Saigiku Jōno

Saigiku Jōno (条野 採菊,) is a member of the Hunting Dogs special units and has the ability Priceless Tears.

Appearance
Jōno is a young man with mostly light-colored hair with tips that fade into red. As he is blind, he almost always keeps his eyes closed. Along his Hunting Dogs uniform, he wears a long earring on his right ear.

Personality
Upon first appearance, Jōno has the calmest, most composed personality of the Hunting Dogs unit. However, he does not take interruptions nor injustice lightly. As such, he nonchalantly arrests Osamu Dazai upon their first meeting, expressing his thoughts against Dazai's blood-covered past with great disapproval.

Jōno hides a fierce temper behind composed expressions, mixing them with harsh threats and remarks towards his comrades. Tetchō Suehiro finds himself on the receiving end of much of these remarks due to his offbeat nature, easily exasperating Jōno. He even subtly scolds his commander Ōchi Fukuchi for the latter's theatrics towards military troops and afterwards threatens to shoot him from behind, showing that his violent tendencies are no different from his comrades. He also tends to either silently or vocally wish ill will towards other people with a rather antagonistic attitude towards him, including Tetchō and even a government official. Sensitive to his surroundings, Jōno also detests intense emotions and abrupt changes in moods from those around him.

Quite contrary to Tetchō's nature during interrogations, Jōno has a sadistic side to him in extracting information from his targets. As noted by Tetchō, he has an infamous habit of tormenting others until they are forced to spill his needed details during investigations, which he seems to find amusement in. Hence, with such a sharp persistence in information extraction, Jōno believes that he must be the "strongest Hunting Dog" among the team for his expertise in investigating and capturing criminals.

Ability
Jōno's ability, Priceless Tears (千金の涙,) grants him superhuman senses, his sense of hearing in particular. He is able to hear the breath and heartbeats of others without standing near them, and capable of determining his surroundings with his hearing. Also, he has able to discern the most insignificant details, like the surmising the shipping date of coffee beans from its fragrance and taste. However, the full extent of his ability/abilities remains unknown as its hinted that he might have more than one ability.

Skills

 * Heightened Senses: To compensate for his blindness and in addition to his ability, Jōno claims his other senses, including his smell and hearing, are incredibly strong. As such, illusions have no effect on him, which makes him immune to Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's illusions.
 * Interrogation Expertise: He is also adept and invaluable during investigations, most especially in extracting information and secrets from fugitives and other targets, a skill which he combines with his ability for efficient and speedy results. Notably, his interrogation tactic is quite opposite to Tetchō's sympathetic negotiation approach.

Background
A few years ago, Jōno worked as an executive in a criminal organization. Then, six years ago Fukuchi saw great potential in Jōno, especially in his hearing and his Ability. Because of this, Fukuchi decided to recruit him into the Hunting Dogs while also seeing potential in him becoming a member of the Decay of Angels.

Decay of Angels Arc
Jōno appears at the horse race Dazai attends. At first, he calmly asks Dazai which horse is winning, to which Dazai happily answers. Quick to change gears, Jōno handcuffs and arrests him for the former Port Mafia executive's crimes.

After the Decay of Angels frames the Armed Detective Agency for the political hostage situation and Nikolai Gogol's alleged murder, the Hunting Dogs are summoned by the government to aid in chasing down the runaway Agency members. Upon landing from his capsule, Jōno disrupts a military man's attempt to shoot Fukuchi by catching a bullet without fail. He subtly scolds his commander for raising the troop's heartbeats for no reason, then he threatens to shoot him from behind.

As Tetchō arrives, Jōno takes a harsh approach from the get-go, telling him to leave as soon as he came. He is quick to change gears when the vice-commander lands, worried about her anger extending to all of them. Jōno tries briefing her on the situation, only to be told to shut up, to which Jōno obliges. When Teruko starts acting cheerful around Fukuchi only, Jōno is distraught at how he cannot read her emotions whatsoever.

Elaborating their plan of attack against the Armed Detective Agency, Jōno lists the two possible routes the Agency will take: a southern highway, where the Agency could hijack a getaway car; and a northern train station, where they could blend in among the passengers. Claiming the southern route would be the most logical outcome, he hypothesises that they shall take the northern station to throw them off. Faced with a dilemma of whether to take the northern or the southern paths, the Hunting Dogs split into two teams: Jōno and Tetchō are assigned to the southern road, while Fukuchi and Teruko take the northern station.

