Akaichou Kano

## General Information

### ☯**Personality**

Mostly amiable and friendly to others in terms of direct interaction. Doesn't mind making new friends and quite open to talking with strangers. However, she dislikes receiving personal questions in almost any capacity and has no problem lying about it - everything from her age to her background to her name. She has a strong leaning towards sarcasm and teasing others, which makes approaching her more difficult.

Distrustful of others as a whole and hates having to explain things about herself, but her own habit of lying also makes her hard to put much faith in.

In truth, she'd like to find someone she could trust, but she makes sure to keep everyone at arm's length despite her outgoing traits, knowing they'll disappear eventually and leave her alone again. Any bonds she forms are rarely anything more than a fleeting indulgence - temporary and superficial. Ultimately, it doesn't really matter to her.

However, the precious few who do gain her trust quickly find a loyal ally in Akira... maybe a bit *too*loyal, potentially to the point of obsessive fanaticism. As she so rarely bonds with others, she becomes overwhelmingly attached to those she does bond with and deeply reluctant to part with them. Though she still applies her snarky facade around them in public, these people are almost always privy to the most honest side of Akira: one that is affectionate, dedicated, and *extremely* possessive.

### ☯**Appearance**

Normally has an overall youthful appearance and a short stature at 4'6". Her short blonde hair is filled with many dark green streaks, though their exact pattern and locations tend to change. Likes wearing a black collar and an orange hoodie jacket with a light pink shirt underneath, along with black short shorts and pale pink thighhighs. Maintains a very casual attitude and tends to keep her hands in her pockets.

Has a sunny disposition and practised to produce a perfect innocent smile when she needs to, though her expression tends to be more of a smug grin. Fairly high voice. Her eyes are usually golden brown, though they can take on any colour she needs them to. Hidden in her sleeves and pockets are several sets of durable knives, though she more often relies on her limbs for direct confrontation.

### ☯**Theme Songs**

* BlazBlue - Gluttony Fang (Battle)
* Edel Links - Azure (Image Song)
* Absolute Castaway/735 - Mirage (Image Song)

## Backstory

Originally the child of Karin Muyoka in another time and space, inheriting her power over gravity in the process. Over the course of many years, Akira came to master the skill and wield it on equal parity with her mother - and then continued to expand on it, delving into her own research on its applications. Naturally, she is nowhere near her apparent age; even in her own world, she had vastly surpassed it before beginning to tap into the full potential of control over gravity. When she became skilled with it decades after that, Akira had become capable of passing from one dimension to another at will - but when she crossed from her own world into another universe in her very first experiment, she realized she had no means of "locating" her dimension again.

Though surrounded by many of the exact same people who acted in exactly the same way, Akira was aware that they were not the same people she "knew" throughout her life prior to the test, and so sought to find her way back. As she worked, she eventually determined how to pull existing objects she had with her from other random timelines at will - and then how to duplicate herself, as well as fully control them. Despite all this, she could never pinpoint her true home in the endless ocean of possibilities - but refused to give up.

Akira turned to walking across time and space, searching for anyone who may have an answer for her. She used her power to help others along the way, determine their problems before they spoke them and solve them with seemingly no effort - though in truth, the effort was countless times more than it appeared. Eventually, she would have to move on again and continue seeking out the answer, leaving them behind - and eventually, she realized that regardless of how much she helped them, it didn't matter. Not to her, not in the new time or place she went to, and not in the slightest in the grand scheme of everything.

For a time, Akira opted to run rampant and do as she pleased with her abilities, consequences be damned; there was no prison that could hold her, no punishment that could last for her. However, that also lost its appeal. There was no repercussion to fear and no shortage of worlds to burn, but there was no point in it all for exactly the same reasons.

Desperately seeking *something* that could offer her purpose, Akira took on the role of a guard - watching for the ripples and fluctuations in time and space, then hunting down and eliminating the ones responsible. The position lasted her longer than any other - a purpose that stood level with her capabilities, and at times even went beyond it and overwhelming Akira... but as time went on, time itself ceased to bear any form of relevance. More often than not, cause and effect failed to hold true. The ability to cross from one universe to the next was accounted for in another level of possibilities - and crossing those was accounted for once more in an even higher level of dimensions in endless recursion. Dying and taking a new body again and again, drawing one clone after another from infinity, *everything* ceased to hold any true value whatsoever to Akira.

She gave up.

Throwing aside that purpose, Akira wandered dimensions without reason. She was simply an observer from outside - watching the world before her, never touching or interacting, before moving on to the next exhibit. With no reason to even do nothing, she humoured herself with the average daily life of the lands she entered. Sometimes she only lingered for a day, sometimes for decades, but Akira always left it behind again. She never allowed herself to be left behind by others anymore.

Finally, something piqued her attention - a vast distortion of time and space, drawing her to Gensokyo out of simple curiosity to investigate the source. Akira sought the answer to merely expand her knowledge for its own sake, with no plan to take action for or against anything of significance. Ultimately, it didn't matter to her.

## Story

### ☯**Wishful Pursuit**

One of Akira's first appearances in Gensokyo, participating in the tournament.

