Ayumu Narumi

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Ayumu Narumi is the protagonist of the fictional anime series Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna. Currently, Ayumu lives with his sister-in-law, Madoka Narumi, and attends Tsukiyomi High School as a first-year student. Ayumu is intelligent and also is skilled at cooking and playing the piano, but he suffers from an inferiority complex tracing back to his brother, Kiyotaka Narumi. Ayumu has stated that he tried to be like Kiyotaka, but it was a dream he couldn't fulfill. He repeatedly says that he is "not at all like [his] brother," however, it is not obvious if this is meant to be positive or negative.

[edit] Relations with Other Characters

• Kiyotaka Narumi is Ayumu's older brother. Ayumu has spent a fair bit of his life trying to be like Kiyotaka, who "excelled at anything he put his mind to." Kiyotaka has not been seen by anyone for two years, and Ayumu's primary goal is to find him again. There is evidence that Kiyotaka has a certain amount of respect for Ayumu.

• Madoka Narumi is Ayumu's sister-in-law, Kiyotaka's wife. It is unclear whether Ayumu has been living with her since before Kiyotaka's disappearance or whether he moved in directly afterwards. Ayumu essentially takes care of Madoka, doing various mundane tasks, such as laundry and cooking. Ayumu and Madoka seem to feel protective towards each other. Ayumu feels that he has to take his brother's place and be by her side, while Madoka feels a duty to look after Ayumu, in light of Kiyotaka's words: "When he's standing at a crossroads, please lend him a kind hand." It is likely that their loyalty to each other boils down to mutual pity--Madoka, having lost her husband, and Ayumu, having lost his brother.

• Hiyono Yuizaki is Ayumu's best and perhaps only friend. Hiyono clearly thinks a great deal of Ayumu and puts a lot of faith in him; however, Ayumu's exact thoughts towards Hiyono are unknown. It is certain, however, that the two make an excellent team. Hiyono supplies "useful information" and helps Ayumu research incidents. Ayumu/Hiyono is one of the most obvious possibilities for "shipping", but in the course of the anime no romantic relationship manifests. The closest they come is in the eleventh episode, Goodnight Sweetheart, in which Ayumu asks Hiyono if he can rest his head on her shoulder and an onlooker whispers "I bet they do it." Hiyono does not seem especially fazed by this comment. However, this is most likely because that line is only in the English dubbed version, while in the original Japanese version the girl simply says "Love love!"

• Kousuke Asazuki is one of Ayumu's enemies. The two don't spend a great deal of time interacting but occasionally join forces for a common goal. Kousuke seems to regard Ayumu with more contempt than the other Blade Children do.

• Rio Takeuchi is perhaps the most persistent of Ayumu's enemies. She seems very interested in testing him, more so than the others. Ayumu and Rio first meet when Rio, having recently transferred to Tsukiyomi, is accused of breaking a window and Ayumu gets her out of it. In several cases it seems that Rio pities Ayumu. She tells him to believe in his abilities, and in episode eleven she almost deactivates a bomb around his neck in a crisis of conscience. Ayumu typically regards Rio with contempt, but comforts her after she loses a battle with him. This could, however, only be a manifestation of his feelings of inferiority, as he says later that he was only a lucky coward.

• Eyes Rutherford is seemingly a higher-up in the ranks of the Blade Children, but in spite of this, he and Ayumu treat each other mostly with apathy. Eyes keeps a close watch on Ayumu and is very interested in using his abilities. Ayumu doesn't harbor any special animosity towards Eyes, and at one point aids Kousuke Asazuki in stopping a Hunter who is trying to kill Eyes during a concert.