Ginjiro Nezu

**Ginjiro Nezu** (根津 銀次郎, *Nezu Ginjirō*) is an elderly hunter who carries a rifle. He lives on Hitogashima Island and appears to know something about "shadows".

## Appearance

Ginjiro is an elderly man with gray hair, beard and moustache. He wears an eyepatch on his left eye and is usually wearing a red hat.

## Personality

Appearing mysterious and serious much like Hizuru, Nezu is a seasoned hunter with a good aim and one of the only people having some experience combating shadows.

Though serious and calm outwardly, he hides emotional trauma of his wife turning into a shadow which he overcomes by finally slaying his wife's shadow, an act witnessed by Ushio.

He is also shown to be thoroughly acquainted with Hizuru, who considers him one of the only people on the island trustworthy enough. This camaraderie is later revealed to stem from Nezu being the one to help Hizuru when she was threatened by a berserk Haine who had killed Ryunosuke and one of the people whose shadow had been slain and now couldn't be copied again.

## Plot

### 1st Loop

Ginjiro hears Shinpei and Mio talking about Shiori seeing herself and tells them its a shadow. Ginjiro then explains that shadow sickness used to be common on the island before the war, and those afflicted see their shadow and later gets killed by it. The shadow then takes their place in the family and kills the family too. His grandfather told him that those afflicted would go to Hiruko to be cleansed.

### 3rd Loop

Ginjiro was in his house, when he saw the red light in the sky, where everyone on the island got consumed.

### 4th Loop

On the fourth July 22nd, Hizuru meets with Ginjiro and tells him that the whole Kobayakawas are shadows. As their numbers increase, Ginjiro states that there must be one that can produce more shadows. Hizuru guesses that shadow Shiori drowned Shiori and erased her, and then acted as the one drowning and later killed all of the Kobayakawas. She gives Ginjiro her second phone and asks him to call her if it rings.

Shinpei soon calls the phone and after both introduce themselves, Ginjiro tells him to return to the funeral hall alone. He tells Shinpei to stand still and then shoots his shadow on the ground. Confirming he is a human, he calls Hizuru and invites Shinpei to the fourth battery. As Shinpei comes, Ginjiro explains that they have a questions too and that to solve Hizuru's note code, he must know she is Ryunosuke, but that is only something he knows or if a shadow had copied Hizuru, however, Shinpei is human. Hizuru reveals herself and after a short conversation she guesses that Shinpei is a time traveler, which Shinpei confirms.

Shinpei explains the events of the shadows and Hizuru believes him as her family was killed by a shadow. Ginjiro points out that they will be going after Hizuru as shadows always go after the rest of the family. Shinpei then starts worrying about Alain, but Hizuru states she killed his shadow. Ginjiro tells Shinpei that once a shadow is killed, the person it was copying gains immunity and can never be copied again and that he is an example of that. Shinpei wants help to kill shadow Mio, but Hizuru wishes to deal with the Kobayakwas first. Shinpei tells them that Shiori was at the festival and must had escaped Hizuru and wants to join them.

In front of the Kobayakawas house, Hizuru tells them Ginjiro and Shinpei to stay. She listens to her phone and then enters the house. Shinpei wonders what she was listening to and Ginjiro tells him that Ryunosuke doesn't have Hizuru's memories. Shinpei then guesses that Hizuru has dual personality and Ginjiro sort of confirms. He tells Shinpei that Hizuru found her dead brother fourteen years ago with bite marks, but they were a distraction for the strangle marks on his neck. No one believed her it was a murder and they cremated his body. Ryunosuke texts them that he killed Asako and Tetsuo, but Shiori went on the third floor. Since Shinpei may be correct, they are moving to Plan B. Soon, Ryunosuke texts them that Shiori would escape from the window and as she does, Ginjiro starts shooting at her with a nail gun, but comments he missed the third pin and Shiori manages to escape past him. Waiting at the corner, Shinpei jumps and tackles her. She attempts to escape and bites him, but Ginjiro pierces her three times and tells Shinpei to let her go as once a shadow is pierced three times, it can't move. They question her and learn that she killed Ushio and that she believes she is reborn and the is now the real Shiori. Ryunosuek then kills her, stating that if you talk too long with a shadow, you will be misled. Ryunosuke introduces as Hizuru's younger brother. He guesses that Shinpei likes her novels, but Ginjiro states he is actually a freaky fan of her work. That surprises Ryunosuke as it wasn't mentioned in the notes, but he then punches himself and Hizuru takes over. They form a plan and head towards the Kofune house. Hizuru tells Shinpei to continue doing what he would normally do, while they wait for shadow Mio.

