Eiko Chiba

Eiko Chiba (えいこ ちば, Eiko Chiba) is a former student of the Athelney School of Nen and Abilities, similarly to her husband Alderon Chiba, and was once a Double-Star Ruins Hunter. She is the biological mother of Haruka and Katsune Chiba, as well as the adoptive mother of Fuyuki and Fusako Chiba. Eiko has currently given up on the life of a Hunter, however is still involved in the politics of the Association, becoming not only a candidate but also voter in the 13th Hunter Chairman Elections.

Appearance
Despite nearing middle age, Eiko retains a rather youthful appearance, similarly to her husband Alderon. She has long orange hair that goes down to her mid-back, and large golden eyes, like her son Katsune. She is also rather tall, has light, fair skin, and thanks to her past as a member of Athelney and later as a Hunter has kept in shape very well, even though she doesn't get out as much as she used to now.

When she was younger, Eiko's outfit consisted of a maroon red cropped shirt with a thick, sweater-like collar, which showed off her midriff and arms. She wore short shorts of the same colour, alongside grey laced boots. Along with these, she usually wore grey and black gloves which bore small white claws at the fingertips, and sometimes a large yellow bow on the back of her head; the same bow her daughter Haruka would later come to wear.

Now, whenever she has to go out to work, Eiko wears a simple black tail suit, along with matching black dress pants, similar to the suits worn by the majority of the Zoldyck Family Servants. Underneath the tail suit jacket, she wears a white dress shirt with a simple black tie.

In her own free time, Eiko dresses much more casually, most often dressing in a grey duster coat over an untucked white sport shirt and grey trousers. She often wears black slip on shoes (loafers) with these. Some days, often when just alone with Alderon, she may wear her outfit from her days as a Hunter.

Personality
Despite her age, Eiko is incredibly energetic, and easily excitable, often either agitating or embarrassing her children on purpose through teasing them simply because she thinks it's cute when they're flustered, and often quickly trying to get to know their friends. According to Alderon, she has always been this way, and was just as eccentric and cheery when she was younger as she is now, usually standing out in the groups of students and Hunters they were around. However, unlike her children, which she usually just annoys, she was apparently rather popular because of this, evidenced by how many people she's dated in the past, even though many relationships didn't last very long, as she usually just found them boring after a while, leaving them. She was also known to downplay many situations, even deadly ones. An example of this is when her left leg was once nearly completely dismembered, however she simply said that a few hours in care would leave her feeling just fine, before passing out. It is unknown whether or not she was genuinely this calm, or if she downplayed it to keep herself cool-headed.

Even though how she sometimes acts may seem inappropriate, she loves her children dearly, and cares more about her family than anything else in the world. She has even gone as far as to say that she would die for her family, however... This did not stop her for leaving them for long periods of time to go and pursue her job as a Ruins Hunter. Eiko has stated that being a Hunter made her feel alive, as she was free to do whatever she wanted and travel the world. She did eventually give up the profession shortly after the end of the Chimera Ant Arc, however, because of the third rule of the Hunter Bylaws, she is still licensed as a Hunter. Because of this, she was a registered candidate for the 13th Hunter Chairman Elections, and also voted in every round of the Elections, thus honouring the will of the late 12th Hunter Chairman Isaac Netero, after his death. Eiko did so happily, but did not make it past the fourth round. As evidenced here, while she no longer works as a Hunter, she still respects the Association and enjoys taking part in it anyway she can. Even with her eccentric and hyper attitude, she would always become serious when it was required of her.

There was a point in her time as a Hunter when she was much more serious, however. She was disconnected from those around her, and cared about only one thing: Improving her skills as a Hunter and creating more powerful Hatsu's (Nen Abilities) that she could use. Alderon describes her in this state as being a machine detached from reality, focused on her one ultimate goal and not caring about anyone that might stand in her way. She gradually snapped out of this, however, when she began training her first student, Razuen, whom she became good friends with. She did maintain this mentality in battle, however, as when a fight became intense, and an opponent proved to be a challenge, Eiko would often begin oozing so much bloodlust that she would worry others in the fight who were her allies, but she never cared. She was always too focused on the battle to worry about her teammates.

