| abstract
| - Except that he was born and raised in Hokkaido, nothing is known of Kouta's life prior to the summer he, his father, and his little sister Kanae went to Kamakura, a Japanese beachside resort town, to stay with Kouta's aunt and her daughter, Yuka. It can be inferred that his mother died sometime after giving birth to Kanae, but nothing is ever said of this, or the fate of Yuka's father. Like most characters in the series, Kouta has only one name offered up, in this case his given one. At some point during or before this stay, Yuka developed a deep crush on Kouta (cousin relationships are legal in Japan), but while he liked her as well, he found her attentions a bit much, a situation not helped by Kanae's resentment of Yuka. While walking up one of the mountains in the area, Kouta met a girl who would literally change his life forever. Oddly, he did not learn her name at this time, and her true name was only revealed at the very end of the manga series. But this was the girl who was to become the series' protagonist and a very stark mixture of hero and villain, Lucy (although she was not yet called by that name, and in fact almost never used it to describe herself). Unknown to Kouta, she was already on a bloody path, and his offer of friendship, regarded with suspicion at first, brought light to an empty soul, though only for a time, and at an unimaginably high price to Kouta. The girl had pinkish-red hair, and atop her head she had small protrusions that looked like cat-ears but which were actually horns made out of cartilage. Young Lucy had been teased, taunted and isolated her whole life for these, both by other children and adult staff at the nearby orphanage where she had grown up after being abandoned at birth. This cruel treatment finally culminated in a dark incident that all but sealed her hatred of other people. That incident had the result of unleashing latent telekinetic powers, with which she murdered the four classmates involved. Her time with Kouta might have been enough to save her, but for a tragic misunderstanding. Beyond any shadow of any doubt, the brief time the two spent together was the happiest day of this girl's sorry life. But if Kouta liked his new friend, the girl was head over heels in love with him, something that reared its head in jealousy when she asked him whether the cousin he was taking to a carnival was a boy or a girl. Kouta lied, though out of concern, not malice, and said that his cousin was a boy. Seeing how fragile her feelings were, Kouta had attempted to spare her, but this small choice would seal their fates. At the summer festival, Kouta comforted Yuka, who was despondent over his family leaving for Hokkaido soon after. As he held her, he was seen by the horned girl, who took this small lie to be the same as another betrayal in her fragile mind. Turning against Humanity once and for all, the girl killed several people at the festival, an act witnessed by Kanae. Kanae's account of this was dismissed by everyone as ridiculous, even to Kouta and their father, who decided to leave for home that very night by train. Onboard the train, the horned girl emerged from hiding, intending to punish Kouta for his betrayal. Still disbelieved and attempting to protect her older brother, Kanae was scorned by him for what he saw as lying. Those words of hate would be the last they would ever speak to each other, as the horned girl used her powers to split Kanae in two at the waist, killing her instantly. Kouta was not only scarred by the murder, but by the realization that Kanae had been telling the truth, and that his last words to her could now never be taken back. Adding to the horror, as their father came over to see what had happened, he was decapitated, with his head tossed at Kouta's feet. Kouta broke into sobs, covered by his family's blood and cradling Kanae's upper half. When the girl who had been his friend then said she was next going to kill Yuka, Kouta jumped on her, demanding she stop killing people. Somewhere in his demeanor, the girl gleaned that Kouta had never meant to hurt her, and that she had crossed a line she could never go back from. Escaping the train, the girl vowed to one day go back to Kouta and apologize for her actions. But in large part, the damage had been done. Kouta spent a year in a psychiatric care facility, where he regained his coherence and sanity, but at the cost of suppressing his childhood memories, particularly of that summer in Kamakura. It is not known who cared for him in the years between his release and the start of the series. Once quite sharp, it seems Kouta's traumas or the memory suppression left him lacking focus, and in the end, all he could get into was a so-called 'safety school', the rough equivalent of an American Community College, for students lacking grades to enter better schools. This school turned out to be in Kamakura, where he had spent that fateful summer. Little did Kouta realize he was walking into ground zero for a world-altering, centuries-spanning conspiracy. When she learned that her cousin was returning after all these years, Yuka, who had never given up her deep crush on Kouta, gave up on much more prestigious colleges she easily had the grades for and signed up to be in the same school as him. The horned girl, while remorseful over hurting Kouta, stayed in the Kamakura Area, likely never leaving the Kanto Region of Japan, infecting males to become the fathers of new horned girls, called Diclonius, while inducing blood-vessel problems, including heart-attacks and strokes, in many others. In the five years she was active, many died at her hands, and at the hands of these new horned girls (Male births were somehow very rare to non-existent), who attacked their families after reaching the age of three. It is not known for certain whether these attacks occurred because the girls were mistreated, an inborn drive to kill Humans, or simply the mercurial nature of a three-year old child. Eventually, the existence of the horned girl, the 'Queen' of her new species, was reasoned out by scientists studying the outbreak of horned births, and she was pursued by them. Taking a chance on an absued girl name Aiko Takada, the horned girl became her friend and tried to protect and aid her when Aiko was accused of killing her abusive father. Sadly, Aiko was killed by Doctor Kurama, who had been trying to shoot the horned girl, who surrendered herself to get aid for Aiko. When she was informed while in captivity that Aiko had died, the horned girl now added making Kurama suffer to her goal of reuniting with Kouta. She would accomplish both. During her time of captivity, the horned girl was named Lucy by her captors, after a fossil skeleton of an Australopithecus woman once thought to be the genetic ancestor of Humankind (older fossils have been found since Elfen Lied concluded). It should be noted that Lucy was never this girl's name, nor was it a name she herself used, nor did anyone she regarded as friendly or close to her in any way.
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