Kaede (Elfen Lied)

Kaede is the main protagonist of the Elfen Lied series.

Personality and Bio
The so-called 'Queen' Diclonius, Kaede (also known as Lucy and Nyu) was both ruthlessly tormented and at times was herself a sadistic tormentor in her own right, driven by both the cruelty she found so often in life, but also by the knowledge that love and acceptance was possible. She succeeded to find a love interest, and it was a boy named Kouta.

As a Diclonius, Kaede possessed power rivaled by few others of her kind, and control over her vectors, mostly invisible telekinetic 'arms', virtually second to none. She was also capable of spreading the Diclonius mutation to the children born to people she infected, with the idea of replacing normal humans with her kind.

She is also the villain protagonist. To see her acts of villainy, go to this link.

Birth
Kaede's mother was a human capable of giving birth to fully-powered and reproductive-capable Diclonii (as opposed to the sterile Silpelit children spawned by Kaede's touch), and was apparently the true origin of the virus that spawned them. Captured by Chief Kakuzawa, Kaede's mother was held, studied and forced to bear a son by him, committing suicide after this. Kaede knew nothing of this, believing both parents had abandoned her. In fact, only her father had, while her mother never stopped searching for her, prior to her capture by Kakuzawa. It remains unclear if Chief Kakuzawa knew of Kaede's existence before Kurama and his own eldest son did, so the timeframe of the conception and birth of Kaede's half-brother is also uncertain. She was taken in by an orphanage, where she was avoided by the staff, commonly bullied and referred to as an "Oxen" (due to her horns) and told by the other children that she should live outside. In an odd way, Kaede understood this as the other children being miserable and needing to make others miserable as well.

Diclonius Instinct Awakened
Kaede found an abandoned puppy in the woods around the orphanage, whom she thought of as her first friend. Feeding the puppy on breadcrumbs left the pup starving, so she felt forced to give most of her dinner to it. During this time, it was later revealed that young Kaede while holding her pup sometimes listened to the singing of young Nozomi, who fled to those same mountains to hide her singing from her family. The two never truly met at this time. When a boy named Tomoo threw milk all over her bag, a young girl saw, and shouted for a teacher. Thinking of her as a new friend, Kaede told the girl about the puppy. However, although promising to keep it a secret, the girl told the boys about Kaede's relationship with the puppy, and the bullies took it from the woods.

Grabbing hold of Kaede, the boys brought in the puppy and began killing it by repeatedly smashing a hard object on it (a rock in the manga, a vase in the anime). The girl came in, admitting to telling them about the puppy. Despite her apologies and protests that she hadn't known the puppy would be hurt, Kaede spotted her smiling behind her covered eyes.(whether this smile, a nervous reaction or only in Kaede's imagination is unclear.) Feeling betrayed and enraged, she released her vectors for the first time, killing all of her tormentors. She then buried the dog, apologizing for not being able to protect it, and decided to go on the run.

During the nights, Kaede went with her Diclonius instincts and slaughtered entire families to stay in their houses. The murders became more and more publicized and she found it harder to stay at a house for very long. At odd moments, the horror of what she was doing would strike her, but her pain and need reasserted itself in short order.

Kouta
While she stood at the grave, a young boy arrived and noticed her horns. Thinking he would just hurt her more, she prepared to kill him. However, he, surprisingly, found them cool and immediately wanted to befriend her. Kaede thought that he was trying to deceive her, and tried to leave, but the boy, Kouta persisted, promising that he would be there the same time tomorrow. In a sad touch of irony, Kouta's father did not let him out, because of the homicides happening in Kamakura caused by Kaede. Even believing that Kouta would never come, she hoped against hope and went to the place of the meeting, staying there until night, regretting what she saw as her foolishness in the rain. Kouta, loyal to his promise, snuck out during the night, and went to meet Kaede. When arrived, he gave her a hat, so she could hide her horns, which seemed to distress her. They agree to play together the next day. Kouta only came three days later, because of his father's fear of having a serial killer in the neighborhood. But since it was the last day of vacation, and since there had been no more murders in the past three days, he let him go out.

