Ayumu Aikawa

Ayumu Aikawa (相川 歩, Aikawa Ayumu?) is a 16-year old male who was murdered by a serial killer. He lives on as a zombie resurrected by Eucliwood Hellscythe. He is currently living with her, along with Haruna and Seraphim. He is the main protagonist of the series. He has the ability to transform into a Masou-Shoujo. At the end of light novel, he is now working as a salaryman and quietly lives with his (girl) friends.

Appearance
Ayumu is a young man in his teens with greyish to white hair in a simple hairstyle. He usually wears his school's uniform, but is also seen wearing simple shirts and slacks when at home.

Personality


As a zombie, Ayumu has a strong dislike of intense heat and sunlight, which quickly leads to him being dehydrated and severely desiccated, and is a constant problem for him during the spring and summer months. When subjected to intense pain, he will temporarily submit to it, but will then overcome such reactions, because he remembers that he is an immortal and cannot die. He is also usually in weak-hearted, lazy state of mind, which often works against him, leaving him vulnerable to punishment or ambush, as was the case with his killer, Kyoko.

He mostly daydreams of Eucliwood, in which she calls him Onii-chan (lit. older brother) and asks for a bath, or food in a manner of a cute girl. Eu clearly knows about the fact that he daydreamed of her. When Haruna had absorbed Eu's magic and Eu was free to speak, she deliberately asked him if he was going to daydream about her or not. This suggests that Eu may see him as a sister-complexed pervert who would be able to fantasize about a given person at any point in time.

However, in times of conflict, this aspect of his personality disappears, and he is shown to be a decisive, aggressive person who speaks, thinks, and acts according to his conscience. In particular situations, such as his battle with Kyoko, he is also shown to have a ferocious and vengeful side to his personality as well, and he acts in line with that as well. This was dramatically illustrated when he killed Kyoko down to her last life in an overwhelming assault with Haruna's chainsaw, and when he overpowered Yoruno in hand-to-hand combat (only in the anime). In the LN, Yoruno was much more powerful than he was and Ayumu could defeat him only because of Yoruno’s weakness to light due to him being a zombie.

Despite this, he still possesses a strong moral center, even in such life-and-death situations, and will quickly withdraw from an anger-fueled, vicious onslaught when he thinks it is the right thing to do. Again, this illustrated in his battles with Kyoko and Yoruno, for with the former, once she had been shocked into pained, terrified submission and began to beg for her life, he decided that the correct thing to do was to spare her life, in the hopes that she would learn from the experience and understand the consequences of what she had done. In the latter case, he stopped fighting and withdrew his anger, for he decided that it was best to allow Eucliwood to resolve the situation in a more responsible fashion.

As shown in episode 12 and the OVA (episode 13), his non-conflict oriented personality is shown to have a strong tendency towards perverted conduct, which is also often the cause of his frequent mishaps and punishments, often given by the girls who accompany him, namely Haruna, Seraphim, and Maelstrom. Despite these situations, he cares for and genuinely respects them, which they, in their own ways, reciprocate.

This even includes Saras, who had fallen for him after several instances of staring at his curve-line.

As of Volume 09, all girls have feelings for Ayumu, except for Ariel who looks at him as an interesting human, Nene who regards him as her assistant, and Mihara who has feelings for Orito.

When he had his memory erased, the demon governing laziness known as Belphegor took over his body. This is most likely a representation of the fact that Ayumu really likes peace and does not want to be disturbed, and those traits are somewhat associated with laziness.

The (Un)fortunate Circumstance
Ayumu lives alone in a detached home a short walk from his school. During his solitary stay, he meets a young girl in front of a convenience store and becomes acquainted with her. He later encounters the serial killer who has been haunting the area and becomes one of its victims, killed by a Katana piercing through his body.

