Hokuto Asahina

**Hokuto Asahina** (朝比奈 北斗, *Asahina Hokuto*) is a first year high school student from Heijou Institute. Originally possessing average abilities as a Toji, she trained many times as much as other people and obtained strength that can match that of high-level Toji. During her third year in middle school, she was deployed along with Suu Inami to Okinawa as testers for S-Equipment, and has been in touch with her ever since.

## Appearance

Hokuto is a fair-skinned girl with long black hair that is tied into a ponytail, dark-colored pupils and she was described as being androgynous, especially during 2016 when she was still wearing her hair short.

She is usually seen wearing the standard uniform of Heijou Institute along with black knee-high socks.

## Personality

Hokuto's experiences as a Toji molded her into a person who pursues being stronger. She set aside socializing with other people and having a typical girl's life and dedicated much of her every day training her body and skills in swordsmanship. Hokuto is willing to cling to any way to become stronger, even if it has risks that hurt herself or other people. That said, she also believes in the potential of other people to be strong and does not approve of those who look down on "weaker" people.

## Background

In the past, Hokuto was at most an above-average Toji with a supposedly mediocre lifestyle. She was made aware of her weakness when a senior Toji risked her own life to rescue her from a precarious situation in an Aradama mission, and has since discarded her old lifestyle in favor of a continuous pursuit of strength. Over time, the immense strain she exerted on her body has caused her to develop chronic pain in her knees, preventing her from engaging in prolonged battles.

She had crossed swords with Maki Shidou several times, with Maki triumphant each time, including in 2016 during the tournament qualifiers in Heijou where Hokuto had a resounding defeat against Maki. Hokuto would continue to challenge Maki to sword matches, vowing to surpass her one day, but as Maki became inducted to the Elite Guards of the Origami Family, she had lost her chance since then.

## Chronology

Along with Suu Inami, Hokuto was chosen to participate in the live tests for Storm Armor in Futenma Research Facility in Okinawa. Because of Suu's clingy tendencies and poor preparation for their task, Hokuto was forced to accompany Suu on the way to their hotel room, and later come with her for a stroll across Ginowan after her plans to read on the specifications of the Storm Armor were interrupted by Suu. Upon visiting Futenma Shrine, Hokuto revealed to Suu her wishes to become stronger.

Suu and Hokuto's return to their hotel room was interrupted when Yume Tsubakuro of Ayanokouji Martial Arts School confronted them upon seeing Hokuto's Okatana. Yume's derisive remarks against Suu provoked Hokuto into accepting the challenge to fight her, but Hokuto was defeated quickly by Yume, who then left the two with remarks about wishing the two to "go berserk" during the Storm Armor live tests. Hokuto would soon spend the rest of the day before the live tests training her body, with Suu as her reluctant assistant.

The two testers arrived for the Storm Armor live tests as planned, and Hokuto immediately led the actual combat trials by defeating Aradama as the difficulty was raised. Eventually, even Hokuto struggled in fighting a Centipede-Type Aradama with Suu, but managed to triumph by pushing the Storm Armor's capabilities. Suu eventually backed out of the live tests, leaving Hokuto to continue fighting alone. Soon, upon reaching the stage of the live testing where she can exert Level 5 Kongoushin and Level 5 Hachimanriki, Hokuto suddenly destroyed the cameras in the testing area and escaped the facility.

Initially, Hokuto was pursued by DARPA forces led by researcher Lydia Newfield, but they discovered that even an anti-tank missile launcher was unable to penetrate Hokuto's Level 5 Kongoushin. Hokuto continued her escape and soon reached the Nakagusuku Hotel Ruins. But, due to Yume's ambush of the DARPA forces chasing Hokuto, Elite Guards Maki Shidou and Suzuka Konohana obtained a PDA device connected to a GPS tracker attached to Hokuto's Storm Armor and were able to follow the runaway Toji's whereabouts. Upon arriving there, Hokuto, who was desperately clinging to her senses, assured the Elite Guards that she was still sane but refused to surrender herself to the authorities as she was aware of the strength provided by the Storm Armor. Suzuka took the opportunity to test Hokuto's strength and took the challenge away from Maki. Eventually, after a stalemate, Maki decided to join in bringing down their enemy, but Hokuto used the jetpacks in her Storm Armor to make a desperate escape.

Hokuto lost consciousness upon landing on the shores not far away from her hotel room, and Suu was able to bring her with Yume back to the hotel. After regaining consciousness, Hokuto explained her side of the story to Suu, and although grateful to Yume for helping her escape, she once more refused to surrender the Storm Armor as she believed in the power she was gaining from wearing it. Hours later, Hokuto discovered that she could lose control if she would sleep, and with Suu's help, went outside to keep herself awake, unaware that Yomi Satsuki, a third member of the Elite Guards, was tracking their location. Not long after, Yomi, Maki and Suzuka confronted Hokuto and Suu. With Hokuto remaining stubborn about keeping the Storm Armor to herself, Suu decided to strike a deal with the Elite Guards involving stopping Hokuto on her own to prove that the Storm Armor was weaker than it seemed. To the amazement of the Elite Guards, Suu was able to hold her ground against Hokuto, using an exceptional amount of Utsushi uses against the power of Hokuto's Storm Armor. After a two-hour battle, Suu managed to deal a decisive blow to Hokuto, making her victorious. But, both Suu and Hokuto were attacked suddenly by Lydia, who was in an unstable streak after a defeat in the hands of Mokusa operatives Ellen Kohagura and Kaoru Mashiko.

Lydia's attack on Hokuto left her with a wound on her shoulder, and she was asked to stay in Okinawa for additional tests related to exposure to Storm Armor. As Hokuto was recovering, Suu visited her and supported her plan to let her knee heal for the time being. Meanwhile, Hokuto was amazed at Suu's talent for Utsushi and was willing to train her, something that Suu quickly refused.

## Combat Abilities

* **Swordsmanship style:** **Mugai-ryu** (無外流, ***Mugai-ryu***)

## Equipment

* **Okatana:** **Kijinmaru Kunishige** (鬼神丸国重, ***Kijinmaru Kunishige***)

## Character Design

Hokuto was the first character designed for the light novel story by the author Aoi Akashiro. She was considered average compared to the likes of Kanami Etou, Hiyori Juujou or the Elite Guards, and was designed to be a character with an obsession to be the strongest, which is a character archetype that the author is fond of writing. On the other hand, character designer Yoshinori Shizuma incorporated Hokuto's stoic character, desire for strength, and tendency to shut off others into her design. Akashiro was impressed of Shizuma's character design for Hokuto, stating that she was "cooler than he could have imagined".

## Etymology

* The name **Hokuto** means "north" (北) (**hoku**) and "Dipper" (斗) (**to**).
* Hokuto's surname **Asahina** means "morning" (朝) (**asa**), "ratio, proportion" (比) (**hi**) and "apple tree" (奈) (**na**).