Yata no Kagami

## General Information

### ☯**Personality**

By nature Kagami is quiet and reserved, tending to speak only when spoken to and even then in a flat, emotionless tone of voice. Despite being rather old, she isn't sure how people are supposed to act, partly because she's been isolated for much of her life, but also because her nature as a mirror makes her something of a blank slate. She was born with the urge to observe and imitate others, but has a difficult time actually understanding them, even as she mimics them perfectly. However, she believes that, by mimicking as many people as she can, she can learn what makes a person who they are and, in this way, develop an identity of her own. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a very good basis for judging whether something would be good for her to emulate, so she is easily misled by the wrong crowds. Besides watching living people, she is also fond of reading, but one must be careful what one lets her read, since you never know which characters she might decide to emulate.

### ☯**Appearance**

She is the awakened form of the Yata no Kagami, or "Eight Hand Mirror", one of the three Imperial Regalia of Japan. She appears as a young girl in her late teens who has long silver hair, matching silver eyes, and pure white skin, and her typical outfit consists of a white knee-length kimono tied in the back with a silver obi. Her hair is straight and reaches all the way down to her knees, and on her head is a silver circlet topped by a round silver plate, meant to represent the sun goddess Amaterasu. On her feet she wears silver sandals over white socks. The Yata no Kagami itself hangs down over her chest from a rope around her neck, though she can also make it fly on its own if needed.

### ☯**Theme Songs**

* Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep - The Worlds (Regular)
* Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time & Darkness - Primal Dialga Remix (Battle)

## Backstory

She has no memory of it herself, but legend tells of how the Yata no Kagami was created by the gods to lure out Amaterasu, the goddess of the sun, who had hidden herself in a cave after quarreling with her brother Susanoo. Upon peeking out of the cave, Amaterasu was transfixed by her reflection in the mirror, and when she emerged to take a closer look, the other gods sealed the cave behind her. She returned to her rightful place in the heavens, but kept the mirror for herself, and eventually she passed it on to her grandson, Ninigi no Mikoto, whose descendants became the first rulers of Japan. Together with the Kusanagi no Tsurugi and the Yasakani no Magatama, the Yata no Kagami became one of the Imperial Regalia of Japan, passed down from emperor to emperor. As time passed, however, many began to doubt that the original mirror still existed, thinking that it had been replaced by a replica at some point, which eventually caused it to move to Gensokyo. There, it awakened as a tsukumogami, who, finding herself in an unfamiliar place, set out to learn about her new surroundings.

## Abilities

### ☯**Ability to Reflect Anything**

Kagami has the ability to "reflect" anything she sees, assuming the appearance and properties of the reflected person or thing. When she reflects a person, she gains any and all abilities they possess, both inherent and acquired, but does not copy their memories or experience; she gains a basic instinctive knowledge of how to use their abilities, but no more than that. For instance, if she were to copy someone skilled in sharpshooting, she would know what a gun does and how to operate it, but she may not know the best strategies to use in a gunfight. Additionally, while she copies her subjects' power levels, she does not copy their reserves of magical energy, which means that if she copies someone more powerful than herself, their powers will wear her out more quickly. When she copies someone, she usually also copies their clothing and any other objects in their possession, but she does not have to, and she may exclude some parts in order to save energy. She can only copy one target at a time, and whenever she changes her form, she loses all of her current abilities except the ability to assume another form.

### ☯**Other Abilities**

Besides her copying ability, she also has several other powers related to mirrors, including the ability to duplicate herself, the ability to use mirrors as portals, and the ability to see through illusions. When she duplicates herself, each copy is exactly the same as the next, and all of them share the same mind and pool of magical energy, though they can still act independently. For her to use a mirror as a portal, it must be reflective enough to show a reasonably accurate image, but otherwise she can use any flat, reflective surface, including things like ponds and rivers. The surface must be large enough for her to fit through in order for her to pass through it herself, but she can still use smaller surfaces to send other things. She does not have to know the exact location of the destination mirror in order to reach it, but if there are no suitable reflective surfaces anywhere near her intended destination, then the portal will fail. Longer distances require more power for her to cross.

## Danmaku

Her normal danmaku are glowing silver discs, but she can also copy the style of any other danmaku she has seen. Being a mirror, she tends to use lots of symmetrical danmaku patterns, but she can and often does copy danmaku patterns from other people as well. Her spell cards make extensive use of reflective barriers, which bounce enemy danmaku back and enable reflected danmaku to harm those who fired them. These barriers can still be pierced by attacks specifically meant to pierce barriers, however.

## Spell Cards

Note: In addition to her own spell cards, she can also use any spell card she has seen at least once, as long as it does not require any abilities she does not currently possess.

### ☯**Spell Cards**

 Vanity Sign "Mirror That Enchants the Sun"
 Vanity Sign "Fairest of All"
 Ritual "15th Day of Hazuki"
 Truth Sign "Face of the Inner Self"
 Mirror "Eight Hand Mirror"
 Existential Arcanum "Colorless Identity"
 Last Word "A Broken Mirror's Shattered Truth"