Minoru Utsugi

Minoru Utsugi (稔宇津木,, *Utsugi Minoru*?) is the the main protagonist of The Isolator.

## Story

Having been visited by a mysterious black sphere, unsuspecting Minoru Utsugi received the power of a "Third Eye." Drawing from the emotional traumas of his past, Minoru's power is believed to be a "shell" that allows him to seal himself off from the world, albeit not entirely as light waves and oxygen still pass through the shell.

At the tender age of eight years old, and eight years prior to the events of the story, a robber(s) broke into the Utsugi household. Minoru's sister, Wakaba, hid him beneath the pantry in a "safe space" before then being killed along with their mother. An after-effect of this being Minoru's hair turning white from stress (Marie Antoinette syndrome), though Minoru himself insists his hair is grey. These events, coupled with the killer still being out there and unknown eight years later, have led to the apathetic main character that is The Isolator.

After ending up in a confrontation with a man known as The Biter, a man-turned-serial-killer who was visited by a ruby red sphere, Minoru winds up being recruited into the SFD, a government organisation where those who gained powers from jet-black spheres stand up to fight against the killers of the Syndicate and those visited by red spheres.

## Personality

Having suffered through the tragic events that ended in his family's death in the past, Minoru became a reclusive young man, unwilling to form relationships with others, for fear that each memory that he makes will ultimately become a sad one that will later torment him in some way. In an attempt to escape these kinds of memories, Minoru developed a habit of running 10km each morning, granting him a great amount of stamina and athletic ability beyond what his outward appearance usually suggests.

Minoru is of the belief that all of his actions ultimately stem from a need for self-satisfaction. An example of this is when he protects Tomomi Minowa from The Biter, purely because he feels he is responsible for her being in danger in the first place.

From the beginning of the story, Minoru has a deep longing for isolation and solitude. He wishes for a world where nobody knows who he is, and joins the SFD in order to use the Chief's ability of memory-control to wipe the memories of everyone who knows him and effectively erase his own existence. To this end, he is willing to work for the SFD and put himself in harm's way for the sake of this goal, and to protect the other members. However, as his inter-personal relationships have developed with others in the organisation, Minoru has become to question what his power truly is and if total isolation is what he really wants. This is especially shown as Minoru can, to a certain extent, allow others inside his shell if he completely accepts them, suggesting that his power is not merely a power to protect himself.

## Relationships

Norie Yoshimizu: Minoru and Norie are adoptive siblings, and are also distantly related by blood. Because of Norie's upbeat personality and caring nature towards Minoru, the two of them have developed a close bond, where he thinks of her as almost equal importance to his late sister Wakaba, whose death is the major source of Minoru's trauma.

Yumiko Aizu: Minoru and Yumiko are close friends, and are initially partners in the SFD. Yumiko appears to have hidden feelings for Minoru; and though Minoru isn't aware of them, he feels he can trust Yumiko and wants to protect her, to the point that he is able to allow her into his "shell." Despite this, Minoru and Yumiko's wishes are the opposite of one another, as Yumiko wants to hold on to her precious memories, but Minoru wants all memories of himself erased from everyone. Several times this is brought up in conversation, including Yumiko asking Minoru if he'd even erase the memory of someone who he was in love with. To which he answered that even if he loved someone, that love would never come to fruition as he'd be too afraid of it later becoming hate and leading to more memories, so he would still erase their memory.

Tomomi Minowa: After saving Tomomi's life, Minoru has developed somewhat of a distant friendship with her. As her memories were erased, she doesn't remember much of Minoru, other than that they attend the same high school and were in the same class in middle school. However, she wishes to keep her promise with Minoru once he mentions it and they become friends again. Despite Minoru being reluctant, as he later plans on erasing everyone's memories of him anyway and feels like a hypocrite for it, he decides to keep his promise and become friends with her for the time being regardless.

## Trivia

* Prefers to think of his hair as grey-ish rather than white, and is surprised nobody has commented on it much.
* Although Suu Komura initially claimed his sight line towards her was colorless, indicating apathy, she later informs him his line is actually light gray, indicating the presence of fear. He responds to this by claiming he's afraid of anyone, and he doesn't think he can overcome that fear..
* Generally is hesitant towards killing unless it's absolutely necessary. Though notably stated inwardly that if he found his sister's killer, he would kill them himself.
* Seems to somewhat enjoy running, even though he mostly uses it as a form of escapism.
* Is highly intelligent, often surprising others, including The Speculator, with his intuition and observational skills.
* The Speculator (Professor) claims that his power is currently the only mystery in the universe she can't solve, which simultaneously frustrates and excites her.