Fushi/Plot

Nameless Boy Arc
At first, "It" took the form of a sphere that could imitate anything that existed. Sometime after being dropped onto the Earth, It assumed the form of a rock and once temperatures began to rise, It copied the appearance of moss. Before long, as snow began to fall, a single wolf came ambling from the south and, once it collapsed, "It" took the form of that creature. Having gained a consciousness "It", now in the form of a wolf, continued walking and carving into its mind new sensations.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the wolf comes across a boy. The Nameless Boy calling the wolf "Joaan", is very excited to see it and is very happy it didn't forget about him. Noticing that Joaan isn't acting normal, the boy carries it into the house where he tries to give it food, but to no avail. Once inside, "Joaan" takes in the atmosphere of the house - observing the sounds, the smell, and the warmth. If It could speak, It would probably say "I want to stay here forever". The next morning, after trying (and failing) once again to feed Joaan, the boy and the wolf go out to gather wood. Besides the boy, there are no people to be found and the only thing outside is houses that have long since fallen into ruin. The boy cuts and gathers the wood from a nearby house, telling Joaan it's like borrowing from other people. But he expresses guilt, saying he knows, deep down, that if the others were to come back they would probably be angry at him. He understands though that if he doesn't do this, he will die. He holds hope that the other people of his village will come back even though they've been gone for five years.

The boy tells Joaan how much he would have liked to go with them. He recalls trying to sneak out and follow them, but Joaan stopped him by biting his leg. As a result, other people found out and told him to stay put and take care of his grandparents.

After gathering wood, they head back to the house and check the fishing lines to discover a giant fish on the other end. To save fuel, they eat it raw. Noticing Joaan refusing to eat for the third time, the boy wonders if the wolf has forgotten how to eat. He shows it how to eat and the wolf immediately mimics the boy's actions and says the word "here".

Later that night, It watches the boy draw pictures of the other villagers on the wall. The boy tells Joaan he is doing this so there is evidence that other people lived here and so he doesn't forget. He then tells Joaan that he is thinking of leaving because he wants to see the world and experience new things. The boy spends all of the next days preparing for the journey and, once he is finally done, they head south. After hours of walking, they come across a marker that tells them to continue heading south and they decide to rest for the night.

The two continue on their journey, finding more and more markers. After about five days, the boy finds a bush that he says proves they are getting closer to the mountains and, just as they are about to continue, the boy slips and falls into the water, injuring his left leg. They decide to stop for the day so the boy can tend to his injury. He tries to reassure himself that it is just a flesh wound and that he can keep going.

As the days pass, it is obvious the boy is losing strength, as he cannot continue walking for long periods of time, and his injury is starting to swell. He continues to try and convince himself that turning back now would be foolish and that surely they don't have much farther to go. Just as he says this, the boy spots a marker with a crossed-out arrow, telling them that going forward will not lead to paradise. To the left, the boy sees broken down wagons and multiple headstones. The boy, trying to remain optimistic, tells Joaan that everyone got this far, which means paradise can't be far away now. Breaking down into tears, the boy asks Joaan if they can make it to the mountains but, when the wolf doesn't respond, he becomes frustrated wondering why it doesn't answer him. He continues crying even harder, knowing that Joaan can't respond and that he's been talking to himself the whole time. He apologizes and decides that going home would be the best thing to do.

Once home, the boy cries himself to sleep and awakes the next morning with a fever. He makes Joaan food and checks on his wound, which is now infected. He tells himself that his wound is healing and that once it heals, they will try to find the mountains again. However, the boy's fever is even worse the next day and he has no strength to get out of bed. Later that night, he struggles to get to his chair, saying "If I'm sleeping when they all come back, that would be embarrassing, right?" He asks Joaan to never forget about him and quietly lays back in his chair.

After an unknown amount of time, the boy's body falls to the ground. The wolf tries to get him to move but is unsuccessful. It grabs ahold of the boy's coat and immediately begins taking on the form of the boy. It leaves in search of "an even stronger impetus" and will no doubt fulfill the boy's wish of exploring the world.

Spirit Bear Arc
After parting with The Nameless Boy, the Immortal journeyed south and crossed the mountain, fulfilling The Boy's wish to go beyond the mountain toward paradise. However, he quickly met the Spirit Bear and was mauled, leaving him dead and falling from the mountain to the forest below.

