Hanyuu

In the distant past, Hinamizawa used to be known as Onigafuchi Village and was located next to a swamp that was said to lead to Hell. One day, demons emerged from the swamp and terrorized the villagers. The villagers were too weak to fight back, and they didn't want to leave the village because it was their home and were too attached. When all seemed hopeless, Oyashiro-sama descended from heaven, and the demons immediately prostrated themselves before his radiance. The god mediated between the two groups and peacefully asked the demons to return to Hell, however they were exiled and couldn't go anywhere else. Feeling pity for the demons, the villagers decided to coexist with them. This is the "official" story of Oyashiro-sama, a deity in the culture of the Hinamizawa village in the countryside of Japan. The REALITY of the story, however, is different; the truth is, Oyashiro-sama was actually a demon herself, a demon with horns on her head named Hanyuu. Hanyuu and her people came to Onigafuchi, the village that would become Hinamizawa, long ago in search of a new home. They wanted to live in the swamp, however there was a village of humans living nearby. Hanyuu's people respected that there were people already inhabiting this land and tried their best to coexist with the villagers however they were rejected, causing a disaster. Hanyuu took a human form and tried to mediate with the humans but was unable to hide her horns. The head priest of the Furude Shrine refused to let Hanyuu's people coexist with them for fear that the villagers would become demons if their blood mixed, but he changed his mind after the heir to the shrine fell in love with Hanyuu and produced a child with her. In order to make peace between the villagers, Hanyuu offered to take all of their sins upon herself and pretended to be a demon living in the swamp that was sowing unrest in humans' hearts. Hanyuu was soon captured by the villagers, sacrificed, and thrown back into the swamp in what would be the very first Watanagashi Festival. One scroll suggests it was the head priest who sacrificed Hanyuu, but in actuality it was Hanyuu's own daughter Ouka who sacrificed her using the Onigari-no-ryuuou, a powerful and magical sword with the ability to slay immortal beings, with Hanyuu's horn becoming cracked as a result. Hanyuu would become revered as Oyashiro-sama, with the villagers of Onigafuchi unaware that they killed their god. After her death, Hanyuu remained in an incorporeal form and watched over the denizens of Onigafuchi, later Hinamizawa for years, until the eighth generation of her bloodline was born under a girl named Rika. Young Rika would unfortunately be persecuted, hunted, and killed by an evil group. Hanyuu, angered by this, would take Rika's soul and travel to a new timeline, or "fragment", allowing her to be reborn and live her life again. However, Rika's murder would continue no matter how many timelines Hanyuu would take her to, until hundreds, possibly thousands of fragments later, where Rika was finally able to survive and live a full, happy life with her friends. Hanyuu jumping between so many fragments had strongly weakened her powers, however, leaving her unable to perform most of her godly powers and abilities.

In stark contrast to how people viewed Oyashiro-sama, Hanyuu is a very nervous and pessimistic girl. Hanyuu is actually quite timid, anxious, and pessimistic, and is very easily intimidated, frightened, or saddened if anyone wishes to do so to her. She has a tendency to mutter "au, au", especially when she's happy, sad or nervous. She often takes the blame for other people's problems and apologizes repeatedly to them. She never gets her hopes up, as things can and have gone wrong at a moment's notice according to her. Whenever she isn't feeling timid, scared, pessimistic, or depressed, she will instead take up a more goofy and fun persona, much like that of a curious and excited child. She speaks with a high pitched and child-like voice, but her voice can become much lower pitched and mature sounding should she wish to do so. Hanyuu really likes cream puffs; in fact, it might even be one of her most favorite things in the world.

Though her powers as a Goddess have been severely weakened, she still has access to some abilities. Her greatest power is space-time manipulation, able to slow, speed, or pause time entirely. Hanyuu also has various other abilities, such as flying, intangibility, teleportation, and telekinesis. Due to her cracked horn, as well as her exhaustion from having created thousands of fragments throughout a long period of time to save Rika, she cannot use her goddess powers in large quantities, or for a long period of time.

Hanyuu's first form appears to be a floating, translucent young girl with lavender hair, dark violet eyes, and a pair of black or dark purple horns on her head (the left one is chipped slightly). She is very sensitive about her horns, and does not like the fact that she has them. Physically, she looks like a young girl, age 12-13. She is mentally mature, however, due to her spending a millennia as a Goddess watching over people, along with the fact that she had lived a somewhat long life when she was actually alive long ago. Hanyuu's regular outfit is an outfit reminiscent of one worn by a Shinto shrine maiden, with red hakama (long, split trousers), a white haori (kimono jacket), and a pair of long, pink furisode-like sleeves. When activating her goddess powers, Hanyuu's pupils change into red.