Takaesu Hikaru

## Biter

TAKAESU Hikaru, code name Biter, is a Ruby Eye with the ability to grow large, strong teeth and powerful jaws, essentially being able to turn his mouth into that of a shark’s. Unlike most of the other known Ruby Eyes, Biter is unaffiliated with any group.

## Background

Biter grew up in a miserable childhood. His mother, a renowned food critic, possessed a very authoritarian parenting style, enforcing strict rules and high expectations without room for negotiation.

When he was approximately five years old, his parents divorced. His father had been the polar opposite of his mother — whereas his mother was harsh and authoritarian, his father was allowing and kind. In the end, however, Hikaru was left in the custody of his mother.  On the day he left, Hikaru’s father gave him a large amount of candy, which Hikaru carefully stored in a secret box away from his mother’s gaze.

After his father left, Hikaru’s mother started becoming hysterical when she reprimanded him. When he had only just started elementary school, his mother forced him to attend a cram school to prepare for middle school entrance exams. Soon, he was loaded with swimming school and English conversation school as well. Not only did his mother establish such harsh educational standards — she also forbid any form of play. When Hikaru asked for a gaming system for his seventh birthday, his enraged mother pinched his ear so hard that he thought it would tear off. In school, he was a complete outsider without a single friend.

Hikaru’s mother was just as crazy — or perhaps even more so — about nutrition as she was about education. As a food educator, she enforced strict nutritional diets and forbid any type of candy, claiming that it would rot his teeth. She would then use pictures of Hikaru’s perfect teeth in her books and magazine articles. Soon, she even began to develop a theory that chewing strength nurtured the brain, and constantly forced Hikaru to chew his food excessively.

Hikaru managed to cope with the pressure by relying on a single thought. Ever since he was very young, he had been told that he was supposed to have a twin sister. However, in the womb, he had “absorbed” her, and the only one born was himself — the so-called “vanishing twin” phenomenon. In the third grade, he read a book about a shark known as the “gray nurse shark”, a type of shark that ate its siblings in the womb. Hikaru identified strongly with this type of shark — after all, he too had “eaten” his twin sister in the womb. This became his sustaining thought: it didn’t matter if he had no friends or if he was alone, because he was a “shark”.

At the start of junior high, Hikaru began to develop a habit of vigorously grinding his teeth. This habit eventually led to attrition — a disease in which the enamel of teeth is worn away due to excessive grinding of the teeth. Eventually, Hikaru’s teeth was worn down to such an extent that the dentin was exposed. As brushing had become excruciatingly painful, he stopped brushing his teeth. Cavities rapidly developed, and the pain soon became so intense that he was unable to study and unable to sleep.

That year, his grades on the second semester final were horrendous, and he tried to hide them from his mother. However, she soon found them in the old tin where Hikaru had hidden them, as well as the pile of candy which had been given to him by his father. Then, she pulled open his mouth, and shrieked when she saw his decayed teeth. Hysterical, she grabbed a pair of pliers and pulled out his teeth one by one.

After this incident, Hikaru was fitted with partial dentures. However, his jaw had suffered permanent damage, and he could no longer eat hard foods without undergoing great difficulty.

The day Hikaru graduated from college, he visited his mother one last time and ended her life.

Since then, he has become a renowned food critic known all over Japan. However, because of the damage done to his jaw as a result of having his teeth forcefully ripped out by his mother, Hikaru was not able to eat any foods that were somewhat hard. This problem was resolved in the September of 2019, when Hikaru was infected by a Ruby Eye, which became implanted in his bottom jaw.

With his new power, which had given him extraordinarily hard teeth and strong jaws — along with the intent to kill — Biter began rampaging through the city, covertly kidnapping and eating people.

## Personality

Biter is cruel and sadistic, finding joy in the pain — both mental and physical — of others.

## Third Eye

### Abilities

Biter has a physical transformation type Third Eye, meaning that his ability is centered around the physical transformations of his own body. In his case, Biter can grow extremely hard teeth and powerful jaw muscles, essentially being able to turn his jaws into those of a shark’s. With his enhanced jaws, there is almost nothing that can withstand his bite — not wood, not concrete, not even steel.

Biter also has extraordinary durability and healing abilities. He has been shown to be able to survive high-voltage electric shocks (into the mouth, no less) and falls from the top of the Saitama Super Arena (60 meters). Not only that, but whatever damage he takes, he can heal back very quickly by ingesting outside materials (steel, concrete, etc.). For example, Biter was able to recover quickly after being thrown off the top of the Super Arena by eating the concrete around him.

