[Drama CD] Corpse†Heart 4th Night Kirumi – Summary & Impressions

****SPOILERS AHEAD****

Label: Rejet
Release Date: 25th October 2017
Cast: Shimono Hiro (下野 紘)
Official Site

This is the 4th volume of rejet’s Corpse Heart drama CD series; this volume focuses on the “friendly” ghoul Kirumi.

Track Listing

1. LAST DINNER
2. Delicious!!
3. 復活祭の約束
4. 襲撃
5. 愛の言葉
6. キャストフリートーク

The first two tracks are songs & the CD’s total runtime is 42 minutes~

On the heroine’s first day as a student at the “Unknown School”, another 2^nd year student, Kirumi, calls out to her and introduces himself as a friend of her brother, Aron. He goes on to say that he was really happy when he heard that Aron’s younger sister would be transferring into the school and says that he hopes the two of them will become great friends. He asks her if she’s free after this and the pair head off together for a tour of the school. Kirumi takes her to the great hall – a place where students gather for important events, such as the upcoming Easter Festival; a super fun event that takes place once a year. He suddenly has a great idea and asks the heroine if she’d like to spend the Easter Festival with him and says that he’ll be able to explain everything and guide her around. She agrees and he makes her promise before showing her one of the nearby gyms.

They end up walking around for a while and Kirumi shows her many of the specialised classrooms, cafeteria, etc. before asking her if she’ll manage to remember it all. He laughs and agrees that it might all be overwhelming at first but if she ever needs anything then feel free to rely on him. For his finale, he leads her to his favourite “secret” place on campus – the music room. He says that he often goes there to sing after school but tends to keep it a secret from the other students. Apparently he used to be an idol back in the day and still loves signing, even now.  He asks if she wants to hear him sing and she replies yes so he tells her that it’s a special performance for her ears only~ She turns bright red at this and he remarks how cute she looks. He tells her that it’s a bit late today so they’ll have to take a rain check but promises to take her to the music room again sometime. He reiterates that he hopes the two of them will become close friends and offers to walk her home…

It’s finally the day of the Easter Festival and Kirumi is with the heroine; he remarks that he hopes the festival starts soon and is eagerly awaiting the fireworks that signal the start of the festival. He tells her that he’s had a lot of fun hanging out with her in the weeks before the festival and is happy when she replies that she enjoyed his company too. The fireworks go off soon after and they’re both scared/surprised when the other students start running towards them. Kirumi gets angry, tells the other students not to touch the protagonist and starts fighting them off. He manages to stun them with a spell and uses that opportunity to escape with the heroine. They stop for a break and he quickly looks for a place to hide. He summons a magic circle and tells her to quickly step inside as it’s invisibility magic that will hide their presence from the other students. Once inside, he remembers that one of the other students might’ve injured her so asks if she’s okay – it turns out she’s uninjured so he’s pretty relieved.

Kirumi says that he knows the situation must be scary but reassures her that she’ll be fine so long as she stays by his side. She is obviously relieved by his kind words and tries to thank him but he says that he doesn’t expect thanks and ponders upon just what could have happened to the other students to make them act in such a strange way and complains that he just wanted to enjoy a normal festival this year. He continues on by wondering if it could possibly be related to “that” rumour – that all of the students are actually dead and that once a year they all turn into “undead” creatures. He says that he never paid much attention to the rumour before but after seeing the other students acting crazed; he starts to believe that it may be true.

