Kiruko

Kiruko works as an all-purpose handyman in the Nakano area of Tokyo, taking on jobs ranging from escort missions to monster extermination.

She is currently traveling with Maru on a journey to escort him to a place known as “Heavenly Delusion,” a task entrusted to her by Manaka Mikura.

She is a striking beauty with long red hair down to her back, though she used to have black hair before her brain transplant.

Her age is intentionally vague, and she herself keeps it ambiguous at either 18 or 20.

Kiruko has a cool, straightforward personality and tends to be dry and down-to-earth, but underneath she is kind, caring, and surprisingly nurturing.

Because of the harsh life she has led alone, she sometimes shows an attachment to Maru that goes beyond a normal business relationship.

She is voiced by Sayaka Senbongi in the anime adaptation.

Kiruko is clever, quick-thinking, and highly capable in unfamiliar or dangerous situations.

She excels at analyzing her surroundings, building strategies, and making calm judgments even under extreme pressure.

Despite her sharp intellect and combat skills, she has a clumsy and slightly airheaded side.

She can be forgetful, make small mistakes at crucial moments, and has a notably poor sense for naming things.

Her demeanor is relaxed and casual, giving off a “big sister” vibe even though her brain is that of a teenage boy.

She is independent, resilient, and pragmatic, yet deeply loyal to those she decides to protect.

Kiruko has been confessed to repeatedly by Maru but has not accepted his feelings.

Part of this hesitation stems from her own complex identity and the fact that, mentally, she still thinks of herself as Haruki in many ways.

Kiruko is an expert markswoman and relies heavily on firearms in battle.

She carries a gun that originally belonged to Manaka Mikura, which she uses as her primary weapon during dangerous encounters.

She makes a living by providing bodyguard services, escorting travelers, and taking on dangerous jobs such as fighting monsters.

Her combat style focuses on accuracy, timing, and using the environment to her advantage rather than brute strength.

Beyond fighting, Kiruko has strong survival skills from living in a ruined world.

She is skilled at foraging, navigating hostile terrain, and reading people’s intentions, all of which help her and Maru stay alive on the road.

She also displays impressive tactical thinking, able to quickly devise plans even in completely unknown situations.

However, that very competence can clash humorously with her occasional clumsiness, leading to moments where her plans nearly fall apart due to minor slip-ups.

Kiruko’s body is biologically female, but her brain once belonged to a boy named Haruki Takehaya.

Haruki suffered fatal injuries when he and his older sister were attacked by a monster during a large-scale disaster.

At the same time, Haruki’s older sister Kiriko (Kiriko Takehaya), sometimes referred to as Kiriko or Kiriko Takehaya, was also critically injured.

A mysterious doctor decided to save Haruki’s life by transplanting his brain into his sister Kiriko’s body.

As a result, Kiruko is a fusion of two people: Haruki’s consciousness and Kiriko’s physical form.

Haruki’s age at the time was 16, while Kiriko’s body was around 18, creating a confusing double age and identity.

After waking up in his sister’s body, Haruki eventually took on the name “Kiruko,” a blend of Haruki and Kiriko.

He is a serious and devoted sister-lover, and on some level he is secretly pleased to now inhabit his beloved sister’s body.

Kiruko’s transformation into a modified human left her with several physical changes and complications.

Her originally black hair turned into a vivid red after the transplant, and her menstrual cycle stopped for years following the surgery.

In the timeline of the story, her period does not resume until about five years later, during the events related to the Immortal Church.

When it finally returns, she experiences her first-ever menstrual cramps in this body and ends up bedridden from the pain.

Motivated by questions about her own existence, Kiruko sets out to find the doctor who performed the transplant.

She also chases leads related to Robin Inazaki, a man who had been investigating that same doctor.

Kiruko becomes a freelance handyman and bodyguard specifically to move freely around the devastated world and search for both the doctor and Robin Inazaki.

Her work allows her to fund her travels while also putting her combat and survival skills to constant use.

Maru is Kiruko’s primary client and traveling companion.

She has been hired, according to Manaka Mikura’s wish, to escort him to the mysterious place called “Heavenly Delusion.”

From the start, Kiruko treats Maru as a customer, protecting him as part of a job.

Over time, though, her feelings grow more complicated, mixing professional duty, affection, and a deep-seated need not to lose anyone else.

Maru openly confesses his romantic feelings to Kiruko multiple times.

Kiruko, however, consistently refuses to accept his confessions, caught between her role as his guardian and her own conflicted sense of gender and self.

Her protectiveness toward Maru often goes beyond what is reasonable for a hired escort.

She risks her life for him, becomes emotionally involved in his safety, and sometimes acts more like family than a contractor.

Their dynamic combines humor, tension, and genuine warmth.

Maru’s straightforward affection often clashes with Kiruko’s awkwardness about her own body and identity, creating both comedic and poignant moments.

Despite having grown up in the aftermath of a massive disaster, Kiruko retains a surprisingly “civilized” level of education.

She can read and write complex characters and uses proper table manners, including holding chopsticks correctly.

These small details highlight that Kiruko, or Haruki, once lived in a more stable and educated environment.

They also contrast with the ruined, brutal world she now navigates as a wandering bodyguard.

Kiruko’s practical life skills—reading, writing, social awareness, and etiquette—make her stand out from many other survivors.

This blend of refinement and harsh experience gives her a unique presence: a clever, battle-hardened survivor who still remembers how the old world used to be.

The name “Kiruko” is not her original given name but a constructed alias.

It fuses Haruki (her original male name) and Kiriko (her sister’s name), symbolizing the merging of their lives.

This dual identity is central to Kiruko’s character.

She lives as a woman in the eyes of the world, yet her inner self is still, in many respects, Haruki.

Her gender identity, memories, and body are constantly at odds, giving her a complex internal world.

This tension informs her interactions with others, especially in relationships and moments when her past as Haruki comes into focus.

Over time, Kiruko gradually accepts the reality of being both Haruki and Kiriko’s successor.

Her journey across the ruined world is as much about understanding herself as it is about finding the doctor and escorting Maru to “Heavenly Delusion.”