### Detection Radius

Although never explicitly stated, Biter’s detection radius is most likely extremely large. Minoru was able to detect his scent in the park from a very large distance away, hinting at his detection radius. Furthermore, going by Third Eye theory, which states that the detection radius of a Third Eye is proportional to the level of atomic manipulation (more manipulation, larger radius, and vice versa), Biter, who regularly changes the complex chemistry of each of his trillions of cells in his physical transformations, should have a huge detection radius.

### Affiliation

Biter, who was oblivious to the existence of both the Jet Eye Specialized Forces Division (SFD) and the Ruby Eye Syndicate, has no affiliation.

## Trivia

* Biter’s favorite sharks, in order from greatest to least, are as follows:
	+ Gray Nurse Shark
	+ Megalodon
	+ Tiger Shark
	+ Mako Shark
* He is the only character whose name has been changed from the original web novel, with it initially being ARITA Kotaro.

## Gallery

Volume 1, Colored Illustration 3Volume 1, Illustration 3Volume 1, Illustration 6Volume 3, Colored Illustration 2
## References

1. ↑ **Volume 1:** *“Hikaru had probably been five years old when his parents divorced. He remembered his father as being kind . . . He would let Hikaru eat the chocolate and snack foods he won, telling him to keep it a secret from his mother. Even on the day he moved out, Hikaru’s father gave him a ton of candy. Hikaru tucked it away with care in a secret box hidden at the back of the closet in his room.”*
2. ↑ **Volume 1:** *“It was around that time that Hikaru’s mother started to get hysterical when she reprimanded him. At the same time that he started elementary school, he was forced to go to cram school to prepare for middle school entrance exams. Before long, swimming school and English conversation school were added to the list. He had absolutely no time for play, and when he said he wanted a gaming system for his seventh birthday, his enraged mother pinched his ear so hard he thought it would tear off. He was a good student but an outsider in class; he didn’t have a single friend.”*
3. ↑ **Volume 1:** *“His mother was crazy about more than just education . . . Sweet things were completely banned . . . That was so she could put Hikaru’s picture in her books and magazine articles . . . Soon, his mother had gone so far as to supplement her claims with the theory that chewing strength nurtures the brain . . . Every time he ate something, his mother would tell him to chew it a hundred times . . .”*
4. ↑ **Volume 1:** *“Gray nurse shark fetuses eat not only unfertilized eggs, but also other shark embryos in their mother’s womb. Takaesu was the same. From the earliest time he could remember, his mother had told him over and over that he should have been twins, a boy and a girl . . . But the only one born was Takaesu . . . one twin was absorbed into the other—namely, Takaesu. It was a rare phenomenon called “vanishing twin” . . . He was in third grade when he learned about the ecology of the gray nurse shark from a field guide in the library. He had thought, It’s the same as me . . . If I’m a shark, it’s okay if I don’t have friends . . . ”*
5. ↑ **Volume 1:** *“Hikaru became aware of a certain habit around the end of summer break in the sixth grade: grinding his teeth . . . excessive tooth grinding was a full-fledged disease: attrition. A disease in which the enamel is abnormally worn away due to continual grinding of the teeth. He wore down his permanent teeth . . . enough to expose the dentin. Hikaru became unable to properly brush his teeth because it was too painful . . . Then bacteria set in immediately in his weakened teeth. Cavities sprung up all over the place simultaneously and progressed with incredible strength . . . studying was already out of the question because of the pain . . . the days passed by with him unable to get enough sleep.”*
6. ↑ **Volume 1:** *“The state of his second-semester finals was wretched . . . Hikaru hid them in a secret box in the closet . . . His suspicious mother did a thorough search of Hikaru’s room right in front of him, discovering a . . . tin at the back of the closet . . . his mother pulled off the lid and found the bundle of answer sheets marked with grades that were far below average . . . Then her gaze turned to the bottom of the box. There were the lovingly stored packages of chocolate, gum, and black sugar candy Hikaru’s dad had given him before moving out . . . Pulling Hikaru down to the floor, his mother opened his mouth aggressively. The moment she saw Hikaru’s teeth, decayed with attrition and cavities, a scream burst from his mother’s throat that was difficult to believe came from a human being . . . His mother clamped down on his front tooth with the pair of pliers she held in her right hand . . . ”*
7. ↑ **Volume 1:** *“Takaesu had killed his real mother the day he graduated from college.”*