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- For the chapter of the same name, see Chapter 90.
“I want him alive and kicking until I get the chance to hack him up!” ― Kiri's intention to kill her grandfather for his sexist beliefs.[source]
Kiri Shirakai (
Appearance
Kiri appears to be a tall and slim young woman with short hair. She wears a pair of glasses that appear to be balanced on the bridge of her nose. Her clothing consists of a white shirt with a black vest buttoned by a strap at her collar bone, with large, baggy pants that cover her lower half.
Personality
Kiri generally keeps a casual if somewhat aloof and disrespectful demeanour, even in tense situations. Even when facing the Hishaku, she spared a moment to greet Uruha and casually stated she would kill her grandfather as if she was talking about the weather. She maintains this attitude in combat, stoically adapting to changes on the battlefield and on one occasion taking serious damage from various attacks with barely a sound of exertion, shortly before coolly dispatching an attacker.
Relationships
Itsuo Shirakai
When communicating with him over the phone, Kiri is generally cordial with her grandfather as most grandchildren are. However, Kiri loathes Itsuo's sexist belief that swords are only for men, while women were too delicate for them, and plans for him to be left alive long enough so she can slash him down herself. In keeping to her opposition to her grandfather, she deliberately chose to wield an odachi, one of the largest and heaviest classes of katana.
Yoji Uruha
At a younger age, Uruha (along with Samura) often helped babysit Kiri when she was little, an experience Uruha was grateful for. In the present, Kiri was surprised to hear Uruha was alive after his apparent death at the hands of Samura but got over the surprise quickly in her usual aloof manner. The two got along well in and out of combat, Uruha trusting Kiri's skill enough to entrust Hakuri to her hands.
Natsuki Misaka
Much like most people, Kiri treats Natsuki with her usual casual disrespect, not referring to him with honorifics despite his seniority and age.
Plot
Past
Kiri's childhood
From a young age, Kiri was interested in swords. Her grandfather Itsuo Shirakai disapproved of this, chauvinistically believing women were too delicate to wield swords and Kiri would easily die due to not being strong enough. From then on, Kiri decided she wanted to cut down her grandfather and destroy the Iai White Purity Style. Shirakai often had his students Seiichi Samura and Yoji Uruha babysit Kiri, threatening them with death should she get hurt.[1] Kiri's ambitions were no secret to Uruha, to whom she expressed her goal on one occasion.[2]
Sometime later, she joined the Kamunabi and became an elite combatant in the force, working in the Izaru Squad.[3]
Sword Bearer Assassination Arc
Kiri enters the Fifth level
On the 14th of November, during the Hishaku's attack on Kamunabi Headquarters, Kiri was ordered alongside the other elite units to surround the Hishaku on Level 5. Kiri cut through the ceiling of Level 5, slicing a traitorous Kamunabi elite with transforming capabilities in the process, and landed to see Uruha and Hakuri Sazanami. Kiri coolly expressed her surprise that Uruha was alive, and Uruha quickly explained Kiri was the granddaughter of his former teacher, who was currently out in the mountains somewhere. Kiri added that she kept in contact with him, but stayed cordial only until she could kill him for his chauvinistic beliefs.
The younger Hishaku member attacked and Uruha sent him flying through a wall using a Koen-enhanced kick. As Bingo used his sorcery Mako to launch a massive lion dancer head down the hallway, Uruha told her to watch out for Hakuri before slashing the head in half and speeding forth to confront the Hishaku, Yura drawing a blade to face him. Not long after, Bingo summoned several more smaller heads around Kiri and Hakuri.[4] The three Hishaku sorcerers behind Yura left as Yura told them to proceed with the operation, one of them tossing a seed to generate a wall of trees to block the path behind them.
Hakuri overheard their words and noted they had a plan, which Kiri reckoned made sense given they had allies on the inside. Turning to the knives-wielding traitor before her, Kiri questioned how long she had been working under the Hishaku for. The knives traitor replied she was not working under them, but they simply held similar views regarding what happened 18 years ago, before kneeling down in preparation to attack. Hakuri commented that the knives-wielder was fast and Kiri concurred, having used to work with her. Hakuri voiced that he needed to get to Shinuchi to transport it, and Kiri, only now realising Hakuri's identity as Hakuri Sazanami, agreed to protect him.
