Atsushi Kamijo

**Atsushi Kamijo** (上條 敦, *Kamijo Atsushi*) is a major antagonist in *The Island of Giant Insects*.

## Appearance

Lean and tall in stature, Atsushi sports a delinquent demeanor that coincides his style. He had black hair that was shaved with an ‘X’ bladed in his hairline and black eyes. Thin eyebrows accentuated the frown and snarl he usually wore. He wore a black vintage styled aviator jacket with a cream-fur collar, a white t-shirt underneath, dark green jeans with a string of silver balls attached to his right hip belt loops, and black boots, as well as a gold chain necklace. Judging by his clothing choice, he pays close attention to appearance.

After being attacked by a giant agriosphodrus dohrni, his jacket was removed.

## Personality

Atsushi was an egocentric individual, and tended to exhibit outbursts of anger when a situation didn't fall in his favor. He believed himself to be the leader of the group of survivors, even though his leadership skills were essentially nonexistent and only served to endanger the group.

Just like with Marika Chuujo, being on Little East Island had a detrimental affect on his mental health. His ego evolved into narcissism, at one point even calling himself Oda Nobunaga (A fifteenth century daimyō whose considered the 'Great Unifier' of Japan). He also became more demanding and physically violent, forcing the girls to strip naked to 'prove loyalty' and threatening to throw them to the insects if they refuse.

## Background

Not much was known about Atsushi's past except that he was a 2nd year Houshou Private High School student, a delinquent, and was close to Akira, with him possibly being his only friend. At one point, Atsushi and Akira fought off a group of at least seven other boys and Atsushi gave Akira a keepsake piercing he got from his mom, so the pair would know they would always have eachothers backs.

## Chronology

Sometime after washing up on Little East Island after the plane crash, Atsushi met up with Chitose Naruse, Misuzu Jinno, Mami Miura, Kazuhiko Kai, Miki Shirakawa, Satoshi Oda, Hiroshi Tsuge, and Ai Ino.

When walking on a path, Atsushi snapped at Hiroshi and Kazuhiko to shut up when they complained about being thirsty. After the group breaks open a vending machine and satiates their thirst, Atsushi and the boys leave to look for food. While searching, they heard Chitose scream and ran back to find Ai being drained of her blood by a pair of Giant Papilio maackii's. Frozen in shock, Atsushi just watched as the swallowtails killed Satoshi and Hiroshi, and was saved by the arrival of Mutsumi Oribe and Ayumi Matsuoka, with Mutsumi using a can of hairspray and a lighter to burn one of the swallowtails alive, scaring the others off.

