Shirai Kuroko

* Anime
* Novel
* Manga
* Railgun
* Astral Buddy
* Imaginary Fest

**Shirai Kuroko** (白井 黒子, *Shirai Kuroko*?) is a Level 4 esper and a student of Tokiwadai Middle School, as well as a member of Judgment. She can usually be found accompanying the third-ranked Level 5 esper Misaka Mikoto — her best friend, partner, and roommate. Though a supporting character in *Toaru Majutsu no Index*, she serves as the deuteragonist of the *Toaru Kagaku no Railgun* sidestory.

## Etymology

The name Shirai Kuroko is quite interesting because it contains both the meanings of "white" and "black".

The family name "Shirai“ (*kanji*: 白井) can be literally interpreted as "white" plus "(water) well"; while the given name "Kuroko" (*kanji*: 黒子) is more interesting: as a name, it can be interpreted as the stem "Kuro-" (meaning "black") plus the suffix "-*ko*" - which is commonly seen in Japanese female names (other examples include Saten Rui***ko*** and Kongou Mitsu***ko***); while not used as a name, the term "*kuroko*" means stagehands in traditional Japanese theater, who dress all in black.

These literal meanings of Kuroko's name have been referenced several times in the franchise:

* In Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Episode 02, when Misaka Mikoto gets angered at Kuroko about the "computer parts", she says, *"I'm going to char you as black as your name."*

* In one clip in Toaru Majutsu no Index-tan Episode 02, a shadowy figure, who dresses all in black, carries Index-tan into the scene. This figure is an apparent reference to "*kuroko*" (the stagehands). Also, the two tawny ponytails extruding from the two sides of the top of this "*kuroko*" reminds us of Shirai Kuroko - another apparent pun on her name.

* Kuroko's character song is titled *Desu no! White & Black.*

## Appearance

Kuroko is a young girl with tawny hair tied into two curly pigtails; the rest of her hair is left to hang as two rows of fringes divided in the middle. Her pigtails are tied in place by a red bow each. Her hair is naturally curly and as such needs to get a straight perm for it. With 152 cm she isn't very big and with a flat chest her appearance is the usual appearance of an average girl at her age.

As per ruling of both Academy City and Judgment, she wears the uniform of Tokiwadai Middle School and the Judgment armband though the latter only during on duty. On her thighs, she secures a pair of black straps where she stores the metal spikes used to secure criminals.

## Personality

Shirai Kuroko can be described as a "girl living in the future". She is used to the futuristic world 30 years from now portrayed by Academy City and is quite ignorant to the customs that present-day Japan still practices, like the "love umbrella", which students usually use to link their names to the name of their crush, and the conventional technology outside Academy City.

Aside from being a girl with a modernistic outlook, she can also be blunt when giving her opinions, and this has caused her to be at odds with Uiharu once. Another distinguishing characteristic of Kuroko is her feelings of romantic love towards Misaka Mikoto. In the ongoing Railgun manga her affections appear to be genuine and that she is truly in love with Mikoto. She even allows herself to get severely hurt in order to do what she can to help Mikoto. She is regarded as Mikoto's best friend.

Although usually laid-back and friendly, Kuroko portrays determination and confidence in her own abilities when she encounters enemies, even to those whom she knows is more powerful than herself. To her credit, she is an honorable girl who keeps her word, is kind to children, and shares with Mikoto and Touma the same ironclad sense of justice that makes neither of them ever back down in the face of adversity. According to a particular rumor concerning her and Mikoto: "There's this horrifying teleporter in Judgment who'll tear apart your body and soul if she catches you...and there's another that rules over even that teleporter's body and soul - the strongest Electromaster," although Kuroko had no knowledge of this rumor until a robber she took down told her about it.

Kuroko can be close-minded and skeptical at times refusing to believe in urban legends without any concrete evidence and even then it will still take some time for Kuroko to accept it. Examples include the boy with the power to make other powers stop working, despite knowing him personally and it was not until when she saw the effects of the Level Upper that she began to suspect it and even than it was only after seeing it a considerable amount of times. Kuroko doesn't seem to like the idea of Gemstones, believing that such a phenomenon couldn't be possible without the Power Curriculum Program.

In her Japanese conversations, Kuroko has the habit of ending the determinative sentences with the auxiliary word "**ですの**" (desu-no), instead of "**です**" (desu) in standard Japanese language. This can be seen as her unique label in Toaru franchise. For example, Kuroko's catchphrase: " **ジャッジメントですの！**" (pronunciation: *Jajjimento desu-no!* meaning: I am Judgement! or This is Judgement!). This is also shown in her character song Desu no! White & Black.

## Background

Not much is known about her past before entering Tokiwadai Middle School, but her family ran a major chain of convenience stores.