## Relationships

### ☯**Kojinyuko**

The two of them met under unusual circumstances. However, their relationship quickly grew closer, and they ultimately exchanged a promise of an eternal bond that Akira is extremely zealous to enforce. Kojinyuko is one of the few living people who can truly claim to love Akira and see it reciprocated... though she is highly reluctant to see him form the same bond with anyone else.

### ☯**Erina Emisane**

Akin to a little sister for Akira, though she doesn't always show it. While Akira's informality and habitual sarcasm causes them some communication gaps, the two are very close. Though she'd never say it in front of her, Akira deeply cherishes her sister, and would do virtually anything for her without batting an eye.

### ☯**Dr. Josef Lazarus**

A major contributor to Erina's creation. Akira and Lazarus regard each other as colleagues and occasionally consult each other or exchange research notes, though Akira has turned down the prospect of further collaboration with her.

### ☯**Karin Muyoka**

A person Akira remembers from a long time ago and even borrowed a surname from, though Karin can't say the same of her. The two are on good terms and enjoy the other's company, but Karin doesn't know what to make of Akira or her abilities.

### ☯**Akihisa Kano**

Akira's cousin from another time. She considers him roughly akin to a confidant, and has little compunction about speaking honestly with him or discussing the matter of dimensions - even if he doesn't usually follow along. He regards her as a bit of a nuisance in return (and that she tends to be *too* close to him for a cousin).

### ☯**Goukei Zanshiku**

Somehow, the two get along well - if nothing else, she can interact with Goukei less violently than most on average. They may have a common ground in their musical taste, though they haven't formed a band... yet.

## Abilities

### ☯**Clone Control**

While almost all of its components are theoretically usable by other people with the appropriate knowledge and capacity, the power to summon clones and transfer her consciousness between bodies is currently exclusive to Akira.

None of her clones have a real conscious mind, but their bodies are just as durable as any human's, and each clone can replicate Akira's mannerisms almost perfectly. The "telepathy" involved in controlling them is a customized communication spell that can be eavesdropped on, but is very difficult to disrupt or block.

Akira can also pass her "real" mind from body to body, meaning she can get rid of injuries by hopping into a new Akira so long as her endurance holds out. This causes her previous body to become merely human and lose its ability to use her magic, while the new body acquires her magical prowess and youkai traits such as regeneration or superhuman speed.

### ☯**Other Abilities**

Akira retains the nue's ability to adopt the guise of other humanoids, as well as summon intangible illusions of herself to mislead opponents in addition to her real clones. However, that is the extent of her inherited powers.

She is proficient with her knives, though she prefers to use her limbs over them whenever possible. Due to lacking the "main" body's affinity for magic and youkai abilities, Akira's clones make more frequent use of their blades.

Skilled in capoeira, with a very good sense of balance and location. Akira can imbue her physical blows with magic to increase their strength and better inflict spiritual damage. This also grants her a limited ability to deflect or destroy weak danmaku with her own attacks. These boosted attacks also cause minor disorientation with each hit; while initially negligible, consecutive hits will enhance the effect and begin dizzying the opponent, making it more difficult to resist further attacks.

## Spell Cards

 Wrath "Feral Dragon Mauling"
 Gluttony "Fang of Penance"
 Sloth "Inescapable Fate, Dust to Dust"
 Pride "Hell's Eternal Breaking Wheel"
 Redemption Arcanum "Immortal Coil"
Extremely high risk, high reward; interrupting this spell will cause the energy to backfire, leaving Akira stunned and wide open to almost any attack of her opponent's choice.

## Weaknesses

### **☯Ability Mechanics**

Her clones have human-like physiology and fall outside the scope of the Spell Card System; the former means that they have no superior strength or endurance beyond what the typical human body would allow, and the latter renders them cannon fodder. While her transfer between bodies causes her new body to gain full youkai properties, her previous body loses all of those properties in exchange.

Though the root Akira *does*recover her spiritual energy by switching bodies, the transfer will also begin draining her new body if her previous body was too weakened to support the strain on its own. As a result, using this ability is nearly effortless in good condition, but far more difficult and impractical at low energy.

There is a range limit of about five hundred meters before the clones begin fading for being too far from the root Akira, and they always have to take the same form as her. If she tries to use her powers to change her appearance, all of her clones do the same whether she wants them to or not.

### ☯**Fighting Style and Other Drawbacks**

Akira and her clones are very light and easy to knock around. She also flinches harder than most, allowing opponents who can connect with a solid hit to keep connecting and throwing her around. Her fighting style is heavily reliant on long strings of successive hits to continue racking up damage and disorienting her opponents, and although many of her attacks have very high knockback, their final damage is often surprisingly low (unless there's a wall or other obstacle for Akira to blast her opponent into). Breaking out of her combos early is crucial to ensuring Akira won't have a chance to build up momentum and keep hitting.

Finally, she's a close-range combatant with a very limited amount of true ranged options *in Gensokyo.* This is self-explanatory.

## Trivia

* "Akaichou Kano" was her given name.
* Cousin of Akihisa Kano.
* Loves orange sorbet.
* Plays the drums, though not a half-bad vocalist.