Haru Ichinose (一ノ瀬 晴; Ichinose Haru) is the deuteragonist of the manga and anime series Akuma no Riddle. She is a former student of Myōjō Academy's 10th year's Black Class who served as the this year's Black Class' target for the 12 other assassins. She was the target for her classmates to assassinate in class. This is revealed to be part of an overarching plot by a secretive clan that Haru belongs to.
Appearance
Haru is a young girl with fair skin and a petite stature. Her salmon-colored hair is uniquely tied to resemble pigtails on the sides of her head. They are not tied, but naturally that way. Her eyes are pink in both manga and anime. However, in early splashes for the manga, she had purple eyes. This was changed later on.
For most of Haru's appearance in the series, she is wearing a white shirt with short sleeves under a brown-yellow, sleeveless vest. The shirt underneath has poofy sleeves and the vest is slightly large. She also has a dark blue pleated skirt, black socks, and white sneakers. For pajamas, she usually wears a pink blouse with frilly hems, decorated with small polka dots, and an occasional light green sweater.
For swimwear, she wears a pink and black sleeveless wetsuit with darker pink shorts, and a blue and white short-sleeved hoodie. In the OVA, she is seen instead with a pink blouse.
Haru's clothing choices usually cover her upper arms and legs due to the scars underneath. These scars notably appear like serrated markings making a ring around her upper arm and thighs. More scars litter her torso, with a notably one looking like an X just below her collar. In most scenes where Haru is in her underwear, she is wearing a white bra and panties.
Personality
Haru is shown to be a bright and cheerful girl. As claimed by Tokaku Azuma initially, she is naïve and trusting of others even in the face of danger. While it is true she has an optimistic demeanor, this belies her resolve and uncompromising dedication to staying alive. Kouga Yun said Haru is stubborn and obstinate and has an “iron hand in a velvet glove”. As shown multiple times throughout the manga and anime, she is capable of cunning to survive, going as far as using poison flowers on Otoya Takechi and even dropping Sumireko off a roof.
Apart from these attributes, she is very forgiving. Even after Haruki tries to kill her and fails, she merely tells the other that she is forgiven. She is keenly aware of the fact that everyone has their own reasons, and she is thoroughly fixated on her own to survive, because to die would be an insult to all those who laid their lives down for her.
Synopsis
History
Haru has had a terrible past, with her parents and siblings being killed in front of her eyes while protecting her. As claimed by Yuri, Haru was deemed to possess the queen bee power and hence, was targeted. Haru's mother had held her while protecting, and her bloody hands slipped off Haru after she died, leaving her alone in nothing but shock and despair as she cried out loud. This incident was probably the reason Haru decided she wanted to live.
Haru is shown to celebrate her birthday in a flashback in the last episode. According to the scene, Haru had celebrated her birthday in a dark room, probably for a candle-light party along with her parents and two brothers. They were all happy for her, and wished she lived happily always. They had bought Haru a white cake.
Black Class
Haru attends the black class, trying to flag off a friendly start by giving everyone handmade charms. Although she is very friendly, everyone in the class looks down upon her. Haru simply wishes to graduate and be freed from the world of assassins.
She somehow befriends Tokaku Azuma (Haru's roommate) who helps her survive all the assassination attempts. However, when Haru's queen bee's power is revealed, Tokaku gets mad and refuses to accept herself as a "worker bee", deciding that she too will kill Haru.
Haru was mourning her family's death when Tokaku tells her she will be attempting her death. Nio, dressed as Tokaku, claims that she will protect Haru, and prevents Tokaku from hurting her. When Nio finally faces Tokaku, she is stabbed in the chest and Haru is left alone to face Tokaku. She was quivering because she didn't want to kill a friend, but out of her wish to live, she charges at Tokaku with a knife and loses instantly, getting stabbed in her chest due to lack of professional skills as good as Tokaku's.
Tokaku mourns her death as the ambulance carries her body away. But it is later shown that she survives the attack due into her rib being made of titanium and the knife staying away form her heart by a single inch. Haru graduates alone, and promises her teacher that she will distribute off the other graduation certificates as well.
After Black Class
In the final episode, it is shown Haru had survived her stab wound from earlier on in the episode because her rib was made of titanium and the edge of the knife stayed from her heart by a small fraction. She is the sole graduate of the Black Class and after the graduation ceremony, she meets up with Tokaku to deliver everyone's diplomas.
Manga-Anime Differences
Skills and Abilities
Haru is suspected of having the "Primer" ability, making her a Queen Bee like Yuri Meichi. This ability theoretically allows her to control other people through pheromones. It is never explicitly established if she has this ability.
Aside from the Primer, Haru has resistance against all sorts of drugs. She wakes up prematurely when Isuke drugs her tea. She also tells the other that she has "undying magic" protecting her from death.
Left to her own devices, Haru's strong survival instinct is her best skill. She is able to evade being killed and captured by Takechi, and she is also resourceful to use the environment to her disposal. When being chased by Banba, she is able to elude the other and damage her with school objects. Against Sumireko, Haru uses an eloquent ruse to trick her opponent into a trap with grenades before grabbing her off the roof and kicking her down.
Trivia
- The name Haru means (晴) "sunny".
- Haru's surname Ichinose means "one" (一) (ichi) and "swift current, rapids" (瀬) (se), which literally means "one in the rapids" put together.
- The names of her family members are:
- Kazuaki Ichinose (Father)
- Hinata Ichinose (Mother)
- Natsuo Ichinose (Older Brother)
- Wataru Ichinose (Younger Brother)
- Haru and Yuri Meichi belong to the same clan (Any further explicit relationship family-wise between them two is left unclear).
- Haru's favorite food are strawberries.
- Haru's hobby is crafting.
- She’s born in Tokyo (Setagaya).
- She sleeps an average of 7 hours.
- Kouga also said that even if Haru looks like Tokaku’s princess, she’s actually Tokaku’s prince.
- Haru has a good eyesights and nimble fingers.
- She’s the hardest character to draw due to her hair.
- Even if her hair looks like pigtails, Haru doesn’t have pigtails. Her hair is naturally like that.