Mutsumi Oribe

**Mutsumi Oribe** (織部 睦美, *Oribe Mutsumi*) is the main character of *The Island of Giant Insects* and *The Even Bigger Island of Giant Insects*.

## Appearance

Mutsumi is a fair skinned young woman with almond colored eyes and a rather buxom body (though it's modest in comparison to some of the other girls). Her brown hair falls to the middle of her back and isn't as styled or well-kept as the other female survivor's. Mutsumi wears a camouflage jacket, a white undershirt, a blue skirt, black stockings, and black hiking boots, as well as a brown Stetson. Though it's obscured by her hair, she also carries around a blue and white backpack that has a fish design, which she's named 'Gomaotto.' After her jacket zipper is broken by Ryou Usui, it's left hanging open. In the manga, she wears light Adidas sneakers.

   In the anime, Mutsumi sports a notably more feminine design. Her eyes are much larger and her face is rounder. Her hair is also much longer, to her lower back and left to flow freely. Mutsumi's jacket is no longer camouflage, but a plain green.

## Personality

Mutsumi is a friendly and caring girl with a protective nature. Due to her love of entomology, Mutsumi is greatly distressed whenever she's forced to kill an insect.

Upon her arrival on Tatsuno Kami Island, she takes a more proactive role in the group. Due to seeing so many people die in front of her, she begins to blame herself for not acting as quicker and starts going off and fighting insects on her own rather than responding calmly and intelligently.

At one point she says with confidence they would not see any giant cockroaches as they had evolved to be small in order to be faster. Considering her attitude over the course of the story, this was likely just an attempt to calm people down.

## Background

Not much is known about Mutsumi's past except that she's a 2nd year student at Houshou Private High School student. When Mutsumi was in elementary school, she met Inaho Enoki, who told told her that she's only afraid of bugs because she didn't know a lot about them, and this most likely contributed to her bravado when faced with the danger of the unknown. She is still consciously working on expanding her knowledge and harnessing her emotions to best utilize every situation for survival. If not for Enoki, she wouldn't have been capable of supporting her peers the way she does now. However, she notably resents having to hurt or kill insects.

Mutsumi was bullied at Houshou Private High School for her quiet nature and bizarre fascination with insects, leading her to be called 'Bug Girl/Professor' by her classmates. She is considered by some (Nozomi Aoyama) to be the bottom of the 'school caste.' Despite the bullying and her introverted shyness, she became best friends with Chitose Naruse, who became Mutsumi's confidant and only friend at school.

## Chronology

### *Kyochuu Rettou*

After washing up on Little East Island after the plane crash, Mutsumi deliriously mumble about the heat while groping around for Gomaotto; unable to find it, she fully wakes up and looks around, eventually finding her backpack and is relieved to find her notebooks are find since Gomaotto is waterproof. Coming back to the present, Mutsumi is shocked to realize her plane crashed, and upon seeing a severed human hand, she panics and runs through the trees, crying out for anyone before tripping over a root and falling on her face. After regaining her composure, Mutsumi determines the island she's on is possibly part of the Ogasawara or Yaeyama archipelagoes. She attempts to pry off some Barnacles, but is unsuccessful; someone calls out to her and she apologizes and tries to explain herself, but stops after realizing the person is Ayumi Matsuoka, one of her fellow students. Ayumi reveals that she's been searching for survivors for an hour, and Mutsumi deduces that it'll take at most three days for rescue to come, since the island they're on is abandoned. While Ayumi pries off a few barnacles, Mutsumi gathers some grass and leaves to create a small grill. When a lighter Ayumi found doesn't work due to it being wet, Mutsumi uses a coin to make a water lens and alight the grass, which successfully cooks the barnacles. Once the girls are full, Mutsumi gathers the remaining barnacles for later and catches a few flies and puts them into a bottle. Mutsumi tells her how to catch flies with chopsticks, and Ayumi says that she didn't know how active Mitsumi actually was, embarrassing the brunette. When Ayumi leaves to scout for other survivors, Mutsumi thinks of Chitose and starts crying, but recomposes herself and begins thinking of ways to survive. A little while later, Mutsumi hears Chitose screaming, and she and Ayumi run towards where they heard it coming from, but are shocked to find a handful of their classmates being attacked by a trio of giant papilio maackii's, which have already killed three other students. Ayumi tries to stab one of the swallowtails, but the knife breaks on the insect's exoskeleton, and it attacks her trying to drink her blood. Mutsumi incinerates it using a can of bug spray and the now dry lighter as a flamethrower which scares off the other two, allowing her to reunite with Chitose. Before the group can come up with a plan, Misuzu hears something buzzing, which the students assume to be a helicopter; Mutsumi is suddenly pushed to the ground by Chitose, and it turns out the 'helicopter' was a giant ammophila which injects the class president with an anesthetic and carries her away.

