Horuda Puresu

Horuda Puresu Gallery Quotes [[:Horuda Puresu/|]] [[:Horuda Puresu/|]]

Illustration by KattyStarlitt.
Horuda Umetsu
Role	Student
Class	1-2
Club	No Club
Persona	Fragile (February 20th, 2018) Coward (February 3rd, 2018 - February 7th, 2018)
Reputation	-23 (overall) Liked: -50 Respected: -30 Feared: +10
Crush	None
Strength	Incapable
Appears	Week 1
Voice	Lizzy Hofe

Horuda Puresu (real name: Horuda Umetsu) is one of the female students who currently attends Akademi.

Appearance

Current

Horuda has upper back-length straight greasy black hair with a parted fringe that covers her left eye. She has black eyes and a bust size of 1.

She wears the default uniform with short black socks and black panties unless customized by the player.

Previous

As of the February 6th, 2018 Build, she wore a long skirt. However, it was later removed in the February 20th, 2018 Build due to it causing several bugs. One of the bugs was making the skirt go through the entire map.

Personality

Horuda Umetsu has been bullied at every school she has ever attended, from kindergarten to high school. She has always been considered "weird" by the other children; while some thought that she was merely awkward and gloomy, others felt that she was outright creepy and scary. Strangely, nobody has ever been able to articulate exactly *why* they perceive her in this way; the only explanation offered by the other children is that they dislike her because of "the vibe she gives off."

Despite many attempts to forge bonds with other people, Horuda has never been able to succeed at making a friend - not once in her entire life. She gradually began to feel that her "fate" was to be alone and to be mistreated by others, and so, she eventually decided that her wisest course of action was to spend her time as far away from other people as possible. Unfortunately, her preference for solitude has only reinforced her status as "weird and creepy" in the eyes of others.

A lifetime of being mistreated by others has severely impacted her mental health; she is often preoccupied with very dark thoughts, such as, "All the people who treat me badly should just die!" and "I wish I could kill all of the people who have made me suffer!" Recently, she has begun to use artwork as an outlet for these thoughts, often sketching very morbid drawings of herself torturing and murdering the people who have tormented her in various bloody and gruesome ways.

Some people are more "fragile" than others - just a gentle push away from shattering into a million pieces. When someone is convinced that they have lost everything, and have nothing left to lose, they lose all reason to continue clinging to life; their mind becomes occupied by a single thought: "Why don't I just track down the person who made my life so miserable, kill them, and then kill myself?" This thought occupies their mind every waking hour - eating away at them until there is nothing left.

Horuda has attracted the attention of Akademi's bullies, who have nicknamed her "Horuda Puresu" - a term that is meant to sound like the word "Placeholder." The implication is that she has no intrinsic worth or value, and is nothing more than a "background decoration," temporarily occupying a blank space that will eventually be occupied by someone more worthwhile. It's a basic and childish insult, but it's one that directly strikes at her deepest insecurities.

If Horuda's reputation drops any further, she will be targeted by Akademi's bullies - and, although she might not show it outwardly, she would then develop a burning desire to find and kill the person responsible for damaging her reputation. Under those circumstances, this seemingly timid and docile girl could be transformed into a "guided missile" determined to take violent revenge on the person whom she views as responsible for her suffering...and then self-destruct.

— Description on the Official Website.

A shy and timid girl.
Seems to be incapable of standing up for herself.
For some reason, she gives me the impression that she could snap and become violent if pushed too far.

— Description from Info-chan.

Horuda's reaction to a camera.

Among the personas that are currently implemented in the game, Horuda is Fragile. If she sees a corpse, she will run away from school and call the Police. If she witnesses a murder of a normal student, she will start begging for Ayano Aishi to spare her life in exchange for her silence and run out of the school, but won't call the police. If she witnesses a murder of or sees the corpse of a bully, she will react with the Spiteful persona like the Delinquents do. However, if a pre-bully Kokoro Momoiro is killed in front of her, she will do the same as if she witnesses the murder of a normal student. She is unable to engage in physical combat with murderers. If Ayano aims the Phone at her, she will cover her face in a unique way. Unlike other students who cower to the right and hide, she simply looks and covers her face in nervousness.

If her reputation is lowered to the point that she is being bullied, Ayano can deceive Horuda into thinking that a student of her choice has been spreading rumors about her, which will cause her to commit the murder-suicide of the person she is convinced has ruined her reputation.

In the Death Demon's ritual, it is revealed that Horuda is constantly daydreaming and fantasizing about taking the lives of various people who bullied her in the past. YandereDev also confirms that she wants to kill people who have harmed her, such as the bullies. If all of the Bullies are dead or missing, she will stand up straight and smile.

As of the September 1st, 2024 Build, she will react with the Spiteful persona if she witnesses a bully being murdered or discovers the corpse of a bully. The next day, the player will be able to talk to her without any sort of repercussions.