After Chitose got carried off by a Giant Ammophila, Atsushi broke up an argument between Ayumi and Misuzu about whether or not to save her and declared himself leader, stating that they should focus on the living i.e, themselves. Ayumi, fed up with the other's selfishness, tried to get Mutsumi to go with her and save Chitose themselves, but Atsushi stepped in and refused to let them go, citing that by splitting up their chances of survival would decrease. He then put it to a vote, with Mutsumi, Ayumi, and Mami voting to save the class president, while himself, Miki, Misuzu, and Kai all voted against. Ayumi refused to back down, and the pair almost got into a fist fight before Mutsumi came up with a plan; turning off her cellphone, she declared that she's given up on Chitose but asks if anyone's phones are working, which they aren't due to them having fallen into the ocean during the crash. Since Chitose had a waterproof case, they could use it to check their current altitude and the weather, which would give them a chance to survive the three days it'll take for rescue to come. With the group in agreement, they set out to find where the wasp had taken the class president. Mutsumi has Atsushi walk behind Ayumi on her left since he's the physically strongest. Eventually, they reached a group of private houses, which the wasps had turned into nests. Inside the first house, they found three people being eaten alive by larva; Ayumi questioned why they didn't try to escape, to which Mutsumi answered that the larva were administering a morphine-like chemical to make them forget pain and fear, thus keeping them alive and docile until they were nothing but bone. Disgusted, Misuzu, Atsushi, and Kazuhiko kill all the larvae. Once they were done, Kazuhiko revealed that he'd found a working phone on one of the residents and Atsushi made them all leave since they found what they were looking for. Outside, they heard another wasp coming and hid; Atsushi ordered the other to not move, but immediately broke that order when he saw that the wasp had caught his friend Akira, running out into the open and yelling his name, causing the wasp to divebomb him. Mutsumi pushed him out of the way and covered his mouth. Atsushi questions why the wasp left, to which Mutsumi explains that because it can’t look down, they essentially disappeared when they went under it since it couldn’t see past Akira. After seeing the wasp enter a house, Atsushi grabbed a thick branch and charged in, with Mutsumi following after giving Ayumi a list of detergents to find, mix, and throw over the front of the house if nothing happened. Atsushi ran upstairs and attempted to fight off the wasp, but it was just as strong as him and the pair fell through the floor in front of Mutsumi; she disoriented the wasp by spraying in with hairspray and Atsushi ran upstairs where he found Akira. Carrying his friend on his shoulder, Atsushi followed Mutsumi to the stairs but was cut off by the wasp she sprayed. Mutsumi spotted Chitose in the room behind the wasp, but with no way to get to her, the pair ran away with Mutsumi vowing to come back for her; they tried to escape through the hole made by the wasp, but another wasp came in, cutting them off. The pair ducked, and the wasp attacked the other one, causing the house to begin collapsing due to structural damage caused by their thrashing. The pair were able to get out of the nest, and the group fled as a pack of wasps battled, overstimulated by the detergents and hairspray. Once they were far enough away, Atsushi demanded to know if Akira was alright and Mutsumi responded that they needed saline to kill the anesthesia the wasps had injected him and Chitose with, much to his annoyance. Annoyed, Ayumi told him to be grateful, since he would’ve died if Mutsumi hadn’t followed him, to which he smugly responded that he lived because of his own abilities and walked off.

Miki spotted a Giant Ixodid clinging to Misuzu, and Mutsumi realized that they’d entered a nest of ticks without realizing. Ayumi proposed they go back the way they came and go around, but Mutsumi refused, since it would take days to walk all the way around the island and Chitose and Akira needed treatment as soon as possible. Everyone chose to stick with Mutsumi due to her knowledge keeping them alive, and Ayumi was left with no choice but to go through the nest.  With everyone agreeing on a course, Mutsumi explained her plan for getting through the nest: everyone is to put their palms under their arms to muffle their heartbeat and walk slowly to avoid attracting the ticks; Atsushi questioned how he was supposed to do that while carrying Akira, and Mutsumi told him to carry him on his back and pay close attention to his heartbeat. 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. By doing so, the group is able to get through the nest with no problems until they encounter Ms. Nozawa, 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. Once the group reaches a beach, Mutsumi has them scrape off any ticks on their clothes and strip and enter the sea to drown any ticks on their bodies. During this, Atsushi is approached and seduced by Misuzu; while having sex, the pair discuss how much of a nuisance Ayumi is and how she should stop butting in lest she have an “accident”.

During the walk to the clinic, Atsushi complained about being tired and Mutsumi told him they had to keep going since the sun would be rising soon and the nocturnal insects would start moving slower while the diurnal insects, such as the swallowtails, wouldn’t start moving until they got warmer. The group reached the clinic, and Atsushi tried to break the locked doors with a plank, only to be stopped by Kazuhiko who crawled through a window and unlocked the doors from the inside. Once inside, Atsushi ran off to find saline solution; when he returned, Mutsumi struggled with putting the IV in and he called her useless, only for Miki to step in and say that she can do it since she’s helped her diabetic grandmother with her injections several times. An hour later, Atsushi and the others heard something buzzing outside, at which point Akira shot up, his eyes bulged out of his sockets on stalks, and ran out of the clinic. Atsushi ran after him, and Mutsumi explained that he’s being controlled by a giant leucochloridium and is trying to attract whatever’s flying nearby, which turn out to be a giant protohermes grandis, which bisects the blonde boy. Atsushi is slapped out of his shock by Misuzu and the pair run back to the clinic, where Misuzu locks the others outside with the excuse that they may have parasites inside them as well. Atsushi is mourning Akira as Misuzu starts to molest a now conscious Chitose, though she’s stopped once she notices a group of giant portunus trituberculatus’ that wandered into the lobby. Atsushi fends off the crabs with a broom, but it's eventually broken by one of them; he’s saved by the arrival of the others, with Mutsumi and Kazuhiko working together to kill the crabs by electrocuting them.

