Ikura

Overview

Gallery

Ikura
Japanese	井 (い) 倉 (くら)
Rōmaji	Ikura
Biographical Information
Status	Alive
Species	Human
Physical Description
Gender	Male
Professional Information
Occupation	Student
Debut
Manga	Chapter 62

“I'm fine with getting covered in scars! That's why I'm here!” ― Ikura's determination to save Iori.

Ikura (井 (い) 倉 (くら) , Ikura) is one of Iori's friends. He has a flair for the dramatic and believes in the supernatural, and is considered strange by his classmates as a result. During the Hishaku's attack, Ikura confronted them for their action and nearly faced death.

He is an ally in the Sword Bearer Assassination Arc.

Appearance

Ikura is a young man of average height with cut-short black hair and black eyes. He has a large round chin and face. Being a student, Ikura wears a standard school uniform.

Personality

Ikura is generally viewed as strange by most of his classmates and thus ignored, mainly due to his manner of speaking. He often speaks with an overly dramatic tone and has a tendency to believe in the supernatural, such as when he believed Owl's appearance in the sky was a sign of the apocalypse. Despite this, Ikura is not without his sense; upon Iori recognising he was copying Chihiro's scar and chastising him for imitating a murderer, Ikura was quick to rub out the mark on his face in apology to his friend, and was quick to support her later when she expressed discomfort due to lack of sleep.

In dire times, Ikura is also extremely courageous, standing up to Kuguri and Toto during their attack on his school and willingly entering the Kyoto underworld and entering the site of a massacre for the sake of helping his friend Iori, despite being extremely afraid of the danger in such situations.

Relationships

Iori Samura

Iori and Ikura are good friends, casually talking and spending time in their school. While Ikura was initially a loner who preferred solitude as the student body generally ignored or insulted him anyway, Iori surprised him by greeting him cordially and asking if he wanted to be friends when she was assigned to sit next to him. Moved and grateful, Ikura decided to abandon his usual modus operandi of solitude in favour of communicating with her more.

Ikura was concerned about the wounds Iori incurred during the Hishaku's attack, and after they had left Ikura immediately asked Chihiro about what was happening to his friend. Despite Chihiro and the school nurse's words that he should stay out of the situation to stay safe, Ikura refused, secretly patrolling the Kyoto underworld and following Toto to the Kyoto Bloodshed Hotel. Despite being terrified after hiding from Hiruhiko's massacre of the hotel staff, he ultimately summoned his determination to help his friend and progressed onwards.

Later, when Iori was despairing and breaking down over the circumstances and bloodshed surrounding her, Ikura reached the roof and shouted about how important she was and how she had to come back to school.

Through seeing Ikura, Iori awakened her desire to fight to protect ordinary life, the seal on her memory life eroding completely. Remembering her swordmanship skill, she took a katana and immediately rushed to block an attack aimed at Ikura.

Chihiro Rokuhira

Ikura started to admire Chihiro after seeing him on the news and believing he was cool; Ikura imitated him by copying his scar using a marker and claiming it had appeared as a sign of his mission to save the world in his typical dramatic fashion; though quickly rubbed it out after being chastised by Iori for copying a murderer.

Ikura's respect for Chihiro continued after he arrived at his school and told Ikura he was there to help Iori. Motivated to want to assist in his own way, Ikura later drew a mimicry of the scar in his own blood over he side of his face.

In the Kyoto Bloodshed Hotel, Ikura encountered Chihiro clashing with Hiruhiko, where he proclaimed that he had come to save Iori no matter the scars he incurred. Respecting Ikura's conviction, Chihiro entrusted him the barrier's key and head upstairs and give it to Ro, believing a familiar face might help Iori in her inner struggles.

Plot

Past

In April, start of the school year, Iori was assigned to sit next to Ikura. While Ikura expected her to ignore or insult him like most other students, Iori surprised him by greeting him cordially and warmly. Ikura gave up his usual solitude in favour of becoming friends with Iori.

