the way that changed.
Even if the drug was pulled from the market, the damage was already done: one single drop of Fire Candy and the Human, Half or Quarter who took it had their destiny traced. They would die by spontaneous combustion due to the drug, ending in an explosion that would spread the person’s body parts across a room.
It only needed to be a drop and no one knew when it’d happen. It’s like playing Russia roulette and most of those who took said drug didn’t know at the time the horrid consequences it’d bring. This was ten years ago, but for those already tainted with the Candy, they decided not to stop taking it seeing it didn’t make much difference.
Like any drug, Fire Candy put them in a good mood, but it was also highly addicting. If they were already going to die from it, why to stop doing it?
Born from the womb of a lioness, Leo was raised at a Halfs facility nearby a Human facility and school. From early, he heard those human children calling him “Dirt”, “Filth”, “Beast Child” and, in his frustration, he figured he could not cry: Leo’s only option was to beat them up.
For this he had no friends until the day he met Ryoki, an half born from the womb of a cow. Ryo was dark and silent, always crying and saying "I'm a human"; Leo became friends with him quickly, probably because he felt that finally he had a reason to live: to protect this person.
Ryoki would get beaten up by other children and always Leo told him how he had to man up, fight back and stop crying. One day the half cow snapped, and without knowing what exactly trigged it, Leo watched Ryoki beat to unconscious a human child, screaming “I will kill you, I’ll kill you” with a dark evil smile on his lips.
And like that, Leo and Ryoki grew together, in the city of Shinjuku. And both of them tasted the deadly liquid “Fire Candy” together; it’s not told if it they knew of the consequences before or after, but Leo’s attitude towards the drug easily reflects his ignorance when, ten years ago, they first tried it.
And both became violent together, not being stopped by the authorities. Still, now with a death sentence set on them, the two started living with the all energy they could, forming a gang with other Halfs (and one human, Miyuki, the tuner) where they used modified advanced rollerblades technology to race.
In despair, in death, Leo tells us they are together and race because they don’t want to die alone, they want friends, they want to die laughing, and want to be happy even if just for a minute. Addicted to drugs, the teenagers forget what made them what they are and give in to a life of violence, calling themselves “punks and dumbasses”.
In the same gang, Akito came; a female cat that maintained a relationship with Ryoki, but who was also Leo’s love interest. However, it was an unfair world. Many come and many go. Usually "those who go" means that they have died. Takuya, Yuuta, Tim, Ayase, Koji, all dead due to the ferocious liquid, that started burning from within, melted their tongues and finally made the body explode.
For all of this violence, probably, Leo dropped the drug and begun smoking. But still, doing so, it didn’t make bad things go away. One night after Takuya’s death during their races, Akito died as well, but she didn’t die during the race; instead, she died after having sex with Ryoki for the first time.
Broken by these events, Ryoki hid himself on the bathroom where he found the pieces of his dead girlfriend, masturbating and drinking Fire Candy; at first, Leo refused to help his best friend stating he wasn’t his mother, but that would change.
Yukito, Akito’s twin sister came to talk to the lion, trying to convince him to talk to the cow; at first Leo refused, but the talk about Akito and Ryoki’s first time, about the fact that for the first time someone else cleaned their friend’s corpse, and the fact that they race exactly to avoid crying over those who left, made Leo reconsider.
During his visit to Ryoki, the two of them argue, and to wake him up, Leo reminded Ryo of what a coward he became just because his personal screw has died. He also added "All of us are just barely staying sane with all of that, don't think you can get away with crying by yourself" showing the other how unfair he was being about all of this, leaving his gang behind to cry and not caring about any of them.
Truthfully, they needed to race. When they weren’t racing, the bad memories returned and they felt like crying, something every single one of them wanted to avoid. The reason why they raced was because, during it if someone died, they’d be the ones to dispose of the body and would have no time to cry. That didn’t happen with Akito, and Ryo stopped all the racing; that meant the gang had now time to hurt and no one wanted that.
Seeing that the visit didn’t go well, the tanned teenager walked up to Yukito’s house in despair, and tried to force himself on her; it’s easy to see that Leo wasn’t very sure what to do and that gave Yukito opportunity to kick him the balls and escape. Calmer, the two of them talk, admitting it had been their first kiss, and the girl advised Leo to wait and not force himself too much because their virginity is something to be cherished and given to someone important and that they love.