The others tie up Misuzu and Atsushi and confront them over their actions; Atsushi claimed that they had no way of knowing if the others had parasites or not, and Ayumi angrily pointed out that Miki died because they locked them out. The delinquent says he had nothing to do with the quiet girls’ death, to which Ayumi almost punches him but is stopped by Chitose. The brunette deems them unreliable and says they should leave them at the clinic tied up, with the others agreeing. Mutsumi disagrees with her best friend, not out of altruism but because without the pair their travel formation would be severely weakened, especially with Miki gone. Ayumi reluctantly agrees, and the pair are reinstated, though they remain tied up. The group leave the clinic, due to the bodies of the dobsonfly and crabs bound to attract other insects, and head for the islands’ shrine, which is the highest point they can reach without specialized equipment; During this walk, they hear a girl scream, and rush over to find Emiko Miyazono and Kayo Suzuki being attacked by a trio of swallowtails. Ayumi is able to save the girls, and they take the group to a private house their group is staying in. upon meeting most of the group, Atsushi insults them and loudly wonders aloud how they've managed to survive, causing Ryou Usui to glare at him; Kasumi Momosaki questions how “this idiot” hasn't been killed and why they brought him along, to which he calls her a bitch. The bickering attracts the attention of Takeshi Minowa, who pokes fun at Atsushi; he’s quickly made to apologize by Marika Chuujo, whom Atsushi is excited to see. Marika forces the group to untie Atsushi and Misuzu, refusing to hear why they were tied up in the first place. When Kasumi points out that they don’t have food or water, Atsushi takes Kazuhiko backpack and gives it to them, saying that they would’ve brought more had he not been tied up and that there’s a lot more back at the clinic; after a vain attempt by Mutsumi to convince Marika not to go to the clinic, Atsushi offers to scout the path to make sure it’s safe; Mutsumi, Misuzu, Chitose, Emiko, Takeshi, and Kasumi go with him. After an argument between Misuzu and Kasumi alerts a nest of giant tiger beetle larva, Emiko is grabbed by one and Takeshi tries to get Atsushi to save her when he’s attacked by another larva, which the delinquent selfishly refuses. Emiko is dragged underground, and Atsushi is grabbed by a larva, though Takeshi is able to grab his hand; when Takeshi gets grabbed by a larva, Atsushi barely manages to grab onto a sapling. Chitose, using a piece of sharpened bamboo as a sword, slaughters several larvae, freeing Takeshi and allowing him to free Atsushi. When the group is in the bamboo forest, Takeshi thanks Mutsumi and Chitose and Atsushi agrees, to which Takeshi snaps at him to thank them on his own. After making it back to the house, Marika orders them to try again and Atsushi points out that she has no clue what they’ve been through since she hasn't been outside herself. After a brief back and forth, Mutsumi is able to convince Marika to go along with her plan to wait for rescue at the shrine and the group departs.

