Personnage: Basile Citrus

Basile Citrus, nicknamed Zile by his friends, is a tender-hearted 11-year-old hursian. He is one of the sons of a middle-class family of Hursians. Androgynous and gifted, Basile is characterized by his romanticism taken to extremes, earning a reputation as a oversized romantic.

Basile’s “universe” is almost entirely feminine, having never really recognized himself in the hobbies of other boys his age. His best friends are girls, Adelaide and Magalie! What’s more, Basile regularly falls in love with the other girls he meets. This romantic impulse leads him to seduce Louise Deladiva as soon as she enters secondary school, and he succeeds, with Louise now Basile’s girlfriend. Their relationship, though superficial, is cute nonetheless!

Basile’s passion for soppy movies and all things romantic, but also sensitive, makes him irreconcilable with the most common clichés of masculinity. This sensitivity makes him a natural target for secondary school bullies, but he always finds comfort in his friends, especially Adelaide, who doesn’t hesitate to use her popular-girl stature to protect “her Zile”.

Finally, if Basile is said to be “one of the sons”, it’s because he has a twin brother from whom he was separated at birth, under the one-child policy that Hursians suffer in Sartovia. Basile, who knows this, is convinced that his twin is still alive, somewhere in Sartovia.