Rika Kawai

**Rika Kawai** (川井 リカ, *Kawai Rika*?) is one of the main characters in Wonder Egg Priority. She is a girl who doesn't hesitate to say what's on her mind, even for people she has just met.

## Appearance

Rika is somewhat short for her age only standing at 4’11. She has dyed blonde hair with a single streak of pink coloring. Her eyebrows and roots are brown, which can be assumed to be her real hair color and has beautiful blue eyes.

She wears a bright red jacket with dark purple sleeves and patches, with pale blue jeans. Underneath her jacket, she wears a black button up shirt, complementing her sneakers and belt. Rika also wears a black choker.

## Personality

Rika is shown at first to have an unlikeable and blunt side which later develops into an outgoing and compelling personality around the three other protagonists. On the outside, she's quite funny and light hearted too. She tends to hide her deeper feelings of guilt, self hatred, regret and sadness under a confident and brash mask, only being revealed when she's alone. Sometimes, she even completely ignores people if they ask her a question she doesn’t want to answer, as seen in Ai's first encounter with Rika when Ai asks who Rika is saving and later when Ai asks about her scars. Rika can be quite blunt and at times rude, but she is usually aware of this and uses this as a shield to bury her deep self hatred and sadness.

Rika's dad left when she was young, so she currently lives with her mother, whom she dislikes. She thinks her father would make her happier, if she could find him since, her mother hasn't been a sufficient parent figure. Rika's mother is often seen drinking whenever she is on screen, and isn't the best role model for her young daughter.

When Rika asked her mom about her father, she claims she's not sure exactly who the father is but Rika thinks that her mother knows who the father is and she's lying because she wants to deprive Rika from all happiness. This is the reason Rika despises her mother in addition to the fact that her mother 'makes her feel like she was a mistake and that she wasn't supposed to be born.

Rika looks down on her mother, mocking and berating her often. Rika says that her mother thinks she's the 'tragic heroine with a persecution complex' and looks down on her mother because she is a 'pathetic' parent who has succumbed to drinking in self pity.

The reason why Rika's mother drinks so much is because her daughter despises her, and she can't do anything about it. If she told Rika who the father is—if she even knows who it was—then Rika would get let down when she met him in real life, because Rika's father abandoned the family and doesn't want to have to do anything with her. Many men have taken advantage of her, and one got her pregnant with Rika, who later left. The fact that everyone in her life has abandoned her, and that Rika will too one day, makes her depressed. She is lonely and this drives her to the brink of despair.

Because he left so early in her life, Rika doesn't remember her dad's face: only his voice. Rika's one memory of her dad is him saying, 'A pretty girl doesn't need a wallet, someone else will always pay for her.'

She lives by this, to hold on to her dad, therefore looking through life in a shallow, skin deep, judgmental way. She says this often to convince herself that she is content with herself and her life. She frequently says cruel things about people and judges them based on appearance, calling Chiemi fat, ugly, and sweaty even after her death, however, after Chiemi died, she uses this as a justification for her impulsive and harmful actions. She often says things she doesn’t mean to hide her true feelings, and despite her brash attitude she's a good person deep down.

When she first meets Ai, Rika shamelessly asks her for money to use on eggs, and calls Chiemi a “wallet” that she’s currently misplaced. However, this is shown to be untrue. She is arrogant, judgmental, lacks boundaries and can seem like she has a superiority complex but when she realized her dad was the real letdown of the family, she became more caring.

Rika seems to struggle with mental health, and self-harmed up until quite recently, though she states that she has stopped now. She still fights with her suicidal intents, trying to live despite what happened.

## Background

Rika was once a junior idol who was part of an underground idol group called All-Out Kiss. While she was still with the group, Rika came into contact with a girl named Chiemi, who would go to every handshake event the group held and would pay large sums of money in order to line up for Rika again and again.

One day, Rika spotted Chiemi shoplifting, and realized that Chiemi had been selling all the goods she had stolen in order to afford All-Out Kiss' events. She would also buy things for Rika with the other profits she had made from her shoplifting.

Being disgusted that her fan could do such a thing and not wanting to receive any more of her money, Rika told Chiemi she would never befriend a fan, she struck Chiemi with her harsh words, saying, 'she didn’t want to be seen with a “fatty” anyway, as it would be too embarrassing for her.' She then told Chiemi to "never come back" to the group's events. Rika did not think Chiemi would take these statements to heart, and did not intend for anything bad to happen.

Afterwards, Rika learned from an another fan that Chiemi had died, possibly by suicide. At her funeral, Rika saw that Chiemi had starved herself due to her harsh words. After Chiemi’s death, Rika began to feel responsible for what happened and began to cut herself as an act of self-loathing and guilt. It is implied that this incident was what caused Rika to quit being an idol, though she states it was because the other members of the group were "too ugly", trying to hide the fact behind It.

Often, Rika scowls at Chiemi's statue, saying her 'palms are so greasy' and that she looks 'ugly and fat.' She once brought up the morality of bringing someone back to life, once they have committed. She even tells Ai, Momoe, and Neiru, that they should not be risking their lives to save someone else when they were not even responsible. Despite this, it is shown that Rika feels fully responsible for Chiemi's death and that this is her previous, naïve, shallow side trying to justify her actions, in denial.

It is for Chiemi's sake that Rika now defends the Egg People.

## Abilities

Main article: Weapons

**Weapon:** Rika dual wields blades that seem to be a hybrid of scissors and a box cutter (likely related to her self harm issues). The two blades can be used normally like swords, and their angled and crooked shape allow them to be used as powerful boomerangs. When the two blades cross, they can act like a shield.

**Pomander:** Rika wields a pomander. When hatched, a creature resembling a tortoise emerges from it. She has named the creature Mannen.

## Etymology

* The name **Rika** is rendered in katakana (リ = **ri** and カ = **ka**).
* Rika surname **Kawai** means "river, stream" (川) (**kawa**) and "well, mine shaft, pit" (井) (**i**).
	+ She often uses her last name as a pun on the word "kawaii" meaning cute, whenever she introduces herself.

## Trivia

* Rika’s username when they went bowling is **Rika-rin** (リカリン, *Rikarin*?).
* Rika's flower is an Alyssum (inner beauty).
* Rika's dominant hand is her right hand.
* Rika's hobby is collecting stickers.

## Quotes

* (To Ai) *“I'm Rika Kawai. Like "kawaii," 'cause I'm so cute.”*
* (To Ai) *“If it means I can see Chiemi again, I'll kill as many as it takes!”*
* (To Ai, Neiru, Momoe) *“Of course you feel guilty. So do I. But should we really feel so responsible that we'd risk our own lives?”*
* (To Ai, Neiru, Momoe) *“Someone has to be the bad guy! If you want friends, you've got 'em!”*
* (To herself) *“That was close. I almost turned into a selfish, piece-of-shit mother. My mom taught me one true thing. Men who ask women for money are all fakes!”*

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Wonder Egg Priority Anime: Blu-ray & DVD Volume 1
2. ↑ Official Wonder Egg Priority Anime Website
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Wonder Egg Priority Anime: Episode 3
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Wonder Egg Priority Anime: Episode 7
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Wonder Egg Priority Anime: Episode 5
6. ↑ TV anime "Wonder Egg Priority" Retrospective Special