Meguro

Meguro
(メグロ, Meguro?)
Biographical information
Home	Sector 5 slums
Physical description
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Gameplay details
Type	Non-player character

Mr. Meguro is a character in Final Fantasy VII Remake Trace of Two Pasts. He is the right-hand man to Gabriel Gainsborough and works alongside Clay Gainsborough as one of the "number two" men of the Gainsborough family business. As such, he was also close with Elmyra Gainsborough, and gave her advice on raising Aerith Gainsborough when Elmyra adopted her. Meguro's children, Marcellus and Ronna, also played a role in the business and in Aerith's upbringing.

History

Meguro was an orphan that was taken in by Gabriel Gainsborough as his own. He then became a right-hand man to Gabriel, one of the "number two" men, alongside Clay. At some point, Meguro had two children, but when Ronna was born, their mother passed away. After she passed, Meguro slept little and ate poorly, only eating sticky sweet food or food deep-fried in oil, leading to him putting on weight and deevloping health issues. Meguro was religious, saying prayers in the belief that the dead would know what he was thinking.

When Aerith arrived, Meguro suggested that, to hide Aerith from the Shinra Electric Power Company, she change her name and Elmyra act as if she was a daughter of one of her relatives. Due to ongoing health issues he was having, Meguro could rarely visit Elmyra, so when Clay passed away, Meguro sent Carlo Kincaid to Elmyra for support. Following Clay's passing, Elmyra was hands off with the Gainsborough family business, leaving most of the business to be run by Meguro.

When Aerith and Elmyra revealed that Aerith had been going by the name "Ronna", the name of Meguro's own daughter, Meguro gave his blessing for them to use it. Marcellus did not approve, and blurted it out to the orphans of the Sector 5 House, only for Meguro to scold him and say that his behavior was an embarassment to their family. Meguro offered to threaten the orphanage not to harm Aerith or come near the Gainsborough home again or their funds would dry up, though Elmyra simply spoke to the orphanage to diffuse the situation.

Meguro's health issues worsened, as though his heart fared better, he still had three other chronic conditions. As such, he considered moving onto Midgar's plate for better treatment and running the business remotely, taking a "number three" from the business with him to commute up and down the plate. Upon hearing about this, Marcellus ran away, not wanting to move topside, and Meguro sent a search for him, fearing Meguro had been kidnapped as an attempt by Don Corneo or Mr. Manson to use him as a bargaining chip in trying to take Gainsborough turf.

After Marcellus was found thanks to Aerith's tip, because he was found with Corneo goons, rumors circulated amongst the Gainsborough family that Elmyra was in Corneo's pocket, with Butch, one of the number three men, believing Meguro suspected Elmyra. When Elmyra talked to Meguro, he no longer suspected Marcellus was kidnapped, and stated he had never suspected Elmyra was involved. Elmyra and Meguro then agreed that they would retire and leave the running of the business to Carlo, giving him a signet and the deeds to their properties.

Characteristics

Meguro is a very large, round man who appeared older than Meguro. He has bright, laughing eyes.

Meguro is kind, as demonstrated by his advice to Elmyra to take in Aerith and allowing her to use his daughter's name. However, Aerith noticed Meguro was also ruthless based on his harsh scolding of his son and his threats to the Sector 5 House.

References

• Kazushige Nojima (2023). Final Fantasy VII Remake Trace of Two Pasts [Book]. Square Enix. ISBN 978-4-7575-7348-2.