Kiri kills the traitor
Kiri proceeded to fluidly dispatch several heads with her odachi, but noticed a invisible weight pressing down on her, reasoning it was applied in response to cutting through the heads. Kiri came to the conclusion that the traitor's strategy was to wait for Kiri to be weighed down by the heads and attack. Leaping into the air, Kiri cut the ground beneath Hakuri so he landed safely on the floor below, just as the heads crunched their jaws around her. The knives traitor dashed in to slash forth but Kiri caught both her knives, one by the wrist and one through the forearm, holding her in place before leaning back into the hole and reorienting herself to pierce the traitor and heads in one motion, to Hakuri's relief. Hokuto then arrived and asked where Uruha was.[5]
Kiri immediately slammed her foot over the end of Hokuto's sword and drew her odachi but Hokuto blocked with his armoured arm and grabbed her by the neck. Hakuri launched Isou at him but Hokuto endured the attack with little more than a bloody nose, Hakuri blasted back at the effort. Kiri continued to refuse to state where Uruha was, and as Hokuto moved to draw his blade Natsuki slammed forth at Hokuto, launching him into another room. Kiri thanked Natsuki casually, her flippant tone annoying the older swordsman. After Natsuki introduced himself and Hokuto brought up Uruha again, Kiri commented that Hokuto's focus on Uruha was ridiculous.
Natsuki and Hokuto began clashing in the next room. When Hokuto's back was facing the room where Kiri was, Kiri slashed and launched a large wall tile at his back, leaving Hokuto with nowhere to dodge as Natsuki used Lightning Menace to slam Hokuto through the tile back into the room where Kiri and Hakuri were, though Hokuto generated armour plates to defend against most of the damage. The roof then caved in to reveal Uruha and Yura falling through.[6] After some bickering with Uruha, Natsuki asked Kiri whether Hokuto was the tough one, and Kiri confirmed as much, thinking back to the strength with which he had grabbed her neck using his non-dominant hand; he clearly had experience in swordfighting.
Kiri and others enter the Sealing Room
Uruha told Kiri to go with Hakuri to Shinuchi, and after some token protest she left, telling the 'old dudes' to handle the other 'old dudes'.[7] Kiri and Hakuri managed to meet up with Azami and Ichiki, and the four entered an elevator. Azami noted they had closed the Threat Elimination Grounds with the chaos occurring below. Hakuri voiced that they would end this with him transporting Shinuchi into the Storehouse, though Azami and Ichiki were less optimistic. Ichiki explained that they had surrounded the Hishaku and they would be captured in time, but the Hishaku would undoubtedly have known attacking Kamunabi Headquarters with their few number would be suicide; hence there was likely something going on. Ichiki suspected Shinuchi may have been tampered with, and while he initially ruled out the option after the Kamunabi's inspection of it, he still held doubts.[8]
Ichiki explained that to use Shinuchi, one would not only need to put spirit energy into the blade, but also have a strong desire to use it. In any case, Kasen, Yatsuru and Ichiki himself had inspected the blade for any foreign spirit energy before sealing it, Azami noting they were the most powerful sorcerers of the Kamunabi. Hakuri pointed out that Kudo had stated Azami was 'on another level', though Azami stated that was only in combat; the three had immense scholarly knowledge on sorcery, equivalent to double the contents of the Level 2 library, Kiri and Hakuri balking. The four entered the Shinuchi sealing room, where Kasen stood on the viewing balcony. Ichiki stated the operation to transport Shinuchi would begin, but Kasen responded in the negative. Ichiki suddenly noticed spirit energy pouring out from within Shinuchi.[9]
Kasen explained his desire to use the Enchanted Blades to maintain power over the sorcerer clans of the nation and ensure true order could be established by the Kamunabi over Japan. Ichiki replied that using Shinuchi was impossible given there was a risk of another Malediction, and stated their priority should be educating the next generation in establishing a peaceful world. Kasen stated he was prepared to make many sacrifices to achieve his goal, be it working with criminals, or sacrificing the lives of Kunishige and the sword bearers, before preparing his sorcery to attack. Azami punched him into a wall and left to locate Yura, while Ichiki ordered a nearby Kamunabi agent to contact Shiba and Hiyuki and get them to headquarters. After the agent returned to say he had been unable to and Ichiki sensed Tobimune and Enten outside, Ichiki realised Kasen and the enemies had modified the barrier to keep them out, but that would only last a few minutes.[10]
Not long after, Izaru made an announcement across Headquarters that a second Vessel was present in the building, and thus their communications were cut off and they were unable to call in reinforcements. Ichiki quickly realised Kasen had used the Kamunabi's backup Vessel device and told Kiri and Hakuri that they needed to head out to dispatch the Hishaku's Vessel in order to restore the barrier.[11]
Kiri decapitates Yukisada