Because it was the last day he could stay with her, Kouta decided to take Kaede to the zoo and spend all day with her. Her fascination with animals she had never had the chance to know of (such as elephants and giraffes) surprised Kouta, and he took delight in her joy from this. They enjoyed themselves all day and this created a strong bond between them. It was the best day of Kaede's life, but it hurt her that this was to be the last day she could see Kouta. When she learned he was going to a nearby festival, she begged to go with him, but he said that he promised to go with his cousin. At nightfall, as they were returning on the bus, the voice inside her head said to her that Kouta must be going to the festival with another girl, and said she would better off killing him now, so as to avoid suffering later. Then she found herself choking Kouta, and stopped, terrified. She exacted a promise from him to kill her if someday she ended up killing lots of people. When they had returned, a jealous, fearful Kaede asked Kouta whether his cousin was a boy or a girl. Not wishing to hurt her feelings, Kouta lied and said his cousin was a boy.

She nonetheless went to the festival, only to feel betrayed by yet another friend by finding out that his cousin, Yuka was actually a girl. She mentally saw Kouta saying that he could never be a friends with a weirdo like her, and that he had only been nice to her because he adores strange animals. As she broke down further, she saw her orphanage tormentors as horrific, undead creatures, also saying there was no place for someone like her, and that lying to her wasn't the same as lying to a real human being. The voice of her Diclonii instincts took the mental image of herself but with a cold and psychotic expression, saying that she couldn't coexist with humans. The voice proposed to Kaede to join her and she would make a place for them to live. Consumed by fear and despair, Kaede accepted her other self's offer, sealing her fate by preforming a proverbial "deal with the devil".

In a rage, and corrupted by her inner voice, she began killing several people at the festival. This was reported later as a bomb attack, though Kouta's little sister, Kanae, who possibly had the extraordinary gift to see her vectors, ran away and told her family (and presumably, authorities) that people were being killed by a horned girl. Kouta immediately thought of Kaede, but he didn't believe in his sister's story. With summer and their visit over, Kouta and his family boarded the train for Hokkaido and said goodbye to Yuka and her mother. Kaede watched with contempt as Kouta comforted a tearful Yuka. Kanae kept insisting to Kouta that her story was true, even as Kaede emerged into their car on the moving train. Kouta angrily denied Kanae's account that Kaede could be responsible and slapped her, reducing his little sister to tears when he said he hated her. Kaede then ripped Kanae in half and beheaded Kouta's father, telling the horrified Kouta that Yuka was next, but still wanting to be with him. In grief and rage, Kouta began assaulting her, telling her to stop killing. Kaede realized that, far from making Kouta love only her, she had done something unforgivable and perhaps pushed him away forever. While she ran away, she privately vowed to live for no other reason than to one day return and apologize to Kouta.

Wandering, Aiko Takada and Capture
If Kouta never left her heart, Kaede's actions after fleeing the train still showed bitterness and a murderous nature. Whatever the true nature of the Diclonius DNA Voice within her, at this point she and it were very much on the same page. Her common tactic was to use her vectors (Invisible arms, likely telekinetic in nature) to over-excite blood vessels in people's brains, causing often-fatal circulatory failure. As crowds would gather around the stricken, Kaede would then use her vectors to infect the males in the crowd, ensuring that any children they sired would be Diclonius like herself, albeit a secondary variety called Silpelit. After five years of doing this, she encountered Aiko Takada, a young girl who likely had a crush on her, and who befriended Kaede despite her inherent suspicions. Kaede defended Aiko from her abusive father, but decided not to kill him so as to avoid upsetting her. Kaede's instincts proved no better erring on the side of life, as an altercation between Aiko and her father ended in his death, with Aiko accused of murder. Kaede and Aiko fled, both to avoid arrest and hopefully to reunite with her estranged mother, an artist who was visiting Kamakura for the first time in many years. This, however, was thwarted under circumstances that differ slightly between the two versions of the series, but the result was the same : Aiko, attempting to save Kaede, was shot by Doctor Kurama, part of a force sent to apprehend Kaede from the Kakuzawas' research institute. Kaede surrendered in order to secure Aiko medical help, but later, while she was in captivity, Kurama informed her that Aiko had died. While the later manga series indicated the possibility that Aiko actually lived, the result was again the same. Kaede vowed vengeance on Kurama, who in the manga version lectured her on both Aiko's possible murder of her father and the supposed Diclonius stance against co-existence. For three years, the remnants of the original Kaede persona fell away and the girl became what the scientists and workers called her : Lucy, seemingly from both the ancient fossil remains and for Lucifer. Any worker who strayed too close to her range learned the hard way to think of the latter meaning.

