Yoshino Himekawa

Spirit Form

**Yoshino Himekawa** ( , *Himekawa Yoshino*?) is the second Spirit saved by Shido Itsuka. She always carries a hand puppet named **Yoshinon** (よしのん, *Yoshinon*?), which she values as her hero.

## Summary

When Yoshino first appeared in the series, she encountered Shido while it was raining. From his perspective, Yoshino seemed to be a lost child wandering around in the rain. The next time they met, Yoshino was attacked by the AST and ran away. During the third time, Shido made the decision to save Yoshino from herself and the AST. This decision was because he discovered that Yoshino was an incredibly kind child who didn't want to hurt, even the people who were attacking her.

After having most of her Reiryoku sealed by Shido, Yoshino started living in one of Ratatoskr's living quarters on Fraxinus temporarily before she moved down to the apartment complex next to Shido's home. Yoshino is currently practicing, with the help of Ratatoskr, how to speak for herself or to be more precise on how to talk without the aid of Yoshinon.

## Appearance

Yoshino has the look of a young, cute girl at about 13 to 14 years of age with blue eyes and long, wavy blue hair. Yoshino's height is stated to be 144 cm, and her three sizes are B73/W55/H78. Her Astral Dress is an oversized green raincoat with a rabbit theme, sporting a poofy tail with a pink ribbon tied to it on the coattail, and a pair of rabbit ears on the hood. The coat is lined with a gold zigzag pattern, white frills, and the sleeves are partially detached at her upper arms. She wears green boots matching the color of her raincoat with pink socks inside. Under her raincoat is a white dress and a pink ribbon around her neck.

After her sealing, she is almost always seen wearing a hat. In the summer, she wore a one-piece dress and a sunhat given to her by Reine. When she starts attending school, she wears the same white sailor outfit as Kotori, and later the female Raizen student uniform.

In the concept art for her Inverse Form, her hair color becomes a translucent white. She can be seen wearing her Spirit form hoodie with a black color scheme and a small drape-like shirt that covers her cleavage. It also displays sharper ears in comparison to her normal hoodie. Yoshino also wears an eyepatch over her left eye, whilst the color of her right eye has turned red. On her left arm, the Yoshinon puppet has been replaced with the Yoshinon Junior puppet.

## Personality

Yoshino is described as being a shy, yet kind young child and is far more passive compared to most of the other Spirits, never even fighting back against the AST despite them constantly trying the kill her. During her first appearance, Yoshino was withdrawn to the point of being unable to articulate full sentences or express herself well, instead having her alter ego, "Yoshinon," speak for her. However, while this certainly wasn't a healthy way of living, it did at least help keep her mental state somewhat stable. On the other hand though, whenever Yoshinon was separated from her, the normally quiet Spirit would completely lose her composure and even showed willingness to resort to violence to get her puppet back.

Like the other Spirits, Yoshino's mental state can also be displayed through her powers. During her debut, her powers would constantly cause it to rain, symbolizing how sad and lonely she was. Similarly, without Yoshinon being present, Yoshino would unintentionally freeze her surroundings, showing how unstable she is without her alter ego.

Throughout the story, after Shido sealed her powers, Yoshino slowly begins to improve her communication skills and learn how to integrate herself into society. Not long after starting her rehabilitation, she becomes able to converse with others without relying on Yoshinon. She later also becomes more open and daring in her interactions, especially after befriending Natsumi. During the Spirit's battle royal, the threat of losing Shido caused Yoshino to finally go all out, bravely facing her fellow Spirits. All of this growth culminates in her taking off Yoshinon of her own will and confessing to Shido.

### Yoshinon

Yoshinon" is Yoshino's alter ego that appears in the form of a puppet speaking through ventriloquism and was created to help her bear the hardships of being hunted by the AST. The Yoshinon personality only exists within the puppet; when the two are separated, Yoshinon becomes dormant. However, both Yoshino and Yoshinon don't seem to know this, causing them to believe the puppet is alive and not understand what ventriloquism means.

Since Yoshinon was created to be the shy Yoshino's ideal "hero", the puppet's demeanor has a far more outgoing and outlandish demeanor compared to the latter. In contrast to Yoshino who speaks timidly, Yoshinon speaks boldly and in third-person. Subconsciously, despite having lost her memories, Yoshino based the personality of the puppet on her mother Nagisa, who told her the puppet was a symbol of her always looking after her daughter. Yoshinon has shown to be brutally blunt, to the point of unintentionally insulting others on occasions. She is also very teasing, especially during her first appearance, to the point that she comes off as being arrogant. Yoshino will occasionally cover her mouth when she teases her about her feelings for Shido. However, misguided as she might be at times, Yoshinon has shown to truly care for Yoshino's best interests.

## Trivia

* Yoshino's voice actress, Iori Nomizu, sang the 2nd and 3rd ending themes: Save The World & Save My Heart, as well as being a member of sweet ARMS who sang the opening theme, Date A Live.
* Yoshino made a small cameo in Episode 3 outside the arcade Shido and Tohka entered.
* Yoshino has the "Four" character in her name (「四」糸乃). This refers to the fourth Sephira on Kabbalah's Tree of Life: "Kindness”.
* Her given name also contains the kanji for "string" (糸, *shi*?) and the possessive particle (乃, *no*?).
* Her angel Zadkiel's name means "Righteousness of God."