Sword Bearer Assassination Arc

On the 13th of November, during a break between classes, Ikura proclaimed that the symbol in the sky - Owl - was a sign that the world was ending. He had a mark on the side of his face, which Iori commented on, and Iori's other friend recognised he was imitating the individual who attacked the theater; that is, Chihiro Rokuhira. Ikura dramatically but gradually hesitantly claimed it had appeared there when he woke up and was proof of his mission to save the world, and Iori merely chastised his usual antics, upset with him imitating a murderer. Knowing his mistake, Ikura quickly rubbed the mark out.

Iori then groaned and laid down on the table, having not been sleeping well due to a dream that she couldn't remember but had been having with increasing frequency after Owl's appearance. Ikura claimed it was a sign Iori had been chosen too, but after being chided by Iori's other friend Ikura added more seriously that Iori's insomnia could be caused by something bothering her, or stress. Iori looked to sky and wondered if it was having an unusual effect only on her, though set the matter aside after she and her friend realised how strange the idea was.

Suddenly, Kuguri charged into the room, glass scattering and injuring Ikura's hand. Toto also entered and began checking each female student's blood for a match for Seiichi Samura. As Toto instructed Kuguri to round up the female students and leave them alive, Ikura stood up and confronted the two Hishaku members for their actions. To the side, Iori was bewildered why Ikura was risking his life for no reason, and as Kuguri slashed down Iori stood in the way, relying on Toto's statement to leave the girls unharmed. True to her words, Kuguri halted his blade, impressed by Iori's action. Ro and Chihiro then entered, Chihiro stalling Kuguri while Ro escorted Iori away.

As Kuguri and Toto recognised Iori was getting away and thus she was obviously their target, the two quickly left in pursuit. Ikura asked Chihiro what was happening to Iori, and Chihiro replied a gang was after her, and he and his allies were protecting her. He added that Ikura shouldn't try to help, in order to not risk his own life. Later, when Ikura went to the infirmary to get his hand bandaged, the nurse there told him that Iori must be hiding something if she had pursuers, and it would be safest to leave the situation to the authorities.

Unwilling to simply back down, Ikura ventured into the Kyoto underworld, searching throughout the night until he found Toto and followed her to the Kyoto Bloodshed Hotel. After hiding from Hiruhiko's massacre of the staff, Ikura was terrified, but reinforced himself with thoughts of how much Iori's friendship meant to him. Clutching his bandaged hand until it drew blood, Ikura drew blood on his face in the shape of Chihiro's scar and advanced to where Chihiro and Hiruhiko were fighting. After declaring he would take whatever scars were necessary in order to save her, Chihiro respected his determination and gave him the key, telling him to head to the roof.

Ikura ascended to the roof and yelled out to Iori that her friendship with him was dear to him and she had to make it back safely. As the yakuza began to take notice and approach him, Ikura's words resonated with Iori, who had previously been on the verge of a breakdown over who she should be; now, she realised that she wanted to protect the ordinary life of people like Ikura, the seal on her memories fully disintegrating. With memories of swordsmanship arising, Iori shot forward and grabbed a katana, blocking the yakuza's attack aimed at Ikura as the boy himself lay on the ground in shock.

Ikura continued to stare in shock as Iori expertly fended off the yakuza around her, slicing off the enemies' fingertips to non-lethally disarm them. After Iori thanked him for coming, Ikura then watched in awe as Chihiro and Iori fought the yakuza shortly before Samura arrived at the hotel and Hiruhiko activated Banquet, causing Ikura to see the surrounding area move in a nauseous manner.

The corpses of various yakuza members then began moving and appearing out of the elevators, the work of Hiruhiko's Play, and managed to fatally stab Samura, though he used Suzaku to heal himself, rendered the corpses inert and began advancing downwards. With no more opposition on the roof, Ikura and the Masumi regrouped with Iori.

Etymology

• I (井 (い) ): well (as in a hole bored into the ground to find water).
• Kura (倉 (くら) ): storage, warehouse.