The heroine is a bit shocked by this and backs away but Kirumi tries to reassure her by asking if he looks like an undead and says that he’s a normal human just like her, reminding her that unlike everyone else, he hasn’t tried to attack her. This leads him to wonder just why the students are after her and asks if she possesses the Jewel Heart. The heroine has no idea what he’s talking about (even though apparently the teachers tell them about it) so he explains that it’s a “special object” that has the power to revive the one who steals it from its owner, although Kirumi admits that he doesn’t completely understand the intricacies of it. He concludes that the Jewel Heart probably allows the students to return to being living humans so they’re trying to steal the heart from the heroine. He tells her to trust him and promises to protect her. He tells her that it would probably be best to lie low for a while until they manage to think of a way to get out of this mess and tells the heroine to come to his house with him, a place that none of the other students know the location of…

And so, they end up at Kirumi’s house where he gets the heroine some warm lemonade to drink and tells her to relax for a while – he says that it doesn’t just have to be for a short time and she can stay for as long as she likes. The heroine wonders if she’s being a bother but Kirumi tells her that she’s not and that he enjoys the company since he lives alone due to the fact that he doesn’t have parents. He tells her that he’s been alone for a long time but doesn’t feel lonely today because she’s there with him. He confesses that he’s fallen in love with her and asks that she stays by his side…

He apologises for his sudden outburst but goes on to explain that he became interested in her from the moment they’d met and found himself thinking that he’d like them to become closer and do more things together: sing for her, explore the town together, help each other with their studies… Eventually he begins dread parting from her and realises that he’s fallen in love. He explains that he wants to protect her, always keep her smiling and doesn’t want anyone to take her away from him; he says that he’d do anything for her. He then asks what she thinks of him, she replies that she feels the same way and Kirumi is super happy, then kisses her, laughing that she looks cute when she’s embarrassed. He then promises that he’ll never part with her so asks if she’d do one thing for him now – die.

The heroine pushes him away and he laughs that she’s so surprised – he goes on to explain that he’s not a human but is in fact a member of the undead like all of the other students. She complains that he tricked her but he laughs and makes light of it; saying that it was all for the sake of obtaining her Jewel Heart although admits that he hadn’t realised that she’d be unaware that she had the Jewel Heart all along.  He summarises that it was all a lie: their early meeting and friendship, the daily dates they went on after school, the times that he praised her for doing well and even his confession of love earlier. He laughs at her before saying that it would be impossible for someone like him to fall in love with a boring, stupid, clumsy and plain girl like her, especially since she was so easily led astray by his acting. He says that even though he once thought of her as kin, she’s just too stupid.

He goes on to explain that he’s her “father” – the undead chairman of the school’s board who has been using forbidden magic to give himself eternal life (with the help of Aron). He sighs before asking her if she really hasn’t cottoned onto anything yet, although he admits that they did manage to deceive her really well. He complains that he somehow feels kind of hungry and realises that she smells tasty so thinks that he’ll have a little “snack” before he kills her. He goes onto explain that he’s a ghoul – a carnivorous undead creature and tells her that those in a state of fear just happen to be the tastiest to eat. He’s delighted by her terrified reaction, licks his lips and tells her that he’s going to eat all of her. He has a nibble but is surprised by how well she’s keeping herself together and is bemused by it, saying that he wants to see her truly terrified.

She asks him to stop but he tells her no because he’s super-duper hungry since he expended energy using magic, running away, took her to his house and of course made her a drink so, in return, she should just give up and let him eat. He then asks her if she really wants to live that much and ponders for a little while before asking if she still loves him because he could let her live if she promises to keep loving him. She asks if he’s being truthful and he says he is, telling her that she’s a weak human who wouldn’t be able to survive without his protection. If she truly loves him so much that she can’t live without him then he supposes that he wouldn’t mind being undead for a while longer. He admits that he wants to be a human so he can be a famous idol again and that by waiting around his popularity might fall and he won’t be as loved.

However, if he has the heroine around to love him instead then he wouldn’t mind giving up on obtaining the Jewel Heart and not being able to eat her wouldn’t really bother him in the long run. He then asks her what she wants to do since he doesn’t really mind either way. She (obviously) chooses to live and he remarks that it’s strange that she was so scared of him earlier but is now easily admitting her undying love.  He laughs and pushes her down, telling her to prove just how much she loves him; if she doesn’t make him believe her then he’ll kill her. She showers him with affection before he eventually realises that she does mean it, praises her and decides that she can live BUT if she stops being sincere then he’ll definitely kill and eat her. He makes her promise to love only him for eternity and kisses her.