About 10 minutes before Mio appears, Ginjiro tells Ryunosuke to not rely on everything that Shinpei told them as prey can be unpredictable. Soon, Shinpei opens the curtains and Ginjiro and Ryunosuke see Mio inside. Ginjiro then blows her head through the window and Shinpei kills her. Afterwards, Hizuru decides that they will stop working with Shinpei as he intends to stay with shadow Ushio.

Having a bad feeling about the sewers, Hizuru turns into Ryunosuke and along with Ginjiro they go underground. They encounter and kill some baby-like shadows. Ryunosuke and Ginjiro reach a dead end with metal bars blocking the way, but realize that shadows travel underground through the many tunnels. Ryunosuke wonders if they should go out and look for another entrance, but Ginjiro doubts there is one, at least not for humans, as the path ahead is no longer a normal tunnel, but looks like natural cave. Ginjiro shares that his grandpa told him about the Hiruko cave, a giant cave under Hitogashima. Until halfway through the Meiji period, there used to be an entrance that would show up at Hitogashima port during low tides. However, during the Sino-Japanese war, the army sealed it up. Its said that the cave is where Hiruko settled in after washing ashore long ago. Ginjiro suggests they speak with Karikiri and they would also need metal cutting tools to proceed. Ryunosuke then hears something and they hide. They see Tetsu and Mio coming and Shiori eating the metal bars, allowing them to continue.

Ryunosuke and Ginjiro proceed and reach the cave with sea anemone, which makes Ryunosuke realize they are all shadows. Shiori then appears and Ryunosuke explains that she must acted being killed, but escaped through the cracks and went underground. As Shiori reveals she knows Ryunosuke's name, he realizes its Heine who is using Shiori's memories. The shadow parent also appears and wants to know where the body with Mother's right eye is, but Shiori states she read Ryunosuke and Hizuru's mind, but they don't know. Ginjiro states they should run as they are the ones being hunted and that this isn't a shadow of a human. Shiori warns the shadow that Ryunosuke's shifted, about two seconds ahead. The shadow then shoots at Ryunosuke, but Ginjiro jumps in and takes the bullet. He then proceeds shooting at Ryunosuke, who manages to escape, but also gets shot. Looking at the blood, the shadow states its dark, which means he hit the liver and Ryunosuke won't have much to live.

### 5th Loop

Shinpei returns from a loop at the moment he meets with Hizuru. As Ushio also comes with him, Ginjiro points his weapon at her, but Shinpei and Hizuru tells him to lower it. Shinpei tells them everything and thinks they failed since they worked separately. Hizuru agrees to work together. Ushio suggest they go and capture Shiori again, as she believes she could erase her.

They go at the Kobayakawas and Ginjiro and the rest stay outside while Ryunosuke enters the house. Moments later, Ryunosuke is throw out of the window and then killed by the four-armed shadow. Heine as Shiori, reveals that she can track Shinpei and can loop as well. The shadow attacks Ginjiro, who shoots and pins its shadow three times, but it has no effect and the four-armed shadow doesn't stop and kills Ginjiro.

### 6th Loop

Shinpei loops back while the group is heading towards the Kobayakawas and aborts the mission. They form a new plan to fight the shadows at the elementary school. While the group is preparing, Ginjiro takes a snipe spot on a hill, waiting for the shadows to come. He hears a noise, but its end up being just an animal, however, in that moment, Mio's shadow comes from behind and kills him.

### 7th Loop

Back at the elementary school, Shinpei reveals that he can loop one more time as the time limit he can return to starts to move faster with each of his deaths. Ginjiro wonders how they found him and Hizuru guesses they scanned her and learned what he likes to do, while in the fourth loop as she was heavily injured and likely they had fought Shide. Ginjiro wonders how they share information and Ushio explains it can be like the memories she showed them, physical notes or talk to each other, however, Heine can also use telepathy. Ginjiro guesses they may have copied his rifle, but Ushio explains the copies can only exist within 50 meters of a shadow. Ginjiro then realizes that a copied rifle can only shoot up to 50 meters, which isn't good enough for a rifle.

