Akari Saito
"Where do your convictions lie? In your country, or your self? Does it have to be either or?"
Name
Akari Saito
Age
16 years old
Appearance
Nationality
Japanese
Personality
Akari is, by nature, not a particularly aggressive or even violent person. In fact, she normally detests bloodshed and conflict, opting instead to always pursue a peaceful resolution. She considers violence and battle to be an absolute last resort, and ironically, a last resort she finds that she has to resort to often. One might say such a personality makes her stick out within the institute, but she manages to fit in (not deliberately) with her other defining traits; her strong sense of loyalty to her country, and her unfettered desire to protect the weak, as she would put it. She considers such qualities to be the makings of an ideal soldier, and even seems to take some subdued pride in herself, despite her paradoxical aversion to conflict. Some might be able to describe her as one who pursues an ideal despite the thorns of reality that get in her way.
Perhaps in direct contrast (or even complement) to her aspirations of being an ideal soldier, Akari also displays the makings of a patriarchal "ideal woman," or in her native tongue, the "Yamato nadeshiko." Day to day, she is demure, soft-spoken, docile, patient, respectful, and the like, but if one were to stick around her long enough, they just might be able to make out something else underneath.
Aside from all that, Akari is also a firm adherent to tradition, perhaps most exemplified in her general personality, as well as her weapon of choice, among others. She claims to live by the Bushido code, openly admiring the concept of the samurai, as well to boot. She also possesses nationalistic qualities, taking pride in her heritage and her country.
Ability
Spatial Manipulation (Rank B) - The ability to manipulate space as the wielder sees fit. Conceptually, it is an extremely powerful ability in of itself, especially with the right mind behind it, and just having this power makes Akari one of the lucky few to possess the potential to reach S-Rank. In fact, the sheer power of her ability is enough to grant her the B-Rank in the first place, but her lack of control and understanding of what she is even capable of hold her back from being ranked any higher than she already is.
Due to the abstract nature of her power and the aforementioned lack of complete understanding she has in her own ability, Akari is barely able to even use it, as manipulating space requires a great deal of concentration for her to even manifest. To facilitate her ability to use her power, Akari requires an object to help her "anchor" and visualize her ability into existence. While she can theoretically use any object to anchor her, her "object" of choice is a sword; perhaps an antiquated weapon in modern sensibilities, but it is the most familiar to her, and thus, the most comforting for her to use.
She has a great amount of applications at her disposal by manipulating space with just a sword alone. Some such techniques she has learned to hone include:
- Flash Step - Akari can temporarily "erase" space by slicing the air and cutting through it like paper, causing a tear appears in the air, taking the form of a white void underneath. If Akari (or anyone else, for that matter) were to try to step toward this "non-existent" space, she would simply suddenly appear in front of the tear, essentially "teleporting" right in front of it. By doing this in rapid succession, she is able to move swiftly as she pleases like a mad dash. When using this technique in particular, the space she "erases" only remains as such for a brief period of time before space essentially repairs itself on its own. If she were to reach A-Rank, she will be able to unlock extra properties concerning this ability.
- Distant Cut - Akari can also use the application of "cutting space" in an more directly offensive manner, cutting her enemy from a distance so to speak. In contrast to Flash Step in which the torn space takes the form of a white void, Distant Cut takes the form of a black void instead. She can essentially "teleport" a slash from her sword toward any position she can visualize, as its name implies, able to slice an enemy from afar.
- Barrier - Self-explanatory. For a defensive application, Akari can also manipulate space to temporarily "solidify" it, preventing anything to bypass the area in which she cuts. Though its area of effect is invisible, this ability is characterized by Akari using wide swings to maximize her area of effect, though the main downside is that -- like the other applications -- the time of effect is a short window, so to maintain the barrier, she would have to continuously swing widely at the air, which she likens to calligraphy in a way.
Short Background
Even though she is an open book in terms of her background and upbringing, one can say Akari has a surprisingly understated past, not as dramatic as one might assume of her and her subdued personality. Born to a well-off Japanese household, her father is a respected, high-ranking officer in the Japanese Self-Defense Force (JSDF). It was her father that instilled a sense of national pride in Akari, and though her father has made little secret that he would have preferred a son, Akari worked tirelessly in her youth to live up to her father's expectations, training in swordsmanship, excelling notably in iaido.
When Akari's powers began to develop in her adolescence, her father wasted little time in enrolling her into the Institute for Enhanced Individuals, pleased in a way that she had potential to be a useful asset for her beloved country. Obliging her father's wishes, Akari works tirelessly to become an Enhanced that can protect not just her country, but the free world at large from there, claiming her father's will to be her own will as well.
Considering the position of her family, it is rumored that she is, in some form or another, acquainted with at least one of the Japanese representatives sent from the United Nations.
Misc. Information
Aside from her power, Akari is a skilled swordswoman in her own right, and has a natural affinity toward hand-to-hand combat.
