Nicole Evans

Nicole Evans (ニコール・エヴァンス) is one of the main heroines of the light novel series Kindred Hearts. She is Marika's assistant and junior, who also happened to be a prodigy in archaeology and machinery. She also works at Rurigaoka High School as a history and P.E. teacher, and in Takahitsuji Securities and Lazuline as their in-house mechanic and technician.

Her title is "The Sparkling Brave" (閃きの勇者 *Hirameki no Yuusha*)

## Appearance

Nicole is a young adult Esper with a waist-length reddish brown hair tied into a bundle and a pair of emerald green eyes. She is unusually tall for an Esper of her age, and has an exceptionally toned yet curvy body with flexible yet tough legs and arms, fitting for a brawler type like her. She's pretty busty too, though her bust size isn't as big as those of Futabas and Kuriharas.

She's usually clad in brown overalls with a white long-sleeved t-shirt underneath, along with fingerless gloves. During work, she wears a blue vest with a white shirt underneath and a blue pleated skirt, the standard Lazuline personnel outfit. She sometimes also wears a sleek, tight fitting brown sports bra with black trim and a silver stylized gear over her heart and a pair of black tight fitting shorts with silver trim, paired with silver wrestling boots, laced in black. She always wears her goggles on her head as her iconic hair decor, and she has a Band-Aid on her nose to keep her from bleeding her nose whenever she gets very exhausted. She also has some scars on her midriff (a large slash and a cross-shaped cut), apparently left by a powerful yet bloodthirsty Deviant she fought against back in the day.

## Personality

Nicole is inquisitive and always looking to learn things. She loves to learn as much as she loves to teach and show people about her interests and her experience in adventure, archaeology and machinery. She also loves to help others in need and protect those who she trusts with and those who she loves. Sometimes, she can be quite the big sister thanks to her kindness and tomboyish tendencies. Nicole can become quite irritable and aggressive sometimes, particularly when dealing with belligerent or uncooperative people, or when fighting against her enemies. She's also very protective and will fight to protect her beloved ones and the Espers of Sunshine City. Despite being a gentle giant, Nicole is a person not to be messed with, as she's also a hot-blooded fighter.

During her fights against the Deviants back in the day as an Azure Shield member, Nicole developed a taste to fight more, and she found stronger Deviants to be even more thrilling to fight. She can be a bit unhinged whenever she enters her blood knight persona, and she won't hesitate to keep on fighting, even if it gets her clothes dirty with Deviant blood or her own blood, or even costing her own life, all for her excitement's sake. At certain times, Nicole speaks with a Scottish accent, usually when she gets serious or angry.

## Abilities

* Aura Mastery: an Aura-based Sigil which allows Nicole to fight using her own aura. It comes with several EX Skills and unlike Aura Rage, it is more controllable and more resilient, allowing Nicole to use it freely without losing control.
* Hand-to-hand combat knowledge and trained physique: Nicole usually fights using her own self-taught fighting style, inspired by Jeet Kune Do mixed with MMA/pro wrestling and boxing. She's a mix of a grappler and brawler when it comes to fighting. She's still as strong without her Gigant Glaive, and her legs and arms are pretty tough, able to crush her enemies with ease. Back in the day, she was known to be able to take on multiple Deviants all by herself, both armed and unarmed.
* Gigant Glaive: A large halberd resembling an axe, designed and forged by Marika for her. It could also transform into two different forms: Gigant Dasher (a drill-like lance similar to Deng Ai's weapon from Dynasty Warriors 7-8) and Gigant Breaker (a drill-like gun resembling the Shiny Breaker from Mashin Sentai Kiramager). It is specially designed by Marika for her.

## EX Skills/finishers

* Titan's Grip: A Calf Crusher submission + armbar combo, which Nicole usually uses to subdue or weaken her enemies quickly.
* Sky Piercer: A powerful straight punch that sends Nicole's enemies flying or even shatter their bones into pieces.
* Meteor Drill: An izuna drop piledriver that crushes her enemies' skull once she hits the ground, inspired by the Futaba clan's ninjutsu.
* Silver Thunderclap: A shining wizard that goes after her enemies' neck or head, breaking them in process.
* Gigant Impact: A powerful suplex that immobilizes her enemies, leaving them weak or unconscious on the floor. It deals even more damage when done on a hard surface, like concrete or metal.
* Punishing Edge: A series of slash combos on her opponent, finished with a one huge slash that slices them in half, inspired by the Takahitsuji clan's kenjutsu.
* Piercing Judgement Shot: A deadly aura bullet shot from her Gigant Breaker, usually targetting her enemies' weak point. It pierces through her enemies, killing them in the process.