Mutsumi is snapped out of her shock by Ayumi. but Misuzu and Atsushi both refuse, with Atsushi claiming that Chitose's probably already dead; Mutsumi explains what the wasps do to their prey, and they can't wait three days since Chitose will die if they do. Atsushi still refuses to let them go, and after a 4-to-3 vote to not save Chitose, Mutsumi touches her phone and comes up with a plan; turning her phone off, she says she's given up on Chitose and asks if anyone's phone is working, which they aren't due to the seawater; since Chitose's phone had a waterproof case, they could use it to check the altitude and weather, which would give Mutsumi information she needs to keep herself and the others alive until rescue comes. With everyone in agreement, the students set off to rescue the class president. Mutsumi places herself at the rear of the group formation to cover Mami and Misuzu's blind spots. Eventually, they reach a set of private houses, which have all been turned into nests by the wasps. When Misuzu expresses fear of encountering giant cockroaches, Mutsumi says that cockroaches specifically evolved to be small, and the students head into the first house. In the house, they find a few island residents being eaten alive by wasp larvae; when Ayumi questions why they aren't trying to escape, Mutsumi explains that the larvae are injecting them with a morphine-like substance to keep them in a state of bliss. Atsushi and Misuzu start killing the larvae, and Mutsumi tries to stop them since the larvae can't fight back, but Ayumi stops her. Once the larvae are dead, Mutsumi tries to get the others to check the others nests since Chitose wasn't in the one they're in, but Kazuhiko reveals he found one of the residents' phones so they don't need to find Chitose, and the students prepare to leave despite Mutsumi's protests. Once the group is outside, they hide in a brush from another wasp, but Atsushi rushes out yelling after realizing the wasp caught his friend Akira.

Mutsumi runs after him and knocks him down, covering his mouth; the was doesn't circle back, and Mutsumi explains how the wasp can't see past Akira's body. She follows the wasp with her eyes and determines the nest it enters must be where Chitose is. When Atsushi charges towards the house, Mutsumi gives Ayumi a list of cleaners and detergents for her and the others to find and mix with water, specifically instructing her to only throw the mixtures over the front of the house if nothing happens; she then rushes to the house. Upon entering, Mutsumi doesn't see Atsushi, but is surprised when the delinquent crashes through the ceiling, fending off the wasp with a stick he grabbed earlier. Mutsumi disorients the wasp by spraying it in the face with hairspray, and the two rush to the second floor, where they find their friends. Before they can escape, the wasp comes up the stairs; they try to escape through the hole, a second wasp appears and attacks the first, causing the floor to collapse, allowing the pair to flee as the house collapses. With the wasps fighting each other, the students flee. When taking a break, Misuzu demands to know why the wasps gathered, to which Mutsumi explains how the detergents attracted the wasps and the hairspray stimulated them to the point of inner-fighting. Miki notices a giant ixodid clinging to Misuzu's back, and Mutsumi realizes they've entered a nest of ticks without noticing.