Due to her experience of being constantly bullied, she tends to isolate herself from other people. Even if Oka Ruto wanted to befriend her, Horuda's "role" as a bullied social outcast would make her stay away from Oka.

Horror movies are too scary for her to watch. Her favorite food is probably simple to make and can be eaten quickly. An example is Melonpan. She reads Isekai stories.

Her favorite clothes are sweaters and sweatpants. She looks like a fujoshi at home.

Horuda's music type is dark and edgy music with a lot of lyrics talking about the world being terrible and hating everyone around them, wishing for their deaths.

Her desperate desires for a person to like and give her positive attention would even go as far as to be grateful for having a stalker.

Her deep-rooted insecurity goes so far that she'd think a yandere falling in love with her wouldn't be so bad because she believes no one would ever want her so a yandere would have zero competition.

If she ever managed to make friends, she would try to make herself look like a good friend and be overly appeasing so that they'd never leave her.

Background

Horuda has been bullied at every school she's ever attended, from kindergarten to high school. The reason is always the same: "She's just creepy."

She is considered the least attractive with Supana Churu and Kokuma Jutsu.

Routine

Regular

At 7:00 AM, Horuda enters the school grounds, walks to her locker, and changes from her outdoor shoes to her indoor shoes. She walks to the Rooftop and draws gore on the left side. It can be used for Info-chan's Bounty on Monday in the First Week. At 8:00 AM, she walks into Classroom 1-2, sits at her desk, and plays on her phone. She starts her morning classes at 8:30 AM.

She leaves to go to the right side of the rooftop to eat her lunch at 1:00 PM. She walks back to class again at 1:22 PM, sits at her desk, and plays around on her phone again until her next classes start. Her next classes start at 1:30 PM.

At 3:30 PM, she lastly participates in cleaning time, which ends at 4:00 PM. During cleaning time, she can be seen cleaning the chalkboards in Classroom 2-2. She will remove any chalk from her erasers by slapping them together on the rooftop. It will give Ayano a chance to push her from the rooftop.

Afterward, she heads to her locker, changes from her indoor shoes to her outdoor shoes, and walks home.

Horuda cleaning the chalkboard at Classroom 2-2.

Horuda removing chalk dust at the rooftop.

Week 2

At 7:00 AM, Horuda enters the school grounds, walks to her locker, and changes from her outdoor shoes to her indoor shoes. She will sit down and read near the lockers.

At 8:15 AM, Horuda will walk to Classroom 1-2, sit at her desk, and start her morning classes at 8:30 AM. Afterwards, she leaves to eat her lunch outside of Classroom 2-2 at 1:00 PM.

At 3:30 PM, she lastly participates in cleaning time, which ends at 4:00 PM. Afterward, she will go and read outside of Classroom 2-2 and stay there for the rest of the day.

Task

Main article: Tasks

Description of the favor from Horuda Puresu

This favor requires...	Description
	This student needs to write a report, but can't find the necessary information online. Help them get the info they need.
The player can visit the left side of the first bookshelf near the indoor window in the library and grab the book by clicking "E". As this object does not take up space in the player's inventory, it can be checked by opening the phone menu and checking through the inventory app to see the item "Japanese History Book".

Topics

The topics Horuda is Negative/Positive/Neutral towards are as follows:

Positive	Negative
Art Justice Violence Reading Solitude	Memes Gossip Socializing School Money

Relationships

The Bullies

Main articles: Kashiko Murasaki, Hana Daidaiyama, Hoshiko Mizudori

The bullies often taunt Horuda by stealing the latter's stuff, leaving anonymous notes, gaslighting her, pretending to be her friend while making it clear that they're not friends, saying veiled threats without any grounds of incrimination, and many more.

A hypothetical situation shows that the bullies tossed out her shoes, left a crumpled note in her locker, and watched from a distance with smug expressions and giggling. They would approach her and openly mock her with cruel comments. They would scamper off after seeing the delinquents come in. The latter would toss Horuda's shoes at her feet, comment that she should keep her stuff safe, and walk away without talking.

Musume Ronshaku

Main article: Musume Ronshaku

Musume has a task that involves taking a photo of Horuda's hiding spot on the rooftop. Musume considers her to be even creepier than the members of the Occult Club, and she suspects that Horuda has a dirty secret, even though she just likes to read and be alone. Even after Ayano takes a picture, Musume believes that she still has a secret.

As of the May 1st, 2024 Build, Musume's new task is to spill a bucket of water filled with brown paint on Horuda and take a picture of her covered.

