Though there are loads of humans in the school that Higanbana takes place in, so few are fortunate...or rather, unfortunate enough to end up as the potential food and playthings of the Youkai that haunt the school. Read at your own risk.
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Introduced in Mesomeso-San
Yoshihito Kanamori
Kanamori is Marie's homeroom teacher. He originally defended Marie against her tormentors, but has long since taken to molesting her in the bathroom of the old school building to relieve the daily stress of his job. He is the main antagonist of the first chapter, "Mesomeso-san".
- A God Am I: Well, not necessarily a god, but he declares himself to be Mesomeso after strangling Marie to death and pretending to be a youkai to ward off potential witnesses who came because of a Scare Dare.
- Asshole Victim: His final fate is being brutally killed by his own victim.
- Beneath the Mask: He'd be a fairly likable guy if he weren't secretly a brutal, animalistic child molester.
- Blackmail: Kanamori always videotapes Marie while molesting her, and threatens to expose the tapes in order to keep her quiet. The moment Marie tried to turn this around on Kanamori, it led to her death.
- Break Them by Talking: What he does to the ghost of Marie (see "The Reason You Suck" Speech below). Alas, he should have stayed silent.
- Chick Magnet: He's said to be very popular with the girls, except for Marie.
- Corrupt the Cutie: He actually started out as a Wide-Eyed Idealist before the unbearable stress of work and his unhealthy paedophilia fetish twisted him into what he is now.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Becomes the very first victim of Mesomeso-San Marie, and dies through having all of his bones being crushed into bits before being sucked down the drain. The narration implies he was feeling every little bit of it.
- Evil Gloating: He does this upon thinking that he's won the right to become Mesomeso; turns out it would've been better if he just said nothing.
- Evil Versus Evil: Played for Laughs in "After School", when he and Shintani trash-talk each other and accuse each other of being a worse Sadist Teacher.
- Faux Affably Evil: He talks and acts like a teacher even when molesting and tormenting Marie.
- Freak Out: Does this a lot while trying to cover up his "supplementary lessons" with Marie.
- Hate Sink: Considering what he did to Marie horribly just so he can satisfy himself and prove himself as superior to her as a teacher with no redeemable qualities. His death by Marie's hands is incredibly cathartic to boot.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He dies because he broke all the rules regarding the legend of Mesomeso. Mainly, he wasn't supposed to respond to or even look at her, and should've just run away. His mistake was in assuming the test was to determine who could be a better youkai instead of determining who could be a better Mesomeso.
- Hot Teacher: If he weren’t an evil molester, he’d be quite the catch.
- Ignored Epiphany: There are numerous points in the story where he reconsiders his actions, but it never sticks.
- Jerkass: The sleazy bastard doesn't really give a fuck about Marie's wellbeing when he saves her from bullies and just treats her like his sex slave in return instead.
- Jerkass Has a Point: As much of a sexually depraved bastard he is while he mocks his victim, Marie but he's not wrong to point out that she didn't bother asking for anyone's help regardless if they are her parents or friends at school. That way, more bullying made towards her could have been prevented easily.
- Large Ham: "TREMBLE BEFORE MESOMESO-SAN!!! AHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH!"
- Pædo Hunt: Kanamori is one of these toward Marie, and his "supplementary lessons" with her are basically an excuse to molest and abuse her.
- Psychopathic Manchild: Is more immature than his targets.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He lays one on Marie during the poll to see which one of them would become Mesomeso, telling her that she could've solved all her problems ages ago if she'd just grow a backbone and call the police. See Hoist by His Own Petard above for why it would've been better for him to just stay quiet.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He may have only been the Starter Villain, but his actions are what led to Marie meeting Higanbana and becoming Mesomeso, which sets up the plot of the rest of the series.
- Smug Snake: He thinks he can control Marie and become Mesomeso easily, but fails to remember the instructions and gets killed for it.
- Starter Villain: He’s the antagonist of the first story, but doesn’t last beyond that.
- Villain Protagonist: The "Mesomeso-san" chapter is as much his chapter as it is Marie's, since it's told from both their perspectives.
- Villainous Breakdown: Kanamori has two. The first was when Marie threatened to turn over the evidence of his "supplementary lessons" to the police and put him away, which resulted in him strangling her to death. The other was when he learned he had failed the test to become Mesomeso and that Marie has become the youkai instead — and is ready to take vengeance upon him.
