Halara Nightmare

Halara Nightmare is a major character in the 2023 adventure game Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. 
They are voiced by Yui Ishikawa in Japanese, and Amber Lee Connors in English.
==Appearance==
Halara is an attractive tall, slender androgynous person with a somewhat muscular physique. They have short, silver hair with a fringe cut falling between their eyes, with light pink eyes and shuriken irises, a feminine shape, thick eyeliner, and thick eyelashes. Halara wears rectangular glow-in-the-dark pink neon glasses and two syringe-like earrings, the left one containing a blue substance and the right containing red. They also wear small pink ear piercings.
Halara sports a long, dark grey tailcoat with a lime interior lining and a red striped fork-like symbol on the hood. The tailcoat features two lime strings on the collar and a white stripe on the right sleeve, the sleeves featuring detailed indents for texture. Underneath the tailcoat is a black, zip-up jacket with a white belt and a left pocket. Halara wears two rings, a silver ring on their right index finger and a gold one on their left. Their trousers are black and fully conceal their legs, with black boots and lime soles, an iris symbol under the soles of the boots.
==Personality==
Halara is depicted as a principled and strong-minded individual, presenting a casual and confident demeanor. They refuse to let emotions cloud their judgment and are always observant of their surroundings, regardless of the current situation. This behavior of Halara's stems from a distrust of humanity that drives Halara to protect themselves from vulnerability by hiding their true emotions. Halara's rigid and misanthropic personality stems from an event in which a friend scammed their parents in middle school. Due to this distrust, Halara demands that people prove themselves with money to offer, uncaring for who they might be, and if payment is promised to them, they will assist their clients. Halara is also rather cynical and always doubts the intentions of others, thinking that the majority are self-serving and always coming to negative conclusions about other people; these judgments turn out correct most of the time, however, as these theories are usually based solely on logic. When Halara discovered their ability to use psychometry, they were able to see past events, and decided to find some way to use this discovered ability as a detective, instead training it to become their Forensic Forte. Halara always takes the most available and practical route to achieve their goals in life, regardless of who protests against it or questions it. Halara is also very capable and isn't bothered by most experiences regardless of their intensity, making Halara appear unempathetic and cold.
Underneath the surface, however, Halara is an optimistic individual. Halara will listen to others and be willing to befriend and even defend them, despite their alleged misanthropy, deciding to help those in need, which is why they chose to become a detective in the first place. Halara will help those in need and refuses to betray their dignity in favor of an easy choice, even putting themselves at risk. It is also notable that Halara has an obsession with cats and dogs, finding them to be healing, but prefers to keep this secret from those around them due to contradicting their cold and emotionless exterior. Halara also serves as a mentor for those less capable than them if Halara is challenged of their distrustful attitude, revealing people's true characters through their own experience with deception and manipulation. If completely helpless, Halara will be pushed to show their true compassion and empathy, as shown when Chief Yakou is slowly dying. Halara gives the chief medical attention in attempts to revive him, being the only one to do so out of the rest of the agency, even performing CPR on him. Regarding loss, Halara is sensitive on the matter and becomes defensive of those who die, due to their refusal to trust anyone living and only trusting the dead, becoming regretful when having to personally deal with the burden of someone's death.
==Quotes==
===Prologue: WDO vs. Amaterasu Corporation===
===Chapter 1: The Nail Man Killings===
===Chapter 2: A Silent Curtain Call===
===Chapter 3: No Longer a Detective===
===Chapter 4: The Imperfect Insider===
===Epilogue: RAIN CODE===
===Gumshoe Gab===
==Trivia==
*On the game's official popularity poll, Halara Nightmare was ranked first at 3,570 points.
*Halara is very rarely referred to with gendered pronouns, usually replaced with their name, or nouns like "that one", but in two places others refer to them, with "they/them pronouns"
*During certain moments in the game, Halara's 3D model usually has their face concealed, ambiguating the exact expression within the moment. The individual points this occurs in the main story are rather significant to their character; as listed:
**When shocked over "Number One" being revealed to be the one leading the detectives' investigation of Kanai Ward (prologue).
**When describing to Yuma their misanthropy/when Yuma informs them of his Coalescence the first time (Chapter 1).
**A more subtle example, but when Halara criticizes Yomi Hellsmile's abusive behavior upon first meeting him at the end of Chapter 1, the hood of their raincoat precisely hides their facial expression.
**When saying their one and only voice line ("He doesn't intend on taking us seriously.") in the physical presence of Makoto Kagutsuchi who is the CEO of Amaterasu Corporation; they never meet him or speak to him again after that moment either (Chapter 3).
**When reprimanding Vivia for his laziness when he refuses to use Spectral Projection to investigate the chapter's murder case (Chapter 4).
**During Chief Yakou's actual death scene (Chaper 4).
**While divulging about the restricted area's purpose (part of it) to the other detectives during the second meeting with "Number One" (Chapter 4).
**At first, when they see "Number One" get blown up on the other end of the phone line to the WDO at the end of Chapter 4. Of course, that happened due to the meddling of the main antagonist.
**When placing their 1-shien coin down on Chief Yakou's desk in his honor (epilogue).
==Navigation==
Category:Genderless
Category:Video Game Heroes
Category:Anime Heroes
Category:Anti-Heroes
Category:Lawful Good
Category:Misanthropes
Category:Disciplinarians
Category:Pragmatists
Category:Rescuers
Category:Fighters
Category:Martial Artists
Category:One-Man Army
Category:Right-Hand
Category:Sidekicks
Category:Fortune Hunters
Category:Animal Kindness
Category:Tragic
Category:Arrogant
Category:Mischievous
Category:Strong-Willed
Category:Truth-Seekers
Category:Thrill-Seekers
Category:Voice of Reason
Category:Failure-Intolerant
Category:Wrathful
Category:Wise
Category:Loyal
Category:Mentally Ill
Category:Insecure
Category:Jerks
Category:Paranoid
Category:Obsessed
Category:Selfless
Category:Betrayed
Category:Pawn of the Villain