Curiosity

Background

The Incarnation of Curiosity's earliest memory is during the Kan'ei Great Famine in the 1640s, where she ate a cat in order to survive. After that, she ate a dog, and all sorts of things out of hunger. Her food included the planks of a wooden boat which tasted like salt to her, the glue from a paper umbrella which was sweet, and the frame of a sliding door which had the fragrant scent of bamboo.↗↗

Bloodsoaked Bookmark

Curiosity takes the form of a librarian at S City's library when Rohan Kishibe arrives. When he asks her if she ever saw someone nearly die from eating a pufferfish, she mocks manga artists for having weird interests. Rohan is surprised she knew his occupation since he didn't introduce himself. She then recites his personal details offhandedly, including his birth city and blood type, claiming she saw his photo on the cover of Shonen Jump 's New Year special issue a long time ago.↗

Instead of retrieving the book from the restricted archives herself, she tosses Rohan a key and tells him to find it himself. Her attitude irritates Rohan, but she points out how she is the only staff member available so she needs to stay at the counter. Rohan notices that the library is eerily empty, with no other librarians present and only a handful of patrons scattered throughout the building.↗

After failing to locate the book, she returns downstairs, only to find that Rohan already found The Temptation to Eat Pufferfish on a shelf in the children's section. This genuinely surprises her, as she had searched thoroughly in the restricted archives for it. She carelessly grabs the fragile book, showing no regard for its condition, and dismisses Rohan's concerns about handling it carefully.↗

Rohan secretly peels the pages apart after she leaves and retrieves a red bookmark. When he starts suffering from misfortune and a heavy desktop computer topples onto his back, the librarian returns and responds with amusement rather than concern. Seeing him pinned under it, she mockingly asks if the computer is broken. Rather than apologizing to Rohan or checking if the computer works, she shrugs it off as being maintenance's job.↗

The librarian then reveals her true nature, producing a second red bookmark from her fingers. She approaches Rohan with an eerie presence, pressuring him to answer a final question—whether a manga artist can abandon their curiosity to survive. Rohan summons Heaven's Door, causing her body to collapse as her true history is revealed. He is horrified reading everything she devoured for over 400 years.↗

Suddenly, the librarian and bookmarks vanish. The library is full of people and staff as if nothing had happened, but Rohan's thumb still has his injury, proving the experience was real. The Incarnation of Curiosity is gone, but the experience leaves Rohan shaken. He wonders if she left after being satisfied that her question was answered, or if she became content learning that her curiosity still had more room to expand.↗↗

Appearance

Her true identity and whether she is actually human is unknown, as Rohan feels as if some other being slipped into her skin. The bookmarks also seem to be alive, having a faint pulse like a long-dead heart starting to pump blood again.↗↗

Personality

Although she claims to have learned everything there is to know, her behavior suggests she is still searching for something, considering she doesn't know the answer to whether Rohan would abandon his curiosity if he is on the verge of death. She also suggests that curiosity is a fatal flaw, referencing stories of people who died because they could not resist pursuing the unknown.↗↗

Profile details

Status Status based on their final appearance in the part(s) they are featured in: Alive (TSKR)↗