Earthlings characters

Appears from the start

A girl who feels fundamentally separate from her family and the social world around her. She imagines that the plush hedgehog Piyyut has given her magical powers and may be an alien messenger. The fantasy gives her a private language for resisting a home where she is treated as inferior to her older sister and a school environment in which adults fail to protect her.

Appears from the start

Natsuki's cousin and closest companion during the extended family's summer gatherings in the mountains. He shares her sense of being unlike everyone else and tells her that he is an alien. Their private bond becomes a refuge from their families' demands.

Appears from the start

Natsuki's cherished plush hedgehog, understood by her as a being from the planet Popinpobopia. She treats him as a guide and source of magical authority, especially when no human adult seems willing to hear or defend her.

Appears from the start

Natsuki's older sister, favored by their parents and openly hostile toward Natsuki. Kise enforces the family's judgment that Natsuki is defective or troublesome and later embraces the conventional adult life that Natsuki distrusts.

Appears from the start

A teacher at Natsuki's school who singles her out for private attention. He presents himself as an authority she must obey, while using secrecy and her isolation to abuse her.

First appears in chapter 2

Natsuki's husband in adulthood. Their marriage is a practical arrangement between two people who want protection from family pressure and do not want a conventional sexual relationship or children. Tomoya shares her hostility toward the social system that treats marriage and reproduction as compulsory.

Appears from the start

Natsuki's mother, who reserves approval for Kise and responds to Natsuki with anger, blame, and physical punishment. She is one of the strongest agents of the family's demand that Natsuki behave normally and stop causing embarrassment.

Appears from the start

The grandmother whose mountain home at Akishina hosts the extended family's summer gatherings. The house and surrounding landscape become inseparable in Natsuki's mind from her childhood bond with Yuu and from the possibility of living outside ordinary society.