Natsume Hyūga

**Natsume Hyūga** (日向 棗 *Hyūga Natsume*) is the male protagonist of Gakuen Alice.

He was Mikan's rival but they later fall in love with each other, and their bond plays a significant role in the series.

Natsume possesses the Fire Alice, which is unusually strong (due to his Alice Shape), so he was categorized as a Dangerous Ability Type but he is actually is in the Latent Ability Type. He is the only special star in the Elementary Branch. Natsume is a smart student but often, he ditches classes. He has many followers and has Ruka Nogi as his best friend. He has a sister named Aoi Hyūga, who was held captive by Persona. His mother is Kaoru Hyūga who possessed the Memory Manipulating Alice. His father, along with Aoi and him, has the Fire Alice.

Natsume is voiced by Romi Paku in the anime.

## Appearance

Natsume has short raven black hair and red eyes that he has inherited from his mother (brown in anime). On each of his ears are alice restraining devices. On his right ear, attached is a gold plate with dragon carvings while the on the left ear, is an earring with a red ball made of blood crystals. Natsume sometimes wears a black cat mask which is the signature for his nickname, the **Black Cat** (*kuro neko* in Japanese), which disables his alice and gives him endless headaches as a form of punishment inflicted upon him by the school and can only be taken off by teachers. However, it is stated that Natsume's alice is so strong, if he concentrated, he could activate his alice even with the mask on. He wears the standard elementary boy's uniform; a black, long-sleeve vest along with a white collar that does not have his star on it, red plaid shorts, and knee high boots. He often looks angry, and has a stern expression on his face. He is descibed by many to be very good looking and, as an adult, he is taller and more muscular.

## Personality

Natsume comes off as cold and easily angered, but his attitude is mostly a facade. He wishes to get involved with no one and vice versa. However, Natsume has followers who admire him for his rebellious attitude against the school, such as Mochiage; who also regulary skips class. He also has admirers, like Sumire who likes Natsume for his looks and "coolness". On the other hand, Natsume has people who fear him for being the Dangerous Ability Class and call him a murderer, like Sumire's brother. Natsume brushes off these accusations, but it is clear how he feels about this. This, along with the abuse and dangerous missions the ESP forces upon him, he began to lose hope in life and in his future. According to Ruka, before Mikan arrived, Natsume threw his life away and was on the road to failure, but upon her arrival, Natsume changed for the better and became stronger. Ruka and later Mikan are some of the few who knew about his kind side and his motives behind his behavior.

Natsume is protective of his friends and family and he is willing to suffer for them and sacrifice his life and freedom so that they won't get hurt. He hates the academy and wishes to escape to live peacefully with those he cares for the most (ex. Mikan and Ruka). Being forced to do missons in the Dangerous Ability Class, Natsume has experienced the darker side of the academy. In the beginning of the story, he told Mikan to watch out when she was being targeted. He also warned her to not trust Narumi or any of the teachers. He suspected that the Elementary Principal was growing interested in her Alice and was causing her problems. Although he is against using violence that amounts to killing his enemies, Natsume makes the ESP an exception. Due to the abuse he suffered at the hands of the ESP, Natsume was overcome with rage and desire for revenge, and instantly took the opportunity to try to kill the ESP twice in the Current Arc, although he was warned it would mean risking his life. This shows that he can be reckless at times, especially considering that he promised to Mikan that he would not be reckless and endanger his life.

His personality is inherited from his mother, Kaoru, who was also intelligent, blunt, and rebellious. Also, both mother and son had a much softer side for their friends and loved ones. Like Mikan, he hates the Elementary Principal and Persona for the abuse they have inflicted upon him and force him to do missions for the school. Although he refuses to listen to them at times, he complies to their orders in order to protect those most important to him (ex. Mikan, Aoi, and Ruka). He is aware that he suffers from the life-draining alice form and has admitted that he is afraid of dying in the near future. Caring about his friends, he kept his illness a secret from Mikan and Ruka, so they wouldn't worry, but they already knew and assures him that they will support him.

He is very perverted for his age, as he stole Mikan's underwear (took off her skirt in the anime) in the first episode/chapter, and due to this, he calls Mikan 'polka dots'. Natsume has commented on her chest size when he touches her chest and repeatedly pulled on her top to have a look. He also often teases Mikan and calls her names. He found Mikan's cheerful personality annoying in the beginning and constantly bullies her very often just to make her mad. However, as he gets to know her, he falls in love with her. This changed him to be more gentle and open with others. He sees Mikan as the sun due to her personality and is convinced that she is the light that can save him from the darkness of the academy, which explains why he is so serious about his relationship with her and has no intentions of leaving her. He easily gets jealous when he sees Mikan with other guys and tries to get her away from them (sometimes he uses his Alice on them). Sometimes, Natsume can be rude with Mikan and bicker with her. However, other times he is gentle and kind towards her, and becomes blunt about his feelings. Seeing how she is sinking into the same darkness he is in, he makes it his main goal to protect her and take her out of the academy so he can live with her forever. He loves Mikan so much that he says the idea of leaving her and living at the same time is the same as being dead, and that he will do anything to protect his and Mikan's future, even if it means sacrificing his life. Natsume frequently promised to Mikan that he would never allow himself to die, knowing how it would devastate her, but he was still willing to make that sacrifice if its necessary. Before he died during his fight against the ESP, all Natsume could think about was Mikan and how she has become the most important person to him. When he found out that Mikan was expelled and her memories were erased after he was saved, Natsume still refused to give up on Mikan and spent four years searching for her, and when they finally reunited even though she still didn't remember him, he embraced her and declared that she still belonged to him. When her memories are restored, Natsume and Mikan happily rekindled their relationship and spent all their time together before they finally got married after graduating from the Academy.

