Haru Nishimura

Haru Nishimura (西村 ハル, Nishimura Haru) is one of the main characters of the series. She is a fellow classmate/childhood friend/love interest of Akiyuki Takehara.

Appearance
Haru is a fair-skinned young girl with upper-back length light-brown hair that has bangs swept to the right side and light blue eyes.

After joining the army, Haru has her hair cut short, barely reaching down to her neck.

Personality
Haru can be described as a sensitive and thoughtful girl. While kind, she can be rather intimidating. She also zones off sometimes, prompting her younger sister, Midori Nishimura, to bring her "back to Earth."

After the Northern Government's attack on Sentan Island, however, Haru's demeanor changes drastically, ultimately leading to her becoming more aloof and oftentimes showing signs of depression.

Biography
Haru is first seen training martial arts with her childhood friend, Furuichi Teraoka. After beating him, they both depart for school, along with Haru's younger sister, Midori Nishimura. On the way there, Haru and Furuichi end up making a bet that their friend, Akiyuki Takehara, will be late, a bet Haru ends up winning. After she boards the bus, Haru watches Akiyuki help an unknown girl by distracting an officer and giving her his armband. While confused about this encounter and seemingly a little jealous, Haru doesn't question Akiyuki about it much. After making her way off of the school bus, there is a sudden explosion, causing Haru to go into shock. After being tended by Furuichi, she follows after him to check on Akiyuki, who had ran towards the remains of the bus. She is met, however, with a mysterious creature. After the creature is shot multiple times by a guard, she suddenly hears Akiyuki's disembodied voice saying that he wants to live. When a Humanform Weapon suddenly targets them, Furuichi attempts to escape the bus with Haru, but she is stopped by the creature. The Humanform then attacks, causing another explosion and Haru is able to break free from the creature's grasp. The creature and the Humanform then engage and battle and begin to head deeper into the city. Not understanding why, Haru instinctively follows after the creature, begging it to run away from the Humanform. During this, she suddenly realizes that the creature is indeed Akiyuki. After he saves her, a mysterious woman, named Nakiami, appears and subdues Akiyuki. She then knocks out Haru, telling her 'no more tears' and leaves as quickly as she came, taking Akiyuki with her. Haru later awakens to Furuichi finding her and together they make their way to a local shelter. While at the shelter, Furuichi brings her a chocolate roll for winning the bet they'd made earlier that day. He mentions that Midori is safe and that her father, Jinichiro Nishimura, would bring her over. Haru then laments about how she failed Akiyuki and Furuichi assures her that it isn't her fault for what happened.

The following day, Haru dreams about finding an unconscious Nazuna, seemingly on life support. In Haru's dream, Nazuna somehow whispers to her, telling her that her Xam'd, Akiyuki, is alive. Due to this, she asks her father to ask the hospital staff if they knew anything about her, but he forgets to ask. While leaving the hospital, she runs into Ryuzo Takehara, who she learns has been visiting every hospital on the island, looking for Akiyuki. That evening, she goes to visit Fusa Takehara and promises her that her son is not dead and she will find him.

Sometime later, Haru begins to take part in the reconstruction of Sentan Island, alongside Furuichi. As they contemplate on what to do with their lives, they suddenly encounter their classmate, Shidara, among the rubble. Haru tries to comfort her, only for Shidara to suddenly transform into a Humanform Weapon. Immediately upon transforming, Shidara becomes extremely violent and begins to chase Furuichi. In the end, this attracts the attention of the East Autonomy Military, who quickly come to Furuichi's aid. After being shot multiple times, Shidara falls into a pit and is eventually executed by Commander Kagisu, much to Haru's horror.

Skills and Abilities

 * Martial Arts: Haru is first introduced during a martial arts lesson where she easily flips and defeats Furuichi. She later easily subdues a guard who tries to kill Akiyuki while he's in his Xam'd form.
 * Hears their Voices: She has the ability to hear the voices of Xam'd and Humanform Weapons.

Akiyuki Takehara
Akiyuki is a childhood friend of Haru's. Despite her teasing and lecturing, she cares for Akiyuki deeply and will immediately rush into danger if it means protecting him.

Furuichi Teraoka
Furuichi is a childhood friend of Haru's.

Midori Nishimura
Midori is Haru's younger sister.

Fusa Takehara
Not much is known about their relationship, but Haru made a promise to Fusa to watch over Akiyuki.

Quotes
Main Article: Haru Nishimura/Quotes

Etymology

 * If written in kanji, the name Haru can mean "spring" (春).
 * Haru connects with the name Akiyuki, which means "autumn" (秋) (aki) and "snow" (雪) (yuki).
 * Haru's surname Nishimura means "west" (西) (nishi) and "town, village" (村) (mura).

Image Gallery
Main Article: Haru Nishimura/Image Gallery