The female half left to meet Ryoki, and Leo get back on his tracks. "The Black Lion of Shinjuku, Lord Leo" put his skaters on and walked to his gang, but few moments after he arrived, strangely Yukito came out, upset and crying because of Ryoki. She once more tried to kick Leo – who appeared to be her punching bag – but everything got better when finally the main character came out of his depressed state and recovered – partially – from Akito’s death.
A big part of Leo’s life is shown the next chapter; while Yukito is finally introduced as the newest member of the gang – insisting on making the initial test, even if no one actually told her to do it – Leo meantime was on his bi-weekly check up: each two weeks the Halfs needed to go in for a “Hospital day” where every single thing in them is analyzed, including if they are taking drugs or having sex.
Possibly it’s the sex that bothered Leo the most. Leo is still a virgin and through the two volumes he actually showed concern about it; so much to actually try to lose his virginity with a prostitute.
Giving blood for money, he ended up picking Haru, a pretty tiny Quarter, though unfortunately “apparently all prostitutes wearing wooden sandals are guys". That’s right. Haru was a small transvestite prostitute man, who immediately blackmailed Leo introducing him to Ryo.
When he did, Haru basically introduced himself as Leo’s lover (so everything he did was Leo’s fault) and greeted Ryoki with a full mouth kiss – tongue included – and to make things worse, he teased Yukito, who immediately screamed back and challenged him to the test she wanted to do before. In the middle of the test something went wrong and Haru had to save Yukito, getting hurt in the end.
But still he didn’t die, allowing him to finally tell a bit about himself. Haru was, indeed, he was a prostitute, but he was also the father of a child (and once married). Angry, Yukito called him a filthy whore and left, staying mad for the next five days at the whole gang (and specially Ryoki).
Few nights later Leo, Ryo and Haru go meet the guy who sold them the liquid, which had doubled the price lately and didn’t please the gang at all. The guy told them he can’t lower the price else Lloyd would kill him, and trying to make things more interesting, Leo suggests them to go hunt for small fries to learn who Lloyd is.
As Ryoki beat up a guy Leo admitted to Haru he is afraid of "that face" and explained to him what happened as kids. As the good friend he is, Leo is the one that needed to stop Ryo before he killed the guys he was beating up.
By the end of the night, they haven’t found much and because they didn’t have Candy, Haru invited them to "Automatix" so they can get some for free. This is the part Leo showed difficulty reading the English name of the bar, which can be translated at how bad he actually was at school. Haru stood in the bar with the owner, Akira, but the two boys left later on to keep on searching for information about Lloyd. Soon they learned what they needed: “Mute”. "Mute" was a gang dealing with Yakuza, and that was controlled by Lloyd and that would be the boy’s objective.
Before they started, the whole gang joined and decided a name together: from then on, Leo’s and Ryo’s gang would be called "Jammy's Angels". The first thing on their agenda was to spread their name all over Mute’s territory, by beating up Mute’s weaklings and stealing their drugs. After all as "punks, they are supposed to rise hell".
The same night, Leo also told Ryo to go talk to Yukito because they both knew she was so in love with Ryo, hence why she was so angry when Haru kissed him. Ryo agreed, leaving Leo to keep chasing the weaklings, but unfortunately, the lion was ambushed and kidnapped by “Mute” members.
Even if in a terribly bad situation, Leo still joked around, getting some kicks and a dislocated shoulder for it. Lucky for him, “Jammy’s Angels” were already working to get to him and Haru as well (that basically flipped out and blinded someone). After saving his ass, and after putting the shoulder back in place, it was Leo’s turn to get revenge from the “Mute”.
When Haru arrived to the scene, he found the lion angrily punching someone to pulp. Tore off his finger nails, broke both his wrists and ankles and then beat him over and over again. Finally when he heard his best friend laughing like mad, Leo snapped out of it, and realised what he had done. Fear that he killed the guy overcame him. Even so, he still didn't stop, hoping someone would tell him "That's enough", hoping that Ryo would pat his shoulder just like Leo always did to him. Yet no one did, not even Ryoki.
Soon he became disgusting with himself and started crying.
Blinded by his thirsty for blood, the Bull doesn’t notice the Leo and Fuku staying behind; vomiting, crying, Leo tried to calm down and he returned to the scene to make sure if the guy he beat up was dead or not. Once he got there, however, the guy was gone.
