Haruki Sagae (寒河江 春紀 Sagae Haruki) 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 Myōjō Academy, who was in a competition with the other students who were trying to kill Haru Ichinose, with a reward of anything the successful assassin might wish for. She joined the Black Class because she needed money to support her siblings and her mother, who was hospitalized. The reward she requested for was for her family to be fed for the rest of their lives, even if she had died.
Appearance
Haruki has long, wavy, red hair tied up in a half ponytail, leaving her bangs over her eyes and the rest of her hair cascading down her back. Her bangs are held in place by tricolor barrettes. She has fair skin and topaz colored eyes that can range in hue from golden to golden brown based on the lighting. Her ears are pierced and she wears stud earrings. She is one of the tallest girls in the Black Class, with a lithe figure and good physique implied. She sometimes paints her nails pink and is usually seen with a stick of Pocky dangling from her lips.
She usually wears a beige jacket with a dark blue flap collar over her school uniform, which is a white shirt, a red plaid bow, and a red plaid skirt. She wears short white socks with brown shoes. It is unclear if this school uniform is from her old school, as Haruki claims she never got the chance to attend high school[1]. She usually wears a purple scrunchie on her right wrist. Her weapons of choice are armored gauntlets with a wire mechanism at the wrist and fingerless gloves.
Her other outfits include her swimsuit, which is a two-piece tiger print with knotted portions; and her workman's outfit for construction, which is a blue body suit and hard hat.
Personality
Haruki is a tomboyish yet fashionable girl who is always shown eating snacks, especially Pocky (disguised as "Rocky" in the anime). She is also the typical lazy student who sleeps during class, but is willing to help with school activities where she is able. She is very protective of her family and background details, going as far as kicking Nio down when the arbitrator pokes at her family[2]. She is also friendly to most of her classmates and holds onto some protective instinct for them, as shown by her scolding of Takechi when the latter steals Banba's strap[3].
She has a streak of strong determination, claiming that she will kill the target no matter what they have done or who they are. In addition to her protective nature for her family, she is driven to do anything she can for their sake. It is implied she made a promise to someone and will lay down her life to fulfill it. This determination and diehard attitude drives her to even attempt suicide for the sake of killing Haru when Tokaku overpowers her.
When Haruki discusses luxury with Isuke after breaking a bottle of her nail polish, she claims that she is barred from a life of luxury due to her family circumstances. It is implied from the manga motif of the caged bird, as well as her ending in the anime, that she does have her own desires beneath her selfless motives. However, despite these implications of a troubled home and life, Haruki is seen smiling more often than not.
Plot
History
Haruki and her family
Haruki is the oldest in a family of ten children, including herself, and a sick mother. The only sibling given a name in the series is Fuyuka, who is the second oldest. The father figure is notably absent. Due to the size of their family, they are in dire financial straits often. Her mother is ill and often needs medicine and hospital care, adding to their financial debts. As a result, Haruki dropped out of school from an early age to help support everyone. The first assassination she did paid for a table of smiles in her house.
Black Class
In class, Haruki falls asleep during lectures. However, she does seem rather happy to be a student, as she never went to high school. While enrolled, she keeps in touch with her family. She helps out with the school play in preparation for the Venus Festival unlike some of the less motivated students.
Assassination Attempt
Haruki was the third assassin to attempt an attack on Haru Ichinose who used Tokaku Azuma's name in a memo to call Haru into the gymnasium, where she personally handed Haru the advance notice with her name and attendance number on it. She then started to strangle Haru from behind using her garrote wire. However, Tokaku showed up, cutting the garrote wire from afar with one of her throwing blades, then knocking Haru out of the way. The two assassins then began to fight, Haruki with an iron knuckle glove and Tokaku with throwing blades. The two seemed to be even until Tokaku got serious and overpowered her. The lighting during this scene corresponds with their power struggle, at first one color then turning red when Tokaku has the advantage. Haruki refused to give up, even though she had lost. She then confidently said, "I win" as she cut a wire of a trap she had set, intending to take out the three of them using the lighting fixtures at the top of the gymnasium. However, they all survived, but Haruki was incapacitated with a broken arm. She became the third student to be expelled from the Black Class.