Kokoro Momoiro

Main article: Kokoro Momoiro

Despite Kokoro's true unwillingness to make other people suffer, Horuda could never forgive her for becoming a bully, even if it was to avoid being bullied herself. YandereDev mentioned that Horuda truly cannot forgive any bully, even if they were pretending to be one, as she would call Kokoro a horrible and cowardly person for joining in on the cruelty out of fear. This would at first make Kokoro extremely angry at Horuda for not acknowledging her feelings, and it would even turn into an argument. Kokoro would realize that she has no right to be angry at someone that she bullied, accept the fact, and admit to Horuda that the latter has the right to be angry with her.

YandereDev says that while Horuda could forgive Kokoro, it would take some time.

Kokoro feels the most empathy towards Horuda.

YandereDev says they weren't ever friends.

Kuu Dere

Main article: Kuu Dere

Horuda attempts to be friends with Kuu, but Kuu is very apathetic and doesn't care very much.

Dafuni Bureiku

Main article: Dafuni Bureiku

Dafuni thinks Horuda is weird, but she feels bad for her and thinks that it's sad that she's getting bullied.

Budo Masuta

Main article: Budo Masuta

If Horuda saw Budo, she would think "He's hot" but inmediately afterwards, think again, "Sigh, he's out of my league, he would never like a girl like me..."

Her Family

Horuda's parents are nice to her, but she worries that they're disappointed in her. She also has an extremely successful older sister. YandereDev later confirms that while her parents feel bad for her, they have given up on their younger daughter. Like other people, they think she is a freak and do not have much hope for her. Horuda's older sister loves Horuda but it's more out of a "familial obligation" rather than true appreciation.

Others

• Osoro Shidesu: If Osoro helped Horuda with her bullying issues, Horuda would start to idolize Osoro and try to be like her.
• Delinquents: If Horuda interacted with the delinquents, she would be scared of them, without knowing their history.

Trivia

• Horuda was implemented on the February 3rd, 2018 Build.
• She was added to YandereDev's "Characters" on November 14th, 2024.
  • She was originally implemented because of Musume Ronshaku's ID changing, which caused some bugs.
  • She was originally a placeholder character. However, she is no longer a placeholder character and will be in the final game.
  • YandereDev considered adding her in 1980s Mode before deciding that she wouldn't be a placeholder anymore.
  • The reason she was kept in the final game was that she grew on the players and is heavily involved in Musume's story and character.
  • If she was replaced, she would have been with a character from the Gaming Club and would be a boy. He would have been a "Hot Blooded" character who was always fired up and doing dramatic poses and shouting instead of speaking at a reasonable volume. His appearance might have been similar to Meito Anizawa from Lucky Star.
• Her nickname, Horuda Puresu, comes from the Japanese word for "placeholder" (プレースホルダー).
• Her real name is Horuda Umetsu as of the July 1st, 2020 Build.
  • Her surname, Umetsu, is a real Japanese surname that means "plum" (ume, 梅) and "harbor" (tsu, 津).
• Before the May 2nd Bug Fixing Build, Ayano could wear her original hairstyle by pressing the H key.
  • Her original hairstyle was the hair used in the easter egg Hateful Mode.
• Pressing the H key in the debug menu will cause the day to reset. She will become a mind slave, kill Shin Higaku, and herself. If he is dead or absent, she will just end her own life.
• She shares the same walking animation as Oka Ruto.
  • If all of the bullies are dead or go missing, she will now smile and walk with a straight posture.
    • Despite Kokoro not enjoying bullying, Horuda will still be shy if only Kokoro is left alive. This is because she refuses to forgive Kokoro for the stuff she did.
    • However, as of the September 15th, 2024 Build, Horuda will smile and stand straight if only Kokoro is left alive. This may be because Horuda will feel safe if Kokoro quits bullying, even though she doesn't forgive her.
• She is currently the only student with the Fragile persona.
• Horuda is currently one of 10 students who have a bounty, with the others being Ryuto Ippongo, Fureddo Jonzu, Umeji Kizuguchi, Otohiko Meichi, Kyuji Konagawa, Hazu Kashibuchi, Toga Tabara, Uekiya Engeika, and Horo Guramu.
• She could've participated in Kokona Haruka's play as the lead role, since she fantasizes about killing the bullies. Ultimately, she would back out at the last minute due to her fear of screwing up and embarrassing herself on a stage in front of people.
• Before the latest build, Horuda's routine was reading a book on the bench on the left side of the rooftop.

Illustrations

Horuda's current illustration by kattystarlitt.

Horuda's previous illustration by Kaito.

Horuda's drawing depicting herself stabbing Musume with a knife.

Ditto, but clearer and with a white background.

Horuda holding a bat seen in the Drive to Murder elimination sprite art.

Horuda in the 4th Anniversary blog post.

An illustration of Horuda from the 5th Anniversary blog post.

A chibi Horuda, by Blue_nori_snow.

A drawing of Ayano failing at video games, with few students around her, by ジャッキー.