Fushi/Plot

## Plot

### Nameless Boy Arc

At first, "It" took the form of a sphere that could imitate anything that existed. Sometime after being dropped onto the Earth, It assumed the form of a rock and once temperatures began to rise, It copied the appearance of moss. Before long, as snow began to fall, a single wolf came ambling from the south, and once it collapsed, "It" took the form of that creature. Having gained a consciousness "It", now in the form of a wolf, continued walking and carving into its mind new sensations.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the wolf comes across a boy. The Boy, calling the wolf "Joaan", is very excited and is happy to see it didn't forget him. Noticing that Joaan isn't acting normal, the boy carries it into the house where he tries to give it food to no avail. Once inside, "Joaan" takes in the atmosphere of the house - observing the sounds, the smell, and the warmth. If It could speak, It would probably say "I want to stay here forever".

The next morning, after trying (and failing) once again to feed Joaan, the boy and the wolf go out to gather wood. Other than the boy, there are no people to be found and the only thing outside is houses that have long since fallen into ruin. The boy cuts and gathers the wood from a nearby house, telling Joaan it's like borrowing from other people. But he expresses guilt, saying he knows, deep down, that if the others were to come back they would probably be angry at him. He understands though that if he doesn't do this, he will die. He holds hope that the other people of his village will come back, even though they've been gone for five years.

The boy tells Joaan how much he would have liked to go with them. He recalls trying to sneak out and follow them, but Joaan stopped him by biting his leg. As a result, other people found out and told him to stay put and take care of his grandparents.

After gathering wood, they head back to the house and check the fishing lines to discover a giant fish on the other end. To save fuel, they eat it raw. Noticing Joaan refusing to eat for the third time, the boy wonders if the wolf has forgotten how to eat. He shows it how to eat and the wolf immediately mimics the boy's actions and says the word "here".

Later that night, It watches the boy draw pictures of the other villagers on the wall. The boy tells Joaan he is doing this so there is evidence that other people lived here and so he doesn't forget. He then tells Joaan that he is thinking of leaving because he wants to see the world and experience new things. The boy spends all of the next few days preparing for the journey and, once he is finally done, they head south. After hours of walking, they come across a marker that tells them to continue heading south. They then decide to rest for the night.

The two continue on their journey, finding more and more markers. After about five days, the boy finds a bush that he says proves they are getting closer to the mountains and, just as they are about to continue, the boy slips and falls into the water, injuring his left leg. They decide to stop for the day so the boy can tend to his injury. He tries to reassure himself that it is just a flesh wound and that he can keep going.

As the days pass, it is obvious the boy is losing strength, as he cannot continue walking for long periods of time, and his injury is starting to swell. He continues to try and convince himself that turning back now would be foolish and that surely they don't have much farther to go. Just as he says this, the boy spots a marker with a crossed-out arrow, telling them that going forward will not lead to paradise. To the left, the boy sees broken down wagons and multiple headstones. The boy, trying to remain optimistic, tells Joaan that everyone got this far, which means paradise can't be far away now. Breaking down into tears, the boy asks Joaan if they can make it to the mountains but, when the wolf doesn't respond, he becomes frustrated, wondering why it doesn't answer him. He continues crying even harder, knowing that Joaan can't respond and that he's been talking to himself the whole time. He apologizes and decides that going home would be the best thing to do.

Once home, the boy cries himself to sleep and awakes the next morning with a fever. He makes Joaan food and checks on his wound, which is now infected. He tells himself that his wound is healing and that once it heals, they will try to find the mountains again. However, the boy's fever is even worse the next day and he has no strength to get out of bed. Later that night, he struggles to get to his chair, saying "If I'm sleeping when they all come back, that would be embarrassing, right?" He asks Joaan to never forget about him and quietly lays back in his chair.

After an unknown amount of time, the boy's body falls to the ground. The wolf tries to get him to move but is unsuccessful. It grabs hold of the boy's coat and immediately begins taking on the form of the boy. It leaves in search of "an even stronger impetus" and will no doubt fulfill the boy's wish of exploring the world.

