This is a list of characters from the Japanese manga and anime series Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning and its prequel, Spiral: Alive.
Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning Characters Main characters
The protagonist of Spiral is a freshman high school student of Sukiyomi Academy-(スキヨミ 学園| Sukiyomi Gakuen). Ayumu is very intelligent, but is introverted and has a lot of self-doubt. He fears that he cannot surpass his own perfect older brother and doubts himself to the point where he no longer believes he can do anything anymore without acting like his brother. He is a talented pianist like Kiyotaka, as well as an excellent cook. He cares a lot for his sister-in-law Madoka, whom he had feelings for before his brother married her, some of which still lingers and reflects in how he worries about her. Ayumu is also the supposed only hope for the Blade Children and their survival. Ayumu has a preference for older women, which is alluded to several times. Later in the manga, he tells Kirie that he was going to switch his type of woman to "Someone who I can rely on, even when I am an inconvenience to others", admitting that he needs a girl such as that, implying Hiyono. Hiyono does eventually become a major support in Ayumu's life, and he links her to his happiness. He is revealed to be a clone of his brother. In fact, he and Hizumi are the first clones to be made, and thus have a very limited life span with many biological complications. Ayumu was created as an 'insurance' for Kiyotaka by his parents. Mrs Narumi was also a pianist before she suffered an accident, resulting in the loss of function of her fingers. She tried numerous treatments to regain the use of her fingers, which eventually led to her fingers becoming almost entirely useless. When Kiyotaka became a pianist, Mrs Narumi decided to create Ayumu to become a 'guinea pig'. If anything should ever happened to Kiyotaka, Ayumu would first undergo treatment to find out whether it was suitable for Kiyotaka. However, at his last concert, Kiyotaka publicly announced that he would give up the piano to become a detective and crushed his fingers on the piano. His mother saw no more use for his clone Ayumu who was often ignored by his parents after that. In the end, he is hospitalized because of his biological complications. Having lost the use of his left arm, he continues to write music, still adhering to his way of fighting destiny: to live on, creating new opportunities and generating hope under his own power. This is the answer he gives to the Blade Children.
Ayumu's older brother, who is perfect at everything in the eyes of Ayumu. He became a world-class pianist after the age of ten and then an unimaginable world-class detective at twenty. He married Madoka - but left a year after they married. He is also the real reason why Ayumu always doubts himself, who is constantly comparing himself to him. Kiyotaka left one day after he was researching the mysterious case of the Blade Children. Many assume he is now dead. Ayumu discovers that he is not, after hearing that he has been associated with the Blade Children. The anime never offers an explanation of his disappearance. In the manga, he is revealed to be the puppeteer behind the scenes, and returns at the very end. He created a situation where Ayumu would lose every last bit of his support, even Hiyono, but Ayumu managed to overcome despair on his own. He lives with Madoka and still controls his organization from Japan. In the anime version of the series, the top part of his face is never shown except for his nose and mouth, while in the manga his face is always visible.
The infamous school journalist, Hiyono is the bubbly and energetic sidekick of Ayumu, always stuck to his side. Very clever and a quick-thinker, her confidence borders dangerously on overconfidence. She is extroverted and is Ayumu's polar opposite, serving as one of the series' few comic-relief characters. Her skill with computers are as amazing as her hacking abilities and she has access to over one hundred resources. She blackmails Wataya often, and is very fond of Ayumu's cooking (to the point where she even thinks along with Rio that she wants to become his bride). Hiyono is also one of the few who whole-heartedly believe in Ayumu; she also has a great deal of faith and loyalty in him, and is also hinted by Madoka and herself that she has some feelings for Ayumu. At the end, it is revealed that Hiyono was also part of Kiyotaka's machinations. The reason she knew so much about individual Blade Children, such as Kanone's foster parents' names, is because Kiyotaka told her. She is in fact several years older than Ayumu (ironically the type of girl he likes), and was hired to become "Hiyono Yuizaki" by Kiyotaka. She was to be Kiyotaka's final trump card—Kiyotaka would reveal her identity to knock away Ayumu's support, which Kiyotaka hoped would drive Ayumu to kill him. She was however unaware of this aspect of her role until near the time of Kiyotaka and Ayumu's confrontation. Despite her playing a role given to her, she does genuinely care about Ayumu. Towards the end of the manga she states that she hates Kiyotaka more than anyone else. After the final confrontation between Kiyotaka and his clone Ayumu, "Hiyono" left Japan for her next assignment in Germany, for two years. The manga ends with an epilogue where Hiyono is visiting Ayumu in the hospital, where despite his failing body functions, he carries on, composing music in his room. He requests that she listens to him play the piano, and she complies. At the end of the anime however, the camera view shows a field of purple iris and the viewers can hear Hiyono and Ayumu exchange a few words. Apparently they are on a picnic and Hiyono has packed them lunch. Ayumu takes a bite of her food but doesn't appear to like it very much, ending with Hiyono complaining to him.
