Hiruma, Ichirou

蛭間一郎

Ichiro Hiruma was one of the three Japanese members of the BUGS-2 mission. He is the oldest of eleven siblings, and for this reason he joined the BUGS-2 project in order to provide for his mother and younger siblings. Despite his corpulent appearance, most of his mass is in fact the result of dense muscle and bone mass, not unlike that of a sumo wrestler. Twenty years later, he has become the 502nd Prime Minister of Japan.
Prior to joining the BUGS-2 project, Ichiro was a struggling high-school student who worked hard to get accepted at Tokyo University at the wishes of his ailing mother, who wanted him to enter a university and get a stable job from the university degree. However, his dreams were ruined when his teacher, whom he considered his sole supporter, blackmailed him in order to cover up an affair he was having with a fellow classmate who had gotten pregnant. This led to Ichiro coming to believe he had no one he could trust. With the heavy need for money for his mother and siblings, Ichiro turned to the BUGS-2 project.
The DNA used in Ichiro's Bug Procedure comes from the larva of the Central African 'Sleeping Chironomid'. While the adult insect resembles a mosquito in appearance, the larvae possess a defensive ability called 'Cryptosis' that allows them to enter a state of hibernation in areas lacking in water.
While in this state, the Sleeping Chironomid is virtually indestructible, capable of surviving being burnt at 200 degrees, frozen to their core at -270 degrees for 168 hours, exposed to 7000 Gray of radiation, or left in a vacuum. They can then resume as if nothing has happened if exposed to water.