Due to the rain from the last night, the lion got a fever the next morning, so Leo didn’t go to school; Ryoki checked on him, with food, but soon the conversation became serious. Leo told him he wanted to leave the team, because he didn’t want to get hit nor hit people anymore, because it was scary. He also admitted to be scared of Ryoki.
Meantime, Tetsu, a member of Mute and Lloyd’s right hand, kidnapped Yukito, and so Haru and Fuku went warn Leo and Ryoki, who immediately decide to go to get her back, leaving the current subject on hold. All of “Jammy Angels” members came to save the female cat, actually.
When they meet, Ryoki and Tetsu fight and during it Leo said he wouldn’t cry for Ryo if he died, but he'd kill Testu with his own hands, for real this time and with no regrets. Ryoki was able to get up again saying that he wanted Leo to cry for him, but between the fight, Tetsu stuck a knife in Ryoki's chest.
It was Haru’s turn to intervene, threatening to kill Tetsu who he actually have met before, and while they both talk about a probable past relationship, Ryo stood up again. Taking the knife off his chest, the cow jumped on Tetsu and cut his neck, until finally he was able to take the head off. Between this, he also climaxed, and shoved his thumb into Tetsu's eye in all of its ecstasy.
Scared, the Mute members started to scatter off, and Jammy's Angels also started to panic. Leo, too shocked to even know what to do, stopped Ryo from chasing the Mute and so the cow nuzzled his friend's neck affectionately mouthing “Goodbye”, and then left, still having Tetsu's head on his hand while the police sirens could be heard on the background.
[Personality]
The manga is perhaps too small to get Leo’s personality right on spot. At first, when he was still enjoying the gang and the races, Leo seems to be the hunter type: seeking thrill by hurting others, chasing them and hunting, he is the one who gives his best friend the idea to usually go beat others up, but he is also the first to stop him when he is going overboard.
Overall, Leo is not a perfect friend, but he is a very good friend; worrying about Ryoki in his own ways, he keeps him among the boundaries of anger but not murder desire that he knows it exists inside the Bull. He will not allow his best friend to become a murder, but he will also push him to hurt others since they both enjoy it.
The black Lion is pretty laid back and cool around others, even when there is a serious situation, yet he is capable of being serious too if the time calls for it, of course. Teasing his friends, perhaps even getting into fights with them, he still does show care, in his own awkward way. With a friendly smile, he conquers the place of one of those people others prefer to rely on.
He is also very insightful, but perhaps not good with his own words. He was only able to deal and bring Ryoki back to reason by kicking him around, but he did mean well with everything he said to the other broken boy.
Leo knows about his situation (the whole “going to die by spontaneous combustion” thing) and tries to work around with it, keeping a cheerful mask and thinking that racing is enough for him not to regret dying. That does worry him so so much, but that would make him forget how happy he could be during those small days on this earth.
Even if kind to his friends, Leo is still incredibly violent. When he snaps, he attacks the person in question in a blinding anger that is actually meant to kill. But that side disgusts him a lot, and actually so much violence goes against his own character; in the end, he has a lot of moral issues about his own actions, even if sometimes he can't control them.
That broke him. After all, he IS a child, and the new events in his life with his friends scared him so much that he could not control it. He did not wish for death, despise his violent nature. Unfortunately for him, his best friend didn’t realize it; Ryoki didn’t stop him, didn’t tell him it was enough and Leo saw himself becoming a murder and panicking at that.
That’s what made the lion fear himself, and refuse to be on the gang anymore. He couldn’t take this much violence when others didn’t control him nor supported him; scared of Ryoki’s latter actions, even if he was the one bringing it upon them, soon Leo realized it was a mistake and immediately backed off. He isn’t a coward, Leo simply wishes to live happy, without fear and regrets and therefore he avoids things that might make his life worse.
He wants to feel supported too; questioning “Why aren’t you stopping me?” while still punching his enemy, he shows us that there is only a certain amount of things he can take, and to everything else, Leo needs some sort of support. Yes, his friends are extremely important to him and he is highly dependable on them.
Leo is really cool when he is close to his friends, but alone… not so much. Not only he is dependable on his friends to keep his own emotions and to keep his sadness locked, without them he is pretty hopeless and fail. Like when he met Yukito alone and tried to jump on her, however letting her kick him like that, or when he picked Haru without even realizing it was a male – and freaking out about it – , those are two obvious situations of how fail he can be at times.
