Lio Shirazumi

"April 1995, I met her."

- Lio Shirazumi

Lio Shirazumi (白純里緒) first appearing briefly in the second chapter of Kara no Kyoukai, he later appeared again as the main antagonist in the seventh chapter.

April, 1995
An older schoolmate and a high school upper-classman of Mikiya Kokutou and Shiki Ryougi, Lio first fell in love at the sight of Shiki at the start of April 1995. After a month, Lio would then go on to befriend Mikiya, finding great comfort in having him as his only friend, even meeting up with him on occasion. His initial love for Shiki slowly became an obsession that consumed his daily life. Unable to confront Shiki about his feelings, instead he begins to stalk her, regularly taking photos of her as well as recording her daily activities using a video camera. On July, he finally confessed his love to Shiki but only to be rejected due to Shiki's supposed dislike for "weak people".

Feeling depressed after being rejected, Lio decided to seek out an infamous schoolmate who was known for bullying others over arcade games. As a way to vent his frustrations, Lio plans to provoke said schoolmate through a series of arcade matches, in hopes of confronting him afterwards to prove his worth. Lio challenges the schoolmate in an arcade game, winning against him in consecutive matches for almost an hour until the schoolmate prompts Lio to follow him in a dark alley. Before the schoolmate could react, Lio hits him on the head, instantly killing him in the process. Surprised, Lio breaks down as he fears the consequences of his actions.

With no means to dispose of the body, his origin partially takes effect and he concludes that the "natural" course of action would be to eat the body to remove the evidence. He begins to devour the body, initially sucking out the blood to drain it. However he begins to feel sick, thus unable to continue further. Here he encounters Souren Araya who praises him for developing an awareness of his origin.



Araya claims Lio to be insane, and thus prompts him to continue eating for he claims that it is only natural for an insane person to do so. Lio overcomes his moral paralysis and in one hour, he is able to devour his schoolmate's whole body, causing his lower jaw to break in the process. Araya asks Lio if he wishes to have his origin awakened as a way of becoming a transcendental man, to which Lio consents under the belief that it would help reliquish his state as a "weak" person. With his origin awakened, Lio begins to manifest a carnivorous hunger for human flesh.

1995-1996 Murders
Starting from September 1995, Lio would begin his murderous campaign while continuing to stalk Shiki by taking photos of her and recording her activities using a handheld camera. Due to his connection to Araya, he is somehow able to discover about Shiki's murderous impulse. Finding relief in the fact that Shiki, the girl he loves, is suppressing a similar murderous instinct like his own, he begins to orchestrate his crimes with the intention of influencing Shiki's mental state so as to allow her to succumb to her murderous impulse. He decides to conduct his murders at night, while picking his victims based on location so that Shiki would be able to come across them based on her daily routine and activities.

His first murder involved cutting off the victim’s hands and feet, leaving the victim to die. His second victim was vertically sliced in half from the crotch to the head with the other half being stuck to a wall. His third victim had his limbs cut off, in which the arms were sewn to the legs. The fourth was cut into pieces, with what looked like a Yin-Yang/Taijitu symbol carved onto the body. It was at this point that Lio drops out of school while attempting to manipulate Shiki into thinking that she is the real killer. He would then conduct his fifth murder, arranging the severed parts in such a way that the arms and legs formed a manji symbol.



At some point in time he would have dinner with Mikiya in a restaurant until Mikiya decides to visit the Ryougi estate. Lio would then conduct his sixth murder on the path covered with bamboo trees near the Ryougi estate in an attempt to bring out Shiki's murderous impulse while framing her for the crime. Lio hides behind the bamboo trees, as Shiki discovers the victim on the path with Mikiya witnessing the whole scene.

Due to Lio's murders and its influence on Shiki's mental state, Shiki gets involved in an incident where she nearly kills Mikiya as well as being caught in a car accident. Having nearly driven Shiki to her death, Araya stops Lio from conducting his murders in order to prevent him from causing further problems for his plan. It is at this point that Araya deems Lio to be a failure, resorting to using other powered individuals to divert Shiki's attention while keeping Lio at bay.

Lio halts his murderous campaign, and on occassion, he would stay in the Ogawa Apartment Complex while continuing to observe Shiki's activities after she had recovered from her two-year coma.