After the death of her second student, Miho, at the hands of the Chimera Ants, Eiko became depressed, blaming herself for not saving her student, and saying that she should have taken her place and been the one to die. This event is what lead to her giving up Ruin Hunting, to instead settle back down with her family. She maintains her cheery attitude as mentioned before, but in reality has immense self loathing for herself, especially as her student Miho was still just a teenager. During the start of her state of depression she began to drink, and has since become an alcoholic to cope with her state of mind.

Background
Born on the outskirts of Meteor City, Eiko was the only child of two unknown parents. Not much is known about her life at this time besides that she had an ever-growing obsession with seeing the outside world, which her parents disapproved of. Despite their opinions, Eiko left home to travel at the age of 14, eventually enrolling into the Athelney School of Nen and Abilities, where she ended up meeting Alderon Chiba. While Alderon never made it past the Third School Year, dropping out after failing his OTs, Eiko passed through all four years in Athelney and even went on to take the STs, where it was determined she would do best as a Ruins Hunter, helped by her curiosity of the world and passion for travelling. She graduated at the age of 18, which was when she and Alderon entered into a relationship. In these early days as a Hunter, she wouldn't see too much of Alderon as he simply worked as a businessman. However, she would eventually begin to get slowed down by a slowly developing stomach. Falling behind other Hunters, the so far skilled Eiko began to slack. When she began missing her period too, it was discovered that she was pregnant with her first child, She decided to stay home for the duration of her pregnancy, however because of all the time she had missed out on due to being at home, she soon after left to begin Ruins Hunting again, leaving Alderon alone to look after Haruka.

The specifics of her Hunter career are unknown, however she was both popular and skilled enough as a Hunter to eventually earn two stars, becoming a Double-Star Ruins Hunter. Due to this, at the current point in time, she would have already produced remarkable achievements in her particular field, trained her first student Razuen, who would by now be a Single-Star Hunter, would hold an official position in the Hunter Association, and would have fullfilled the first 5 articles of the Hunter Bylaws. By this point, she and her then boyfriend Alderon would have also adopted Fuyuki and Fusako, who were at the time just two brothers in an orphanage, giving them the surname Chiba. This would have already happened by the time that Eiko was 22, as Fuyuki was adopted when he was 9, and Fusako was 2, meaning that she had become a Double-Star Ruins Hunter in her mid-20's.

Despite all the time that she spent away as a Hunter, leaving Alderon to look after the kids mostly by himself, they still loved each other, and so at the age of 30, Eiko was proposed to by Alderon, and they decided to get married, with Eiko adopting the surname 'Chiba' and leaving behind her maiden name, 'Shoda'. This took place when her youngest child, Katsune, was just 3 years old. Eiko's parents never showed up to their wedding.

Three years later, Eiko took on a second student, a teenage girl named Miho, who was only 13 at the time. They showed promise, and as such Eiko was pleased with her training and the progress she was making. However... A new threat was just around the corner, as two years later, the Chimera Ant Crisis began when they took over the entirety of the Republic of East Gorteau.

Plot
Both Eiko and Miho were called in to help stop the spread of the Chimera Ants, eventually both becoming a part of the Chimera Ant Extermination Team, which also included her eldest son, Fuyuki. Miho, however, would not live to see the Chimera Ant Crisis through to the end, as she was killed early on by a group of Chimera Ant soldiers from Zazan's Squad as Eiko hopelessly watched. Once they were through with Miho, they all turned their attention to Eiko, who ran to save herself. Eiko has still not forgiven herself for running, as she believes that had she acted faster, Miho may still be alive, Unknown to her, however, is that Miho's body was later taken to the Chimera Ant Queen to be eaten, which resulted in Miho's rebirth as a Chimera Ant Captain of Hagya's Squad, now named Ayako.

During the Palace Invasion, Eiko assisted in taking down the Royal Guards of the Chimera Ant's King, Meruem, wanting revenge for her now deceased student, however due to Zazan abandoning the Chimera Ants to try and start her own colony in Meteor City, her wish never came. She survived the ordeal, but gave up the life of being a Hunter soon after, finally settling down with her family.

Thanks to the third Hunter Bylaw, Eiko still has her Hunter License, and so did go on to take part in the 13th Hunter Chairman Election, in accordance with the late 12th Chairman Isaac Netero's will. She did not make it past the fourth voting round, however. She cast a vote for Leorio in the Ninth, and final, Election for the 13th Hunter Chairman.