Mitsuba Higashikata/es

"¿Quieres mediar y "suavizar las cosas" ...? ¡No me digas esas tonterías! [...] Si alguna vez... llegan poner de nuevo un dedo sobre Tsurugi sin motivos justificables, les romperé esos dedos sin pensarlo dos veces."

- Mitsuba Higashikata,

Mitsuba Higashikata (東方 密葉) es un personaje secundario que aparece en la octava parte de la serie JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, JoJolion. Ganando importancia durante el arco argumental "Doctor Wu y Awaking 3 Leaves", se convierte en un aliada temporal de Yasuho Hirose.

Ella es la esposa de Jobin Higashikata y la madre de Tsurugi Higashikata. Mitsuba es un Usuario de Stand, y posee el Stand Awaking III Leaves.

Apariencia
Mitsuba es una mujer de complexión media a delgada. Tiene el cabello corto, de coloreado medio con un flequillo lateral curvado hacia arriba. Su atuendo consiste en una camisa con dos cortes en la parte superior del pecho y una falda a cuadros. También usa un par de tacones.

En su aparición posterior, su flequillo ya no es curvado hacia arriba y su cabello es más largo a los lados, ahora cubriendo sus orejas para ocultar su piel endureciéndose hasta convertirse en piedra. Lleva un top de manga corta con moños en los hombros, pantalones cortos, muñequeras, un vestido largo transparente y un par de tacones altos. Su camisa está adornada con el símbolo de una flecha apuntando hacia abajo, mientras que sus muñequeras tienen símbolos con flechas que apuntan tanto hacia arriba como hacia abajo.

Se revela que Mitsuba ha tenido diferentes partes de su cuerpo convirtiéndose sucesivamente en piedra debido a su tratamiento en el Hospital Universitario. Comenzando con sus dientes, su cuero cabelludo por encima de la oreja derecha se vio afectado, y finalmente sus dos piernas se desmoronaron hasta los huesos durante un corto período de tiempo. Recibió un tratamiento adicional con la Locacaca que le costó los brazos del feto dentro de ella, no obstante se comió otra Locacaca para reponerlo, dejándola sin nariz.

Personalidad
Mitsuba es una mujer vanidosa, preocupándose mucho por su apariencia y deseando verse perfecta. También demuestra un egoísmo mezquino, ya que se le puede ver como cierra la puerta de un elevador antes de que una anciana con muletas pueda entrar solo para tenerlo para ella sola, así como usa su Stand para hacer que Maako y otros miembros del consejo de padres derramen sus bebidas sobre sí mismos.

Sin embargo, se demuestra que se preocupa profundamente por sus hijos, comiéndose voluntariamente una Locacaca para salvar a su hijo aún no nacido incluso cuando existía un riesgo de muerte. Por el bien de su hijo, también demuestra ser una luchadora feroz e ingeniosa, pisoteando brutalmente a Wu Tomoki cuando se interpuso en su camino.También defiende ferozmente a Tsurugi cuando es acusado de herir a Mina. Cuando llega el momento, Mitsuba revela lo despiadada que puede llegar a ser: cuando tiene que elegir entre salvar a Yasuho Hirose de ahogarse en un inodoro a través de Paisley Park o mantener el secreto sobre la Locacaca que curará a su hijo, Mitsuba decide fríamente no solo dejar morir a Yasuho, sino que incluso intenta asegurarse de que muera empujando el teléfono más abajo en el agua.

Mientras hablaba con Yasuho sobre el agrandamiento de sus senos, no pareció dudar en dejar que Yasuho sintiera sus senos, ni tampoco pareció dudar en sentir los senos de Yasuho.

Stand
El Stand de Mitsuba, Awaking III Leaves, toma la apariencia de un humanoide encapuchado adornado con una multitud de diseños en forma de flecha. Usando su stand, puede manifestar pequeñas flechas del tamaño de una mano que redirigen la energía y los objetos hacia sus puntas.

