Hitsugi Kirigaya (桐ヶ谷 柩; Kirigaya Hitsugi) is one of the main characters of the manga and anime series Akuma no Riddle. She is a former student of the 10th year's Black Class at Myojo Academy who was in a competition with the other students of that class who were trying to kill Haru Ichinose where the reward is anything what that assassin may want.
She is later revealed to be the infamous assassin Angel's Trumpet, the ace member of the organization Datura.
Plot
History
Not much is known about her history except for the fact that she assassinated the daughter of Chitaru's teacher using poison. It is implied that she was grown in some environment that made her a killer.
Black Class
Kirigaya and Chitaru arrive at the same time to Myoujou Academy, with the latter having helped her with directions due to her lack of navigational skills. She and Chitaru frequently hold hands in public and kiss in their dorm room. She is shown to be a good student in class.
Venus Festival
Thanks to their classmates, Hitsugi and Chitaru are selected to be the main characters of the eponymous Romeo and Juliet class play.
In the midst of preparations, Hitsugi decides to make her move and tells Nio of her wish and proceeds to deliver her advance notice. She encounters Shiena Kenmochi about to do the same. It is revealed in the manga that Shiena had developed some feelings for Chitaru, which Hitsugi calls "unforgivable." And so, she shoots Shiena with a poison dart gun and incapacitates her.
Haru, who was looking for her script, and Tokaku happen upon the scene. Tokaku realizes Hitsugi is the assassin who Chitaru has been seeking. Despite the discovery, Hitsugi merely smiles and hands Haru her notice.
Assassination Attempt
She was the fifth assassin to attempt an attack on Haru Ichinose.
When the day of play had come, Tokaku kept on thinking about how Hitsugi would poison Haru. She came up with a lot of possible ways and then realized that, when she found Hitsugi, she was by the stack of prop swords, the very same swords that they are using. She then proceeded to check the swords and confirmed that they had poison on them. She wiped them off, thus stopping Hitsugi's plan prematurely.
Kirigaya kissing Chitaru
In the manga, while Chitaru was telling the story about her teacher and Angel Trumpet, Kirigaya told Chitaru she also wanted to help her kill Angel Trumpet. Chitaru was confused, so Kirigaya kissed Chitaru and confessed her love. This never is shown in the anime.
The play goes on and leads up to two final scenes that are different in the manga and anime. In the anime, Chitaru stops the play at the scene where Juliet is in the chapel, about to stage her death. In the manga, the play proceeds normally to the conclusion, where the two star-crossed lovers commit suicide. But in both scenes, Chitaru changes the script of the play by stabbing Hitsugi, who welcomes the blade.
She, along with Chitaru, became the fifth and sixth students to be expelled from the Black Class after their apparent double suicide.
After Black Class
In the final episode, she and Chitaru are alive, and she seems to be trying to patch things up between them in the hospital. They seem to be in a strange relationship, bound by lies and suffering, as shown in Koakuma no Riddle.
Manga-Anime Differences
There is a large divergence between the anime and manga in the build up events that lead to the final scene of the play, though the end result is similar.
In the anime, because Chitaru incorrectly assumes Angel's Trumpet's identity, Hitsugi has to go and clear up the fact that she was actually the infamous assassin. This never occurs in the manga, as Chitaru finds the poison gun as evidence in Hitsugi's belongings on her own.
Personality
She appears to have a sweet personality and is very polite, even a little shy. In truth, she rarely means the sweet words she says. From what she says of Shiena and her group, Collective Dismissal, she views weak people as ants. Human lives to her are also of little value, and so she feels no ill in ending them. She is shown to be possessive of those who she likes, going as far as to shoot Shiena for falling in love with Chitaru, who she has feelings for. Chitaru seems to be the one person to whom she expresses genuine care. But this does not stop her from lying to her face multiple times.
While she has a heartless side, she is also self-deprecating to a degree, possibly developed after she met Chitaru. She calls herself a "bug" multiple times and acknowledges she is undeserving of Chitaru's feelings. She also shows grateful feelings towards Suzu, who spoke with her about her feelings, and is even adamant that she hates Haru, who is a kind, pure girl that she can never be.
Appearance
Hitsugi has a small body, like that of a grade-schooler, with a thin, fragile frame. This often results in people mistaking her for being much younger than she actually is. She has eyes the shade of molten ember with long teal hair that is mostly down, save two small pigtails. Her general attire consists of a long sleeved dark colored undershirt below a poofy cream one-piece. She wears shoes and socks of same color as her undershirt and is carrying around a pink teddy bear, giving her the appearance of a harmless little girl.
Skills and Abilities
Kirigaya is a master at lying, as she consistently keeps up a facetious appearance through her smiles. Her assassin specialty is the use of poison. She has a hidden gun within her stuffed teddy bear that shoots out poisoned darts. It is implied she may have expertise in working with poisons in other ways, like a chemist. It is shown in Koakuma no Riddle that she also carries antidote tablets with her, which can neutralize her own poisons.
Trivia
- Her first name Hitsugi (柩) means "coffin".
- Kirigaya (桐ヶ谷) can be translated as "valley of paulownias".
- She has a bad sense of direction, as demonstrated when she gets lost on her way to Myojo Academy.
- After her, Shiena, and Chitaru's expulsion, white roses are placed on her desk, which symbolize innocent or childlike.
- Her hobby is reading.
- Her favorite food is milt and her least favorite food is crabs (too tedious).
- She’s born in Tokyo (Arakawa).
- She sleeps an average of 7 hours.
- Minakata Sunao referred to Hitsugi as a “sociopath due to her upbringing and environment” in KnR room 4, unlike Otoya who is described as a "natural-born psychopath".
- Her alias "Angel's Trumpet" alludes to the poisonous nightshade flower. Interestingly enough, this flower is commonly mistaken for datura.