Tetchō slashes through the trees along their way and eventually reaches their destination. Jōno voices his dislike for him and humors Tetchō to stop breathing and his heartbeat given Jōno's keen listening senses, compelling Tetchō to hold his breath in. Jōno then detects the Agency near their spot, to which Tetchō prepares for their encounter.

Eventually, Jōno infiltrates their vehicle, pulling out Kenji Miyazawa and Jun'ichirō Tanizaki from inside. Tetchō then prepares his attack on the two detectives, until Doppo Kunikida rams the vehicle into Tetchō to retrieve his comrades. In the Agency's attempt to escape from the Hunting Dogs, Tetchō activates Plum Blossoms in Snow and severs their vehicle into two with his sword.

With the Agency injured, Jōno asks Tetchō to kill Akiko Yosano, whom he calls as the "Angel of Death". Kunikida surrenders, but Jōno is intrigued with his heartbeat and notes how he feels relief with how his ideals shall run out, further remarking that his lofty ideals are bound to collapse very soon. To their shock, Chūya Nakahara arrives and attacks the Hunting Dogs from a chopper with his ability to rescue the Agency, leaving Jōno to wonder how the Agency still has remaining allies.

Despite their high altitude, the Hunting Dogs continue pursuing their targets, with Tetchō using his ability to hang on the chopper. In the end, Kunikida sacrifices himself to let his allies escape by detonating a hand grenade on himself and Tetchō mid-air. After Kunikida is hospitalized and put on watch, Jōno and his fellow Hunting Dogs are requested for dispatch having found the Agency, with Michizō Tachihara rejoining them as the undercover fifth Hunting Dog and cornering Yosano that leads to her arrest.

As Tachihara returns to the Hunting Dogs' headquarters, Jōno congratulates his successful mafia infiltration and hands him back the task of watching over Tetchō and Teruko. During their meeting, Tachihara reports that the Agency has been last sighted two days ago at the bank, after which eyewitness reports have stopped coming. As Jōno reprimands Tetchō for muscle training during the meeting, Teruko thinks that the criminals are still within the country and may have conveniently found a base and a leader. To investigate, Jōno and Tetchō head to Café Uzumaki.

They bicker with each other over the title of the "strongest Hunting Dog"; Jōno thinks that such title should belong to someone with impressive investigation and capturing skills, unlike Tetchō's physical strength that earned him such feat. Jōno then challenges him that whichever of them can find the Agency first shall grab hold of the title. Jōno begins questioning the café manager about their waitress Lucy, whom the manager dismisses as a negligible employee, possibly quite insignificant to their investigation. Jōno then lauds the manager's coffee and holds him in admiration, though Jōno confesses that he can see through his lie.

As the manager becomes evidently suspicious, Tetchō stabs Jōno's foot for tormenting the manager during interrogation. Tetchō then takes over the questioning, promising him not to charge Lucy with a single crime if he were to confess her location. Aside from her safety, the manager quips that he also wishes the Agency to be saved, so Tetchō vows on his sword that they shall receive a fair trial.

Though Jōno is disappointed that Tetchō resorts to granting the criminals a just treatment with their authority, the manager asks them to save Lucy and tells them that she headed to the Sky Casino. With their acquired intel, Jōno feels that Tetchō might have won their earlier bet.

Later, Jōno visits Kunikida in hospital in the wake of the coin bomb incidents overseas and praises his talent after surviving his own detonation from before. In exchange for his sole acquittal, Jōno invites Kunikida to join the Hunting Dogs. Despite being told of the perks of working for the government, Kunikida staunchly refuses the offer. Jōno nonetheless expects his answer, though he wonders how Kunikida can now use his ability and write without his hands.

Before taking his leave, Jōno gives Kunikida time to reconsider his offer and informs him that the Agency doctor shall be executed later that day. He quips how Kunikida's "ideal" of protecting his comrades has now been reduced to nothing, before tossing him his notebook cut in half. He walks outside the hospital, listening to Kunikida's distraught screams.

Two weeks after Fukuchi's return from Standard Island aboard the Boswellian, Tachihara reports to his fellow Hunting Dogs about the bizarre infection-like incident within the Mafia, specifically with an inhuman Ichiyō Higuchi turning Gin Akutagawa and Ryūrō Hirotsu into her kind, as well as witnessing an undead horde of mafiosi. Though Teruko insults how idiotic he reacted, she believes his story, as it coincides with recent disappearances of various mafiosi. Jōno conjectures it might be terrorism using an ability, which Tetchō thinks is the Agency's next terrorist act. Jōno notices Tetchō's seriousness about the matter, which he jests will earn a mark on his calendar.