- Villain with Good Publicity: He has a reputation among the school as a wonderful teacher, and uses that to get away with molesting Marie.
Nurse
Exactly What It Says on the Tin. She is a friendly and good-natured young woman who works at the school infirmary, and is Higanbana's owner. She is quite knowledgeable on the topic of The Seven Mysteries of the school, and may in fact seem to know more about them than she lets on…
- Cool Big Sis: Her personality in the visual novel.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Everyone refers to her as the nurse.
- I See Dead People: She can see and chat with the yōkai when she is drunk, and doesn't bat an eyelid when she meets the supposedly dead Marie on the roof.
- Manchild: Her manga incarnation, at least, really loves to play with that Higanbana doll of hers.
- Nice Girl: She is the only adult human character in the series significant enough to get a sprite who isn't utterly fucked up.
- Perverse Sexual Lust: "After School" shows her asking Renoir to use his powers to let her hit on the hot guys in her manga collection.
- School Nurse: Who apparently enjoys the scary stories of the school. Not unlike another nurse.
- Sensei-chan: A school nurse variation, in the manga at least. Her VN incarnation is a bit more composed.
Introduced in The Spirit Camera
Takeshi Nonomiya
Takeshi is a photographer and member of the school's journalism club. He was once falsely accused of breaking school equipment by some girl and her friends; unable to prove his innocence, he became obsessed with finding "the truth" in the pictures he takes. He harassed the girl, Yoko Numata, out of revenge by stalking her and sending her photos he took of her in secret, inadvertently causing her suicide. He is the main protagonist of "The Spirit Camera".
- Disproportionate Retribution: He got scolded by his teacher because Yoko blamed him for an accident she caused. His response? To turn the student body of the entire school (a huge school, mind you) against her with embarrassing photos. That said, he never imagined she'd kill herself over it.
- Heel Realization: Remembering the girl through Higanbana's manipulation made him realize how he was responsible for causing her to get bullied to the point she killed herself.
- Intrepid Reporter: As part of the newspaper club, he believes it's best to have the truth over comfort and will go up to the point of being nearly eaten by Youkai to prove that point. Of course, this goes both ways.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Due to the Headmaster's power of erasing the memories of anyone he eats, Takeshi forgot ever stalking Yoko since her corpse was eaten.
- Nice Guy: Seemingly introduced as one at the beginning but even if his unforgivable actions are already revealed. He's really remorseful about it and forgives Yoko for not owning up to her mistake. In ''Before the Spider Lilies Bloomed', he volunteers to lead the blind adult Shuichi around the school to explore it.
- Stalker without a Crush: He used to take pictures of his classmate Yoko from afar and left them everywhere for her to find (even going as far as to clutter her locker with them), all out of revenge for being framed for something he didn't commit. He promptly stopped after she killed herself and her corpse was eaten by the Headmaster.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Courtesy of Higanbana, she explains how he basically lead Yoko to suicide.
- You Are Worth Hell: When he finds out the kind of suffering Yoko had to endure in Hell, he becomes perfectly content with following her there to be with her if he can't go there in her place.
Yoko Numata
Yoko is a girl who accidentally broke some school equipment and blamed it on Takeshi to avoid getting in trouble. She committed suicide after Takeshi started stalking her, sending her harassing photos of her and getting her bullied by the whole school, dooming her to an eternity of torment as the youkai's plaything in Hell. Her ghost appears in "The Spirit Camera" as part of Higanbana's bid to eat Takeshi's soul, and again as the protagonist of "One Girl's Day".
- Cheerful Child: In One Girl's Day, she's happy to have one last day back in school despite the misfortunes thrown at her by Higanbana.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: All she had to do was either not blame Takeshi or approached him later to apologize for blaming him and she'd be alive.
- Driven to Suicide: Due to Takeshi constantly spreading photos about her.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Again, as a ghost.
- Frameup: She accidentally knocked over a skeleton dummy and pinned the blame on Takeshi, who happened to be there at the time, to avoid getting in trouble. This ends up killing her.
- Innocently Insensitive: She didn't realize she hurt Takeshi's feelings until Higanbana brings her back from hell to take revenge.
- It's All My Fault: She blames herself for the whole fiasco that led to her killing herself and thinks it better she just go back to Hell instead of hurting Takeshi even further.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Subverted. Higanbana brings her back from Hell to kill Takeshi for causing her suicide, but Yoko feels equally guilty when she finds out why he did it, so they forgive each other instead.