Appearance
Lio originally had brown hair and brown eyes and he often wore simple casual clothes. His hair would later turn blonde and he would also gain reptilian/feline red-orange eyes, and retractable claws. This is due to his awakened origin causing his body to mutate and restructure itself. He would later change his hairstyle and wear a red leather jacket, a dark purple shirt and skirt (originally black in the novel), causing his overall appearance to drastically change. He sports this image with the intention of appearing visually reminiscent of Shiki, even to the point of using a military combat knife as his weapon of choice.

Personality
Lio was originally a socially withdrawn and quiet individual. He had befriended Mikiya Kokuto and initially had a crush on Shiki Ryougi. When his love for Shiki turned into an obsession he began to stalk her, taking photographs as well as recording her activities using a video camera. Aside from this, he keeps a personal diary and is depicted as an amateur artist, having sketched portraits of Shiki. Lio developed an inferiority-complex as he internalized Shiki's given reason for rejecting him, in which Shiki claimed that she dislikes "weak people". Lio's motivation for initially wanting to confront the infamous school bully in a fight was based on his misguided perception that he can only prove his worth as a "weak" person based on a real fist-fight. Upon realizing that he had killed his schoolmate, Lio instantly became distressed as he feared the responsibility of his crime.

Despite his introverted nature, Lio is actually very manipulative, having nearly convinced Shiki that she was the true killer of the 1995 murders. After awakening his origin, Lio developed a superiority-complex, albeit prompted by Araya's words of praise. He subconsciously recognizes his guilt as a murderer, but chooses to live in denial. As such, whenever he killed someone he blamed his origin as the cause of his actions as well as the fact that he is supposedly insane to begin with. Despite his claims of insanity, Lio only became insane based on how his willful experiences affected his mentality, as opposed to Shiki who was truly "insane" since birth.

Recognizing himself as the only "special being", Lio grew frightened of his solitude, deciding that he would only be content if he sought out and created companions of his own. With Shiki being the girl he always loved and Mikiya being what he considers to be his only true friend, Lio interchanges between wanting to convert either Shiki or Mikiya to his side either as a murderous killer or as a "special being". Despite his preference in recruiting either Shiki or Mikiya, he is not above recruiting other teenagers as he slowly grew desperate in seeking out a companion. It is eventually revealed that his goal of creating murderous companions is prompted by his desire to share the burden of having a guilty mind. His carelessness in regards to his life and his risk-taking behaviour can be attributed to his subconcious fear of living with a guilty mind, though this does not mean he harbours any suicidal tendencies as he simply relishes in tempting his fate in battle.

Lio's desire to devour Shiki is not inherent of his personality as it is derived from his origin of "consumption". This provides a pseudo-split personality on his part as Lio is depicted as switching between different moods from being feral to suddenly becoming calm and collected. In this regard, his obsession towards Shiki manifested into a desire to devour her, glorifying her as his "special" meal. It was only near the end before his final battle that he begins to doubt his need for companions as he deduced that a special being is only "special" if it were truly alone, though this thought process could be attributed to his sanity breaking down after Mikiya's "death". His original personality had been described to completely fade away after he had finally realized the guilt of his crimes when he "killed" Mikiya. During his final battle with Shiki, Lio's mental state becomes primarily dominated by his carnivorous instincts due to his origin of "consumption" slowly taking over his mind, meaning that he had truly intended to kill and devour Shiki during their final fight.

Chapter 2: Murder Speculation Part 1
In 1995 at the height of the murders occurring within the city, Lio makes his first full appearance on the day of his farewell party in which he attempts to psychologically manipulate Shiki Ryougi into believing that she had conducted all of the four grisly murders at the time, nearly convincing her into thinking that she was an actual killer. He is then referenced by Mikiya Kokuto, in which he is described as having had a farewell party after suddenly dropping out of school due to having found "something he wanted to do". He would later be shown having dinner with Mikiya in a restaurant, this being the last time that Mikiya ever sees Lio before their eventual meeting four years later.

