Haruto Higurashi

**WARNING:** This page contains spoilers for *Zanki Zero: Last Beginning*. Proceed at your own risk.

## Title

### Japanese

怠惰の編集者
*taida no henshū-sha*

## Portrayal

### English

Kyle McCarley

> "*The blue sky, and the blue sea. Buildings submerged in the water, and street lights that no longer turn on. In this perfectly clear, apocalyptic world...my weekend has come to an end.*"
> ― Haruto Higurashi
>
>

**Haruto Higurashi** (日暮ハルト, *Higurashi Haruto*?) is a main character in *Zanki Zero: Last Beginning*. His title is **Editor of Sloth** (怠惰の編集者, *taida no henshū-sha*?).

In the Japanese dub he is voiced by Toshiyuki Toyonaga. In the English dub he is voiced by Kyle McCarley.

## Personality

Haruto is a man of common sense and seriousness who is a diligent leader that wishes to protect others with his truthful articles , but he lacks flexibility to that extent.

## History

### Childhood

Haruto was one of the 7 members of the Garage Kids. He was taken hostage by the serial killer Yosuke Kurosaki together with the other members of the Garage Kids. Kurosaki forced them to choose someone out of their group to be killed by him. Six of them, including Haruto, pointed their finger at Sachika Hirasaka. It is implied that he made that choice because he thought no one else would choose her. Sachika then got killed by Kurosaki right in front of their eyes. The memories of this event later got erased to prevent PTSD.

### Early Life

Haruto graduated Keio University and gained employment as an editor at industry-leading publisher Mashiro Shuppan at age 25.

### Work at Mashiro Publishing

Through still unknown connections, Haruto got enrolled at Mashiro Publishing where he worked there for two years and then made an Interview for his first article about women in poverty. He interviewed a single mother for it, but she said he shouldn't publish any photos showing her face, because her ex husband could find her, which would bring her and her child in danger. He promised her not to publish any photos without allowance and went to write the article. Some time later, his article got published, however, a photo showing the woman's face was in it. He went to confront his superior about this, but he just acted like it was no big deal. It didn't take long for Mashiro Publishing's director to call him and to inform him that the single mother got killed by her ex-husband because of the article. Haruto kept saying it wasn't him who put the photo in the article, but nobody believed him and he had to leave Mashiro Publishing. It is implied that the Chief Editor, his superior, was the one who put the photo in the article. He got the photos from the photographer who took them. Haruto should have predicted that there were still copies of the photo, but he pretended to not notice and used his business as an excuse.

### Suicide Attempt

On July 8th, 2018, Haruto climbed to the roof of Mashiro Garden Tower - the building of his employer - and looked out over the city at night. He reflected that each of the flickering lights below him represented lives and families, but that one of those lights had been snuffed out because of him. Unable to emotionally deal with the consequences of the incident, Haruto climbed over the guard railing and attempted to jump to his death. His watch stopped at 7:10 PM, the time in which he tried to kill himself.

### Arriving on Garage Island

Rather than the suicide he'd planned, Haruto awoke on the beach of Garage Island. Haruto was still in the same emotional state he had been when he had jumped - he was tired of living - but he was awoken by Sachika Hirasaka who insisted on taking him to the island's garage to meet the rest of the island's survivors. He quickly realised that his phone, wallet, keys, and other belongings had all been taken from him, so he had no choice but to follow her.

He met up with the rest of the group, who each introduced themselves to him. They each explained that they were in the same situation as him - they suddenly found themselves on the island with all of their belongings stolen. Haruto found this explanation very hard to believe, considering it much more likely that the group had kidnapped him, particularly as it seemed they all already knew his name despite never having met him before. He learned that they had found out his name from Extend TV, an anime which airs on the TV in the garage which gives them quests to complete in exchange for rewards. Locating Haruto on the beach had been the group's latest quest. Additionally, each of the survivors, including Haruto, had an x-shaped button implanted on their belly button which could not be removed without surgery. Haruto learned that the group had been surviving on the island for 3 days so far, and that they suspected that based on the strange circumstances and the quest system, they must be in some kind of reality TV program.

## Ruins

In Zanki Zero, the ruins on the island take the form of each character's memories of their former life and personal traumas. Haruto's ruins are based on Mashiro Garden Tower, the building of his former employer Mashiro Shuppan.

## Etymology

* Haruto's surname **Higurashi** means "sun, day" (日) (**hi**) and "living, end, sundown" (暮) (**gurashi**), which can be translated to "living hand-to-mouth".
	+ It also refers to the higurashi cicada, the same cicada referenced in the title of the Higurashi When They Cry visual novel series. Cicadas have very short lifespans, living only for a few days after they emerge from the ground, running in parallel to the short lifespans of the clones on the island. His first name is written in katakana, and therefore has no known kanji reading.

## Trivia

* Haruto likes spicy foods while he dislikes sweets.
* Haruto is allergic to shellfish.

## References

1. ↑ **Siliconera:** Meet Zanki Zero's Main Characters Based On The Seven Deadly Sins (March 26th, 2018)