In love with his best friend's dead girlfriend, Leo is confused by love and – at the same time – sex. He pays much attention to his sexuality; still a virgin in "both ass and dick", Leo wants to stop being one, though he did take into attention the words Yukito once told him about having to be with someone special. The whole manga is also very much based of sexual feelings, and Leo is the perfect example of that. When told that his best friend managed to do it, perhaps he either felt jealous of Ryoki for doing it, or simply jealous because it was Akito; whichever reason it was, it surprised him greatly and even set his mind to actually do it for real.
His whole relationship with Ryoki shows us a lot; they fight, they get angry and the jerk around with each other. But they are best friends, and Leo wants to protect him from everything else, but especially from that monster that grows inside the other teenager. More than once Ryoki showed love towards the lion; “I love you, I really do”, or the intimacy that they share, the affectionate nuzzle Ryo gave him at the end, and all the efforts Ryoki did to find Leo when he learned he had been kidnapped, shows that those two adore each other even if they constantly call each other names.
Canonly the mangaka made a special picture of Ryoki and Leo together; I am willing to accept that perhaps this care and love might have been in some sort of way bigger than friendship (like Ryoki’s checking Leo’s body under the cover, calling him cute, the “I love you”, and Leo himself when it comes to his best friend), but I will not assume that Leo is homosexual. I’ll simply consider that Ryoki is the only exception, and I don’t even think the two of them would ever be able to even have sex.
[Canon] Fire Candy
[Point Taken from Canon] After the manga
[Age] 16
[Birthday] 1st January (fanon)
[Gender] Male
[Species] Half Lion
[Sexual Orientation] Heterosexual
[Height] 170cm (5’57’‘)
[Weight] Thin body with toned muscles.
[Likes] Drugs, sex and rock and roll
[Dislikes] Worrying, scary things
[Language] Japanese
[Appearance]
Leo is half lion; he was created by the project to keep the human race alive, his genetics are a mix of human with lion, possibly a tanned skin human or even black. Leo’s skin is dark (recent canon images show him to be much darker than just tanned) and he seems to have in him traces of African linage in him (big somewhat rosy lips, chocolate skin and bigger eyes), although I cannot be sure since it’s a manga style; Ryoki mentioned Leo looks like a foreign.
His hair is almost-dirty blond, having some black hair strands here and there, and it doesn’t appear to be his natural colour.
Around his eyes there are black marks, characteristic to all halfs that are a mix of big cats, possibly as a way to recognize them. He has fangs and pointy ears and yellow cat eyes to match. He also has a cat tongue.
Leo is still a teenager and has the body of a regular teenager who works out daily; his body is toned, with developed muscles.
Leo tends to wear baggy clothes, but he shows no actual care for fashion, most likely because he has no money, so he just wears whatever it fits him and doesn't get in the way.
[Powers & Abilities]
Being half lion gave Leo many abilities a regular human doesn’t have. Since he is a cat, he can see in the dark, he can roar and has a cat tongue that allows him to heal flesh wounds (actually, it’s the saliva. While this is actually a myth – animal’s saliva doesn’t heal a thing in real life, it just stops the blood due to its enzymes, but even humans can do that – the manga shows a scene where this happens, so I’m going with canon).
Perhaps his earring is excellent as well, like most animals, though he shows no ability to sense someone else’s smell, so perhaps that area isn’t covered.
To add, he is great agility. He is able to jump really high, has great elasticity and force. He also has a lot of speed even without his Rollerblades and finally we can add the great damage his fangs can do if he ever used them.Think of a lion, yup.
Leo owns and is able to use a special kind of Rollerblades called “motor blades”. There is a two-stroke engine on the left boot that allows the racer to easily go over 40 hm/h. The only wheel affected is the last wheel on the left boot, which is also the switch for the engine: if you step hard enough the engine will start up, and the speed will vary depending on how hard the wheel is pressed to the ground.
The lion can work well with those and he even has pretty nifty moves that he based on his own agility and strength.
[Background and key words] Please read the manga, check.
Attention: Gore, sex, drugs and violence ahead.
The manga begins with these words:
“Year 209X A.D., in the last city, Shinjuku.
We were born against God's wishes. We are born here, without anything to believe in.
