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Kaede Akamatsu (赤松 楓 Akamatsu Kaede) is the main protagonist of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony and a participant of the New Killing School Life.

Fake Early Life
Kaede has played piano a lot since very young age. Because of it, her friends even called her "piano freak". Before long, she began winning contest after contest, and was given the title Ultimate Pianist. She used to attend to Shining Star International High School (光星国際アカデミー).

Demo - Class Trial Ver.
Kaede was doing her self-introduction before she fell into a deep sleep and awake at a strange classroom. She encountered Makoto Naegi who claimed that he was a new student at Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles and recognized Kaede's name and talent from the new students roster. Kaede then read a note that told her to come to the gym.

Kaede encountered the other students along her way to the gym, introduced herself and learn a bit more about the others. Kaede finally reached the gym and was so shocked when she saw Monokuma appeared, thinking that he's a panda. Furthermore, Monokuma told her that Kaede and the other students will undergo the New Killing School Life inside the academy, where none will escape except they perform a perfect murder. Kaede was baffled by this overwhelming and despairing rules. Monokuma also informed that she will share a same room with Makoto and Hajime Hinata, which she objects because she's a girl.

Kaede then enters her room, only found signs of struggle all around the wall, bed, and floors. When she entered the shower, she discovered Yasuhiro Hagakure's body lying on the floor with a knife stabbed on his abdomen. Kaede screamed in panick when Monokuma broadcast dead body announcement and told the students to immediately perform an investigation before the Class Trial. While investigating, Kaede adviced by Hajime not to trust anyone since one of them is the murderer.

Kaede begin to investigate her room and Yasuhiro's body and then asking the students around the school. She also checked the knife's origin that is the kitchen. After she gathered enough evidence, Kaede and the others descend to the class trial room.

Appearance
Kaede has shoulder-length light blonde hair and a prominent ahoge. She wears silver music note hairpins and has purple eyes.

She wears her high school uniform, which consists of a long-sleeved white shirt completed with a light purple vest adorned with an insignia and a brownish-red tie. She wears a purple skirt adorned with a black music staves and notes pattern, purple stockings reaching below her knees and beige shoes.

Kaede also seems to carry around a white backpack.

Personality
Kaede is an optimistic hard worker. As a leader type with a firm character, she herself takes the lead and pulls the other students along. She has a strong will and doesn't hesitate to take action, her notable character trait being her strong sense of belief in herself and others. Being a pianoholic, she also tends to include music talk into her conversations.

According to Kaede's voice actress, Sayaka Kanda, Kaede is very protagonist-like and always pulling the others along cheerfully; a typical heroine that is very dependable. Kanda thinks that Kaede is positive, and thinks about others before herself, but when she goes too far, she gets a little scary. Though she has an Ultimate talent, Kanda thinks that Kaede is not very idiosyncratic. She gives off the impression of being a simple girl you could meet anywhere and a person that's easy to befriend.

Kaede has a kind personality that makes her unable to immediately suspect people, as demonstrated in the demo by her going as far as faking an alibi out of her trust for Makoto Naegi, with no rational basis for his innocence. Like the other protagonists before her, she has a very sensitive nature and listens to other people's troubles and gives them positive advice, as evidenced in Free Time Events and her interactions with Shuichi Saihara.

She strives to encourage and befriend the other students and get them out of the school. She can lie during the Class Trials, though she looks uncomfortable doing so, and according to Kokichi Oma she only does that to strengthen the group's unity.

Ultimate Pianist
Being the Ultimate Pianist, she is very skilled in playing the piano since her young age. She gained the title after winning a contest.

Enhanced Hearing
Kaede has enhanced hearing, similar to Ibuki Mioda from the Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair that allows her to hear more than three different people's argument during the Panic Debate.

Relationships

 * Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles's Students:

Shuichi Saihara
Shuichi seems to strongly believe in Kaede, reassuring her and telling her that "if it's her, she can do it". Shuichi's presence appears to comfort Kaede, due to his status as a detective, although she admits that he seems unreliable. She attempts to help raise Shuichi's confidence by giving him pep talks.

Rantaro Amami
Rantaro admires Kaede for her leadership skills. Kaede thinks that he is a refreshing person and easy to talk to. However, Kaede was surprised how Rantaro acts so care-free and relaxed before the class trial in the demo starts. She states that even though things have become more complicated, Rantaro has found the way to clear the whole situation, which made her curious. She was also confused how Rantaro speaks so calmly against Monokuma during the situation and is desperate to find what Rantaro's true talent is.

