Toshi Hara

TOSHI HARA

Real Name: Toshi Hara

Class: Human magic-user

Occupation: Student

Group Affiliation: None

Known Relatives: Known- Akiko Hara (grandmother), Hideshi Hara (grandfather, deceased), Hisaneo Hara (ancestor), Kai Hara (brother), Miya Hara (mother), Nijira Hara (ancestor), Yasuo Hara (father), unnamed grandparents, unnamed great-grandmother, unnamed uncle

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Nagasaki, Japan

First Appearance: Crossing Midnight #1 (January, 2007)

Powers: Toshi could not be harmed by bladed objects.

History: (Crossing Midnight #1) - Married couple Miya and Yasuo Hara prepared for the birth of their first child, and when they announced the news to Yasuo’s mother Akiko, she insisted, over Miya’s objections, that they pray for a safe delivery to the Kami at a small Shinto shrine she’d been given by her own mother. Akiko was never a believer until she survived the bombing of Nagasaki in WWII, and that changed her whole world outlook. Yasuo asked the Kami to bless his wife’s womb and accept their offering in gratitude. When they left Akiko’s Miya scolded him for playing along with his mother. On November 14th, their son Kai was born a minute before midnight. Unexpectedly, Kai had a twin sister, Toshi, who was born several minutes after midnight. As youngsters they enjoyed acting out their favorite animes and playing with their friend Saburo. While playing at the Sanno Shrine a portal to another world, a magical one opened up. Saburo stepped through, and when the twins backed away the portal closed. The police interviewed them, and the twins replied honestly that they had no idea what happened to their friend. Toshi was wild and reckless, even for a ten year old. While playing at a treehouse in Peace Park Toshi fell from a branch and landed on a fence below. The fence was spiked, but once the spikes touched Toshi’s skin they bent back, leaving her unharmed. That night back home the twins tried an experiment, with Kai giving his sister his penknife. She tried to cut herself, but the knife bent back and snapped as it approached her hand. Toshi began to feel invincible, and grew into a confident and popular student when they entered Koutogakkou senior high. Toshi had her own life and social circle, leaving Kai feeling quite alone. One night Yoshi staid out late, and Kai, returning home from school, saw a man in traditional Japanese robes standing in the street staring up at Toshi’s room. The scissors and every other bladed implement in Kai’s backpack ripped through it and flung themselves at the man, who disappeared. Toshi and Miya argued about her not taking classes seriously, and Toshi promised she’d be leaving home soon. That night the Kami Aratsu appeared in Toshi’s room, with his blades swirling around him. He said a debt was owed him, when Yasuo prayed at the Shinto Shrine he made an offering to the Kami, and aratsu had chosen Toshi as his offering. Kai burst into the room, and touched one of the blades, which fell to the ground at his touch. Toshi refused to go with Aratsu, but he said she was bound by Yasuo’s words, and there would be consequences for refusing him. His blades shredded her bedsheets and stuffed toys, and he said he’d return after she reconsidered her debt to him. Kai was horrified to find their beloved Superdog Sen had also been shredded to pieces.

(Crossing Midnight #2) - The Hara twins talked to the police, saying they didn’t know anything, and the police suspected that either Yasuo, a shipping clerk, had angered the Yakuza, or Kai had killed the dog himself. Miya begged her children to tell her what happened, and when Kai tried to tell her about Aratsu, Toshi shut he rup. On their way to school Kai was panicked, asking his sister what they were going to do, and Toshi said they had to kill Aratsu. Toshi approached Kisuke Kahiru, a student who ran with gangs, asking him for help, but he turned her down. Aratsu appeared in their cafeteria, and Toshi again refused him, saying she’d rather be dead than owned by him. He flung every knife and fork from the cafeteria at them, but the twins were unharmed and Aratsu vanished. Kahiuru witnessed the aftermath of silverware stabbed into walls, and said he’d changed his mind, he’d be happy to be associated with whatever mischief Toshi was up to. Kai visited Akiko in her care home, and asked her more about the offering his father had made to her Shinto shrine, which she said had been misplaced. The shrine and the story of how the Haras had acquired it had been in their family for centuries. During the Heiji rebellion Hisaneo Hara had been routed by the enemy and fled to Mikusa when all was lost. His wife Nijira prayed to the Kami, saying she’d pay any price to see her husband returned home safely. A stranger and nobleman approached her house, saying he’d heard good things about her, and was welcomed as a guest. He told her her husband had but one hope of walking through a thousand swords unharmed, and after they disappeared together for a few hours she emerged with a slash on her wrist and the small, wooden Shinto shrine. The stranger had vanished, but after Nijira made an offering to the shrine her husband returned. Kai’s head was swirling trying to make the connections between his grandmother’s story, his and Toshi’s immunity to blades, and their predicament with Aratsu. He was shocked when he saw Saburo in a sewer grate, and the boy was not happy that the Haras had stranded him in a magical realm. He handed Kai a poem, and when Kai read it he found himself in the realm of the dragon Lord Rinjin.

(Crossing Midnight #3) - Kahiru gave Toshi a gun, but then tried to force himself on her. She kicked him in the groin, and fled his apartment as he yelled death threats at her. Lord Rinjin told Kai Aratsu was his mortal enemy, and if Toshi submitted to him he would be angry, for then Aratsu would grow stronger. To demonstrate his anger he used Niburu Samsam, his sword that was blinded to Aratsu, to decapitate Saburo. Kai was furious that he’d killed his friend to make a point, but Rinjin said Saburo would not be able to die while under contract, and Saburo reattached his head, leading Kai out of Rinjin’s realm. Kai was shaken, and confused when she saw his father in the back of a black car with men he didn’t know. Constable Sato and his forensic specialist Yamada had more questions about the death of his dog in light of the incident at his school. Sato noted that the dog was slashed with multiple weapons hundreds of times during a split second, and gave Kai his card, which turned out to be a drawing of a clock striking midnight, with the Hara twins drawn at either side of the clock’s arms. Kai and Toshi met back at home, and at midnight Aratsu asked for the last time for Toshi to give herself to him. She pulled the gun she’d gotten from Kahiru, shooting him to no effect. Miya burst into her room, and Aratsu used his swords to cut her to pieces, saying this was just the beginning of the pain the twins would experience because of what he viewed as disobedience and the breach of a promise. He opened a portal back to his realm, and Toshi followed him. She said that even though she’d shot him, she’d never said no, and thta if he brought her mother back to life she’d give him an answer. Toshi saw his mother’s body reassemble itself, but she was soulless. Aratsu claimed to have done as Toshi asked, and she submitted herself to him, pleasing the Kami.

(Crossing Midnight #4) -

Comments: Created by Mike Carey & Jim Fern.