### Spirit Bear Arc

After parting with The Nameless Boy, the Immortal journeyed south and crossed the mountain, fulfilling The Boy's wish to go beyond the mountain toward paradise. However, he quickly met the Spirit Bear and was mauled, causing him to fall from the mountain to the forest below, leaving him dead.

In the forest, the Immortal revived and met March, a little girl from the Ninannah region who was meant to be a sacrifice to placate the Spirit Bear. Though at first terrified at witnessing The Immortal's gruesome revival process, March quickly takes a liking to The Immortal and followed him around.

March was disturbed from the Immortal's lack of humanity, though that feeling quickly turned to sympathy after seeing how The Immortal can't even eat properly and doesn't have a place to belong. She decided to become the Immortal's mother, naming him *Fushi* from the word *Fujimi* *(不死身 lit. Undying Body/Immortal).*

A day after they met, the escorts led by Hayase finally caught up to March and took her. Fushi wandered the woods until he met Parona who asked if he had seen the little girl. Fushi then led her to the sacrificial site where March was tied to an altar, soon to be consumed by the Spirit Bear. After seeing March and Parona being attacked by the bear, Fushi turned into the Wolf and fought the Spirit Bear, ultimately felling the monstrous beast. In the aftermath of the battle, March gave him a fruit and he responded with his first words, *"Thank you"*

When Hayase took March and Parona, Fushi came with them to Yanome. During the journey, he became closer to March to the point where he would only follow her and learned bathroom manners and how to eat. At this point, his mentality was that of a dog, unshakably loyal to his mother figure and not knowing the ways of humans. In Yanome, they ate many delicious foods and ended up being poisoned with Western Morning Glory by Hayase.

Fushi woke up in a cell with Hayase introducing him to people who are presumably the high-ranked officials of Yanome. Another man was let into the cell, saying that he will go free if he can kill Fushi. After Fushi attacked the man, though not to the point of death, Fushi learned his second phrase *"It hurts."*. When Pioran came in and tried to kill him as well, Fushi didn't resist and only said *"It hurts"* over and over. The moment the guards lowered their defenses, Fushi tried to escape by turning into a wolf, but was stopped by Hayase's arrows. He was placed in the same cell as March.

From that cell, Fushi dug a hole beneath the wall to where the Spirit Bear was being kept, all while repeating *"It hurts",* presumably feeling the bear's pain. He didn't stop saying this phrase as he accompanied March healing the bear's wounds. When March comforted the dying bear and hugged it, Fushi abruptly stopped saying *"It hurts"* and instead looked at March and said, *"Thank you."*.

When Parona carried out her escape plans with Pioran and March, Fushi went with them. However, Hayase quickly chased after the group, telling them she will let them go free if they leave Fushi behind. They refused and the altercation broke into a fight, ending in March being shot to protect Parona.

Angered by this, Fushi leaped out and took the form of the Spirit Bear, wreaking havoc in the city and almost killing Hayase. He was stopped by Parona who cradled March's dead body, thanking him for fighting for March's sake. He turned back into human form and then stopped Parona from killing herself.

Turning back into the Spirit Bear, Fushi took March's body and Parona back to Ninannah.

Afterward, Parona told him to keep going because the Yanome would continue chasing after him. He complied and escaped through the forest. The Beholder commented that Fushi is not alone because March's spirit continued to accompany him through his journey.

### Post Spirit Bear Arc

After leaving Ninannah, Fushi continued to wander until he met Pioran. Having nowhere to go, Pioran followed him, and after a while, started teaching him how to read and write. Pioran claimed that she would teach Fushi how to become human if he followed her and proceeded to teach him about many things. Fushi eventually could pass as a human and hold a normal conversation, though his speech remained both choppy and awkward.

While on a boat headed toward Pioran's ex-lover's house, Fushi proclaimed his wish to grow up and reminisced about The Nameless Boy, saying that he remembered The Boy's smell, sound, and form but not his name.

After landing and camping for the night in a forest, Fushi was attacked in his sleep by a Nokker. A man in a black hood appeared and told Fushi how that Nokker had stolen something precious from him, being The Boy's smell, sound, and form. Angered by this, Fushi fought the Nokker and managed to defeat it, reclaiming his memory of The Nameless Boy.

