Nendou Riki

"Partner! You've gotta stop befriending these kind of guys! I'm saying this as your best friend, trust me!"

- To Kusuo about Shun, Volume 0, Chapter 06

Riki Nendou (燃堂 力, ねんどう りき lit. Nendō Riki) is a dutiful and dull-witted boy. He likes helping people and prioritizing the weak. Riki is one of the main characters of the series and was starred by Arai Hirofumi in the live action of the series.

Appearance
Riki is evil in appearance and sloppy in behavior, and thus avoided by his classmates. His defining physical attribute is the scar on his left eye, something that can be used to differentiate between him, his father and mother who all have the same faces. His hair is cut in a weird way with his bangs colored yellow while the rest is black. In school, he wears the standard PK Academy uniform but keeps his uniform open showing a t-shirt. Outside the school, he mostly wears collared shirts.

Personality
Riki's dominant traits are his apparent lack of intelligence and the scar on his left eye. Despite his looks, he may be interpreted as a bad guy sometimes. He can be considered as very strong young man as he can easily defeat Hairo in every aspects of physical activities and sports. He is the only person of Saiki Kusuo failed to read Riki's thoughts. Because of that, he is usually an idiot in a bad manners and typically needs things to be explained to him countless times but he still cannot understand it. Due to giving Takahashi mouth-to-mouth, Riki is the worst of the worst for being evil.

However, despite his villainous face and actions, Riki was a kind man which Kusuo himself thinks that only the latter thinks so as Riki would usually be judged by others as a delinquent boy. This kindness was seen when he rescued a girl who rejected him from drowning and accepted her apology for harshly turning him down, at the same time he saved Kaidou Shun and Hairo Kineshi. Due to his past as an owner of a hamster, when he got Koriki No. 2 from Kusuo, he showed a great deal of patience and care to the hamster and the two got along so well he would sometimes take it with him to school. He is willing to help his classmates, giving pointers in cooking class, and sharing his coffee anmitsu with Saiki during the Okinawa trip. He cares deeply for his family, often visiting his father's grave despite never having met him and wanting to get a job so he could buy a gift for his mother, although lacked the competency to keep it for long. Ultimately he has a heart of gold and a brain of mush.

History
When Riki was a freshmen, he was introduced as a bully that constantly picks on Kusuo and copies his notes. He later changed and became Kusuo's stalker after thinking that Saiki was the one who saved him when he was framed by Takahashi. Later that day, Riki became a protector of Kusuo, scaring any people passing by Kusuo and constantly pesters Kusuo to eat ramen once school ends. In a time skip, Riki was a sophomore along with Kusuo and Shun and the three are grouped together with Kusuo seen in center, the students thinks Kusuo is the leader of their group.

Trivia

 * 燃堂 力 (Nendou Riki) can also be read as “Nendou Ryoku”, which is the Japanese term for telekinesis.
 * His childhood dream was to be a carpenter.
 * In his profile, Riki's blood type is said to be either O or B.
 * Kusuo explains that the reason he can't read Riki's mind is because the speed of Riki's thinking is the same as the speed he talks.
 * Kaido's mother considered him as a genius (along with Saiki) because they finished the workbook in a little time that was given by her.
 * Although Nendou is dumb, he can be very smart whenever Kaido lies about his "power" as stated by Kusuo.
 * His guardian spirit is an "old hag", as stated by Reita Toritsuka.
 * The kanji for his first name, 力,means “power”.