Antecedentes
En sus días de escuela, Mitsuba era conocida como "Señorita Cereza". Ganó un concurso que le permitió viajar a China y Europa por la fruta de Japón. Terminó conociendo a Jobin, y casándose con el miembro de la familia Higashikata. Luego se convirtió en una modelo para los anuncios de la Compañia de Frutas Higashikata. Tuvo el apoyo de toda la familia y su modelaje también ayudó con las ventas.. Después de eso, Mitsuba empezó a ver al Dr. Wu Tomoki para que le corrigiese signos de edad, siendo sin saberlo uno de los conejillos de indias de la Organización Locacaca quienes probaron los efectos de la medicina derivada de la Locacaca.

Mitsuba is introduced as Jobin's wife by Norisuke Higashikata IV during Josuke's arrival at the Higashikata Household. She is seen carrying around her child, Tsurugi, and was present during the family photo.

Doctor Wu and Awaking III Leaves
Shortly after a fire has ravaged the Higashikata family's orchard, Mitsuba arrives at TG University Hospital to see her physician Dr. Wu Tomoki about her sudden loss of balance and hearing that morning, as she feels something wrong with her right ear. Dr. Wu examines the ear and hides from her the fact that it has turned to stone, and says it is simply a dry scalp due to allergies and it is nothing to worry about. Mitsuba demands that he treat her, as she has felt the skin and it feels like stone. She then mentions the pattern she has noticed since she came to him for a breast augmentation earlier, after which her teeth felt as if they turned into stone, making her drool uncontrollably and lose her sense of taste, forcing her to cover her mouth to avoid talking to people. After she came back to him to treat this malady, her hearing loss began soon after. She demands treatment, as she knows her young son will say something if he feels the skin is wrong. Dr. Wu makes a phone call, and then offers her one more treatment for 200 million yen. Unbeknownst to both of them, Yasuho Hirose has come to the hospital to treat her menstrual pain, and she spots Mitsuba being wheeled away in a wheelchair while her ankles have crumbled away down to the bone.

Suspicious, Yasuho calls Josuke, who is already on the way to the hospital with Rai Mamezuku to investigate a possible Rock Human there, and he warns her to stay put. However, she tries to follow Mitsuba, only to find her completely healthy and no longer in the wheelchair. After telling Yasuho about her breast augmentation, and saying she originally met Jobin after she won a modelling contest for Morioh's Miss Cherry competition and becoming a model for the Higashikata Fruit Company, Yasuho asks what happened to the wheelchair she was in, but Mitsuba cannot remember one. Yasuho soon discovers the chair disassembled and stuffed in the office's desk drawer, while Mitsuba is overcome with a desire to drink Dr. Wu's silicon-infused water and nori. Yasuho tries to call Josuke to warn him of what she has found when she is attacked and knocked out by a stone fragment entering her ear. Mitsuba, not in control of her own body, drags Yasuho's body into the office and closes the door.

Yasuho awakes and finds Mitsuba pinning her down, her body unusually heavy and covered in weird blisters, until Yasuho yells at her, which brings Mitsuba back to her senses. Yasuho asks Mitsuba if she has taken the Locacaca, knowing it has been causing a series of equivalent exchanges in her, but Mitsuba cannot remember what has happened, as there is nothing physically wrong with her. Yasuho tries to find a way out, but after discovering her cellphone has been destroyed in the previous attack, finds herself attacked once more by stone fragments leaving Mitsuba's hands. Once Yasuho frees herself, she warns Mitsuba that they are under attack by a Rock Human who is only after the secrets of the Locacaca, when Dr. Wu reconstitutes himself from the stone fragments and says he is in the organization for more than that, and asks that Mitsuba stay behind so he may continue his examination. Yasuho drags Mitsuba out of the office, who then asks what else could have caused the equivalent exchange, when she confides in Yasuho that she has been hiding a new pregnancy from her husband and son. As Yasuho realizes the horror of the situation, Mitsuba calls forth her Stand Awaking III Leaves and resolves to get to the bottom of what Dr. Wu has done to her.

Mitsuba uses her power to redirect things through summoned arrows to create a safe zone and then propels herself to kick Wu into a wall then stick him to it. Going up to the gynecology department, Mitsuba and Yasuho expel the remainder of Wu's fragments but Mitsuba sees with horror that the child inside of her has been partially turned into stone. Wu reappears in the elevator, but using her Awaking III Leaves, she triples the acceleration of the elevator to send Wu on the ground, uses tape to stick his fragments and tosses them out of the hospital. Putting the foetus' fragments back inside her, she resolves to save it. Finally Mitsuba reaches the examination room and discovers with Yasuho a secret laboratory doubling as a garden for Locacaca trees.

