Hiroko is one of Ayato's classmates. She agonizes over the fact that her blood has turned blue and is unable to completely hide her feelings of uncertainty. She escapes from Tokyo together with Ayato, and they begin a life together.
Background[]
Hiroko Asahina is a classmate and friend of Ayato and Mamoru Torigai. During the attack on Tokyo, she is lightly injured, and bleeds red blood; the injury requiring three stitches.[1] While Ayato is in the real world, her Mu phase activates.
When Ayato returns to Tokyo Jupiter, Hiroko is relieved to see him again but is distressed by the memory loss resulting from her Mu phase activating and a feeling that Mamoru's explanation for Ayato's absence is not right. Later, she is shot by agents guarding Mamoru; Ayato finds her, and she asks Ayato "It's red, right?" while she is covered in blood (now blue) from her wounds. Ayato assures her that her blood is red, but they are afraid to admit to each other its real colour.
When Ayato leaves Tokyo Jupiter for the second time, she leaves with him, and the two live together for a short time. While she is with Ayato, she has terrifying visions of herself as a Mulian bound to a Dolem, but cannot bring herself to talk about it with Ayato. However, she keeps a diary where she can write down her feelings. Her Dolem Vibrato eventually shows up, and Ayato destroys it, inadvertently killing Hiroko in the process; this deeply traumatizes Ayato when he finds out, especially since right before dying, Hiroko wrote a dying declaration of love as he was battling Vibrato, which showed up in the nearby lights when both girl and Dolem died. At the end of the series, when Ayato re-tunes the world, Hiroko (as well as Mamoru) are brought back to life.
It is revealed, through flashbacks in the series as well as in the movie prologue, that Hiroko was in love with Ayato while they were in their early teens, before Tokyo Jupiter was created, and that her feelings have not subsided even though she is dating Mamoru.
In other versions[]
Asahina's role in the movie is identical to that in the TV series.
In the manga, she is Ayato's tsundere girlfriend; Ayato entered the relationship in part to escape Reika's advances. Here, Asahina escapes from Tokyo Jupiter with refugees and arrives in Nirai Kanai where she projects three Dolem and holds Reika hostage, forcing Ayato to kill her.