Haru Kinomoto

> It seems that life is filled with bad decisions, Charlie-kun. It seems my brother and the captain weren't immune to it too. But I know... I fucking know... nobody fucks up everything worse than me.
>
> Haru Kinomoto

**Haruhi Kinomoto**, aka **GI** or the **Great Idiot**, is the protagonist of the novel *Otaku Girl*. She is a kind teenage Japanese girl and an otaku who loves manga and anime. Her story takes place in a virtual reality world called the Escapist Dream, a place that allows anyone who visits it to gain superhuman abilities derived from characters in films, comics, anime, video games, and other fictional media. She had started visiting the Escapist Dream a year before the start of the novel, only for the virtual reality world to suffer a malfunction which trapped its visitors inside. They are then forced to fight for survival against rogue artificial intelligences who have begun attacking them.

She was trapped inside the Escapist Dream together with other geeks, nerds, and gamers. There she met Charlie Anderson, a geek sent by the FBI to assist them. Throughout the story, Haru and Charlie fought against powerful AIs who had taken over the different areas of the Escapist Dream, such as Stan City, the place inspired by American comic book and superhero fiction; Otaku Academy, a place inspired by Japanese manga and anime; Gamer's Den, an area inspired by video games and gaming culture; and the Library, an area influenced by classic literature. Many of Haru and Charlie's enemies range from powerful AI bosses to AI dressed as memes.

By the end of the series, she and Charlie became married.

### Weapons and Abilities

Haru is stronger, faster, and more durable than a normal human inside the Escapist Dream. In combat, Haru fights using an assortment of anime powers she had unlocked, most of which are summons. However, if her summons are killed, then she looses them from her list of powers. There's no rule stated in the Escapist Dream on how many summons she can use in battle, but she seems to favor using one at a time.

* **Helena**: Haru has her own Stand similar to that from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures. Her Stand’s name is taken from the My Chemical Romance’s song of the same name. Her Stand’s moves include:
	+ **Ora!**: Helena can send hundreds of straight punches with machine gun like speed, enough to create a crater.
	+ **Kill Joy Fist**: Helena punches an enemy with so much force that said enemy explodes into blood and guts.
	+ **Za Warudo**: The move that DIO’s stand also possessed, Za Warudo literally stops time around the battlefield for a limited amount of time.
* **Zhou**: A celestial spirit similar to the ones in Fairy Tail that Haru can summon using a key. Zhou is a magical half human-half pig who will attack anyone Haru wanted to be taken care of. Once Zhou targets an enemy, she would then charge at said enemy. And whoever makes contact with her will bloat and become so fat they become colossal and immobile. Her powers can affect more than one enemy.
* **Mochi**: A cute character from Monster Rancher. Mochi takes a form of a mammalian duck-like monster who can do stuffs like:
	+ **Canon**: An ability where Mochi fires an energy beam from its mouth.
	+ **Petal Dance**: A move where Mochi spins and summons weaponized petals to attack enemies around it.
* **Regeneration**: In the Escapist Dream, Haru has a life bar than decreases every time she is attacked and regenerates if she's out of danger. Her regen acts the same way as a healing factor, not entirely instant, but quick enough. However, attacks that are set-up or done through stealth would deal increased damage to her life bar.
* **Magical Girl Transformation**: Haru can also transform herself into a magical girl. Although we don't know much about what her magical form is capable of, Haru seems to only used it as a distraction. The blinding lights and the fact that she becomes naked for a few seconds makes for a shocking and awkward distraction.