Ayame Shimohira
Ayame Shimohira is a character in The Silver Case. She is a digital artist, and the former partner of Kamui Uehara. She plays a major role in case#1:decoyman, and remains a significant figure throughout the series.
Appearance and Personality
On the exterior, Ayame has a calm and collected personality. Although according to her she has intense bottled-up emotions. She seemed to be in love with Kamui, naturally drawn to him due to being an Ayame stock. She also expressed intense jealously over the other women that Kamui had children with, which pushed her to murder them. Ayame also has a deep mutual love with Sumio Kodai, wishing she could stay with him forever.
History
Background
Ayame Shimohira was one of the 1,440 girls chosen for the Ayame Maspro portion of the Shelter Kids Policy. She was raised in the Shelters, and like the other girls had her memory of the experience wiped afterwards. Prior to the events of The Silver Case, she became affiliated with Kamui Uehara, who she was drawn to due to her status as Ayame stock. She worked as an artist out of her studio Gladiolus in Ward 24, and created digital works with the help of Kamui. She eventually became pregnant with Kamui's child.
The Silver Case
In case#1:decoyman, Ayame breaks Kamui out of his confinement in IMM Hospital and keeps him bound and locked away in her studio while he is in a catatonic state. On March 27, 1999, she lures Yuriko Sonoda out of her workplace with the promise of meeting Kamui. Ayame then kills her with a modified harpoon gun. Later that night, she began being tracked by the public security force Republic, who believed her to be Kamui. She manages to kill two of the Republic members, Kenichi Sakamoto, and Haruhiko Inomata. She then attacks the team commander Daigo Natsume, placing him in a coma. The next day, she kills Yuka Kawai in her home, before dumping her body above the sewer lines near Babylon street. On April 9th, she lures Kei Nanami to the Babylon Shopping Center, killing her by gouging out her chest and leaving her body on the mall's roof. While at Babylon, she also comes into contact with Tokio Morishima. After killing the women, she also planned to kill the children Kamui had with them, but couldn't bring herself to do it.
On April 10th, she meets the Heinous Crimes Unit detective Sumio Kodai, accompanied by Akira. They speak about Kamui in her studio, and she and Sumio begin to flirt. Sumio discerns that Kamui was being kept there, and his tied-up body is discovered in the closet. Ayame is taken to the 24 Prescint, where she is watched over by Chizuru Hachisuka. She manages to shoot Chizuru with her own gun and escape to the Shelter Exhibition Area. Sumio and Akira corner her in one of the Shelters, where she and Sumio have a stand-off. The two continue to flirt, with Ayame expressing a desire for Sumio to kill her. She turns the gun on herself, until Kamui's children appear, saying they can hear their unborn brother calling out to them. She drops the gun as she is surrounded by the children. Ayame is arrested once again and admits to a string of crimes. She is said to most likely receive the death penalty. At some point after this, she dies, and it is unknown what happened to her child.
In report*5:HIKARI, Tokio visits Gladiolus, where he says he can feel Ayame. After this point her lingering consciousness begins to inhabit him. Through Tokio, Ayame types a memo where she discusses her nature as a stock Ayame body, and that she, Kamui, and Tokio are pawns. She describes how after becoming pregnant with Kamui's child, her bottled-up emotions caused her to explode. She ends the memo by telling Tokio to find something for himself. After this, Ayame remained as one of the lingering consciousnesses inside Tokio for many years.
The 25th Ward: The Silver Case
In *00 UTSUTSU, it is stated that Ayame was alive, but that there is no guarantee that the list of living characters is completely accurate. In #04 digital man, Sumio is able to speak to Ayame at the Model Room, presumably by peeking over to the Other Side using the observation powers of Kurumizawa. The two briefly speak about how they wish they could be together forever, in a place where time is meaningless. She says that he can reach her if he can overcome the "compression rate", where she is living a quiet, modest life on 40,000 yen rent. She also asks him if he really understands the true nature of Kurumizawa. Sumio tells her he will keep running until he can reach her, and she thanks him.
*05 MISOGI again shows Ayame as one of the lingering consciousnesses in Tokio's mind after his return to the 24th Ward. She appears to him in the third-floor bathroom of Babylon, alongside Kei Nanami and Kaiji Enzawa. She comments on Tokio's deteriorating mental state due to their presence within him. While Tokio is being kept in IMM Hospital, Ayame appears to him again on the hospital rooftop in the form of a nurse. She says that he is starting to awaken, and that she is also showing signs of change after death. She says that she knows he wants to erase his memory to delay his awakening, and comments that if he awakens completely, the other two Kamuis, Mokutaro Shiroyabu and Shinkai Tsuki would know and come after him. She tells him that plan was just implanted in his mind by the ones running the hospital, as part of their plan to collect data on the 25th Ward. She tells him that they need to cooperate to find out what those people are doing, and that she'll make him a "card".
Trivia
- Ayame's name comes from the Japanese word "ayameru" meaning "to kill".
- Ayame shares her name with AYAME Blackburn, a character from killer7.
- In Case #4.5 FACE, Ayame's age is inconsistently listed as 22.
Gallery
The Silver Case
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Transmitter -
Placebo (Unused) -
Decoyman -
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Surrounded by Kamui's children -
YUME
The 25th Ward
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Digital Man -
MISOGI -
