Sakazaki

Sakazaki
Kanji	坂崎
Rōmaji	Sakazaki
Personal Information
Gender	Male
Age	Probably early to mid-twenties
Status
Status	Alive
Occupation	Bodyguard/Servant to Erika Koenji
Affiliations	Koenji Group
Debut
Manga	ACT.025
Anime	Her Open Wound
Live-action	Episode 7 (Live-action)

Sakazaki (坂崎), aka Emerald, is one of Erika Koenji's three bodyguards known as the "Jewel Troop". Each were chosen by Erika herself and given a bejeweled earring hence the name. Sakazaki is the raven-haired one of the three and is identified as Emerald due to this being the gem of his earring.

Personality

As the bodyguards usually work as a unit, it is hard to separate their individual personalities. Although all the bodyguards are willing and eager to serve Erika. It looks like they are used to her arrogant personality for they often pander to her and also have no problem with the way she goes about things - for it was them who took the bribe to Director Kurosaki. None of them protest when asked by Erika to do cruel, violent, unethical or downright illegal acts. Even seeming happy to do it because it is what Erika-sama ordered, they even get into the spirit of things when asked to beat up Kanae by dressing up as delinquents. We see a bit of their individual personalities here for each of them dress up according to their own fashion sense. Sakazaki slicks back his hair into a mullet style. He has a dark patterned shirt on with a leather torso and an emblem on the upper arm area along with black pants and shoes.

Of the three, Sakazaki seems to be the leader for in most cases he is the one to take charge or to talk first.

Appearance

Like the other bodyguards, Sakazaki is dressed in a nice suit, is handsome and is impeccably groomed. He has medium length black hair which he wears loose and with a middle part. He has an emerald earring which he wears on his left ear lobe.

Background

Not much is known about the bodyguards' histories however it is implied by their disgust at a commoner such as Kyoko that they are from families of means and probably only associate with affluent people. It is suggested that they have been with Erika for quite some time too, for it was probably one of them who broke into the school to find out for Erika which high school Kanae was going to.

They seem familiar with Erika's father, Katsumasa, for they mention him several times by name when discussing the incident. This is to be expected for he is the one who most likely hired them to serve and protect his daughter, Erika and is also part of her everyday life so they may encounter him regularly.

Plot

Curara CM arc

The bodyguards set up a temporary but plush sitting area for Erika while she waits for the audition to start. All of them praise and tend to her. With their mistress' attention on Kyoko, Sakazaki leads the trio into an act of making fun of her commoner ways in order to amuse Erika.

Kanae and Kyoko turn up to the second round of Curara CM audition attired in their Love Me coveralls. When confronted with the violent and garish color Erika is horrified and visibly flinches away from it. Sakazaki is also aghast at the sight and begs Erika to look away from them.

All three servants take Erika's bribe money to Director Kurosaki. He scares them and tells them to take a message to Erika that he isn't selling talent if she wants to be hired she has to use her own talent to get the job. The bodyguards relay this to Erika who is furious that her plan failed and demands they go back and try again. They admit they're afraid of the Director and are unwilling to go back which only causes Erika to rage at them over the phone.

Kyoko and Kanae have performed their first act which took many by surprise including Erika who wasn't expecting much. She and the bodyguards approach Kanae who is deep in thought. Erika attributes Kanae's success to luck for what else could it be as she hasn't practiced acting since third grade elementary. Erika reminds Kanae that it's Kyoko's turn to think up a prompt but she wonders has she had any acting experience? Not that it matters because she is really poor! Erika continues to mock Kyoko and her bodyguards are applauding her whilst effusively agreeing with her insults. Kanae gets super angry at this and uses her chair to whack Sakazaki over the head with it as she demands to know why being poor has any effect on talent.

Erika is charging up the hall with the trio in tow, determined to see what's so great about Kyoko. All she sees is Kyoko playing 'Best of Friends' with A-ko the chair and agrees that she is really weird. Erika thinks her idea for the reconciliation theme is best but refuses to say the key word 'sorry' for she has never apologized in her entire life and she refuses to do it now even in a script. All her bodyguards agree with her that Erika-sama should not have to say something so low!

The Director approaches the room and spots Erika peering in along with her three servants and wonders what she's doing. She and Sayou visible cringe and immediately snap back into an innocent position. She says she merely got there early.

The Director is cautioning Kyoko and Kanae on getting hurt before a job which he sees as unprofessionalism. Erika and her servants are eavesdropping and a plan forms between them. They will injure Kanae in order for her to secure the role. The servants all lavish praise on Erika for her determination and applaud her. Their auras darken when Erika orders them to harm Kanae no matter what means they have to use.

The bodyguards all dressed up according to their own fashion sense of a 'thug' for this mission. Kyoko and Kanae are bonding as friends on the streets of Tokyo not realizing they are being targeted by Erika and her bodyguards. However whenever the trio or Erika would close in on Kanae, Kyoko would whip her out of harms way in the nick of time. They finally trap Kanae by using their crutches to hold her in place.

A Lotus in the Mud arc

The bodyguards are quite distressed at Erika's injuries and current psychological state for no matter what they do she does not seem to respond to anything. They attempt to garner a reaction out of her by teasing Kyoko about her commoner ways, similar to what they did they first time they encountered her at the Curara CM. Sakazaki is the one who leads the other two bodyguards into the routine. However unlike last time where Erika joined in on the teasing this time she simply stares without a flicker of expression on her face. This continues to disturb the devoted servants for she is acting so unlike her former self. When Erika actually speaks to Kyoko they all jump in surprise but are so glad to see Erika making progress. They are cheering her on for they know she wants to ask something but its hard for her and in the end her pride gets in the way.

Sakazaki and Sayou both ask Kyoko for help getting revenge for Erika. Kyoko quickly makes the connection between this weird request and the silly Love Me request however it wasn't Erika but the bodyguards making it. Erika's injuries were not accidental it seems, she was pushed onto the road in front of a car on purpose. Apparently they want her to curse the person who did this to Erika having felt her mystic powers before. The servants blame themselves for not being there to help Erika but she insisted otherwise her identity as an heiress would be revealed. It seems she has been trying to keep the challenge Kanae made with her and going to extra lengths to do so. The servants have a suspect in mind, another girl who was auditioning for the role of Momiji, but they have little proof to support this fact and Erika refuses to discuss it .

Etymology

• The surname Sakazaki means "slope, hill" (坂) (saka) and "cape, peninsula" (崎) (saki/zaki).