| “ | You know, forgetting things is blissful.
— Kiruma Souichi to Touya Masateru
|
” |
Kiruma Souichi (切間 創一, Kiruma Sōichi; "Souichi Kiruma") is the current Royal Leader (お屋形様, oyakatasama) of Kakerou and one of the most important characters of Usogui. His public persona is Hachina Naoki (蜂名 直器, Hachina Naoki; "Naoki Hachina"), who has a position in the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office (CIRO). Hachina is also one of the people behind the creation of the ACIA.
Appearance[]
Souichi is a young good-looking man, with a lean defined musculature, sharp pretty facial features and a distinct mole in the centre of his forehead. While assuming his normal role as the Royal Leader of Kakerou, Souichi has slicked back black hair, with a single distinctly long bang at the centre-front of his hair flowing backwards (in a manner identical to his father). In his public guise as "Hachina Naoki", he lets his hair down messily, subtly hiding his mole in the process.
Prior to chapter 68, Souichi's face was shadowed in order to give a mysterious impression and displayed nigh-inhuman facial traits, mostly the shape of his eyes.
Personality[]
Souichi has the view that due to "God's will" or "destiny", he will keep on winning gambles. Though his behavior often fluctuates, and he is capricious enough to not know what to do at times, he often resorts to childish behavior, making jokes or refusing to take orders from others.He have a big self- esteem,based on forcing him and Baku sitting with small pointed object chair when meet Vincent Lalo because Baku trick Lalo by put a small pointed object into his chair,or when he refuse Manabe Takumi help when he was suffering from Witch Pain torture.
Souichi feels immensely pressured by his duties and thus feels a need to be "perfect." In order to deal with the pressure, he developed a coping method where he loses stretches of his memories after making a mistake or finding himself in a bad situation. He then has to have them re-implanted by his attendants.[1]
Even as an antagonist, he is not "evil,” instead he has a strong sense of justice and hates both corruption and evil. When he sees Oofuna Gakuhito, a law-abiding man who also values justice, he resembles what he believes to be a man with a strong idea of justice, which is the reason most likely that Souichi quickly became friends with Gakuhito. However as the leader of Kakerou, he mostly cares for Kakerou benefitting more than other organizations and is still willing to sacrifice anything for the sake of Kakerou, such as using the existence of Karl's rockets and missiles neat Mount Fuji as proof that terrorist operations are happening behind the scenes, allowing Souichi to convince the politicians to create the ACIA (and to basically staff it exclusively with Kakerou people). In this scheme, while his goal was for the weapons to be launched, it was not meant to cause chaos and crash the stock market, but to cause enough fear in the politicians that they would agree with giving Kakerou power to stand above the police.
After losing his memory about his friendship with Baku and regaining it after the Air Poker arc, he recognizes that Baku was his “destiny rival” that he must defeat in order to become "perfect.” He believes that this exchange was destiny based on the Prince Bee story.
History[]
In 1998, Souichi met Madarame Baku at a bookstore where they had a gamble against each other, with Souichi ultimately losing, which was the first gamble he had ever lost. Souichi became friends with him, and Baku started calling him "Hal", after the character from 2001: A Space Odyssey.[citation needed]
On April 9th, 2001, Madarame Baku unknowingly challenged him (as the Leader of Kakerou) in the "Surpass the Leader" game. Baku bet on everything while Souichi's position as Royal Leader was on the line. Madarame ended up losing the challenge and his life itself became forfeit. However, Souichi didn't "feel like taking it", so Madarame's life wasn't collected at that time.[2]
Plot[]
Old Maid Arc[]
Kiruma made his appearance behind Yakou Jouichi, having the proceeding Referee refer to them as "aliens" as a joke. He was pleased when everyone laughed, until he noticed Madarame, Kaji Takaomi and a dead comrade of Sadakuni Ikki's were not; he further deduced that Referee Nowa Mitoshi, though he and his men were not present and viewing the scene over monitors, was not. Kiruma decided to take another gamble with Madarame, the gamble being set on the launching of missiles. Later on, Kiruma would received an anonymous phone call from a certain.
Labyrinth Arc[]
During the Labyrinth Game, he was seen with Referee Touya Masateru at a golf driving range.Through their conversation,it's foreshadowing Souichi 's amnesia problem,through his word,"You know,forgetting thing is blissful".
