Ai Barahata

**Ai Barahata** (愛バラ の 旗 *Barahata Ai*), later also known as the **Queen of Roses** (バラの女王 *Bara no joō*) Is the childhood friend of Nozomi Bugendai and slated to be a first year student at Tokyo Jujutsu High, before suffering an injury that left her comatose. After the events of the Shibuya Incident and start of the Culling Game, she became a Culling Game Player and awakened jujutsu sorcerer, acting as the co-vessel to the ancient jujutsu sorceress Hanabira, who was unable to completely take over Ai’s body, forcibly merging the two souls together.

## Appearance

Ai is a relatively short and pretty young woman. She wore a sleeveless pink shirt with a matching skirt attached to it, and wore brown sandals and a crystal necklace. She had uneven hair that was longer in the front with bangs that covered her right eyebrow. She was hardly ever seen without a smile.

After waking up from her coma at the start of the Culling Game, Ai became merged with the ancient sorceress Hanabira, as she was unable to completely take over her vessels body due to the strength of her soul. Ai gained Hanabiras red eyeliner and cyan eyes, and dressed in an off-white dress with a grey belt, and wears a red headband with brown slippers.

While using Hanabira's Baleful Rosary cursed technique, Ai's appearance changes dramatically. Ai wears a red dress with matching red sleeves, with the left one having a gold thorn-like ornament wrapped around it. She also wears dark colored leggings with another thorn-like ornament wrapped around her right thigh, with a pair of red combat boots. She also gets a gold thorn-like crown around her head with a red rose and gold circle off the left side. Her hair become a light pink with a red underside dye, and gets several black star tattoos around her left eye.

## Personality

Ai was a very social and outgoing person, giving smiles to everyone and never wanting to miss a chance to help someone. She was rarely seen without a smile, and according to Nozomi, was an "annoying busybody trying to solve everyone's problems". With Nozomi, she had an unconventional sharp tongue, berating him for his lack of sympathy and always pushing him to improve himself. Her personality is what Nozomi attempts to mimic after she became comatose.

In stark contrast, after awakening from her coma due to the start of the Culling Game, Ai suddenly became more monotone, rarely changing facial expressions and speaking calmly and politely. Upon meeting Nozomi again, Hanabira's personality shone through first, immediately attacking him and Shosano Ongaku.

After Nozomi reasoned with her throughout their battle, Ai regained primary control of her body, with her own personality surfacing once again, though her smile looked slightly sadder according to Nozomi, which was due to Nozomi’s darker personality change saddening Ai slightly.

Ai is known for her sweet tooth, preferring to eat candy to a balanced meal, which Nozomi found childish. Unbeknownst to Nozomi, Ai truly loved Nozomi as something more than a friend, willing to give her life to protect him, just as he would for her.

## Abilities and Powers

**Overall Skills and Powers**: Prior to becoming a Culling Game Player, Ai was only able to see curses and use simple shikigami, as she was born without a cursed technique. After awakening, however, she gained all of Hanabira's experience and knowledge, becoming comparable to the abilities of a grade 1 sorcerer, if not more so. She could effortlessly utilize Hanabira's cursed technique, and become for than a match for Nozomi, a special grade sorcerer, and Shosano, an awakened player with powers on par with a grade 1 sorcerer. During the Culling Game, she earned 35 points, having killed seven skilled jujutsu sorcerers. According to Higaruma and Kosen, her skill was on par with some of the strongest sorcerers in the Culling Game, with Kosen claiming she needed to kill her to stop her from amassing more points.

After meeting up with the rest of the Tokyo Jujutsu High sorcerers, Ai was labeled as one of their strongest and most useful sorcerers, and was considered a “heavy hitter” by Kenjaku, alongside Yuta, Nozomi, Maki, and Hakari. During Sukuna and Gojo’s rematch during the Shinjuku Showdown, she and Nozomi were considered indispensable to the sorcerers plan, highlighting her abilities and strength.

During her and Nozomi’s battle against The Merger of Humanity, Ai was able to stall and even fight evenly against The Merger, with help from Nozomi’s barriers, with Doku comparing Ai’s potential to rival “the prospect of Satoru Gojo”. After Doku’s defeat to Nozomi, he and Ai were capable of unraveling and defeating The Merger, leaving Ai mostly unscathed due to Nozomi’s protection, before the two returned to Shinjuku to face the King of Curses, arriving seconds after the demise of Hiromi Higuruma.

**Expert Weapons Specialist**: Ai became extremely proficient, as good as if not better than Hanabira, at using her cursed tool linked to her cursed technique, being able to effortlessly switch between its close and long range capabilities with ease.

## Trivia

**•** Ai’s name 愛 (Ai) means “love”, and her surname バラ の 旗(Barahata) means “rose field”

**•** Ai acted rather protective of Nozomi, especially after finding out about him being the Star Plasma Vessel, and what that means. This led to a general dislike for Master Tengen.

**•** Ai has a big sweet tooth, which Nozomi begrudgingly indulged.

**•** She hates rules. Gojo thought it was her best trait.

**•** She and Megumi had met before she was comatose. He found her attitude annoying, but refreshing.

According to the Jujutsu Kaisen Unofficial Fanbook:

• Enrollment method: Scouted but unable to enroll (comatose)

• Her hobby is watching b-tier movies and listening to Nozomi play music.

• Favorite dish: SWEETS.

• Least favorite dish: Burnt toast.

• Cause of stress: Nozomi.