- "I changed my makeup. Did you notice? Ugh, men. They never notice...these kinds of things..."
- —KAEDE Smith
KAEDE Smith is a character in killer7, one of the playable protagonists and a persona of Garcian Smith.
Appearance and Personality
KAEDE is the most cowardly member of the organization, as evidenced by the fact that she fled from Emir Parkreiner when everyone else who became aware of his presence stood their ground. She typically wears a white dress on which a number of red bloodstains are splattered; even when she changes to a black dress, these bloodstains remain. These are not only holdovers from the bullets that Emir put through her body when he killed her, but also likely a reminder of the betrayal she enacted upon the rest of the organization, trying to save her own life rather than warn the others of Emir's attack. KAEDE is never seen to wear shoes at any time, even when traveling over concrete, hence her nickname "Barefoot." When she makes a successful critical shot, KAEDE says "Hurts, doesn't it?" suggesting that she may be a very sympathetic person.
Story
As a real human, KAEDE was born in Portland, Oregon, became a member of the Union7 Party, and had a brother in the Liberal Party, who killed her under orders. However, she was rescued by the resurrecting powers of Harman Smith, who then recruiter her to his killer7 assassin organization, serving the group with her long-range combat capabilities. She eventually dies when Emir Parkreiner murders the entire killer7, absorbing their personae into himself. The boy confronts KAEDE on the fourth floor of the Hotel Union, where she sees him pointing his gun at her, screams and attempts to flee, hiding in the wardrobe of her room, only to have him follow her in, immediately realise what she's done and shoot her in the chest and stomach several times. If she had tried to serve the interests of her comrades rather than herself, she might have been able to save the rest of the surviving members and herself. As a backlash to this failing, she gains the ability to use her own blood to help the group progress through its missions as a member of the "new" killer7.
When the killer7 faces off with the Handsome Men in Broadway, New York, KAEDE loses her fight with Handsome Light Brown, who shoots her when she's reloading.
KAEDE presumably ceases to exist when her persona is killed by a Black Smile in the gymnasium of Coburn Elementary School.
Powers and abilities
KAEDE's weapon is a customized AMT Hardballer equipped with a pistol scope and a properly-depicted 10-round magazine. With it, she is able to pick off Heaven Smile before they get to her; however, her fumbled reload time is extremely slow.
KAEDE's main power is the Blood Shower ability, which allows her to cut open her own wrists in order to shower blood over a target. This has various effects, mainly uncovering secret doors and passageways. She also demonstrates the ability to absorb others' blood into her wrist, such as when she removes the superfluous letters of a secret message written in blood. KAEDE's weapon also makes her the most effective member of the group at long range, although this is of limited usefulness as most Heaven Smiles do not reveal themselves until the enemy approaches to close range.
Trivia
- KAEDE is one of a few characters, along with MASK de Smith and LOVE Wilcox, whose name was originally written in something other than katakana, the Japanese phonetic script for foreign words and sounds, and therefore has her given name written using capital letters in the English release.
- Hand in killer7 states that she is a skilled martial artist.
Etymology
"Kaede," meaning Maple Tree, though likely without any meaning in itself, is a very obviously Japanese name, setting her apart from her American-influenced fellows.