Tohru Mutou

Tohru Mutou is one of the heroes in Shiki. He was Natsuno's only friend in Sotoba.

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Tohru is a well-liked guy in the village of Sotoba. He has many friends. He still lives at home together with his parents and his younger brother and sister (Tamotsu and Aoi). Tohru usually hangs out with Masao and Natsuno. He learns how to drive from Ritsuko Kunihiro, a nurse working at the Ozaki clinic who is older than him. He is in love with her and asks Natsuno to accompany him to ask her out on a date. Tohru is also fond of playing video games.

Tohru met Natsuno when he walked passed him with a flat tire and offered to fix it for him. Natsuno refuses but Tohru insists. After getting another flat some days later, he visits Tohru again. Because Natsuno's last names are too confusing, Tohru calls him by his first name, which Natsuno doesn't really like. Ever since then, the two became friends.

After Megumi's death, Natsuno is unable to sleep well at home because he still has the feeling that she's watching him. Natsuno tends to sleep over at Tohru's place during this period.

One night, Tohru is thirsty and walks over to a vending machine but loses his 100yen coin which rolls under the machine. A stranger called Tatsumi, who just started living at the Kanemasa mansion offers to retrieve it using a back scratcher. Tohru is grateful and offers him to drop by sometime. Tatsumi asks if he can bring a friend and Tohru agrees.Some days later, Natsuno stays over again. In the middle of the night, Natsuno awakes and knows that Megumi is entering the house and climbing the stairs. When the door swings open and it's Tohru's sister Aoi, Natsuno is relieved and believes he has halucinated the whole thing. However, Megumi is hidden under Tohru's bed and rises up while Natsuno watches the whole thing in shock, not moving an inch. Megumi says she really hates Tohru for being closer to Natsuno than she ever was and bites him. Natsuno wakes up, soaked in sweat and immediately attends to Tohru, who seems to be perfectly fine. Natsuno sighs in relief knowing it was all a dream. Or was it?

A few days later, Tohru does not attend school. His sister claims that Tohru is addicted to a new video game and he's skipping class.

Death
When Natsuno decides to visit a few days later, he notices Dr. Ozaki rushing to the house of the Mutou family. When Natsuno enters Tohru's room with Tohru's siblings, their father tells them that Tohru has died. And that he should have seen it coming because he's actually working at the clinic and knew this epidemic was going around. Before attending Tohru's wake, Natsuno receives a late summer greeting card from Megumi which he tears up. Natsuno is very quiet at the wake and asks Tohru's parents of he can see his face. He offers them his condolences. After the wake is over, Masao accuses Natsuno of having no feelings because he didn't cry and starts a fight. Masao is chased out of the house by Tohru's siblings.

Risen as a Shiki
A few days later, Natsuno, who has discovered the existence of vampires and is determined to fight them, is visited late at night by a mysterious person outside his window. Natsuno believes it's the vampire he encountered earlier when he was digging up Megumi's grave. However, a familiar sounding voice urges Natsuno to open his window. It's Tohru, who has also risen from his grave. Seeing Natsuno face to face, Tohru makes a run for it. Natsuno chases him even though he knows it's a stupid thing to do. It turns out that Tatsumi has ordered Tohru to kill Natsuno. If he refused, he'd kill his family instead. Tohru is very conflicted and Megumi offers to do the job for him. Natsuno encounters both Tatsumi and Megumi on a road, who are closing in on him. But he is instead grabbed by Tohru from behind, who sinks his teeth into his neck. Knowing Tohru is now out to get him, Natsuno decides to wait for him to come in order to ambush him. When Tohru shows, Natsuno confronts him with a crucifix. Natsuno discovers that Tohru is still the same Tohru and becomes furious, telling him to act more like a vampire and less like his human self. Seeing how conflicted Tohru is with himself, Natsuno offers Tohru his blood and wants them to escape Sotoba together. Tohru is too hungry and attacks Natsuno for the second time. After the second attack, Natsuno's anaemia has gotten so bad that he has become bedridden. Tohru once again visits late at night, still conflicted with the whole ordeal. He tells Natsuno that he's really sorry and cries. Natsuno tells him that it's okay and accepts his fate. The next morning, Natsuno's father finds that Natsuno has died. After Natsuno's death, Tohru visits Natsuno's bedroom window every night leaving a flower. The Kirishiki discover this and Tohru is summoned to Sunako, who tells him her life story and how hard this life can be. After this, Tohru decides that he will stop visiting Natsuno's house because he still wants to life. Suddenly Natsuno reveals himself to him. He has risen for quite some time now and tells Tohru he can never forgive him for killing him, or the other vampires for that matter. Tohru tells Natsuno the initial plans Sunako has for the village and gives Natsuno other sorts of information. This is the last Tohru sees of Natsuno. Tohru goes to Yamairi and discovered that nurse Ritsuko has also risen as a vampire. She quickly figures out what's going on and Tohru has to take care of her. Because Ritsuko refuses to drink the blood of humans, they lock one of her collegue up with her. Tohru cannot bare seeing Ritsuko suffer like this from the terrible hunger and pleads her to drink some human blood. She refuses and says she doesn't want to hate herself like Tohru does. Ritsuko manages to convince Tohru to let her friend go. They decide to wait for death together. Ritsuko's colleague tells the rest of the villagers, who now know about the existence of vampires, about Yamairi.

Tohru's End
Tohru and Ritsuko are discovered along with a lot of other vampires and are staked. Upon seeing the body of his son, Tohru's father pleads to stop the genocide against the vampires. But it doesn't work, the extermination of vampires continues.

Trivia

 * He was the only Mutou to die and come back as a Shiki.