Hotaru Tachibana

**Hotaru Tachibana** (立花蛍 *Tachibana Hotaru*) is the main protagonist of the series. She is the Student Council President of her current High School, in addition to survival game team Toy ☆ Gun Gun.

## Appearance

Hotaru is a fair-skinned teenager with short blonde hair and lime-green eyes. Her build is slim and she reaches about 5"7 (1.70m), making her taller than the average Japanese. It is noted that she has no bust at all, and often passes for a boy. Even the majority of the cast mistakes her for a boy, with the exception of a few such as Kanae Yajima, Nagamasa Midori and Haruki Hosokawa. In Episode 3, it has been confirmed that Nagamasa Midori knew Hotaru's true gender after the body check performed on Hotaru.

At school, she wears a blue blazer from the male uniform because of her small shoulder-bust width, a pair of black pants, and a white shirt with red tie. On being introduced to survival games and Toy ☆ Gun Gun, her attire on the battlefield consists of a khaki colored military jacket with an orange hoodie, a black mid sleeved shirt, khaki colored shorts, ESS goggles, a pair of black military gloves, and a pair of olive kneecaps.

At the end of the manga, Hotaru has longer hair, and sometimes ties it in a ponytail.

## Personality

As soon as the series kicks-off, Hotaru is shown to have a very strong sense of justice and wants to fight “evil” as stated by herself. At the beginning of the anime/manga, she goes as far as to jump off from the third floor to beat up delinquents who were threatening a senior on the school grounds for lunch money. It was mentioned by one of the delinquents that despite her being the Student Council member, Hotaru likes to pick fights with others.

Hotaru has a cheerful and an energetic nature and wants to be as helpful to others. As noted by Megumu Yukawa, her presence is generally weak, and at one point, has mentioned that she did not understand why she was a part of Toy ☆Gun Gun. However, if she has to prove something, bloodlust and her overwhelming aura take over. Multiple characters have been impressed by this.

Despite having such a strong sense of justice, once she has her mind set, she doesn't back off easily and does anything to achieve that goal. Even if that means lying to her teammates.

## Plot

When Hotaru was a little girl, her father was ill, so she went to the hospital every day, on one of those visits her father told her a story in which he said that there are strong people who take advantage of the weak and weak who could not do Nothing, something that her mother later countered by saying that there were also the strong who had to do justice for the weak, making Hotaru begin to hide her thirst for blood under wanting to do justice, her mother agreed until some boys made fun of her. Hotaru and her seeing them as "bad" the blows until they were sent to the hospital, when her mother saw this she was afraid of the little girl but decided to train her so that she can use her strength well.

Then in the anime it is seen that Hotaru grew up feeling that she had to protect the rest, which does not bother her since she enjoys making the rest pay, during the first chapter she is seen protecting a first year boy who was being harassed, she is also She sees him extremely annoyed when Kanae tells her that a host cheated her (which was false), from that moment she knows Masamune and after facing and losing her survival game equipment, being for everyone like Toygungun

Powwtic (talk) 16:53, July 27, 2020 (UTC)Powwtic.

## Relationships

### **Masamune Matsuoka**

Masamune is the first person Hotaru has encountered regarding survival games. The duo meets at the apartment complex whime they both reside, and stumble upon each other again at the host club were Masamune works.

It is shown in the manga that he sincerely cares about past and future members of Toy ☆ Gun Gun, including Hotaru. Because of this, Masamune temporary dismisses her from the team after TGC for fear of "him" having the same experience as Haruki Hosokawa. Hotaru's determination and persistence convinces Masamune to let her re-enter Toy ☆ Gun Gun once again.

In chapter 17 of the manga, Masamune dreams of Hotaru as a girl and wakes up flustered. It is shown in further chapters that he briefly imagines her to be more feminine and cute, but denies it because he still believes she is a boy. On several occasions in the manga, it is implied that Masamune is developing a crush on her.

