Daisuke Hiyama

Daisuke Hiyama is an influential antagonist who appeared in the Japanese light novel series Arifureta Shokukgyou de Sekai Saikyou (from Commonplace to Worlds Strongest), alongside its manga and anime adaptions. He served as the main antagonist of the first novel, chapters 1 - 4 of the manga, and episode 1 of the anime. He subsequently became a minor character for some time after this, before emerging as one of the final antagonists of the Demon Invasion Arc. Daisuke was introduced as the archenemy of the series protagonist Hajime Nagumo, an otaku, who was befriended by a popular classmate. This made Daisuke (and many others extremely jealous), and they set out to make Hajime's life as miserable as possible. This bullying only escalated when the class was summoned to Tortus, culminating in Daisuke trying to take out "his rival" once and for all. He was voiced by Japanese voice actor Minoru Shiraishi and Orion Pitts in the English version of the anime.

Appearance
Daisuke is introduced as a seventeen years old highschool student. Hiyama is slightly tall, with an average build. He has head length hair and brown eyes. Like all of the students, Daisuke was summoned to Tortus in his school uniform, but upon becoming a hero replaced it with purple, black and orange leather armour.

He is frequently shown with an arrogant expression on his face to match his personality. This was often transformed into a sneer or mockery whenever Hajime was around, at least until the laters transformation.

Personality
Daisuke is an arrogant, self-obsessed, selfish coward who takes delight in picking on those he deems to be weaker than himself, both verbally and physically. If he ever encountered enemies that were stronger than himself, Daisuke was content to stand back and let others fight the battle for him. Hajime later recalled seeing Daisuke smirking when he knocked him off the bridge to his apparent death, demonstrating how cruel Hiyama actually was.

Upon arriving in Tortus, Daisuke's arrogance rose exponentially, especially when he discovered he was even more powerful than Hajime. In reality, however, Daisuke was one of the weakest members of his class. He did little to nothing heroic himself and tended to avoid confrontations whenever possible. If the situation ever looked dire enough, or he was viewed in a negative light, Daisuke was not afraid to feign repentance and plead for mercy with crocodile tears.

Although his 'feelings' towards Kaori Shirasaki were sincere (at least on his part), his attempts to win Shirasaki's affections went unnoticed and did not excuse his antagonistic behaviour. Hiyama's biggest fear following the events in the Orcus Dungeon was that other heroes would discover the truth about what had happened. As it turned out, one of his classmates, Eri Nakamura, had seen what Daisuke tried to do, and used that information to blackmail him into serving her. When Hajime was revealed to be alive and confirmed that he knew the truth about the said incident, Daisuke had a complete mental breakdown.

Throughout all of this and the treasonous actions that followed, Daisuke refused to accept any responsibility for his actions. During the said incident, Daisuke attacked and murdered his supposed crush, showing how little regard he actually had for them.

Before the Summoning
Like many of the male students in his class (and the school at large), Daisuke had a crush on his female classmate Kaori Shirasaki. However, due to witnessing an incident a few years earlier, Kaori was friendly towards, (and later admitted to having a crush on) Hajime Nagumo the class otaku. Along with many of the other students, both male and female, Daisuke felt that this attention was undeserved, and resolved to make Hajime's school-life absolutely miserable.

He was the leader of what Hajime called "The Bastard Four", which consisted of himself and his friends, Reichi Kondou, Yoshiki Saitou and Shinji Nakano. Every single day these four students came up with ever more elaborate ways to make Hajime suffer, either by mocking him or physically beating him. With the exception of Kaori and a few others (including Kouki Amanogawa, and Aiko Hatayama), everyone else in the class was aware of this but due to their own selfish hatred of Hajime and Kaori's relationship allowed it to happen.

Daisuke was present when the class was whisked across the dimensions to the world of Tortus. They were summoned under the pretext of being heroes, but in truth were little more than pawns in the eyes of the evil God, Ehit, who sought to use them for his own entertainment.

Training and continued bullying
After being summoned, Daisuke along with the rest of his classmates was met by Ishtar Langbard, Pope of the Ehit Church. The Pope subsequently gathered the students together, who were now dubbed the 'Chosen Heroes' and told them about the history and current situation of Tortus. This explanation, coupled with the revelation that the students could not return home until the demons were defeated, was enough to convince Kouki and several other students that they needed to fight, despite the objections of Hatayama sensei. Daisuke said nothing throughout all of this but was overjoyed to discover that he (along with everyone else in his class) had been blessed by Ehit with above-average skills, alongside enhanced strength and stamina. He was chosen to serve the Kingdom of Tortus as a light warrior. This excitement turned into sheer delight when he discovered that Hajime was given the non-combat class synergist, and possessed below-average strength, and skills. The other students, with the exception of Kaori and Kouki, shared this sentiment and wrote Hajime off as weak and useless. The class was subsequently trained by the Kingdoms Knight Commander Meld Loggins, who worked hard to turn the students into a capable fighting force. Using the situation to their advantage, Daisuke and the other members of the Bastard Four relentlessly took every opportunity to continue their harassment of Hajime. Under the guise of training, they would repeatedly punch, kick, and hit the synergist with training weapons or magic. Again, most of the students were aware of the purpose of this treatment but did nothing about it.