The man in the black hood introduced himself as The Beholder, Fushi's creator. He explained that the Nokkers are beings created to hinder them from their goal of preserving the world. After telling Fushi about this, he disappeared, prompting Fushi to say he didn't really understand what happened but that it was weird.

### Takunaha Arc

When Pioran and Fushi arrive at her "ex-lover"'s place, the old man's servant, Gugu, is the first person they meet. Fushi shows off his different forms. Gugu tries to introduce himself to Fushi, but quickly realizes that he isn't quite human and is unable to even say his own name. From then on, he treats Fushi like a small child and becomes much more confident and talkative.

One day, while Gugu and Fushi tend to the store, the girl that Gugu saved before he got taken in by the old man, dubbed Booze Man by Gugu, shows up and asks for something to treat a wound on her arm that still hasn't disappeared. Gugu is excited to meet the girl, but instead she turns towards Fushi and seems completely infatuated with him.

After the girl, whose name is Rean, decides to start living and working at the shop, Gugu urges Fushi to explore his ability to recreate objects more and in doing this hurts him, concluding that his ability must be based on pain. Fushi is clearly upset and tries to wander off into the forest, but eventually settles on hiding in between two buildings because he fears that a nokker might attack again. He doesn't leave this spot even after seeing Gugu storm out of Booze Man's tower and into the forest. When he does return to the group, Rean asks him to look for Gugu, but Fushi refuses and instead takes up his chores such as cooking and taking care of the store and fields. However, due to his lack in experience, he fails greatly and everyone soon wants Gugu to return. Fushi is faced with the fact that he can't "grow up" without him and is forced to enter the forest to look for him. After they reunite, Gugu is touched that Fushi went to look for him despite his fear, but refuses to return to Booze Man's place because of the things that he did to him: he put an extra organ in his body to store and purify alcohol.

The two spend some time pulling pranks on people, mostly using Fushi's ability to transform into a wolf and a bear, until Rean finds them and tries to convince Gugu to return home with her. Gugu explains that he threw away his mask and with it his humanity, so Fushi promptly goes looking for it. When he returns, Rean has already convinced Gugu to return to Booze Man's house. On their way, a servant of Rean's family comes across the trio and tries to take Rean with them. Gugu decides that Fushi should distract the servant, which he does by turning into March and throwing himself in front of the woman, but in turn he doesn't pay attention to his surroundings and is attacked by a Nokker.

Gugu notices that something is off and rushes toward where Fushi is. He tells Gugu to run, but Gugu is set on helping. He discovers that he can breathe fire with a torch and the alcohol in his body. He rushes to Booze Man's tower to get more, but by the time he returns Fushi is already reduced to a stone. Through his newly discovered ability, he manages to defeat the Nokker and saves Fushi, who decides that he needs Gugu by his side to fight against the Nokkers. This also means that he can't leave Gugu to acquire new things, despite the Beholder warning him that he currently isn't strong enough to face the Nokkers.

Four years pass and Fushi as well as Gugu and Rean have grown up. Rean still frequently runs away from home and visits Booze Man's shop. One day, she is sewing with Fushi and talking about her upcoming 16th birthday and how she will be forced to marry. At the day of the party, the two are looked down upon because they aren't not nobility. While Fushi isn't bothered by all of this, and simply enjoys the food, Gugu is faced with the harsh reality that Rean is going to marry someone her parents picked out. He wants to leave, but Rean runs after him. She asks him about his mask and slowly it becomes clear that the boy who saved her four years ago was Gugu. However, just as she is about to confess, a Nokker attacks the villa. Fushi reacts almost immediately and tries to keep the villa from falling apart by holding it up as the Spirit Bear. Gugu rushes in to help him after all the people are evacuated and the building collapses, robbing Fushi of the bear's form. However, the Nokker is a new type of Nokker with an armor made of stone, which renders Gugu's fire breathing ability completely useless. The two manage to find a crack in its armor and burn it, but the Nokker's core escapes into the wall and from there creates only the arm of the Spirit Bear to grab and crush Fushi. It also tries to crush Gugu, but Rean saves him and the two try to escape, only to have the remains of the building finally give way and bury them. Fushi tries his best to defeat the Nokker, not only to save himself but also the buried Gugu. Mid-fight, the pain Fushi feels stops and he can transform into Gugu. Driven by anger and grief, realizing what had happened, he is able to defeat the Nokker, but It's core escapes once again. Instead of pursuing it, he helps the others find Rean under the rubble.

