OOC: Application
Name/Nickname: Buddi
Age: 19
Character: Furude Rika
Age: about 10-12 years old
Series character is from: Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai (animes)
Point of time in the series from which the character is taken: Just after episode 13 of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai
Sexual Orientation: N/A (because of her age and that it’s never brought up in canon)
Personality/Canon facts: Rika is the shrine priestess and the last remaining member of one of the three ruling houses of the small rural village of Hinamizawa. Despite her young and innocent appearance, she seems to know more about the strange events that occur in her village than most people many years older than she.
Four years ago, the construction of a dam threatened the very existence of Hinamizawa. That year, on the day of the village’s annual summer festival, Watanagashi, the dam constructor was brutally murdered. Every year since then, on the day of Watanagashi, one person has been murdered and another “demoned away,” or essentially gone missing. Many people in the village believe it to be the curse of the village’s god, Oyashiro-sama, because of the victims’ connections to the dam construction. Rika’s parents were the victims of one of these instances.
Beyond all the seriousness that revolves around her, Rika really just wants to be a little girl who plays games with her friends and lives happily with them. To most people she’s just a kind young girl who has matured beyond her years because of the tragic deaths in her life. Rika is protective of her friends and her village. She tries to be helpful and give them advice when they need it. She is generally very calm and friendly, but if you anger her, she’s won’t back down easily. She’s strong willed, but can also be sensitive.
(Okay, big spoiler time; this is vital to understanding what Rika’s going through, but I feel guilty for the spoilers. Hence, the warning.) The reason that Rika seems to have a sense of foreboding about what is happening in her village is because she essentially knows what is going to happen. She has been living the month or so before Watanagashi over and over again hundreds of times. She is continually reincarnated by Oyashiro-sama (whom Rika calls Hanyuu), to whom she has a close connection because her family is the caretaker of the village shrine. This month that she continually relives always ends the same way: with Rika’s death. After her death each time, Oyashiro-sama reincarnates her in a parallel universe of sorts about a month before she dies. Also, her death seals the fate of the entire village, because what many in the village believe to be a curse is actually a parasite that affects people’s brains and makes them paranoid and violent, eventually leading them to kill themselves by scratching out their own throat. The one thing keeping these parasites generally dormant is the existence of the Infection Queen, much like the queen bee of a hive. This Infection Queen is always someone of the Furude family, and seeing as Rika is the sole survivor of her family, she is essentially what keeps her village alive.
(spoilers cont.) However, even with Rika alive, a person with this parasite who becomes stressed enough will begin to show symptoms of the disease. In each new “world” into which Rika is reincarnated, she watches as her friends succumb to the disease, while she is unable to stop it. Even when she tries, she fails. She tries to not give up hope that she can save her friends and village from the effects of the parasite, but finds it harder and harder to do so. Watching her friends kill each other and others hundreds of times over and over has lead her to be rather melancholy and pessimistic about the future. Even though she usually feels this way, Rika puts up a cheerful and innocent wall in front of others, including her friends, because if she were to tell them about what was happening to her, she doesn’t think they’ll believe her. She is also doubtful that they would be able do anything to help her. Only recently has she seen that with her friends’ help, she may just have the power to change her fate. (end spoilers)
Anything else important about the character?: Oddly enough for a little Japanese girl, she doesn’t use honorifics. She also likes to use little nonsense words, like “Mii” and “Ni-pah,” just to add to her cuteness. And sometimes when she’s talking about a serious topic, her voice sounds eerily mature for her age.
Sample post:
*lying on the floor of the still train, just gaining consciousness*
Hmm, where am I…? A train? Why… am I on a train…? Hanyuu…?
*notices a small paper lying beside her*
Application form for Last Stop Gakuen transfer students:
What’s your problem? Problem? I don’t see why you care what my “problem” is. Are you a doctor or something? In that case I’m in perfectly good health, ni-pah~!
Your mom. My... mom? What about my mom? She’s been dead a few years, but don’t worry, ni-pah~! My best friend and I live together now! We take good care each other, and we’re never lonely because we’re together!
You’re not so special, you know. I beg to differ. I’m one of a kind. I’m important to my friends, and my entire village. Very important....
Oh yeah? See if I care. Mii, You’re not in a very good mood, are you, application form person? It’s not nice to be so mean to people. You should greet everyone with a smile! It makes the world a better place, ni-pah~!
You're accepted! Please ask the parrot for further information! Accepted? To where? Mii…? Oh, hi parrot! You seem tired… Wh-what…? Why do you keep squawking like that… “Welcome to Hell!?” Wh-what is this!?