Ayumi tries to get the students to go back the way they came, but Mutsumi refuses, explaining how walking around the island could take days and Chitose and Akira need treatment as soon as possible; she says she'll be going through the nest, the others go with her due to her invaluable knowledge, and Ayumi is forced to concede to keep the group from being split up. With everyone in agreement, Mutsumi come up with a plan: everyone is to put their palms under their arms to muffle their heartbeat and walk slowly to avoid attracting the ticks. Also, someone is to pick up a pebble, warm it in their palm, and toss it away from the group to lead away any nearby ticks. Atsushi and Ayumi, who are carrying Akira and Chitose respectively, will carry them on their backs. By doing so, the group is able to get through the nest with no problems until they encounter Ms. Nozawa, one of their schools art teachers who's been swarmed by ticks, causing Mami to start screaming. With no other options, Mutsumi is forced to sacrifice Ms. Nozawa by knocking her down with a stick, causing her to be completely swarmed while the group escapes. During the rush, several ticks grab onto Mutsumi; upon reaching a beach, the others notice, but Mutsumi reassures them, since ticks don't suck blood immediately, giving them a chance to scrape them off. She also has them remove their clothes and submerge themselves in the water for ten minutes, since that'll force any ticks they missed to detach. While soaking herself, Mutsumi checks Chitose for ticks; during this, she hears Ayumi crying over how useless she was in the nest, but Mutsumi reassures her that she's important to the group and asks her to take care of them all. Once done, Mutsumi and the others get redressed and set off for the clinic.

Once the students reach the clinic, Mutsumi sends Atsushi to find saline solution to neutralize the anesthesia; once he does, she struggles with getting the needle into Akira's vein until Miki steps in and does it herself. An hour later, the group hears something buzzing outside, at which point Akira gets taken over by a giant leucochloridium and runs outside; the students follow him but can just watch as the blonde boy is bisected by a giant protohermes grandis. Misuzu and Atsushi lock the others outside, and Miki gets killed as well. Kazuhiko unlocks the door, and Mutsumi comes up with a plan to kill the dobsonfly. Mutsumi's plan is to attract the dobsonfly to the large spotlight outside of the clinic and increase the output, electrocuting the insect. The plan works, and the four head to the main area, where they find Chitose, Misuzu, and Atsushi being attacked by a group of giant portunus trituberculatus; Mutsumi immobilizes one by wrapping it in plaster, giving Kazuhiko the chance to kill the crabs by electrocuting them.

When Chitose suggests leaving Atsushi and Misuzu behind, Mutsumi stands up for them; not out of altruism, but because without the two, their movement formation will be severely weakened. After that, the group gathers as many supplies as they can carry without being weighed down and leave, since the bodies of the dobsonfly, Miki, and the crabs are bound to attract carnivorous insects. Just before leaving, Chitose asks Mutsumi if she can find any underwear, since the crabs ate hers, but Mutsumi doesn't find any; she then passes out some Anthelmintic pills to kill any parasites that might already be inside the students' bodies. During the walk, Chitose asks Mutsumi how insects with respiratory organs can grow to the size of the insects on the island, to which Mutsumi explains how certain insects can take in large amounts of oxygen, but the giant insects are beyond anything she's ever seen. Misuzu mocks Mutsumi for being so chatty, and Mami trips her. Shortly thereafter, the students hear screaming, and rush to find Emiko Miyazono and Kayo Suzuki being attacked by a group of swallowtails. Ayumi successfully scares them off, and the girls bring the students to a private house where their group is staying. When Marika hints at going back to the clinic, Mutsumi interrupts her and hastily explains that the clinic is most likely swarmed by insects attracted to the bodies of the dobsonfly and the crabs. After a brief argument, Atsushi volunteers to scout the path back to the clinic, and Mutsumi, Misuzu, Takeshi, Emiko, Chitose, and Kasumi join him.

When Kasumi and Misuzu start arguing, Mutsumi has a bad feeling, and realizes too late that the students have found themselves in the nest of a pack of giant tiger beetle larvae, one of which drags Emiko into its hole. Mutsumi yells to the others to not move, since the larvae hunt based on vibrations. Looking around for a place to hide from the larvae, Mutsumi dragged Chitose into a bamboo forest, which the larvae couldn't get into due to the bamboo s natural flexibility. When Chitose explains her desire to save as many people as she can, Mutsumi comes up with a plan to fight off the larvae; she breaks off a sharp strip which Chitose uses as a makeshift sword, killing several larvae, saving her classmates and bringing them to the forest, where they wait two hours until the larvae retreat to their holes, allowing the students to return to the house. Marika tries to get them to try again, but Mutsumi refuses due to the large amount of insect corpses attracting carnivorous insects that would kill them all. After Takeshi, Ayumi, and Chitose vouch for Mutsumi, Marika asks Mutsumi if the place her group was going, the shrine, really was a safest place on the island; Mutsumi affirms, and Marika decides to go along with her plan, and the two groups set off for the shrine.