- Poor Communication Kills: Literally in this case. Because she didn't confess that it was she who broke the skeleton dummy or approached Takeshi and apologized for pinning the blame on him, it led to Takeshi leading to a smear campaign that ended in her suicude.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Yoko, why didn't you just accept that you broke the skeleton instead of pinning it on Takeshi? Then again, this was probably a spur of the moment thing and she didn't realize the ramifications until later.
Introduced in The Princess's Lie
Midori Kusunoki
Midori is a wealthy student and member of the school drama club who was bullied by other students for flaunting her wealth. Ever since making a contract with the Black Tea Gentleman to get a role in a play she wanted to be in, she has gained popularity and become the most beloved student in her class. In reality, this is all part of an illusion fabricated by the Black Tea Gentleman, who granted her wish to have her literally switch places with another student she was jealous of. She is the main protagonist of "The Princess's Lie".
- Deal with the Devil: Her contract with the Black Tea Gentleman in exchange for a bit of her soul.
- Death by Adaptation: Inverted. She dies in the manga falling off the roof, but in the visual novel she's still alive.
- Determinator: Despite all of the bullying, she will never give up in improving her acting skills. A line from the second novel states that a few students have changed their opinion on her because of it.
- Driven by Envy: Part of her reason for contracting the Black Tea Gentleman was because other people were getting better roles and she didn't want to be stuck as chore girl. More specifically, she wanted to be loved and have star roles, so she asked to have Nozomi's life, which the Black Tea Gentleman provided in his own way.
- Freak Out: After Marie frees her from her Dream Land, all her experiences of being bullied in the real world hit her like a truck. She only gets a hold of herself once she's returned to the Dream Land.
- Genre Blindness: When she begins experiencing sharp pains on her body, she initially assumes it's just caused by anxiety over an audition for the lead role in a play. Once these pains become more frequent, and dead bugs appear in her food during lunchtime, Midori reasons that her jealous classmate is using the Black Tea Gentleman's powers to curse her and get the lead role herself. She's actually feeling the pain from the beatings her classmates inflict on her while she's in the Dream Land —because of A Glitch in the Matrix, some of their pranks also make their way through.
- I Just Want to Be You: Her contract with the Black Tea Gentleman lets her assume the role of the "Princess" in plays, allowing her to be loved and perform splendidly in Theatre. In reality, she wanted the role of the "Princess of the School", Nozomi Kuwata due to her being loved by most people while Midori was hated.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: While in the Dream Land, she has no memory of wanting to switch places with another student and instead believes she made a contract with the Black Tea Gentleman for a role she wanted for a play.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Initially. It's somewhat her fault, though.
- Meaningful Name: "Midori" means "green".
- "Ray of Hope" Ending: "Welcome to the Mirror World" has a line that states how Midori's determination to improve her acting skills has changed how others think of her. This may imply that, given enough time, she'll eventually break out of the Black Tea Gentleman's illusions.
- Rich Bitch: By the start of "The Princess's Lie", though, she seems to have grown out of it thanks to the contract she made with the Black Tea Gentleman. Doubly subverted in that she's still a Rich Bitch, but as long as the Black Tea Gentleman's powers are in effect, she doesn't realize this.
- Stepford Smiler: How she appears in reality, despite being bullied. She really can't act any other way than how she normally would while the Black Tea Gentleman's powers are in effect.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Subverted. The narrative leads us to believe this, and Midori herself believes she has, but in the real world she hasn't and she's still being bullied for it.
Introduced in The Shrine of the Guardian Deity
Michiru Sakurada
Michiru is a girl with the ability to sense spirits. She is the main protagonist of "Shrine of the Guardian Deity" and "My Best Friend".
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Her parents make her dress like one as part of their hobby.
- Expy: In the VN at least, you won't be blamed if you see Dlanor A. Knox for a second.
- Eyepatch of Power: She's actually said to not need it anymore, but she keeps wearing it anyway.
- Freudian Excuse: No one ever believed that she had a sixth sense, making her feel alienated with the world. So when a bunch of girls laughed at her when she insisted that they would be cursed if they didn't apologize for destroying Sakunoshin's shrine, she took matters into her own hands by making up her own curse, one that involved dropping a chair on one of the girls' heads.
- Girlish Pigtails: Part of her design.
