| “ | "Nico...science is...lovely, isn't it?" | ” |
—Ichico to Nico Vorgeil, Chapter 114 | ||
Ichico Nemuri (イチコ=ネムリ, Ichiko Nemuri) is a former Negator and a member of the Union that works as part of Nico Vorgeil's lab assistants.
Appearance[]
Her hair is long and messy, covering most of her face except for her eyes. She has a beauty mark on the right side of her chin.
In Loop 100, her attire consisted of an unbuttoned white shirt held together by the Union Emblem, a black suit, black leather shoes, and the Union Necktie that went through her cleavage. Due to Unsleep, she sported enormous eye bags until Nico rerouted them to be above her eyes with an electric chair, appearing as eyeshadow instead. She also has a caesarean scar after giving birth to Mico Vorgeil.
In Loop 101, her attire remains consistent (sans Union Emblem). However, her eye bags are dramatically lessened and she appears significantly better rested due to Fuuko's use of Soul Caliber; by extracting her soul (and thereby negator ability), her body becomes exempt from Unsleep, thus allowing it to recover. She wears camouflage and a nurse outfit in the Negator War Arc and Unmove Arcs respectively, and a wedding ring (gifted by Language) after the Language Arc.
Personality[]
Ichico loves science with a passion. She also has no qualms about showing off parts of her body, as shown by her clothes made to show off her cleavage.
Plot[]
History[]
Originally a scientist in London, when she first manifested Unsleep, she passed out at a train station when on her way to her university to report her findings. While she survived, the Samaritan who saved her died when a train ran over him. She was later approached by the Union, and agreed to help, working with Nico as part of the Union's Science Team. They would fall in love, but the effects of Unsleep were slowly killing her. When she gave birth to Mico, the strain was too much and she passed on, just as Nico awakened to Unforgettable, traumatizing him.
Ragnarok Arc[]
To hasten Ragnarok, Ruin has Ghost use Ichico's spirit to make Nico betray the Union, killing all of the UMAs that were holding back the world's end, so that he can be with her again. Her backstory and romance is explored through Nico, and ultimately, she and the rest of the Science Team protects Andy and Fuuko from a dying Ghost by holding them down before sharing one last talk with Nico about their daughter.
Union Arc[]
In the new loop, when Ichico passes out and the Samaritan tries to help her, Fuuko, ridding on the Kinto'un Cloud, saves them both before adding her to the current Union. With her help, they are able to locate the missing piece needed to create the Psycho Pods. She then helps the Union in save Gina from her tragedy. Afterwards, she is taken to the year 1999 thanks to Fuuko passing quest to reach other members of the Union. She then helps in neutralizing Autumn by using a chaff to keep Gina safe until she masters Unchange. After the first quest is done, Fuuko then uses Soul Caliber to separate her soul from her body to confirm a theory about Negator abilities, and then recommends that she practice Astral Projection to allow her body to rest, saving her from dying early like before.
Negator War Arc[]
During the end of the war, when Fuuko's Unluck causes Disc to fall in Nico, Ichico's Astral Projection evolves to keep him safe, causing only Nico's soul to take the psychical stroke of Unluck and survive.
Language Arc[]
After Beast's neutralization, Soul chooses Ichico as a target to prevent Union from empowering itself through souls. Since Ichico is the Negator with the most advanced knowledge of souls in Union, the Master Rules send Language to Union headquarters to kill her. She is fatally stabbed by Language in order for Nico to awaken Unforgettable, but survives thanks to astral projection. She then rebukes Language's "request" to die and have Nico's Unforgettable to manifest so that she can live, even stating that as a ghost she will defeat the Master Rule. Language then forces Fuuko to make Nico and Ichico seats so the quest against Language can begin and her vengeance against Nico can be enacted.
Ichico and Nico struggle to keep Language's attacks at bay while they strategize and attempt to understand the game. While they use most of their words for defense, they manage to hit Language with a dust explosion (Iron dust (from Language's meteor) + Wind (to gather the dust together) + Lightning (ignition)) in the first few rounds. Language then uses "Shen Ryu" (dragon in Chinese), to which Ichico responds with "Umibozu" (a yokai). The Umibozu gets obliterated by the dragon's blast breath, and Ichico takes significant damage due to the nonphysicality of the dragon's attack. Facing this predicament, Ichico asks Fuuko to add Feng Kowloon to the Roundtable so he could participate in Quests, which she agrees to and grants Feng the 10th Seat by transferring points from Sean. Ichico uses the word "Unfade", summoning Feng, who reflexively heel-kicks the dragon in the forehead despite being asleep.
