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This article is about a character in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei. |
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Kururu Isshiki (一色 くるる Isshiki Kururu) is a character appearing in Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei. She is a chatty and playful girl, and a member of Polaris.
Profile[]
A girl one year younger than Keitarou who goes to the same school as him. She teases Keitarou about his attitude.
(Translated from the Hoshiwatashi website).
Appearance[]
Kururu has amber eyes and short pink hair tied into pigtails with red ribbons with a portion of her forelocks braided back. In her casual outfit, she wears a short green camo crop-top beneath a red plunging v-neck pinafore dress with spaghetti straps that exposes her midriff. Kururu's school uniform consists of a sailor shirt, short skirt, and short stockings. Her Polaris wear consists of a simple cape dress and bonnet for casual wear, and black robes when doing Ring of Stars business.
Personality[]
Kururu at first seems like a talkative and cheerful girl. She speaks to Keitarou in a condescending and playful tone despite being in a lower grade than him and likes to tease him and other boys with suggestive remarks and actions. Kururu especially likes to tease Keitarou when in front of others and has a habit of taking pictures of him.
Kururu praying with a Polaris medallion to drive out thoughts of her mother
Kururu claims to not be very devout to Polaris and freely talks to outsiders without a care, but she actually is incredibly devout to them, and forces herself to act cheerful when talking to outsiders. She defends fellow members of Polaris and will even take responsibility and apologize to other people for them. Kururu's devotion is to a point where she will engage in purification rituals after eating Hinamizawa food, and uses Polaris's Hypnos Flute as well as incense to calm herself down.[1] Kururu additionally still suffers from trauma concerning her abusive mother, and will pray to calm herself.[2]
Background[]
A young Kururu and her father meeting the Holy Mother
As a child, Kururu and her father suffered from her mother being abusive, and eventually escaped her and joined Polaris.[3] Kururu's father became a high ranking member of the group as Canopus, acting as a liaison between Polaris and the Three Families.[4] Kururu meanwhile takes it upon herself to defend other kid members of Polaris from Hinamizawans when they try to reach out to them.
Relationships[]
- Canopus (father)
- Holy Mother (superior, mother figure)
- Keitarou Maebara (friend)
- Inori Mikazuki (friend)
Role in the Story[]
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Rei[]
Oniokoshi[]
Kururu is introduced when she brings Inori's friends to the nurse's office and thanks Keitarou for helping her. Kururu and Keitarou are left alone in the office, where Kururu teases him for possibly having a crush on Inori and makes some lewd remarks. Keitarou doesn't recognize Kururu at all since she didn't ride the school bus, and the girl explains her parents drive her to school.
Keitarou and Kururu then start a friendship and bid farewell after school. While with her friends later, Kururu looks at a gallery of Keitarou pictures on her phone, taking interest in the fact he's the son of Mr. Maebara.(Oniokoshi-hen Chapter 1)
Keitarou speaks with Marutake later and gets pointed out to a procession of Polaris cars. He sees Kururu in one of them and realizes that she's also a member of Polaris.(Oniokoshi-hen Chapter 2)
Kururu and Keitarou fool around
Kururu goes shopping with Inori and enters a store alone, coming back out to learn that Inori was harassed by some delinquents but was saved by Keitarou and his friends. Kururu is introduced to the rest of the group, then apologizes to them for Inori's behavior and explains her status with Polaris.(Oniokoshi-hen Chapter 3)
Kururu spies on the club for her father.
Kururu is inducted as a club member thanks to Keitarou and has a picnic with the group. Kururu brings up the curse of Oyashiro-sama happening 40 years ago, and Kihiro and Tamaki are quick to deny that such horrific events happened in the past. When asked about life in Polaris, Kururu says it's boring except for the Hypnos Flute, where they play music whenever members go crazy. Keitarou asks if Inori could play with them as well, but Kururu suddenly acts creepy and accuses Keitarou of preying on Inori because of how weak she is. Keitarou tries to play it off as nonsense.
The club then plays President. Kururu makes up some rules and claims they're Polaris house rules, which Keitarou goes along with. Afterwards, Keitarou invites Kururu to come to the Watanagashi Festival. Meanwhile Kihiro discovers she really did make up those rules, but chooses not to tell anyone else. While admiring the Hinamizawa scenery from the Furude Shrine lookout, Kururu muses to herself that they should rename the village to Polaris Town.
Kururu returns home and takes a "purification bath", then dresses up in robes and gives her father a status update on all the club kids. Her father, whom she refers to as "Comrade Canopus", tells her to keep spying on them.(Oniokoshi-hen Chapter 4)
Kururu joins the club for the Watanagashi Festival the next night and partakes in the Five-Demon Fire Fight. Keitarou also introduces her to other Hinamizawa residents, including Kisaku and the mayor. During the Watanagashi offertory dance, Keitarou makes Kururu perform the dance alongside him, and unknowingly upsets her greatly. Kururu breaks off to use the bathroom and cries by herself, angry and resentful at Keitarou for forcing her to take part in Hinamizawa's customs.(Oniokoshi-hen Chapter 5)
Kururu rejoins the club as if nothing happened and meets Rika when they video call her. Later, Kururu performs the cotton drifting with the club and claims to have gotten a deeper understanding of Hinamizawa, and heads home so she can tell her Polaris friends about how fun it was.(Oniokoshi-hen Chapter 6)
When Kisaku disappears and his aide is found dead as presumed victims of the curse with Polaris the likely culprits, Keitarou wonders if Kururu had a hand in them but shakes the thought. One morning at school, Keitarou sees that Kururu is missing from the usual group of Polaris students. Sakiko gets angry at the Polaris kids for taking away her dad, and accuses Kururu of being a spy.(Oniokoshi-hen Chapter 7)
Keitarou tries to arrange a camping event between Hinamizawa and Polaris in the hopes of getting them to get along, and talks with Kururu over the phone about it. Kururu pretends to be excited but then becomes downtrodden after hanging up. On the night that the camp is supposed to be held, Kururu and several Polaris members suddenly invade Keitarou's home. They tie up him and his grandparents while Kururu breaks into Keitarou's phone to discover he really did have recent calls with Rika. The Polaris group asserts that they are trying to protect their world, and murder Keitarou's grandparents as a warning to the rest of Hinamizawa. Keitarou is shocked and assumes that the Holy Mother ordered this. Kururu grabs Keitarou and explains that the Hinamizawa tradition of openly insulting others and getting away with it needs to be eliminated, and is disgusted when some strands of Keitarou's hair come off in her hands.
Seeing how filthy Keitarou is, Kururu becomes distraught that she's been "corrupted" by Hinamizawa, and starts referring to herself as Miaplacidus. Canopus calms her by praising her courage in exposing the village, and saying that her sins and corruption will be cleansed away here.
The group members begin clawing at their throats, with Kururu believing she was poisoned when she ate with the club. The group sets fire to the house and join hands in prayer; Keitarou, Kururu, and the rest of the Polaris group ultimately die. In police investigations after the incident, it's found that the group left Polaris before invading Keitarou's home, meaning Polaris itself can't be held responsible.(Oniokoshi-hen Chapter 8)
Hoshiwatashi[]
Kururu and her friends retrieve Inori from the nurse's office after she fell down some stairs and was brought there by Keitarou. Kururu toys around with Keitarou and becomes friends with him, and takes a picture of his angry face. After school, while riding home in her car, Kururu looks at pictures of Keitarou, Tamaki, and Sakiko on her phone with an interested gaze.(Hoshiwatashi-hen Chapter 1)
Keitarou and his friends run into Kururu apologizing to another girl on behalf of a Polaris girl, and the group learns she's a member of Polaris. Kururu explains her status with them, and Keitarou hands her a survey, wanting to know what Polaris kids feel about Hinamizawa. Kururu questions Keitarou's goals, saying that maybe some people like Polaris's rules.
Kururu promises to protect Inori
After bidding farewell, Kururu crumples up the survey given to her and then talks to Inori in a classroom, telling her about how suspicious Keitarou and his friends are. Kururu hugs her and promises to protect her. The next day, Kururu is driven to school by her dad and meets Inori, who found a letter from Keitarou in her locker.(Hoshiwatashi-hen Chapter 3)
Kururu and other Polaris kids in traditional wear.
