Gyakusetsu Nagori

Gyakusetsu Nagori (逆説名残, lit. "Paradox Relic") is a part-time worker and spirit detective in Karakura Town. Although she has an ordinary (but beautiful) appearance and a peaceful personality, she always seems to get caught in one misfortune or another. Her origins remain unclear, as she awoke on the streets of Karakura without any memory of her past. She's been working numerous part-time jobs since then to support herself, as she struggles to live with the complications of having no identification or legal rights. Her problems are compounded by the endless stream of misfortune that follows her wherever she goes.

Appearance
Nagori's most striking feature is her long, lusterous black hair, which spills down her back in a single ribbon-bound ponytail. Although she is clearly of asian descent, her enourmous bust indicates otherwise; on many occasions, people have mistaken her for an American tourist and have tried conversing with her in English. Nagori prefers to wear form-fitting clothing with plenty of exposure- insisting her body "needs to breathe". Nagori has a fondness for leather belts of all varieties, and she has an enourmous collection of them at home. She always carries a sheathed blade at her side, and though she insists the weapon is for self-defense, Nagori has never drawn it in public, even in emergencies. Normally her expression is smiling and warm, and exudes a calm peacefullness, but at the first sign of danger Nagori's face will become cold, perceptive, and expressionless.

Personality
Gyakusetsu Nagori is cheerful and outgoing, and extremely receptive of others' opinions and feelings. She loves conversing with people and learning new things. Nagori is boisterous and energetic, and has a short attentions span... consequently, she's worked (and been fired from) many part-time jobs, and is able to draw on a large pool of random trivia and information that has been collected from them. Nagori is very poor, and is a bit of a free-loader (to the chagrin of her friends).

Nagori has a second side to her personality, which she shares with noone. When away from the warmth of her friends, the solitude can cause her to become depressed, as she revisits her reality as an amnesiac. Her lack of a foundation and her lack of a real identity, has given her some deep-seated insecurities about herself and her purpose in life. Consequently, Nagori is constantly writing important information and details about her life in a personal diary.

History
Gyakusetsu Nagori awoke on the streets of Karakura ten years ago, and has no recollection or connection to her life before then, with the exception of the blade in her possession. Inscribed upon the blade were the words 'Gyakusetsu Nagori', and having no other name by which to call herself, she assumed it was her own. She struggled to survive in Karakura for some time, before she was accepted into the home of a retired shogi player. In return for room and board, he requires her to play a single game of shogi with him every day and to keep him company. Even though she is still a novice at shogi, her keen intellect and natural strategic talents have made her a formidable player, but she has yet to be able to beat the old man at his game. Gyakusetsu Nagori considers him to be a surrogate father, and is protective of his well being and happiness. Eventually, Nagori took up sword training, and found that she was a prodigy at the art... as though she already knew the moves and techniques, and was simply remembering them.

When not busy with her part-time work, Gyakusetsu Nagori is an active spirit detective, doing jobs on behalf of the host of spirits and spiritually sensitive beings that inhabit karakura town (for a fee). Her strange powers and disasterous exploits have earned her the nickname "Miss Fortune" among the spirits and people of the city.

Equipment
Razor Wires: Nagori employs silk threads from a spider-hollow, which have been specially treated to react to her own spiritual signature. These razor-sharp wires are light, pliable, incredibly strong, and nearly invisible. A single fiber is capable of suspending thousands of pounds, and can slice through solid steel without snapping. By channeling reiraku (spirit) threads through the strands, Nagori is able to control and project dozens of razor wires simultaneously. These have proven to be an invaluable tool in many situations (attack, defense, trap laying...), but Nagori is usually conservative in their use. Their incredibly high cost and rarity makes the risk of breaking them undesirable. One of her more common uses for these wires is to rapidly travel across city rooftops and between buildings, by flexing, extending and retracting the razor wires. To street-bound pedestrians, Nagori appears to be flying at these times.

Cellphone: This cellphone is specially designed to track spiritual signatures and rate spiritual pressure, and is connected to the PSDA network to send and receive information and updates on bounties, mission reports, and to make emergency calls.

Powers & Abilities
High Spiritual Power: Gyakusetsu Nagori possesses an unusually high level of spiritual power for a mortal human, which serves to augment her natural speed and durability. Her skill at manipulating reiryoku is sophisticated, but her reserves are not incredibly high; she must rest or break off fights to replenish her spiritual power in extended battles, or risk lapsing into exhaustion.

Enhanced Strength and Speed: The blade in Nagori's possession modifies and optimizes the flow of her spiritual energies, enabling her to move faster and attack with greater force than would otherwise be possible for a mortal woman. She is also capable of leaping farther distances and surviving longer falls, as her spiritual power unconciously cushions or enhances the force of an impact or leap.

Expert Swordsman Specialist: Nagori is an adept swordsman, but primarily uses Reiraku controlled razor wires to perform slicing attacks and maneuvers against opponents. She is loathe to draw her sword under any circumstances.

Hand-to-hand combatant: Gyakusetsu Nagori is learning the principles of Tajiquan from her guardian, and although she is still an amateur at it, she has learned how to apply its concepts to some of the more complex maneuvers of her swordsmanship.

