"Hikaru"

Hikaru from "The summer hikaru died".

Appearance: "Hikaru" has short, white hair that is slightly wavy. He has short white eyebrows and gray eyes with red pupils. He has somewhat crooked teeth, most notably a snaggletooth on the upper left. He is 165 cm tall(5'5") and his shoe size is 26 cm. When "Hikaru" gets emotional, his insides leak out. His insides are a swirling, intestinal or organelle-like pattern colored red, purple, blue, and green.

He is usually seen wearing his school uniform, which consists of a white button up shirt and black pants with a belt, with white sneakers. He also wears a black watch on his right wrist. Otherwise, he typically wears bright-colored casual clothing, such as a T-shirt and shorts.

Personality: "Hikaru" is carefree, playful, and open with his emotions, both positive and negative. He is very curious and enthusiastic about experiencing human life. He is open with his emotions and at times can lose control of them. Because of this, Yoshiki describes him as a somewhat childlike.

Because "Hikaru" has spent most of his existence without emotion or a sense of purpose, now that he inhabits Hikaru's body, he has a strong desire to be accepted. This has led to a very strong attachment to Yoshiki, who provides a sense of belonging to him. He often gets emotional when he realizes he’s hurt Yoshiki in any way. He is very protective of Yoshiki when it comes to other spirits coming near him, making sure to intervene so that they cannot enter him. He can have tunnel vision when it comes to things he wants. In regards to Yoshiki, this at first manifests in feelings of possessiveness and losing control of his emotions when he is afraid of being abandoned by him. Conversely, it also causes him to take Yoshiki's feelings and safety into consideration when he makes decisions, adjusting his behavior so that he doesn't upset or hurt Yoshiki.

"Hikaru" does not experience romantic attraction. In general, "Hikaru" lacks human urges or instincts such as hunger, lust, sexual attraction, and fear of death. He views life and death as essentially the same thing – when someone dies, their soul doesn't disappear, it simply changes form or changes its vessel. Because "Hikaru" does not relate to humans' perspective of life and death, he treats human life lightly and does not instinctually see anything wrong with killing someone if it means protecting his secret. However, even though he doesn't have human instincts, "Hikaru" can still keep factual knowledge about those human instincts. For example, he knows that people get sad when a friend dies, or that certain scenarios are considered "scandalous" or sexually charged, or that people crave food when their stomach is empty – even though he doesn't experience those things himself.

"Hikaru" has a separate set of instincts that are incomprehensible to humans, in the same way that humans cannot intrinsically understand a dog's urge to dig holes or a cat's urge to sharpen their claws. Namely, he possesses an instinct to consume human souls (including impurities), and doing so feels good to him. He describes souls as amazing and beautiful, like the warmth of a fire when it's freezing out.

The Imitation & Uncanny Valley: The entity's primary characteristic is its mimicry. It perfectly replicates Hikaru's physical appearance, voice, and basic mannerisms learned from his memories. However, this replication is fundamentally flawed: Emotional Disconnect: It initially struggles profoundly with human emotions. It observes, analyzes, and attempts to replicate them based on Hikaru's memories and observing others (especially Yoshiki), but they often feel hollow, forced, or slightly "off." Genuine empathy and complex feelings are alien to its nature. Lack of True Understanding: While it possesses Hikaru's factual memories, it lacks the deeper context, the essence of why Hikaru felt or acted certain ways. It understands the "what" but not always the "why" of human behavior. Uncanny Actions:** Its attempts to fit in sometimes result in behavior that is subtly unsettling – overly intense stares, inappropriate smiles, or actions driven purely by logic devoid of human nuance. Relationship with Yoshiki: Yoshiki is the absolute center of the entity's existence and its greatest challenge. Obsession & Anchor: Yoshiki was Hikaru's closest friend and the person whose grief and memories are most potent. The entity is intensely drawn to and obsessed with Yoshiki, seeing him as the key to understanding and potentially solidifying its identity as "Hikaru." Yoshiki is its anchor to the human world and its only real purpose.

Underlying Horror & Nature: Otherness: Despite its human facade, its true nature is ever-present. Moments of stillness, unnatural strength, glimpses of something inhuman beneath the surface, and its fundamental origin create a pervasive sense of dread and uncanniness. Parasitic Undertones: Its existence is tied to consuming life force/energy (represented by the moths it emits and the effect it has on the environment and people). While not actively malicious in a traditional sense, its very presence is draining and disruptive to the natural order. Tragedy: There's a deep tragedy to Hikaru (the entity). It didn't choose this existence. It's trapped between being a monster and desperately wanting to be human, specifically the human whose form and memories it stole, loved by the person that human loved.

Symbolism: Hikaru (the entity) represents several complex themes: Grief & Loss: A literal manifestation of "what remains" after death – the physical shell and memories, but not the soul. Identity & Authenticity: Can an imitation ever become real? Can you love a copy? The Uncanny: The unsettling feeling when something is almost human, but not quite. Love & Possession: The blurred line between genuine love and obsessive need for validation and existence.

Seeing and Hearing: "Hikaru" can both see and hear spirits.

Compulsion: "Hikaru"'s words carry some power of compulsion, which he usually uses on impurities. For example, he tells a spirit to come to him instead of entering Yoshiki.

Consuming Spirits: "Hikaru" can use his insides to crush up and consume other spirits. However, if the spirit resists or fights back, he might sustain physical damage, such as bleeding from his nose or eyes.

Self-Healing: "Hikaru" can heal his own injuries. But since he feels almost no pain at all, he typically leaves small injures alone and only heals wounds that are bad enough to restrict his movement.

Mind-Meddling: "Hikaru" is able to "touch" or "meddle" with a human's mind by gazing into their eyes. By meddling with their mind, the human reaches a mental break until they eventually die "all on their own"– in the case of Matsuura, this caused her to push her own fist into her throat and choke herself to death. It is possible for a human to survive this effect if they are mentally strong enough, although it would leave the human with some sort of spiritual impairment.

Facts: His cheeks blushing when he likes something. He likes watermelon, sweets and snacks, and pork cutlets. "Hikaru" doesn't feel the need to sleep. Mokumokuren has compared "Hikaru"'s appearance to that of a fox. "Hikaru" often chews on straws. He has a poor sense of personal space. He casually touches other people the same way humans would freely pet a cat – for example, playing with Asako's hair on a whim. Being touched by "Hikaru"'s insides feels good because it causes release of β-endorphin, a pain-relieving hormone. There are noticeable differences between Hikaru and "Hikaru". For example, "Hikaru" cries more easily and openly than Hikaru. Hikaru liked to make funny, dumb faces when Yoshiki was in a bad mood, to lighten the mood and make him laugh.