Code Passenteide

"Code Passenteide"

- attempting to persuade Kentou Kanami to run off with him.

About
Code Passenteide is a Ninja of the Magic Kingdom of Zeth who appears exclusively in Kichikuou Rance.

Prior to the events of Kichikuou Rance, Code served as a captain within the Bear Group of the Zethan branch of the Angel Army, a terrorist group created for the sake of improving the rights of Gal Monsters everywhere. Following the defeat of Archibald, the organization's leader, all branches of the Angel Army were disbanded. Sometime following this, Code enlisted in the Zeth Army, where he became a member of its Ninja Corps, a division specializing in infiltration and assassination.

During the events of Kichikuou Rance, Code will appear if Kentou Kanami, the personal ninja of the Leazas royal family, is sent to infiltrate Zethan territory while the country is at war with Leazas. While moving through one of the enemy nation's strongholds, Kanami accidentally triggers an alarm system, prompting Code to move to the location in order to intercept her. Following a brief-yet-intense clash, Code succeeds in gaining the upper hand against Kanami, only to stop himself moments before killing her upon seeing her more clearly. Unable to bring himself to harm a woman, Code allows Kanami to escape. While initially suspicious of Code's intentions for allowing her to escape, Kanami quickly pushes the other ninja to the back of her mind to focus on completing her mission.

One week following their first meeting, Code encounters Kanami again while infiltrating Leazas Castle. Despite her efforts to kill him, Code refuses to harm Kanami, and instead chooses to embrace her after finding an opening in her attacks. While holding Kanami, Code asks her why she chose to become a ninja, stating plainly that he believes her to be too beautiful to kill people. Though flustered by this gesture, Kanami manages to break away from Code by kicking his shin, forcing him to escape before she is able to kill him. Before escaping, Code quietly mutters to Kanami that he loves her, causing the dumbfounded female ninja to linger in the castle hall in shock.

If Kanami is sent to infiltrate Zeth following her second encounter with Code, he will approach her on a rooftop and present her with a small flower that he had picked for her. Nervously, Code asks Kanami if she would ever consider abandoning her career as a ninja, stating that he does not want her to die in the line of duty. Against Kanami's continued insistence of their status as enemies, Code professes his love to her, going so far as to ask her to marry him. Stunned by Code's proposal, Kanami finds herself unable to protest his advances any further, which Code takes advantage of to clarify his plans. Revealing that he intends to retire from his career as a ninja upon completing his final mission, the assassination of Leazas' newly-crowned king Rance, Code invites Kanami to come with him and live happily together afterwards. Before leaving, Code tells Kanami the exact date and time the assassination is planned to happen at, and asks her to consider her satisfaction with her life as a ninja. Alone on the rooftop, Kanami is left torn between her duty towards Lia Parapara Leazas, the queen who saved her from death and to whom she had sworn loyalty to, and Code, the man who offered her the ordinary life that she always dreamt of but had believed was impossible for her to attain.

One week after their final encounter, Code infiltrates Rance's bedchamber during the middle of the night to kill him in his sleep. Code's fate varies depending on how poorly Rance had treated Kanami prior to the incident.

If Rance had been relatively lenient towards Kanami before the assassination attempt, she will resolve that she is a ninja before a woman and, placing her devotion to Leazas above her own dreams, disarms Code before he is able to kill Rance. Awoken by the commotion, Rance attacks Code and pins him to the floor with his sword. In his final moments, Code apologizes to Kanami for trying to use her and tells her to not feel guilty about her decision before moving his throat into Rance's sword to kill himself. Following Code's death, Kanami will spend the next day sitting despondently atop Leazas Castle, wondering about the correctness of her choice.

If Rance had treated Kanami especially poorly before the assassination attempt, she will decide that he isn't worth saving and, eager to begin a new life, allows Code to kill him. The next morning, Kanami and Code meet up along the outskirts of Leazas to set out into a new life together. Holding back tears of guilt over abandoning Lia, Kanami bids a final farewell to Leazas Castle. While leaving with Code, Kanami begins to feel slightly queasy, which reminds her that she had not yet had her period that morning, implying that she may have become pregnant with Rance's child. Half a year following Rance's death, Leazas collapses as a result of the grief-stricken Lia's unpredictable behavior.

Code has not appeared in any game in the Rance Series outside of Kichikuou Rance. As Zeth has not been shown to possess a Ninja Corps in any games following Kichikuou Rance, it is assumed that Code himself does not exist in any capacity within the series' canonical timeline.

Personality and Appearance
Code is a dark-skinned young man with a lean, muscular build. He possesses long white hair tied back in a ponytail, purple eyes and soft, handsome features. Code's clothing consists of black lightweight armor bearing the Zeth national emblem worn over a sleeveless purple shirt, white pants, a pair of small hoop earrings and a golden circlet which he wears around his head. Code also has a tattoo of a teddy bear on his left forearm, seemingly as a memento of his time in the Angel Army's Bear Group.