Expert Strategist and Tactician: Nagori has a cunning and perceptive intellect, and is capable of coordinating many factors and events to anticipate or precipitate a result. This is in part due to her natural ability, but the daily Shogi games she participates in have greatly enhanced these preexisting talents.

Enhanced Spiritual Awareness: Gyakusetsu Nagori is able to see and interact with Threads of Fate, special bonds that connect an individual to the legacy of his past, the destiny of his future, and the hearts of those close to him. She can utilyze these threads to track a person's path to learn where they have been, where they will go, and to identify those that are most important to that person.

Exile of Fate: Gyakusetsu Nagori's destiny, past and personal connections have been excised from reality. She has no memory of her existance prior to waking on the streets of Karakura, and her very presence causes disasters to occur to the people around her. There is no record of Nagori's existance, and no one has ever been able to recognize or remember her from the life she led before. Any powers or abilities that would alter or manipulate a person's past or future automatically fail to effect Nagori. Nagori cannot be killed by random chance, fortune, or luck, but she can be murderered, die of natural causes, or commit suicide.

Battle Techniques
Gōsutopapetto (ゴーストパペット, lit. "Ghost Puppet"): By channeling spiritual energy through her razor wires, Gyakusetsu Nagori is able to cause objects in the environment to appear to move on their own. This tactic can be handy for creating distractions or to inconvenience opponents. Although she would refuse to attempt it because of its disregard for life, Nagori has entertained the possibility that she could force other beings to fight by manipulating their bodies like puppets.

Me Ni Nienai Ha (目に見えない刃, lit. "Invisible Blade"): The most basic of her wire techniques, me ni nienai ha nonetheless has claimed the most victims to date: most defenders simply don't perceive the attack quickly enough to save their lives. The simplest form of this is a direct attack; Nagori slashes with a thread, or entwines a razor wire around the opponent's neck for a quick decapitation. The second form of this attack is even harder to perceive; she conceals the thread in an area of mixed illumination, and only attacks from outside of her opponent's field of vision to prevent detection and a defense.

Sen Katto no Shi (千カットの死, lit. "Death of One Thousand Cuts"): By weaving a criss-crossing span of razor wires around an open space, Nagori creates a trap that can slice her opponent into mince. This technique requires some preparation beforehand, and necessitates that the opponent pass through a nearby space to function. She saves this technique for particularly dangerous and aggressive enemies, usually following up with a surprise attack against her disabled opponent before he can break free. It's also a useful technique for capturing targets alive; struggling can cause the fibers to tighten which will injure beings trapped inside.

Zanpakutou
Gyakusetsu Nagori (逆説名残, lit. "Paradox Relic") is an unsually long, jet-black nodachi in a hilt that's only distinctive feature is the name inscribed upon it. It lacks a guard of any kind, reflecting the inherint risks of wielding this cursed blade.

Shikai: Gyakusetsu Nagori is in a released state at all times (regardless of its wielder's intentions).


 * Shikai Special Ability: Gyakusesu Nagori has the ability to sever the threads of fate. A victim of Gyakusetsu Nagori's influence leads a cursed existance. Any being who draws Gyakusetsu Nagori has his threads of fate irrevocably cut. In time, he succumbs to amnesia as he loses all recollection and connections to his past. In time, he succumbs to despair as reality itself refuses to accomodate his existance, and he suffers endless misfortunes. In time, he succumbs to crippling loneliness, as those closest to his heart abandon him.
 * Regashī o Nusumu (レガシーを盗む, lit. "Steal the Legacy"): All beings have black threads of fate, which connect them to all the places they have been in the past, from the moment of their creation to the present. Severing a black thread of fate removes that person's existance from the record of history and memory, from the moment the thread is cut (which is determined by the location on the thread that is severed) to the time of his birth. Over the span of a week, all imprints that person had upon that span of time are slowly erased; people forget his face and name, his accomplishments and legacy dissapear, and records of his existance are erased or otherwise destroyed by circumstance. Even the victim himself suffers the effects of this loss; he loses all recollection of his identity from the moment of the cut, to his birth.


 * Mirai o Nusumu (未来を盗む, lit. "Steal the Future"): All beings have white threads of fate, which connect them to all the places they will go in the future, from the present to the end of their existance. Severing a white thread of fate removes that person's destiny from the weave of fate, from the moment it is cut (which is determined by the location on the thread that is severed) to the time of his oblivion. From that moment to the end of his days, reality itself will refuse to accomodate his presence. He will lead a cursed life, as misforune upon misfortune is heaped upon him and anyone who interacts with him, until his destruction. Even the destined manner of his death is not given to him; a person who is excised from the future can only be killed by natural death, murder, or suicide, but never by random chance or fortune.
 * Ai o Nusumu (愛を盗む, lit. "Steal the Love"): Most (but not all) beings have red threads of fate, which connect the hearts of those who share a passion (be it lust, hatred, love, or kinship). Severing a red thread of fate ends the relationship that connected both lives. Friends become distant strangers, lovers become cold and uncaring, and even enemies become aloof as the passion that connected them dissapears.

Behind the Scenes

 * Gyakusetsu Nagori's theme song is "Blue Water Blue Sky", from Guilty Gear X2.


 * Nagori's appearance and character art is based off of Kanzaki Kaori, a side-character from the to aru majutsu no index anime/visual novel series.