Damian Desmond

"I know father couldn't care less about me. If I want to please him... If I want to earn his respect... I have to be perfect. I have to become an Imperial Scholar!"

- Damian Desmond in Chapter 25

Damian Desmond (ダミアン・デズモンド) is the second son of Donovan Desmond and a first-year student at Eden Academy being part of Cecile Hall, Group 3.

Appearance
A young boy with short brown hair and hazel eyes with light skin. His eyes are narrowed and slightly drooping with visibly long lower eyelashes, and short thin eyebrows above them. He often wears a condescending expression.

Like other students, he is usually seen wearing Eden Academy's uniform. He wears socks with vertical lines and black shoes.

Personality
Due to his upbringing as a child of an important and powerful man, Damian gained a highly respected status among his peers by default, making him grow incredibly arrogant, assuming Anya gained a crush on him when she stared at him. He is shown to prefer being called Lord Damian when spoken to. He gets angry when he is looked down upon by Anya's smile, quickly resorting to insulting her with his limited vocabulary and harassing Anya.

After taking a punch from Anya, he becomes very embarrassed around her. After Anya's tear-filled apology, Damian has developed a crush on Anya that he doesn't want to acknowledge, quickly running away in embarrassment.

Later it is hinted that a possible reason for Damian's behavior can be attributed to his brother's success as an Imperial Scholar and his father having set a high expectation for him to strive and become part of the Imperial Scholars. His father's influence and lack of attention to his life motivated him even further to meet his expectations, causing him to look down on people beneath his social class, for if they are not a benefit to him, they are only slowing him down to becoming an Imperial Scholar and in turn slowing his progress in getting his father's attention. A rare exception is when he protects Anya from a ball, willingly getting eliminated from the game.

History
Damian Desmond was the second son born to Donovan Desmond, the Leader of the National Unity Party, and Melinda Desmond. Owing to his birth, Damian was raised effectively as royalty within Ostanian society. His older brother is part of the Imperial Scholars.

Eden Beginnings Arc
On Eden Academy's orientation day, Damian Desmond is among the two hundred-eight new students accepted into Eden Academy that year. During the class and homeroom teacher assignments, he is assigned to Cecile Hall along with Anya Forger, where Loid Forger plans to have Anya befriend him to get close Donovan Desmond. When Anya stares at him, Damian arrogantly assumes she's fallen for him.

On the school tour, Damian, along with Emile and Ewen, brags about being able to become an Imperial Scholar soon and his father being the chairman of the National Unity Party, quickly gaining the admiration of his classmates, except Anya and Becky Blackbell. He approaches Anya, asking about her father's occupation and mocks her for not being important enough. After Anya smiles at him, Damian gets angry at being made fun of and begins to insult Anya calling her "ugly." He starts harassing Anya by throwing crumpled paper balls and threatens to bully Anya out of school. until she takes then sent him flying with a punch into a chair and some trash bins. He is left with an imprint of a fist on his cheek and begins crying. Henry Henderson informs his parents of what transpired.

The next day, Damian bumps into Anya and Becky, where his followers and Becky begin arguing, and Anya attempts to apologize for the previous day, but Becky pulls Anya away. In class, Damian stares at Anya from behind, getting angry about her being the only one to have ever hit him, and turns away blushing slightly when Anya turns to look at him. At the school cafeteria, Anya approaches Damian to apologize to him. Getting up to face her, he is confused at being tongue-tied and his heart beating faster whenever she looks at him, his face blushing. When Anya apologizes to him in tears, Damian is touched and his face turns entirely red, making an excuse that it's anger. Embarrassed, he reminds himself that Anya defied him, but starts imagining Anya staring right into his eyes. Denying his crush on a "commoner," he adamantly refuses to ever forgive her for as long as he lives and dashes off, blushing.

Stella Star Arc
During the dodgeball match in the physical education period, Damian and his group briefly argue with Becky again. Although shocked by Anya walking away from him, he turns away, focused on getting MVP in the dodgeball match instead to earn a Stella Star. He reveals that his motivation to become an Imperial Scholar like his brother is to get his father's attention. Damian is the first to throw the ball and sends it flying at the students of Wald Hall, but his throw is intercepted by Bill Watkins. He banters with Bill briefly.

After Bill eliminates several of his classmates, their team is left with only five students, with Damian left standing with Anya, Ewen, Emile, and one other unnamed student. While Damian tries to think of a weakness, Emile and Ewen sacrifice themselves to protect Damian from being hit by Billy. Damian is determined to make an impression by being the one left standing, apathetic about others being hit. Damian praises Anya after she dodges several hits. After Anya trips and falls, Damian initially thinks to abandon her but is able to intercept the ball with his hands, though it leaves his hands shaking and unable to grab the ball, eliminating him. Damian is confused at his actions and tells Anya not to mess up. At the end of the dodgeball match, Damian gets angry at Anya for wasting his sacrifice with an awful throw.

Anya Forger
His classmate whom he has mixed feelings for. The two often engage in fights, but Damian is shown to have some positive feelings about her when he sometimes blushes while talking to her.

Becky Blackbell
Damian is on odd-terms with Becky, with her being Anya's best friend and the two often trading remarks on any subject in or out of school.

Emile Elman
His classmate who acts and is seen as Damian's flunky. Though Emile may be one of Damian's "minions," they seem to have a friendly relationship as they are shown doing various activities together.

Ewen Egeburg
His classmate who acts and is seen as Damian's flunky. Though Ewen may be one of Damian's "minions," they seem to have a friendly relationship as they are shown doing various activities together.

Donovan Desmond
His father whom he has a very distant relationship with. Their butler, Jeeves, tries to act as if Donovan cares for Damian, but Damian doesn't believe it.

Abilities and Skills
Damian is still a child so most of his known abilities are limited.
 * Physical Ability: Although his strength as a child is limited, he is able to be one of the few that nearly survive to the end of the dodgeball match, despite having Bill Watkins as an opponent.
 * Endurance: Damian has shown to be pretty tough being able to block a shot from Bill Watkins, a kid who is about 2-3 times the size of an average 6-year-old.

Awards and Demerits

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Chapter Appearances

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Anime Appearances

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Trivia

 * Damian's nickname 'Sy-on' is a mispronunciation of 'Scion'. Anya calls him "Jinan" (じなん) in Japanese, which means "second son" (次男).
 * Damian stays in the school dormitories of Eden Academy, with Emile and Ewen.
 * Damian has a German Shepherd named Max, who he leave at home in the care of his house servant, Jesper.
 * Damian has a fear of worms.
 * Damian's shoe size is 17 cm.
 * Damian's favorite things are football, cartoons, and Stella Stars.
 * Damian's disliked things are earthworms, peppers, and the national language.
 * Damian's chair, featured on the seventh volume cover, is a Willow Chair designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh.