History Manga / HeavenlyDelusion

[[{{Deconstruction}} However]], she also has to face [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome real life issues]] in the wilderness and abandoned cities, ones that even an Action Girl would have problems with. For instance, [[AllPeriodsArePMS suffering her period]] in the midst of hostile territory; having to make sure Maru is alright; and [[WalkingTheEarth keeping a careful watch on their supplies out on the road]] since they have to eat as well as rest, meaning they could die of mundane reasons like starvation. Finally, no matter how tough an Action Girl she is, [[spoiler:being [[EtTuBrute betrayed]] as well as [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] by someone she trusted [[BrokenPedestal (Robin)]] was a harrowing experience. The story makes it clear that even brave women who fight literal monsters on a regular basis [[TraumaCongaLine can be traumatized]]. Fortunately, [[FireForgedFriends she has Maru to help her]] when things get too rough for her alone, and [[{{Reconstruction}} overcoming these grim experiences has made her a stronger person along the way]]]].
* AdultFear: There are several instances in the manga that plays on the fears of what could happen when civilization collapses, not to mention ones that already [[TruthInTelevision happen in real life]] becoming more common place when competent authorities aren’t around to prevent them.
** Child prostitution was featured at one point in the Post-Disaster storyline with a thirteen year old girl named Totori, who made a move on Maru in the hopes of getting easy money. Later on, the Glasses Man who [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] Helm was revealed to have a child slave who obeyed his commands in return for food; [[ApatheticCitizens the people around did nothing about this]], despite the obvious fact the little girl was a prostitute, [[CrapsackWorld showcasing how desensitized the town had become about such matters]].
** Hoshino the bandaged patient [[spoiler:who is an older Mimihime from the Nursery plot]] is a reference to terminally ill people who are reliant on heavy amounts of machinery in order to live, made worse by a post-apocalyptic world where it would be more difficult to find power necessary to keep the machines working. Then comes the point where the patient starts to give into their illness or becomes brain dead, forcing the patient’s loved ones to make the choice on whether or not to pull the plug…
** Kiruko was threatened by bandits early on, seeing her as the only chance in a long time they would get to rape a beautiful woman with no authorities around to stop them. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, she ends up being raped later by [[BrokenPedestal Robin]], who had [[BigBrotherMentor taken care of her sister and herself]] when she was still a boy named Haruki five years before that point. The entire scene was illustrated with brutally realistic details to showcase how horrifying rape is, but especially when done by [[EtTuBrute someone you had trusted with your life beforehand]]]].
** After Helm was raped, she told the people in her town who went on to find a man wearing glasses who she believed was her rapist. Upon condemning him, the man had one of his arms chopped off and was exiled with his family in tow. But she later discovered the true culprit had avoided detection by [[CuttingTheKnot not wearing his glasses in-town during the hunt]], almost raping her again until she threw up on his crotch and got the attention of a nearby woman, forcing the Glasses Man to flee town. [[WhatHaveIDone Helm had to live with the realization that in her haste to get vengeance, she blamed an innocent man by accident]], which broke her to the point that she [[spoiler:chopped off her left forearm with an axe in retribution for her mistake]].

** Helm wanted vengeance against the Glasses Man who raped her, but a simple detail she took for granted (a man wearing glasses) ended with an innocent man being convicted instead to her horror.

** After Helm was raped, she told the people in her town who went on to find a man wearing glasses who she believed was her rapist. Upon condemning him, the man had one of his arms chopped off and was exiled, presumably with his family in tow. But she later discovered the true culprit had avoided detection by [[CuttingTheKnot simply not wearing his glasses]], almost raping her again until she threw up on his crotch and got the attention of a nearby woman, forcing the Glasses Man to flee town. [[WhatHaveIDone Helm had to live with the realization that in her haste to get vengeance, she blamed an innocent man by accident]], which broke her to the point that she [[spoiler:chopped off her left forearm with an axe in retribution for her mistake]].

* AnAxToGrind: Helm’s choice of weapon is a hatchet. [[spoiler:It’s hinted that it may be the same one she used to chop her left forearm off with, having sought penance for accidentally blaming an innocent man of raping her as well as having his entire family exiled from the town]].

** In chapter thirteen, Maru was harassed by a vigilante gang that [[CurbStompBattle drew his full wrath]] when their leader, Iwata, knocked out one of Maru’s teeth. Afterwards, Iwata [[MoralMyopia swore vengeance]] and planned on ambushing Maru along with Kiruko, but a [[BearsAreBadNews wild bear]] ambushed Iwata and mauled him to near death; he ended up being saved by the duo. Later on Maru found out that Iwata had been watching over Totori, the young innkeeper of the inn they were staying at that night, which made Maru realize Iwata [[JerkassWithAHeartOfGold wasn’t a bad person at heart]]. Maru had been part of a gang in the past and believed they could’ve been good friends if he had grown up in that town, thus he became depressed upon learning that Iwata died later that evening.

* BadPowersGoodPeople: While many children of the Nursery have benign abilities and/or increased physicality, others aren’t as lucky. Some of the children are [[ChildrenAreInnocent oblivious to this]], others are painfully aware their abilities are dangerous and sometimes outright malicious.

** Kiruko wanted to find out the whereabouts of Robin, her BigBrotherMentor who disappeared years ago, and a doctor she knew in the past. [[spoiler:She later finds Robin during the “Inazaki Robin” arc, reunites with him, and finds out when they were alone that he was a [[BitchInSheepsClothing twisted]] [[SoftSpokenSadist sadist]] the entire time who had no problems [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping her]]]].
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Maru is a kind and empathetic person, but he’s more than willing to give a brutal beat down if the situation calls for it; a vigilante group inside a city that Kiruko and himself visited [[CurbStompBattle learned this the hard way]] after one of them sucker punched him and made him lose one of his teeth. Also, he does ''not'' like it when anyone harms Kiruko. [[spoiler:When [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped Kiruko]] and [[BullyingADragon taunted Maru about this]], [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge he showed how vicious he can become]] when [[RageBreakingPoint pushed too far]]]].
* BigOlEyebrows: Kiruko and Kiriko from the Post-Disaster plot has these, as do some of the children in the Nursery plot.

* BodyHorror: A prevalent theme throughout the manga. When the Hiruko monsters have you in their grasp, you will NOT have a clean death.

* CerebusCallBack: Kiruko once made a deal with Maru that if he accomplished a dangerous task he would get to grope her breasts [[ThePowerOfLust (which he accomplished in haste after initially complaining before she made the deal with him)]]. But when it came time for him to collect, she panicked and tried to dissuade him with multiple reasons, including trying to convince him that [[spoiler:because she had Haruki Takehaya’s brain, she considered herself a guy, therefore Maru would be feeling up a man instead of a woman]]. This didn’t work [[spoiler:because Haruki’s brain was inside Kiriko Takehaya’s body (Haruki’s sister), a beautiful and well-endowed woman]], although she managed to escape because she screamed out loud by accident and caught the innkeeper’s attention of the hotel they were in, who promptly dragged Maru out of the room.\\

*** The fifth painting featured a strange fish-like creature that had multiple long humanoid arms stretching from its body. This particular painting was held by a girl named Kuku who had the ability to stick to walls with her hands and feet at will, making her an adept climber. [[spoiler:Maru and Kiruko fought a Man-Eater that looked exactly like the creature in the painting, which had the ability to climb on objects using “hands” formed from telekinetic abilities involving water.]] It’s notable that [[spoiler: later the children are directly referred to as “Hiruko” by the robotic staff of the nursery; “Hiroku” was the other name that some people called the Man-Eaters. Dr. Usami (a grown up Shiro) revealed the Man-Eaters were once human, but died because of a certain disease that eventually warps their bodies into Man-Eaters, which sadly implied that the fish Man-Eater may have been Kuku the entire time]].

** Helm was [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped when she was a young girl]], but her attempt to get revenge by accusing a glasses wearing man that she thought was her rapist ended up going horribly wrong when she learned that she accused the wrong man. She had to live with the realization that her actions cost the life of an innocent man and his entire family by having them exiled by the local people in her town, which broke her to the point that she [[spoiler:chopped off her left arm with a hatchet, mirroring the arm that the townspeople chopped off the innocent man because of her]].

* DirtyCoward: In chapter eight, Robin taught Haruki how to fight, including teachings such as watching your opponent’s body movements by looking at their collar; cowards will try to intimidate their opponent by staring at their face; and the losers in fights are those who only focus on their opponents. These lessons stuck with Haruki throughout his life time when he fought many opponents using these exact tactics, [[spoiler:which Kiruko (who has Haruki’s brain and memories) continued following to protect Maru]]. Ironically, [[spoiler:[[{{Hypocrite}} Robin does everything he preached against in a fight]] to Maru in chapter thirty three, which happened after Maru discovered that [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil Robin had raped Kiruko]]. During the entire fight [[TranquilFury Maru didn’t focus on Robin, nor react to anything he said]], choosing instead to stare at the wall and thwart every attempt Robin made to run away by grabbing his jacket and throwing him at the wall, showing that [[CurbStompBattle Maru didn’t even need to see his opponent in order to defeat them]]]].
* DisasterScavengers: In order to survive, Maru and Kuriko have to loot abandoned cities in order to obtain either useful tools or goods for bartering with other survivors. In Maru’s case, he started scavenging as early as age seven out of necessity.

* EatenAlive: This happens on occasion when a Man-Eater devours a human being via absorbing them through their mouth, but what makes it worse is that the process is slow and painful for the victim. [[spoiler:Haruki suffered this gruesome fate, who had his limbs and lower portion of his stomach area “swallowed” by the Man-Eater]].

* EtTuBrute: [[spoiler:Robin, who [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] Kuriko for almost two days straight until [[BigDamnHeroes Maru showed up]] and [[KickTheSonOfABitch bashed Robin’s face in]]. It’s made more dramatic by the fact she had spent over five years looking for him, only to be betrayed by her former BigBrotherMentor in one of the worst ways possible]].

* FireForgedFriends: While there wasn’t any animosity between the two, Maru wasn’t an open book for Kiruko starting off, due to his previous history following adults around and not knowing what to make of her at first. He even didn’t mind Kiruko leaving him alone on his journey, but after they defeated the Bird Man-Eater and he got to see her more sensitive side they developed a true friendship. However, Maru wants to [[BattleCouple upgrade this in the future]] if given the opportunity.

* GiverOfLameNames: Kiruko. She named Maru’s ability the “Maru Touch” and her own gun the “Kiru-Beam,” both of which Maru hates. [[{{Hypocrite}} Though it turns out his naming sense isn’t any better]], such as when he named his own ability “Fatal Dive” for a day until even Kiruko called him out on how cheesy it was.

** A straight example is Sawatori, a scientist who was passed up as the next Director in line to a woman named Aoshima. He attempted to confront her on this, but reneged when he noticed the facility AI Meena was talking with her, instead doing his best to swallow his rage. [[spoiler:That is, until he learned in horror the real reason why she was chosen by the current Director: Aoshima was the chosen body vessel that the Director wanted to [[BrainTheft remove the former’s brain out of]] in order to [[BrainTransplant insert her own brain into]] due to her own body failing, thus giving her a [[GrandTheftMe form of immortality]] so she could live long enough to eventually possess the body of Tokio’s child]].

** A few of the children from the Nursery plot are hinted to have mental disorders of sorts, none of which prevents them from using their special abilities and/or enhanced physicality to great effect. After the discovery of [[spoiler:the “Hiruko Cores” within the children which are similar to the ones that Man-Eaters in the Post-Disaster plot have, and that fact that Mimihime in the Post-Disaster plot would’ve turned into a Man-Eater if she died with the core still intact]], it’s left debatable if said children are CursedWithAwesome instead.
*** Tarao in particular plays this straight. He has super human strength - able to lift large boulders with ease - but is often bedridden due to poor health and moves around on a wheelchair.
** Chapter forty reveals that [[spoiler:Helm’s left arm is prosthetic. On top of this, if she unhooks it from her upper arm it activates a timed bomb within]].

** The Glasses Man raped Helm when she was a young girl and skirted the authorities by [[CuttingTheKnot not wearing his glasses]]; he managed to escape after another attempt at raping Helm was botched. During the present time in the Post-Disaster plot, he’s seen walking through a town with another young girl chained to him, making it clear she was a child prostitute the Glasses man was taking advantage of in exchange for food.

* LaResistance: During their travels Maru and Kiruko discovered a group of people who called themselves “Liviuman.” They claimed another group they called the “Immortalites” were kidnapping people and performing gruesome surgeries in order to test prosthetic body parts on them, thus the Liviuman group formed to oppose them after their spokeswoman had one of her legs surgically removed by the Immortalities in an apparent “test.” [[spoiler:It later turns out the Immortalites were innocent people who were being helped by a grown up Shiro from the “Nursery” plot, having any limbs that couldn’t be saved via surgery replaced with prosthetics instead. Furthermore, while the spokeswoman truly wanted to help people she thought were being kidnapped, TheDragon of the Liviuman group instead desired all the advanced technology housed in the Immortalites’s home base, deciding later to take full control of the Liviuman group after plotting to have the spokeswoman assassinated by one of his followers]].

* ActionGirl: [[DeconReconSwitch Zig-zagged]]. Kiruko is resourceful and has survived many years on the road even before she met [[SuperToughness Maru]]. However, she’s up against horrifying monsters with supernatural abilities and groups of bandits who coordinate with each other, making it difficult for Maru and herself to survive even when she’s armed with the [[RayGun “Kiru-Beam.”]] Still, while her [[WeakButSkilled strength and durability isn’t up to par with Maru, she is a skilled sharpshooter]] and [[CombatPragmatist uses the environment to her advantage]] whenever possible. She has even won some fights due to outsmarting her opponent instead of relying on her firearm [[spoiler: e.g. the giant fish Man-Eater)]].\\
[[{{Deconstruction}} However]], she also has to face [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome real life issues]] in the wilderness and abandoned cities, ones that even an Action Girl would have problems with. For instance, [[AllPeriodsArePMS suffering her period]] in the midst of hostile territory; having to make sure Maru is alright; and [[WalkingTheEarth keeping a careful watch on their supplies out on the road]] since they have to eat as well as rest, meaning they could die of mundane reasons like starvation. Finally, no matter how tough an Action Girl she is, [[spoiler: being [[EtTuBrute betrayed]] as well as [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] by someone she trusted [[BrokenPedestal (Robin)]] was a harrowing experience. The story makes it clear that even brave women who fight literal monsters on a regular basis [[TraumaCongaLine can be traumatized]]. Fortunately, [[FireForgedFriends she has Maru to help her]] when things get too rough for her alone, and [[{{Reconstruction}} overcoming these grim experiences has made her a stronger person along the way]]]].

** Hoshino the bandaged patient [[spoiler: who is an older Mimihime from the Nursery plot]] is a reference to terminally ill people who are reliant on heavy amounts of machinery in order to live, made worse by a post-apocalyptic world where it would be more difficult to find power necessary to keep the machines working. Then comes the point where the patient starts to give into their illness or becomes brain dead, forcing the patient’s loved ones to make the choice on whether or not to pull the plug…
** Kiruko was threatened by bandits early on, seeing her as the only chance in a long time they would get to rape a beautiful woman with no authorities around to stop them. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, she ends up being raped later by [[BrokenPedestal Robin]], who had [[BigBrotherMentor taken care of her sister and herself]] when she was still a boy named Haruki five years before that point. The entire scene was illustrated with brutally realistic details to showcase how horrifying rape is, but especially when done by [[EtTuBrute someone you had trusted with your life beforehand]]]].
** After Helm was raped, she told the people in her town who went on to find a man wearing glasses who she believed was her rapist. Upon condemning him, the man had one of his arms chopped off and was exiled, presumably with his family in tow. But she later discovered the true culprit had avoided detection by [[CuttingTheKnot simply not wearing his glasses]], almost raping her again until she threw up on his crotch and got the attention of a nearby woman, forcing the Glasses Man to flee town. [[WhatHaveIDone Helm had to live with the realization that in her haste to get vengeance, she blamed an innocent man by accident]], which broke her to the point that she [[spoiler: chopped off her left forearm with an axe in retribution for her mistake]].
* AfterTheEnd: The Post-Disaster plot follows this theme in particular, showing how people in Japan are getting by with living fifteen years after an unknown disaster occurred. [[spoiler: The Nursery plot is revealed to have taken place about fifteen years before the Post-Disaster plot begins, plus it may have a direct connection to the disaster itself]].
* AllPeriodsArePMS: Before entering the basement of the “Immortalite” group’s stronghold Maru noticed Kiruko was acting sluggish and unfocused, but she dismissed his concerns for her. This led to a number of problems, like a psychic Man-Eater’s hallucination attack driving her mad with ease until Maru [[KissOfLife calmed her down]]. As time went on, Kiruko’s condition worsened until she collapsed, forcing Maru to find a safe place for her sake. What made things worse was this took place during a violent confrontation between the Immortalites and the Liviuman groups, but to the duo’s fortune a former member of the Liviuman group found and sheltered them both until Kiruko recovered from her period. [[spoiler: It’s also revealed this was the first period that Kiruko went through, which is why [[FirstPeriodPanic she didn’t recognize any of the symptoms]]. Why it took five years for this to happen after the brain switch medical procedure is currently left unknown]].
* AmbiguousGender: Tokio has an androgynous appearance unique amongst most of the children within the nursery. [[spoiler: It’s confirmed in chapter seventeen that Tokio is female, which was revealed when she had sexual intercourse with a boy named Kona in secrecy and later gave birth to a child.]]

* AnAxToGrind: Helm’s choice of weapon is a hatchet. [[spoiler: It’s hinted that it may be the same one she used to chop her left forearm off with, having sought penance for accidentally blaming an innocent man of raping her as well as having his entire family exiled from the town]].

* ArcSymbol: A bird emblem that Maru discovered on the handle of Kiruko's “Kiru-Beam” [[RayGun ray gun]] serves as a clue for them both to find “Heaven,” the destination Maru is looking for. [[spoiler: It turns out later the children of the Nursery plot line had a pin on their outfits that has the exact same icon, making it clear the bird emblem has a direct connection to the nursery]].
* AscendedFridgeHorror: One major question that many people in the fan base had when the story of Haruki Takehaya and his sister Kiriko was released had to do with [[spoiler: the nature of their “surgery,” which led to Haruki’s brain being placed into his sister’s body via BrainTransplant. While it did “save” Haruki’s life in a matter of speaking, it led to people wondering how effective a procedure that seemingly wipes out the mind/memories of the original body would be in terms of “saving lives.” Thus the fan base came up an idea: what would happen if a BrainTransplant in that universe was instead done to let someone live a theoretical immortal life, having their brain swapped to new bodies when one was getting too old.]]\\
As it turns out, [[spoiler: that is indeed the plan of the [[EvilOldFolks Director]] from the Nursery plot line. She wanted to transplant her brain into Tokio’s child and gain access to their supernatural abilities, but since the child was too young it wouldn’t work before the Director died of old age. She instead decided to have it transplanted into one of her aides named Aoshima and wait until the child was old enough for another procedure, but Sawatori - the scientist who would be responsible performing the surgeries - had little interest in the Director’s plan, having chosen to instead work with Aoshima behind the Director’s back]].

** Kiruko wanted to find out the whereabouts of Robin, her BigBrotherMentor who disappeared years ago, and a doctor she knew in the past. [[spoiler: She later finds Robin during the “Inazaki Robin” arc, reunites with him, and finds out when they were alone that he was a [[BitchInSheepsClothing twisted]] [[SoftSpokenSadist sadist]] the entire time who had no problems [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping her]]]].
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Maru is a kind and empathetic person, but he’s more than willing to give a brutal beat down if the situation calls for it; a vigilante group inside a city that Kiruko and himself visited [[CurbStompBattle learned this the hard way]] after one of them sucker punched him and made him lose one of his teeth. Also, he does ''not'' like it when anyone harms Kiruko. [[spoiler: When [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped Kiruko]] and [[BullyingADragon taunted Maru about this]], [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge he showed how vicious he can become]] when [[RageBreakingPoint pushed too far]]]].

** In chapter twenty one, [[spoiler: Dr. Usami, aka Shiro, does this after he read the final words on Mimihime’s tablet, [[DyingDeclarationOfLove proclaiming her love for him]] and never holding anything against him for the actions he took to keep her alive - knowing full well she would’ve become a Man-Eater had Shiro not acted]].
** There’s also chapter thirty three. [[spoiler: After Kiruko had been [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped for days]] by her former BigBrotherMentor [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] and [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslighted]] by him into realizing [[LossOfIdentity she doesn’t know who she is anymore]], she cried out in anguish for Maru to save her. Fortunately, he happened to hear this while he was infiltrating Robin’s facility, [[BigDamnHeroes which led to Maru finding and saving her]]]].
* CerebusCallBack: Kiruko once made a deal with Maru that if he accomplished a dangerous task he would get to grope her breasts [[ThePowerOfLust (which he accomplished in haste after initially complaining before she made the deal with him)]]. But when it came time for him to collect, she panicked and tried to dissuade him with multiple reasons, including trying to convince him that [[spoiler: because she had Haruki Takehaya’s brain, she considered herself a guy, therefore Maru would be feeling up a man instead of a woman]]. This didn’t work [[spoiler: because Haruki’s brain was inside Kiriko Takehaya’s body (Haruki’s sister), a beautiful and well-endowed woman]], although she managed to escape because she screamed out loud by accident and caught the innkeeper’s attention of the hotel they were in, who promptly dragged Maru out of the room.\\
Later, [[spoiler: Kiruko]] ends up a similar situation, but this time around it’s ''not'' played for comedy. [[spoiler: After [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] handcuffed Kiruko in an abandoned room when they were alone, he began to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] her while she was screaming and resisting. She attempted to appeal to Robin by telling him that she was “Haruki” like she had done with Maru in the past, but Robin didn’t believe this either. He rebuffed this by telling her that he was going to rape “Kiriko” and that “Haruki” needed to save her. This confused Kiruko because she had believed she was Haruki Takehaya the entire time due to having his memories… until she started to hallucinate and saw “Haruki” in the reflection of a mirror trying to reach her in desperation. This made her realize [[JerkassHasAPoint Robin had a point]] that Kiruko’s mind may have been “Kiriko” all along, which led to her gaining the ability to see memories from Kiriko’s point of view later on; this made Kiruko realize [[LossOfIdentity she didn’t know who she was]]]].

*** One of the paintings has two babies inside of an egg covered in wings. [[spoiler: Tokio gave birth to a child who was mysteriously duplicated, and due to [[StrongFamilyResemblance Maru’s similar appearance to Tokio]] - plus the fact they [[SuperpowerfulGenetics both have supernatural abilities]] - it’s possible that Tokio is Maru’s mother]].
*** Another painting features four human-like silhouettes that have their heads converging into one. [[spoiler: This is a possible reference to Kiruko’s [[BrainTransplant situation]]]].
*** A third painting featured an angry sun with markings on its face. [[spoiler: During the Nursery plot, the nursery itself suffered a major disaster that opened up an entrance to “outside of the outside,” some of the children went out to investigate. Upon doing so, they discovered that the air outside was warm and hard to breathe in. However, the people living during the Post-Disaster timeline deal with the cold on a regular basis, indicating whatever caused the unusual temperature spikes in the past has ended]].
*** The fourth painting had several humanoid-like figures with wings flying together. [[spoiler: A bird-like Man-Eater was the first one featured in the Post-Disaster plot line, one that Maru and Kiruko had to kill in order to defend themselves]].
*** The fifth painting featured a strange fish-like creature that had multiple long humanoid arms stretching from its body. This particular painting was held by a girl named Kuku who had the ability to stick to walls with her hands and feet at will, making her an adept climber. [[spoiler: Maru and Kiruko fought a Man-Eater that looked exactly like the creature in the painting, which had the ability to climb on objects using “hands” formed from telekinetic abilities involving water.]] It’s notable that [[spoiler: later the children are directly referred to as “Hiruko” by the robotic staff of the nursery; “Hiroku” was the other name that some people called the Man-Eaters. Dr. Usami (a grown up Shiro) revealed the Man-Eaters were once human, but died because of a certain disease that eventually warps their bodies into Man-Eaters, which sadly implied that the fish Man-Eater may have been Kuku the entire time]].

** Kiruko’s past in general is this. [[spoiler: She’s the result of a surgery that put the brain of a dying boy, Haruki Takehaya, inside the body of his sister (who was believed to be dying for reasons not yet known). Since she believes she’s Haruki - due to having his brain - she lives life believing she’s a man trapped in a woman’s body, leading to all kinds of psychological issues when she contemplates who she is as a person. And neither sibling lived a grand life beforehand, instead living in a post-apocalyptic world where [[HumansAreBastards people wouldn’t hesitate to murder you for the clothes on your back]]; it’s no wonder she also became cynical about life]].

** Helm was [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped when she was a young girl]], but her attempt to get revenge by accusing a glasses wearing man that she thought was her rapist ended up going horribly wrong when she learned that she accused the wrong man. She had to live with the realization that her actions cost the life of an innocent man and his entire family by having them exiled by the local people in her town, which broke her to the point that she [[spoiler: chopped off her left arm with a hatchet, mirroring the arm that the townspeople chopped off the innocent man because of her]].
* DefiledForever: In the aftermath of the “Inazaki Robin” arc, [[spoiler: Kiruko thinks this way of herself, having put up little resistance against Robin [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping her]] and instead resigning herself to her fate [[BigDamnHeroes until Maru saved her]]]].

* DetectEvil: Maru later gains the ability to detect the presence of any nearby Man-Eaters in the Post-Disaster plot. [[spoiler: This includes the “Hiruko Humans” introduced in the Nursery plot and their descendants in the Post-Disaster plot who have a core just like the Man-Eaters, such as Juiichi’s son]].
* DirtyCoward: In chapter eight, Robin taught Haruki how to fight, including teachings such as watching your opponent’s body movements by looking at their collar; cowards will try to intimidate their opponent by staring at their face; and the losers in fights are those who only focus on their opponents. These lessons stuck with Haruki throughout his life time when he fought many opponents using these exact tactics[[spoiler:, which Kiruko (who has Haruki’s brain and memories) continued following to protect Maru]]. Ironically, [[spoiler: [[{{Hypocrite}} Robin does everything he preached against in a fight]] to Maru in chapter thirty three, which happened after Maru discovered that [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil Robin had raped Kiruko]]. During the entire fight [[TranquilFury Maru didn’t focus on Robin, nor react to anything he said]], choosing instead to stare at the wall and thwart every attempt Robin made to run away by grabbing his jacket and throwing him at the wall, showing that [[CurbStompBattle Maru didn’t even need to see his opponent in order to defeat them]]]].

* EatenAlive: This happens on occasion when a Man-Eater devours a human being via absorbing them through their mouth, but what makes it worse is that the process is slow and painful for the victim. [[spoiler: Haruki suffered this gruesome fate, who had his limbs and lower portion of his stomach area “swallowed” by the Man-Eater]].

* EtTuBrute: [[spoiler: Robin, who [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] Kuriko for almost two days straight until [[BigDamnHeroes Maru showed up]] and [[KickTheSonOfABitch bashed Robin’s face in]]. It’s made more dramatic by the fact she had spent over five years looking for him, only to be betrayed by her former BigBrotherMentor in one of the worst ways possible]].

** In chapter three, the Nursery plot shows that Kona is a masterful artist, but his artwork bears an uncanny resemblance to the Hiruko monsters. This is followed up by the Man-Eaters being shown early on having supernatural abilities that are similar to the children of the nursery. [[spoiler: Later on, a grown up Shiro who goes by the name Dr. Usami revealed to Maru and Kiruko that the Hiruko monsters were once human, but they died from an illness that eventually warped the corpses into the monsters we see today. Future chapters even showcase humans who have a Hiruko core that Maru can interact with using his “Maru Touch” ability]].

[[spoiler: It’s later revealed in chapter nine that “Kiruko” is an alias for Haruki Takehaya, the younger brother of the aforementioned Kiriko Takehaya, whose body Haruki’s brain is inhabiting due to a [[MedicalHorror medical procedure done by a doctor]] - one that he knew five years ago. When he tried to kill a Man-Eater who could turn invisible before it attacked his sister during one of her kart races, his experimental crossbow weapon [[NoSell failed to bring it down]], thus [[EatenAlive most of his body was eaten]] before his sister managed to pull his body out. In the end, Haruki passed out with his sister crying over him, making him believe he was dying.\\

** A picture of Shiro and Mimihime from the Nursery plot is used as the title cover of chapter nineteen, [[spoiler: hinting at the true identities of Dr. Usami and Hoshino respectively as now grown up in the Post-Diaster plot]].
** In chapter thirty three, the Chief of the Water Filtration Center, [[spoiler: Robin,]] ''panicked'' when he saw Maru for the first time and ran away, hinting that the Chief knew Maru was a [[LightningBruiser dangerous]] [[SuperToughness threat]] despite appearing to be a mere teenage boy. This was even before the Chief found out all the guards had been knocked out by Maru. [[spoiler: Five years ago Robin had disappeared for several months before the orphanage closed down, making it possible he came into contact with some the people of the nursery where children with supernatural abilities had been - thus he may have known who Maru was. There’s also the matter of Robin choosing to lock up the room with the woman surgically attached to the Man-Eater instead of running outside, but information on this remains scarce]].

* TheGovernment: [[spoiler: It’s hinted during the Nursery plot that the Japanese government had an active hand in the experiments being conducted on the children from the nursery (who are later revealed to be the Hiruko themselves). Also, a more benevolent variant appeared in the “Post-Disaster” plot known as the Ministry of Reconstruction, whose goal is to revive Japan back to its pre-disaster glory, albeit they too have resorted to hiding details from the public like the existence of a dormant Man-Eater in the water filtration center]].

** A straight example is Sawatori, a scientist who was passed up as the next Director in line to a woman named Aoshima. He attempted to confront her on this, but reneged when he noticed the facility AI Meena was talking with her, instead doing his best to swallow his rage. [[spoiler: That is, until he learned in horror the real reason why she was chosen by the current Director: Aoshima was the chosen body vessel that the Director wanted to [[BrainTheft remove the former’s brain out of]] in order to [[BrainTransplant insert her own brain into]] due to her own body failing, thus giving her a [[GrandTheftMe form of immortality]] so she could live long enough to eventually possess the body of Tokio’s child]].

** A few of the children from the Nursery plot are hinted to have mental disorders of sorts, none of which prevents them from using their special abilities and/or enhanced physicality to great effect. After the discovery of [[spoiler: the heart-like cores within the children which are exactly like the ones that Man-Eaters in the Post-Disaster plot have]], it’s left ambiguous if the children each have a DisabilitySuperpower instead.
*** Tarao in particular plays this straight. He has super human strength - able to lift large boulders with ease - but is often bedridden due to poor health.
** Chapter forty reveals that [[spoiler: Helm’s left arm is prosthetic. On top of this, if she unhooks it from her upper arm it activates a timed bomb within]].

** The Chief of the Water Filtration Plant, [[spoiler: Robin]], becomes one after [[spoiler: he [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] Kuriko; [[BullyingADragon mockingly asking Maru if he had used her to satisfy himself too]] when they faced off; and the authorities of the town later discovered Robin had been performing experiments on an innocent woman by connecting her to a Man-Eater - with said woman missing some limbs and possibly been raped by him too]].
** The Glasses Man raped Helm when she was a young girl and skirted the authorities by [[CuttingTheKnot not wearing his glasses]]; he managed to escape after another attempt at raping Helm was botched. [[spoiler: Which makes his demise via being [[GroinAttack blown up by a bomb that Helm stuck onto his crotch]] with fishhooks [[LaserGuidedKarma amusing to watch for many.]]]]
* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Totori, a thirteen year old girl who also runs an inn within a town inhabited by a vigilante group. While it’s hinted that she knew about the trap involving the “pure water” gathering site when Maru and Kiruko went to collect fresh water, Totori helped out Maru and Kiruko later on when she discovered they had saved her boss from a wild bear by telling the rest of the vigilantes that the duo had already fled town, ensuring the duo could have a peaceful night in the inn. She also tried to make a move on Maru that same night, which ended comically since [[HasAType he preferred older women]] like Kiruko [[spoiler: and was too freaked out to want to make love when his “Maru Touch” ability activated on Totori, which happened since she had a core like the Hiruko, making him realize some humans were fair game for his ability]].

* HormoneAddledTeenager: Several of the kids from the Nursery plot line make romantic moves on each other over time, some of them even leading to actual couples like [[spoiler: [[TheQuietOne Shiro]] and [[NiceGirl Mimihime]]]]. [[ChivalrousPervert Maru]] also wants to [[RelationshipUpgrade upgrade]] his [[FireForgedFriends friendship]] with Kiruko into a romantic one, but fails due to her being too preoccupied with keeping Maru and herself alive as well as trying to find [[BigBrotherMentor Robin]] and the Doctor. [[spoiler: It doesn’t help Maru’s case that Kiruko believes herself to be trash who is DefiledForever after being [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] by Robin and Maru to be too kind and pure a person for someone like her]].

However, when Maru came to collect in Kuriko’s hotel room, she tried to convince him not to go through with it, saying that [[spoiler: if he groped her boobs, it was a man’s body he would be feeling up instead due to Haruki Takehaya’s [[BrainTransplant brain being transplanted]] into Kuriko’s body years ago (despite the fact it’s still well-endowed female body that Haruki’s brain was put into)]]. Maru realized she was trying to avoid fulfilling her promise and started unzipping her jacket, but Kuriko let out a terrified scream by accident that caught both of them off guard because of how girly it sounded. This caught the attention of the innkeeper named Totori, who dragged him out because she didn’t want Kuriko and him to dirty up the room (much to her relief). Then it turned out the real reason Totori did this was because [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold she wanted to seduce Maru instead]], much to his dismay since she was a thirteen year old girl.
* IJustWantToBeLoved: As it turns out, this is [[spoiler: Kiruko’s]] FatalFlaw. [[spoiler: Kiruko enjoys being praised by others for being useful, but the story revealed later this had a [[DarkAndTroubledPast tragic background]]. Haruki Takehaya - whose memories Kiruko has - wanted approval from his BigBrotherMentor Inazaki Robin and affection from his sister Kiriko (who Haruki had a [[BrotherSisterIncest secret one-sided crush]] on). As a result, he tried to kill a Man-Eater by himself, which ended with [[EatenAlive most of his body being eaten by the monster]]; put Kiriko into a dying state as well for unknown reasons; and forced a doctor both siblings knew to perform the surgery that resulted in Kiruko’s current state (Haruki’s brain in Kiriko’s body). After recovering from the surgery and finding out the orphanage had shut down, plus Robin had gone missing, Kiruko planned on [[DrivenToSuicide committing suicide]], only deciding otherwise because she realized that Robin might still be alive. She searched for Robin, hoping to find out his fate, and after five years she finally reunited with him...]]\\
[[spoiler: …which is why Robin’s decision to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] as well as [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslight]] Kiruko took a brutal toll on her mental well-being. After having learned [[BitchInSheepsClothing his]] [[BrokenPedestal true]] [[SoftSpokenSadist nature]] while she was being raped, it got worse when he [[JerkassHasAPoint raised a considerable point]] about her identity that she couldn’t disprove, making her realize that [[LossOfIdentity she didn’t know who she really was]] anymore; she [[TraumaCongaLine broke down]] into a [[HeroicBSOD catatonic state]] and only wanted to “follow orders” as a result. The only thing keeping her from crossing the DespairEventHorizon was knowing that Maru loved and cared about her, which meant there was someone in the world who would cherish her. Fortunately, [[BigDamnHeroes Maru]] managed to find and rescue her after he gave Robin his comeuppance]].
* JerkassHasAPoint: During chapter thirty two, [[spoiler: while Robin was [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping Kiruko]] he decided to [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslight her]] in order to make her more submissive by questioning who she really was: “Haruki” or “Kiriko.” Terrified, she kept insisting she was “Haruki” because she had his memories. However, Robin pointed out that even if it’s Haruki’s brain in Kiriko’s body it doesn’t mean that Kiruko is “Haruki” for sure. It was possible that her mind was actually “Kiriko” who was able to access Haruki’s memories instead. This was the final straw that [[TraumaCongaLine broke Kiruko]] because she had no way to rebuff Robin’s theory, so when she started to see memories of “Kiriko” later on for the first time Kiruko realized [[LossOfIdentity she didn’t know who she was anymore]]]].

* LaResistance: During their travels Maru and Kiruko discovered a group of people who called themselves “Liviuman.” They claimed another group they called the “Immortalites” were kidnapping people and performing gruesome surgeries in order to test prosthetic body parts on them, thus the Liviuman group formed to oppose them after their spokeswoman had one of her legs surgically removed by the Immortalities in an apparent “test.” [[spoiler: It later turns out the Immortalites were innocent people who were being helped by a grown up Shiro from the “Nursery” plot, having any limbs that couldn’t be saved via surgery replaced with prosthetics instead. Furthermore, while the spokeswoman truly wanted to help people she thought were being kidnapped, TheDragon of the Liviuman group instead desired all the advanced technology housed in the Immortalites’s home base, deciding later to take full control of the Liviuman group after plotting to have the spokeswoman assassinated by one of his followers]].

** During the “Inazaki Robin” arc of the Post-Disater plot line, there is the Chief of the Water Filtration Center, [[spoiler: Inazaki Robin himself. When Maru found out Robin had [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] Kiruko, Maru took it upon himself to [[PayEvilUntoEvil punish]] Robin. [[{{Deconstruction}} However]], Maru toyed with Robin by throwing him at a wall numerous times, [[HeWhoFightsMonsters mirroring the humiliation that he had subjected Kiruko to]], which ended with [[DarkestHour Maru deciding to murder Robin]] after he was knocked out cold. While he was an evil and remorseless rapist, Maru’s actions against Robin steered unnervingly close to turning Maru into a [[KnightTemplar cold-blooded murderer seeking vengeance]], but was stopped by [[MoralityChain Kiruko]] before he threw the final punch. [[ThisIsUnforgivable He hasn’t recovered from this yet]], having planned in secrecy to murder Robin if the opportunity arises]].
** In the “Dream of Hell” arc of the Post-Disaster plot line, the Glasses Man [[spoiler: is tricked by a teenage Helm into allowing her to attach her prosthetic left arm unto his crotch, activating a bomb that blew him up to near death. This was done to ensure he could no longer [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape young girls]] like what he did to Helm when she was a child, though he succumbs to his wounds shortly after Helm mocks him about the [[MeaningfulName “dream of hell”]] she gave him]].
* LightningBruiser: Maru. He’s able to take punches from adults like they smacked him with a pillow, dish out serious hurt of his own, and can run fast compared to a normal human being. Due to his “Maru Touch” having obvious supernatural origins, it’s possible his enhanced physicality isn’t because of training alone. [[spoiler: Given that he bears a [[StrongFamilyResemblance heavy resemblance to Tokio]] from the Nursery plot and she had supernatural powers of her own, Maru’s impressive physicality may have come from her]].

* LossOfIdentity: In chapter thirty four, [[spoiler: Kiruko told Maru that the part that made her up, “Haruki,” was gone forever as well as stating she was weak; needed to be saved numerous times by Maru despite being his bodyguard; and that everything she believed about herself was lies after she had been [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] and [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslighted]] by [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] two days prior. [[HeroicBSOD As a result, Kiruko no longer knew who she was]]. However, Maru snapped her out of this after declaring that he didn’t care who she was, he loved her regardless and would protect her from then on]].
** Later during chapter thirty nine, [[spoiler: Kiruko has resumed believing she is still “Haruki” whose brain is occupying the body of “Kiriko,” but it’s made apparent she is forcing herself to do so because she despises Robin for [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping]] her and refuses to believe his theory stating otherwise, [[JerkassHasAPoint despite the fact she has no proof that his theory is wrong]]]].
* MartialPacifist: When against human opponents, Maru and Kiruko refuse to murder and will even avoid killing in justifiable self defense, instead using their [[CombatPragmatist wits and surroundings in combat]] to disable opponents or try to talk them down. [[spoiler: That is, unless you push Maru’s BerserkButton and violate Kiruko, as [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] found out the hard way]].

** Man-Eaters are sometimes called “Hiruko” by other people like Maru and his original guardian, Mikura. [[spoiler: “Hiruko” was the name given to the children of the Nursery plot, so whenever a character in the Post-Disaster plot calls the Man-Eaters “Hiruko” instead it’s a good sign that person had some kind of involvement with the nursery]].

** Kiruko’s name is revealed to be [[spoiler: a combination of the two people who makes up her body: Kiriko Takehaya’s body and Haruki Takehaya’s brain. Believing herself to still be Haruki because she has his brain and memories, she combined the two names together to create a cover name for herself]].
** Helm’s name in Japanese characters is written as “dream of hell.” [[spoiler: Which is what she planned on giving the Glasses Man who raped her years ago with a bomb]].
* TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody: [[spoiler: An inverted example is the basis for a theory [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] has that Kiruko’s mind may not be that of Haruki Takehaya, whose [[BrainTransplant brain was transplanted]] into his sister’s body - Kiriko Takehaya - several years before the Post-Disaster plot begins. Kiruko once believed she was “Haruki” because she only had his memories, but after seeing a memory from a viewpoint that belonged to “Kiriko” later on, Kiruko realized that [[JerkassHasAPoint Robin had a point]]]].
* MonsterIsAMommy: Inverted with an innkeeper who stopped Maru and Kiruko from killing a flying Man-Eater. She claimed the bird-like creature had her son’s memories after it ate him, which she backed up by stating the Man-Eater attacked a group of bandits who threatened her life and chose to spare her, making her believe it will protect her because it has her son’s being influencing it… until the flying Man-Eater sliced her into pieces afterwards and began eating her remains.
* MoralityChain: While Kiruko has no problems with Maru killing the vicious Man-Eaters as well as giving bandits a brutal beatdown, she does her best to talk him down from ending humans’s lives, even if it’s in self-defense. However, she has no problems with both of them assisting someone else who plans to kill another person if the latter committed an egregious crime to the former, such as assisting Helm to assassinate the Glasses Man who raped her when she was a child.
* MundaneFantastic: The children in the Nursery plot have various supernatural powers, which is sometimes accompanied by enhanced athleticism like being able to climb walls with ease. At the same time, none of this seems out of the ordinary to them as well as the adults living/working in the nursery.

* ThePowerOfTrust: This is one of the major themes of ''Heavenly Delusion'' and the “Inazaki Robin” arc within the Post-Disaster storyline featured this prominently. [[spoiler: At the end of the arc, Kiruko learned the AwfulTruth that people are complicated beings and can change over time if they weren’t hiding their true nature from the beginning; [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] ended up being a [[BitchInSheepsClothing twisted]] [[SoftSpokenSadist sadist]] who had no problems [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping]] her after using [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslighting tactics]] to try and make her more submissive, which [[HeroicBSOD worked for a while]]. However, that doesn’t mean people cannot be trusted. [[ChivalrousPervert Maru]] always [[CoolBigSis respected her]], avoided doing things that made her uncomfortable and apologized if he felt he went too far, ran through hell and back to [[BigDamnHeroes save her]] from Robin, and cherished her since Maru was in love with her. But at the same time one must keep vigilant around others, even if it’s someone you knew and especially if you haven’t seen them in a long time, which isn’t helped by the [[CrapsackWorld nature of their world]] having [[HumansAreBastards corrupted many individuals]]]].

* RefusalOfTheCall: [[DeconReconSwitch Zig-zagged]]. While Maru seemed at first to take the journey to “Heaven” in stride, the reality was he didn’t have anything else to do - having lived a life of constant partings from different groups and being taken under the wing of an adult who saw potential in him (like Mikura). This reached a point where he outright told Kiruko that he thought they should abandon the journey; this way he could instead team up with her as a fellow handyman since he fell in love with her (much to her shock, though she was flattered by it regardless). Kiruko, on the flip side, was hoping to find Robin or the Doctor she knew from her childhood during their journey, all so she could find out what happened to them. Since Maru realized she still wanted to travel, he decided to continue the journey, [[ChivalrousPervert all the while making constant romantic moves on her with comedic results oftentimes.]]
* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: During the “Immortalite” arc, [[spoiler: the spy who helped the Liviuman group gain access to the Immortalite’s building was murdered by one of the higher ups within Liviuman, who went on to declare the execution was just because the Immoralites had murdered their spokeswoman. One of the Liviuman members [[LampshadedTrope lampshaded this]], realizing the executed man had been their faithful spy who worked for Liviuman the entire time, but decided to do nothing out of fear of being executed as well for speaking up]].

** In chapter fourteen, Kiruko panicked when Maru wasn’t in the room they were staying in until he revealed he was hiding in another room looking at a porn magazine. But when he tried to assure her that he was ok, she started crying, much to his dismay. He remembered that she grew up in an orphanage, which shut down at one point [[spoiler: because when Kiriko “died” the money she brought in from winning electric cart races stopped, therefore the orphanage couldn’t support itself]] and she sometimes begged out loud for Robin to save her when she’s in extreme danger. Maru realized at that point she has a fear of being abandoned by people she cares about, thus he decided to stay at a location that Kiruko wanted him to from then on. [[spoiler: Which unfortunately meant that he waited two days before he went to check on her at the Water Filtration Center, finding out upon seeing her that she had been [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped the entire time]] by [[BrokenPedestal Robin]]]].

* TruthInTelevision: Due to Maru and Kiruko traveling throughout post-apocalyptic Japan a good number of real life survival tips/tactics are showcased in the Post-Disaster plot.

** In the “Nursery” plot, [[spoiler: the Director is this. Many people see her as a wise old woman who oversees the entire operation of the nursery and cares about the children, [[WiseOldFolkFacade but it’s all an act]]]].
** In the “Post-Disaster” plot, [[spoiler: Inazaki Robin is this. He’s the Chief of an important water filtration center in a town run by the Ministry of Reconstruction, using his charisma and smarts to woo everyone - [[TheCasanova especially women]]. However, he uses this prestige to lure innocent women into the facility where he can [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] and [[MedicalHorror experiment]] on them]].
*** However, this is [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] later after [[spoiler: [[BigDamnHeroes Robin was pummeled unconscious by Maru after he rescued Kiruko]], which spooked Robin when he awoke later into running away from the town after stealing equipment from the facility. This earned him the ire of the Ministry of Reconstruction, who assigned a squad of government officials to hunt him down]].

** Chapter thirty two starts off with Kiruko and Robin catching up on old times after many years had passed, enjoying each other’s company and Kiruko believing everything will be alright again since she found her BigBrotherMentor. [[spoiler: [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil Then he rapes her]], and reveals his [[BitchInSheepsClothing true]] [[SoftSpokenSadist nature]] to her horror]].

** Chapter seven has Kiruko telling Maru when he unsuccessfully tried to romantically woo her that [[spoiler: her body is female... but her brain is a male's. She has Haruki Takehaya’s brain and memories, who was male, therefore she considers herself a man. Maru has mixed feelings about this, mainly because he doesn’t see Kiruko as either “Haruki” or “Kiriko” and chooses to sees Kiurko as her own individual]].

** When Maru learned that the Chief of the Water Filtration had [[spoiler: [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped Kiruko]]]], Maru realized he could’ve stopped him earlier if he hadn’t obeyed Kiruko’s wishes to stay put in the apartment they were renting.

* CerebusCallBack: Kiruko once made a deal with Maru that if he accomplished a dangerous task he would get to grope her breasts [[ThePowerOfLust (which he set forth to accomplish immediately upon hearing this)]]. But when it came time for him to collect, she panicked and tried to dissuade him with multiple reasons, including trying to convince him that [[spoiler: because she had Haruki Takehaya’s brain, she considered herself a guy, therefore Maru would be feeling up a man instead of a woman]]. This didn’t work [[spoiler: because Haruki’s brain was inside Kiriko Takehaya’s body (Haruki’s sister), a beautiful and well-endowed woman]], although she managed to escape because she screamed out loud by accident and caught the innkeeper’s attention of the hotel they were in, who promptly dragged Maru out of the room.\\
Later, [[spoiler: Kiruko]] ends up a similar situation, but this time around it’s ''not'' played for comedy. [[spoiler: After [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] handcuffed Kiruko in an abandoned room when they were alone, he began to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] her while she was screaming and resisting. She attempted to appeal to Robin by telling him that she was “Haruki” like she had done with Maru in the past, but Robin didn’t believe this either. He rebuffed this by telling her that he was going to rape “Kiriko” and that “Haruki” needed to save her. This confused Kiruko because she had believed she was Haruki Takehaya the entire time due to having his memories… until she started to hallucinate and saw “Haruki” in the reflection of a mirror trying to reach her in desperation. This made her realize [[JerkassHasAPoint Robin had a point]] that Kiruko’s mind may have been “Kiriko” all along, which led to her gaining the ability to see memories from Kiriko’s point of view later on; this made Kiruko realize [[LossOfIdentity she didn’t know who she was]]]].

* MoralityChain: While Kiruko has no problems with Maru killing the vicious Man-Eaters as well as giving bandits a brutal beatdown, she does her best to talk him down from end humans’s lives, even if it’s in self-defense. However, they have no problems assisting someone else who plans to kill another person if the latter committed an egregious crime to the former, such as the Glasses Man who raped Helm when she was a child. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], as this allows victims to get justice against a violent/dangerous criminal who otherwise would likely remain unpunished and able to continue violating/murdering innocent people in a post-apocalyptic world.

* TruthInTelevision: Due to Maru and Kiruko traveling on the road to reach cities, a good number of real life survival tips/tactics show up in the Post-Disaster plot.
** When Maru and Kiruko were being chased by a [[BearsAreBadNews wild bear]], they managed to escape by climbing up a make-shift ladder to wait out the bear on a concrete pillar. But the bear had no intention of letting a rare meal escape, thus the duo were stuck. Kiruko’s biggest fear while on the pillar was that the concrete would sap their body heat, which meant they could die from hypothermia way before starving or from dehydration and further made problematic by the unnaturally cold weather.
** Knowing how to start a fire has helped them numerous times, such as cooking meat to proper edible temperature as well as creating a beacon in the darkness that would allow other survivors to know of their location.
** Kiruko oftentimes tries to mix in edible vegetation she finds on their journey with their meals. Proper nutrition is vital for survival, which is why eating only preserved food from containers they looted can lead to serious illnesses like scurvy if the food is lacking in nutrients. However, at one point Kiruiko made the mistake of mixing unknown vegetation with their dinner - without knowing how it would affect the taste - with an entire can of food, which led to their entire dinner being inedible as well as gross tasting. If you want to eat plants you find in the wild, it’s best to know what you’re dealing with, but if you’re not sure then only mix it with a small portion of the main dish set aside as a taste test. And be prepared to feel sick if the plant you couldn’t identify was poisonous and/or contaminated.
** Chapter sixteen revealed the dangers of entering a tunnel environment if you don’t know the layout of the area. If you enter a tunnel, yet the original entrance you used either gets blocked off by a freak accident (e.g. cave-in caused by an earthquake) or a hostile being who cuts you off from the outside that you cannot overpower, you’re forced to either wait and hope your resources on hand can sustain you until help arrives or explore deeper for a new exit. And if the rest of the tunnel is cut off (e.g. flooded with water), you’re trapped, limiting your options.

* RewardedAsATraitorDeserves: During the “Immoralite” arc, [[spoiler: the spy who helped the Liviuman group gain access to the Immoratalite’s building was murdered by one of the higher ups within Liviuman, who went on to declare the execution was just because the Immoralites had murdered their spokeswoman . One of the Liviuman members lampshaded this, realizing the man had been their faithful spy who worked for Liviuman the entire time, but decided to do nothing out of fear of being executed as well for speaking up]].
* PosthumousCharacter: A very odd example in that initially you won't even realize it's happening. Relatively early on in the story, Maru and Kiruko come across a facility where a tech savy man is keeping a woman alive who is slowly turning into a Man-Eater and is being kept human through a rather brutal method of cutting off parts of the body that are beginning to turn. By the time they arrive, she is missing most of all 4 limbs and is almost entirely covered in bandages save for over her right eye. There is clearly a history between the two as she doesn't hate him for what he's doing and even thanks him for [[spoiler:keeping her alive long enough to die as a human. Shortly after Maru puts her out of her misery in the same way he's killed many man-eaters, the man shoots himself while embracing her body. Maru finds that he is holding a button with the same logo that Kiruko's gun has. Though there is some foreshadowing during this storyline, it isn't until a while later that it begins to become clear that the man and woman are an older Shiro and Mimihime from the Nursery side of the story. Their first major interaction in the story aside from Shiro watching Mimihime from a distance doesn't occur until about 20+ chapters later.]]

** Chapter seven has Kiruko telling Maru when he unsuccessfully tried to romantically woo her that [[spoiler: her body is female... but her brain is a male's. She has Haruki Takehaya’s brain and memories, who was male, therefore she considers herself a man. Maru has mixed feelings about this, mainly because he doesn’t see it this way]].

** In chapter five, Maru and Kiruko were stopped by the innkeeper from dealing the finishing blow on the [[AnimalisticAbomination Bird Man-Eater]] because she claimed it was her son Yuuto. She told them it protected her from bandits after it ate him, thus it has Yuuto’s memories and should be left alone because it was now her son that was controlling the monster’s body. When she approached the Man-Eater, yet it refused to harm her, the duo believed there was credence to this theory and that Man-Eaters that won’t harm humans should be spared… until the monster sliced the woman’s head in half and began eating her remains, forcing the duo to destroy the monster.

** Child prostitution was featured at one point in the Post-Disaster storyline with a thirteen year old girl named Totori, who made a move on Maru in the hopes of getting easy money. Later on, the Glasses Man who raped Helm was revealed to have a child slave who obeyed his commands in return for food; the people around did nothing about this, despite the obvious fact the little girl was a prostitute, [[CrapsackWorld showcasing how desensitized the town had become about such matters]].

** Kiruko was threatened by bandits early on, seeing her as the only chance in a long time they would get to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] a beautiful woman with no authorities around to stop them. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, she ends up being raped later by [[BrokenPedestal Robin]], who had [[BigBrotherMentor taken care of her sister and herself]] when she was still a boy named Haruki five years before that point. The entire scene was illustrated with brutally realistic details to showcase how horrifying rape is, but especially when done by [[EtTuBrute someone you had trusted with your life beforehand]]]].

* MoralityChain: While Kiruko has no problems with Maru killing the vicious Man-Eaters as well as giving bandits a brutal beatdown, she does her best to talk him down from end humans’s lives, even if it’s in self-defense. However, this has its limits if the perpetrator in question committed an egregious crime, such as the case of the Glasses Man who [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped Helm]] and kept a child prostitute chained by hand to him [[spoiler: plus Maru secretly planning on murdering Robin since the latter raped Kiruko]].

** During the “Inazaki Robin” arc of the Post-Disater plot line, there is also the Chief of the Water Filtration Center, [[spoiler: Inazaki Robin himself. When Maru found out Robin had [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] Kiruko, Maru took it upon himself to [[PayEvilUntoEvil punish Robin]]. However, Maru toyed with Robin by throwing him at a wall numerous times, [[HeWhoFightsMonsters mirroring the humiliation that he had subjected Kiruko to]], which ended with [[DarkestHour Maru deciding to murder Robin]] after he was knocked out cold. While he was an evil and remorseless rapist, Maru’s actions against Robin steered unnervingly close to turning Maru into a [[KnightTemplar cold-blooded murderer seeking vengeance]], but was stopped by [[MoralityChain Kiruko]] before he threw the final punch. However, [[ThisIsUnforgivable he hasn’t recovered from this yet]], having planned in secrecy to murder Robin if the opportunity arises]].

There are two PlotThreads that the story follows, both of which are nicknamed here on TV Tropes for ease of understanding the story. The first one, “Post-Disaster,” features Maru’s and Kuriko’s adventures in a post-apocalyptic setting that ended up this way as the result of an unknown calamity, which had occurred fifteen years in the past from that point. The second one, “Nursery,” features several children in a special nursery surrounded by walls who have special abilities. However, learning more about one plot will spoil details in the other due to several plot twists taking place over the course of the story, so tread lightly. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.

* MoralityChain: While Kiruko has no problems with Maru killing the vicious Man-Eaters as well as giving bandits a brutal beatdown, she does her best to talk him down from end humans’s lives, even if it’s in self-defense. However, this has its limits if the perpetrator in question committed an egregious crime, such as the case of the glasses man who [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped Helm]] and kept a child prostitute chained by hand to him [[spoiler: plus Maru secretly planning on murdering Robin since the latter raped Kiruko]].

** Kiruko oftentimes tries to mix in edible vegetation she finds on their journey. While consuming food is vital, nutrition matters as well, which is why eating only preserved food from containers can lead to serious illnesses like scurvy if the food is lacking in vital nutrition. However, at one point Kiruiko made the mistake of mixing unknown vegetation with their dinner - without knowing how it would affect the taste - with an entire can of food, which led to their entire dinner being inedible as well as gross tasting. If you want to eat plants you find in the wild, it’s best to know what you’re dealing with, but if you’re not sure then only mix it with a small portion of the main dish set aside you. This way, you can test the taste and see if it’s a good idea to mix more plants in with your food or if it’s inedible and gross.

** Child prostitution was featured at one point in the Post-Disaster storyline with a thirteen year old girl named Totori, who made a move on Maru in the hopes of getting easy money. Later on, the glasses man who raped Helm was revealed to have a child slave who obeyed his commands in return for food; the people around did nothing about this, despite the obvious fact the little girl was a prostitute, [[CrapsackWorld showcasing how desensitized the town had become about such matters]].

As it turns out, [[spoiler: that is indeed the plan of the [[EvilOldFolks Director]] from the Nursery plot line. She wanted to transplant her brain into Tokio’s child and gain access to their supernatural abilities, but since the child was too young it wouldn’t work before the Director died of old age. She instead decided to have it transplanted into one of her aides named Aoshima and wait until the child was old enough for another procedure, but the doctor who would’ve been responsible for the surgery decided he had enough of a crazy old woman telling him what to do and plotted behind her back.]].

* ChekhovsGun: Several exist in both plots.
** Kona’s paintings from the Nursery plot are strongly implied to be this.

* GroinAttack: In chapter forty, [[spoiler: Helm detached her bionic arm and latched it onto the groin of the glasses man who raped her many years prior using fish hooks. Then she revealed the arm had explosives in it, blowing up the pedophile rapist when it successfully detonated]].

** The Glasses Man raped Helm when she was a young girl and skirted the authorities by not wearing his glasses, thus he managed to escape after another attempt at raping Helm was botched. [[spoiler: Which makes his demise via being blown up by a bomb that Helm planted on him amusing to watch for many.]]

* EveryoneHasStandards: While [[HormoneAddledTeenager Maru]] would love nothing more than to fondle Kiruko’s boobs, he won’t stand others doing the same and even manages to restrain himself from letting his perversion getting the best of him. It doesn’t help matters that Kiruko herself knows this, even tempting him on occasion for fun and to [[IHaveBoobsYouMustObey get him to accomplish difficult tasks for her]].
* FireForgedFriends: While there wasn’t any animosity between the two, Maru wasn’t an open book for Kiruko starting off, due to his previous history following adults around and not knowing what to make of her at first. He even didn’t mind Kiruko leaving him alone on his journey, but after they defeated the Bird Man-Eater and he got to see her more sensitive side they developed a true friendship. However, Maru wants to [[BattleCouple upgrade this in the future]] if given the opportunity

** After Helm was raped, she told the people in her town who went on to find a man wearing glasses who she believed was her rapist. Upon condemning him, the man had one of his arms chopped off and was exiled, presumably with his family in tow. But she later discovered the true culprit had avoided detection by [[CuttingTheKnot simply not wearing his glasses]], almost raping her again until she threw up on his crotch and got the attention of a nearby woman, forcing the glasses man to flee town. [[WhatHaveIDone Helm had to live with the realization that in her haste to get vengeance, she blamed an innocent man by accident]], which broke her to the point that she [[spoiler: chopped off her left forearm with an axe in retribution for her mistake]].

* HateSink: The Chief of the Water Filtration Plant, [[spoiler: Robin]], becomes one after [[spoiler: he [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] Kuriko; [[BullyingADragon mockingly asking Maru if he had used her to satisfy himself too]] when they faced off; and the authorities of the town later discovered Robin had been performing experiments on an innocent woman by connecting her to a Man-Eater - with said woman missing some limbs and possibly been raped by him too]].

** Chapter seven has Kiruko telling Maru when he unsuccessfully tried to romantically woo her that [[spoiler: her body is female... but her brain is a male's. She has Haruki Takehaya’s brain and memories, who was male, therefore she considers herself a man. Maru has mixed feelings about this, mainly because he doesn’t see in this way]].
* WhatHaveIDone: When Helm was younger, she was [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] by a man wearing glasses after he ambushed her in the middle of the night. Upon being released, she told the people living nearby what happened, which led to them finding a man that Helm believed was the rapist; they chopped off the man’s hand as punishment and expelled him from the town. But later on Helm found out the real criminal disguised himself in town by not wearing his glasses, then tried to rape her yet again, but stopped after she threw up on him - which disgusted him and caught the attention of a nearby woman. After the glasses man fled, Helm was so distraught by the fact she had accused an innocent man that she [[spoiler: chopped her left arm off as penance]].

** In Chapter Five, Maru and Kiruko were stopped by the innkeeper from dealing the finishing blow on the [[AnimalisticAbomination Bird Man-Eater]] because she claimed it was her son Yuuto. She told them it protected her from bandits after it ate him, thus it has Yuuto’s memories and should be left alone because it was now her son that was controlling the monster’s body. When she approached the Man-Eater, yet it refused to harm her, the duo believed there was credence to this theory and that Man-Eaters that won’t harm humans should be spared… until the monster sliced the woman’s head in half and began eating her remains, forcing the duo to destroy the monster.

* FireForgedFriends: Maru and Kiruko become this after over a month had passed when they first met, though Maru does try throughout the Post-Disaster plot to [[BattleCouple upgrade this]] due to his infatuation with Kiruko [[spoiler: who he considers a woman, despite knowing she considers herself a man due to having Haruki Takehaya’s brain in her head]]. She stays friends with Maru out of professional duty as his bodyguard for the journey, though she does tease him from time to time and [[IHaveBoobsYouMustObey isn’t above using sex appeal]] to get him to complete tasks for her.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: There are several details throughout the story that end up having a huge significance to both of the plot lines:
** In chapter three, the Nursery plot shows that Kona is a masterful artist, but his artwork bears an uncanny resemblance to the Hiruko monsters. [[spoiler: Later on, a grown up Shiro who goes by the name Dr. Usami revealed to Maru and Kiruko that the Hiruko monsters were once human, but they died from an illness that eventually warped the corpses into the monsters we see today. Considering the children in the nursery had special abilities and many of these monsters use similar abilities to the children, it’s likely many of them became the Hiruko monsters we see in the Post-Disaster storyline]].
** Kiruko from the Post-Disaster plot line had several odd instances that appeared in the first couple of chapters. Besides forgetting if she was eighteen or twenty years and claiming the mixup was due to being bad at math, there was a scene where she was examining her own body and attempted to kiss her own reflection in a mirror, but bailed when an innkeeper entered the room. Also, Maru later discovered a large stitch wound on her head when he helped dry her hair, which she stated came from a surgery in the past. Then during Chapter Seven a man from the “Tomato Heaven” vineyard thought Kiruko was a famous kart-racer named Kiriko Takehaya, who went missing years ago, but she denied the resemblances.\\
[[spoiler: It’s later revealed in Chapter Nine that “Kiruko” is an alias for Haruki Takehaya, the younger brother of the aforementioned Kiriko Takehaya, whose body Haruki’s brain is inhabiting due to a [[MedicalHorror medical procedure done by a doctor]] - one that he knew five years ago. When he tried to kill a Man-Eater who could turn invisible before it attacked his sister during one of her kart races, his experimental crossbow weapon [[NoSell failed to bring it down]], thus [[EatenAlive most of his body was eaten]] before his sister managed to pull his body out. In the end, Haruki passed out with his sister crying over him, making him believe he was dying.\\

** In chapter thirty three, the Chief of the Water Filtration Center [[spoiler: Robin]] ''panicked'' when he saw Maru for the first time and ran away, hinting that the Chief knew Maru was a [[LightningBruiser dangerous]] [[SuperToughness threat]] despite appearing to be a mere teenage boy. This was even before the Chief found out all the guards had been knocked out by Maru. [[spoiler: Five years ago Robin had disappeared for several months before the orphanage closed down, making it possible he came into contact with some the people of the nursery where children with supernatural abilities had been - thus he may have known who Maru was. There’s also the matter of Robin choosing to lock up the room with the woman surgically attached to the Man-Eater instead of running outside, but information on this remains scarce]].

** Child prostitution was featured at one point in the Post-Disaster storyline with a thirteen year old girl named Totori, who made a move on Maru in the hopes of getting easy money.

* MoralityChain: While Kiruko has no problems with Maru killing the vicious Man-Eaters as well as giving bandits a brutal beatdown, she does her best to talk him down from end humans’s lives, even if it’s in self-defense. However, this has its limits if the perpetrator in question committed an egregious crime, such as the case of the glasses man who [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped Helm]] and kept a child slave chained by hand to him in order to have sex with at his leisure [[spoiler: and Maru secretly planning on murdering Robin since the latter raped Kiruko]].

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Totori, a thirteen year old girl who also runs an inn within a town inhabited by a vigilante group. While it’s hinted that she knew about the trap involving the “pure water” gathering site when Maru and Kiruko went to collect fresh water, Totori helped out Maru and Kiruko later on when she discovered they had saved her boss from a wild bear by telling the rest of the vigilantes that the duo had already fled town, ensuring the duo could have a peaceful night in the inn. She also tried to make a move on Maru that same night, which ended comically since [[HasAType he preferred older women]] like Kiruko [[spoiler: and was too freaked out to want to make love when his “Maru Touch” ability activated on Totori since she had a core like the Hiruko, making him realize some humans were fair game for his ability too]].

* MeaningfulName: Man-Eaters are sometimes called “Hiruko” by other people like Maru and his original guardian, Mikura. [[spoiler: “Hiruko” was the name given to the children of the Nursery plot, so whenever a character in the Post-Disaster plot calls the Man-Eaters “Hiruko” instead it’s a good sign that person had some kind of involvement with the nursery]].

* MoralityChain: While Kiruko has no problems with Maru killing the vicious Man-Eaters as well as giving bandits a brutal beatdown, she does her best to talk him down from killing humans, even if it’s in self-defense.

* WhamLine: Chapter Seven has [[spoiler: Kiruko telling Maru when he tried to romantically woo her that her body is female... but her brain is a male's. She has Haruki Takehaya’s brain and memories, who was male, therefore she considers herself a man. In the end run though, Maru didn’t see it this way and continued to make romantic passes at her]], [[{{Foreshadowing}} which hinted towards another major development in the future]].
** [[WhamEpisode Wham Chapter]]: Chapter Thirty Two has [[spoiler: Robin revealing his [[BitchInSheepsClothing true]] [[SoftSpokenSadist nature]] for the first time. After making sure Kiruko let her guard down around him, he tricked her into going into an empty room by herself and [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil proceeded to rape her]]. When she attempted to convince him that she was “Haruki” to get Robin to stop, he refused to believe this just like Maru in the past. However, whereas he was a [[ChivalrousPervert perverted yet kind hearted person]] who would never violate her against her will, [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] didn’t hesitate to rape her.\\
Since Kiruko continued to struggle and shout, he decided to begin [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslighting]] her to make her more submissive and started questioning if she really was “Haruki,” or if she was “Kiriko” who only thought she was “Haruki” because she had his memories. Kiruko realized that [[JerkassHasAPoint Robin had a point]], who continued to rape her until Maru saved her and [[KickTheSonOfABitch beat Robin unconscious in retaliation]]. Afterwards, it’s clear the revelation that she doesn’t know who she really is will continue to haunt her, especially since she can now see memories from Kiriko’s point of view as well as Haruki’s]].

** In Chapter Thirteen, Maru was harassed by a vigilante gang that [[CurbStompBattle drew his full wrath]] when their leader, Iwata, knocked out one of Maru’s teeth. Afterwards, Iwata [[MoralMyopia swore vengeance]] and planned on ambushing Maru along with Kiruko, but a [[BearsAreBadNews wild bear]] ambushed Iwata and mauled him to near death; he ended up being saved by the duo. Later on Maru found out that Iwata had been watching over Totori, the young innkeeper of the inn they were staying at that night, which made Maru realize Iwata [[JerkassWithAHeartOfGold wasn’t a bad person at heart]]. Maru had been part of a gang in the past and believed they could’ve been good friends if he had grown up in that town, thus he became depressed upon learning that Iwata died later that evening.

** A straight example is Sawatori, a scientist who was passed up as the next Director in line to a woman named Ao Shima. He attempted to confront her on this, but reneged when he noticed the facility AI Meena was talking with her, instead doing his best to swallow his rage. [[spoiler: That is, until he learned in horror the real reason why she was chosen by the current Director: Ao Shima was the chosen body vessel that the Director wanted to [[BrainTheft remove the former’s brain out of]] in order to [[BrainTransplant insert her own brain into]] due to her own body failing, thus giving her a [[GrandTheftMe form of immortality]] so she could live long enough to eventually possess the body of Tokio’s child]].

* HormoneAddledTeenager: Several of the kids from the Nursery plot line make romantic moves on each other over time, some of them even leading to actual couples like [[spoiler: [[TheQuietOne Shiro]] and [[NiceGirl Mimihime]]]]. [[ChivalrousPervert Maru]] also wants to [[RelationshipUpgrade upgrade]] his [[FireForgedFriends friendship]] with Kiruko into a romantic one, but fails due to her being too preoccupied with keeping Maru and herself alive as well as trying to find [[BigBrotherMentor Robin]] and the Doctor. [[spoiler: However, after being [[BigDamnHeroes saved by Maru]] when [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped her]] later on, she has [[ShipTease become closer to Maru as a result]]]].

* LightningBruiser: Maru. He’s able to take punches from adults like they smacked him with a pillow, dish out serious hurt of his own, and can run fast compared to a normal human being. Due to his “Maru Touch” having obvious supernatural origins, it’s possible his enhanced physicality isn’t because of training alone. [[spoiler: Given that he bears a [[StrongFamilyResemblance heavy resemblance to Tokio]] from the “Nursery” storyline and she had supernatural powers of her own, Maru’s impressive physicality may have come from her]].

* LossOfIdentity: [[spoiler: In Chapter Thirty Four, Kiruko told Maru that the part that made her up, “Haruki,” was gone forever as well as stating she was weak; needed to be saved numerous times by Maru despite being his bodyguard; and that everything she believed about herself was lies after she had been [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] and [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslighted]] by [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] two days prior. [[HeroicBSOD As a result, Kiruko no longer knew who she was]]. However, Maru snapped her out of this after declaring that he didn’t care who she was, he loved her regardless and would protect her from then on]].

* MeaningfulName: Man-Eaters are sometimes called “Hiruko” by other people like Maru and his original guardian, Mikura. [[spoiler: Hiruko was the name given to the children of the Nursery plot, so whenever a character in the Post-Disaster plot calls the Man-Eaters “Hiruko” instead it’s a good sign that person had some kind of involvement with the nursery]].

* MundaneFantastic: The children in the Nursery plot line have various supernatural powers, which is sometimes accompanied by enhanced athleticism like being able to climb walls with ease. At the same time, none of this seems out of the ordinary to them as well as the adults living/working in the nursery.

** In Chapter Thirty Eight, a Man-Eater that Kiruko fired her “Kiru-Beam” at deflected the beam right back at her, though fortunately she was too far away for the beam to hurt her.

* RefusalOfTheCall: [[DeconReconSwitch Zig-zagged]]. While Maru seemed at first to take the journey to “Heaven” in stride, the reality was he didn’t have anything else to do - having lived a life of constant partings from different groups and being taken under the wing of an adult who saw potential in him (like Mikura). This reached a point where he outright told Kiruko that he thought they should abandon the journey; this way he could instead team up with her as a fellow handyman since he fell in love with her (much to her shock, though she was flattered by it regardless). Kiruko, on the flip side, was hoping to find Robin or the doctor she knew from her childhood during their journey, all so she could find out what happened to them. Since Maru realized she still wanted to travel, he decided to continue the journey, [[ChivalrousPervert all the while making constant romantic moves on her with comedic results oftentimes.]]

** In Chapter Fourteen, Kiruko panicked when Maru wasn’t in the room they were staying in until he revealed he was hiding in another room looking at a porn magazine. But when he tried to assure her that he was ok, she started crying, much to his dismay. He remembered that she grew up in an orphanage, which shut down at one point [[spoiler: because when Kiriko “died” the money she brought in from winning electric cart races stopped, therefore the orphanage couldn’t support itself]] and she sometimes begged out loud for Robin to save her when she’s in extreme danger. Maru realized at that point she has a fear of being abandoned by people she cares about, thus he decided to stay at a location that Kiruko wanted him to from then on. [[spoiler: Which unfortunately meant that he waited two days before he went to check on her at the Water Filtration Center, finding out upon seeing her that she had been [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped the entire time]] by [[BrokenPedestal Robin]]]].

* AmbiguousGender: Tokio has an androgynous appearance unique amongst most of the children within the nursery. [[spoiler: She’s later confirmed to be female, which was revealed when she had sexual intercourse with a boy named Kona in secrecy.]]

** During the “Inazaki Robin” arc of the Post-Disater plot line, there is also the Chief of the Water Filtration Center, [[spoiler: Inazaki Robin himself. When Maru found out Robin had [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] Kiruko, Maru took it upon himself to [[PayEvilUntoEvil punish Robin]]. However, Maru toyed with Robin by throwing him at a wall numerous times, [[HeWhoFightsMonsters mirroring the humiliation that he had subjected Kiruko to]], which ended with [[DarkestHour Maru deciding to murder Robin]] after he was knocked out cold. While he was an evil and remorseless rapist, Maru’s actions against Robin steered unnervingly close to turning Maru into a [[KnightTemplar cold-blooded murderer seeking vengeance]], but was stopped by [[MoralityChain Kiruko]] before he threw the final punch. However, [[ThisIsUnforgivable he still hasn’t recovered from this yet]], having planned in secrecy to murder Robin if Maru ever sees him again]].
* AttractiveBentGender: Maru once disguised himself with a women’s wig in order to infiltrate a cult of misandrist women alongside Kiruko. It was convincing enough that even she got turned on a bit by looking at him.

* BodyguardCrush: Maru has a crush on the bodyguard his former guardian, Mikura, hired for his journey named Kiruko. While she doesn’t reciprocate his feelings, they end up becoming [[FireForgedFriends good friends]] after having survived many dangerous encounters throughout their travels. [[spoiler: That may change after the “Inazaki Robin” arc ended, however, as Kiruko learned the man she admired the most - her former BigBrotherMentor Robin - was nothing more than a [[BitchInSheepsClothing twisted]] [[SoftSpokenSadist sadist]] who had no problems [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping]] and [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslighting]] her, whereas [[BigDamnHeroes Maru put himself in danger]] in order to save her]].

* BrokenTears: In Chapter Twenty One, [[spoiler: Dr. Usami, aka Shiro, does this after he read the final words on Mimihime’s tablet, [[DyingDeclarationOfLove proclaiming her love for him]] and never holding anything against him for the actions he took to keep her alive - knowing full well she would’ve become a Man-Eater had Shiro not acted]].
** There’s also Chapter Thirty Three. [[spoiler: After Kiruko had been [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped for days]] by her former BigBrotherMentor [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] and [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslighted]] by him into realizing [[LossOfIdentity she doesn’t know who she is anymore]], she cried out in anguish for Maru to save her. Fortunately, he happened to hear this while he was infiltrating Robin’s facility, [[BigDamnHeroes which led to Maru finding and saving her]]]].