### **Tooru Yukimura**

Tooru catches Hotaru coming out of a women's restroom and is given the impression that "he" is a pervert. He tries to sabotage her first survival game, while she plays as a team for the first time in a practice match against Grey Hound, by leaving her to deal with her opponents alone while they played against three members of the opposing team. He did that with the intention of hoping Hotaru quit the team and would never play again. His relationship with Hotaru begins to grow from here on; she is alone on one side of the field against all the members of the opposing team while believing that Tooru would come to help him. She continues calling out to him and stands up for him when the opposing team slanders him or

leaving her behind. Surprised by his actions, he comes to his rescue and accepts her as a member of Team Toy ☆ GunGun.

When Masamune dismisses Hotaru after TGC, Tooru steps in and takes a stand for her, making it the first time he had talked back to Masamune. He grows to acknowledge Hotaru as an important member of the team but does not directly state that she is a friend of his. In episode 2, he is blushing which hints that he is developing feelings for Hotaru.

### **Nagamasa Midori**

Nagamasa spots Hotaru at ECHIZEN while buying his first gun. He greeted her warmly, giving her the impression that he was a very kind and friendly person. While he helped her to look for a gun suited for her, he does a quick body check on her and in Episode 8 it's revealed that he was already aware of Hotaru's real gender.

Hotaru does not realize Toy ☆ Gun Gun's hate toward Midori until her first TGC battle while he brutally defeated Masamune and Toru in front of her. He then used Hotaru's secret to surprise her so Ichi can snipe her from afar. Since then, Hotaru is completely disgusted with his actions and ultimately regrets ever believing he was a nice guy. Hotaru plans to avenge Toy ☆ Gun Gun by supporting their goal of defeating Team Hoshishiro.

### **Kanae Yajima**

Kanae is Hotaru's friend that attends the same class and high school as her. Hotaru's relationship with Kanae seems close while she shows deep concerns for Hotaru while playing survival games. Although Kanae is strongly against it, she decides that it is better for Hotaru to do what makes her happy. It is stated in the manga that Kanae is not aware of Hotaru hiding the fact she is a girl from Toy ☆ Gun Gun, but she still continues to support her. In the scene when Kanae challenges Hotaru to a running match to convey the encouraging words Hotaru spoke to her and the volleyball team, a long time ago, Hotaru finally understands what she is trying to imply. With a smile on him face, Hotaru covers Kanae's body with her jacket and cups Kanae's cheek, calling her cute. This act causes Kanae to blush, hinting that she might possess romantic feelings for her best friend, despite knowing her gender. Flustered, Kanae sprints 50m in only a few seconds, astounding the crowd around her. Again in chapter 17 Kanae claims that it is great that Hotaru's teammates are her neighbors and dreamily thinks of living next door to Hotaru. This act of her again implies that she might have a crush on Tachibana Hotaru.

### **Takatora Fujimoto**

Takatora meets Hotaru during her first official TGC. Because of Masamune and Tõru's bad experience with Team Hoshishiro, she assumes that he's a bad person as well. However, Takatora explains that Team Hoshishiro were following the rules of the TCG in regards to the opposition team's previous female member, and whatever Toy ☆ Gun Gun told Hotaru has been a lie. The two continue to engage in combat and Hotaru is winning, but accidentally forgets to take off the safety lock of her gun while trying to finish him. Takatora voluntarily decides to exit the TGC battle despite not being hit, impressed by Hotaru's fighting instincts. In later chapters, the two have appeared to become close to each other.

### **Haruki Hosokawa**

Hotaru calls him HaruHaruki - even before they officially met - which disturbs him at first. Hotaru thinks that while he can be annoying and stupid at times, he has good intentions. Haruki is put off by how friendly Hotaru is towards him, despite him constantly telling her that he doesn't like her.

At first, he despised Hotaru for taking his place as the third member of Toy ☆ Gun Gun, feeling as if his efforts to get stronger and rejoin the team were now pointless. He fights and easily defeats Hotaru during a 'Spy' Battle, although Hotaru didn't know who he was or why he hated her so much, at the time.

After accidentally finding out Hotaru's true gender - by falling on her - he treats her as his slave through blackmail. This stopped after he made Hotaru do chores for him for an entire day.

