| “ | This is the first time I've lived as a human. School, friends, ice cream – I'm enjoyin' all of them for the first time. I may be borrowin' this body an' personality... but my feelings for you are real... So please... I don't want to kill you. | ” |
"Hikaru" (ヒカル, Hikaru?) is one of the Characters in The Summer Hikaru Died, written and illustrated by Mokumokuren.
Overview[]
- “Something” appears in place of Hikaru, Yoshiki's childhood friend who went missing on the village mountain six months ago. It looks like Hikaru himself, but...?
Appearance[]
"Hikaru" has short, white hair that is slightly wavy.[2] He has short white eyebrows and gray eyes with red pupils. He has somewhat crooked teeth, most notably a snaggletooth on the upper left.[3] He is 165 cm tall[1] (5'5") and his shoe size is 26 cm.[4] When "Hikaru" gets emotional, his insides leak out. His insides are a swirling, intestinal or organelle-like pattern colored white, black, and gray-brown in the manga[5] and red, purple, blue, and green in the anime.[6]
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.[7] 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.[5] He is very curious and enthusiastic about experiencing human life.[8][9] He is open with his emotions and at times can lose control of them.[10] Because of this, Yoshiki describes him as a somewhat childlike.[5]
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.[11] He often gets emotional when he realizes he’s hurt Yoshiki in any way.[5] 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.[12][13] 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[5] 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.[14] 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[15] or changes its vessel.[16] 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.[8][15] 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.[16]
"Hikaru" has a separate set of instincts that are incomprehensible to humans,[4] 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.[17] 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,[16] and he finds Yoshiki's soul especially pretty.[11]
Abilities[]
Insides[]
Although his body is dead, it still has warmth, organs, and humanly functions such as a pulse[8] – it is shown that he is capable of bleeding, eating, and breathing.[18][19] He can open slits anywhere on his body to allow his insides to leak out. This can occur involuntarily when he gets emotional or has a strong desire to consume a soul.[10][20] His insides can enter a human's body[18] or consume a soul or impurity.[12] If his body were to be examined by a physician, they would not be able to detect "Hikaru"'s insides.[21] According to Yoshiki, his insides are cold and feel like raw chicken covered in marinade.[22][18]
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.[23] For example, he tells a spirit to come to him instead of entering Yoshiki.[12]
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.[18][24]
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.[25]
Mind-Meddling[]
"Hikaru" is able to "touch" or "meddle" with a human's mind by gazing into their eyes.[15] By meddling with their mind, the human reaches a mental break until they eventually die "all on their own"[11]– in the case of Matsuura, this caused her to push her own fist into her throat and choke herself to death.[12] 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.[25]
Trivia[]
- He likes watermelon, sweets and snacks, and pork cutlets.[26]
- "Hikaru" doesn't feel the need to sleep.[27]
- Mokumokuren has compared "Hikaru"'s appearance to that of a fox.[28][29]
- "Hikaru" often chews on straws.[28]
- 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.[30]
- Being touched by "Hikaru"'s insides feels good because it causes release of β-endorphin, a pain-relieving hormone.[31]
- In the Japanese publications of the series, "Hikaru"'s name is written in katakana (ヒカル), whereas the human Indou Hikaru's name is written using kanji (光).
- There are noticeable differences between Hikaru and "Hikaru". For example, "Hikaru" cries more easily and openly[5] than Hikaru.[32]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Volume 1, page 79
- ↑ Chapter 16.5 (Vol. 3)
- ↑ Mokumokuren, Bluesky @mokmok-len.bsky.social (December 30, 2024). これは、ぼんやりとしたキャラデザの小話（らくがき）です。 Retrieved on March 25, 2025.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Volume 3, undefined page number
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Chapter 7 (Vol. 2)
- ↑ Anime PV1: TVアニメ「光が死んだ夏」ティザーPV【2025年夏放送・配信開始】
- ↑ Volume 1, undefined page number
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Chapter 2 (Vol. 1)
- ↑ Chapter 8 (Vol. 2)
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Chapter 6 (Vol. 1)
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Chapter 16 (Vol. 3)
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Chapter 3 (Vol. 1)
- ↑ Chapter 11 (Vol. 2)
- ↑ Mokumokuren, Twitter @mokmok_len (October 30, 2024). 次回更新は来週火曜日です！よろしくお願いします！今回翻訳つけてみましたが、間違ってたらごめんなさい. Retrieved on December 26, 2024.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Chapter 15 (Vol. 3)
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 Chapter 29 (Vol. 6)
- ↑ Mokumokuren, Twitter @mokmok_len (September 11, 2023). 「光が死んだ夏」第２１話-１. Retrieved on December 26, 2024
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 Chapter 4 (Vol. 1)
- ↑ Chapter 5 (Vol. 1)
- ↑ Chapter 23 (Vol. 5)
- ↑ Volume 6, undefined page number
- ↑ Chapter 10 (Vol. 2)
- ↑ Mokumokuren, Twitter @mokmok_len (April 22, 2024). 今週は更新がないのでおまけも描きました。 Retrieved on December 25, 2024.
- ↑ Chapter 19 (Vol. 4)
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 Chapter 17 (Vol. 4)
- ↑ Volume 1, page 22
- ↑ Mokumokuren, Twitter @mokmok_len (May 22, 2023). 今週の更新はありませんが来週はあります！よろしくお願いします。 Retrieved on December 26, 2024.
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 Mokumokuren, Twitter @mokmok_len (January 24, 2022). 単行本作業のため今週は更新が無くてすみません！ Retrieved on August 17, 2024.
- ↑ Mokumokuren, Twitter@mokmok_len. (April 24, 2024). Retrieved on December 25, 2024.
- ↑ Mokumokuren, Twitter @mokmok_len (February 5, 2024). 「光が死んだ夏」第２４話-３. Retrieved on December 15, 2024.
- ↑ Mokumokuren, Twitter @mokmok_len (November 13, 2023). 今週の更新の代わりのおまけ絵です。次回更新は来週です！ Retrieved on December 3, 2024.
- ↑ Chapter 24 (Vol. 5)