Tachihara subtly implies that the Agency cannot possibly be terrorists after recalling how the detectives kept on mentioning being falsely accused numerous times. Hence, he requests them to allow him to reinvestigate the case. Jōno turns to their commander for his approval, though Fukuchi rejects it, claiming that Tachihara's ability is needed in addressing the infection case. Nevertheless, after Tachihara opens his alternative plan using the flash drive he previously broke at the Sky Casino, Fukuchi reluctantly allows him to investigate. Jōno reminds Fukuchi that the flash drive may be another fake planted by the Agency, but Tetchō remarks that Fukuchi nonetheless believes in the possibility that the Agency may not truly be terrorists as he previously said to the UN delegates.

Later at an airport, Jōno bumps into and brushes past Aya Koda to regroup with Teruko and Tetchō. They soon review their operation: One Order shall be brought to the airport, while 18 fake transport operations are to be deployed, with their commander having claimed that Ranpo shall see through the counterfeits and deduce the real weapon. Seeing it as quite bothersome, Jōno recommends taking someone close to the Agency as a hostage to threaten them with, much to the eavesdropping Aya's shock.

Jōno soon detects her heartbeat, thinking how the Agency would come save her no matter what if they use her as bait. As Aya repulses over his thinking, Jōno admits that he merely wishes to hear the voice of the anguished and listen to their destruction regardless whether they are innocent or guilty. He further antagonizes her, until Tetchō stabs Jōno from behind to stop threatening the girl. Jōno annoyingly asks Tetchō not to stab him every single time and challenges him to a swordfight, but Fukuchi arrives and stops them. He issues his final preparation orders to the Hunting Dogs then invites Jōno to come with him.

Along the way, Fukuchi asks Jōno about his thoughts on the Agency's modus operandi, to which Jōno reluctantly answers that the Agency's plot is quite refined whose sadism, he admits, even earns his sympathy, jesting that he does not mind transferring to the terrorists' side in case they lose the battle.

They soon arrive at their destination, where Fukuchi shows Bram Stoker in his coffin to Jōno. Bram reports to Fukuchi that half of the guards have now been turned into vampires, much to Jōno's confusion. Per Tachihara's previous words about how the Agency believes that a mastermind framed them, Fukuchi reveals to Jōno that he is the mastermind. He then invites Jōno to join him in carrying out his plans.

Appearances
{{Appearance
 * Chapters =

Decay of Angels Arc
}}
 * Chapter 57 - Sunday Tragedy, Part 1
 * Chapter 60 - Dogs Hunt Dogs, Part 2
 * Chapter 61 - Dogs Hunt Dogs, Part 3
 * Chapter 62 - Dogs Hunt Dogs, Part 4
 * Chapter 67 - The Sadness of Those Without Wings, Part 1
 * Chapter 68 - The Sadness of Those Without Wings, Part 2
 * Chapter 69 - The Escape, Part 1 (silhouette)
 * Chapter 71 - Bungo Hound Dogs, Part 1
 * Chapter 72 - Bungo Hound Dogs, Part 2
 * Chapter 76 - Skyfall, Part 3 (image)
 * Chapter 77 - Skyfall, Part 4 (image)
 * Chapter 79 - To Threaten God, Part 2
 * Chapter 88 - As Though Tumbling Down
 * Chapter 89 - Hero War, Gang War
 * Chapter 89.5 - Hero War, Gang War, Part 2 (flashback)
 * Chapter 92 - The Empty Port, Part 1

Quotes

 * (To Doppo Kunikida) "Your ideals are big and lofty as a hot air balloon. But at some point, the balloon will always run out of fuel and fall to the earth. You have always lived in fear of that day."
 * (To Tetchō Suehiro) "Nothing, it's just the first time this month that Tetchō said something reasonable. I have to mark it on my calendar."
 * (To Aya Koda) "Certainly, it could be that the Agency is not an evil organization and the mastermind is someone else. There are those who claim that. But, you see, either way is fine by me. Whether the detectives are evil or not… I simply want to hear someone's anguished voice."

Trivia

 * The military dubs Jōno the "King of Avidyā" (無明の王,). Ironically, avidyā is a Buddhist concept about ignorance and misconceptions, something that Jōno – with his keen senses – never risks, making him essential for interrogations.

Site Navigation
Сайгику Дзёно