## Etymology

* Nicole, a girl's name of Greek origin, means "people of victory" and is the feminine form from the French boy's name Nicholas.
* Evans is a surname of Welsh origin. It translates to “God is gracious,” “born of yew,” or “youth".

## Trivia

* Nicole is inspired by Takamichi Crystalia from Mashin Sentai Kiramager, Eiji Takaoka from GoGo Sentai Boukenger, Dantetsu Kiryu from Zyuden Sentai Kyoryuger, Go Shijima from Kamen Rider Drive, Kiriya Kujo from Kamen Rider Ex-Aid, Clair Andrews from Ehrgeiz, Female Grappler from Dungeon Fighter Online, Midori Sugiura from Mai-HiME, Winry Rockbell from Fullmetal Alchemist, Aiho Yomikawa from To aru Kagaku no Railgun, Megumi Teshio from To aru Majutsu no Index, Dell Conagher/Engineer from Team Fortress 2, Yoko Littner from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Yukari Takeba from Persona 3, Rei Miyamoto from Highschool of the Dead, a number of Dynasty Warriors characters (Man Chong, Xu Huang, Li Dian, Deng Ai and Lu Meng), the titular protagonist from the game Annalynn and Nicole's AFW-verse counterpart. She was designed as a commemoration of Tatyina's 15th Anniversary (since April 2nd 2009), being based on one of their early OCs from 2009. She was not adopted from Tatyina since her AFW-verse counterpart is in a relationship with Lobo's OC, Kelly Conway.
* Nicole's appearance resembles those of anime characters from the 2000s era, especially her facial features.
* Nicole shares the same voice actor as Rachel's younger sister, Emily Mason. Her name was originally used for one of Azure Justice's protags until 2024. She also shares the same Sigil as Hiroki, albeit a different mutation of it. A part of her fighting style slightly resemble Hiroki's too.
* Nicole is presumably the tallest of the main protagonists in Kindred Hearts, standing at a whopping 195 cm.
* Nicole's birthday is 10th of July 1994, same date as her AFW-verse countertpart.
* Nicole is a graduate from Rurigaoka High School. She graduated somewhere prior to the events of Zero and Azure Justice. It is revealed that she was a member of Azure Shields, serving as one of their first generation members alongside 3 unnamed members (2 female Espers and one male, who happened to be her crush back then) as their leader. Upon graduation, she accepted an offer by Marika to work as her assistant as well as the school's P.E. and history teacher, thanks to her knowledge in archaeology and athletic prowess.
* Nicole is ambidextrous and able to dual-wield things with ease. It comes in handy whenever she needs to do more than one task at a time, or when using two weapons at once. Nicole also has a photographic memory and an exceptionally high IQ. Like Gabbie, she is also both brains and brawns at the same time.
* Nicole is a polyglot and loves to study languages. She can speak over a dozen of them and when she comes across one she might not know, she learns it quickly. She first learned Japanese from her time spent with the Futaba and Takahitsuji clans.
* Despite being a grease monkey who would love nothing better than rolling around in engine grease or working with dirty machinery or an adventurer who loves to explore treacherous terrains and ancient ruins (and getting dirty in the process), Nicole is very meticulous. She takes excellent care of her body, showering about twice a day or more and shaving almost daily.
* Nicole also has a soft spot for dinosaurs and her favorite is *Brachiosaurus*, which she thinks as the most "relatable" dinosaur to her, thanks to its extremely large size and docile nature. She also has a plushie of it in her room. Aside from adventuring, toying with machinery and learning archaeology, Nicole also loves to exercise and train her fighting skills. Her favorite treats are yoghurt (usually strawberry or peach-flavored) and egg or tuna sandwich (especially self-made by her). She never liked unhealthy food, since she really maintains her muscular body and physical strength.
* Nicole's nationality is Scottish, making her the 2nd Esper from Europe alongside Lucy, whereas others came from Japan (most of them) and the Americas (the Masons and Gabbie).

## External Links

* Nicole's AFW-verse counterpart (special thanks to Tatyina)
* Nicole's AFW-verse profile