Rei Tsukumo

Rei featured on official art of Volume 1

**Rei Tsukumo** (九十九零 *Tsukumo Rei*) is the main protagonist of the *Kara no Kioku* manga.

## History

When he was a kid, his parents were killed in a car accident, which was caused by Yuu. After the incident, his memory was altered so that he doesn't remember anything about it, and was replaced with a fake memory, where he moved to Tokyo due to his parent's work.

## Plot

He is a new high schooler that moved to the city of Tokyo for family reasons. At first instead of excitement for a new school he just feels anxiety and insecurity making him feel out of place. His first confirmed interaction with a Zingai is while going to school he suddenly feels a presence from Pattun and Mocchi, although there is no real interaction. And thinks he might be hallucinating. He goes to school and has some interactions with some side characters, particularly the spiky-haired boy and Yukito. Whoever he keeps repeating that nothing is going to change, and that everything is going to be okay and keeps reminding himself that he’s just gonna live a normal life. Later in his classroom he feels as if negative emotions have been pouring down on him as if it was dirt. Then he feels like has been hurt and his chest starts to crack and 2 eyes look from the crack. Later he wakes up at his best and sees Q-ta. A small rounded thing similarly to a dog. After meeting him he leaves the classroom, but sees a shadow similarly close to Pattun's Zingai. After that he leaves the school in a rush and starts to see everybody's heart forms and starts to wonder if they can't see them. He goes to his house but bumps into a Heart form and Q-Ta talks to it, so they don’t have problems. After a while he gets accustomed to them and understands what’s happening, if he isn’t hostile to them, they wont be to him, and it seems he’s the only one that can see them. And while walking home he encounters Hitotsume. When he meets him he starts to get the feeling that he shouldn’t run or something bad will happen. Hitotsume gets close to him without even noticing him. Rei feels stiff like he can’t move, and reproaches himself for not running and anxiously thinks he shouldn’t look him in the eye. After that Hitotsume opens his heart, to see what’s inside.

Q-Ta starts to get aggressive and bites Hitotsume. Then wakes up in his room and thinks it’s a dream until he sees Q-Ta who greets him but he shouts asking what he is doing in his room! And start reflecting on what he should do and fears encountering him again. But after he gets out of his house he sees nothing… he doesn’t spot a single Zingai. Later his classroom spiky-haired boy tells him that they should get along. Q-Ta continues to bug him so much he’s falling asleep from exhaustion. When he was walking he found a small drawing, which he picked up. Later he meets up with the owner who is Yukito, and because he compliments the drawing he gives it to him. Later in the afternoon on the same day he encounters a shadow under the bridge, a rabbit-like creature with a lasso arm appears and starts attacking him. when he's about to faint from exhaustion the shadow will capture him and pull him to devour him. Q-Ta helps him to get loose but he ends up being captured by the shadow, he throws his backpack at him, and it seems that the shadow was defeated, but when he got closer the shadow grabbed him. But out of nowhere Tobi otogori jumps from the roof and roughly crushes the shadow. And he uses his Zingai in the form of a backpack and a big mouth to eat it to destroy it. After the shadow was defeated he wondered why did he saved him and if he could see those creatures too. But he just asks "Who the hell are you?" Rei thinks that even though he saved him, he thinks he’s suspicious of him. Tobi looks a bit surprised at Q-ta and asks what it is. But Q-ta yells at him. Later he says that they go to another place, because surely they have things to ask each other. He buys some water for Rei and he drinks another one himself, but with a disgusted expresión that makes Rei think he’s gonna attack him then Rei refutes the idea and asks if he has any questions he then asks what Q-ta is and Tobi is shocked at how little he knows. He tells him  that it is the shape of his heart. He then asks some questions, and Rei then speaks about Hitotsume. He immediately grabs his shoulder and asks if he was tall and dressed in black. Making Rei a bit confused asks him if he is an acquaintance of his. But frustrated this one says no and starts muttering that if he stays with Rei he might find Hitotsume. After that he makes a plan, but before he needs to tell him something; he tells him  that the thing that attacked him is called a shadow, they are born from hatred and resentment and once born they feed on the mind and body of their host. Then he proposes an alliance, where he will protect him as he’s a shadow hunter. But Rei thinks he's going to use it as bait, and asks if there's a way to get back to normal. Tobi tells her that he doesn't know the answer to that question. Rei stays silent for a moment to think, and then agrees and he tells his name. Returning home, he spends his time reflecting on what was happening, and also realizes that calling Q-Ta a "thing" (Becuase Q-Ta didn’t have a proper name yet) would be annoying. Therefore he names it Q-ta. The next day he goes to school and encounters a cat and reflexively grabs his phone (he had received the name of Tobi) and he grabbed the phone because of fear. When he arrives at school he meets Yukito. But Yukito apologizes thinking it was a bother, but Rei says it doesn't bother him. They exchange names and then Yukito shows him his drawings. Spiked-hair boy appears and snatches the drawing from his hands. After that he watches as Yukito grabs the drawing from him and runs off. Then he seems somewhat thoughtful. Due to the events he doesn't think he can concentrate on class. After that, he eats with Yukito on the roof and asks him why he seemed upset when spiked-hair grabbed his drawing. He then confesses that he gets nervous when strangers see his drawing. Yukito then asks him if they can be friends, and he replies saying yes. He later thinks about the clubs and why it would be a bad idea to enter one. He also starts wondering that, if Q-ta is his heart form, then what would happen if he gets injured and shivered at the idea of a serious injury. Then on the stairs he saw Nagi Iori running and being beaten and with a crack behind his back. He then thinks that its some type of abnormality he should take care of by himself. After some dyse he notices Nagi iori dienst have the abnormality anymore, and he has more and more time to talk to yukito. But he fails an exam because he is worried about Q-Ta. He gets a call from Tobi but is interrupted by Nagi who learns he can also see Zingais. His phone is later destroyed by Nagi Zingai Bird, and it tries to harm him but Nagi stops it. Later Nagi asks him to be his tutor. When Rei is asked to be an advisor he doubts due to his lack of knowledge and ability and says that he isn't sure. He isn't sure that he should stay with him. Tobi comes to “rescue him” and concedes he is his tutor. So he doesn’t need to teach him. But Nagi still wants to talk to him and the next day they talk, they share the same feelings when they first knew sungai, he says he names his Zingai, and Nagi thinks he should also think of one. Nagi also asks if he had any symptoms trigger him into seeing his Zingai, but he isn’t sure. His school gets canceled due to the rise of commas. He sees how Nagi gets swallowed and Q-ta starts to transform. He goes to Nagi shadow who chokes him and shouts that they are both horrible people. And sees how he “died”  After they talk they go to his house and confirm that nobody is living there apart from him. He begins to doubt himself, continues to get agitated because he doesn’t know if his memories are true or not. But Tobi stops him from getting further and encourages him. Mei appears on his house and uses clarovydence on him