Fushi decides to continue his journey. Before he can leave however, Rean rushes to Booze Man's tower to make sure Gugu is okay. Fushi doesn't want Rean to know the truth of his death and hurt her further, so he transforms into Gugu right before she arrives. She hugs him with tears in her eyes and tells him that she loves him, but then wonders where Fushi is. Fushi tells her that he died and shows her his grave, which is in reality Gugu's grave. Pioran and Booze Man then tell Fushi that he should leave soon. Rean wants to come with him, but Pioran holds her back. She wants to give Fushi the ring that she once gave Gugu, but Fushi says that she should keep it, to have something to remember him by. However, his tongue slips and he accidentally starts to say "Gugu", which makes Rean realize the truth.

### Jananda Island Arc

After leaving Booze Man’s place, Fushi walks alone for a while, struggling with his emotions. He calls out to the Beholder and demands that he explains to him why he exists, what he’s supposed to do now and why Gugu had to die. Fushi decides that, if the Nokkers want to control him, he would ‘stop being himself’ and turns into a fruit, but the Beholder forces him to turn back into a human. Fushi yells at him that he should fight the Nokkers instead if he wants to defeat them, but the Beholder refuses, arguing that it would be simple but that he can’t stop them from trying to fulfill their goal, which is why he needs to train Fushi until he is able to defeat the Nokkers by himself. Fushi refuses this idea, saying that he doesn’t care what happens anymore. Suddenly, he is triggered by a certain smell and runs off into the forest. As he jumps out of the bushes, he finds Pioran riding on a donkey.

After reuniting, she explains that she decided to follow him because she wasn’t able to help Fushi in Takunaha. Fushi tells her to go back because the Nokkers will come after him, to which Pioran argues that she wants to support Fushi and give meaning to the years she has left. Fushi becomes more and more annoyed as he tries to convince Pioran to leave, but she doesn’t give in. Thus, the two continue to travel together, however Fushi keeps his distance from Pioran and refuses to accept food from her. Pioran on the other hand continues to care for Fushi. After a while, Fushi asks Pioran to promise him something: that she won’t die.

Sometime later, Pioran asks Fushi to pick her some fruit from a tree. Fushi tries to, but can’t. Pioran comments on this by saying that he could do it in no time if he turned into March. However, Fushi doesn’t remember March because that vessel was stolen from him in Takunaha. Pioran is taken aback and tries to explain to Fushi who March is, but he still doesn’t remember her in the slightest. He can remember that he was once able to climb trees, and as he thinks harder about it, an image of a Nokker in the shape of March pops into his mind. He starts to remember what she meant to him, but nothing more. Pioran later calls this phenomenon a ‘second death’, to which Fushi assures her that he won’t let it happen to anyone else. As they keep travelling, Pioran offers to take Fushi to a place with no people, the Sarlnine Forest, where he could train without putting people in danger. Fushi is unsure at first due to how they would have to take a boat, because a Nokker could attack them while at sea, but Pioran ultimately convinces him.

As they arrive at the port, Pioran points out the ship they’re going to board, but a girl appears and guides them to a different ship instead, explaining that the other one is full. However, as soon as they board it, they get separated and Fushi is shoved into a cage full to the brim with people. A man burns a mark onto the passengers' hands and also on Fushi’s. After a short moment of shock, Fushi worries about what might happen to Pioran. Meanwhile, the man announces that their final life will begin now, on an island called Jananda Island.