After Black Class
After her expulsion, Haruki is hospitalized for her injuries resulting from her attempt. Isuke comes to see her and even paints her nails. Only three days after her attempt, Haruki hurriedly packs to go home. She tells Isuke that, when she was about to die, all she could think about was her. After kissing Isuke, she bids her farewell and leaves. As she goes back home, she believes Isuke will forget her.
At the end of the story, Haruki is shown working as a construction worker. She is also dating Isuke, who she speaks to frequently on the phone. It is revealed in the Koakuma series that she has given up killing for money entirely. However, she still murdered a man who meant Isuke ill, saying that she will still kill if it means to protect those she loves.
Haruki meets Isuke's parents as part of their dating.
Haruki and Isuke are later seen wearing rings and standing before the grave of Isuke's biological family. Isuke tells Haruki she would never forgive Haruki if she died before Isuke. Haruki assures her that she is strong, to which Isuke retorts that she is still weaker than Isuke.
Manga-Anime Differences
In the manga it was revealed in the last chapter that Haruki and Isuke Inukai are dating in the end. In the anime's ending, she was seen with some equivalency exam instructions. Judging by this scene in Episode 12, she may plan to send herself and her siblings to school.
Relationships
Haruki is a friendly person with most of her classmates overall.
Inukai Isuke
While the two were only roommates, Haruki shows herself immediately willing to be subservient to Isuke's whims, addressing her as "Isuke-sama." But when their views diverge, Haruki is not afraid to voice her opposition, saying that she believes family is more important than money, to which Isuke does agree. At the end of the manga, she and Isuke are shown with engagement rings and are girlfriends. As shown multiple times in Koakuma no Riddle, Haruki draws out the tsundere side of Isuke a lot.
Skills and Abilities
Haruki uses a garrote wire to carry out assassinations. It is used to strangle her victims and it is very effective despite the low chance of actually catching a person from behind with it, which is very useful in stealth jobs.
Her physical assassination skills make up for the weapon's weaknesses to a degree. She is shown to have very good physique, and able to carry heavy loads easily. She wears a type of glove with metal plates and angled knuckles, which augment the damage of her punches. Her fighting skills are on a high level as seen when she was engaged in hand-to-hand combat against Tokaku Azuma, who was using throwing knives. While they seemed on equal footing at first, Tokaku got serious and dominated Haruki by the culmination of their fight.
Haruki has decent mental aptitude. While she may not be stellar in schoolwork, she is able to rig traps in advance to lure her prey and ensure her own victory, even at the cost of her own life.
Trivia
- The name Haruki means "spring" (春) (haru) and "narrative" (紀) (ki).
- Haruki's surname Sagae means "cold" (寒) (sa), "river" (河) (ga) and "bay, inlet" (江) (e).
- Haruki and Nio Hashiri both wear bows with their uniforms.
- Haruki was the first assassin to personally give Haru the warning letter with her name and attendance number on it.
- When Haruki was expelled from the Black Class, there were verbena flowers on her desk, which symbolize Family love. [4]
- Haruki's favorite food is grilled meat (barbecue). Her hobbies are DIY (do-it-yourself, the activity of decorating, building, and making repairs at home by oneself rather than employing a professional) and saving money.
- She’s born in Tokyo (Higashimurayama).
- She sleeps an average of 9 hours.
- Haruki's ending theme song is どうってことない Sympathy (Doutte Koto Nai Sympathy). The song is performed by Fumiko Uchimura as Haruki Sagae.
References
- ↑ Chapter 17, page 14
- ↑ Chapter 7, page 12
- ↑ Chapter 10, page 19
- ↑ Akuma No Riddle Q&A