Shinpei waits outside for Heine and Shide to arrive. When they do and Shinpei runs with Ushio, Ginjiro shoots at Shide's shadow, but confirms that it had no effect. He then proceeds to shoot and kill other shadows. Shide aims and shoots a rock at Ginjiro, injuring his cheek. Heine sends shadow Mio after him, but the group protect him from her. Ginjiro then saves Hizuru by shooting Shide when he was about to kill her, allowing her to escape.

When things calm down and the group can relax, at night, Ginjiro tries to sneak out, but Ushio finds him. He explains he needs to get home for something and not wanting to let him alone, she decides to come with him. At his place, he tells her to stay outside and he will come in a moment, but Ushio doesn't listen and enters with him. Ginjiro yells at her, but Ushio explains she felt a shadow. Ginjiro reveals that his wife is a shadow and he had her pinned and unable to move. Two months ago, she went to the farm and returned as a shadow. She tried copying him and flashed him, but since he had immunity and knew what it was, he reacted and pinned her with his nailgun. As his wife starts to act weird, Ushio guesses that the telepathy signal that made Chitose wild, also got to his wife. Ginjiro decides to finish her off. Ushio proposes to hack her and turn her to normal, but Ginjiro refuses as she will still be a shadow. Wanting to have a closure, Ushio agrees and leaves, while Ginjiro shoots Kaoru and apologizes to her.

As Shinpei wants to go to speak with Masahito alone and confirm if he is Shide, the group initially refuses, but they accept when Ushio decides to go with him. They agree on a signal for help being the third gunshot. Shinpei plans on shooting twice at first to confirm if Masahito is a shadow or human. While waiting outside the shrine, they hear a third gunshot. Hizuru, Ginjiro and Tokiko using the stray shadows, quickly try entering, but they see Shinpei flying out of the shrine and being pinned to a tree by a spear thrown by Shide.

### 8th Loop

Hizuru receives a call from Shinpei, telling her that Ushio is dead and wants them to regroup at Torajima. Reaching Torajima, Hizuru's group is suspicious as if Ushio is dead, so could be Shinpei and this can be Haine's trap. Hizuru tells Ginjiro to stay at the sniper position, but he tells her he can only cover southern part of the island. Hizuru explains that if Shinpei is a shadow, she will lure him there and Tokiko can use the shadows to strike. Later Hizuru gives a signal and they assist her, but as things turn bad, Ginjiro and Tetsu help Tokiko escape.

### 9th Loop

Shinpei arrives at Torajima, witnessing Shide defeating one of Tokiko's stray shadows and also the defeated Hizuru. Shide explains that thanks to Shinpei restarting the loop, he could fight Hizuru again and knowing what she would do, made the fight easy. Ginjiro then realizes why they went right away for his rifle and also knew his location. Believing they don't have a chance, he wants them to run, but Shinpei refuses to leave Hizuru. Haine then retreats with Shide and the group witness the final moments of Hizuru.

Ginjiro tells Sou that if they stayed together, they may not have saved the three children. Shinpei had to choose who to save and choosing Sou and Mio, guaranteed Hizuru's death. Sou states that Shinpei is taking all the responsibility and carries all the burden himself, and is annoyed he couldn't help.

### 10th Loop

Shinpei loops back with Ushio while the group is still in the stray. They go outside and Haine realizes they are in the Hiruko cave. Shinpei's group then proceeds towards Hiruko's main body while staying in the stray. They reach another shadow, who attacks them and Tokiko decides to remain with the stray and fight it, while the group proceeds. Shinpei's group then reaches a black barrier, which they realize is part of Hiruko. Ushio attempts to hack it, but Shinpei stops her as the wall reverses the hack and cuts two of her fingers. Shinpei then calls Mio, and uses fireworks he made her steal to blow up the barrier. While the wall slowly regenerates, they get in, but Shinpei feels Shide is coming and turns and starts shooting him. Ginjiro then decides to stay to prevent Shide from following them.

### 11th Loop

At the last loop, Hiruko doesn't appear and Shadows do not exist. Ginjiro lives his normal life, helping out cleaning the beach and later visits the festival with his wife.

## Etymology

* The name **Ginjiro** means "silver/silver coin/silver paint" (銀) (**gin**), "next" (次) (**ji**) and "" (郎) (**ro**).
* Ginjiro's surname **Nezu** means "root" (根) (**ne**) and "haven, port, harbor, ferry" (津) (**tsu**/**zu**).