Chapter 7: Murder Speculation Part 2
On February 1999, after Araya Souren had already been confronted and killed by Shiki during the previous year, murders begin to occur in the city once again. The new murders are described by the media as being conducted by a "bloodthirsty killer" and TV broadcasts describe it as the continuation of the grisly murders in 1995. Shiki, having had her lost memories reawakened by Satsuki Kurogiri, and having been previously convinced that she was the killer of the 1995 murders, begins to stalk the streets as she looks for the true culprit. During her pursuit, she encounters a gang intent on murdering her in which she easily incapacitates them. At the same time Mikiya gathers clues as he begins to investigate about the distribution of a new modified variation of marijuana as well as a supposed new drug cocktail called the "Bloodchip", deducing that it is related to the new murders. The identity of the Bloodchip drug-dealer is revealed to him by a local drug-dealer with Mikiya showing genuine shock at the revelation. After some period of time, Shiki is finally able to track down the true culprit, cornering him in an alley.

Lio is revealed to be the serial killer from 1995 to 1996 as well as the "bloodthirsty killer" conducting the new murders, He is revealed to have changed his hairstyle while adopting a new attire that mimics Shiki's general appearance. Lio and Shiki would then fight at which point, Shiki is unable to kill Lio. Lio claims that he conducted his most recent murders in order to lure Shiki out while framing her for the crimes by dressing up like her. He intended for Shiki to confront him with hopes of making her realize her true self as a natural-born killer. He deduces that Shiki is simply being held back by someone (implied to be Mikiya), and that disposing said person would finally allow her to return to her true self. It is at this point that Shiki severs Lio's left arm, causing Lio to retreat in the city rooftops while continuing to taunt her.

Mikiya locates and enter Lio's apartment. Here he finds a collection photos, videos, and sketches of Shiki. He finds Lio's diary which details his experiences since 1995. From the first time he fell in love at the sight of Shiki, as well as his befriending of Mikiya, to his inner turmoil caused by his first murder.

Discovering that Lio harbors a strong obsession towards Shiki and in fact confessed to her early in the series, Mikiya decides to stay in order to confront his old friend. Lio would then return to his apartment after his confrontation with Shiki, only to find Mikiya in his apartment room. Lio claims that Shiki was the true killer of the 1995 murders, but Mikiya refutes this saying that Lio is lying, and that he is simply resuming his murders since 1995. Lio presents his moral dilemma, in which he is slowly succumbing to his origin of "consumption" until his mind is no more. Lio desperately claims that only Shiki could become his true companion due to being similar to him, and that Mikiya is the one holding her back from realizing her true self. After a conflicted discussion in which Lio realizes that he still considers Mikiya as a friend and ally, Lio decides to leave, declaring that if Mikiya were to see him again, he would truly have to kill him.

Shiki would continue to track down Lio, finally discovering his lair in a warehouse. Surrounded by a field of marijuana, Shiki enters the warehouse only to be confronted by Lio. Shiki and Lio fight once again, this time with Shiki overpowering Lio, the end result being that Shiki manages to pin him down as she prepares the final blow. Lio taunts her to return to her true self until Shiki holds back at the last moment upon realizing her internal conflict of desiring a normal life with Mikiya. Lio escapes and runs away from her, until Shiki surrenders herself at which point Lio knocks her unconscious.

Shiki wakes up, suprised at the fact that she is still alive. She finds herself paralyzed and handcuffed while Lio reveals that he had drugged her with a muscle relaxant, keeping her captive in the warehouse. He relates his experiences with Araya to her, claiming that Araya's demise should allow them both to finally roam free as murdering companions. With his origin slowly taking over him, Lio heavily salivates and licks all over Shiki as he slowly grows tempted to devour her, only to hold back so as to allow her a chance to still revert to her murderious self. As Shiki remains defiant, Lio grows frustrated, biting Shiki's neck as he grows more tempted to devour her. Suddenly, Lio's attention is diverted by Mikiya's arrival who had broken into the lower level of the warehouse. Lio heads downstairs and ambushes Mikiya, knocking him unconscious with an iron pipe.