At home in the Polaris community, Kururu assuages the concerns of kids who answered Keitarou's surveys and asks them to keep it secret and to tell her about it next time. Inori appears and reads out Keitarou's letter, in which he apologizes for his behavior and just wants to befriend Inori. Kururu takes note of Keitarou's usefulness as Keiichi Maebara's son and expresses how valuable he would be to Polaris. The next day, Kururu asks Keitarou to meet her in private behind the school, where Inori is also waiting.(Hoshiwatashi-hen Chapter 4)
The girls invite Keitarou to the Polaris festival, which happens to be on the same day as the Watanagashi. Keitarou decides to join the Polaris festival and sees off the two girls, and tells Rika about it on the phone later. The day of the festival, Keitarou is introduced by Kururu and Inori to other members of Polaris, and learns about some of their customs.(Hoshiwatashi-hen Chapter 5)
Kururu, Inori, and other girls put on a dance, and then eat with Keitarou afterwards. Kururu explains her past that led to her and her father joining Polaris, and is grateful to the group for allowing her to become who she is now.(Hoshiwatashi-hen Chapter 6)
As Keitarou prepares to leave and talks about hopes for Hinamizawa to get along with Polaris, Kururu tells him about the frequent harassment and graffiti that's been occurring, and that the villagers want them all to die by Oyashiro-sama's curse. Keitarou knows that Kururu invited him because the group wants to get along with the village, and promises to convince his dad to do something.(Hoshiwatashi-hen Chapter 7)
Kisaku goes missing and Rika is found murdered in her hospital room, with many Hinamizawans accusing Polaris of masterminding it and heading to their settlement to kill them all. News spreads across the settlement, and Kururu wakes up Inori to get her to the Holy Mother and to safety.(Hoshiwatashi-hen Chapter 8) Keitarou arrives just in time to save Kururu's group from an angry villager, and winds up killing him. As the rioting increases, Kururu and her group make it to a chapel where the Holy Mother and other Polaris members are gathered. When villagers start breaking in, Kururu stays behind to defend against them and tells Keitarou and Inori to escape out the back. Kururu asserts she has a duty as Miaplacidus and as a member of the Ring of Stars.(Hoshiwatashi-hen Chapter 9) Kururu is ultimately killed with a pitchfork in her back.(Hoshiwatashi-hen Final Chapter)
Irotoutoshi[]
Some Polaris kids at school complain about Keitarou always trying to talk to them, and Kururu apologizes for not being there to protect them.(Irotoutoshi-hen Chapter 1)
Kururu meets the club at school and tries to become friends with them, and when Keitarou sees Inori walking by and calls out to her, Kururu distracts Keitarou to let her get away. Later, Kururu is by herself and lamenting that she doesn't have enough stamina to keep playing along, and wonders why Keitarou's so obsessed with Inori. A flashback shows Kururu witnessing harassing graffiti against Polaris and her being tasked with collecting info on Keitarou and his friends. She recall traumatic memories of her mom and recites a prayer to calm herself. Kihiro then arrives and talks to her, having called her into private.(Irotoutoshi-hen Chapter 3) Kihiro asks Kururu to stop getting closer to Keitarou, which confuses her since she assumes her being a spy has somehow leaked. Kururu tries to feign innocence by acting peppy, but Kihiro can tell she doesn't care about Keitarou and is straining herself every time she acts like that. Kururu claims that she just wants to fit in with Hinamizawa, with intent to learn if Kihiro's planning something.
Kururu assumes that Kihiro is actually jealous of her getting close to Keitarou and is in love with him, but Kihiro explains that he actually loves Keitarou more like a pet. Kihiro then goes on to talk about his struggles with his identity and how Keitarou helped him find it. Kihiro uses this to ask Kururu if she's really okay with forcing herself to become friends with the club, and can tell that Polaris means a lot to her with how she defends its members all the time. Kururu recalls a past conversation with the Holy Mother welcoming her into Polaris, and wonders how she could ever talk to outsiders. Kihiro ends the conversation by asking Kururu to be more considerate of herself so that she can continue protecting the Polaris kids who look up to her. Kururu cries, feeling happy even though she's been exposed, and now believes there are indeed good people in Hinamizawa. Kihiro offers to help her in the future if she needs it.(Irotoutoshi-hen Chapter 4)
In Rika's efforts to understand what really happened in previous worlds, she talks with Irie and learns that the people of Polaris brought Polaris Syndrome with them, causing them and Hinamizawans to infect each other with it and Hinamizawa Syndrome.(Irotoutoshi-hen Chapter 5)
A flashback to Oniokoshi's world shows that Kururu was already paranoid due to always hanging out with Keitarou and the others, and believed she might be killed in Oyashiro-sama's curse. Her paranoia grew from Keitarou introducing her around the village, making her recall traumatic memories; and developed terminal symptoms of both Hinamizawa Syndrome and Polaris Syndrome due to being forced to perform the Watanagashi ritual. Kururu thus relayed her experiences to her Polaris comrades, who were also suffering from paranoia, and made them go L5 as well. The Polaris group weren't behind the curse at all and believed the villagers masterminded it. After the phone call about Keitarou's proposed camp, Kururu starts feeling maggots crawling around in her skin, and believes Keitarou is masterminding something horrible by inviting Polaris to the Furude Shrine. Thus, this led to Kururu and the others developing martyr complexes and burning themselves to death to Keitarou's home.(Irotoutoshi-hen Chapter 6)
Keitarou mentions that he invited Kururu to help prepare for the Watanagashi but she refused to prepare for the Polaris festival.(Irotoutoshi-hen Chapter 7)
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Kururu's concept art in Irotoutoshi-hen Volume 2 shows her first name written in kanji as 枢.