#shumaeda

original sketches (from last winter after revisiting the chimera ant arc)

About Ant!Yuki:

phagogenesis hybrid of ladybug, human, feline, and rabbit

memories from kouhei and aiko maeda (human parts)

ladybug wings and antennae, wings can fold away or smoosh and drape down in a cape-like way similar to Shaiapouf.

rabbit feet (yknow)

cat tail + some fur mixed with hair

Kouhei was a nen user, so he has nen potential too

Loyally follows orders as a drone until one particular hunting mission. After his fellow Ants target one particular human, he steps in and refuses to let them take him, leading to a fight that ends in his exile from the colony and capture by humans.

Chimera ant name: Kikkou, Koki, or Yukoi?

Kouhei & Tsurugi

Early on before the chimera ants completely took over the NGL, Kouhei and Tsurugi were sent into the NGL on an undercover investigation related to the NGL's drug cartel or chasing a criminal who'd fled there.

The details are unclear, but Tsurugi was probably incapacitated or separated from Kouhei after their small team was swarmed by chimera ants. Only two nen users would have been fine if they were just dealing with fairly ordinary human criminals, but the Ants were a completely new and unknown threat that they had no way of countering.

In the end, Kouhei fights to protect two innocent civilians trying to flee the NGL (the Maedas) and is killed by Ants alongside Aiko. After finding remains and/or the bloody evidence of this fight, Tsurugi realizes he is the only survivor. He ends up being forced to leave the NGL alone.

Thanks to the NGL's rejection of modern technology and synthetic materials and strict examinations of anyone who entered, plus the whole thing being a front for Gyro's D2 drug empire, it's not possible for outside investigators to enter normally. Since everyone on the team had to sneak in and the whole thing was secretive, even when the mission when horribly wrong, it was still mostly covered up...

A few months to a year later, when the chimera ant invasion starts to become a severe issue, Tsurugi volunteers himself to return to the NGL as part of a team of nen users investigating the crisis, outwardly saying it's because he is one of the few to have seen the beasts and lived, but also because he's still not over Kouhei's death and has a need to know exactly what happened and how he died.

When Tsurugi Kinjo meets one particular captive Ant who seemingly betrayed orders to protect a human, it becomes clear that he knows things about Tsurugi despite never meeting before. Perhaps the human this ant seemingly saved, Yuki Maeda, might help unravel this mystery… but of course, an Ant is still an Ant, and so must be exterminated, …right?

The Maedas

Yuki Maeda and his mother, Aiko Maeda, ended up in the NGL thanks to Utsuro and Akane. Their kidnapping and abandonment there eventually led to Aiko being killed by the chimera ants. I don't think Utsuro or Akane had any idea the invasion would occur but did put them in the NGL with no means of escape...

Utsuro and Akane may also have later been caught up in this and killed/transformed.