Taka Hashimoto

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**Taka Hashimoto** (橋本 貴, *Hashimoto Taka*) is an employee of Café Uzumaki. She is a former member of the Armed Detective Agency and the adopted daughter of Yukichi Fukuzawa with an ability named Reflection on Oneself.

## Appearance

Taka is a young woman with fawn-colored hair and olive eyes. Her medium-length hair is styled with braids along her crown and wavy ends. When at work, she usually wears a white high-neck-collared shirt, worn over a sage green *kimono*, a dark blue skirt, and brown *zori* sandals with white *tabi* socks.

As a detective, Taka wears a white-collared shirt over a cream cardigan, a short brown skirt, black tights, and black dolly shoes. Her hair is longer and less stylized.

## Personality

Taka is most notable for her relaxed, sweet, and impassioned personality. Thanks to her friendly and charming character, paired with her excellent latte arts and baked goods, Café Uzumaki surged in popularity during the year of her employment, gaining regulars who enjoy speaking with her. She is a diligent worker and doesn't tolerate any misconduct from customers (such as Dazai holding off his payments). She has a certain kind of charisma that makes her simple to get along with. Even with common adversaries like Gin Akutagawa and Chuuya Nakahara, they have a companionable relationship.

She cares deeply for her regulars and is willing to make exclusive requests for them, as seen when she delivered a customer's pastry to their home due to her unavailability to fetch it herself and made Chazuke for Atsushi despite it being unavailable on the menu. Even with strangers, Taka naturally develops an emotional connection with others and understands their situations and burdens, to the degree that she sheds tears for others.

As a past member of the agency, Taka possesses a burning desire to protect and influence hope for others. In the events of The Guild Arc, Taka encouraged Atsushi to press forward and told him that the agency wouldn't let Kyoka get taken. She does her best in her ability to be of use to the agency, such as giving them intel, proving as a witness, and occasionally assisting them in the investigation for her insight. She views the Armed Detective Agency as her family and will go to lengths to ensure their safety and well-being, acting in their best interest to the point of getting herself killed in the process. Even after Fukuzawa scolds her for her reckless behavior, Taka continues to act the way she is despite the odds against her.

## Ability

Her ability, **Reflection on Oneself** (内省, *Naikan*), allows her to convert her vitality into energy, releasing in a form of bright yellow smoke coming from her body. She is capable of emanating it to living and nonliving entities, manipulating them telepathically and transforming herself into light particles, allowing her to pass through matter.

## Skills

* **Intelligence**: Taka’s intelligence is homogenous to Ranpo Edogawa, the sharpest detective in the agency. As his previous partner, she has adopted many of his analytical predictions and practical skills.
* **Bartending**: As a barista, Taka has inherited satisfactory skills in making beverages. She can also create latte art.
* **Physical Prowess**: Taka was taught basic hand-to-hand combat by Fukuzawa. She used to be physically capable of going against Chuuya, but her stamina has greatly depleted since then.

## Background

As an infant, Taka was found in the slums of Suribachi City by Yukichi Fukuzawa with her name embroidered on her swaddle blanket. At the time, he was still executing his assassinations, therefore giving her to a local orphanage instead. Two years later, while she was getting dressed by a worker, she suddenly burst into a glowing orb of light, causing an entire blackout throughout the city. Following this incident, the Special Division for Unusual Powers labeled Taka as an ability user, with the aforementioned incident being named: *"The Sun Child Incident."*

A year later, she was adopted by Fukuzawa under the guise of protecting her from any pursuers who wanted to exploit her ability. While raising her, he was strict and protective. When Fukuzawa was teaching Taka how to read and write, she followed his instructions word for word. Fukuzawa gave her a series of trivia and puzzles that were advanced for her age, to which she answered all of them correctly. Impressed by her advanced intelligence, he was even more impressed by her degree of awareness, surmising the reason behind his adoption.

Following the opening of the Armed Detective Agency, Ranpo upheld his promise to Taka by taking her under his wing as his "detective partner." He took her to multiple cases and crime scenes to solve cases, despite many officers' concerns about a child witnessing gruesome scenes.

After the events of Dazai's Entrance Exam, a terrorist group wreaked havoc in the streets of Yokohama, which prompted the intervention of the agency. After Taka and Ranpo's investigation, they discerned and accused the Port Mafia of involvement. The duo was later ambushed in an abandoned facility, separating them. The pursuers caused the building to collapse, revealing themselves to be the Black Lizard and Chuuya Nakahara.

Taka fought with the mafia until they retreated, but was later confronted by an unknown third party who killed her without a word. She then discovered her true identity as the vessel of the Ohirume, a mysterious God who can create life and manifests a mirror to view one's truest self, which gave Taka a different perspective of what her ability stood for.

After getting resurrected and treated by Yosano, her stamina depleted immensely due to the overuse of her ability. To prevent this incident from happening again, Fukuzawa "fired" Taka which she heavily disagreed with, initially feeling betrayed.

In the end, she complied with his decision and was later offered a job as a barista for Café Uzumaki.

## Etymology

* Her name, **Taka** (貴), means “noble, precious.”
* The surname **Hashimoto** means “bridge” (橋 hashi) and “base” (本 moto).

## Trivia

* Taka has received a sort of immunity to bright lights and has never needed visual aid throughout her life.
* In real life, Taka Hashimoto was the wife of Atsushi Nakajima.
	+ Their meeting references to how the novelist met Taka when she worked in a Mahjong club (in this case, Café Uzumaki) that he used to visit often.
* In their off days, Taka and Gin Akutagawa would stroll through the shopping district.