Escape and Reunion
Seizing upon an opportunity, Lucy escaped her confinement and began a bloody rampage, killing multiple security guards as well as Kurama's innocent secretary, a woman named Kisaragi who underwent a brutal and undignified death. Yet somewhere in her thoughts was Kouta, so she escaped the facility entirely, taking care to leave her nemesis Kurama alive so to fulfill her vow to first kill everyone he cared for. Yet as she escaped, a sniper shot struck her restraint helmet, leaving her with a head wound likely not helped by a fall into the ocean from a fair height. Washing up on Yuigahama Beach on Enoshima Island just adjacent to Kamakura, Lucy was now suffering from trauma-induced amnesia, and fell into a childlike, nearly infantile state. By coincidence or by design, the two who found her were Kouta, her childhood crush that she had wronged, and his cousin Yuka, the rival for his affections she had once threatened to kill. Yet Yuka had never met her before, and Kouta was also suffering from amnesia, the result of witnessing his family's murder. Taking the helpless girl to the property Yuka's mother had rented out for her nephew's time in college, the cousins named her 'Nyu' after the only sound she was capable of making. Even if Nyu did not directly recall Kouta, or he her, an affection quickly built up between the two, albeit one challenged when Nyu innocently destroyed a keepsake sea-shell Kouta kept of his deceased little sister. Fleeing his anger at this, Nyu went back to the beach to search for a replacement sea-shell. Eventually, the cousins found her again, only to be attacked by members of Japan's Special Assault Team, sent out to retrieve Lucy. The cousins were knocked out, and the aggressive brutality of the SAT's Agent Bando awakened Lucy within Nyu long enough to make the agent regret it. Yet so strong were her affections for Kouta, all it took was merely sighting the sea-shell Nyu had picked out to revert Lucy back to Nyu. Back at the property, called Maple House, the soaking wet Nyu placed Kouta in trouble with Yuka when he tried changing her clothes. While Yuka was upset at the awkward scene, she came to two realizations; one, that Nyu was too rambunctious to leave alone with a young man, and the sadder one, made when Kouta related how he recalled his family dying - and none of it matched up with what she knew to be the truth. Nor would the star-crossed trio have long to calibrate themselves before things changed even more.

Enter Mayu and Nana
As a result of the misadventure/battle on the beach, an umbrella belonging to Maple House was found and returned by a young girl named Mayu. Realizing that she might have seen more of those confusing events than he had, Kouta asked her to come inside, which she did, while tying up her dog Wanta at the entrance. During this talk, and after Yuka came back to hear about this account, a slip and fall by Nyu once more caused Lucy to awaken. Instinctively, she almost killed Kouta and the others before she realized who he was. As she abruptly left, she came across Wanta, whose leash she severed while leaving the small dog alone. Lucy went to figure out her next move, and in the meantime, Kouta and Yuka learned that Mayu was in fact a homeless runaway, and resolved to try and help her. Lucy would soon see her again, when she walked in on the middle of arguably one of Lucy's most vicious acts.

At the Institute, Kurama had grown attached to a young Diclonius labeled Number Seven, or Nana (a common Japanese name which also means Seven), who under his care had shown little of no signs of the supposed Diclonius instinct for murder. Since Diclonius can sense one another, he reluctantly sent Nana (who called him 'Papa') out in search of Lucy, while telling her in no uncertain terms only to locate, not to engage Lucy in combat. Sadly for her, Nana disobeyed, and the sudden entrance of Mayu (who recognized Lucy as Nyu) took Nana off her guard, leading to her dismemberment by Lucy. Perhaps realizing Mayu was important to Kouta, Lucy merely knocked her away from the battle scene rather than kill her. As she tried to finish Nana off, an approaching force led by a vengeful Kurama now distracted Lucy, allowing Nana to disable Lucy's vectors, beginning to shift her back into Nyu, who fled back to Maple House. Mayu also came there, despite some reluctance, when the life she assembled while homeless fell apart. The dog Wanta became the pet of an odd but loving family, with the childlike Nyu as a little sister, despite being older than Mayu. Mayu began to attend school in the area (an arrangement allowed for by her uncaring cold mother) while Kouta and Yuka at some point realized they could not leave Nyu home alone.