He survives with the help of Eucliwood, the girl he met outside the convenience store, who uses her abilities to raise Ayumu back from the dead, although becoming a zombie. Eucliwood later becomes his constant companion inside the house. Meanwhile, Ayumu uses his "second life" to continue his quest on the person who took his life while keeping his true nature a secret to everyone who is familiar with him.

Haruna, the Masou-Shoujo
During one of his random searches for the serial killer, Ayumu stumbles upon a Masou-Shoujo named Haruna, who splits him in two while defeating a Megalo named Kumacchi. Ayumu manages to survive Haruna's signature move "Mystletainn Kick", but soon faces the consequence of witnessing a Masou-Shoujo-related activity: erasing one's memories. Surprisingly, Haruna ends up with her abilities being absorbed by Ayumu upon trying to erase his memories, and because of this, he is forced to take her to his house as his second house mate while she tries to find out a way to recover her lost powers.

Ayumu later discovers that he can utilize the magical powers of a Masou-Shoujo he stole from Haruna and transforms into one (much to his embarrassment), defeating a lobster-shaped Class AA Megalos using Haruna's Mystletainn. The battle, however, cost him the exposure of his outfit (which resembles that of Haruna's during her transformation) to everyone in the school, who was having PE class during the incident. Fortunately, he was able to use the memory-erasing powers of a Masou-Shoujo and relieved himself of further shame.

Seraphim, the Vampire Ninja
The Aikawa Residence soon receives another visitor in the form of Seraphim, a Vampire Ninja who seeks Eucliwood so that she could become the necromancer's servant. Seraphim is rejected by Eucliwood in her request, and challenges Ayumu to a battle, thinking that he had taken the title of Eu's servant. Ayumu manages to defeat Seraphim in a one-on-one match and ends up as Ayumu's servant instead, although she treats him rather harshly, calling him a "Maggot" (クソ虫, kusomushi?, lit. "dung beetle"). As a result, Seraphim stays in Ayumu's house as his third female companion in the Aikawa Residence.

Kyoko, the Rogue Masou-Shoujo
Ayumu and his classmate Orito spend some time in bowling alley to hangout and he ends up trying to keep himself from being noticed by Haruna, Sera and Eucliwood, who end up in the same bowling alley during their bonding time. Meanwhile, Orito takes him to the local hospital, where he introduces Kyoko, Orito's childhood friend and a victim of the serial killer. Ayumu discovers that the serial killer described by Kyoko matches that of Eucliwood.

As doubt lingers in his mind, he is suddenly attacked by Kerberos Wansard, an inhabitant from the Underworld; Ayumu manages to survive when Kerberos recognizes Eucliwood. Kerberos soon states his reason for coming, telling them that there have been cases of souls not traveling to the Underworld and he is there to investigate who is responsible for the phenomena; he also explains that Eucliwood's powers deal a great amount of pain to her when she uses it. Unfortunately during his investigation with Ayumu, Kerberos is fatally wounded by an attack from an unknown source. Ayumu manages to return home, and he had an intimate talk with Eucliwood, who is worried that Ayumu would end up hating her upon the discovery of the true nature of her ability. Ayumu, however, promises to not leave her side.

On that same afternoon, a massive whale-shaped Megalo appears over the neighborhood's skyline. Ayumu uses the Mystletainn one more time — this time, unleashing Mystletainn's 1000% damage output — to defeat the Megalo, with some help from Sera and Haruna's barriers (at this time, Haruna has recovered some of her Masou-Shoujo powers).

Eucliwood Hellscythe
Ayumu and Eu have been on good terms since the beginning of the series. According to how the series started, it had begun with Eu living with Ayumu for a month already. This period of time should already have begun to establish a fairly good relationship.

Technically, due to the terms given to the necromancer and her revived, Ayumu is designated as Eu's servant. Eu has actually expressed this classification multiple times over the course of the series.

