Terumi Arai
| Terumi Arai | |
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| Japanese name: | 新井 輝海 (Arai Terumi) |
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| Age: | 16-17 |
| Gender: | Female |
| Occupation: | High school student |
| First appearance: | Tell Me A Lie |
| Appearances: | Tell Me A Lie |
Terumi Arai (新井 輝海 Arai Terumi) is a girl of 16 or 17 years[1], attending the second year of an unnamed high school, who is able to read other people's minds - seemingly just by looking at them. She is the protagonist of Gosho Aoyama's short one shot Tell Me A Lie, which is her only appearance so far. She also seems to be relatively unremarkable to other people, considering that her own classmate for two years didn't remember who she is.
Plot overview
Tell Me A Lie
Terumi Arai gets assaulted by several guys in an alley, who escape when a blonde boy arrives and seemingly saves her. Unbeknownst to him and thanks to her supernatural skill, Terumi read his mind and learned this way that this whole thing was a ruse by the boy who is just out for her body, so she ditches him. The next morning, Terumi's two friends don't understand how she could send him away, but she can't tell them the reason because she wants to keep her gift a secret.
Her train of thought is interrupted when a commotion ensues because a classmate of her is moving away, acting like he hates the school and the people he's been with for the last two years. The latter are disgusted by his behavior, but thanks to her skill, Terumi knows the truth: Deep inside, he will never forget anything about this and is already missing his fellow students and the good time he had, acting like this so that they don't miss him and hence have to feel the same pain as him.
But she also heard something else in his mind: That he has no clue who Terumi is supposed to be.
Trivia
- Her name is a pun: In Japense name order, "Terumi Arai" (新井 輝海 Terumi Arai) sounds phonetically similar to the phrase "Tell me a lie" ("テル・ミ・ア・ライ" Teru mi a rai), which not only is the title of her story, but is a hint to her supernatural gift.
- Just a couple of months after the release of the one shot, a character named Officer Arai, written with the same Kanji as Terumi's family name (新井), appeared in Episode 483 of Detective Conan (The Vanished Policeman). It's not known whether they are related, if it's just an allusion to the one shot or if it's pure coincidence.
- Besides having similar given names (Terumi), her character design highly resembles a younger Rumi Wakasa.
- Terumi is featured together with George Kirishima, Yusaku Kitakata, Yutaka Takai, Sanjuro Sakura, Keisuke Hara and Minae on the volume cover of the Renewal Edition of Gosho Aoyama's Collection of Short Stories. She's the one sitting in front of the treasure chest.
References
- ^ Terumi attends the second year (class 2-A) of what is seemingly a regular high school - which would make her 16 or 17.