A year before she entered the prestigious Tokiwadai Middle School, Kuroko joined Judgment, a special public committee group whose duty is to maintain peace and order in Academy City. The first major case she handled (along with Uiharu Kazari and Konori Mii) was the arrest of a bank robber who can use the esper ability Equal Speed. Despite her young age, she stood up to the much older esper and was beaten up in the process, although a particular bolt of lightning saved her from imminent danger.

At another point in the first half of that year, having achieved Level 3 at the time and obtained the qualifications necessary to enter Tokiwadai (which she had discussed with her father about), Kuroko encountered Sha Danshan, the leader of the school's then-top clique, while on duty. During the encounter, under the guise of doing Kuroko's hair, Sha stole one of Kuroko's hair pins, in order to reproduce Kuroko's ability through her own ability later.

In the April of the story's first year, Kuroko enrolls into Tokiwadai Middle School. She later falls in love with Misaka Mikoto, calling her "Onee-sama" (big sister), and then forces her way into her dorm, evicting Mikoto's previous roommate. The both of them later get punished for this act, but Kuroko stays as her roommate regardless.

## Chronology

### Toaru Majutsu no Index

#### Index Arc

*Main article: Index Arc*
Her debut was in the 1st arc where she is on patrol investigating some strange incidents happening in the city due to Stiyl Magnus and Kanzaki Kaori in the Anime. This is not in the Light Novels.

#### Sisters Arc

*Main article: Sisters Arc*
She makes her first appearance to Touma in the 3rd volume where she's shocked to see Mikoto is with him, giving him a threat to not lay a finger on her. Later, when Touma decides to investigate the Level 6 Shift Project she meets him again at the dorm where she manages to hide him away from one of the dorm supervisors.

#### Kazakiri Hyouka Arc

*Main article: Kazakiri Hyouka Arc*
Kuroko is seen hunting down Sherry Cromwell, who had entered the city illegally, and tries to apprehend her but is stopped by her golem. She is saved by Mikoto who also happens to be on the scene. She later appears to help the people stuck in the underground part of the city, teleporting civilians out of the area as Anti-Skill is preparing to fight against Sherry.

#### Tree Diagram Remnant Arc

*Main article: Tree Diagram Remnant Arc*
Kuroko faces off against Musujime Awaki who has a remnant of the Tree Diagram, but is out-classed as Awaki proves to be the better teleporter. Awaki teleports a corkscrew into Kuroko's side, as well as several spikes. Kuroko returns the favor back at Awaki during their second encounter, but due to Kuroko being on the move all night without rest, she finds she cannot teleport anymore and ends up being pinned under a pile of furniture. Despite this, she continues to verbally assault Awaki, whose composure and teleporting abilities begin to break down as her psychological state of mind is rattled by Kuroko's taunts and rebuttals. Kuroko eventually manages to summon enough strength to overcome the furniture pinning her down and stand up to face her now-panicking opponent. Using a lamp as an improvised weapon, Kuroko charges at Awaki; the latter reacts by pulling out a gun and shooting her in the torso. Awaki, who is by then in the grip of a mental breakdown, decides to crush Kuroko by collapsing the upper floors of the building onto her. Kuroko, who is almost completely incapacitated and barely conscious, only just manages to be saved by Mikoto (who used her railgun to tear open an entry point into the building) and Touma (who grabbed Kuroko and then used his Imagine Breaker to stop the teleport). Kuroko is then taken to the hospital.

At the hospital, Touma visits to see how she is healing up, and accidentally walks in when Kuroko is changing clothes. He is rewarded with a slap from Kuroko. Later Kuroko jokes that Touma likes girls who are less aggressive, but after seeing Mikoto take the suggestion seriously, she gets upset thinking Mikoto really has fallen in love with Touma. Kuroko vows silently to herself to get stronger herself so that Mikoto will rely on her more, and not be a burden after the 'Tree Diagram Remnant' incident.

#### Daihasei Festival Arc

*Main article: Daihasei Festival Arc (Index)*
Kuroko is unable to participate in the Daihasei festival due to her injuries from the Remnants incident, and is in a wheelchair during the course of events, escorted by Uiharu Kazari. She is seen to cheer up for Mikoto who is taking part in a competition between schools. After seeing Mikoto taking care of Touma on a public TV screen, she vows to kill him for taking advantage of Mikoto and stealing her rightful place.

#### Academy City Invasion Arc

*Main article: Academy City Invasion Arc*
Kuroko is next seen doing office jobs with Uiharu and wonders about the strange situation in Academy City, although she is shown to be aware of the news of an intruder due to television announcements.

#### Document of Constantine Arc

*Main article: Document of Constantine Arc*
Members of Judgment including Shirai Kuroko and Uiharu Kazari were tasked in helping security during the Interceptor Show.

While Mikoto was searching for Kamijou Touma's home, she spotted Kuroko and Uiharu walking along the street and talking each other.

