Uchino Hiruyuki

“You call it hell; I call it home.” -- Hiruyuki's final words to Mitch.

A primary character in Orensakino. Uchino was born into the shadow of greatness, the son of Osou Hiruyuki, a legend of Tirasheppo's elite super-police force, the R.E.L.E. But where his father embodied justice and order, Uchino chose a different path—a path paved with rebellion, guilt, and the ghosts of his past.

Bitter, volatile, and deeply scarred, Uchino is a man straddling the line between redemption and self-destruction. His Eaftousia, Diyu, is both a weapon and a reflection of his fractured psyche, a unique power that traps others in a maze of their own worst nightmares. Though he now serves as a member of Tirasheppo's Outer Guard, defending the city’s borders from mutants and wasteland horrors, Uchino’s history with crime and addiction lingers like a shadow he can’t quite escape. Haunted by the deaths of his parents and his own role in their downfall, he carries his burdens silently, masking his pain behind sharp wit, cold apathy, and a simmering rage that threatens to boil over.

At his core, Uchino is a man at war with himself—torn between the legacy of his father and the life he’s carved in defiance of it. His story is one of struggle: against the monsters beyond the city walls, the enemies within its streets, and the darker labyrinths of his own mind. Through his journey, Uchino Hiruyuki embodies the question of whether redemption is ever truly possible—or if survival is the best a broken soul can hope for.

Diegesis

Uchino Hiruyuki grew up under the immense shadow of his father, Osou Hiruyuki, a decorated legend within the R.E.L.E. (Rapid Enforcement Law Execution)—Tirasheppo’s elite super-police. Despite his father’s towering prominence and unwavering moral compass, Uchino rejected authority from an early age, pushing away the expectations placed upon him. Disillusioned and resentful, he dropped out of school and drifted into the city’s criminal underbelly, finding a twisted sense of belonging among rogues and outcasts.

On the night of his fourteenth birthday, what should have been a celebration turned tragic. A party thrown for him at his gang’s favorite hideout became the target of a surprise raid led by none other than Osou himself. Bursting into the room, Osou froze at the sight of his son surrounded by the very criminals he had spent a lifetime putting away. That moment of stunned hesitation cost him everything. One of Uchino’s friends, desperate to escape, opened fire on Osou. The shot struck true, and as Uchino stood frozen in shock, his father collapsed before his eyes. The friend was gunned down immediately after, but the damage was already done—Osou was gone.

Everything began to unravel for Uchino that night. Guilt consumed him, a suffocating belief that he had orchestrated his father’s death simply by existing in that room. Spiraling deeper, he threw himself into crime, numbing the pain with drugs and reckless self-destruction. His downward plunge reached its darkest point less than a year later when his mother, unable to endure the weight of her grief, took her own life. To Uchino, her death was another cross to bear—one he would never forgive himself for.

It was Osou’s former partner, Murakami, who pulled Uchino back from the edge. Reluctantly assuming the role of guardian and mentor, Murakami intervened time and time again, saving Uchino from imprisonment and further ruin. At nineteen, Murakami offered him one final chance at redemption: a spot in the Outer Guard of Tirasheppo, the frontline force protecting the city from the horrors of the wasteland. Reluctantly, Uchino accepted, though his transition was far from clean. Old habits lingered, and the connections he forged in the city’s shadows refused to let him go. Even now, as a member of the Guard, Uchino remains torn between two worlds—the weight of his past ever pressing against the fragile future he’s trying to carve for himself.

Featured Arcs

Introduction
Uchino meets his commander and new comrades.
Edge of Control
With the death of both Fukase Yozo and Absolute Throttle, the city enters a state of anarchy as the guards have to stop it from falling apart.
Nightmares Made Flesh
When Purgatory uses Uchino's Diyu ability to bring about the worse fears in the population, Uchino faces against the one figure he never could stand up to; Osou Hiruyuki.
The Weight of Legacy
Uchino finally accepts his father's shadow and embraces it.

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Personality

Hiruyuki wears a mask of aloof sarcasm and feigned apathy, a carefully constructed shield against a world that’s taken far too much from him. On the surface, he’s detached—quick to dismiss authority and brush off emotional moments with biting, often self-deprecating humor. It’s his way of keeping people at a distance, as if his presence itself is toxic. However, beneath this carefully maintained facade, Hiruyuki is a powder keg of guilt and self-loathing. The deaths of his parents, both of which he blames himself for, haunt him constantly. This guilt simmers within, manifesting as bursts of raw anger or emotional breakdowns that hit him like crashing waves when he can no longer keep them repressed. Volatile and unpredictable, he can snap—crying in frustration, fists shaking—when his emotions become too much to bear.