In spite of his occupation as an assassin and spy, Code is shown to be a shockingly gentle and mild-mannered person. He is described as having a very clear, pleasant-sounding that belies his deadly skills as a ninja, and is prone to stuttering and hesitating while talking. Code appears to dislike his career as a ninja, believing himself to be seen as a disposable tool by his superiors. This lack of real interest in his work causes Code to occasionally go against his orders whenever he does not agree with them, which has resulted in him doing such things as allowing female enemies to escape due to his refusal to harm women. Code dreams of one day retiring to a normal life after raising enough money to live comfortably off of, further suggesting that he holds no real sense of duty towards Zeth.

Code falls in love with Kanami mere moments after meeting her. Despite her being a ninja of an enemy nation, Code is unable to bring himself to fight against Kanami, claiming that someone as beautiful as her shouldn't have to be subjected to the gruesome life of a killer. Code seems to be quite good at understanding Kanami's character, as he is able to discern her desire to live an ordinary life after encountering her only twice. By the time of their third meeting, Code goes so far as to profess his love to Kanami and reveal his desire for the two of them to abandon their respective duties in order to run away together, further revealing the intensity of his feelings towards her. While Code is elated if Kanami agrees to start a new life with him, he is also shown to hold no hostility towards her if she chooses to side with Leazas over him, apologizing for attempting to convince her to betray her country for his sake and telling her to feel proud of her convictions, showing that he values her happiness above his own.

Kanami's feelings for Code are shown to be significantly more complicated than his are for her. Initially perceiving him to be nothing more than an enemy, Kanami grows steadily more conflicted as she becomes swept up in Code's advances. Having always dreamt of both living an ordinary life and having a passionate romance with a kind and loving man, Kanami quickly finds herself enticed by Code's offers despite their abruptness, to the point of genuinely considering the idea of abandoning Leazas to be with him. Kanami seems to view Code as the one and only opportunity she will ever have of living her fantasy life, and seems to be more drawn to him as a symbol of her innermost desires than she is to him as an individual. Regardless of whether she chooses to follow Code or not, Kanami is shown to question her decision, with her showing guilt at having betrayed Lia if she does, and sadly wondering if she threw away her one chance at happiness if she doesn't.

Somewhat horrifyingly, Code's profile in the Kichikuou Rance Guidebook states that he is a prolific stalker who is prone lashing out violently when made upset. He has killed numerous women in the past because of this behavior, and claims to have only done so due to "loving them too much". This suggests that Code possesses an unhinged and dangerous mind that is otherwise not hinted at throughout his appearances, and also casts a much darker light across all of his interactions with Kanami.

Abilities
Code is a proficient ninja of moderate skill. He possesses a slightly above-average Level Cap of 23, allowing him a decent, though not particularly noteworthy, amount of potential as an individual. Code also possesses the Ninja Lv1 Skill Level, granting him a substantial amount of talent as a ninja. He is shown to be skilled at moving quickly and silently through shadows, to the point of being able to completely hide his presence from Kanami, a ninja of comparable ability to his own, on multiple occasions, as well as nimbly dodge her attacks.

In combat, Code wields a medium-sized katana with a considerable amount of skill. Code seems to be particularly talented at close range combat, as he is able to quickly overpower Kanami during their first encounter, and is described as swinging his sword with deadly amount of speed and precision. Kanami expresses surprise that Code is able to fight with such ferocity while having a personality as meek as his is, suggesting that he acts considerably different when in battle.

Trivia

 * Concept artwork of Code shows him to have once been a much larger, more hostile-looking character, implying that he was once intended to play a much different role during his early development.
 * In an interview in the Kichikuou Rance Guidebook, Fumya, the staff member responsible for writing Code's subplot, stated that she believed he would slash Kanami's stomach open after learning that she was carrying another man's child. This statement shocked the rest of the staff present during the interview, who called it "way too terrible" to have happen.
 * Code's unmentioned history of having murdered all of his previous lovers in spite of his seemingly kind personality is similar to the character of Abert Safety. As Abert is introduced in Rance VI, the game which otherwise adapts much of the Zeth content featured in Kichikuou Rance, it is possible that Code served as an early inspiration for his character.
 * Code is the only ninja affiliated with Zeth to have appeared in the Rance series, though certain characters native to Zeth, such as Kaoru Quincy Kagura, possess skills reminiscent of one.
 * At 23, Code has the lowest known level cap of any ninja that has appeared across the Rance series.
 * Code is the only member of the Angel Army to have been introduced in a game outside of Rance 4.1 and Rance 4.2, though his ties to the group are revealed solely through supplementary materials.