#### World War III Arc

*Main article: World War III Arc*
In the novels, on October 31st, Kuroko was busy with Judgment work and wasn't present when Mikoto was thinking about World War III and Touma at the dormitory and when she saw Touma on a news report in Russia.

In the anime, Kuroko was present in the dormitory with Mikoto and watched a video of Academy City's declaration after intercepting the missiles fired by Russia. Later, while watching a news report on her laptop about World War III showing Russia, she discovered Touma in the bottom corner of the screen and informed Mikoto about it.

### Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index

#### Ichihanaran Festival Arc

*Main article: Ichihanaran Festival Arc*
Although mentioned several times before, Kuroko reappears again in the novels at last and debuts silently in *Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index*. She appears with Konori Mii across the road where Uiharu Kazari is. As a member of Judgment, it is her duty to aid Anti-Skill during the Ichihanaransai. She witnesses Mii calling out to Aogami Pierce for questioning, deeming him to be a suspicious person. Kuroko asks her on why they couldn't just throw him into a cell, as there are cases and mysterious reports that are needlessly driving down their efficiency, especially about rampaging Rhinoceros beetles. Mii says not to take her frustration on Aogami, to which she then asks for his belongings to check them.

That was the 43rd time he has been questioned by authorities that year.

#### Magic God Othinus Arc

*Main article: Magic God Othinus Arc*
In the second recreation of the world by Othinus, known as the *Version\_Beta* world in-text, where another "Kamijou Touma" exists living Touma's life. In this world eerily similar to Touma's world, Kuroko is only referenced by Mikoto to be busy when she is forced to confront the sender of the junk mail to Tokiwadai's dormitory, a task that is usually handled by Kuroko according to her.

In the final recreation of the world by Othinus created specifically to break Touma's spirit, known as the *Version\_Omega* world in-text, where several characters from the original world have been "saved" or have not experienced great tragedy, Kuroko, Uiharu, and Saten are in the festival where Touma is after his spirit has already been broken, trying to decide how he should have himself killed. Here, they are all aware of the existence of clones. Kuroko complains on how there are too many people in the festival and wonders where Mikoto had ran off to. Uiharu comments on how it would be impossible to find her in the festival with all the people who look like her. Saten then comments on how she just remembered that Meigo Arisa may be coming in secret, referring to her "perfect mode" after becoming one with Shutaura Sequenzia. Uiharu comments on how she saw the doll-like child president wandering around earlier, as such Arisa may be around.

#### Magic God Invasion Arc

*Main article: Magic God Invasion Arc*
Kuroko and Uiharu are in the same subway train as Akikawa Mie during her adventures in trying to get the liquid diamond to her mother during the shadow of the High Priest's rampage in Academy City. They were in a tunnel when the train suddenly stopped due to the damage done by the High Priest in School District 5's. After being told to leave through the emergency exit, Kuroko and Uiharu do their jobs and guide the passengers. Kuroko notices Mie run out of the train but since it was dark she could not do anything about it. She then asks Uiharu if the power is still not back up.

Touma makes use of Misaka Mikoto's connections with Judgment and her influence to prevent disaster from befalling when the High Priest used the dirt under the city for his magic. Kuroko and Uiharu are part of this bold plan, and as such they are near the headquarters where Mie's mother worked, directing people to safety as members of Judgment. Uiharu later asks Uiharu to arrange the routes so that there won't be any bottlenecks at bridges and intersections.

It is later revealed that all the actions of the people in the city where under the manipulations of Kihara Noukan, making calculations and sending out bait like the liquid diamond that Mie took to prevent human casualties during the High Priest's rampage.

#### Element Arc

*Main article: Element Arc*
On December 8th, Kuroko appeared with other Tokiwadai students when Mikoto brought Touma to School Garden, to her shock and dismay. After some manipulation from Misaki, Kuroko teleported Mikoto away to "tend" to her. She later saved Touma from the rest of the Tokiwadai girls, but soon after fainted from heatstroke and lack of sleep. She recovered but had to stay behind while Touma, Mikoto, and other students went to destroy the Crystal Tower, much to her chagrin. She and the defenders were later overcome by an Element led by Kihara Yuiitsu.

#### Aleister Crowley Arc

*Main article: Aleister Crowley Arc*
On December 11th, as Tokiwadai was being rebuilt, Kuroko was apparently going around looking after other students.

#### Choronzon Arc

*Main article: Choronzon Arc*
Prior to going to Bali, Kuroko and the other girls are in Tokyo by a convenience store, waiting for Misaki and Mikoto to decide which country there were to go to after Academy City was shut down.

