Aihara Haruhiko

**Aihara Haruhiko** is an eleven-year-old ghoul living with his brother and sister in the sixteenth ward. He attends Elementary School a couple of blocks from his home.

## Appearance

Haruhiko resembles both of his siblings in certain ways, and is unique in different ways. Alike Kana, he is short and compact in body frame with strong legs, and has a round-shaped face. However, unlike his sister he has slightly tanned skin. One other characteristic that is shared between Haru and Kana are the shape of their eyes- though Haruhiko’s are nearly black in colour, they are both narrow and somewhat 'catlike'.

These eyes, paired with sharp eyebrows, an upturned nose and an impish grin give Haruhiko a decidedly mischievous expression.

Haruhiko's hair is chocolate-coloured and cut very short. The front is extremely spiky, and frequently messy. Over top of this hair he often has on his favourite white toque.

One similarity Haru shares with Takahiro is the sprinkling of freckles across his forearms. However, unlike his brother, his are more pronounced.

Haruhiko has a small crescent-moon scar bridging the gap between his right thumb and forefinger.

Haruhiko typically wears a pair of straight black jeans, paired with some tee shirt with a logo on it. Over top of the tee shirt he wears a plaid shirt. In particular he likes to wear a grey tee shirt with robot logo underneath a red plaid shirt. Around Haru's neck frequently sits a pair of black headphones: he saved all of his allowances, birthday and other gift money in order to buy them and they are his most expensive and valuable possession. They serve very little purpose, because he has nothing to actually plug them into, but he adores them anyways. On his feet are black and white sneakers.

Haruhiko is described as having a "troublemaker's" smile, but he is actually more likely to be pestered by his sister than he is likely to bug her.

## Personality

Haruhiko just wishes to fit in with his human friends and live a regular eleven-year-old life. He's impish and cheerful in nature, and usually quite clever with how he goes about meddling in things. However, he isn't exactly quick with his words and often finds himself aggravated whenever Kana manages to beat him in a verbal standoff. He often changes his mind about things multiple times before reaching a conclusion. Haru has a bit of a lazy streak, so Taka often has to remind him multiple times to do a chore or homework. Haruhiko's loyal to those around him, and has a natural instinct to "protect the underdog"... which often leads to him getting into more trouble than he can handle, such as when he stands up to bullies that are picking on others. This is also a common result of his inherent curious streak.

Despite all this, Haruhiko is a bright, happy person. Haru has a love of humour and would watch all the innapropriate comedy movies if Takahiro would let him.

Although Haru would claim otherwise, he can get jealous of Taka's babying of Kana and frequently badgers for attention from his older brother. In return, Kana badgers for attention from Haru. In this way, they sort of form a cycle of crazy dysfunctionality.

Around his school friends, Haruhiko is easygoing and forgiving. His outgoing and fun personality loosens up high-strung people, but he also has a tendency to pull others into his schemes and pranks and subsequently get them into trouble.

It is shown in the oneshot "Bitter" that Haru can be (as the name implies) very bitter and resentful, though the subject and reasoning for his ill feelings is not clear.

## History

Haruhiko's history is still being developed and revealed as the roleplay's plot proceeds, but some aspects of his life before the events of the roleplay have been imparted through one-shots.

It has been revealed in Velvet Poppies as Dark as Lipstick that at one time Haruhiko lived in a very large house, and had (in addition to Kana and Taka) another sister named Masami who he was very fond of. This sister also made an appearance in When She Stands at the Foot of the Bed and in All that Glimmers in Gold. It has been indicated in All that Glimmers in Gold that Takahiro was the one who gave Haruhiko his name.

At some other point in time, Haruhiko, Kanako and Takahiro have been shown to be living outside in the winter, in unfavourable conditions.

## Relationships (WIP)

Below are the characters that Haruhiko has encountered throughout the course of the roleplay and in oneshots. Some may have had little interaction with him or may have only met him briefly.