- I See Dead People: She has a sixth sense that allows her to see spirits, ghosts, and (you guessed it) Youkai.
- Loners Are Freaks: Played with. She tends to remain alone in life because nobody believes her about her sixth sense, so people tend to think that she's freaky when she brings it up.
- Malicious Slander: She insists that Sakunoshin is a vengeful spirit who will curse the girls who broke his shrine, just so she can convince them to apologize to him. In reality, she only felt his shock at his shrine being broken, but he's really timid and Michiru misinterpreted him as vengeful.
- Only Friend: Tomoko. Too bad she's dead, but she'll get better once she moves on for Tomoko's sake.
- Shout-Out: Her profile states that she gets her clothes from "Anti-Rosa", the design company managed by Rosa from Umineko: When They Cry.
- Tears of Remorse: After Marie talks her out of
dropping a fire extinguisher on the head of a girl who refused to acknowledge Sakunoshin's "curse".
Introduced in Hamelin's Castinets
Hikaru Nihei
Hikaru is a very intelligent cram school student and member of the animal raising committee. He looks down on his more inept classmates, which ended up getting him bullied by them. He vents his frustrations by abusing the rabbits kept on the school grounds, which he is supposed to be caring for. He is the main protagonist of "Hameln's Castanets".
- And I Must Scream: His eventual fate (see Karmic Rape and Karmic Transformation below), which leaves him screaming for Higanbana's mercy until he can no longer scream (as rabbits can't scream out in human language). And even afterward, he is described as attempting to scream for her mercy as she left...
- Bully Hunter: A very dark variant once he teams up with Hameln, namely going after his own bullies.
- Bullying a Dragon: When Marie comes in and tries to play with the Rabbits or try to talk to him about being bullied, Hikaru essentially pulls her down, screams at her while calling her names. Luckily for him, Marie is far too kind to hurt him in return. Higanbana is much less inclined to be nice and makes him regret every single bad thing he's done.
- Death Seeker: Once Higanbana Mind Rapes him and hammers home that he's been murdering humans.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette
- Freak Out: He practically loses his mind when Higanbana shows him the scene of him killing his classmates, this time as humans instead of rabbits, to show him what it really means to kill.
- Freudian Excuse: He tortures rabbits out of frustration with being bullied and having little evidence backing it. When offered to take revenge, he targets bullies, the ones who know he's being bullied but don't speak up about it, and people who just plain piss him off.
- Hit Me, Dammit!: He hates that the boys who pick on him never lay a finger on him, making it easy for them to deny ever bullying him in the first place.
- Insufferable Genius: He's noted to get 100% on all of his quizzes and get very good grades. The "Insufferable" part kicks in when he looks down on those not as smart as him and in particular threw away a girl's notes because he thought of how terrible they were and gave her his notes instead, and made copies for the entire class to make use of too.
- It's All About Me: When lectured by a teacher about how he picks on his classmates for being smarter than them, Hikaru's response is to silently condemn the teacher as an incompetent idiot for not seeing things from his perspective.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: One moment he's petting rabbits after news of them being tortured starts to spread. Then we find out just who's been torturing those rabbits. And if that wasn't enough, we find out that none of his bullies were ever unprovoked in tormenting him; they'd been merely sticking up for a girl Hikaru himself picked on. Though the girl might have been Sumire intentionally provoking him, given what we know about her.
- Karmic Rape: His final fate. After it's been shown how he's been killing the humans-turned-rabbits by Higanbana, the latter decides not to kill him, but to turn him into a rabbit by courtesy of the late Hamelin's castinets and leave him behind with the rabbits that are still alive but that Hikaru has been taking his anger out on. They start to corner him as Higanbana coyly mentions that rabbits will copulate with the same sex, and Hikaru's last mentions are his attempts to scream despite being incapable of doing so.
- Karmic Transformation: He's turned into a rabbit by Higanbana and left with the rabbits he abused. Then the Karmic Rape ensues...
- Kick the Dog: He abuses rabbits on the school grounds to vent his frustrations with being bullied.
- Loners Are Freaks
- Pay Evil unto Evil: He knows it's wrong to torture innocent rabbits. But if Hameln turns bullies into rabbits, then he wouldn't be torturing "innocent rabbits", would he... Of course, you may be surprised how much this trope goes both ways.
- Villain Protagonist: After reading all of the tropes above this one, it's hard to see how he doesn't apply as anything but this.