During the trip, Mutsumi is almost raped by Ryou, and Nozomi Aoyama slaps her for holding the group up, and this spirals into an argument about whether or not it was a good idea to leave the house; during this, Mami spots a light, and Ryou, believing it to be a survivor, runs towards it, only to realize the light was made by a group of giant firefly larva, which tear open his throat and eat him alive. With the group in a full blown panic, everyone runs off in different directions, with Atsushi running off with Takeshi and Misuzu; Atsushi covers his shoulder with leaves and holds up branches, trying to pass as a tree while Misuzu and Takeshi press themselves to the ground as much as they can. Misuzu spots Mutsumi and the trio rush to join her. Now reunited, the group rush to get to a clear area; during this, they spot a large amount of light which they assume Mami and Ayumi are in, but before they can save them, they’re surrounded by larva.  While Takeshi, Chitose, Kazuhiko, Atsushi, Ayumi, and Misuzu fight off the larva, Mutsumi succeeds in making the larva think there's danger nearby mimicking their flashes with a flashlight, and the group is able to survive till dawn. Ayumi sacrifices herself to save Mami from a group of larva and the group holds a brief funeral for her. The group makes it to the shrine, but Mutsumi has everyone hide in the trees since she can't sense any animals nearby and believes there might be a predator nearby. During this break, Takeshi is attacked and killed by a giant atypus karschi; Mutsumi and Marika are captured while the rest make it to the shrine.

Chitose immediately tries to rally the others to save Mutsumi, but Atsushi stops her, hypocritically claiming he won't allow selfishness. Dismissing Mutsumi and Marika as dead, he re-declares himself as group leader since rescue will come tomorrow; Chitose refuses to give up, so Atsushi has Misuzu tie her to a pillar. Once she does so, Atsushi has the girls line up for food distribution and gives Misuzu a single rakugan, telling her she should be happy she got anything when she understandably complains. Turning to the others, he orders Kasumi to strip naked and expose her stomach to “prove loyalty”, or else she’ll be banished and left to fend for herself. Just as she’s completely undressed, the shrine is swarmed by giant anomala cuprea’s. Atsushi tries to smash them with a plank but is unsuccessful. Chitose convinces Misuzu to untie her and explains what they need to do: since the beetles need the minerals from their sweat, everyone needs to remove their clothes so the beetles can suck the sweat on them and then clean themselves thoroughly. Everyone does so, but Chitose is unable to properly warn Mutsumi, Kazuhiko, and Nozomi and the beetles rush towards them.

Once Mutsumi identifies the beetle's, she has Kazuhiko go under the shrine to gather tanyosho pines and ignite them to create smoke; while he does that, Mutsumi ignites the incense charcoal and orders everyone to get into the shrine where it's safe, which they do. Atsushi yells at Mutsumi over how she said the shrine was safe, to which Kazuhiko responds that they’ve made it safe, which silences the delinquent. After Chitose establishes that they need to work as a group, Kazuhiko reveals that rescue’s arrived, and Atsushi and the girls get dressed and create a massive bonfire to attract their attention. Due to the distance between where the rescue ship is docked and the shrine, as well as the bodies of the spider and Marika bound to attract other carnivorous insects, the group rest with the plan to leave the next morning.

At dawn, the group departs down the mountain; Mutsumi notes that there are giant agriosphodrus dohrni nearby but they should be okay since they mainly prey on other insects. When Atsushi dismisses the assassin bugs, Mutsumi explains how they contain poisonous gasses and how at their current size, the gas could be fatal, moreover the bugs could contain Chagas Disease which is fatal, causing Atsushi to freak out. Mutsumi attempts to placate him by double checking her notebooks, only to unveil Marika’s hand, which was slipped in during the night by Nozomi in an attempt to kill her in a misguided attempt to avenge the teacher. Atsushi panics and runs towards the assassin bugs which crawl all over him due to being excited by the blood seeping from the hand; one of them sticks its proboscis into his bicep and injects its saliva, causing his arm to grotesquely swell to four times its size. Mutsumi burns the bug off and applies a tourniquet to keep the poison isolated to his arm. He clings to Misuzu begging her not to abandon him, and Mami knocks him unconscious since he’s being a nuisance. Kazuhiko supports him on his shoulder for the rest of the walk.

