Yuki Hasumi

Yuki Hasumi (蓮水 ゆき, Hasumi Yuki) is the main protagonist and the player's character in Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 5. She is the game's White Dragon Priestess.

Her name and birthday can be changed to the player's preferences in the game, but she will be known by her default name in official media. If the player uses her default name in the game, it will be audibly spoken by characters.

Background Story
Yuki is the only daughter to a wealthy family in Japan. Her parents live in a luxurious mansion yet their careers often call them away from their home. Although she herself was not aware of it, Yuki was chosen to be the White Dragon Priestess since her birth. Her innate powers negated the Black Dragon's pleas to her neighboring cousin, Miyako, who appreciated her calming presence. The two girls became close to one another during their childhood and quickly became best friends.

Shun and Sou appeared near her home about a year after she befriended Miyako. The young boys were abandoned and had no home to their own. Taking pity on the two brothers, Yuki's parents decided to adopt them. Yuki became quickly attached to them and grew to rely on Shun's guidance and maturity. One of her fondest memories with him happened when she was separated from her family and lost in an amusement park. Before she was drenched by the rain, Shun found her. Yuki never forgot the dread of loneliness she felt and her gratitude for Shun's kind comfort.

Hoping to instill independence into her, Yuki's parents allowed her to study overseas when she was ten years old. Shun, Sou, and Miyako accompanied her trip and lived with her in the same apartment. During her time overseas, Yuki became fluent in English and studied fencing with Shun's help. She wasn't as physically active as her friends, but she enjoyed the time they spent together.

Story Events
Six years later, during their winter break, Yuki and company board an airplane trip back to Japan for Christmas. In the midst of their flight, a mysterious distortion surrounds them. Yuki, Shun, and Miyako are sent to the parallel world to Choushou. Yuki is soon introduced to her surroundings and vengeful spirits. When she is reunited with her childhood friends, the trio find and arm themselves with weapons in a nearby shack. Amami, who uses telepathy to speak to her, addresses her as the White Dragon Priestess and she instinctively performs her first sealing on a spirit. Amami meets her in person to give her a magical hourglass and instructs her to use her powers to alleviate Genbu's suffering.

As Yuki collapses from exhaustion, the hourglass tips to send her and her friends back to the modern world. They arrive near her home in Japan, but the land is an uninhabited and barren desert filled with vengeful spirits. Skyscrapers are tarnished by piles of sand, yet the protagonist's home strangely remains intact. Sou greets the weary trio and expresses his fear of their ruined home. He is told to wait for them at the Hasumi household since Yuki and company believe the parallel world is too dangerous for him.

During the first six story chapters, Yuki and company meet other figures of the Bakumatsu as they hop back and forth between both worlds. Amami offers Nijo Castle for her and her companions within Kyoto and suggests that she procures the Four God talismans, assuring her that it will restore the modern world to its rightful state. Within the modern world, Sou instructs her to place the talismans onto stone tablets. For the sake of saving her home, Yuki pushes onwards into the parallel world and negotiates peace between the conflicting factions for each talisman.

Once the four talismans are collected, Sou and Amami show their true colors. They both desire the creation of another world which will simultaneously destroy the modern and parallel worlds. Following Shun's advice, Yuki tries to unite her Eight Guardians within the parallel world to save this world from Amami. She selects her guardians based on her acquaintances, but everyone has their own agenda and refuse to join her willingly. Yuki primarily lacks the Dragon Gems to verify the "fairytale legend" and to mystically bind them together. Hoping to have the dividing ideologies agree on a common goal, Yuki and company try to protect the pending Satchou Alliance and the imperative conference meeting in the capital, but Amami foils their plans by killing key figures for the pact. He even assassinates the reigning shogun for his ambitions.

Half of her companions are either dead or separated when the Black Dragon is weakening, and the fusion of the two worlds is near. Desperate to save what remains, Yuki and company fights Amami at the great shogun's shrine, Toushougu. In their final standoff, she discovers their adversary is a deity of another realm who possesses the Dragon Gems and the Four God talismans. To regain his divine powers, he destroys the talismans. Yuki's party is able to retrieve the Dragon Gems, yet Amami is ultimately defeated when the shogunate is abolished without his knowledge. An ancient curse activates and eradicates Amami completely. His death speeds the worlds' destruction and breaks the dimensional bridge between them.