Introduced in Utopia
Yukari Sakaki
Yukari is a girl who comes from a poor, dysfunctional family, for which she is quite cruelly bullied. She is the main protagonist of "Utopia" and "A Thistle of Vengeance".
- Attempted Rape: The abuse she suffered after Sumire disapeared was starting to go way beyond mere bullying. She just barely manages to escape.
- Beware the Nice Ones: She's a kind and brave person but when Masaaki's revenge towards his bullies went too far after he utilised the thistle's power granted to him by Azami, she slaps him very hard in the face. And when she gets the thistle, she doesn't take revenge, but rather stamps out the villainy for as long as the thistle lasts.
- Big, Screwed-Up Family: She's had some major issues with her life at home, particularly after the death of her mother. It's one of the reasons why she's bullied all the time.
- Bully Hunter: In "A Thistle of Vengeance", she becomes this to her class to prevent bullying.
- Butt-Monkey: She's shown as a example of how, realistically, the idea of simply telling someone about being bullied doesn't always work as the adults she turned to for help were unable, or unwilling, to do anything.
- Character Development: Going from someone who goes Just Ignore It to bullying, who in the end of her story decides to stand up against it. Needless to say she got that happy ending.
- Expy: She is the series entitled expy of Rika, after Bernkastel and before Stella. This comes not just from her design, but her character arc contains many similar themes with Rika's, mainly their shared sense of hopelessness from the many failures at making their situations better.
- Hobbes Was Right: Downplayed, but she takes this approach to the bullying in her class, crushing it like a dictator.
- Huge Schoolgirl: She has a bit of a complex over it.
- Just Ignore It: She strongly believes this at first when it comes to dealing with bullies. After Sumire makes things worse for her, however, she takes on a far more assertive role against bullying.
- Nice Girl: Despite all of her crappy situations she's in, Yukari is a selfless and compassionate girl at heart who wants to make friends like Reiko who's also another bullied victim but turns out to be Sumire the youkai. In Higanbana Second Night 13th chapter, she has the courage to stand up for Masaaki when he gets bullied.
- Shout-Out: Her name may be one to the actress who voices Rika Furude, whose Expy she is.
- Take a Third Option: Once given the thistle, she could either simper back to who she was or hurt those who hurt her. Instead, she chooses to put an end to the bullying by becoming such a threat that no one dares to challenge her.
- The Power of Hate: Azami's thistle gives her power to become a bully, and she uses it to become a tyrant in the class to kill off any other threats of bullying, if only for a limited amount of time.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Nice and enduring but not a pushover. The Hime Cut pushes her into this trope.
Introduced in Reaper of the Thirteenth Step
Aya Souma
Aya is a girl who lost the will to live, but continued to do so because she didn't want anything other than a peaceful, sleep-like death. After hearing the rumors of the 13 steps, she tests it out and accidentally steps on the 13th step, forcing her to participate in Izanami's game. She is the main protagonist of "The Thirteenth Step's Shinigami".
- Be Careful What You Wish For: She wanted to get a peaceful death and accidentally lands on the 13th step, where Izanami shows up and reveals what awaits her.
- Character Development: Went from a nihilistic Death Seeker to someone who’s proud to just live life and has a passion to run.
- Death Seeker: She believed that she has no reason to continue on living, so all she want is a peaceful death. Until Izanami showed her what kind of terrible hell she'd be thrown into if he caught up with her.
- Determinator: Her story pretty much is about her outlasting the 49 day time limit set by Izanami by running as fast as she could. Due to this, she became praised throughout the school for her running and gained a better outlook on life with Izanami personally seeing her as his student.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: One of the few humans who actually gets one; after being scared by Izanami and running for 49 days without stop, she ends up winning a school race, finds a new lease on life and has a student-teacher relationship with Izanami.
- Foil: To Midori Kusunoki.
- Instead of escaping into dreams and lies and focusing her attention to be in said fake reality, Aya pushes herself through the 49 days being chased by Izanami and ends up becoming a better person. Fittingly enough the Black Tea Gentleman originally wanted to prey on her before she invoked Izanami. She's no longer to his tastes by the end of it.
- Both of their passions are quite different: Midori wishes to be in drama (so she can be someone else) while Aya becomes a runner (who faces her problems head on).
- At the end of their stories, Midori is still bullied ("Welcome to the Mirror World" states that people's opinion of her are changing however) while Aya is beloved by the school.