Tower of Karma Arc[]
Souichi and Referee Nanpou Kyouji go to Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and make a bet with Deputy Commissoner Sasaoka that it's the Kakerou win,TMPD and Private Funeral Division will have the right to enter Emperor Tower,if the Kakerou win,Sasaoka will make a choice,of revealed the dark cases of the police to Kakerou,or accept put his hand into a Red Dragon torture device,after Kakerou successfully secured the Emperor Tower and force Private Funeral Division to join Kakerou,it's was revealed that Souichi have an amnesia.
The Fugitive Bee Arc[]
Souichi lost a very large stretch of memories after the events of the Tower of Karma Arc. After escaping the supervision of Touya and Nanpou Kyouji, he left in search of Eba, unaware that Eba was already dead by this point. Souichi ran into Oofuna Gakuhito, who referred to him by his public persona, "Hachina". Revealing that he needed help catching a criminal, Hachina agreed to help.
After tracking him down to a restaurant, Hachina was able to defeat the criminal, Kidou, through a gamble involving a coin pushing game where coffee creamers were used as dice.
Battleship Arc[]
Hachina and Gakuhito boarded a ship named the "Gallop", which was housing weapons that were going to be transported out of the country, with the intention of stopping it from leaving the port. Gakuhito ended up playing an advanced version of Battleship in a Kakerou match in order to stop the weapons from being transported away whilst Hachina supported him massively in the game by finding the locations of the enemy battleships. During this, Hachina had an intense fight against Voja, killing her in the process, and received a large injury on his leg for his efforts.
Protoporos Arc[]
Hachina uses "Hal" as his handle-name. His personal referee is Manabe Takumi.
It is implied he starts out in the Taper Kingdom, but switches allegiances to Shoudo after saving Nobuko, a high level Shoudo player, from outlaws.
Contradiction Game[]
Hal asks to borrow Nobuko's vest and goes to the Azura fortress, where Kaji Takaomi, Champ, Marco and Ryuusei also are.
War of the 3 Kingdoms[]
In order to stop Baku and Lalo become Kaiser, Hal decided to help Nobuko by making her become Shoudo's queen, leveling up her vest to Level 100. During this time, Baku and Lalo's vest both only Level 80, obviously giving her the advantage. However, Souichi didn't expect Lalo to buy all the rations and inject LSD into it, causing Nobuko and the kingdom Shoudo to become a victim of it. Seeing this, once Lalo became Kaiser, he and Baku formed a plan to make Lalo become Kaiser at the 24th day, in order to re-locate the players and restart the game.
Once the 31st day came, Lalo was forced to abandoned his throne of Kaiser.
Protoporos Nightmare[]
Hiromi Daiba, worried about the current state of the island, sends Arahata to capture Hal. After resisting at first, Hal allows himself to be captured in order to protect the referees from being shocked again. Daiba asks Hal to send in more help from Kakerou, but Hal refuses as it is against the rules. It is eventually revealed that Hal sent a letter to Oofuna Gakuhito, requesting for his assistance. Hal makes a bet with Daiba that if he can stop the impending mob, Daiba will have to change his password so that no one can access the main computer.
Air Poker Arc[]
In the 4th round of Air Poker,it is revealed to the readers that Hal and Fukurou are playing alongside Baku and Lalo respectively, on the upper floor of the Panopticon. Hal and Fukurou are the ones who decide which cards will be the ones that make up Baku and Lalo's hands. Hal and Fukurou are not told each other's numbers beforehand, nor do they know all of their allies' numbers, but they are aware of the "Law" of the numbers. The losing player on the upper floor is subjected to a simulation of dying from various causes; They will receive the pain, but not the physical damage.In the 4th round,Baku sending a coded message to Hal up above: In morse code, he signals "Hal, it's 36". Hal and Fukurou both hear the message, but only Hal knows Baku's trick - the same way the name "HAL" was invented by taking one away from the letters from "IBM" (before I is H, before B is A, before M is L). His message isn't "Hal, it's 36", but Hal knows he's actually saying "Hal, it's 25".Hal now knows that the last card in Baku's hand is 25,because , and he should save the cards to make it a straight flush. Fukurou thinks the last card in Baku's hand might be 36, but doesn't understand why Baku bothered to send that secret message. He's so distracted by this wondering, that he makes an accidental mistake while picking the cards for Lalo's hand.
