Renge Meinokawa

Renge Meinokawa
Name in Japanese	冥乃河 蓮華
Rōmaji Translation	Meinokawa Renge
Debut (Light Novel)	Volume 1
Appears in	Light Novels
Gender	Female
Occupation	Summoner
Affiliation/s	Freedom
Summoning Partner	Higan Meinokawa

Renge Meinokawa (冥乃河 蓮華 Meinokawa Renge) is a summoner of Freedom and the sister of Higan Meinokawa. She's a Joruri Method, an artificial human.

Appearance

Renge has smooth pale skin and long, straight, black glossy hair. She wears the scarlet hakama of a Shinto shrine maiden, looking like the stereotypical image of a shrine maiden.

Personality

Renge is the more responsible and mature of the two twins, being the one who handles their money. Unlike her more meek sister, Renge is headstrong and determined. According to Higan, no one can beat Renge in an argument, and she would easily convince Kyousuke Shiroyama to help them for free. Renge is extremely protective of her sister Higan, taking care of her during their jobs and defending her from everyone else. She was willing to sacrifice her life for her, trying to get an unlicensed doctor that would take her artificial organs to replace Higan's, which were threatened by the White Queen's shards inside her body.

Despite her strong will, Higan believes that her sister doesn't realize how fragile she actually is and is just putting a strong front for Higan. Renge would later confess to Kyousuke that she thinks she exists only to protect Higan. She also feels incredibly guilty for deceiving her and claiming that she stole everything away from her.

Background

Renge is not human. She's a Joruri Method created by the Meinokawa family as the ideal Meinokawa Higan and artificial summoner, given that Higan had the talent to be a vessel and thus couldn't become a summoner. Because she's the ideal Higan she was treated as the elder sister, despite having been made later.

At some point before the events of the series, her family's shrine was taken away. They had fallen into debt, and with their parents in a rehab clinic being treated for a gambling addiction, it fell to them to pay the debt. Higan was almost sold as a vessel, but Renge punched the buyer and made a contract with her.

Chronology

Light Novel Volume 01

Renge and her sister Higan came to Toy Dream 35 for a job dealing with the extermination of a "white ghost" seen in the city's harbor, a job they got through a Government middleman. However, she and the other freelance summoners that had taken the job were attacked by a group of summoners from a mysterious organization called Guard of Honor. Renge and Higan managed to defeat some of their enemies as they tried to flee from the harbor, but during their escape they were attacked by an Unexplored-class Material, the Lady of Purple Lightning, and the twins were separated from each other. Renge tried to keep their pursuers away from Higan by making some appearances throughout Toy Dream 35 in a specific pattern, all the while dodging the members of Guard of Honor chasing her. As she entered G Block's monorail station, Renge noticed Higan and Kyousuke Shiroyama, growing concerned at the possibility he might be taking advantage of her sister due to the strange clothes she was wearing. Soon afterwards she was confronted by the same Guard of Honor's summoner that had summoned the Lady of Purple Lightning in the harbor, but her opponent was quickly defeated by a third party, later revealed to be Azalea Magentarain. Renge watched the fight between Kyousuke and Azalea. Seeing how the boy and her sister were being cornered she decided to intervene, synchronizing with Higan and overwriting her contract with Kyousuke. Renge then proceeded to use Azalea's setup to summon the White Queen. However, the White Queen instantly focused on Kyousuke, and when Renge tried to talk she was nearly killed by the Queen, who inverted her protective circle.

Renge and Higan were carried to Aika's apartment by Kyousuke after the White Queen was gone. Once there they discovered that the White Queen had left some shard of herself that threatened to kill Higan's life in a few hours, which would force them to confront and defeat the White Queen before time ran out. Feeling desperate, Renge tried to get an unlicensed doctor in C Block to extract her organs and transplant them to Higan to save her life, but she was stopped by Kyousuke. Renge revealed her true nature as a Joruri Method to Kyousuke, claiming it would be best for a machine like her to die to save a human like Higan, but Kyousuke refuted that idea, explaining that Higan had done her best to save Renge, and convincing Renge to ask him for help in order to avoid that imperfect ending. Renge would later be part of the discussion about Guard of Honor and their plans.

After Kyousuke and Higan defeated Azalea and the White Queen, solving the situation, Kyousuke broke his contract with Higan. This apparently made both Higan and Renge angry and, according to Aika, made them start a search for Kyousuke all over Toy Dream 35.

Light Novel Volume 02

Renge and Higan were hired to investigate the rumors surrounding Toy Dream 35's last trains, such as people going missing after falling asleep with the disappearance not showing up in the news, meeting your first love you haven’t seen in forever, your long-dead pet being returned to you, or finding a treasure you had lost. Suspecting the incidents to be related to their business, Higan and Renge boarded the train to check what would happen in person. However, Higan pointed out the camera they prepared would not record them if an Artificial Sacred Ground was established; and she revealed she had mixed an allergy medicine with their tea to make them drowsy. Renge woke up later, only to find out Higan had disappeared. Renge left the train after searching it for Higan to no avail. She found recent footprints that looked like her own. Realizing they likely belonged to Higan, she left the switch yard and entered the city's streets. Though the footprints had disappeared in the rain, she realized the city was strangely silent. She also noticed several things that didn't belong in Toy Dream 35, like a retro clock showing a date several decades into the future, the trees on the roadside having grown at different rates from each other and the amount of deterioration and filth on a single building completely changing from floor to floor.

Renge and Higan later managed to escape from the strange place they had been drawn into and returned to the real world just as Kyousuke and Ryouko Umie were about the purify the Rainy Girl. Their appearance revealed the White Queen's lie and the true nature of the Rainy Girl, who was not a ghost, but was the living Shouko Umie who had been drawn from the past.

Light Novel Volume 03

Renge and Higan were hired by Government to investigate Youji Makihara, a new transfer student in Kyousuke's class. The two visited Kyousuke's school during lunch to warn him of Youji. Unbeknownst to them, Kyousuke had already beaten Youji and taken away his Girl's Backdoor.

Light Novel Volume 04

Renge and Higan were some of the summoners attending the D.R.O.K, where they ran into Kyousuke and the White Queen. The two twins were shocked and disappointed by Kyousuke having apparently given into the Queen and decided to leave.

Abilities

Renge is a summoner of Freedom. Her exact number of Awards is unknown, but she's mentioned to be on the 300s. Like most summoners, she uses magic to construct a Blood-Sign at the start of a fight. Renge uses a bunch of Japanese paper charms that gather together to form the rod. While reasonably skilled and capable of defeating one of the summoners of Guard of Honor, she's far from being an ace summoner like Kyousuke Shiroyama or Azalea Magentarain.

As a Joruri Method, Renge is an artificial human created by the Meinokawa family trying to build the "ideal" Higan, which is why they are similar enough to pass for twins, as she was based on Higan's body. Her special constitution allowed her to escape from Guard of Honor for a considerable amount of time alone with no vessel, something Kyousuke Shiroyama thought would be impossible for him, though perhaps within the capabilities of Lu Niang-Lan. She can also synchronize with Higan to overwrite her current contract.

Gallery

Renge's Design