When Mikiya regains consciousness, Lio vents his frustrations about his situation as an unwilling killer, stomping on Mikiya's foot in the process. Mikiya reveals that he has uncovered the real reason behind Lio's role as a drug-dealer. He deduces that Lio began distributing the modified drugs hoping that it would help awaken other people's origin so that the world would be filled with more people like him. Lio admits that despite having soaked it in his inhuman blood, no one ever truly withstood the effects of the Bloodchip cocktail, causing those who ingested it to either die or go insane. He reveals himself to be the one to have sent the gang to attack Shiki previously in order to draw out her muderous impulse, though he concludes that Shiki still spared the gang thus making Lio consume unecessary victims. Despite this, Lio defiantly declares that only Shiki could truly become someone like him. Mikiya struggles upon realizing that Lio holds Shiki captive, upon which Lio injures Mikiya and decides to forcefeed him with a lethal dose of Araya's magically-enhanced marijuana. He taunts Mikiya to take his Bloodchip cocktail, claiming that ingesting the modified drug would save his life while turning him into a "special being" like Lio. Lio makes desperate attempts to force Mikiya to take the Bloodchip coctail but Mikiya refuses. As Lio grows sad and frustrated, Mikiya berates Lio, declaring that he is a coward that does not recognize the guilt and responsibility of his crimes, unworthy of being called a "bloodthirsty killer", as well as being the complete opposite to Shiki. Lio grows furious, grievously injuring Mikiya by stabbing him near the left eye, knocking him out in the process. Having thought that he killed his only true friend, Lio undergoes a mental breakdown. He recalls his own claims of Shiki being held back by Mikiya, and decides to confront her once again as his last hope of gaining a murderous companion.



Upon returning upstairs, Lio finds Shiki standing before him. He realizes that Shiki had freed her left hand from the handcuffs, having bitten off her left thumb. Excited by Shiki's resilience, Lio decides that she is ready to become a killer that would join him as his companion. Shiki rejects Lio once again, deciding to leave the warehouse to return to Mikiya. Accepting his rejection from both Mikiya and Shiki, Lio taunts Shiki, revealing that he had already "killed" Mikiya inside the warehouse. He gives back Shiki's knife, having used it to "kill" Mikiya beforehand. Lio insists that he and Shiki are truly similar, while Shiki laments her loss.

Steadily clutching her knife close to her chest, Shiki challenges Lio to a final battle. With nothing held back, Lio's origin of "consumption" takes over his mind, unleashing a set of claws as his primary weapon as well as doubling his speed. Like a predator to its prey, Lio begins to methodically injure each of Shiki's limbs, in order to incapacitate her before finally killing her. Shiki is unable to react to Lio's attacks due to still being affected by the lingering effects of the muscle relaxant drugs that were previously injected into her. Having injured all of her limbs, Lio prepares to deliver the final blow, with his claws aimed at Shiki's neck. After reflecting and expressing her grief at the "loss" of Mikiya, Shiki suddenly gains her resolve. Shiki takes advantage of the amount of space between her and Lio, first slicing his right arm, then both of his legs, until finally delivering the killing blow as she plunges her knife deep into his back, thus taking him out in one fell swoop. Shiki falls down unconscious as Lio's corpse lay on the ground with Shiki's knife still embedded into his back.

Awakened Origin: Consumption
Having awakened his origin of "Consumption" (literally translated from "to eat"), the chaotic force of the origin takes form as it begins to dominate over Lio's entire body and mind. This causes his body to change and gain superhuman reflexes with a cannibalistic instinct. Due to his origin being "consumption", Touko theorizes that Lio was probably a predator in all his past lives, with the awakening of the origin causing all of his past lives to manifest into one collective being, essentially becoming a "herd of beasts".

Through his awakened origin, Lio becomes incredibly agile, able to jump great heights and climb walls. He also possesses super-human strength having physically overpowered Shiki during their knife fights as well as being able to shatter one of Shiki's throwing knives with his bare teeth. Aside from his eyes becoming more reptilian/feline with a red-orange color, as well as his hair turning blonde, he begins to develop retractable claws. He also gains the ability to regrow lost limbs.

The prolonged irreversible awakening of his origin slowly causes Lio to become less and less like a human as his biological structure continues to mutate and reform. As he continues to lose his original personality, he begins to gain attributes akin to that of a predatory beast. His attacks and movement have been likened to that of various animals such as a lion, alligator, monkey, spider, bird, and snake.