Hijiri Matsubase

**Hijiri Matsubase** (松葉瀬 聖, *Matsubase Hijiri*) is a main character in the manga. He is a detective who works for XXX-san's mother with Yashiro, his assistant, to rescue XXX-san. His first appearance is in Chapter 18.

## Appearance

Matsubase is a young adult, but people assume he's a middle schooler due to his short height. His hair covers his right eye, hiding an eye injury. He usually wears a suit consisting of a black jacket, tie and pants, and white button-up shirt.

## Personality

Hijiri jokes around, but is very serious about his detective work. He sometimes pouts like a child about being made fun of for his height. People often assume he's a teenager because he is so short.

## History

We learn in Chapter 38 that Hijiri has suffered the same fate as XXX-san when he was young, which explains why he is so determined to find her.

    Twenty years ago, at the age of 9, Hijiri was being abused by his mother. It appears that she kept him locked up in a closet, handcuffed, for extended periods of time. She did so because she was obsessed with the delusion that God told her Hijiri was possessed by the demon. He disgusted her because he never showed any discomfort when she beat him- he always smiled at her afterwards. He explains that he never went to school, and the only interaction he had with the outside world was watching TV through a crack in the door. On TV people would laugh when they got hit, and since he didn't know any better he thought that you were supposed to laugh when you were hit. He also learned about God on TV and came to believe that God grants wishes.

Meanwhile Kazuya Matsubase, Hijiri's father, didn't care what happened to his son. He never participated in the abuse done to his son, nor did he do anything to stop Hijiri's mother. He never loved Hijiri's mother either, appearing to only live off of her. One of the reasons Hijiri's mother was so adamant about getting the demon out of her son was because she hoped Kazuya would marry her once the demon was gone.

    One day Hijiri's mother came into the closet she locked him in with a smile on her face. While holding a knife, she told her son she had good news. She said God told her how to get rid of the demon inside of him-- by gouging his eyes out. She lunged forward and stabbed Hijiri in his right eye.

Before she can finish the job, the police knock on her door to investigate a noise complaint. Kazuya leaves the house, leaving his "wife" alone to deal with the police. As he leaves the police questions Hijiri's mom about the loud noises her neighbors hear, and she lies, claiming that she and her husband were just fighting, with no domestic violence involed. Hijiri hears the police officers and thinks they are God. Hijiri begins to pray, hoping God has come to save him.

Deciding to be brave, Hijiri cries out for help before the police can leave. Two officers follow his voice and find him in the closet. One cop yells to call the station and an ambulance, and his mother is arrested for child abuse and attempted murder. His father is later found and arrested as well. When the cop reaches out check why Hijiri's face is bleeding, Hijiri screams in fear, begging the officer to not tear out his eye. This startles the cop, but then he smiles at Hijiri and gives him a handkerchief to stop the bleeding, telling him that he's going to be alright.

    While being arrested, Hijiri's mother blames him for being the reason why Kazuya won't marry her. She screams that not only is he to blame for why she's being arrested, she wished she'd never given birth to him. Her speaking this way made him realize that God was not speaking to her. Hijiri later understands that his mother was mentally ill. Surprisingly, even though his neighbors knew she was ill, none of them knew she had a child.

Sadly, although he had distant relatives, none of them wanted to adopt him. He spent the rest of his youth living in an orphanage.

## Relationships

### Ryotaro Yashiro

Matsubase is Yashiro's boss. He hired the younger man even though he did not have any experience in detective work or law enforcement. He often orders Yashiro to do things like cook and clean for him. Although he picks on Yashiro, he really thinks he is a nice guy.

### Sachi / XXX-san

As someone who's also been abused by a parent, Matsubase wants to save Sachi. He offers to adopt her, after which they can have her parents arrested for abuse.

At the end of the story, he adopts Sachi.

### Onii-san

Trying to find a way to save Sachi, and possibly Onii-san as well.

### Sachi's Mother

Matsubase was hired to find "XXX-san". He knows that she hired him because he's a small detective agency that she doesn't expect much from. He knows she is abusing Sachi.

## Etymology

* The name **Hijiri** means "holy" (聖).
* Hijiri's surname **Matsubase** means "pine tree, fir tree" (松) (**matsu**), "leaf, plane, lobe, needle, blade, spear, counter for flat things, fragment, piece" (葉) (**ha**/**ba**) and "swift current, rapids" (瀬) (**se**).

## Trivia

* Like Onii-san, Hijiri never attended school as a child.
* Even though Hijiri has his father's last name "**Matsubase**", his father never married his mother.
* Hijiri grows his hair long on the right side of his head in order to cover the scar created when his mother stabbed him in the eye. He was nine years old when this occurred.

## Gallery

Hijiri's mom praying.Hijiri Matsubase's dad, Kazuya.Hijiri mistakenly smiles after being beaten.A police officer saves Hijiri.