Nyu Lost, Found, Remembered
Taking Nyu to college with them, the pair instructed her to not talk to anyone (she had learned to say 'Yes') and never ever to remove or let someone remove her horn-concealing hair ribbons. In the manga, she fell into potential peril when she wandered off, and real peril when the blinded agent Bando, recognizing her 'Nyu' sound, got hold of her before she slipped away, scared. Her peril persisted when their class was taught by Professor Kakuzawa, son of the Director, and as it turned out, the one who orchestrated Lucy's escape. Recognizing her when Nyu's inability to be quiet singled her out to him. The Professor was slick, concocting a story about Nyu being a long-lost relative of his and making the unworldly cousins believe they'd committed a crime. Kouta and Yuka left Nyu in his custody, an arrangement questioned by Mayu later that night.

She was correct to question this. Believing his father's plan was to mate with Lucy, the Professor sought to rape Nyu and have her bear his children, who would inherit the planet. The Professor's efforts came to a halt, however, when the sedative he used on Nyu instead awoke Lucy, who refused his offer of alliance and killed him. As Kouta learned more about horned girls and searched for Nyu, Lucy remembered her childhood as Kaede, including the torment, dismissal and even betrayal that were her true beginnings. To her credit, when she was found, Lucy attempted to leave, and give Kouta closure by confessing her past crimes against him. At the last minute, her nerve gave out and she again reverted to Nyu. Once more, a moment's peace never lasts very long, with Nyu and at Maple House.

Group Grope, Nana retaliates and Elfen Lied
Nyu's return meant the start of shenanigans, but also the unwitting close of prior trouble she had caused. Making for an insensate Kouta while he was asleep, a nude Nyu began to mercilessly grope Yuka, leaving the pent-up girl reeling as Mayu walked in on the scene. At first judging all the young adults at Maple House as perverts, Mayu was then on the receiving end of a chest grope from the overly curious Nyu, who walked away as though disappointed. Doubly insulted, Mayu seemed to have taken from this that Nyu was impossible to control, and more or less ended her suspicions of Kouta. About the same time, Yuka invited her High School Kohai (a younger student mentored by an older one) Nozomi to Maple House, where the shy girl gained a crush on an encouraging Kouta, enchanted the household with her operatic voice, and taught Nyu the song/poem for which the series is titled, Elfenlied. Yet in the same heartbeat, Nyu proved on some levels as great a menace as Lucy ever did. Poking at an overwhelmed Nozomi, Nyu committed a highly invasive act, one which her infantile nature kept her from fully grasping. While out walking Wanta, however, Mayu encountered anew a surviving victim of Lucy's savagery, Nana.

Bringing Nana back with her, Mayu was among those astonished when the gentle girl began to attack Nyu on sight, with varying effects based on series version; in the manga, Nyu became feverish and reverted to Lucy, but was far too weak to do anything. In the anime, Lucy fully awakened but was reluctant to harm Nana in front of Mayu. While the other residents hashed out their differences with Nana, Lucy/Nyu reminisced of the past, and came to the sad conclusion that Lucy the killer could never stay with Kouta, only Nyu could. So Lucy fought to force her otherwise-dominant persona into complete abeyance, letting Nyu dominate. For her part, Nyu listened as Kouta told of his regret that his last words to his sister Kanae were harsh ones (Kouta remembered that Kanae had died, but not how, inventing reasons to keep back the bad memories). Nyu then cut her hair and clothes so that she would resemble Kanae, who she asserted herself to be, telling Kouta she forgave him. While Kouta held her in the tender moment, Yuka witnessed this and fled Maple House until Kouta retrieved her, making his feelings towards her clear as well. As Nana strategically elected to stay at Maple House, this to keep an eye on Lucy/Nyu, another easily shattered moment of peace was upon them.