The Orcus Dungeon
Two weeks after the group's arrival in Tortus, Meld decided to test the student's prowess by taking them to the Orcus Dungeon. This was one of the legendary labyrinths that were occupied by several dangerous monsters, where adventurers came to level up and potentially further explore the labyrinth. The night before the class and Meld descended into the dungeon, Daisuke noticed Kaori visiting Hajime, wearing a flimsy negligee. Although the visit was nothing more than concern for Hajime on Kaori's part, seeing this made Daisuke even more furious. The following day, they entered the dungeon. After making all the way down to level twenty and encountering several foes, Daisuke in a bid to look superior continued to note how useless Hajime still was. When Kaori, who continued to offer Hajime reassurance spotted a beautiful looking crystal hanging high in the wall, Hiyama decided to retrieve it in the hopes of getting her attention. Ignoring the warnings of Meld that it could be dangerous Daisuke climbed the wall. The moment he touched the crystal, Daisuke and the rest of the force were transported all the way down to the as yet unexplored level sixty-five of the dungeon. Landing on a giant bridge, the heroes were confronted by a gigantic dragon-like monster known as the Behemoth on one side and a horde of Traum Soldiers on the other. Surrounded, the group was forced to fight for their lives. Thanks to the selfless actions of Hajime, Meld, Kouki, Shizuku and the Knights the Traum soldiers were quickly destroyed. The Behemoth, however, continued to advance but was stalled by Hajime using his Transmute ability to alter the ground, allowing the students with magic to get into position and prepare several fireball spells. The students then launched a volley at the monster, giving Hajime a chance to escape. It was then that Daisuke Hiyama, under cover of the second volley, and overcome by his hatred and jealousy of Hajime, launched a second attack, not at the Behemoth but at his fellow classmate. Hajime was immediately thrown back by the sheer power of the attack onto the collapsing bridge. The rest of the students could only watch on helpless, as the boy they had relentlessly bullied and teased fell into the chasm below to his apparent death. Due to the desperation and confusion of their situation, many of the students mistook the actions of the fireball for a misfire. Just before disappearing, however, Hajime glimpsed Daisuke's face, which had a sinister smirk on it. Upon recalling this, down in the lower levels of the dungeon, Hajime realised that Daisuke was the one responsible for his predicament and that his former tormentor had deliberately tried to kill him in cold blood. Daisuke and the rest of the students were immediately escorted to the surface by Meld and the surviving knights. Many of the students were left severely traumatised by the experience of seeing Hajime fall. Upon returning to the safety of an inn, Daisuke positioned himself in one of the corners and curled up into a fetal position. Many of the students assumed that this was Hiyama's way of mourning and that he was as traumatised as they were. In truth, however, Daisuke was silently laughing to himself, delighted at having finally "destroyed" his rival for Shirasaki's affections. He called it divine justice and was confident that no one saw what actually happened. Moments later, however, he was confronted by Eri Nakamura. Contrary to what Daisuke had hoped, she saw what happened and knew he deliberately attack Nagumo. She threatened to out him as a murderer unless he agreed to work with her, for an as-yet-undisclosed purpose. Left with no choice Hiyama accepted.

Aftermath
Following the events of the Orcus Dungeon, things quickly went downhill for Daisuke. Although Eri was the only other student besides Daisuke, who actually knew what happened on the sixty-fifth level, his actions had several unintended consequences. Convinced that Hajime was still alive, Kaori continued to train relentlessly and alongside some of the more powerful students made repeated visits to the dungeon in order to avenge him. The majority of his fellow classmates, however, were too traumatised by their experience to carry on fighting for some time. Despite this, the students (fighting or not) were unanimous in their condemnation of Hiyama. Whilst most of them had not especially liked Hajime, they would never in their wildest imagination have actually dreamt of killing him. They were also justifiably furious at Daisuke for ignoring Melds warnings about the crystal, which put all their lives in unnecessary danger, resulting in the death of one of their companions. Unable to handle all of the abuse he was receiving, Daisuke went to Kouki, the strongest member of the students. In a bid to get stronger and closer to Kaori, Daisuke feigned remorse, and weeping crocodile tears asked to join Kouki's group in a bid to make amends. Convinced by this display, Kouki forgave Hiyama and allowed him to join his team, after which the abuse stopped (as Hiyama intended). After that a truly unrepentant Daisuke, along with several other students. accompanied Kouki on his adventures.

Final betrayal and Death
Sometime after the events in the Orcus Dungeon, Daisuke received some news, which undoubtedly almost made his heart stop. Hajime Nagumo was still alive, wandering the world with his own party and had acquired power beyond the rest of the students wildest imagination!