## TMNT X Pokemon

Natsume usually do solo missions as he doesn't like being a group.

## Trivia

* In Higuchi's previous work M to N no Shozou and her current work Gakuen Alice both the male and female lead start with the same letter, the letter "M" is Mitsuru and Mikan, The letter "N" is Natsuhiko and Natsume. The mangaka admitted that this was a coincidence.
* Natsume's alice stone color is red.
* Natsume is the only Special Star in the elementary division, though he does not wear his star.
* Natsume's name in Japanese means jujube, (edible berrylike fruit of Eurasian plant, formerly taken as a cough cure). His name is given to him by his mother who learned that the fruit was healthy and hoped it would by symbolic to Natsume who has inherited her alice type. She also chose the name to be connected to Yuka as Mikan and Natsume are both fruits.
* Natsume has been fated to be with Mikan since they were born because of their mothers' friendship and that they were both named after fruits because of a connection Kaoru wanted to establish with herself and Yuka.
* When Natsume was born, his mother originally wanted to name him "Kintarou".
* In the time travel arc, it is revealed that Natsume is 6 months younger than Mikan (she was actually born in May and he was born in the following November).
* Natsume's promise to be with Mikan forever technically means that he is engaged to Mikan.
* It wasn't until after the Hana Hime arc that Natsume stopped calling Mikan names and started calling her by her name more often.
* Natsume's eyebrows are short because of genetics, his mother also had short eyebrows.
* Although Natsume is a star student, he has no musical talent; seen before Yura's graduation, when he tried to blow a saxophone and produced a weird noise.
* Natsume loves strawberries, but when Aoi (who used to hate them) changed her mind and said she loved them, he said he now hated them she could have them.
* Natsume is a fan of manga books, which he brings with him to class everyday.
* Mikan is Natsume's first love; this is proven because when Narumi used his Alice on him in chapter 1, Natsume fainted. Only people who have never been in love faint in result to Narumi's Alice.
* Natsume is the only character to have been brought back from the dead.
* Natsume's first smile was when his mother, Karou gave his name to him.

## Quotes

* *I want to protect her, no matter what, even it means sacrificing my life.*
* *I told you right? That I will protect you, whatever happens.*
* *I can not have anyone else hold your hand at the end, but myself.*
* *I had the feeling that you were crying alone. So for some reason, I came here.*
* *Don't bother coming to the darkness that you don't need to see...I don't want to show the darkness that doesn't belong to you.*
* *There's no choice, so I'll protect you. Only this time, don't leave me.*
* *The woman I love, as I see her sink into the same darkness I am in, what damn things might happen in the future...the future that you guys want, I don't care about that. From now on, whatever happens, I will protect this person.*
* *This hand...this hand that brought you out there...I don't want to give this hand to someone else. If only I had the power, this instant, I want to become an adult, so I can bring you out and run away with you.*
* *STU-PID. I won't die. I told you right? That I'm not going anywhere... Do you think I could just die and leave you behind?*
* *I will be by your side, until the final moment, when you get to that Keyhole. I don't want to be apart from you.*
* *Me too. Mikan, I love you. From now until forever, more than anyone else.*
* *Idiot, it was me who attached the meaning to the tradition when I gave you my Alice stone.*
* *With this, for eternity, you are mine. Even if you come to hate me, I will never return this stone to you. Remember that.*
* *Hey, ugly girl, are you going to wear your hair in five years time? A hairstyle like this won't be suitable in five years time. Put it down. It looks better that way.*
* *Stop jumping at me just because no one is looking. Pervert-woman.*
* *It's like you're running for life, huh? Is that kind of face you show me after a long time?*
* *I want to protect everyone's happiness, slowly this feeling becomes stronger, if this can come true...i will not have any regrets anymore, i should not have any regrets, but Mikan...Mikan your...your smile will become my strength to keep on living...but before it becomes...the light that heals me-*
* *I will definitely take you from this place. I will... Can you wait for me?*
* *In the near future, if something happens to me, please take care of Mikan...*
* *With the little time I have left, leaving the woman I love in danger and just continue living, is the same as being dead.*