Hiko Hirose

Hiko Hirose is one out of the 15 students in A Planned Game (APG), and her talent is the Ultimate Storyteller. Her talent allows her to fix up believable and intriguing stories sure to compel anyone straight from her imagination. She synergizes with this talent very well because of her love of making people laugh and have a good time. Her personality traits goes as follows; Hiko is a social butterfly that really likes making new friends and making people happy when they spend time together. She enjoys to see everyone with an ear-to-ear smile at all times and loathes seeing someone in a depressed and sad mood. However, despite her bubbliness she can get angered easily; little things like repeating a phrase multiple times every second annoy her to a point where she will yell at you for a second or more. Don't worry she's 90% happy and bubbly, outside of the game at least~.

(By the way, CD3: After story has A Planned Game (APG) spoilers)

## Backstory

When Hiko was 9 she met her best friend Kiko Alberg in Shibuya City. They were the best of friends and seeing them play together all the time would put a smile on your face because it was so wholesome. They loved adventuring and seeing gorgeous places because Kiko and Hiko are both convinced that the world is a colorful canvas of creativity. Basically, they would continue to hang out and waltz around like this for 5 years. One day while Hiko and Kiko were out in Nara City looking at the "Devious Deer" they were approached by a strange looking group of people wearing dark cloaks with funky marks on their face. Caught off guard, Hiko and Kiko let out a slight gasp when the what seemed like the spokesperson of the group tapped on the girl's shoulders.

After cooling down from the slight shock the two girls allow the spokesperson to proceed. "Apologies for startling you out of nowhere but I would like to introduce you both to something..." *the mysterious fellow ruffles his cloak in search of some item* "..Ah, there it is." *the mysterious person proceeded to pull out something and swayed it in front of Hiko and Kiko,* "Anyways, as I was saying before.." *Hiko started to get hazy* "..I saved you two." In Confusion, Hiko replied, "Wait what? When did you save me..?" *Hiko fell into a trance. Her breathing became more relaxed, calm, and subtle. Despite not knowing where she was and why she saw only a fuzzy distorted black screen, she felt at peace. The moment felt very euphoric and slow.*

Quickly, Hiko regains consciousness in what seemed like a terrifying, broken, and unsettling world. She sees herself as a kid shivering in a dark garage cuffed to this rusty pole. The garage had a very dim light allowing hidden details to be shown like dried blood and oil on the floor. The truck in the right side of the garage was old, rusty, and broken down; the ugly shade of red had rusted into an unsettling brown. Hiko noticed in the corner of the room there were a pile of dead rats in a bloodied cage with a swarm of flies revolving around the cage. Despite not being able to smell here, she knew it smelled like absolute shit.

Suddenly, a large and drunk man came waltzing in from the door on the left side of the garage. with a bottle of alcohol. Child Hiko started to scream and cry for help. With every desperate plea of help tranced Hiko felt a sharp stab in her lungs despite her watching this. The despair and pain on "Past" Hiko's face while the ugly bastard was hitting her was just too anguish inducing for Hiko to watch; she tried to ignore the absolute shit-show in front of her but was to no avail because she heard a grown man's voice shout, "What the fuck!?" Paying absolute attention to the scene again, Hiko sees the mysterious person she met just now fighting the gross, drunk man. Absolutely dumpstering his ass, kick after kick and jab after jab the drunk man was finally defeated and unconscious on the dirty, cold, and smudged garage floor. The anonymous individual squats down to talk to "past" Hiko. Reassuring her that everything was fine the person grabs Hiko's small, child hands and walks out of the dank and unpleasant garage.

Suddenly Hiko snapped out of her trance to the sound of a camera click. "Haha! The look on your face was so stupid, I *had* to take a picture of it!" ,exclaimed Kiko. Hiko chuckles for a short second before asking the mysterious person a question, "Wait! Um, Sir or ma'am I must repay you in some way, please. I believe you saved me!" "Hm, very well then. you must join our.. group as repayment and meet at the central subway in Shinjuku city, tomorrow; But first please sign this paper." ,The unknown speaker replied as they handed Hiko a sheet of paper and a pen. "Does your friend want to join too? If she wants to join she can sign the paper as well.", the speaker continued. Hiko whispered to Kiko quietly, "C'mon, it'll be a new and exciting adventure!" "I don't know Hiko.. It looks really sketchy, but ahh I love a thrilling adventure. We could see some really cool scenery and stuff at Shinjuku also. I know this is going to be a bad decision but let's do it.", Kiko replied as she signed the paper with Hiko. "Farewell, I'll see you two girls tomorrow at the designated place." "Good day to you too!" ,Both of the girls waved goodbye to the strange group of people. "Hiko..? What did you mean earlier when you said that mysterious guy saved you?"