Mariko Vs. Nana and Lucy : One climax, One ending
Whatever Lucy thought of Nana, the childlike Nyu was delighted to have a new friend and family member, and was as concerned and upset as any of the residents when Nana told everyone she had to do something away from them. In fact, Nana had sensed another Diclonius, this one more powerful and perhaps more evil than even Lucy. Going down to Yuigahama Beach, Nana discovered the Diclonius was just a little girl, albeit an immensely powerful one, the only one known to have been created by a Diclonius who was created by Lucy, in effect a third-generation. This girl's name was Mariko, and though neither girl realized it, Mariko's real father was the man Nana called Papa - Doctor Kurama. Yet Mariko had never met or known her father, and Nana's speaking about him only infuriated the younger girl as she knocked Nana around like a rag doll. It is here that once again the two versions of the series diverge.

In the manga, Kouta and Nyu are stopped from finding Nana by a police barricade, one that the rambunctious Nyu vaults past before she can be stopped. By the time she gets to the scene of the battle, Kurama had arrived and had managed to calm matters between the two younger girls, while the situation itself escalated. Kurama had learned that his former employer, Chief Kakuzawa, had weaponized the virus that caused children to be born Diclonius. In hopes of forcing Kakuzawa to stop his plans, Kurama decided to take Nyu hostage, since Lucy was a major part of his plans as well. When the virus launch could not be stopped, Kurama shot Nyu, hoping to at least end Lucy's threat once and for all. This had the unfortunate effect of awakening Lucy, who began to attack everyone present, with no one around she even remotely cared about to hold her back. Mariko took on Lucy, this in an attempt to protect the father who had now declared his love for her. At her most vicious, Lucy killed the only person who could defuse control bombs embedded inside Mariko, this after also destroying the remote control for these bombs. Telling Nana to take care of their Papa, Mariko faces Lucy in full combat, taking many horrible wounds but keeping near Lucy even after she was killed. When the bombs in her body went off, it was all Lucy could do to preserve her own life. Her horns were shredded, seemingly 'killing' the Lucy personality forever. Nana returned with Nyu to Maple House, where for six months, the residents knew total peace.

In the anime, the police barricade was taken down under circumstances not made clear, so both Kouta and Nyu manage to find Nana, with Kouta's life briefly under threat from Mariko. A panic upon sighting Nyu has the soldiers present firing on her, awakening Lucy, who kills the same person she killed at this point in the manga - an assistant and spy named Shirakawa. However, whereas Lucy decapitated her in the manga, in the anime, she bisects Shirakawa just as she did with Kouta's little sister Kanae. In the anime, this is the event that triggers the return of Kouta's childhood memories. Facing down her enemies, Lucy tells him to meet her later. In short order, Lucy takes down but does not kill a resurgent Bando. Yet when facing Mariko, Lucy is totally overwhelmed, and loses one of her horns. Upon the deaths of Mariko and Kurama, Lucy actually saves Nana from being executed, and instructs her to go back home and live the life she no longer can. After forging a partial reconcilation with Kouta, Lucy faces an armed force against which she loses her other horn. As the anime series concludes, a figure is seen at the gate of Maple House, not clear but likely to be Nyu, now free of Lucy. However, the anime points to storylines not yet resolved, and were meant to be in a second season that never emerged.

The finish of Lucy, Nyu and Kaede
The manga begins its final third six months after the death of Mariko, with Nana and Nozomi now firmly a part of Maple House. Some things have remained the same, such as Kouta and Yuka's back and forth, Mayu's troubles dealing with men, and Nozomi's music school studies. Some have changed a little, and some radically, like Nyu, who now speaks coherently and has become a young woman in personality and conduct. When Nana sees Nyu caring for a small bird fallen from its nest, she remarks internally how far Nyu has come, and yet at the same time worries about the threat of Lucy's return.