In the epilogue, Kirumi comes to visit her and asks her what she thinks of him, she replies that she loves him but he says that it’s not enough and she needs to use more adoring words, like she normally does. She eventually manages to fulfil his request and he’s super pleased that she really, truly does love him and says that she should continue to please him so that he will “reward” her with kisses before warning her not to let him feel too lonely, otherwise he’ll eat her. He laughs manically before leaving the room and locking the door behind him…

 

KIRUMI PLZ WHAT WAS THAT?!?! You can’t just drop the whole “I’m your father” line (which I was so shocked to hear, I re-listened to the line like 3 times just to make sure) and then literally ignore it 2 seconds later because you’re hungry!?!? I’m so confused about everything with the whole time-line/character relations of this series now because basically:

• The character ages must mean nothing since Kirumi is one of the younger characters but he can’t be 355 if he was the one who created Qoo who is over 500 years old as Qoo doesn’t mention a change of school chairman in his CD.
• He also can’t be the “father” of Aron, whom is over 700 years old.
• Surely if Kirumi is the “father” of the heroine, then wouldn’t that mean that he killed Valerie’s family? If so, then how come Valerie doesn’t recognise him and take revenge?
• Also, if he’s talking about becoming a human again quickly to regain his popularity as an idol then one can assume that he has only been an idol whilst human so surely he can’t have been a ghoul for that long (maybe like ~10 years) in order for people to remember him??

So, basically it makes no sense for Kirumi to be the true chairman of the school (it’s probably Aron isn’t it?) and the fact that they literally just glossed over it was beyond ridiculous! Although I suppose it’s also good for drawing people into the series because I want to know the truth now! I also feel as though I might be missing something obvious but I have listened to the full CD more than once…

I’m also kinda surprised at rejet – I knew that they like to think of their fans as being thirsty for older brother characters (myself included w) but a “father” character, really? That’s a tad extreme even for them lol.

The pacing in this CD is also kinda off and I personally found the first two drama tracks to be a little dull in comparison to the previous 3 CDs. That being said, the confession scene later in the CD was really well done – the dialogue itself, Shimono Hiro’s exceptional voice acting and clever use of BGM really made the scene stand out and (even though I was expecting it) really gave the betrayal impact.

As per usual, the cast commentary continues to the be most entertaining thing in this series and Shimono Hiro was really funny! I also found it interesting that he was definitely hinting at a sequel and there was some strange wording of a line in there that made me wonder if the “sequel” would be something other than a drama CD, hmmmmmm……. Or maybe he was just hinting that Kirumi might show up (as a cat perhaps?) in another character’s CD lol!

Final Thoughts

My Score: ?????/10

I have no idea what to score this CD because I simply cannot make up my mind whether or not I liked it, haha. I mean, it pretty much follows the same pattern as the other 3 but is making me so curious about the other characters that I can’t decide if it’s a genius sales ploy or simply infuriating 😛

The music was definitely pretty good, although I was super surprised at how high-pitched Shimono Hiro’s voice is at the beginning of both songs.

I feel kind of let down by Kirumi though; there was very little development and I won’t even lie that I lost it and started laughing hysterically when his reasoning for trying to kill the heroine was to be an idol, like why can’t he be an idol as a ghoul if he can easily pass as a human? I kinda feel as though we’ve gone a little step back in this department as Valerie and Qoo did have valid reasons for pursuing the heroine… Ah well, at least the epilogue didn’t seem so grossly out of character this time around so that’s a slight positive.

I can’t believe that I’m actually up to date on this series lol, I gave in and just pre-ordered the final two volumes (Ness & Aron) the other week so at least I’ll get my display box & bonus CD. I’m really curious about how the group dynamics will work out in the bonus CD!

Thanks for reading as always! 🙂

P.S. Kirumi looks so cute with those cats that I’m salty he never showed up as one in this CD >w<