After dealing with the giant dragonfly nymph, the group takes a break and Mutsumi and Ryoko Shikimori extract the assassin bug saliva from his arm; he screams in pain and accuses Mutsumi of setting him up to die since she doesn’t like him. Pops tells him to count himself lucky he didn’t completely lose his arm. The group makes it to the Mino only to find it being attacked by a giant scolopendra subspinipes which massacres the crew. With the Coast Guard ship being unviable, they head to the island docks to take a different boat, only for them all to be swamped and unusable thanks to the weight of giant barnacles that grew on them and they’re forced to go back to the Mino and take a lifeboat; when they arrive, the centipede is constricting the Mino due to thinking it's another centipede giving off pheromones thanks to the scent of the fuel and gunpowder in the hull.

Mutsumi comes up with a plan to lure the centipede away from the ship by gathering and burning as many smaller centipedes as she and the others could find. Due to his injury, Atsushi opts to stay behind and Mutsumi creates a small safe area by smoking a clump of mugwort, and orders Atsushi to stay still as insects are attracted by sweat. Kayo also stays behind, due to viewing herself as a burden and the group leaves.

Shortly after everyone else leaves, Kayo gathers some wood for the fire, but when she gets back Atsushi pins her down; he claims that once he gets back to the city he’ll gather his friends and kill the others but will let her live if she sleeps with him. Kayo reluctantly agrees and the couple has sex. Kayo is reluctant at first, but soon gets into the act and mounts him. Atsushi begins to enjoy Kayo's vigorous movements, exclaiming that she must be the best at moving her hips in the sports club. Kayo shyly says that it is the first time she has done it with someone other than her boyfriend. Kayo ends up exhausted and longs for air conditioning, while Atsushi only focuses on her movements. Neither of them realize that the fire had gone out and the wind had blown away the smoke. Once they both reach climax, the couple falls asleep from exhaustion, leaving themselves defenseless; Atsushi wakes up and sees a giant botfly on top of Kayo's back and realizes that the smoke protecting them has dissipated. Before either of them could react, the fly forcefully penetrates Kayo's vagina and she lets out a cry of pain. Atsushi tries to crawl away only to be punched onto his stomach and anally raped by another botfly, screaming that he wants to go home. Just after Kayo is torn apart from the inside by the larvae, Atsushi approaches Misuzu, Mami, and the unconscious Nozomi and tells them that they will return alone and asks for their forgiveness; Misuzu kicks him and he asks for her help before the larva rip their way out of his body, mutilating him beyond recognition.

## Relationships

### Akira

Akira was Atsushi's (possibly only) friend, and thought of him like a brother. When Akira died, Atsushi was shattered. Akira's death marks the point where Atsushi's sanity starts deteriorating.

### Misuzu Jinno

Atsushi and Misuzu have a relationship for a short time even though Misuzu's only reason is so that she could have someone to protect her. As the story progress, Misuzu end up leaving Atsushi over his selfishness, and became one of the bravest survivor among the groups. In a later chapter, before the group split up Misuzu told Atsushi to keep fire the going so the smoke scares off the insects, he ignores it, which leads to his terrible fate.

### Kayo Suzuki

When Atsushi is injured in volume 5 Kayo stayed to treat his wounds and keep the fire going to create smoke insect repellent. Later, Kayo grabs a large amount of twigs for the fire only for Atsushi to suddenly jump at her and threaten Kayo into having sex with him. While at first she was reluctant to comply, she eventually got into the act. They both go at it until they're out of breath, but don't notice that the smoke from the fire had been swept away by the wind. This leads to them both being killed by parasitic botflies.

## Etymology

* The name **Atsushi** means *"Compassionate warrior"* (敦)**.**
* Atsushi's surname **Kamijo** means "*The One Above God*" (神上),

## Trivia

* When Atsushi gave Akira the piercing, he told him to never put it in his right ear or he'll turn gay, possibly suggesting he was slightly homophobic.
* Despite no one considering him the group leader, Ayumi and Mutsumi both refer to him as 'Leader'.