Ayumu seems to have a Imouto (lit. little sister) complex with Eu. Periodically, he has fantasized about what she says in many diverse situations. This has gone on for (if not the entire series) the majority of his time knowing her. This complex of what she says to him in his mind (solely), usually in a suggestive or alluring tone, indicates that he has a strong infatuation with Eu. During his fight with the King of Night, he has strongly implied that he is in love with Eu and swears to be by her side.

Eucliwood refrains from showing emotions, as her powers force her to keep all expression to a minimum. However, the fact that she would speak around and to Ayumu at all despite her condition proves she is on extremely good terms with him.

During the point when Ayumu lost his memory and was replaced by the demon that governs laziness, she has confessed (albeit in a roundabout manner) that she actually loves Ayumu at that point, which hints at much stronger emotions for him.

Haruna
Haruna and Ayumu were (at first) at odds with one another. Ayumu viewed her at first as a strange person who ended up forcing herself and him to live at his household and make him cross-dress. Haruna also viewed him (before) as the inconsiderate zombie who stole her powers. But over time, they grew to become really good companions and Masou-Shoujo partners.

Ayumu views Haruna currently as a very energetic little girl who can be extremely clueless. He has heard various aspects of her personality from Ariel, such as the fact that she can only be a genius when she is doing something she actually wants to do. She can even be a tutor to him if necessary, however her explanations can be extremely long-winded and still make no sense to him.

Haruna, after becoming a friend and companion to Ayumu, slowly began experiencing greater emotions for him. Demonstrations of this are when she dreamed that Ayumu was about to kiss her in her dreams and she permitted it to happen (at least, until she woke up). However, (in the anime) she is often still in the denial stage. She blatantly denies that she wants anything of the sort to do with him. This can be easily be seen in what happened after the dream, when she, out of morbid embarrassment, ran into Ayumu's room and beat him senseless while accusing him of entering her dreams.

However, it is undeniable her feelings for him are strong. When Ayumu lost his memory, she was shocked and saddened to the point she began tearfully begging Ariel to give them another chance to restore his memory.

Seraphim
The two, at first, were passively hostile towards one another. Seraphim can be categorized as a tsun-tsun among the tsunderes.

Ayumu at first viewed Sera as another strange person who came to intrude on his life. But after a while, he became accustomed to her mannerisms and attitude, and now considers her a trusted friend. He views all of her cruel behavior as her defining characteristic, and doesn't truly do anything to stop it.

Sera looked down on Ayumu as something worth less than an animal. But she trusts him in dire moments to have the strength and capacity to make the right decisions and be responsible for their outcome.

Judging by what Kyoko had said to her when she was on her parole, it is highly possible that Sera has masked her feelings for Ayumu. This is evident by Sera's lack of protest to this observation.

Yuki Yoshida (Maelstrom)
When they first met, Ayumu was under the impression that Maelstrom was a guy. This is attributed to her tomboyish behavior and speech. However, when they met, an irreversible accident happened that completely changed the outcome of their acquaintance-ship.

Ayumu, after learning that Maelstrom was a female, sees her as a good friend and a more cheerful representation of the Vampire-Ninja population. From time to time, he has tried to get Maelstrom to stop referring to herself as his bride and to him as her husband. However, Maelstrom adamantly refused to do so.

Maelstrom, after the kiss that she accidentally shared with Ayumu, was fairly embarrassed to be around him at first. However, over time, she warmed up to him and became a person on very good terms with him. Interestingly, she would also appear to have feelings for Ayumu beyond the boundaries of friendship that developed without regard for the fact that they were technically "married".

Sarasvati
On their initial meeting, they were something like unfriendly strangers. Over time, they never really improved in their relationship until Sarasvati's sudden change of heart.

Ayumu seems to perceive her as a very interesting person who has the courage to do things despite their prohibition in her clan. This is an aspect he would probably respect her for. However, after learning of her sudden affection for him, he found it a little strange. Nonetheless, he does not allow this to obstruct what he does and says around her. However, he had promised to make it to her concert very adamantly and kept his promise despite all the trouble it caused him. This suggests a fairly good relationship with her.