The two made it to Level 5, where they found three sorcerers engaging Yukisada and Hagiwara shouting for the Hishaku member to be decapitated. Hakuri transported Kiri behind Yukisada so she could slash forward, which Yukisada dodged. Kiri moved in and her following slice dug into his left side, but Yukisada regenerated his body, trapping her odachi within before kicking Kiri back. Hakuri then entered, transported a katana in front of him and launched it forward using Isou, which only grazed Yukisada but sped past Kiri, who caught it and used it to cut off Yukisada's head. Undeterred, Yukisada's headless body threw Onichika out of his body and into Kiri, who used her katana to block the blade. Suddenly, Hagiwara rushed towards Kiri and Hakuri and dragged them to the wall, creating a massive wall of iron sand to block them off just as Yura arrived. While Yura contemplated engaging the three, he decided to leave to save time.[12]
After Yura and Yukisada left, Hagiwara withdrew the wall and the three saw the goggles-wearing Kamunabi sorcerer on the ground, struggling as he attempted to resist the flower growths within his body. Hagiwara promptly demanded Yura's location from him.[13] Hagiwara overheard the Core Station Vessel order for his own death and relayed this to a nearby Hakuri, asking him to transport a katana into the Core Station so he could use his magnetism on the katana to kill the Vessel and end the disruption caused by two Vessels on the communications network. Hakuri instead transported himself into the Core Station and transported the Vessel into his Storehouse, which brought communications back online.[14]
Abilities
Overall Abilities: Kiri is an elite fighter of the Kamunabi's Izaru Squad.[3]
As a sorcerer, Kiri has accomplished the first stage of spirit energy usage, being able to use her spirit energy to strengthen her body to superhuman levels.
Enhanced Strength: Kiri has incredible physical strength, being able to wield her large sword in battle with ease. She also has an incredibly powerful grip, able to prevent one of her adversaries from moving their arm entirely.[15] Even after being weighed down from the effects of cutting down multiple Mako heads, she was still able to slash through a portion of a wall and assist Natsuki in his battle against Hokuto.[16]
Enhanced Endurance: Kiri is an incredibly resilient woman. She was able to continue fighting despite being attacked by multiple Mako heads[17] and also being stabbed in the forearm.[18]
Enhanced Speed and Reflexes: Kiri is incredibly fast. Despite being weighed down by Mako, she was able to quickly stop Hokuto from unsheathing his sword with her foot.[19] Her reflexes are impressive enough to react to an extremely fast sorcerer despite being restrained by sorcery.[20]
Combat Prowess
Kiri's unique swordsmanship
Expert Swordswoman: Kiri is a highly skilled swordswoman. She was able to cut through a portion of a ceiling with precise slashes that also fatally slashed through a Kamunabi traitor.[21]
Despite the drawbacks of her two-meter-long odachi (its weight and unwieldiness), Kiri has great mastery over her weapon. Rather than simply swinging her sword from the hilt, she instead centers her sword around herself (often with one hand on the hilt and the other further up around the back of the blade) and moves with her sword as if she were dancing, keeping her blade close to her body. In this way, Kiri is able to use the length and weight of the odachi to her advantage rather than detriment, and enables her sword to practically rampage on its own.[22]
Kiri's swordsmanship has been noted to be impenetrable,[23] even impressing master swordsman Yoji Uruha.[24]
While she primarily uses an odachi, Kiri is also capable at using a katana, having used one to slash off Yukisada's head.[25]
Equipment
Onichika
Kiri next to her ōdachi
Five-Shaku Ōdachi Onichika (
Katana
During her fight with Yukisada, Hakuri blasted a katana towards Kiri using Isou, who used it to cut Yukisada's head off as her odachi was stuck inside him at the time.[28]
Etymology
The name Kiri Shirakai (
白 (Shira): Means "white" or "pure".廻 (Kai): Means "round" or "revolve".斬 (Kiri): Means "slaying" or "murder".
Trivia
References
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 88 (Pages 7-8).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 90 (Page 9).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 88 (Page 6).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 88.
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 90.
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 91.
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 92 (Pages 1-2).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 93 (Pages 14-19).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 94.
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapters 95-96.
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 97 (Pages 8-10).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 99.
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 100 (Pages 11-12).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 101 (Pages 3-4, 9-13).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 90 (Pages 16-17).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 91 (Pages 13-14).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 90 (Page 13).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 90 (Page 16).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 90 (Page 1).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 90 (Pages 14-15).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 88 (Pages 4-5).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 90 (Pages 5-7).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 90 (Page 8).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 90 (Page 9).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 99 (Pages 9-10).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 88 (Page 5).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 90 (Pages 4-5).
- ↑ Kagurabachi Manga: Chapter 99 (Pages 9-10).