Mitsuba eats one of them to save her child, but she doesn't realize that Wu has come back and hidden inside the fruits, infiltrating and controlling her body again. However, Yasuho manages to fight him back and Josuke arrives to finish Dr. Wu off. The Locacaca she just ate has taken effect and she loses her nose.

Endless Calamity
6 days before the Harvest, Mitsuba goes to take Tsurugi from school. But then one of Tsurugi's comrade, who had teased him about Kaato being a child murderer, is crushed between iron gates. Tsurugi is the prime suspect, and though Mitsuba vehemently defends him, she has her doubts. Moreover, she notices on a video recording that the head doctor of TG University Hospital, Dr. Satoru Akefu, is standing near the gates.

Later, she meets Jobin at her house, and her situation becomes more complex as she not only see Akefu again near the estate, but also catches a glimpse of the Locacaca hidden behind cacti in Jobin's possession, causing him to suspect her.

48 hours before the Harvest, Mitsuba is busy cooking for the family. Her peace is suddenly broken as she learns about the death of her acquaintance Maako Kitani and that Josuke is a wanted man. She then spots Satoru Akefu lurking near the house again but in her distraction, cuts her fingers. A freak accident happens but Mitsuba manages to repair her fingers and deflect boiling water into the ceiling. Reminiscing every suspect element she's seen in the past few days, Mitsuba begins to suspect that something his amiss. However, her thoughts are interrupted when a drop of water injures Tsurugi and his Rock Disease finally goes out of control, causing Paper Moon King to seemingly turn Tsurugi's body into an origami.

The Day of the Harvest
On the day of the incoming Harvest, Mitsuba suddenly sees Yasuho through one of the camera feeds. Thinking that Yasuho has come for her son, she rushes to Tsurugi's room and sees Jobin watching Paisley Park in a cell phone drown in the toilet of the secondary bathroom. Yasuho cries for help and Mitsuba asks Jobin what is going on and if she can save Yasuho as she was an ally, but Jobin tells her to get out and keep this incident a secret. Mitsuba also reveals by accident where Jobin has hidden his Locacaca plant and Yasuho overhears this. Mitsuba then sees Satoru Akefu from a window and makes up her mind. Determined to protect her son at all costs, Mitsuba ignores Yasuho's cries for help. She reveals to Jobin that she's seen the doctor lurking around the house several times and that his every appearance heralds incoming disasters. Determined to protect the Higashikata Family, Mitsuba takes things a step further and tries to push the cellphone further into the water. However, a water drip falls from the ceiling and pierces her hand. In her confusion, Mitsuba misplaces one of the arrows she sets up and the force is directed into a wall.

The wall is destroyed and reveals the hidden Locacaca plant to the rest of the Higashikata Family. Mitsuba is then forced to witness her family tearing itself apart as Norisuke exposes Jobin's links to Ojiro Sasame's and is taken out (or worse) by Speed King, in addition to Tsurugi's condition worsening by the minute. In her mind, she becomes sure that this string of disasters is a deliberate attack from Satoru Akefu's part. Mitsuba finally sees the head doctor inside of the house as he steadily approaches her in impossible ways, such as traversing a computer screen and then the glass panels of a bookcase. She warns Jobin of the head doctor's presence, but Jobin fails to listen to her when she warns him not to go after the head doctor. Jobin completes his attack and it seems that nothing happens, save for a damaged hair spray that bursts. Mitsuba begs Jobin to get them out of the situation but Jobin realizes that she implies and refuses to let go of the fruit. Eventually, Jobin succumbs to blood loss as the dip tube of the hair spray pierces his chest and lets the blood flow out of his body at a dramatic rate.

Gallery
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Trivia

 * With her namesake being the Club, it plays into the theme of the names of women in the Higashikata family being playing cards references, with Kaato standing for "Card", Hato for "Heart" and Daiya for "Diamond". Tsurugi stands for "Sword", which, in earlier versions of the game, "Spade" was replaced with the "Sword" suit.