This revelation horrified Daisuke, who insisted repeatedly that it was not possible. He was confronted with reality, however, when he saw the still living Hajime emerge from a dungeon together with Kaori after the former saved her from an ambush by demons. Like the rest of the students, Daisuke was stunned by Hajime's transformation and following a display of his rivals skills and fighting-prowess quickly realised that this was not somebody he could intimidate or push around any longer. It was then that Kaori professed her love for Hajime and announced her intention to join his team from that point on. In a desperate bid to remain close to the object of his affections, Daisuke approached the couple. He initially pleaded with Shirasaki to reconsider and not leave their group. When that failed Hiyama turned towards Hajime and instead begged him to at least let Daisuke join his team too, whilst also asking for forgiveness in letting him down. Glaring at his former tormentor, Hajime not only refused Daisuke's offer but dropped a number of very subtle hints that were not missed by Hiyama. Thus, Daisuke realised that Hajime knew what really happened in the Orcus Labyrinth and that he now had the potential to tell the other students about it at any moment. Kaori departed with Hajime, and his harem shortly afterwards. Thus Daisuke realised that he stood no chance of getting together with Shirasaki whatsoever. This in combination with the revelation about Hajime's survival, caused him to have a breakdown, making him feel murderous once again. It was then that Eri approached him, ready to enact her plan. She assured him that if everything worked out, then Kaori would soon be his. Simply put Eri's plan involved betraying the Kingdom and her classmates by unleashing a demon apocalypse upon them. She intended to turn all of the students into mindless servants in order to stay by Kouki (who she was in love with) side forever. As part of the plan, Daisuke killed several of the countries knights including his mentor Meld. He did this discreetly, however, and his treachery was not revealed until the final stages of the confrontation. With everybody oblivious to his allegiance, Daisuke suddenly stabbed Kaori through the heart in front of all his classmates, killing her instantly. As with every other incident, he refused to take any responsibility claiming it was all Hajime's fault for standing in his way to Shirasaki's affections in the first place. He also declared that once all of this was over, Eri would resurrect Kaori as his lust puppet. Unfortunately for Daisuke, amongst those to witness Kaori Shirasaki's murder was Hajime Nagumo. Although Hajime had not revealed what Daisuke had done to him back in the Orcus Labyrinth, Daisuke's actions made it perfectly clear about how unrepentant he actually was. Enraged at the death of the only person to show him kindness prior to their summoning, who was now his precious comrade, Hajime charged his would-be-murderer. Knocking Daisuke to the ground effortlessly, Hajime (using nothing but his fists and feet) proceeded to beat the man that made his life a misery back for every beating he had ever suffered tenfold. By the end of the assault, Daisuke was a gibbering helpless wreck, bleeding from several wounds, with nearly every bone in his body broken. Remembering the situation going on around him, Hajime decided not to give his adversary a clean death, and to instead make him suffer as he had once suffered. Hajime then dragged the helpless Daisuke over to the nearest battlement. In a twisted mockery of what happened back at the Orcus Labyrinth, Hajime Nagumo threw Daisuke Hiyama from the rampart into a horde of demons waiting below. The light warrior was immediately set upon by the horde, unable to fight back. Hajime watched as the demons started devouring the screaming Daisuke whilst he was still alive, fittingly starting with his left arm. Hajime did not watch the entire incident, however, and left Daisuke to his fate. Ultimately, Eri's scheme failed, and Kaori was resurrected by Hajime. This meant that Daisuke ultimately died for nothing. From that point onwards he was remembered by his surviving classmates as a traitor alongside Eri. His two surviving 'friends' Saitou and Nakano, never bullied Hajime again following this incident.

Trivia

 * Daisuke is sometimes compared to Motoyasu Kitamura, from Rising of The Shield Hero. Whilst there are some similarities between the two characters, a few differences also exist.
 * Motoyasu is an anti-hero whereas Daisuke is a straight-up villain.
 * When summoned, Motoyasu and Daisuke both had weapons and skillsets designed for close combat. Both of them looked down upon their respective counterparts for lacking combat skills.
 * Both developed a deep hatred for the main protagonists at the start of their respective series, Hajime and Naofumi respectively. However, Motoyasu's betrayal of Naofumi was due to the deception of Malty Melromarc, whilst Daisuke's was intentional.
 * Both believed themselves to be superior to their respective rivals. Whilst this may have been true at the start of the series, both ultimately became the laters inferior.
 * Both Motoyasu and Daisuke tried to kill Naofumi and Hajime at some point but failed miserably.
 * Both were selfish and self-absorbed although Motoyasu later redeemed himself.
 * The biggest difference is their personality and eventual fates. Motoyasu genuinely tried to do the right thing but was often mislead by his pride, or the intervention of others. After suffering a mental breakdown, he went on to join Naofumi in his adventures, in a bid to seek redemption and became a better person for it. Daisuke, on the other hand, was only interested in himself and tried to murder his rival in cold blood. He accepted no responsibility for his actions, learned nothing from his mistakes and ultimately turned against everybody in a bid to acquire what he wanted. In the end, this cost him dearly.
 * Daisuke was the fourth out of his classmates to die. Shimizu was first, Shirasaki second, Reichi third, and Nakamura fifth. He was the only one of these to be killed by monsters and not a fellow human.