    He tries to move on from his loss after Hotaru gets him to meet his twin after a long separation. He challenges Haruka to a battle at ECHIZEN but loses. Soon after, Haruki rejoins Toy ☆ Gun Gun as their fourth member after a teary reunion with Masamune and Tõru at Hotaru's initiative.

Being the only member who knows her secret, Haruki shows concern over the other members of their team finding out her true gender. Hotaru thinks he's nice for worrying about her. There have also been hints in the manga that Haruki may have a crush on her. An event in particular, when Hotaru's mother asked if she was going out with any of the guys, to which out of three of them, both Masamune and Haruki blushed.

### **Kane Tachibana**

Hotaru's mother

Kane is Hotaru's mother who Masamune, Yukimura and Hosokawa mistook for a guy when he appeared at the Tsukishiro Apartment.

She assaults Hotaru with a blow, to the bewilderment of the other Toy Gun Gun's members. They ask Hotaru if she knows the stranger. Hotaru replies that Kane is a parent and leaves them shocked as well as confused because the gender of the parent is not specified. Masamune, Yukimura, and Hosokawa debate whether Hotaru's parent is him father or mother due to the parent's androgynous and intimidating appearance. Nearly expressing their guesses that the parent is a father, Hotaru says that her parent is her mother and to Kane's annoyance told Hotaru to call him mom.

Hotaru mentions that she fought against her mother in order to convince her that she was capable of staying in Japan instead of going to America. Kane loves her daughter as a mother loves her child. Hence, she states to Masamune, Yukimura and Hosokawa that she is intimidated by her own daughter due to her bloodlust. Kane affirms that her daughter has a strong sense of justice but warns the other Toy Gun Gun members of the danger that Hotaru's bloodlust could cause if aroused in the TGC for people and Toy Gun Gun. She demonstrates worried by retelling a story of Hotaru's childhood in which Hotaru frighteningly fought and defeated several bullies in a fight but broke her arm. Yukimura agrees that suffering backlash due to Hotaru's bloodlust would be bad for Toy Gun Gun, but he declares that Hotaru is an essential part of the team who helped the team regroup. Masamune and Yukimura beg for Kane to leave Hotaru to them to which she comically beats them up for (beating up Hosokawa too). She has taught Hotaru between the right and wrong and says that Hotaru is an excellent rabbit, a person who fights against oppression and for the weak, from a children's story she once read to Hotaru when she was young.

### About

Hotaru is shown using an H&K G3SAS High Cycle, an electric type of gun based on the H&K's prototype custom model for the British Special Air Service. The G3SAS is a compact gun, said to be highly durable and maneuverable. It has the ability to fire ultra fast and can fire about 1200 ~ 1500 Rounds per Minute. The gun is furthim equipped with a telescope and is about $300,- if ordered online.

## Trivia

* The name **Hotaru** means "firefly" (蛍).
* Hotaru's surname **Tachibana** means "orange, tangerine" (橘).
	+ It can also mean "standing flower" (立花).
* Hotaru refers to herself as *Tachibana* in third person.
* Hotaru's star sign is Aries.
* Hotaru's gun is the Heckler & Koch G3SAS High Cycle. Before that, he used a H&K MP5 borrowed from Tooru Yukimura that.
* According to a Character Bio publihed in one of the takobons, Hotaru's airsoft playing skills were rated the following on a score of 5: Hit rate: 1; Stamina: 4; Sense: 5; Technique: 1; Power: 4; Speed: 5
* Hotaru's best subject at school is PE, but her worst subjects are English and music.
* Hotaru is good friends with Kanae Yajima.
* Her voice actress Komatsu Mikako is married to Maeno Tomoaki the voice actor of Masamune Masaoka.

## References

1. ↑ Episode 3 - It'll Become Your Greatest Partner
2. ↑ Chapter 19
3. ↑ Chapter 18
4. ↑ http://www.tokyo-marui.co.jp/products/electric/highcycle/229
5. ↑ http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/tokyo-marui-g3-sas-high-cycle-airsoft-aeg.html#.VeB4Bcr1G1F
6. ↑ http://www.tokyo-marui.co.jp/event/aoharu/
7. ↑ Episode 3 - It'll Become Your Greatest Partner