Language uses the word "Evolution", taking in the languages she absorbed and entering her Phase 3 form. Her subsequent attacks, "Sol" and "Luna", summon copies of the two gods (albeit weakened) who prove to be undefeatable after a single round. Feng requests for Nico to heal him with a wonder drug from his imagination; Ichico declares that this would be insufficient and all their souls at full power is necessary to defeat Luna. She proposes for Feng and herself to first sacrifice themselves so Nico manifests Unforgettable, then have Nico respawn them using the rules of the game. Nico, fearing that this plan might fail, vehemently objects; Ichico reassures him and states her belief in his abilities as the one first person to ever win over her heart. Feng unleashes his soul-based attack "Kuon Shinkonha", Ichico follows up with "Apocalypse" to summon the artifact, and the two of them fall to Sol and Luna wielding Language's words "Excalibur (Ekusukaribaa)" and "Balmung (Barumanku)".
Nico manifests Unforgettable and takes in all of Apocalypse's memories while monologuing about his and Ichico's relationship, stating that he thought they'd avoid it until the Union's mission to slay God was over. Nico and Language clash (Gaebolg + Gungir/Railgun + Nuclear rocket), blasting the two out into the surface and taking the fight outside. The following round, Nico verifies that revived souls remain unchanged, and resurrects Feng and Ichico. Feng destroys Luna with a single blast, prompting Language to erupt in disbelief about the strength of a human soul and how such ephemeral beings were able to overcome her words. Nico responds that this was because he, as Unforgettable, had consolidated the images of victory accumulated over all past loops, then declares that he will marry Ichico and have a child (Mico) together. Ichico doesn't question this future, instead asking to confirm that Mico will be a girl and describing this conversation as spoilers.
Pushed to the edge and accepting her inevitable defeat, Language unleashes a last-ditch suicide attack "Supernova Explosion (Chosinsei Bakuhatsu)". Nico shares his knowledge with Ichico through a Soul Wire to construct the next word - "Super-Dreadnought Union Lethal Weapon Superior Buster (Soul Version)" - together, and Language mocks them, explaining that the sheer size of the supernova would annihilate Earth even if they manage to push it off the planet. They fire the weapon, which pushes the collapsing Sol back, and Nico uses "Wormhole (Agujero de Gusano)" to open a path into the Master Rules' base. The apparition of Sol is defeated (presumably by Soul), and the damage is transferred onto Language who collapses in defeat. Ichico and Nico use their final word "Aradovaras" to obtain a poison-tipped spear, but Language concludes the fight on her turn with the word "Marriage (Santuoka)", which violates the game rules (ends with "N" in Japanese translation "Kekkon結婚") and disintegrates into the sunrise. Fuuko, Julia, Haruka, and Top arrive to the sight of the Union's victory, the morning sun glinting off Ichico and Nico's wedding rings given as a parting gift by Language. Nico remarks that he's not a fan of an UMA giving him the "ol' nudge on the back" before proposing to Ichico, to which she agrees.
The name of the concluding chapter of this fight (206), "Engage", likely alludes to the scientists' engagement at the conclusion of the fight.
Abilities[]
Unsleep: Ichico formerly possessed a self-targeting ability that prevented her from sleeping. As a side-effect, Ichico ended up developing oversized bags under her eyes due to lack of sleep. It also caused her to die due to exhaustion in the 100th loop. In Loop 101, due to her heightened understanding of souls and her negator ability, she was able to target others and used Unsleep to rouse Fuuko from her anaesthetically-induced coma.
- Astral Projection: Thanks to UMA Ghost, she could separate herself from her body to mitigate the negative effects of Unsleep. Later, it evolved into being able to separate others from their body as well with a strong enough blow. During the final Ragnarok, she was shown to be able to project and shape her soul into the form of a chain which she used to bind and delay Soul.
Etymology[]
- Her surname "Nemuri (ネムリ)" translates to "Sleep".
Trivia[]
- Ichico's Popularity Results:
- 23rd in the Third Popularity Poll, her eye bags ranked 55th (in a tie with UMA Crab)
- 24th in the Fourth Popularity Poll
- According to Ichico's profile in Volume 13:
- Her hobbies are researching good coffee and baths.
- Her special skill is resting while staying awake.
- She likes japanese sweets.