## Personality

Rei is quite mature and calm majority of the time, with a habit of slipping into deep monologues where he is normally a bit more anxious than what he shows and also when dealing with Zingai. Rei seems to be a bit reserved, having little interaction at high school with small conversations here and there. However, he does show kindness, as shown when Rei picks up a drawing a classmate drops and compliments him on the piece.

But he seems to be constantly worned out by Q-Ta.

## Appearance

We suspect that he has light blue eyes, but on some occasions he has grey or light green eyes, it really depends on the illustration and has no narrative meaning. He has platinum blonde hair, fair skin, and a petite stature. Sometimes his hair will perk up like cat ears. Rei's attire consists of a typical high school uniform: A white collared t-shirt and a black-tie under a beige blazer. On the bottom half, black flat front pants and sneakers.

Rei's home wear is a collared t-shirt and sweatpants. And his hair can randomly spring appearing like small horns.

## Relationships

### Q-ta

Q-ta is Rei's alter ego, who he meets after waking up after a long sleep, and Q-ta suddenly appears on Rei's school desk. When he first met him, he first got surprised and jumps off and starts to wonder if it’s a toy. He was annoyed at Q-ta by constantly following him, sleeping on his desk and climbing to his head. But as the story progresses, it seems Rei is slowly warming up to them. To the point of naming him. When he learns that it’s his heart form he is stranged and doesn’t accept it as it’s so different from him.

### Hitotsume

Rei is very wary about Hitotsume after their first meeting as he was making his way back home. When Rei met him, he first thought he was a cosplayer but quickly changes his mind as he feels that if he runs something bad will happen, to the point of his body feeling so rigid by fear that he can’t move. Hitotsume opens Rei's chest and looks inside, but before anything more can happen, Q-ta bites him. Afterward, he goes unconscious and wakes up in his bed. That morning, Rei fears the thought of running into Hitotsume again.

### Tobi Otogiri

Tobi saves Rei when he is attacked by a bunny Zingai. At first Rei is scared that Tobi as he thinks he will attack him since he has what Rei describes, "a scary face." And at first thinks that he is hoping to get rid of him after he saved him.

Tobi proposes an alliance with Rei in hopes that Zingai, particularly Hitotsume, will be drawn to his presence. As he’s a shadow hunter, Rei thinks that he is using him as a decoy. He doesn’t give him his name after some days later.

### Yukito Mutsuki

Rei and Yukito are classmates. They first meet on the first day of school, where Yukito runs away from Rei and another classmate attempts to make a conversation. Yukito drops a drawing, which Rei goes to return. Rei says he liked it, which makes Yukito happy enough to let him keep it. Yukito becomes Rei's first "friend" at school and they have lunch together on the roof. And because of the complement, he later shows him some of his drawings.

### Nagi Iori

Rei first sees Nagi after bumping into him at school. Rei wanted to talk to him but they were a grade apart. Nagi approaches Rei in Chapter 8, asking for consultation. Tobi intervenes and orders Rei to keep a close eye on Nagi. Eventually the two become friends.

### Spiky-Haired Boy

The only way to distinguish him is by his black spiky hair. The boy in front of Rei introduces himself as a friend of someone Rei met on the first day. He wants to get along with him and the two walk home together after the club tour.

### Pattun and Mocchi

Pattun and Mocchi are the first side characters we see, although they only “met” meanwhile he was going to school, he was able to see part of his zingai. There is 2 assumptions, 1) He already knew Rei and wanted to see if he was able to sense zingais, 2) He didn’t know Rei and realizing he’s able to see his Mocchi even for a brief moment picked his curiosity over him.

## Trivia

* The name **Rei** (零), means "zero" and **Tsukumo** (九十九), means "ninety-nine".