During the walk, Mutsumi used a hunting trick to test the humidity in the air, and got worried by how humid it was; suddenly, she was grabbed from behind and dragged behind a tree by Ryou. He questions if she was rubbing her fingers together because she's frustrated and offers to "make her feel better", and starts stripping her naked to rape her; unable to fight him off. Mutsumi begs for someone to help her. Thankfully, Ryou is struck from behind by Kazuhiko. Mutsumi almost breaks down in tears, but quickly recomposes herself upon remembering that she has to tell Marika about the increase in humidity. Before she can say anything, Nozomi slaps her and basically accuses of trying to have a tryst with Ryou. After Marika breaks up Nozomi and Chitose, Mutsumi recommends they find somewhere safe immediately, as the high humidity would allow hind-leg insects to start hunting.

Nozomi eventually gets into an argument with Ayumi and Chitose over whether they should listen to Marika or Mutsumi, which gets broken up by Mami pointing out a light in the forest; Ryou rushes towards it, believing it to be a flashlight. Mutsumi realizes the light is a pack of giant firefly larvae, which rip open Ryou's throat and devours him alive. The group flies into a full blown panic, and despite Mutsumi yelling at them to stay together, the only one's who stay with her are Chitose, Kazuhiko, and Kasumi. Chitose asks if firefly larvae are supposed to live in streams, but Mutsumi explains that firefly larvae who live in water are the rarest kind of firefly larvae. Mutsumi then tells Chitose that she has to stab the larvae at the base of their legs; she then pours a circle of ethyl acetate around her and the others to ward off the larvae. Eventually the larvae disperse, but Mutsumi realizes they're fanning out to hunt the others.

Chitose convinces Kazuhiko to help her and Mutsumi save the others, and Kazuhiko gets Kazumi to move, and the four start rushing through the forest, looking for their classmates. During the run, Mutsumi has the group go left, explaining that people being chased will unconsciously turn left. The four are eventually joined by Misuzu, Atsushi, and Takeshi, but get surrounded by larvae. After fending the larvae off, they continue searching for the remaining group members; Mutsumi starts working on recreating the larvae's method of communication as they do. They get surrounded again and Mutsumi uses her flashlight to recreate the larvae's flashes and make them think a predator is nearby and backing off. With a combination of flashlights, pointed bamboo stalks, and ethyl acetate, Mutsumi and the others survive until the sun rises. When Mami runs towards what she believes to be the sun, Mutsumi realizes it's actually a clump of larvae; Ayumi sacrifices herself to save Mami, and Mutsumi cries during the softball captain's brief funeral.

## Etymology

* The name **Mutsumi** means "friendly, harmonious" (睦) (**mutsu**) and "beauty" (美) (**mi**)
* Mutsumi's surname **Oribe** means "weave, fabric" (織) (**ori**) and "section, portion" (部) (**be**)

## Relationships

### Chitose Naruse

Chitose is Mutsumi's best friend, and would always defend her from bullies whenever she could. This imbued Mutsumi with a strong sense of loyalty to her friend which is shown after Chitose was kidnapped by a giant ammophila, Mutsumi was ready to run into the nest to retrieve her. Chitose, for her part, is completly loyal to Mutsumi and follows her instructions without question.

Whenever Mutsumi acts recklessly, Chitose is the one to bring her back to reality and reassure her she doesn't have to take the world on alone.

## Abilities

### Knowledge

Mutsumi knows a vast amount of information about insects and some arachnids. This knowledge proves to be invaluable, as it allows her and her friends to defend themselves from the various insects that attack them on the islands.

## Trivia

* Mutsumi is very sentimental and quick to attach to things, as shown by her panicking whenever Gomaotto isn't with her.
* She is often fascinated to the point of endangering herself as she observes the insects.
* She has been targeted sexually by both men and women survivors, each time being saved by Chitose or Nozomi.
* Mutsumi's hair was originally portrayed as brown, but following the change or artist, (from the unnamed head of Red Ice to Shu Hirose) Mutsumi has been portrayed with bright orange hair on the cover of Volume Six.
* In the flashback to her 5th year in elementary school, she's shown wearing a little purse with a face identical to Gomaotto.