## Abilities

### Teleport

Her esper ability is **Teleport** (空間移動 (テレポート) 能力者, *Kūkan Idō (Terepōto) Nōryokusha*?, lit. "Space Manipulation User") because of this. Such an ability allows her to teleport herself and anything in her possession a certain distance in the blink of an eye. In volume 8 it is stated that her powers do have limits, being able to transport a total weight of 130.7 kilograms, to a distance of 81.5 meters from herself. It was revealed in Volume 3 of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga that before she went to Tokiwadai Middle School, she could teleport objects and other people, but not herself. She was eventually able to teleport herself sometime after enrolling in Tokiwadai.

* Kuroko teleporting behind Mikoto
* Kuroko teleporting the glass windows
* Kuroko in melee combat
* Kuroko using her darts
1/4
Not only is she able to teleport objects *inside* designated targets, allowing her to "throw" the darts she carries on her thighs with perfect accuracy, but she can also change their resulting orientation, shown when she teleported a standing Uiharu above a standing Mikoto such that their heads would collide. One disadvantage of her power is that she has to concentrate on where she, the object(s), and/or person she holds will be teleported to, while working out the spatial coordinates of jumping between 3-dimensional and 11-dimensional space, so any disturbance in her concentration will render her powers useless, as demonstrated in her fight against Sherry Cromwell. According to Kouzaku Mitori, there is a one second lag when consecutively using her power in fights leaving her vulnerable in that one second interval before teleporting again. The one second teleportation lag is not referenced in the anime, due to Kuroko's teleportations only have delays up to a minimum of 0.4 seconds, obviously seen where she teleports Keitz and Misaka 10032 and then teleports quickly again when she gets attacked by Kouzaku's shadow puppet, with a delay of approx. 0.4 seconds.

### Other abilities

**Gifted Intellect**: Due to being a Level 4 esper, Kuroko's intelligence is comparable to a genius or a supercomputer. She can make complex calculations that allow her to teleport herself and has extensive experience in fighting against espers and other people with supernatural powers. She managed to figure out Trick's ability just by observing it, and figured out the location of building supports to make it collapse.

**Master Martial Artist**: Kuroko is a very skilled martial artist, which she combines with her esper power to subdue larger and stronger opponents with ease. Her style emphasizes throws and take-downs, though she also seems fond of kicks. Although usually displayed and used as comedy relief, Kuroko even displays a strong constitution, surviving constantly shocks from Mikoto, having her neck dislocated by the Dorm Supervisor, repeatedly pounding her head on solid objects in fits of either rage or terror or stupidity.

Kuroko can use a handgun, as part of her Judgment training. However, she has difficulty with other kinds of guns, and may waste a shot on something harmless if it catches her by surprise.

### Equipment

In addition to her darts, Kuroko carries small ball-shaped handheld devices made to interfere with listening devices for security purposes. She uses these to deafen the echolocation of Kouzaku's Liquid Shadow puppet. During the October 4th Park Fire, Kuroko wears a monocle and mouthpiece-type gas mask.

## Relationships

### Misaka Mikoto

She has been apparently in love with Misaka Mikoto for a long time, whom she calls "Onee-sama" (meaning big sister - in the English dub Kuroko refers to her as "Sissy"); when she has the chance she keeps a constant lookout for a chance to get physically intimate with Misaka (getting called a pervert and electroshocked in the process), and tends to get jealous if someone else gets her attention. These attempts have toned down in the manga. Despite her overzealous attempts at gaining Mikoto's favor, her affections appear to be genuine; it has been shown on a few occasions that she is genuinely in love with Mikoto, even allowing herself to get severely injured and hurt in order to help Mikoto. She is regarded as Mikoto's best friend.

### Kamijou Touma

Kuroko's relationship with Touma is mostly rivalry and jealousy over his encounters with Mikoto even though Touma himself is not aware of this. Despite this, she has also acknowledged him as someone able to stand at the same stage as Mikoto and truly support her when she herself can't.

### Uiharu Kazari

Uiharu and Kuroko met when they were having their Judgment training. They are seen working together and hanging out with their friends, and are seen being good friends throughout the series except for when they got in an argument about rushing into danger without thinking.

## Character Art Designs

### Design Evolution

There is little change in Kuroko's design. Haimura simply read her description and drew her without any real influence in her design. During her role as the primary heroine in volume 8, Kuroko's design was slightly modified to reflect her importance in the story; It is unclear what changes were exactly implemented.

By volume 12, Kuroko becomes affected by deformed art style that Haimura has for the characters. Kuroko was designed with white ribbons for her winter uniform, but this is not brought up in the anime adaptation. According to Haimura, Kuroko was the easiest character to transfer in manga format, for her detailed design for the *Toaru Kagaku no Railgun* manga.

### Gallery

Character Design by Haimura Kiyotaka for Volume 3.Character Design by Haimura Kiyotaka for Volume 12.Character Design with Judgment armband by Haimura Kiyotaka.Character designs by Haimura Kiyotaka.Kuroko in a bunny girl outfit, drawn by Haimura Kiyotaka.