Due to her friends' sacrifices, Yuki is the only survivor and only her home world is safe. Unable to accept this future, Yuki asks the newly born White Dragon to grant her wish for space-time travel. The deity alone is too weak to fulfill her request, so Yuki volunteers to sacrifice fragments of her own life to power the trip. In spite of the dragon god's warnings, she accepts the risk and danger it will cause her soul, for she desires to save both worlds and everyone important to her from annihilation. Yuki's physical endurance wilts the more she relies on her dragon god's power, and she frequently faints or falls into a deep sleep. Even so, her perseverance is rewarded when the Satchou Alliance succeeds and her comrades bond with one another.

After experiencing several different timelines, Yuki eventually discovers the truth of the Kiryu siblings and Amami's past. Unwilling to forsake either one of them for victory, the priestess decides to travel further back into the parallel world's time to eradicate the root of their problems. With the support of numerous deities and her companions, Yuki agrees to completely erase the events which occurred in the Bakumatsu by arriving within the Warring States period. Her Eight Guardians support her fight against their true villain and convince him to stop relying on curses to achieve his goals. With everyone dear to her safe and free, the group enjoys a pleasant sunrise before they return to their respective worlds and timelines.

When Yuki regains consciousness, she and her childhood friends have returned to the modern world moments before placing the final talisman on the stone tablet. To her surprise Sou still desires the third world's birth, raises his Four Fiends, and conspires to kill her. Since the modern world is still in ruins, Yuki decides to travel back to the parallel world to perhaps locate the abnormality to her ideal future.

The priestess arrives in Edo, the home of the Tokugawa shogunate. In this new timeline, vengeful spirits spawn from Edo Castle and can threaten to tear down the protective barrier placed around the city. A massive wave of curses and other defilements surround the cityscape. Due to her actions in the past, the shogunate is divided between Iemochi and his elder brother, Yoshinobu. Hoping to save Edo if nothing else within the parallel world, Yuki reunites with her Eight Guardians and purifies vengeful spirits on a case by case basis. She hopes to gain Yoshinobu's trust to purify the spirits within Edo Castle.

She hopes to accomplish her goal before the White Dragon completely devours her life force. Rindou notices that her hand is beginning to vanish and gives her a star-shaped pendant. When she wears it, it creates a physical illusion of her normal body. Not wanting to worry anyone else with her state, Yuki keeps it on her person at all times. She only takes it off in private to check how much of her body remains. Since the pendant reacts to her emotions, it may change color if she has intimate feelings for a particular person.

Yuki gains popularity as a priestess with the townsfolk, and the people praise her for her efforts. Yet, when her powers fail to stop a raging fire in the western block, they immediately turn on her. Yuki is devastated when they criticize her weaknesses and she loses her resolve to fight. Her companions suggest returning to the modern world so she can recuperate. During her stay, she learns from Amami that her true nemesis is actually Zhulong, an ancient being which devours energies across space-time. Sou had summoned it for his future world. If she defeats the dragon, everything will be restored to its proper place. Yuki and her companions confront it, yet it is too powerful for them to defeat.

Returning to the parallel world, she and her party selflessly defeats a powerful vengeful spirit threatening the townsfolk. The populace renew their faith in her and once again cheer her as she cleanses the Four Fiends in Edo. Yoshinobu trusts her enough to allow her admittance into Edo Castle, letting her and her companions seal the Black Kirin imprisoned within its inner halls. The beasts' defeat restores the natural flow of the Five Elements in the parallel world. It subsequently weakens Zhulong in the modern world for the priestess and her guardians to defeat it.

Yuki finally creates a future in which everyone dear to her has been saved. Sou, who had tried to stop Yuki's progress, is persuaded to end his aggressions and to enjoy his future. Thanking her comrades from the parallel world during their final farewell, Yuki happily returns to her restored home world with her entire family intact. The White Dragon, now at full power, gradually returns its priestess's life force and bids her a happy life.

