Hisui (EntityTopic, 13)

From Compile Worlds

Hisui is one of two maids at the Tohno mansion where she works as the cleaner. She has an older sister, Kohaku, who is also a maid at the mansion and Akiha's, the head of the house, personal maid. Other than her sister, though, she has no family. Hisui and her sister are both Synchornizers, meaning they have the ability to share energy with people through the transfer of bodily fluids. Did I mention she originated in a H-game? Now seems like a good time to mention that...

To date, she has appeared in the visual novels Tsukihime, Kagetsu Tohya, the Tsukihime Plus Disc and the 2D fighting games Melty Blood, Melty Blood: ReAct, Melty Blood Act Cadenza, Melty Blood Actress Again and Melty Blood Actress Again Current Code.

Oh yeah, and a myriad of fan made MUGEN games... >.>

Tsukihime

In Tsukihime Hisui is seen around the mansion, performing her cleaning duties. Upon the arrival of Tohno Shiki, the main character, she is assigned to take care of him. This usually takes the form of waking him up in the morning, preparing his school uniform and cleaning his room. Hisui never cooks dinner in the Tohno mansion, and after one scene where she makes Shiki a snack, it becomes painfully obvious to him why. Literally. Hisui is completely incapable of cooking anything remotely edible, again in direct contrast to her sister who makes very delicious meals. Throughout the majority of the game Hisui is practically expressionless and seemingly apathetic, in contrast to her sister, Kohaku, who is extremely energetic and hyperactive.

In the Near Side of the moon story routes (Arcueid and Ciel), Hisui doesn't really play a big part at all. She mostly goes about her jobs as Shiki's maid and the mansion cleaner. In the Far Side routes (everyone else), she is featured much more, and in her and Kohaku's routes she plays a much bigger part.

Although Hisui comes off as cold, distant and emotionless, in actuality she's a kind and pleasant person. Hisui and Kohaku were brought to the Tohno mansion as orphans when they were roughly 7 years old by the then head of the family, Tohno Makihisa, in an attempt to use their Synchronizer ability to retain his sanity as his demonic blood was causing him to start undergoing an inversion impulse, where he would become somewhat insane and probably go on a murderous rampage. On their eigth birthday, Makihisa called Kohaku to his room, telling her that he had a 'present' for her. Although both the sisters were there at the mansion, and feeling the need to protect her younger sister, Kohaku convinced him to only use her and to spare Hisui. The only way Kohaku had to survive the constant abuse day after day was to kill her emotions and feelings, becoming a mere doll, wearing a smile as a mask to the outside world. During this time, Hisui was free to play outside and have fun with the Tohno children.

This would normally come as quite a shock, if you didn't just read this article before playing the game, as throughout the whole game until you learn this, you would just assume that Kohaku is the happy, cheerful one and Hisui is the cold, emotionless one since Shiki's childhood memories are apparently greyscale so you can't tell their eye colour, but it turns out it's the exact opposite. Hisui only acts cold and emotionless in an attempt to keep Kohaku energetic and cheerful, feeling that if she reverted to herself, Kohaku would as well.

In Hisui's route in the game, Kohaku could really be considered the villain, I guess... She orchestrates the death of a few characters and turned SHIKI into a killer. Near the conclusion of Hisui's True Ending, Kohaku explains the reasons behind her doing this. Mainly just that she needed a reason to move, since a doll can't move on it's own. Since by this point her plans are complete, she has nothing left and stabs herself in the heart with a small knife. As she dies in the Shiki's arms, she gazes endlessly into the deep blue sky with her hollow eyes, not with a fake smile, but with a very sad and quiet face. After these events, Shiki and Hisui live together in the mansion with an implied relationship. They seem happy together, but still obviously sorrowful over everything that happened.

In Hisui's Good Ending though, nobody gets killed except SHIKI, who nobody likes anyway. Kohaku still confesses everything she had done, despite Shiki not wanting her to say it, so that everything could go on as normal. Instead of stabbing herself, she this time swallows some poison. As she lies dying on the ground, Shiki kills the poison in her body using his Mystic Eyes of Death Perception, even though the strain of doing this causes him to pass out and become blind for a few days. Kohaku survives, but she has absolutely no memory of her past, not knowing who Shiki is or even her own sister. She says she doesn't think she ever liked the name Kohaku and so Shiki and Hisui give her the name Nanaya, which she seems to like, probably subconciously remembering the boy she fell in love with all those years ago. It'd make more sense and have a bigger impact if you played the game and got the whole story, rather than reading random wikis to get the story. For Hisui, things are bittersweet. Naturally she is upset that her sister doesn't even know her, but at the same time she is happy that her sister no longer has the burden of her painful past and can now move on with her life. Afterwards, Hisui, Shiki and Nanaya go back to the mansion and life goes on as normal, but with less murder conspiracies and demonic attacks. Yay~!

Melty Blood

In the Melty Blood games, Hisui is playable either on her own or as a tag-team with her sister. In the game, she retains her stern and serious demeanor. Most of her attacks are 'cleaning' themed. For example, one attack has her whip out a feather duster and dust the air for a few seconds, damaging any enemy it comes in contact with. On top of this, her arsenal includes: A vacuum cleaner, pots and pans, a chair, a bucket, books, an explosive bento, a table, a watering can, a ladle and a frying pan. Her Arc Drive attack involves her performing the secret art of the Dark Hisui Punch, throwing a powerful Hadouken-like projectile at the enemy. Her Last Arc invokes her powers as Brainwasher Detective Hisui, causing negligible damage to the opponent, but completely screwing with their mind, rendering them defensless and causing their controls to reverse for at least 10 seconds, making them pretty easy to finish off.

Brainwasher Detective Hisui

Originating in a doujin based around a typo found in Tsukihime, Brainwasher Detective Hisui is the vigilante alter-ego of Hisui. She wears her normal western maid outfit, but she wears a long, dark coat over the top of it. She hunts down (probably) guilty people and brainwashes them into being criminals, by waving her finger at them and announcing her prediction that "You are going to be the criminal", so that she can arrest then them. She is a true role-model to all upcoming law enforcers.