Ataru Moroboshi - Relationship With Lum

Relationship With Lum

In the beginning he is cold-hearted towards Lum and sees her as a nuisance preventing him from girl hunting, but by the time of the story "A Night Alone!!" (夜を二人で!! ,, Yoru wo Futari de!!?) (Vol. 18) he was completely okay with sharing a bed with her. Though he may not seem to really care for her, it is clear that Lum is the only one he truly cares for, something that she is grateful for. She just wishes Ataru would show it more often.

In the story "The Gloves of Love and War" (愛と闘魂のグローブ,, Ai to Tokon no Gurōbu?) (Vol. 21), in which he accidentally puts on boxing gloves that force him to grab and punch anyone who gets close enough to him, he continuously puts his own face in front of Lum's each time she gets too close, punching himself instead. This is just one of many instances when Ataru does everything he can to protect Lum from physical harm.

When faced with the prospect of losing Lum, Ataru goes all-out to try to prevent it from happening, even at the expense of his own health. Near the end of the series, in the story introducing Inaba, he decides to protect the future where he and Lum get married after he sees how happy she is in this future. In Ataru's own ideal future, he had a harem containing every prominent female in the cast, but he decided to abandon it after he learned that Lum would not be with him, further signifying the love he has for her. But once the danger has passed, he goes back to his girl hunts as though nothing happened. Even so, the fact that he sacrifices himself to rescue Lum is enough to prove he truly cares. Also when she leaves for an extended period of time, he becomes very depressed and lonely in her absences.

In the final story the two of them have their first true falling out when Lum starts doubting his feelings because he never once said he loved her, this is worsened when a misunderstanding occurs that makes Ataru believe Lum had fallen in love with someone else, deeply hurting him and causing them to grow further apart. Ultimately they have another game of tag, this time with the Earth's memory of Lum and everything that has happened since her arrival on the line. Lum will let him win if he just says "I love you" even if it was a lie, but he refuses and tries to catch her himself exhausting himself to the limit because if he said it in those circumstances then she wouldn't know if he was telling the truth. However, in the end, he indirectly says "I'll love you forever" when Lum sees that he had kept something of hers (her old horns). She tearfully embraces him, allowing him to catch her and continues to live on Earth with him. In the last panel of the series, Lum says that one day she'll make him actually say it even if it takes a lifetime, to which Ataru responds "Only on my deathbed."

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