Alternate Fates
The player may choose to alter the game's ending by interacting with other characters. If Yuki has high ties with them and successfully finished their events, she will live together with them.


 * The original game's endings has her return to the modern world in every character's story route. Kazahanaki mixes the results depending on the character.
 * Shun and Sou die within most endings of the original game. They survive in every ending in Kazahanaki.
 * The newly born Four Gods can only become human within the original game.

Development
Ruby Party members state that Yuki was developed to be the "doll-like mistress" compared to previous protagonists in the series. They wanted to portray her as a dignified and calm girl who doesn't show anger or uncertainty on her face. When the rough drawings of her final design came in, the developers adored her cuteness and particularly loved her blushing portraits. As a whole, they believe that she does not act or look as childish as her predecessors. Tohko Mizuno's personal request for her character was to have Yuki speak in a graceful tone throughout the script.

Her weapon, default name, and symbolic color were chosen to symbolize the game's main theme. Ruby Party members admitted that they struggled to devise her name at first, but they believe it has a "beautiful yet fragile" image. The developers stated that the idea of her sacrificing her life force is an attempt to match similar convictions found within the parallel world's time period, in which men would gladly devote their lives in the name of nationalism.

Yuki's past of studying overseas was purposely done for people who aren't familiar with the Bakumatsu. Historical events could then be introduced and easily explained to them within the game's script. Another reason for her study overseas was so she could canonically understand Ernest's English and form a closer bond with him.

Personality
Normally timid and soft-spoken, Yuki is considered to be a "girly-girl" by her friends and acquaintances. She is afraid of insects, always addresses people older than her politely, and enjoys cooking meals and desserts for her loved ones. Never one to be overly suspicious, Yuki rarely accuses anyone of wrongdoing and innocently believes the words of strangers. Her gullible nature often causes her to walk blindly into trouble. Considered to be cute by men everywhere, she is often hit on only for her looks. Only her protective brother and cousin have prevented anything from happening to her. Due to their constant presence and her prim and proper mannerisms, it's easy to mistake Yuki as a sheltered and pampered princess.

Yet within her lies universal kindness for anyone she meets. She tries to approach even her foes with compassion and understanding. Above anything else, Yuki never wants to see anyone else in agony. More often than not, she will do anything within her power to bring them joy. If she can find a way to shoulder their burden, she will do it unquestioningly, even if the person may not appreciate her benign consideration. Simple words of gratitude are all she needs to keep believing in her convictions, which intensifies when she secretly relies on the White Dragon. Yuki feels her life and health are a small price to pay for everyone's future. In her ideal world, everyone can be happy without causing another person grief. Her deep-rooted yet conservative stubbornness for this dream surprises those who believe her to be an unassuming observer.

Deep in the back of her mind, however, Yuki sporadically fears the possibility of her life running out before she can complete her duties. If her humane beliefs fail her, she will privately blame herself for being too weak to make them a reality and wallows in self blame and regret. Hoping to not trouble her friends and loved ones, Yuki forces herself to keep moving in spite of her frail state and rarely admits the truth to her companions. In Kazahanaki's character routes, she feels overwhelmed by her self-imposed responsibilities and shares her fears with the person who is closest to her. Being honest with someone about her condition helps Yuki overcome her slump and restores her self-esteem immensely compared to her original canon counterpart.

Character Symbolism
Yuki's full name roughly translates as "snow in lotus water". Her character and the design motif of the games revolve around the concept of snow and winter, and her off-white color scheme acts as a prominent highlight for many images within the games. The wordplay of falling snow resembling the beauty of scattered flower petals acts as Kazahanaki's namesake and is often referenced by men courting her.

Her symbolic color is yuki-akari or "snow light". It's literally named after the slight iridescence seen on freshly fallen snow when hit with sunlight. It decorates her pearl head-comb, her gloves, and her overcoat.