Long ago, over thousand, ten thousand years, in order for 'people to live like people', the concept of 'people living because they are people' was born. And with the advancing of science and culture-- the people sang, danced, laughed, cried, angered, grieved, loved, hated, met, parted, created, coveted, destroyed, reincarnated, prospered, repeat, repeat...
Below this sky, on this planet, the people lived 'like people' and lived well 'like people'.
And in the shadow of that light, darkness was born.
The balance between organic hormones related to environmental hormones brakes down. Freedom of sexuality - Men becoming women, women becoming men, sexual identity disorder, homosexuality, and such – made "Logical Sex" disappear.
And in the shadow of human prosperity, the gears between nature's will and humans made no noise as they crumbled, rotted, and were destroyed over a time so long you could lose yourself in it. And then, ironically--- the majority of humankind lost the ability to reproduce.
So humankind used their sinful science to increase their sin.
Experimentation using many animals: the project was called a complete success by them, and the danger of the extinction of humankind was avoided.
The genes of humans mixed with others, they were born against the will of Nature-- The Halfs.
And then, what we acquired, in order to live was unwavering solidarity, dash, violence and Fire Candy. The liquid drug was passed off as legal and started being sold 10 years ago. Advertised as "harmless to humans", it spread like wildfire. But... we are not humans, right?
That demon drug made the government start a large-scale emergency reform to "standardize the criteria for the licensing of stimulants", but it was already too late.
Many sacrifices went to the darkness in flames. Just like the name, Fire Candy, we disappear in flames of spontaneous combustion.
Everyday we find a new function to our body. As humans and as beasts."
The Humanity fell into darkness for their disagreement with nature, and as punishment, most Humans were unable to reproduce anymore. In order to revert this, they used their science and they created the Halfs project.
Mixing human DNA with animal DNA, a new subtype of bio-engineered humans was created, and brought to life from the wombs of several animals. The Humanity was able to go on, without having to change what they have been doing so far, without having to worry about their downfall.
To this world, half are created and quarters (quarters, children of half parents) were born. Humans still existed, however it was no longer required for humans to have babies, most of them did not want them, and most of them didn’t feel like they needed them: after all, science could create the babies while they kept living.
The idea behind this was that, with time, the Quarters would procreate together and with this continuation they’d restore the fertility once more, without having to rely on the last humans who were fertile. Of course this brought general disgust from the true Humans, even if the government saw this project as the most viable option they had.
No matter what and no matter how many years went by since the project first started, society would not accept the existence of this “beings”. Considering them a lower species – even if they were their salvation, ironically – the two sides battled and Halfs demanded equal rights. The word “Half” was banned by the government and those who used it were Halfs themselves, for irony and mockery.
To make matters worse, the police would not fight against these beasts. They were expensive and important pieces of technology, precious samples born from a project, and the fact they were so, police refused to touch them and the government overlooked most things they did.
You’d think that would be enough, but things were even more chaotic due to a special drug called “Fire Candy” (or liquid). It begun to be sold ten years ago as “Harmless to humans”, but somewhere along the way that changed.
Even if the drug was pulled from the market, the damage was already done: one single drop of Fire Candy and the Human, Half or Quarter who took it had their destiny traced. They would die by spontaneous combustion due to the drug, ending in an explosion that would spread the person’s body parts across a room.
It only needed to be a drop and no one knew when it’d happen. It’s like playing Russia roulette and most of those who took said drug didn’t know at the time the horrid consequences it’d bring. This was ten years ago, but for those already tainted with the Candy, they decided not to stop taking it seeing it didn’t make much difference.
Like any drug, Fire Candy put them in a good mood, but it was also highly addicting. If they were already going to die from it, why to stop doing it?
Born from the womb of a lioness, Leo was raised at a Halfs facility nearby a Human facility and school. From early, he heard those human children calling him “Dirt”, “Filth”, “Beast Child” and, in his frustration, he figured he could not cry: Leo’s only option was to beat them up.
For this he had no friends until the day he met Ryoki, an half born from the womb of a cow. Ryo was dark and silent, always crying and saying "I'm a human"; Leo became friends with him quickly, probably because he felt that finally he had a reason to live: to protect this person.
Ryoki would get beaten up by other children and always Leo told him how he had to man up, fight back and stop crying. One day the half cow snapped, and without knowing what exactly trigged it, Leo watched Ryoki beat to unconscious a human child, screaming “I will kill you, I’ll kill you” with a dark evil smile on his lips.