While Fushi is lead off the ship, blindfolded and with his hands tied together, a man notices that his legs aren’t shackled and that he isn’t branded. The girl that brought Fushi and Pioran onto the ship interrupts the man and explains that it was her mistake to bring him here before she leads Fushi away from the other people. As soon as the two are separated from the crowd, Fushi manages to pull off his blindfold and asks the girl where Pioran is, to which she responds that she doesn’t know. Fushi quickly frees himself from the girl’s grip to go look for Pioran and keeps searching as a wolf. While he manages to smell where Pioran is, a tall wall keeps him from reaching her. He attempts to scale it with spears, but slips and falls to the ground where the smuggler girl’s group find him. Fushi asks them if they know a way to get to the other side of the wall, but none of them do. The girl then tells Fushi that, even if he found Pioran, she wouldn’t be able to leave because she was marked. Fushi glares at her in anger and the girl tries to apologize, saying that it was a mistake, but Fushi doesn’t believe her. Still, the girl tries to help Fushi by signing him up for the arena. Winning there would make Fushi ‘king of the island’ and give him the power to free Pioran and leave the island. Fushi agrees to this plan, even though he doesn’t know what exactly it entails. As the announcer calls out the rules, Fushi realizes that all he has to do is stay alive and becomes hopeful. However, as everyone rushes into the arena and the killing begins, Fushi is overcome by the pain surrounding him and throws up. Only after everyone except for one person is dead, Fushi manages to enter the arena where he is immediately hit with an axe to the head. While Fushi is nervous about the crowd finding out that he can’t die, the last man stabs Fushi several times. Finally, the man falls to his knees in confusion as the crowd cheers.

After the match, the girl introduces herself as Tonari. A crowd gathers around Fushi, offering him food and complimenting him. Tonari steps in and announces that he belongs to her since she found him. While Tonari explains a few things about the island’s leader position and her plan from here on out, Fushi walks away in an effort to get rid of her, but the group continues following him. While they walk around the city, Tonari explains that the island was once run by a different country, but after a while the population got too big and the prisoners themselves started managing the island, eventually becoming self-sufficient. While only the non-prisoners are allowed to leave the island for the main land, the prisoners work as farmers on the island. After Tonari mentions this, Fushi gets angry and asks why Pioran wasn’t released to work outside. Tonari hesitates to answer, but finally says that serious offenders have certain restrictions and that she heard rumors about her killing 10 people. She then explains that someone told her to bring him and Pioran to Jananda, but also that she doesn’t know that person. After that, Fushi decides to leave the group behind, calling them ‘not normal’ for still being able to smile in their situation. Instead, he talks to the Beholder and tells him that he wants to see Pioran and then leave the island with her. The Beholder asks him about the tournament, but Fushi says that he doesn’t want to do it because it hurts and he would have to kill his opponent in the upcoming one-on-one match. The Beholder comments that he has already killed several people, Gugu for example. He explains that Gugu could have kept on living, but chose to die and help Fushi win against the Nokker.

The next day, Fushi tries to climb the wall separating him from Pioran once more, but fails. Tonari visits him again to remind him of the match. While she talks to him, a man runs up to her and asks if she’s seen their “guest”. Tonari points to Fushi, who has already left, but the man explains that he was looking for their other guest: a woman from Yanome. Meanwhile, Fushi is still trying to find a way to cross the wall. He stops when he hears a mole dig underground and digs it out, causing the agitated mole to bite him. In this moment of shock Fushi kills the mole in the wolf’s form, but just as quickly realizes what he’s done and apologizes furiously. Ultimately he transforms into the mole in an effort to squeeze through the stones in the ground and reach the other side of the wall that way. However, before he can reach the hole, Tonari’s pet owl picks him up and carries him to the arena.

The fight begins and Fushi tries to scare his opponent into giving up like he did the day before. Instead of letting himself be stabbed over and over though, he creates an armor out of weapons that he generates wherever he expects the next hit will be. Finally, he is covered from head to toe in swords and axes. Getting frustrated, his opponent rips the weapons off and bites Fushi, who asks the man to give up because he would never be able to defeat him. In response, the man bites off a piece of Fushi’s shoulder and eats it. Fushi realizes that he’ll have to use different means and thus transforms into the wolf and roars at the man while pinning him to the ground. The man remains unfazed, and while Fushi damns himself for not having acquired more powerful, scary forms, thinking that “otherwise, it’s meaningless”. This causes him to remember something Parona said about the meaning of life and death and in an effort to recall who said it, Fushi transforms into her. While Fushi stares at his new form in shock, his opponent tries to grab and bite him again. As he dodges, Fushi is surprised by how light and skilled in martial arts he is now.