* DetectEvil: Maru later gains the ability to detect the presence of any nearby Man-Eaters in the Post-Disaster plot [[spoiler: including the Hiruko humans and their descendants who have a core just like the Man-Eaters, such as Juiichi’s son]].
* DirtyCoward: In Chapter Eight, Robin taught Haruki how to fight, including teachings such as watching your opponent’s body movements by looking at their collar; cowards will try to intimidate their opponent by staring at their face; and the losers in fights are those who only focus on their opponents. These lessons stuck with Haruki throughout his life time when he fought many opponents using these exact tactics[[spoiler:, which Kiruko (who has Haruki’s brain and memories) continued following to protect Maru]]. Ironically, [[spoiler: [[{{Hypocrite}} Robin does everything he preached against in a fight]] to Maru in Chapter Thirty Three, which happened after Maru discovered that [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil Robin had raped Kiruko]]. During the entire fight [[TranquilFury Maru didn’t focus on Robin, nor react to anything he said]], choosing instead to stare at the wall and thwart every attempt Robin made to run away by grabbing his jacket and throwing him at the wall, showing that [[CurbStompBattle Maru didn’t even need to see his opponent in order to defeat them]]]].

* EatenAlive: This happens on occasion when a Man-Eater devours a human being, but what makes it worse is that the process is slow and painful for the victim. [[spoiler: Haruki suffered this gruesome fate, who had his limbs and lower portion of his stomach area “swallowed” by the Man-Eater]].

* EtTuBrute: [[spoiler: Robin, who [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] Kuriko for almost two days straight until [[BigDamnHeroes Maru showed up]] and [[KickTheSonOfABitch bashed Robin’s face in]]. It’s made more dramatic by the fact she had spent over five years looking for Robin, only to be betrayed by him in one of the worst ways possible]].
* FireForgedFriends: Maru and Kiruko become this after over a month had passed when they first met, though Maru does try throughout the Post-Disaster plot to [[BattleCouple upgrade this]] due to his infatuation with Kiruko [[spoiler: who he considers a woman, despite knowing she considers herself a man due to having Haruki Takehaya’s brain in her head]]. She stays friends with Maru out of “professional duty” as his bodyguard for the journey, though she does tease him from time to time and [[IHaveBoobsYouMustObey isn’t above using sex appeal]] to get him to do things for her. [[spoiler: However, after Robin [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] Kiruko, Maru [[BigDamnHeroes rescued her from Robin]], and Kiruko came to terms with the possibility she might instead be “Kiriko” who is accessing “Haruki’s” memories, this might [[BattleCouple upgrade]] in the future [[CharacterDevelopment considering they are closer than they were before]]]].

** In Chapter Three, the Nursery storyline shows that Kona is a masterful artist... but his artwork bears an uncanny resemblance to the Hiruko monsters. [[spoiler: Later on, a grown up Shiro who goes by the name Dr. Usami revealed to Maru and Kiruko that the Hiruko monsters were once human, but they died from an illness that eventually warped the corpses into the monsters we see today. Considering the children in the nursery had special abilities and many of these monsters use similar abilities to the children, it’s likely many of them became the Hiruko monsters we see in the Post-Disaster storyline]].

** In Chapter Thirty Three, the Chief of the Water Filtration Center [[spoiler: Robin]] ''panicked'' when he saw Maru for the first time and ran away, hinting that the Chief knew Maru was a [[LightningBruiser dangerous]] [[SuperToughness threat]] despite appearing to be a mere teenage boy. This was even before the Chief found out all the guards had been knocked out by Maru. [[spoiler: Five years ago Robin had disappeared for several months before the orphanage closed down, making it possible he came into contact with some the people of the nursery where children with supernatural abilities had been - thus he may have known who Maru was. There’s also the matter of Robin choosing to lock up the room with the woman surgically attached to the Man-Eater instead of running outside, but information on this remains scarce]].

* TheGovernment: [[spoiler: It’s hinted during the “Nursery” plot that the Japanese government had an active hand in the experiments being conducted on the children from the nursery (who are later revealed to be the Hiruko themselves). Also, a more benevolent variant appeared in the “Post-Disaster” plot known as the Ministry of Reconstruction, whose goal is to revive Japan back to its pre-disaster glory, albeit they too have resorted to hiding details from the public like the existence of a dormant Man-Eater in the water filtration center]].

* JerkassHasAPoint: In Chapter Thirty Two, [[spoiler: while Robin was [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping Kiruko]] he decided to [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslight her]] in order to make her more submissive by questioning who she really was: “Haruki” or “Kiriko.” Terrified, she kept insisting she was “Haruki” because she had his memories. However, Robin pointed out that even if it’s Haruki’s brain in Kiriko’s body it doesn’t mean that Kiruko is “Haruki” for sure. It was possible that her mind was actually “Kiriko” who was able to access Haruki’s memories instead. This was the final straw that [[TraumaCongaLine broke Kiruko]] because she had no way to rebuff Robin’s theory, so when she started to see memories of “Kiriko” later on for the first time Kiruko realized [[LossOfIdentity she didn’t know who she was anymore]]]].

* GreenEyedMonster: In the Nursery plot, Shiro watched Mimihime talking with Tokio and had a menacing look on his face as he watched the two together; it later became apparent he had a fixation on Mimihime. Later on this was [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] when it turned out he had [[NoSocialSkills terrible social skills]] and was benevolent towards the other kids, [[TheQuietOne albeit he didn’t talk much]] to others. [[NiceGirl Mimihime herself was a kind girl]] who recognized that Shiro wasn’t a bad person, despite him once trying to explain his feelings towards her in a way that made him look like a deranged stalker.
** Also in the Nursery plot, there was Sawatori, a scientist who was passed up as the next Director in line to a woman named Aoshima. He attempted to confront her on this, but reneged when he noticed the facility AI Meena was talking with her, instead doing his best to swallow his rage. [[spoiler: That is, until he learned in horror the real reason why she was chosen by the current Director: Aoshima was the chosen body vessel that the Director wanted to [[BrainTheft remove the former’s brain out of]] in order to [[BrainTransplant insert her own brain into]] due to her own body failing, thus giving her a [[GrandTheftMe form of immortality]] so she could live long enough to eventually possess the body of Tokio’s child]].

* DetectEvil: Maru gains the ability to detect where Man-Eaters in close proximity are later in the story. As it turns out, he can also detect [[spoiler: humans who have supernatural abilities similar to the Man-Eaters, just like the “Hiruko” children of the Nursery plot line. This was how he knew Juuichi’s child was casting the cold spell that almost froze Kiruko to death while she was carrying him, hinting that the woman who gave birth to Juuichi’s child was one of the girls from the nursery in the past]].

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Totori, a thirteen year old girl who also runs an inn within a town run by a vigilante group. While it’s hinted that she knew about the trap involving the “pure water” gathering site, she helps out Maru and Kiruko later on when Totori discovered they had saved her boss from a wild bear. Later, when the boss died from his injuries, Maru and Kiruko offered Totori the chance to join them as their way of thanking her for lying to the vigilante group about their whereabouts, but she politely refused and wished them good luck. Also, [[spoiler: Maru discovered she has the same kind of heart-like core that the Man-Eaters have when she put his hand on her chest, making him realize for the first time he can use his “Maru Touch” ability on some humans, hinting she may have a connection to the people of the nursery]].

** There’s also Chapter Thirty Three. [[spoiler: After Kiruko had been [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped for days]] by her former BigBrotherMentor [[BrokenPedestal Robin]], being [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslighted]] by him into realizing [[LossOfIdentity she doesn’t know who she is anymore]], and realizing that despite everything Maru still cared about her, she broke down in tears and cried out for him to save her. Fortunately for her, he happened to hear this while he was infiltrating Robin’s facility, [[BigDamnHeroes which led to Maru finding and saving her]]]].

* LossOfIdentity: This happened to [[spoiler: Kiruko]] after [[spoiler: [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped her]]]]. During Chapter Thirty Three, [[spoiler: Kiruko had a vision where she saw Haruki sleeping while Kiriko was talking to him, which made Kiruko realize that she was able to see Kiriko’s memories now. [[HopeSpot This gave Kiruko hope that “Kiriko” wasn’t dead]]... because Kiruko [[YankTheDogsChain wouldn’t have to suffer a traumatized existence anymore]] if “Kiriko” took over her own body again]].\\
Furthermore, in chapter thirty four [[spoiler: she told Maru that the part that made her up, “Haruki,” was gone forever as well as stating she was weak; needed to be constantly saved by Maru despite being his bodyguard; and that everything she believed had been lies. [[HeroicBSOD As a result, Kiruko no longer knew who she was]]. However, Maru responded by telling her that he didn’t care about “Haruki” or “Kiriko,” he loved Kiruko - the woman he had traveled with since the beginning of their journey - [[YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre that she was smart, strong, and not everything she believed in was complete lies]]. Finally, he promised he would continue to help her and dedicated himself to protecting her from now on. [[CharacterDevelopment This helped Kiruko regain some much needed self confidence, who ripped up the picture she had of Haruki and Robin and cast that part of her life away]]]].
* MartialPacifist: When against human opponents, Maru and Kiruko refuse to murder and will even avoid killing in justifiable self defense, instead using their [[CombatPragmatist wits]] and GoodOldFisticuffs to survive. [[spoiler: That is, unless you push Maru’s BerserkButton, in which case he’ll turn you into a bloody smear]].

* NoSell: The “Maru Touch” doesn’t work on normal wild life and humans [[spoiler: until Maru learned the latter wasn’t true when he was able to reach a core upon touching Totori, a young innkeeper]]. Under normal circumstances Maru’s [[LightningBruiser impressive]] [[SuperToughness physicality]] can still get him through most battles, but even for him [[BearsAreBadNews a hungry bear]] is out of his league.

* LightningBruiser: Maru. He’s able to take punches from adults like they smacked him with a pillow, dish out serious hurt of his own, is skilled at martial arts from his days in Post-Disaster Tokyo (plus learned a few moves from Kiruko), and can run fast for a human being. Due to his “Maru Touch” having obvious supernatural origins, it’s possible his enhanced physicality isn’t because of training alone. [[spoiler: Given that he bears a [[StrongFamilyResemblance heavy resemblance to Tokio]] from the “Nursery” storyline and she had supernatural powers of her own, Maru’s impressive physicality may have come from her]]. However, even he has his limits when it comes to wild life that the “Maru Touch” doesn’t work on, [[BearsAreBadNews such as a wild bear]].

* SuperToughness: Maru. He’s able to take quite the beating, from getting gang banged by a local town’s vigilante group [[UnsettlingGenderReveal (when they found out he wasn’t a girl)]] before beating them up, to leaping down a tall cement structure that would’ve been difficult for the average person to do without getting injured. However, he has his limits, such as a [[BearsAreBadNews wild bear]] being too dangerous for even him to take on.

** In the “Nursery” plot, [[spoiler: the Director is this. Many people see her as a wise old woman who oversees the entire operation of the nursery and cares about the children, [[WiseOldFolkFacade but it’s all an act]]. She even chose a new woman named Ao Shima to become the new Director in the future only because the Director wanted to take over Ao Shima’s body via [[BrainTheft brain transplant]]. This way the Director would be able to live an immortal life in order to see “Heaven” at the end of time, though this wasn’t the only taboo that she was willing to break either since she refused to hold herself accountable for her actions]].
** In the “Post-Disaster” plot, [[spoiler: Robin ends up being this. Despite having good looks that is commented on by many people, being the head of the water treatment center of an entire city under the Ministry of Reconstruction’s control, and having taken care of Haruki and Kiriko Takehaya while the siblings still lived at the orphanage, he ends up being a [[BitchInSheepsClothing twisted]] [[SoftSpokenSadist sadist]] who had no problem [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping Kiruko]] after leading her into a trap. This is despite the fact he knew “Kiruko” was Kiriko’s body who had Haruki’s brain and memories transplanted into her, meaning he took advantage of her trust in him so she would let her guard down. However, this is [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] later after [[PayEvilUntoEvil Maru pummeled Robin unconscious]] before rescuing Kiruko, which spooked Robin when he awoke later and ran away from the town while stealing a great deal of equipment from the water treatment facility. This earned him the ire of the Ministry of Reconstruction, who assigned a squad of government officials to hunt him down]].

* WeakButSkilled: Kiruko. [[ActionGirl While she’s no slouch in the athletics department]], she’s up against horrific monsters and gangs of human bandits who wouldn’t think twice about violating her. She’s also had plenty of time to learn tricks of the trade when it comes to surviving on the road, which helps keep Maru and herself alive on their journey to “Heaven.” It helps that she obtained a [[RayGun ray gun]] that can kill most things in one shot when she accepted the quest to help Maru from Mikura, Maru’s original guardian before she died.