Nyu is still attending college with Kouta and Nyu at this point, albeit fitting in much more easily, at least until the trio encounter the late Professor Kakuzawa's assistant, Doctor Arakawa, who is in dire straits at this point, needing to find Lucy in order to fend off the monstrous Unknown Man and a sick wager the two have made. Knowing Kouta from before, she tries to hold the group there, even half-seriously taking Nyu hostage, until she spots her horns, which sends Arakawa fleeing. The household is then rocked by the Unknown Man finding Maple House, brutalizing and terrifying Mayu and Nana before being chased off by Bando. Yet this rescue immediately creates problems of its own, as Bando sees that Nyu is the same person as his sworn nemesis, Lucy. As the awakened Lucy and Bando head off for a showdown, the house is in a mess. Worse still, almost as though in opposition to Nyu's maturing, Lucy's battle on the beach would show her at her most vicious and uncaring.

At first, Bando had a clear advantage, having prepped the beachfront for months, clearing it of all debris Lucy could use as projectiles. Little by little, this advantage slipped away, partly due to the interference of outsiders. When one of these outsiders, a Mayu regretful for having lied to Bando, saw Lucy injure and maim him with her powers, she could no longer deny her memories of Lucy having savaged Nana months before. With something like regret on her face and in her voice, Lucy prepared to kill Mayu, in order to keep Kouta's own memories from returning. This badly-thought-out course of action was halted by the sacrifice of Bando, who took a bisecting blow meant for Mayu while also shooting off Lucy's horns, reverting her once more to a pained and badly confused Nyu. As Mayu mourns Bando and Nana swears vengeance, Nyu overhears them talking, realizing for the first time that she is also the killer, Lucy. While a kind Nana, not wishing to hurt Nyu (who she correctly sees as distinct from Lucy) lies and says she is not Lucy, it won't be long before no one can be lied to any longer. With a declaration of concern and worry, Kouta coaxes all three wayward girls back to Maple House for dinner. Ironically, Kouta was about to press his younger housemates for the truths they'd been keeping back. Dinner would be served, as would truth, and the latter would be harsh.

As the makeshift family awaited test results for Nozomi's entry into an exclusive music school, armed soldiers burst in, the location tipped off by someone who had followed Kouta. At the head of them was an amoral arrogant scientist named Nousou, effectively Kurama's replacement as head of the Institute. As the soldiers brutalized his housemates, a desperate Kouta resisted and was shot by an Agent when he threatened Nousou. The sight of this drove a cowering Nyu to despair and rage, resulting in her re-growing her horns while not becoming Lucy. To the soldiers present, the result was all the same, as Nyu tore through them with a bloody vengeance. In addition to the soldiers and the Agent, Nousou had three clones of the late Mariko Kurama under his control, effectively containing her and Nana. Nyu sliced one of these girls in half with her vectors before the eyes of a shocked Kouta, finally forcing him to recall that the girl he now called Nyu was in reality the same childhood friend who had murdered his family. As Kouta fell into unconsciousness, Nyu's heart broke as he subtly but unmistakably declared that he would seek revenge on her. To make matters worse, helicopter gunships now entered the fray outside the house. These were beyond Nyu's capabilities, but not beyond Lucy's. Taking over in full, Lucy amped up her power, destroying the gunships while in flight and brutally dispatching Nousou and the remaining clones, killing one clone and incapicating Nousou and the other. As she left Maple House for what she (correctly) presumed to be the final time, Lucy urged Yuka to care for Kouta, and Nana to care for their home and family.

Outside, the Agent used the dying clone Lucy had bisected to cut off one of her horns, which put Lucy in pain, enabling Agent to take out the other. Kurama, who had survived in this version, came to the scene of the battle and held the dying clone before she expired, even being called Papa by her. Lucy taunted at this, the old hates being unable to be set aside, as both recalled the death of Aiko Takada before Lucy was hauled off to face down Chief Kakuzawa, and the residents of Maple House were taken to the hospital. (In story, no reason is given why none of them faced charges or further interrogation).