And like that, Leo and Ryoki grew together, in the city of Shinjuku. And both of them tasted the deadly liquid “Fire Candy” together; it’s not told if it they knew of the consequences before or after, but Leo’s attitude towards the drug easily reflects his ignorance when, ten years ago, they first tried it.
And both became violent together, not being stopped by the authorities. Still, now with a death sentence set on them, the two started living with the all energy they could, forming a gang with other Halfs (and one human, Miyuki, the tuner) where they used modified advanced rollerblades technology to race.
In despair, in death, Leo tells us they are together and race because they don’t want to die alone, they want friends, they want to die laughing, and want to be happy even if just for a minute. Addicted to drugs, the teenagers forget what made them what they are and give in to a life of violence, calling themselves “punks and dumbasses”.
In the same gang, Akito came; a female cat that maintained a relationship with Ryoki, but who was also Leo’s love interest. However, it was an unfair world. Many come and many go. Usually "those who go" means that they have died. Takuya, Yuuta, Tim, Ayase, Koji, all dead due to the ferocious liquid, that started burning from within, melted their tongues and finally made the body explode.
For all of this violence, probably, Leo dropped the drug and begun smoking. But still, doing so, it didn’t make bad things go away. One night after Takuya’s death during their races, Akito died as well, but she didn’t die during the race; instead, she died after having sex with Ryoki for the first time.
Broken by these events, Ryoki hid himself on the bathroom where he found the pieces of his dead girlfriend, masturbating and drinking Fire Candy; at first, Leo refused to help his best friend stating he wasn’t his mother, but that would change.
Yukito, Akito’s twin sister came to talk to the lion, trying to convince him to talk to the cow; at first Leo refused, but the talk about Akito and Ryoki’s first time, about the fact that for the first time someone else cleaned their friend’s corpse, and the fact that they race exactly to avoid crying over those who left, made Leo reconsider.
During his visit to Ryoki, the two of them argue, and to wake him up, Leo reminded Ryo of what a coward he became just because his personal screw has died. He also added "All of us are just barely staying sane with all of that, don't think you can get away with crying by yourself" showing the other how unfair he was being about all of this, leaving his gang behind to cry and not caring about any of them.
Truthfully, they needed to race. When they weren’t racing, the bad memories returned and they felt like crying, something every single one of them wanted to avoid. The reason why they raced was because, during it if someone died, they’d be the ones to dispose of the body and would have no time to cry. That didn’t happen with Akito, and Ryo stopped all the racing; that meant the gang had now time to hurt and no one wanted that.
Seeing that the visit didn’t go well, the tanned teenager walked up to Yukito’s house in despair, and tried to force himself on her; it’s easy to see that Leo wasn’t very sure what to do and that gave Yukito opportunity to kick him the balls and escape. Calmer, the two of them talk, admitting it had been their first kiss, and the girl advised Leo to wait and not force himself too much because their virginity is something to be cherished and given to someone important and that they love.
The female half left to meet Ryoki, and Leo get back on his tracks. "The Black Lion of Shinjuku, Lord Leo" put his skaters on and walked to his gang, but few moments after he arrived, strangely Yukito came out, upset and crying because of Ryoki. She once more tried to kick Leo – who appeared to be her punching bag – but everything got better when finally the main character came out of his depressed state and recovered – partially – from Akito’s death.
A big part of Leo’s life is shown the next chapter; while Yukito is finally introduced as the newest member of the gang – insisting on making the initial test, even if no one actually told her to do it – Leo meantime was on his bi-weekly check up: each two weeks the Halfs needed to go in for a “Hospital day” where every single thing in them is analyzed, including if they are taking drugs or having sex.
Possibly it’s the sex that bothered Leo the most. Leo is still a virgin and through the two volumes he actually showed concern about it; so much to actually try to lose his virginity with a prostitute.
Giving blood for money, he ended up picking Haru, a pretty tiny Quarter, though unfortunately “apparently all prostitutes wearing wooden sandals are guys". That’s right. Haru was a small transvestite prostitute man, who immediately blackmailed Leo introducing him to Ryo.
When he did, Haru basically introduced himself as Leo’s lover (so everything he did was Leo’s fault) and greeted Ryoki with a full mouth kiss – tongue included – and to make things worse, he teased Yukito, who immediately screamed back and challenged him to the test she wanted to do before. In the middle of the test something went wrong and Haru had to save Yukito, getting hurt in the end.
