Hiro Arikawa

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"*The time where I live in now is no utopia. I asked myself: where should I go now? I'm always stuck struggling at the bottom of the endless ocean I sank in, I can't breathe. Even if I start to disgust you, I just want to live in the moment. That's all.*"

## Personal Information

### Dislikes

Bitter foods, insults at her friends, millipedes

## Portrayal

### Stage Actor

**Hiro Arikawa** (有川 浩, *Arikawa Hiro*) is a member of the Armed Detective Agency who possesses the ability **The Traveling Cat**. She is also one of the main protagonists in the spin-off fanfiction STRAY Bad Dogs.

## Appearance

Hiro has black hair, pale skin, and a rather slim build. She has grey eyes and long, messy hair that is often let down, and her bangs are swept to the side of her face. When Hiro is first introduced in the anime and in the first arc of STRAY Bad Dogs, she wears a white long-sleeved button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled to her elbows with an above-knee-length black pleated skirt, a pair of black shoes and a black tie. On her the day of her examination, she is gifted a long black belt from Osamu Dazai.

When she transforms into a partial cat, her pupils become slitted and cat-like, while her fingernails grow longer and more rigid, turning black in color. If more drastic, her limbs turn into a cat's limbs, but her tail does not emerge. When she fully transforms into a cat, she takes the form of a black cat with grey-colored eyes.

## Personality

Hiro can be easily described as eccentric, excitable, and optimistic, sometimes having a childish demeanor. She's very lively, as noted by Kunikida whenever she comes in the office and energetically greets everyone. Hiro tends to get frustrated and upset whenever she's ridiculed for various reasons, and she strongly desires to freely express herself, without holding back or being made fun of due to just being who she is. She's also obsessed with cute things like small sweets or fluffy plush toys.

She is friendly and caring towards the other Armed Detective Agency members and for the well-being of others, including strangers or enemies that she has made. She believes that everyone deserves a second chance, whether they are a good person or not. This was shown mostly with Atsushi Nakajima when they first met in Episode 2, where Hiro hurriedly tried to pull Atsushi away from the bomb in order to protect him and prevent him from (supposedly) dying, and Kyoka Izumi, where she jumped off the train just to tear off the bomb that was attached to Kyoka's chest, and often moving to protect Kyoka first when in danger. As such, Hiro has grown fond of her.

Although Hiro is a generally good person, she has a shaky sense of morality. Due to living alone most of her time with her father and having a strained relationship with him, Hiro often has trouble differentiating which is "right" and "wrong". She often questions the act of others, whether or not they are logical or illogical. This causes Hiro to be extremely dependent on the other members of the Agency to decide actions for her rather than doing things herself. She feels uneasy whenever she is alone and is indecisive when it comes to her own decisions, often spiraling into a fit of anxiety and freezing in place. She grows out of this habit as the series progresses, although she still is apprehensive when it comes to important decisions.

Like Atsushi, Hiro has low self-esteem. She doesn't think very highly of herself as is constantly putting herself down for all the mistakes she makes and has a habit of masking it with a smile. She is afraid of one day losing the Armed Detective Agency, which causes Hiro to develop a very reckless and impulsive behavior to "live in the moment" and make sure she does everything before that time comes.

## Background

From a young age, Hiro had stayed in an orphanage in Yokohama. Her mother died at childbirth, and devastated, her father took his own life. She was then left at the orphanage by the hospital, because there were no other relatives willing to take care of her. The kind lady at the orphanage gladly took Hiro in with open arms, although the orphanage was not the best, Hiro was very happy there. She often helped the orphanage lady whenever she could, even volunteering to take care of the other children in the orphanage for her. However, Hiro noticed that the orphanage was slowly losing money because there were too many children being admitted. Food, water, and electricity were slowly getting scarce as the years go by, Hiro watched as the orphanage lady began to stress and worry about all the other kids. Deciding to help, Hiro frequently went out to the streets and began performing for money at the age of ten.

Her performances were simple skits and jokes, which nobody found appealing and ignored Hiro. After three days of attempting to make money, Hiro was just about to quit when she witnessed a store across the street getting robbed in blind daylight by three masked men. As the shopkeeper yelled at someone to catch them, Hiro felt something in her shift, like "[her] entire heart clicked into place". She then ran off to catch the robbers and successfully cornered them into an alleyway, but they decided to beat her up and get away with the crime. While Hiro was being beaten by the robbers, she activated her ability for the first time, turning into a small, black cat and running away, but not grabbing the items the robbers had stolen with her. After successfully evading the robbers, Hiro returned the items back to the shopkeeper and went back to the orphanage, in awe that she was actually an ability user. She began to use her ability to perform agility tricks and mischievous skits with passersby on the street, earning money for the orphanage.

Even though Hiro worked hard to earn the money, the orphanage became poorer and poorer. While children were being adopted, Hiro stayed, because nobody wanted to adopt a child who already was an ability user. Hiro stayed at the orphanage and helped the director until she wa the age of 18, when she left by her own choice, vowing to get a job and earn money for the orphanage, because they had done so much for her. When she was looking for job opportunities, she was found by Osamu Dazai, who then offered her a place at the Armed Detective Agency after learning of her ability.

## Ability

> *Main article: The Traveling Cat*
>
>

**The Traveling Cat** (旅猫リ, *Tabineko-Ri*) gives Hiro the ability to transform into a black cat, like Atsushi. However, she does have complete control over her transformation, being able to turn certain limbs into a cat's at her own will, and turn into a small black cat herself.

 hiro arikawa black cat form.gif

## Etymology

* The name **Hiro** (浩) means prosperous.
* The name **Arikawa** (有川) means "exist, occur" (有, *ari*) and "river, stream" (川, *kawa*).

## Namesake

Hiro Arikawa was inspired by the real-life Hiro Arikawa. She is a Japanese novelist who is popular for her *Shio no Machi: Wish on My Precious* series. The ability, "The Traveling Cat", is referenced to Arikawa's most recent work; "*The Traveling Cat Chronicles*", which is about a man who is unable to take care of his cat, and travels the world to find someone who is able to.

## Trivia

* The long belt Dazai gave Hiro acts like a cat's tail for her. Whenever Hiro is upset or in a slump, the belt hangs down and seems to be very lax. When Hiro is excited or happy, the tail acts livelier. When Hiro is scared or shocked, the tail straightens completely.
* According to her creator:
	+ She thinks that her weakness is that she cares too much about things and is unable to let go.
	+ Her motto is "live in the moment".
	+ Her ideal type is unknown, but heavily implied to be someone who has good morals and is friendly. She mostly sticks around people like that.
	+ Her favorite spot in Yokohama is the Cup Noodles Museum.
	+ She recently spends her free time either napping or taking a walk.
	+ Hiro's sleep schedule often varies on the day.
	+ Her two most favorite people in Bungo Stray Dogs are Atsushi and Kyoka.