And... that's all you get! The rest of her story is in Hiko's second CD. Anyway, TL;DR: Hiko Hirose and Kiko Alberg are friends and while exploring Nara City they were confronted by a shady and mysterious group of people. The "Spokesperson" of the group brainwashes Hiko into thinking that she was saved by them. Hiko feels like she is indebt to them so she asks the spokesperson whether or not she could repay them so they tell her that she can repay by joining their "group". Hiko asks Kiko to tag along and Kiko accepts because of her adventurous nature. Hiko's second CD, CD2: Shinjuku, will feature what happens next when Hiko and Kiko meet the suspicious people at Shinjuku.

## CD'S

### CD1: Bonfire

A girl, who you notice to be Hiko, is starting a bonfire. She adds more book pages to the flames, and burns many copies of books; despite being the Ultimate Storyteller. She sings a questionable song, one you've never heard before, and seems to be making a ritual. The CD isn't very long and ends in a minute or two. The end card says, "To be continued- Is Hiko the traitor or the mastermind?!"

### CD3: After story

The theater dimmed as the CD started off with Hiko Hirose and Darcie Takada having a conversation in a familiar setting. Both survivors looked as though they had just ran a marathon, physically and mentally. Darcie hesitated to answer many of Hiko's questions as the topic shifted to their last investigation together. Evidentially, Darcie had promised to continue a previous conversation of theirs, and she would stay true to her word the best she could.

"Honestly, how did you handle all of what Yuri did to you? You must have a rock solid mental, sheesh!", Hiko questioned while chuckling.

"Ah, well, I still don't quite know myself... To try and answer your question, it was terrifying. Believe it or not, I don't think I was really able to handle it in the end.. I lost a part of me that I will never get back, but in a way, I gained something as well." she laughed in an unsettling manner. "Surprisingly, I think I learnt the most from him in the end. Somehow he managed to change my perspective on everything. Possibly even life itself..." She trailed off with a faraway look.

"Woah, that got deep real fast... anyway! I knew you couldn't trust him right from the start. He has glasses after all! Those things are just impossible to manage," Hiko stated matter-of-factly.

".*..Right.* Oh, that reminds me. I meant to ask you this earlier, but how did you develop such respect for Aurora after insisting to vote her out?" Darcie asked.

Hiko laughed lightheartedly. "Well, when you say it like that it makes me seem dumb! It's just I get caught up in the moment easily, which probably triggered my tantrum. However, for the respect part, Aurora was the advisor for the cult I'm in, the Happiness Cult! Once she got executed I found out that she was going to be sacrificed anyway... And whoever found the letter she left would inherit her spot as the official Happiness Cult Advisor. Wait, that makes me sound a tad bit greedy; I'll take that back! Also, the killing game she set up took immense time and effort just for information, which is where most of my respect comes from."

"Long story short, I respect Aurora because not only was she a great advisor before passing it on to me, but she also made a great killing game!" Darcie pondered for a moment before nodding. "I may be able to agree with that side of you.." They both laughed it off.

The nearly sentimental moment continued through the conversation as they spoke about their memories, past lives and more. As the conversation started to change topic once again, the theater screen faded to black. Interesting why the CD only showcased that short segment of the ongoing conversation they had, isn't it?

## Profile

Hiko in the killing game is 16 years old. However, in other content her age is different; for example, in Hiko's backstory she is 14 and the Hiko in her trance is 7. Her birthday is March 23, 2004. Her appearance is very simple; she has short hair with blue highlights on the sides of her hair, 2 black hair clips on the right side of her bangs, a dark blue jacket that's also fluffy, a white tee, black-grayish jeans, plain white socks, and black slip on shoes.

Some fun facts about Hiko Hirose

* Her horoscope is Aeries
* She supports the Darcie Takada x Yuri Keamon ship
* She likes cats because they're "extra cute"?
* Prefers picture books over just text books "Color makes everything pop!"
* Looks up to Aurora Willows and has a dumpster truck load of respect for her
* Views Darcie Takada as a buddy
* Click here to read her post Chapter 4-5 Q&A about what she thinks about every student in A Planned Game (APG)
* If it wasn't already obvious, her childhood/bestfriend is Kiko Alberg

* She dislikes glasses
* She is part of the Happiness cult