But still he didn’t die, allowing him to finally tell a bit about himself. Haru was, indeed, he was a prostitute, but he was also the father of a child (and once married). Angry, Yukito called him a filthy whore and left, staying mad for the next five days at the whole gang (and specially Ryoki).
Few nights later Leo, Ryo and Haru go meet the guy who sold them the liquid, which had doubled the price lately and didn’t please the gang at all. The guy told them he can’t lower the price else Lloyd would kill him, and trying to make things more interesting, Leo suggests them to go hunt for small fries to learn who Lloyd is.
As Ryoki beat up a guy Leo admitted to Haru he is afraid of "that face" and explained to him what happened as kids. As the good friend he is, Leo is the one that needed to stop Ryo before he killed the guys he was beating up.
By the end of the night, they haven’t found much and because they didn’t have Candy, Haru invited them to "Automatix" so they can get some for free. This is the part Leo showed difficulty reading the English name of the bar, which can be translated at how bad he actually was at school. Haru stood in the bar with the owner, Akira, but the two boys left later on to keep on searching for information about Lloyd. Soon they learned what they needed: “Mute”. "Mute" was a gang dealing with Yakuza, and that was controlled by Lloyd and that would be the boy’s objective.
Before they started, the whole gang joined and decided a name together: from then on, Leo’s and Ryo’s gang would be called "Jammy's Angels". The first thing on their agenda was to spread their name all over Mute’s territory, by beating up Mute’s weaklings and stealing their drugs. After all as "punks, they are supposed to rise hell".
The same night, Leo also told Ryo to go talk to Yukito because they both knew she was so in love with Ryo, hence why she was so angry when Haru kissed him. Ryo agreed, leaving Leo to keep chasing the weaklings, but unfortunately, the lion was ambushed and kidnapped by “Mute” members.
Even if in a terribly bad situation, Leo still joked around, getting some kicks and a dislocated shoulder for it. Lucky for him, “Jammy’s Angels” were already working to get to him and Haru as well (that basically flipped out and blinded someone). After saving his ass, and after putting the shoulder back in place, it was Leo’s turn to get revenge from the “Mute”.
When Haru arrived to the scene, he found the lion angrily punching someone to pulp. Tore off his finger nails, broke both his wrists and ankles and then beat him over and over again. Finally when he heard his best friend laughing like mad, Leo snapped out of it, and realised what he had done. Fear that he killed the guy overcame him. Even so, he still didn't stop, hoping someone would tell him "That's enough", hoping that Ryo would pat his shoulder just like Leo always did to him. Yet no one did, not even Ryoki.
Soon he became disgusting with himself and started crying.
Blinded by his thirsty for blood, the Bull doesn’t notice the Leo and Fuku staying behind; vomiting, crying, Leo tried to calm down and he returned to the scene to make sure if the guy he beat up was dead or not. Once he got there, however, the guy was gone.
Due to the rain from the last night, the lion got a fever the next morning, so Leo didn’t go to school; Ryoki checked on him, with food, but soon the conversation became serious. Leo told him he wanted to leave the team, because he didn’t want to get hit nor hit people anymore, because it was scary. He also admitted to be scared of Ryoki.
Meantime, Tetsu, a member of Mute and Lloyd’s right hand, kidnapped Yukito, and so Haru and Fuku went warn Leo and Ryoki, who immediately decide to go to get her back, leaving the current subject on hold. All of “Jammy Angels” members came to save the female cat, actually.
When they meet, Ryoki and Tetsu fight and during it Leo said he wouldn’t cry for Ryo if he died, but he'd kill Testu with his own hands, for real this time and with no regrets. Ryoki was able to get up again saying that he wanted Leo to cry for him, but between the fight, Tetsu stuck a knife in Ryoki's chest.
It was Haru’s turn to intervene, threatening to kill Tetsu who he actually have met before, and while they both talk about a probable past relationship, Ryo stood up again. Taking the knife off his chest, the cow jumped on Tetsu and cut his neck, until finally he was able to take the head off. Between this, he also climaxed, and shoved his thumb into Tetsu's eye in all of its ecstasy.
Scared, the Mute members started to scatter off, and Jammy's Angels also started to panic. Leo, too shocked to even know what to do, stopped Ryo from chasing the Mute and so the cow nuzzled his friend's neck affectionately mouthing “Goodbye”, and then left, still having Tetsu's head on his hand while the police sirens could be heard on the background.