Ayumu's sister-in-law and Kiyotaka's wife, she works as a police detective but is usually outsmarted by Ayumu in most cases. Her investigation skills are remarkable, but because of work she is rarely at home and therefore can do no domestic work. She cares a great deal for Ayumu. She is pretty selfish, not quite aware of the pain her brother-in-law endures because of how much he cares for her since she is his only family now that Kiyotaka has gone missing. Madoka tries to keep Ayumu from getting too involved with the Blade Children, but proves to be another weak spot of Ayumu and is often left in the dark by Ayumu about situations concerning the Blade Children for her own safety. She lives with Kiyotaka and visits Ayumu in the hospital. Spiral: Alive reveals her maiden name to be .
A detective in training, he works under Madoka and isn't very smart as he jumps to conclusions without thinking about a situation thoroughly. He is regularly blackmailed by Hiyono and often hangs out with Madoka in a bar.
The Blade Children
A 17-year-old world-class pianist, he is second only to Kiyotaka Narumi, Ayumu Narumi's older brother. He is seemingly cold-hearted but definitely not heartless (he brought Rio melons when she was stuck in the hospital). Eyes is quarter English and debuted in the musical world at the age of 14. He cares a great deal about the Blade Children and would do anything for them to survive at all costs. He is exceedingly loyal to Kiyotaka's words and seems to believe in Ayumu the most out of all the Blade Children. Eyes knows much more than the other Blade Children do, holding secrets he keeps to himself. He is one of the first targets of assassination by the Hunters (after Sayoko Shiranagatani) but outwits them at a charity concert with the help of Ayumu and Kousuke Asazuki. He and Kanone Hilbert have some sort of bond, even though the friendship between Eyes and Kanone seems to shatter once he learned of Kanone's betrayal of the Blade Children. Eyes appears to be the leader of the Blade Children but he treats Kanone as either an equal or even an older brother. Eyes and Kanone are revealed to be half-brothers in chapter 36 of the manga, and later it is revealed that all of the Blade Children are half siblings, for they share the same father. In the end he concentrates on his piano skills, known as the "savior of the music world." This is the path he chose to create hope for himself.
The most arrogant, aggressive and most violent of all the Blade Children, Kousuke is usually the implementor of assassinations. Kousuke is very strong-willed and stubborn, choosing to fight the Hunters head-on rather than hide from them. He is not afraid to kill and does not really trust Eyes, resulting in arguments between them. It is revealed by Hiyono Yuizaki after his challenge with Ayumu Narumi that Kousuke's mother died in a car accident when he was 3, leaving him orphaned. While Rio Takeuchi calls him stupid, in reality Kousuke is very intelligent; after skipping most of elementary school, he still manages to catch up to secondary school level from reading and learning from books. Kousuke left middle school after a run-in with a teacher. He is a childhood friend of Ryoko Takamachi and harbors deep feelings for her as he goes out of his way to protect her (even jumping into a bear pit she had fallen into to save her). Kousuke's astrological sign is Virgo. The final path Kousuke chose is "ordinary," in that he goes to college with Ryoko. He becomes the main character in the spin-off, Spiral Alive.
The "midget" of the Blade Children, she resembles a 13-year-old child rather than her actual age, 16. Rio is the youngest Blade Child in the tv show but in the Spiral Alive books she is older the Ryoko. Although Rio appears to be the most innocent of the Blade Children with her cherubic features and size, she is actually very shrewd and calculating. Rio knows how to create bombs, devise difficult plans and kill those she considers her enemies. Kanone even calls her a "fire pixie" in the manga for her small, impish appearance and skill with explosives. She is extremely intelligent and is able to escape from any sticky situation, no matter how small or tight it is. She is very straight-forward and has a crush on Eyes because he gives her "netted pattern" melons (her favorite food). Like Kousuke, she will not hesitate to kill people if she has to. The path Rio takes is working in third-world countries, defusing land mines left over from war.
One of the most down-to-earth members of the Blade Children; Ryoko is a clever and athletic person, probably the most athletic of the Blade Children. She is a natural-born runner and can outrace almost anyone. She is a childhood friend of Kousuke Asazuki and, unlike some of the other Blade Children, she despises killing. She dislikes Eyes Rutherford due to past issues and cares deeply for Kousuke, though she has a tendency to use him as a punching bag and make him buy her food. Her past is relatively unknown, though it is hinted that something traumatizing happened while Kousuke and Eyes were present. She is reluctantly brought back into the conflict of the Blade Children by Eyes after losing to him in a simple game of dodge ball. She honours their deal to join with the rest of the Blade Children, with only one condition: she will not kill anyone. The manga reveals that Ryoko is capable to using a gun like the other Blade Children, though she dislikes using one. She is shown to have a strong intuition, being able to determine that Kanone would attempt to kill Rio. Ryoko's apparent feelings for Kousuke are also made more explicit in the manga. She blushes and cries as she hugs him after he wakes from a brief coma and becomes incredibly jealous of Rio when Kousuke stands up for her. She is still with Kousuke and hopes to run in the Olympics. Ryoko's surname, Takamachi (高町), is named after the same family in the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha franchise.