Rikuo Nura

**Rikuo Nura** (奴良 リクオ, *Nura Rikuo*) is the Third and current head of the Nura Clan who led the attack against the Gokaidon and defeated the Nue with the help of Hagoromo Gitsune. He is also a member of the Kiyojuji Paranormal Patrol and participates in their activities just to make sure his friends are not harmed by yōkai.

Rikuo is 3/4 human and 1/4 yōkai; leading him to having two different appearances and personalities, but ultimately, the two are one and the same. He is the grandson of Nurarihyon and the son of Rihan Nura.

## Appearance

Being 3/4 human and 1/4 yōkai, Rikuo has two appearances, his day form and his night form. As a human, Rikuo is rather short and weak looking. He has big, dark brown eyes and short, brown hair that reaches his neck, with the lower half being a darker shade of brown, almost black, and bangs that cover the entirety of his forehead. He also wears thin, circular glasses, despite the fact that he has no problems with his eyesight; it is part of his 'good human' persona which, at first, he uses so that he will not become like his mischievous grandfather, later on, he just continues to wear it out of habit.

At home, Rikuo wears a black yukata secured by a white obi under a blue or red haori that he places on his shoulders, never really wearing it. When he goes to school, Rikuo wears his school's male uniform which consists of a black gakuran, a pair of black pants and white school shoes. Underneath the gakuran, he wears a red, long-sleeved T-shirt.

Rikuo's yōkai form, or *Night Rikuo* as some characters start to call him, is far more intimidating. In this form, Rikuo is much taller, towering over most of his human friends and a few other yōkai. He has small, red eyes and long, gravity defying hair; the lower half being black and the upper half silver with thin, black swirls at the sides and bangs similar to that of his human form. Whatever clothes he wears in his day form remains the same when he transforms. Since Rikuo is only 1/4 yōkai, he can only stay in this form 1/4 of the day, approximately six hours.

## Background

   Rikuo grew up in the Nura Clan Main House, where he was surrounded by various yōkai who saw him as their precious young master, and treated him with care and respect. He would often set-up elaborate traps and pranks in different areas of the Main House, with the help of the smaller yōkai, and lie in wait for someone to fall victim to them. The usual targets for his pranks were Tsurara, Aotabo and Kuratobo, although there were times when some of the higher-ups of the clan would also fall for his tricks.

At some point, he met Zen and Shōei; both of whom had yet to succeed their clans at that time. Despite their differences in age, all three were considered to be fairly young yōkai and thus bonded together and formed a strong friendship.

The three of them would frequently play in the Main House and cause mischief everywhere. It was during that time that they swore an oath to protect the Nura Clan; with Zen and Shōei promising to succeed their clans and follow Rikuo once he became the Third.

One day, his classmate, Kiyotsugu, gave a report on yōkai wherein he described them as evil beings. Seeing that all his classmates were being swayed, Rikuo tried to tell them that yōkai were actually good guys; stating that he knew so because his grandfather is Nurarihyon. This prompted Kiyotsugu to talk about the evil deeds Nurarihyon did regularly; such as breaking into people's homes and harassing them. When he returned home, Rikuo began to doubt what he knew about yōkai. Eventually, those doubts led him to refuse the title of the Third Head when he accompanied Nurarihyon to one of the clan meetings, where he found out about all the evil doing of their clan's yōkai, specifically, Gagoze, who had revealed that he was responsible for the all the recent child kidnappings.

The next day, he got teased by Kiyotsugu and Jiro Shima on the way home from school, and as the two got on the bus, Rikuo felt that he was not good enough to ride with them because of what he said about yōkai. He is caught sulking by his childhood friend, Kana Ienaga, who tried to comfort him, but he still refused to ride the bus and ended up walking home. On his way home, he ran into Karasu Tengu who carried him the rest of the way, saying he got worried and decided to go look for Rikuo since he was taking so long.

## Quotes

* *"Hey, does that mean you'll hand it down to me? The emblem of the Third."* (To Nurarihyon)
* *"From here on, we shall follow our fathers' footsteps. We will enliven the Nura Clan!"* (To Zen and Shōei)