Akira Hiragi

**Akira Hīragi** (柊 晶 *Hīragi Akira*) is the Governor of Mermaid Island and, most of the exiles believe, the only male inhabitant.

In **Episode 7**, Akira is revealed to actually be a woman in disguise and Torino Kazami is the only one who knows Akira's secret.

## Appearance

Akira is a tall young woman with short dark red hair that has bangs swept to the left and green eyes.

During her tenure as Governor of Mermaid Island, Akira needed to look like a male and so she had cut her hair for the role, though many of her feminine features were still distinctive. She also wore a white military uniform with red trim and gold braid over an androgynous figure.

She has been shown to sneak out of Welter, opting to wear a long wig (the same hair color and length of her original hair) and a white sun dress with a baby blue ribbon tied along it.

She is distinctively more mature than the rest of girls on Mermaid Island, a trait which she shares with Torino Kazami.

Real three sizes are B109-W70-H86, Cup size: 75K (6.5 Kg)

## Personality

Akira has two personalities in the anime:

* When she is dressed as a male, she is disciplined, fair and seemingly well-loved
* When she is dressed as a female, she is kind and warm-hearted.

Akira has a very optimistic view, instilling in the exiles of Mermaid the hope that if they use their powers responsibly they will convince the powers-that-be to let them leave the island and return to their homes and families.

Although she dresses as man in order to maintain power, Akira actually longs to dress and live the life of her proper gender.

## Background

Akira was born into a wealthy family. Like all the other residents of Mermaid Island, she was obliged to go there after it was discovered that she was infected with the Arm Virus. While most of the exiles were seized by force, Akira's mother had advanced warning of the authorities' intentions and thus was able to advise her daughter on what to do once she was on the island.

Her mother's advice included dressing as a male since this would make her the centre of attention and support and thus enable her to reach a position of power. She also assigned her the Artificial Arm, Sri, which had been designed to respond to Akira's powers as a Liberator.

## Story

When Akira arrived on Mermaid Island, chaos reigned with gangs using their powers to terrorise the other exiles. Akira assumed the identity of a young man and, with the help of Sri, brought order to the island.

Akira's main policy was to keep up hope and persuade the inhabitants of Mermaid to act in a civilised way, the idea being that responsible use of their abilities would persuade the authorities that the girls could be trusted to leave the island and return to their homes.

Backed by the Ritters, Akira maintained control and, since everyone assumed the Governor to be the only boy on the island, was the subject of many crushes, including Mamori Tokonome who put posters of Akira all over her bedroom wall!

Deep down, however, Akira longed to live the life of a normal girl and would occasionally dress accordingly, albeit without anyone knowing, except Torino who would introduce her to others as "Heelhold". When Mamori met "Heelhold" she developed a crush on the woman, unaware that she was also Akira, her original heart's desire. "Heelhold" was rather unnerved to see the posters of Governor Akira in Mamori's bedroom.

Akira's mother would send her messages in small containers which she would cast into the sea. The containers would float to Mermaid, through the sourrounding force field that confined the exiles. Akira would find these containers on the beach thanks to a special detector.

When Momoka Sagara came to Mermaid she quickly saw through Akira's disguise and guessed the reason why she had assumed the identity of a boy. She then persuaded Charlotte Scherzen to confront Akira in a duel and thus take over the island.

Akira accepted Charlotte and Momoka's challenge. During the duel, Momoka proved such a powerful weapon that Akira was obliged to display Sri's abilities to the max. At first it appeared that Akira had won the battle. Having guessed that Momoka had been sent by the organisation that handled Mermaid and its exiles, Akira demanded that she revealed the truth, but Momoka instead turned into an even more powerful weapon by merging with an unconscious Charlotte. Momoka then fired a powerful beam of energy which wrecked Sri and blasted away Akira's clothes, exposing her true gender to all the other exiles.

Momoka then proceeded to proclaim Charlotte the new Governor (and Momoka's puppet) and had Akira imprisoned.

Momoka had been sent to Mermaid in order to track down a powerful source of energy known as the "Valkyrie Effect". To that end she conducted painful tests on the girls of Mermaid including Akira. When Akira turned out not to be the source, she was put on display in the courtyard of the city-palace that dominated Mermaid Island. She was released by Mirei Shikishima and Mamori Tokonome who then set off to bring down the power-crazed Momoka. Once she had recovered from her ordeal, Akira joined them with a partly-intact Sri. When Momoka came close to killing Mirei, Akira used Sri to stop her.

Following Momoka's defeat, the inhabitants of Mermaid were freed of the Arm Virus and allowed to return home to their families, including Akira.

## Powers and Abilities

Akira's abilities include manipulating the artificial arm Sri. She is also very agile and skilled in hand-to-hand combat.

## Etymology

* The name **Akira** means "clear, crystal" (晶).
* Akira's surname **Hiragi** means "holly osmanthus" (柊).

## Trivia

* Akira is said to be a hypocrite (a person who indulges in hypocrisy) when making the claim to lead the Mermaid girls to escape the Island. [Rein, Ep. 3]
* Her date of birth is April 3rd.