Chester Harrington

"I knew it. Chester Harrington must've been traumatized by the firebombings over Walkerville after such a failed revolution like this. It's just worse than the firebombing of Kobe in World War II. I knew he was so sweet that he lost their mother in the firebombings... and their father? Well, he died in combat during the South China Sea standoff too."

--Su Ji-Hoon, As the Fireflies Fly Again

Chester Harrington is a preschool student and the younger brother of Diane Harrington He was four years old when he died. When a fleet of Russian Tupolev Tu-22M. Tupolev Tu-95, Tupolev Tu-160 and PAK DA bombers (including Chinese Xian H-2 bombers) are flying overhead, he and Diane are left to secure the house and their belongings, allowing their mother, who suffers from a heart condition, to reach Elder Kettle's house in Inkwell Isle. Although they survive unscathed, their mother is caught in the air raid and is horribly burned. After she dies in a makeshift clinic in a bomber shelter shortly afterwards, Chester leaves with Diane on their way to the home of a distant aunt, who later becomes increasingly resentful their food rations continue to shrink due to the war.

After Chester leaves with Diane again and moves in with him in an abandoned bomb shelter, they release fireflies into the shelter for light. However, the next day, Chester finds them all dead, and becomes horrified. He digs them a grave and buries them all, asking why they have to die, and why his mother had to die. What begins as a new lease on life grows grim as he and his sister run out of rice, and he is rushed to a doctor after becoming increasingly ill from malnutrition. He is found dying and hallucinating as Diane returns to the shelter with large quantities of food. He then dies as she hurries to cook, and is placed on a cryogenic pod as a coffin the next day, after a montage of past moments in his life set to "Home Sweet Home" performed by Amelita Galli-Curci (1882-1963).

Trivia

 * Chester Harrington is based on Setsuko Yokokawa from Grave of the Fireflies.