** During the “Inazaki Robin” arc of the Post-Disater plot line, there is also the Chief of the Water Filtration Center, [[spoiler: Inazaki Robin himself. When Maru found out Robin had [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] Kiruko, Maru took it upon himself to [[PayEvilUntoEvil punish Robin]]. However, Maru toyed with Robin by throwing him at a wall numerous times, [[HeWhoFightsMonsters mirroring the humiliation that he had subjected Kiruko to]], which ended with [[DarkestHour Maru deciding to murder Robin]] after he was knocked out cold. While he was an evil and remorseless rapist, Maru’s actions against Robin steered unnervingly close to turning Maru into a [[KnightTemplar cold-blooded murderer seeking vengeance]], but was stopped by [[MoralityChain Kiruko]] before he threw the final punch. Unfortunately, [[ThisIsUnforgivable he still hasn’t recovered from this yet]], having planned in secrecy to murder Robin if Maru ever sees him again]].

* HateSink: [[spoiler: Robin, after he [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped]] Kuriko; [[BullyingADragon mockingly asking Maru if he had used her to satisfy himself too]] when they faced off; and the authorities of the town later discovered Robin had been performing experiments on an innocent woman by connecting her to a Man-Eater - with said woman missing some limbs and possibly been raped by him too]].

* AdultFear: As expected of a series with apocalyptic themes, there are several instances in the manga that plays on the fears of what could happen when civilization collapses, not to mention ones that already [[TruthInTelevision happen in real life]] becoming more common place when competent authorities aren’t around to prevent them.

** Hoshino the bandaged patient [[spoiler: who is an older Mimihime from the Nursery plot]] is a clear reference to terminally ill people who are reliant on heavy amounts of machinery in order to live. Then comes the point where they start to go brain dead, forcing the patient’s loved ones to make the choice on whether or not to pull the plug…

* AllPeriodsArePMS: Before Maru and Kiruko entered the basement of the “Immortalite” group’s stronghold, Maru noticed Kiruko was acting sluggish, but she dismissed his concerns for her. This led to a number of problems, like a psychic Man-Eater’s hallucination attack driving her mad with ease until Maru [[KissOfLife calmed her down]]. As time went on, Kiruko’s condition worsened until she collapsed, forcing Maru to find a safe place for her sake. What made things worse was this took place during a violent confrontation between the Immortalites and the Liviuman groups, but fortunately a former member of the Liviuman group sheltered them both until Kiruko recovered. [[spoiler: It’s also revealed this was the first period that Kiruko went through, which is why [[FirstPeriodPanic she didn’t recognize any of the symptoms]]. Why it took five years for this to happen after the brain switch medical procedure is currently left unknown]].

* ApocalypseHow: The event that led to the founding of the Post-Disaster plot line is believed to be either “Continental” or “Planetary” in scope with a Societal Disruption level of severity. Humans are intact, but they must deal with creatures of unfathomable levels of creepy, not to mention [[HumansAreBastards some humans have resorted to desperate measures in order to survive]].

* AscendedFridgeHorror: One major question that many people in the fan base had when the story of Haruki Takehaya and his sister Kiriko was released had to do with [[spoiler: the nature of their “surgery,” which led to Haruki’s brain being placed into his sister’s body via BrainTransplant. While it did “save” Haruki’s life in a matter of speaking, it led to people wondering how effective a procedure that seemingly wipes out the mind/memories of the original body would be in terms of “saving lives.” Thus the fan base came up with another idea: what would happen if a BrainTransplant in that universe was instead done to let someone live a theoretical immortal life, having their brain constantly swapped to new bodies when one was getting too old.]]\\

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Maru is a kind and empathetic person, but he’s more than willing to give a brutal beat down if the situation calls for it; a vigilante group inside a city that Kiruko and himself visited [[CurbStompBattle learned this the hard way]] after one of them sucker punched him and made him lose one of his teeth. Also, he does ''not'' like it when anyone harms Kiruko. [[spoiler: When [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped Kiruko]] [[BullyingADragon and taunted Maru about this]], [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge he showed how vicious he can become]] when [[RageBreakingPoint pushed too far]]]].

* CerebusCallBack: Kiruko once made a deal with Maru that if he accomplished a dangerous task he would get to grope her breasts [[ThePowerOfLust (which he set forth to accomplish immediately upon hearing this)]]. But when it came time for him to collect, she panicked and tried to dissuade him with multiple reasons, including trying to convince him that [[spoiler: because she had Haruki Takehaya’s brain, she considered herself a guy, therefore Maru would be feeling up a man instead of a woman]]. This didn’t work [[spoiler: because Haruki’s brain was inside Kiriko Takehaya’s body (Haruki’s sister), which was clearly that of a beautiful and well-endowed woman]], although she managed to escape because she screamed out loud by accident and caught the innkeeper’s attention of the hotel they were in, who promptly dragged Maru out of the room.\\
Later, [[spoiler: Kiruko]] ends up a similar situation, but this time around it’s ''not'' played for comedy. [[spoiler: After [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] handcuffed Kiruko in an abandoned room when they were alone, he began to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] her while she was screaming and resisting. She attempted to appeal to Robin by telling him that she was “Haruki” like she had done with Maru in the past, but Robin didn’t believe this either. He rebuffed this by telling her that he was going to rape “Kiriko” and that “Haruki” needed to save her. This confused Kiruko because she had believed she was Haruki Takehaya the entire time due to having his memories… until she started to hallucinate and saw “Haruki” in the reflection of a mirror trying to reach her in desperation, which made her realize [[JerkassHasAPoint Robin had a point that Kiruko didn’t really know who she was]]; that she may have been “Kiriko” all along; and was able to access Haruki’s memories, which would explain her confusion]].

* IJustWantToBeLoved: As it turns out, this is [[spoiler: Kiruko’s]] FatalFlaw. [[spoiler: Kiruko enjoys being praised by others for being useful, but the story revealed later this had a [[DarkAndTroubledPast tragic background]]. Haruki Takehaya - whose memories Kiruko has - wanted approval from his BigBrotherMentor Inazaki Robin and affection from his sister Kiriko (who Haruki had a [[BrotherSisterIncest secret one-sided crush]] on). As a result, he tried to prove his worthiness to them both by killing a Man-Eater by himself, which ended with [[EatenAlive his body being mostly eaten by the monster]]; put Kiriko into a dying state as well for unknown reasons; and forced a doctor both siblings knew to perform the surgery that resulted in Kiruko’s current state (Haruki’s brain in Kiriko’s body). After recovering from the surgery and finding out the orphanage had shut down, plus Robin had gone missing, Kiruko planned on [[DrivenToSuicide committing suicide by starvation]], only deciding otherwise because she realized that Robin might still be alive. She searched for Robin, hoping to find out his fate, and after five years she finally reunited with him...]]\\
[[spoiler: …which is why Robin’s decision to [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rape]] as well as [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslight]] Kiruko took a brutal toll on her mental well-being. After having learned [[BitchInSheepsClothing his]] [[BrokenPedestal true]] [[SoftSpokenSadist nature]] while she was being raped, it got worse when he [[JerkassHasAPoint raised a considerable point]] about her identity that she couldn’t disprove, making her realize that [[LossOfIdentity she didn’t know who she really was]] anymore; she [[TraumaCongaLine broke down]] into a [[HeroicBSOD catatonic state]] and only wanted to “follow orders” as a result. The only thing keeping her from crossing the DespairEventHorizon was knowing that Maru loved and cared about her, which meant there was someone in the world who would cherish her. Fortunately, [[BigDamnHeroes Maru]] managed to find and rescue her [[KickTheSonOfABitch after he gave Robin his comeuppance]]]].

* LossOfIdentity: This happened to [[spoiler: Kiruko]] after [[spoiler: [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raped her]]]]. During chapter thirty three, [[spoiler: Kiruko had a vision where she saw Haruki sleeping while Kiriko was talking to him, which made Kiruko realize that she was able to see Kiriko’s memories now. [[HopeSpot This gave Kiruko hope that “Kiriko” wasn’t dead]]... because Kiruko [[YankTheDogsChain wouldn’t have to suffer a traumatized existence anymore]] if “Kiriko” took over her own body again]].\\

* TraumaButton: Given the apocalyptic setting, there’s quite a few.
** In chapter fourteen, Kiruko panicked when Maru wasn’t in the room they were staying in, only to discover that he was hiding in another room looking at a porn magazine. But when he tried to assure her that he was ok, she started crying, much to his dismay. He remembered that she grew up in an orphanage, but it shut down at one point [[spoiler: because when Kiriko “died” the money she brought in from winning electric cart races stopped, therefore the orphanage couldn’t support itself]] and she sometimes begs out loud for Robin to save her when she’s in extreme danger, leading Maru to realize she has a fear of being abandoned by people she cares about.\\
[[spoiler: Unfortunately, while Kiruko was [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil being raped by]] [[BrokenPedestal Robin]], Maru stayed in his room for an entire extra day because he remembered her panicking when he wasn’t in the place he agreed to stay in. Therefore she was raped by Robin for almost two days before Maru had enough of waiting around and went to check up on her. Also, when Kiruko tried to picture a happy memory to calm herself, she thought of Maru’s smiling face and pleaded for him to save her, hoping that he didn’t leave her like “Haruki” did the first time Robin raped her]].

** In the “Post-Disaster” plot, [[spoiler: Robin ends up being this. Despite having good looks that is commented on by many people, being the head of the water treatment center of an entire city under the Ministry of Reconstruction’s control, and having taken care of Haruki and Kiriko Takehaya while the siblings still lived at the orphanage, he ends up being a [[BitchInSheepsClothing twisted]] [[SoftSpokenSadist sadist]] who had no problem [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil raping Kiruko]] after leading her into a trap. This is despite the fact he knew “Kiruko” was Kiriko’s body who had Haruki’s brain and memories transplanted into her, meaning he took advantage of her trust in him so she would let her guard down. However, this is [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] later after [[KickTheSonOfABitch Maru pummeled Robin unconscious]] before rescuing Kiruko, which spooked Robin when he awoke later and ran away from the town while stealing a great deal of equipment from the water treatment facility. This earned him the ire of the Ministry of Reconstruction, who assigned a squad of government officials to hunt him down]].

** In Chapter Thirteen, Maru was attacked by a member of a vigilante gang that harassed him because he didn’t pay the gang member any attention. Afterwards he retaliated, but the gang leader named Iwata [[WhatTheHellHero called out Maru for also kicking the member while he was already down]]. Unfortunately, when Maru decided to apologize, Iwata kicked Maru in the face while he looked away and knocked out one of his teeth, which [[UnstoppableRage enraged him]] [[CurbStompBattle into knocking out most of the members there]]. Later on the next day, [[MoralMyopia Iwata swore vengeance]] and had his crew try to find Maru, going so far as to set a trap in order to ambush him.\\
However, [[BearsAreBadNews a wild bear entered the area]] and mauled Iwata halfway to death, forcing Maru and Kiruko to deal with it instead. They decided take Iwata back to the town, where Maru found out that Iwata watched over [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold Totori]], who ran the inn that Maru and Kiruko had stayed in that night; this made him realize Iwata [[JerkassWithAHeartOfGold wasn’t a bad person at heart]]. Maru knew he once had been part of a gang as well, which made him realize if he had grown up in that town there was a chance he could’ve become good friends with Iwata, thus Maru was sad later on when he found out Iwata had died over night.

*** Another painting features four human-like silhouettes that have their heads converging into one. [[spoiler: This is a possible reference to Kiruko’s [[GenderBenderAngst situation]]. Due to Haruki Takehaya’s brain being surgically moved into Kiriko Takehaya’s body when both were dying by a doctor they both knew, Haruki gained control of Kiriko’s body. At the same time, Kiriko’s mind and presence seemingly disappeared, making Haruki believe she was was dead and he would’ve joined her if he hadn’t received the procedure to control her body instead. Deciding to find out the truth from the doctor who performed the procedure, “Kiruko” decided to roam Japan and look for him]].\\
However, [[spoiler: this is further complicated after [[BrokenPedestal Robin]] [[{{Gaslighting}} gaslighted Kiruko]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil while raping her]]. Knowing that Kiruko believed she was “Haruki” due to having his memories, Robin pointed out it was still Kiriko Takehaya’s body that the brain of “Haruki” was placed into. As result, it’s possible that Kiruko is, in fact, “Kiriko,” but she’s able to tap into the memories of “Haruki” due to having his brain - or is slowly taking over her body again, and Kiruko [[JerkassHasAPoint had no way of disproving Robin’s theory]]. Later, Kiruko even had a vision of a memory that could only have come from “Kiriko” because it involved seeing Haruki sleeping in a bed, further providing evidence for Robin’s theory. Finally, Maru told Kiruko after [[BigDamnHeroes rescuing her]] that he never saw her as “Haruki” or “Kiriko” at all, he instead saw her as Kiruko herself. It’s possible that neither “Haruki” nor “Kiriko” are alive anymore - their memories and personalities having been molded into a new person altogether, like the four people having their heads converging into each other from the painting]].

* AnAesop: Choosing to believe and trust in someone or an idea is fine on its own, which can even give desperate people the strength to persevere through the harshest of times. However, blind trust as well as ignoring any potential negative attributes to avoid self-doubting can lead to disaster, as many characters find out the hard way in ''[[MeaningfulName Heavenly Delusion]]''.