- Passionate Sports Girl: Grows into one of these at the end of her story and takes up track-and-field.
- Plucky Girl: Izanami calls her this in the epilogue and she's shown to be more outgoing than she was before meeting him.
Introduced in Renoir of the Art Room
Yuki Noda
Yuki is a young boy who enjoys art and loves his art teacher, Shintani-sensei.
- Children Are Innocent: Sort of. At first, he only went through with what the teacher wanted because he could spend time with her. He only understood that his teacher wouldn't accept his feelings for her at the very end.
- Hot for Teacher: A saddening and squicky subversion. He loved Shintani despite being unaware what love really means and being a prepubescent boy. Shintani only used him as an outlet for her perverse lusts.
- I See Dead People: Was able to see Renoir and converse with him, with Renoir stating he possessed a valuable wavelength. Unfortunately....
- Plot-Triggering Death: His death brings forth the resurgence of the story "Renoir of the Art Room", with people thinking that he was killed by Renoir. The reality is much more saddening, and it motivates Renoir to become active again.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: He was ultimately killed by Shintani-sensei and Renoir was deeply saddened by his loss.
Nafumi Shintani
An art teacher who considers herself the queen of the art room. She particularly enjoys having her favorite young male students model for her, although art isn't all she wants them for...
She is the main antagonist of "Renoir of the Art Room".
- Accidental Murder: Her scuffle with Yuki when he tried to reject her ended up accidentally killing him.
- Arc Villain: For "Renoir of the Art Room".
- Fate Worse than Death: She is forever trapped in the "Accending and Descending" portrait in an endless loop of running down the stairs where there's no escape for her. Renoir mentions the minute she stops running she'll be sent into another painting where she'll be Killed Off for Real.
- I Didn't Mean to Kill Him: How she reacts when she was cornered by Higanbana and Renoir in regards to Yuki's death.
- I Regret Nothing: She doesn't even feel the least bit sorry for leading to Yuki's demise. This not only earns her Renoir's ire but also a Fate Worse than Death.
- Oh, Crap!: She has a terrific moment when she realizes how she broke one of Renoir's rules from the get go and that she will be punished by him.
- Walking Spoiler: For "Renoir of the Art Room".
Introduced in My Best Friend
Tomoko Okada
Michiru's best friend who ends up dying at the beginning of "My Best Friend" after slipping and hitting her head while on vacation with her family. Like Michiru, she loves occult stuff, but compared to her best friend, she leans more towards sci-fi.
- Beneath the Mask: She was the only person who was ever nice to Michiru and share the same interest to the occult, but once she was revived, she reveals her true feeling that she grew bored of her. It was later revealed to be an act, as Tomoko is aware of the price that Michiru will pay for her revival, that she did because she wants Michiru live happily in her Life and have her move on by making new friends. Even in Death, this is Tomoko's true act of friendship.
Introduced in A Thistle of Vengeance
Masaaki Yoshikawa
A boy who suffered bullying before being granted a magic thistle in "A Thistle of Vengeance". He uses the power to seek vengeance against his tormentors.
- Drunk on the Dark Side: The thistle has this effect on him.
- He Who Fights Monsters: Yukari lampshaded how he has become a bully himself, even targeting innocents who did nothing to him.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Refuses to let Yukari help him because she’s a girl.
- Villain Protagonist: Becomes this when he starts bullying everyone.
Introduced in Before the Spider Lilies Bloomed
Shuuichi Arimori
A human boy who unexpectedly befriended Higanbana during her early days as a youkai in "Before The Spider Lilies Bloomed."
- Break the Cutie: The bullying he suffers gets so bad that his eyes are ruptured and he can never become an artist again. Thankfully, he manages to grow up and express the emotions he observes through becoming a pianist.
- Designated Victim: He was being set up by Sumire as the bully of her human alter ego, Reiko, in order to trick some boys into physically assaulting him on a regular basis. It got so bad their bullying eventually cost them his eyesight.
- I See Dead People: He's able to see Higanbana because his eyes were attuned to sensing and hearing youkai. Once they get ruptured and he fully loses his ability to see, he also loses the ability to hear and sense Higanbana.
- Morality Pet: To Higanbana, before Marie came along.
- Small Role, Big Impact: He's the reason that Higanbana becomes the trolling youkai she is in the present.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: He has a very philosophical outlook on emotions and life, and teaches Higanbana how to feel.
