Hikaru Kobayashi
Hikaru Kobayashi is a character in The Silver Case. He is a young boy who recently passed away.
Appearance and Personality
Koichi is an average Japanese boy. He experiences bullying at school, which his friend Koichi tries to protect him from. He has a weaker personality than Koichi and often needs someone to stand up for him. Koichi says that he "laughs like a frog". As a ghost, Hikaru is concerned with helping Koichi, and feels apologetic for making him feel guilty. On one occasion, he appears as a frightening mangled spirit, angrily declaring he won't let anyone bully Koichi.
History
Hikaru was born with a weak heart. His mother divorced at an early age, and she eventually got a boyfriend, who Hikaru didn't like. In Summer of 1998, they moved to room 403 of the Typhoon apartment complex. He befriended Koichi Sugita, and the two often played in an around the building. Koichi would protect him from the bullying they both received at school. Eventually the two of them built a "secret base" under a trash can in the complex's inner garden.
One of their neighbors, Kenichi Hiruma, was driven into a jealous rage from watching the two play, due to his own autonomic nerve issues. On June 22th, 1999, he chased after the two boys, possibly planning to kill them. When Hikaru was cornered, he had a heart attack. A neighbor immediately called an ambulance, and Hikaru died while undergoing emergency treatment. Out of guilt for being unable to protect his friend, Koichi believed the only way for Hikaru to forgive him would be to allow himself to be killed. In reality, Hikaru's ghost continued watching over Koichi and had always forgiven him. On June 29th, Koichi placed a sticker on the door lock to Hiruma's apartment to prevent him from opening it, and after confronting him, Hiruma fell from the balcony and died.
On June 30th, detectives from the Heinous Crimes Unit arrived to investigate the apparent suicide. Akira began speaking with Koichi, who had begun believing a delusion that Hikaru was still alive, and just hidden somewhere by their fellow classmates. On July 3rd, Hikaru's ghost appeared to Akira after he visited Typhoon and told him to "HELP KOICHI". Later on July 5th, Hikaru appeared to Akira again as a manged apparition, saying he "WON'T LET ANYONE BULLY KOICHI". After Koichi called out to Akira from the fourth floor, Hikaru's spirit returned to normal and began apologizing to him.
On July 6th, Koichi's delusion ended and he told Akira the full truth of Hikaru's death. Around the same time he had been meeting with Erika Yukawa, and gave her a letter confessing to killing Hiruma. The letter was then given to Tokio Morishima. It is unknown what happened after this point. According to Kiyoshi Morikawa, the is no conclusive evidence linking Koichi to Hiruma's death, meaning he likely went unpunished after the incident.
Trivia
- Hikaru and Koichi may be partially based on Goichi Suda as a child. "Koichi" is an alternate reading of "Goichi", and the "Kobayashi" from Hikaru's name is the same as Suda's father's last name.
Gallery
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Portrait -
Moving to Typhoon -
Meeting Koichi -
Hikaru and Koichi -
Hikaru's final moments -
HELP KOICHI -
Hikaru's angry spirit -
I'M SORRY, KOICHI