Maki Harukawa
After Kaede and Maki introduced themselves as Ultimates, Kaede claims that the children could see Maki's true soul and that Maki is capable of deep love.

Ki-Bo
Although initially defensive about his robot nature, Ki-Bo tells Kaede that he is glad to be her friend after discovering that she is not a "robo-racist."

Miu Iruma
The two seem to have a friendly and fond relationship, Miu affectionately nicknaming Kaede "Bakamatsu". Kaede begs on her knees for Miu's help, and when she agrees, the former grabs her hands in joy and causes Miu to sweat.

Kokichi Oma
Kaede described Kokichi as a child messing around because of his lying nature.

Angie Yonaga
Kaede sees Angie as a very religious person and is a bit creeped out when Angie asks for some blood to sacrifice to her god. Whether good girl or bad, Kaede thinks that it won't be easy to get close to her.

Tsumugi Shirogane
Initially thought to be a life-sized doll, Kaede didn't expect that Tsumugi has the title of the Ultimate Cosplayer due to her normal-looking appearance. She states that she could felt some sort of "pheromones" that can't stop from falling of Tsumugi because she was out of costume.

Kirumi Tojo
Kaede thinks that Kirumi has an interesting talent who is skillful and also gives off a humble and calm atmosphere. She wondered to call her just that. Kaede states how lucky Kirumi could be since she is always busy and helps a lot of people.


 * Hope's Peak Academy Students:

Makoto Naegi
In the demo, Kaede trusted Makoto during the demo and were close friends during killing game. However during the Class Trial, Kaede tried to protect Makoto of being the guilty murder due to he being the most suspicious students during the trial.

Sayaka Maizono and Ibuki Mioda

 * Enemies

Monokuma
Kaede feels intense resentment for Monokuma, who forced the students into the killing game.

Monokid
Kaede seemed annoyed when ever Monokid mocked her of her hope of getting out of the Academy.

Prologue Quotes

 * “Ah, that's right... My name is Akamatsu Kaede. I'm the Super High School Level Pianist. Nice to meet you.”

Chapter 1 Quotes
{{Spoiler|

Panic Talk Action Remarks
}}
 * “You still believe in me?”
 * “I'm the culprit, without a doubt.”
 * “How can you say I'm not the kind of person who would this...”
 * “It's all my fault!”
 * “I killed Amami-kun!”
 * “That's the truth behind this case!”
 * “It's nothing more than that!”
 * “I'm a horrible murderer!”
 * “I betrayed everybody!”
 * “Please... stop already...”
 * “I told you, didn't I?”
 * “That you need to fight the truth...”
 * “That you're someone capable of doing that.”
 * “If you say you still believe in me...”
 * “Don't avert your eyes from the truth!”
 * “Do you know... what my true objective was?” (Final Argument)

Class Trial Commentary

 * “NO, THATS WRONG.” (Nonstop Debate success line)
 * “I HEARD THAT!” (Panic Debate success line)
 * “Everyone's chilly stares... Looks like I caused a bad impression for myself...” (Wrong answer line)

Demo-only quotes

 * “I don't really the red hot passion of a maple tree, but... I think that's a great name for me.”
 * “That scared me! What? What are you? A panda!?” (Reaction to see Monokuma for the first time)
 * “Protagonist... Are you still going on about that? What's that all about? Hey, what do you mean by protagonist? Monokuma didn't explain anything...” (Reaction to being called the protagonist multiple times in the demo)

Trivia

 * Kaede's last name, Akamatsu (赤松), is the Japanese name for a kind of tree known as the "".
 * Her given name, Kaede (楓), means "maple tree".
 * Kaede was first revealed as part of the Danganronpa V3 trailer first shown at Tokyo Game Show 2016, along with the avatars of the rest of the game's cast which up until that point were only shown as silhouettes. While all other characters were only revealed by appearance, Kaede's character name, as well as her voice actress were revealed during the trailer, and it is actually presented by herself.
 * During the trailer, Kaede introduces herself as the game's "protagonist" (主人公 shujinkō), and is shown participating in a class trial.
 * She is the first protagonist in the primary game that has a skill for a talent, along with being the first female protagonist in the primary line of the Danganronpa series.
 * Kaede's voice actress, Sayaka Kanda, has already contributed to the Danganronpa franchise as a whole both as a singer (as part of the group TRUSTRICK), singing the opening to Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy - Side: Future alongside Maon Kurosaki as well as its ending, and as a stage actress - playing Junko Enoshima (and Mukuro Ikusaba) in the Danganronpa stage plays
 * In a poll hosted by MyNavi, fans voted Kaede the 3rd most popular Danganronpa V3 student out of 16.

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