In the forest, the Immortal revived and met March, a little girl from Ninannah region who was meant to be a sacrifice to placate the Spirit Bear. Though at first terrified at witnessing The Immortal's gruesome revival process, March quickly has taken a liking to The Immortal and followed him around.

March was disturbed from the Immortal's lack of humanity, though that feeling quickly turned to sympathy after seeing how The Immortal can't even eat properly and doesn't have a place to belong. She decided to become the Immortal's mother, naming him Fushi from the word Fujimi ''(不死身 lit. Undying Body/Immortal). ''A day after they met, the escorts led by Hayase finally caught up to March and took her. Fushi wandered the woods until he met Parona who asked if he had seen the little girl. Fushi then led her to the sacrificial site where March was tied to an altar, soon to be consumed by the Spirit Bear. After seeing March and Parona being attacked by the bear, Fushi turned into Wolf and fought the Spirit Bear, ultimately felling the monstrous beast. In the aftermath of the battle, March gave him a fruit and he responded with his first words, "Thank you"

When Hayase took March and Parona, Fushi came with them to Yanome. During the journey, he became closer to March to the point where he would only follow her and was taught about how to eat and bathroom manners. At this point, his mentality was that of a dog, unshakably loyal to his mother figure and not knowing the ways of humans. In Yanome, they ate much delicious foods and ended up being poisoned with Western Morning Glory by Hayase. Fushi woke up in a cell with Hayase introducing him to people who are presumably the high-ranked officials of Yanome. Another man was let into the cell, saying that he will go free if he can kill Fushi. After Fushi attacked the man back though not to the point of death, Fushi learned his second phrase "It hurts.". When Pioran came in and tried to kill him as well, Fushi didn't resist and only said "It hurts" over and over. The moment the guard lowered their guards, Fushi tried to escape by turning into a wolf but stopped by Hayase's arrows. He was placed in the same cell as March.

From that cell, Fushi dug a hole beneath the wall to where the Spirit Bear was kept, while repeating "It hurts", presumably feeling the bear's pain. He didn't stop saying this phrase as he accompanied March healing the bear's wounds. When March comforted the dying bear and hugged it, Fushi abruptly stopped saying "It hurts" and instead looked at March and said, "Thank you.".

When Parona carried out her escape plans with Pioran and March, Fushi went with them. However, Hayase quickly chased after the group, telling them she will let them go free if they leave Fushi behind. They refused and the altercation broke into a fight, ending in March being shot to protect Parona. Angered by this, Fushi leaped out and turned into Spirit Bear, wreaking havoc in the city and almost killing Hayase. He was stopped by Parona who cradled March's dead body, thanking him for fighting for March's sake. He turned back into human form and then stopped Parona from killing herself.

Turning back into Spirit Bear, Fushi took March's body and Parona to Ninannah.

Afterward, Parona told him to keep going because the Yanome would continue chasing after him. He complied and escaped through the forest. The Beholder commented that Fushi is not alone because March's spirit continued to accompany him through his journey.

Interlude Arc
After leaving Ninannah, Fushi continued to wander until he met Pioran. Having nowhere to go, Pioran followed him and after a while started teaching him how to read and write. Pioran claimed that she will teach Fushi how to become human if he followed her and started to teach him about many things until Fushi can pass as a human and hold a conversation though choppy and awkward.

While on a boat toward Pioran's ex-lover's house, Fushi proclaimed his wish to grow up and reminisced about The Nameless Boy, saying that he remembered The Boy's smell, sound, and form but not his name.

After landing and camping for the night in a forest, Fushi was attacked in his sleep by a Knocker. A man in black hood appeared and told Fushi how that Knocker has stolen something precious from him, being The Boy's smell, sound, and form. Angered by this, Fushi fought the Knocker and managed to defeat it, reclaiming his memory of The Nameless Boy. The man in the black hood introduced himself as The Beholder, Fushi's creator. He explained that the Nokkers are beings created to hinder them from their goal of preserving the world. After telling Fushi about this, he disappeared, prompting Fushi to say he didn't really understand what happened but that it was weird.