Saras, at first, was very indifferent about his existence. She was basically Sera without that acknowledgement of the fact he could be useful and was "alive". However, she seemed to have fallen in love (at first sight) with his male curve-line. Specifically, she refers to this as "Butt Love", which troubles and baffles Sera to no end. She may have proper feelings for him though, as she seemed to want an indirect kiss from him. She may have gone for the direct one if not for her clan's rules.

In episode 9 of season 2, she and Ayumu are technically married after her concert, due to her drinking from the same drink.

Taeko Hiramatsu
Taeko Hiramatsu is one of Ayumu's classmate. She has strong feelings for Ayumu, but doesn't act on them.

Abilities

 * Immortality/healing: He seemingly has immortality, or at least a very efficient healing factor. Although it is unknown if he can die, he has shown to survive being cut in half, getting a shuriken thrown onto his head, getting hit by a truck, being blown up by a bomb, and having shuriken thrown into his eyes by Seraphim. His ability to heal does seem to have a limit, since after being blown apart by the bomb his body parts has to be collected and put close to each other in order for healing to occur. This also suggests that by dismembering him and putting the parts far away from each other, he can be incapacitated for good. Although he did state after his fight with Seraphim that he "might not survive the next time they fight", it is unknown what he meant by this. But fire might be effective to kill him.
 * Super Strength: As a zombie, he is not limited to the amount of muscle power he uses as a human, as humans cannot use 100% of their muscle power. He is able to use 100% and beyond, and as such, is able to damage monsters quite easily. He increases his power by physically saying the numbers (100%, 200%, etc.). In the manga, he is strong enough to kill even Megalos. However, his human body can't always withstand the strain of his attacks (although this drawback is negated by his healing ability).


 * Magic Absorption: As demonstrated to Haruna, Ayumu is able to absorb magic, although this is currently passive to him. This property of Ayumu is probably one of the reasons Kyoko has targeted him.
 * Masou-Shoujo Capabilities: Due to his absorption of Haruna's Masou-Shoujo magic, Ayumu is able to utilize Haruna's Mystletainn to transform into a Masou-Shoujo, with embarrassing results. As a Masou-Shoujo, Ayumu gains the ability to manipulate barriers like any common Masou-Shoujo, but this aspect of a Masou-Shoujo is still unknown to Ayumu, as he did not undergo the curriculum of a Masou-Shoujo in Villiers.
 * Break Dancing: demonstrates this several time in the series.
 * 1000% Mystletainn Masou-Shoujo Form: Ayumu demonstrates that he is able to unleash 1000% of Haruna's current Masou-Shoujo form. It allows him to use more powerful attacks without hurting his body and to use Mystletainn with higher effectiveness.
 * Black Mist: During episode 10 of the second season, when under control of his alternative self he displayed black mist, exactly like King of the Night. This may be hinting that Ayumu is capable yet unaware of this ability.
 * Lilia's Curse: In Volume 09 of the light novel, he was cursed by the Queen. Due to the Queen's curse, no one will have any memories of Ayumu. This will continue to remain so for as long as the curse is active. If he meet with anyone, that said person will retain memories of Ayumu provided that he/she must remain within 5 meters from Ayumu. Once out of range for more then 170 seconds, the memory resets and he/she will no longer have any memories of Ayumu. Only Haruna is unaffected and retains memories of Ayumu.

Trivia

 * He is more aggressive in the manga, as seen in his fight against Kyoko when it takes the appearance and intervention of Ariel to stop him from killing her, whereas in the anime he refrains from killing her for good after figuring out that she was down to her very last life.
 * He is also seem to be good at break-dancing, as seen in episode 2 of the first season when he tried to impress Eucliwood as they first met and in episode 3 of the second season when he gives Haruna and Yuki advice on dancing. He is bad at rapping while doing it though.
 * He is technically married to Sarasvati due to her drinking from the same drink and Yuki Yoshida (Tomonori) due to accidental kiss.