Yet, even in his brokenness, Hiruyuki remains resilient. He continues pushing forward, even when redemption feels unattainable. He doesn’t believe in undoing the past; to Hiruyuki, survival is the best anyone can hope for. "Redemption isn’t real," he often mutters bitterly, "You can’t undo the past. You can only survive it." While he openly distrusts authority, often challenging those who claim power without integrity, he harbors a begrudging respect for people who prove themselves through action rather than words. It’s this thin thread of respect and his lingering desire to “do better”—however unclear that path may be—that keeps him tethered to the world.

Physically, Uchino is the very picture of someone caught between survival and self-destruction. Standing slightly taller than average, he has a slim but muscular frame—a body hardened from gang fights and years of survival on Tirasheppo’s unforgiving streets. His short, spiky ashen-blond hair is always in disarray, as though he’s been running his hands through it too many times. His sharp, violet eyes often carry an unsettling mix of defiance and exhaustion, as if daring the world to challenge him while revealing just how little energy he has left to fight.

The subtle scars on his body, including a thin cut over his left eyebrow, tell stories of old brawls and careless risks. Dark circles shadow his eyes—a testament to years of insomnia, drug withdrawal, and restless nights spent wrestling with nightmares. Uchino’s posture reflects his contradictions: when at ease, he slouches slightly, hands buried deep in the pockets of his hoodie, the picture of someone who doesn’t care. But when angered or challenged, his shoulders tense, and his stance stiffens, his entire body coiling like a spring ready to snap.

Uchino’s clothing reflects his life on the edge, combining gang aesthetics with combat practicality. He favors hoodies and combat jackets, typically with secondary-colored sleeves—a subtle, almost artistic touch that stands out against his muted color palette of greys, reds, blacks, and oranges. Fingerless gloves, utility belts, and rugged combat boots complete his look, making him as ready for a back-alley fight as he is for patrol along Tirasheppo’s walls. If one looks closely enough, the small details reveal the toll of his past: the occasional twitch of his fingers, remnants of his drug years, and his compulsive habit of fiddling with an old, weathered lighter he always carries with him.

Though Uchino tries to present himself as untouchable, his appearance gives away just enough for those paying attention to see the truth: beneath the cold sarcasm, the haunted stare, and the stubborn resilience is a young man grappling with his demons—treading the thin line between survival and self-destruction.

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Capabilities

Eaftousia – Diyu

A unique, generational ability passed through Uchino’s family, Diyu allows him to manipulate a pocket dimension for psychological and tactical purposes.

Mechanics

• Entrapment:
  • By locking eye contact within 5 feet, Uchino can pull his target's soul into Diyu. Their physical body becomes paralyzed in real time.
  • Inside Diyu, time distorts—minutes can feel like hours.
• Nightmare Dimension:
  • The victim experiences their worst fears and regrets within a vast, maze-like prison.
  • Uchino can control the maze, alter its structure, and manifest fears as twisted obstacles.
• Self-Insertion:
  • Uchino enters the Diyu maze himself, acting as both tormentor and prisoner. He can release targets at will.

Limitations

• Overuse causes severe migraines, nosebleeds, and blurred vision.
• Emotional instability weakens his control, allowing targets to find an “exit.”
• Requires eye contact and close proximity to activate.

Combat Style

• Street Fighter: Uchino fights dirty—kicks to kneecaps, knife strikes, and unpredictable movement.
• Weapons:
  • Uchino favors compact combat knives for close quarters.
  • Has proven to be profienct with rifles.
  • Refuses to use a pistol, even freezing briefly one of the times he was forced to.
• Eaftousia Integration: Uchino uses Diyu mid-battle to disable or mentally break enemies before finishing them off.

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Trivia

• Nickname: Uchino is often called “Ghost-Boy” by his Guard teammates due to his pale skin and eerie Eaftousia.
• Hobbies:
  • Collecting vintage lighters (a habit from his smoking days).
  • Sketching abstract mazes when restless—subconscious reflections of Diyu.
• Symbolism: His color scheme (grey, orange, red) represents his inner conflict: grey for guilt, orange for fleeting warmth, red for violence and anger.
• Quirk: Uchino sometimes mutters sarcastic commentary under his breath during missions, earning glares from his superiors.
• Fear: Uchino’s own nightmares in Diyu involve seeing his parents over and over, blaming him for their deaths.
• Relationships:
  • Typically has a thing for older women, with his former girlfriend being nearly twice his age.
  • Is cousins with local computer whiz, Scotsta.
• Meta:
  • The concept of Uchino spawned from the song; "$uicidewave//" by Xthedolphin.