[Personality]
The manga is perhaps too small to get Leo’s personality right on spot. At first, when he was still enjoying the gang and the races, Leo seems to be the hunter type: seeking thrill by hurting others, chasing them and hunting, he is the one who gives his best friend the idea to usually go beat others up, but he is also the first to stop him when he is going overboard.
Overall, Leo is not a perfect friend, but he is a very good friend; worrying about Ryoki in his own ways, he keeps him among the boundaries of anger but not murder desire that he knows it exists inside the Bull. He will not allow his best friend to become a murder, but he will also push him to hurt others since they both enjoy it.
The black Lion is pretty laid back and cool around others, even when there is a serious situation, yet he is capable of being serious too if the time calls for it, of course. Teasing his friends, perhaps even getting into fights with them, he still does show care, in his own awkward way. With a friendly smile, he conquers the place of one of those people others prefer to rely on.
He is also very insightful, but perhaps not good with his own words. He was only able to deal and bring Ryoki back to reason by kicking him around, but he did mean well with everything he said to the other broken boy.
Leo knows about his situation (the whole “going to die by spontaneous combustion” thing) and tries to work around with it, keeping a cheerful mask and thinking that racing is enough for him not to regret dying. That does worry him so so much, but that would make him forget how happy he could be during those small days on this earth.
Even if kind to his friends, Leo is still incredibly violent. When he snaps, he attacks the person in question in a blinding anger that is actually meant to kill. But that side disgusts him a lot, and actually so much violence goes against his own character; in the end, he has a lot of moral issues about his own actions, even if sometimes he can't control them.
That broke him. After all, he IS a child, and the new events in his life with his friends scared him so much that he could not control it. He did not wish for death, despise his violent nature. Unfortunately for him, his best friend didn’t realize it; Ryoki didn’t stop him, didn’t tell him it was enough and Leo saw himself becoming a murder and panicking at that.
That’s what made the lion fear himself, and refuse to be on the gang anymore. He couldn’t take this much violence when others didn’t control him nor supported him; scared of Ryoki’s latter actions, even if he was the one bringing it upon them, soon Leo realized it was a mistake and immediately backed off. He isn’t a coward, Leo simply wishes to live happy, without fear and regrets and therefore he avoids things that might make his life worse.
He wants to feel supported too; questioning “Why aren’t you stopping me?” while still punching his enemy, he shows us that there is only a certain amount of things he can take, and to everything else, Leo needs some sort of support. Yes, his friends are extremely important to him and he is highly dependable on them.
Leo is really cool when he is close to his friends, but alone… not so much. Not only he is dependable on his friends to keep his own emotions and to keep his sadness locked, without them he is pretty hopeless and fail. Like when he met Yukito alone and tried to jump on her, however letting her kick him like that, or when he picked Haru without even realizing it was a male – and freaking out about it – , those are two obvious situations of how fail he can be at times.
In love with his best friend's dead girlfriend, Leo is confused by love and – at the same time – sex. He pays much attention to his sexuality; still a virgin in "both ass and dick", Leo wants to stop being one, though he did take into attention the words Yukito once told him about having to be with someone special. The whole manga is also very much based of sexual feelings, and Leo is the perfect example of that. When told that his best friend managed to do it, perhaps he either felt jealous of Ryoki for doing it, or simply jealous because it was Akito; whichever reason it was, it surprised him greatly and even set his mind to actually do it for real.
His whole relationship with Ryoki shows us a lot; they fight, they get angry and the jerk around with each other. But they are best friends, and Leo wants to protect him from everything else, but especially from that monster that grows inside the other teenager. More than once Ryoki showed love towards the lion; “I love you, I really do”, or the intimacy that they share, the affectionate nuzzle Ryo gave him at the end, and all the efforts Ryoki did to find Leo when he learned he had been kidnapped, shows that those two adore each other even if they constantly call each other names.
Canonly the mangaka made a special picture of Ryoki and Leo together; I am willing to accept that perhaps this care and love might have been in some sort of way bigger than friendship (like Ryoki’s checking Leo’s body under the cover, calling him cute, the “I love you”, and Leo himself when it comes to his best friend), but I will not assume that Leo is homosexual. I’ll simply consider that Ryoki is the only exception, and I don’t even think the two of them would ever be able to even have sex.