Since Hal knows he has to save the 4 of clubs for Baku's straight flush next round, Hal makes an intentional mistake (so it doesn't waste that 4).
Because both players made a mistake, they have to repick their hands within 100 seconds. Hal makes the same mistake again (because he's doing it on purpose). Fukurou thinks Hal probably made the mistake on purpose, and wants to make a mistake on purpose too - that way, he gets another 100 seconds to try to figure out why Hal is making the mistake. But if he's wrong, and Hal builds a real hand, he'll have to suffer the Witch Pain again-- especially since Fukurou thinks Baku's last hand might just be 36, which is irrelevant. So Fukurou makes a real hand - Lalo has a full house, and Baku has an invalid hand.
Hal normally wouldn't have been able to willingly make that mistake, even knowing he'd win the next round because of it: The Witch Pain is just too severe. But at this point, he has full control of his memories. He 100% forgets the first two times he suffered the Witch Pain, so he's no longer so afraid, and he's willing to suffer it again in order to be sure he'll win in round 5.
In round 5, the start of the round is delayed a bit, because Fukurou and Hal have to spend the extra 100 seconds to remake a new hand due to their mistake in round 4.
Hal has saved the cards from round 4 to make the straight flush. Fukurou makes a full house. Hal's hand is better, so Baku wins the round.
In this arc, Souichi believes he had achieved "perfection" by accepting his flaws and fully controlling his body at his will, including the ability to control his memories.
Surpassing the Leader Arc[]
Abilities[]
Mental Abilities[]
Despite Souichi was noted to have a remarkably acute memory and a talented mind from a young age. Souichi has the ability "echolocation"[3]
Physical Abilities[]
Souichi appears to be decently strong and have good reflexes.
Relationships[]
- Madarame Baku: Madarame wasn't initially aware that Souichi was the Leader of Kakerou and knew him as "Hal" (ハル, Haru).
- Eba: Souichi trusts Eba, and always seeks him when he loses his memory. Eba is shown in several scenes with young Souichi.
- Kiruma Tatsuki: Souichi took over the Leader position to help his ill father, implying that he cares for him.
- Oofuna Gakuhito: Souichi and Oofuna become friends quickly, reminiscent of Baku and Kaiji’s friendship. After their interactions in the Flashback Arc and Battleships Arc, Souichi trusts Oofuna enough to send him a mission to liberate Protoporos Island after Lalo’s revolt and watch his match against Baku as a spectator similar to Kaiji.
- Nobuko:
- Manabe Takumi: Manabe is one of the only other characters, as well as the only referee, to know about Souichi's secret past with Baku.
- Touya Masateru:
- Yakou Jouichi:
- Fukurou:
Notes & Trivia[]
- Souichi's nickname, Hal, is given to him by Madarame Baku when they become friends, since Baku believes Souichi is always 1 step ahead, like a computer. HAL-9000 is a computer from the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey whose name originates from shifting the letters IBM one step behind. The Japanese equivelant of IBM and HAL-9000 would be NEC and PC-9800. 98 shifted one step behind would be 87, which is pronounced as "Hachi" (8) and "Nana" (7). This sounds like Souichi's alter ego name, Hachina Naoki. By using this line of thinking, Baku nicknamed Souichi "Hal".
- When riding on the motorcycle with Touya Masateru, Souichi's helmet features a picture of DIO, from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.
- "Haru" is the Japanese word for spring.
- In Chapter 280, a picture frame containing Sandro Botticelli's Primavera (Spring) is shown.
- "Haru," as a verb, can mean "bet."
- During the 1998 gamble with Fukurou, Hal wears a hat that has "Bet" written on it.
- Souichi appears on the covers of volumes 26 and 48.
- 26 is the first volume to not have Baku on the cover.
- Souichi appears in the official playing card set as the king of spades.
References[]
- ↑ Chapter 271 (pages 8-9)
- ↑ Chapter 14 (pages 11-16)
- ↑ Chapter 271 (pages 2-3)