The lotus acts as her symbolic item. In one myth regarding the flower, a young man had respected a beautiful maiden and sought for her requited feelings. Her parents disapproved of the young man, and the maiden was powerless to prevent her marriage to another man. Protesting the forceful decision, the woman drowned herself in the river near her home. Her spirit blossomed as the lotus to faithfully greet the face of her beloved. Her lover was immortalized as the sun and the lotus is fabled to bloom only during the day. Within the flower language, it often symbolizes a pure heart or innocence. The flower represents her life in the game and is the main decorative item for this continuity.

Quotes

 * "Mom... I want to see Mom. Will we ever meet again?"
 * "Is everyone all right? No one hurt?"
 * "I didn't come here to fight. I want to talk."
 * "But... I can't hurt them! They look so human... Isn't there another way we can save them? Can't we do anything to ease their suffering?"
 * "I don't want to lose anyone. I don't want anyone else to be hurt. So, please answer me, White Dragon. Grant my wish."
 * "What should I do? I can't abandon my duty, but I want to save you! How can I save everyone?"
 * "Perhaps the entire world is beyond my grasp. But, I want to do what I can."
 * "If only I wasn't so weak, if only I had the strength...!"
 * "How long will I last? Hopefully, my life is long enough to save both worlds..."
 * "I... I can't be so scared after all that's happened. I can't be hesitating now."
 * "I won't stop being a priestess. There are people dear to me who I can help with my powers. I wouldn't be able to support them if I were to quit."
 * "What say you, Priestess? Should we let this ruffian taste the error of his ways with death?"
 * "You know I would never want that. I think they have some issue with me. Let's tend to their wounds first before we hear them out."
 * "Hey, are you daft? He was just trying to kill you a few seconds ago."
 * "Even so, he's injured. His grievances are no different from ours."
 * "Always so naive. If you suffered even a slight graze, I would have shot you down but... Fine, you win. "
 * Rindou and Yuki, Harukanaru Toki no Naka de 5 Kazahanaki

Fighting Style
The player is required to use Yuki at all times; her defeat signals the party's defeat. She has weak physical attributes, but she is the only character who can seal any element into her weapon. Her weapon leveling process is less stressful as a result and highly adaptable. Magic can only be cast if she lands the first successful hit, so it may help to equip her with status afflicting seals. Standard attack seals may not be as effective with her low accuracy and attack ratings. She has the strongest magic stat in the party.

Yuki is the only priestess in the series who cannot restore her own Will with a concentration command; she is limited to attacking, escaping, or cheering to recover her ally's lost Will. Yuki needs to rely on one of her party members to recover her lost Will in between turns. Restorative points are her only means of restoring her lost Will after a battle.

Here are Yuki's stats at level 50:
 * Attack: 60
 * Defense: 66
 * Magic: 96
 * Speed: 68

Here are her stats at level 99:
 * Attack: 96
 * Defense: 105
 * Magic: 153
 * Speed: 106

Her sole special ability is Sing-Song (唱歌), which increases the likelihood of her reserve allies participating in a magical incantation in battle at the cost of four Will.

Weapons

 * Sealing events
 * Yuki's Story (second playthrough) - Chapter 10
 * Chapter ending story event (uses all sand from hourglass)
 * Defeat the Black Kirin twice.


 * Yuki's Story - Chapter 5
 * Flower garden; Modern world
 * Defeat the Four Fiends in the parallel world. Before heading to Edo Castle, go to the modern world. Defeat Chi You. If the player chooses to quit fighting the beast once the party is defeated, it will not return. The player will need to restart the entire chapter for it to reemerge.


 * Her weapon's seal for her fifth weapon depends on her element.
 * Wood - Wild Strikes: strikes three times in one turn.
 * Fire - Inhibit All: lowers every enemy's speed for three turns.
 * Earth - Dead or Alive: hits all enemies for massive damage but lowers her health to one. Can be used repeatedly even if she is at one hit point.
 * Metal - Withering Blow: damages all enemies by 1/4 of their maximum health.
 * Water - Weaken All: lowers enemies attack power for three turns.