While the others waited on news of the injured Kouta and Nozomi, Nyu awakened as Chief Kakuzawa's captive, where he attempted to claim alliance with her, just as his eldest son had. He points out both the corruption of Humankind and the suffering she herself has endured, and then plays an ace. He reveals to Lucy (who a battle with Kakuzawa's transformed daughter had woken) that in fact, both her parents had not abandoned her, only her father. Her mother spent years searching for Kaede, eventually becoming the Chief's captive. Further, he raped and impregnated Lucy/Nyu/Kaede's mother, forcing her to have a son by him before she was able to end her life. Kakuzawa presents the boy, the only known Male Diclonius, intending to have Lucy mate with him to keep the new Diclonius bloodline pure. Whatever impact this news had on her, Lucy instead chose to kill the Chief and the boy, apologizing to her brother's corpse and scorning the Chief as delusional. Lucy was forced to battle and seemingly kill the Chief's daughter as well, with their battle dooming the island housing the Diclonius Research Institute. Battling her way past government forces moving against her and Kakuzawa, Lucy made for Kamakura on an escape pod like Nana had once used. Once more, she emerged nude on the beach, with the injured Kouta waiting for her, with both in possesion of their full memories.

An angry Kouta at last demanded an explanation for his family's murder, and Lucy found her explanations and apologies roundly rejected. Kouta offered her one bit of hope, offering to let her remain living at Maple House, so as not to lose Nyu as well, provided she committed no more acts of violence. Lucy agreed, but while seeking help in getting Kouta back to the hospital, she was confronted by Kurama, who tried once more to shoot her. Lucy kept to her vow, preparing to die at Kurama's hands, but the Diclonius DNA Voice, which had often presented itself as a mere adviser, now seized control of their body and maimed Kurama before he could fire. Witnessing this, Kouta scorned Lucy entirely, which the Voice-entity believed would make Lucy give in to despair and let it take total control (the nature of the voice was left unclear, whether it was a true entity or yet another personality). But as the injured Kurama managed to fire again, Kouta perhaps proved that he still loved the lonely little girl he met so long ago, and took the bullet for Lucy, explaining that they had unfinished business, and that since Kanae had died that way, he couldn't permit it again. But this second shot seemed set to finish Kouta, leaving Lucy so enraged, her vectors threatened the world itself. The Voice encouraged this, until Lucy decided her power could also be used to save Kouta. With no doubt in her, Lucy was free of the Voice's control, but her recent power spikes exacted their toll, ruining her body's integrity as she saved Kouta. Air Force jet fighters meant to destroy Kamakura were turned back, and even as she was literally melting, Lucy performed the equivalent of field surgery, leaving Kouta still injured but no longer mortally so.

The same could not be said for his old friend. Lucy's body was a hideous ruin, yet she was still alive and in agony. At the mental pleas of both Lucy and Nyu, Kouta was urged to end her life, as he had promised to do when they were children. Kouta desperately did not wish to do this, even when Lucy and Nyu's spirits passed, leaving only the DNA Voice entity. The Voice was put off by Kouta's love-born refusal, and in dire pain itself, made its own plea for mercy, one Kouta reluctantly fulfilled as the ladies of Maple House watched.

Each year after this and his recovery, Kouta would return to the spot he met his friend on the last day of the Kamakura End Of Summer festival. As per a promise they had made, Kouta awaited Lucy/Nyu's return, but each year left disappointed. On the tenth year anniversary of Lucy's death, Kouta arrived in the company of his own daughter, a girl widely presumed to be from his marriage to Yuka. Named Nyuu for their fallen friend, the girl asked about why he came there, and spoke of playing with twins who lived in the area. Little Nyuu also found a note in a bottle, which proved to be from Lucy/Nyu when she was a child. While this is almost common knowledge to readers and fans of the series, it was here that Kouta finally learned that his friend's name was Kaede. He also learned that her feelings for him were genuine and deep. Just then, the twins Nyuu spoke of walked up, and she called one of these girls Kaede. The series ended with the two saying that they had been waiting for a very important person, their special friend. Certain clues lead to the idea that these two are the reincarnations of both Lucy and the first Nyu, and Kouta's face shows tears of joy as he turns to look at them.

Sinner and sinned against, the girl with three names had found enough balance to be judged worthy of a second chance at life and happiness.

To learn more about this character, check out the following :
 * Manga Chapter Synopses
 * Anime Episode Summaries
 * Her series wiki's own entry