Name:
Hikari

Nicknames/Aliases:
Light Hermit

Birth City/District:
Neo-Tokyo/Maebaru

Age:
29

Height:
167 cm (5'6")

Racial Background:
Half-Japanese, Half-Unidentified

Race:
YSG Natural Born

Hair Color:
Bluish-Silver

Eye Color:
Red

Appearance:
Hikari appears so much like a normal human, except being "normal" was quite rare in her era. One way to notice her peculiarity is to stare at her eyes in which one could see the pair of red glow in her iris. Also, her skin might shift into paler tone from time to time, based on whenever Hikari having her session of light-eating, a habit she has been doing since her realization and acceptance of having the Yokai part in her. Being able to absorb light through her skin as her alternative sustenance, Hikari's choice of clothing would always have some parts of her skin revealed. She likes to expose some larger portions of her shoulders, midriff, or legs.

Having the gene of a Yokai Shogun inside her gives Hikari a particular strangeness, which is the Ki reservoir where she can keep the gathered nature energy. This reservoir is located in her stomach, right behind her navel where it can be clearly visible when Hikari has just gathered enough Ki converted from the absorbed light or consumed directly from a slaughtered Yokai. The reservoir shines with bluish light and also makes the marking around Hikari's abdomen glow like neon tattoos.

Mutation Marker(s):
Hikari's mutation can be seen in her pair of red colored eyes and unnatural bluish-silver hair. Also, falsely thought to be some kind of neon tattoo, the marking around her navel is actually a natural phenomenon which became prominent as Hikari grew into her adolescent. The marking has been growing more complex since then, starting from merely simple curves into an intricate mandala-shaped form, along with Hikari's affinity with her Yokai power.

Personality:
One can say that the degree of being an introvert is quite high in Hikari; she prefers to do a lot of things alone, seeing the company of others to be rather tiring than refreshing. She keeps the number of her friends small, choosing only from the ones she could fully trust. This is likely because Hikari trusts her own judgement more than her friends, seeing her critical opinion matters more than the necessity friendliness to keep them close. Even so, Hikari is eager to experiment with new experiences, especially about philosophical thoughts, visual arts, literatures, and musical genres. This is quite contrasted with the choice of her fashion and gadget design which are quite conservative and tend to follow the classics.

Hikari is quite scrutinizing when she does her things, preferring to keep everything in order and under control without provoking anything out of expectation to happen. She loves to plan things, but as she grows more mature, she begins to accept some factors of probabilistic randomness in the way things work. The high level of Hikari's confidence comes from this mindset of getting as many things ordered as possible and deciding things based on certain knowledge rather than chanceful hunches.

Aspirations:
-Spiritual enlightenment
-Physical health by natural means
-Non-cybernetics purity
-Freedom to pursue own happiness
-Keeping Yokai under control

Fears:
-Betrayal
-Injection
-Surgery
-Body modification

Vehicle:
Hikari's preference of her vehicle is quite conservative, focusing on engineering performance rather than the kitsch style commonly adopted by her contemporary. One might say the motorcycle she choose to ride bears the style of a bygone era when wheeled sports-bike racing was common. At the time when fossil fuel-based engines came to its end and the manufacturing industries producing such vehicles bankrupted. Some big companies merged into a single consortium to gain advantage for research in the new form of energy. Trusting the product quality of this Consortium, or Konsoushiamu as they were better known as, Hikari puts her favoritism in a certain line they are manufacturing.

Konsoushiamu Zero has a matching capability like the high-performance superbikes during fossil fuel era. Hikari is able to fully control the vehicle into its peak performance without any cybernetics augmentations thanks to her Yokai reflex. It should be noted also that almost every part of this bike has been customized into Hikari's personal preference, from its body parts, engine, transmission, suspension, wheels, braking system, boosters, even its hover-switch that enables the bike to glide on hover zone or even off-road. The design bears a striking resemblance with the ancient Suzuki Boulevard, except for the wheels that also serve as the hover pads, flipped sideways by the suspension rods when the hover-mode is turned on.

Strangely, while most motorists would customize the visual aspects of their rides to become strikingly visible among the mass, Hikari wants her bike to stay modest. Also, compared to others who would augment their rides with cybernetic controls and AIs, Hikari chooses to keep it as electro-mechanical as possible with an ancient style of key-based lock, kick-starter, and manual transmission. In this kind of world brimming with kitsch, one could never determine that Hikari is the one being conservative or rather radically liberal in her choice of style. Moreover, Hikari believes the bond she makes with her motorcycle has manifested into a kami residing inside it, giving that motorcycle a "soul" she calls Kuro.

Strengths/Natural Abilities:
Butouken (Wudangquan) Proficient - YSG Augmented
Living among the cult members adopting their ideas from an ancient sect of warrior-monks had familiarized Hikari with the practice of martial arts. This enabled Hikari to stand her ground when fighting becomes necessary. Also, cage fighting had been a hobby she routinely did when the work hours conclude. Beyond the routine forms, scripted mock-fights, and theoretical explanations of the martial art techniques she learned, Hikari was also familiar with the practical functionality of the contemporary MMA. Carrying the Yokai Shogun Gene inside her, Hikari's close combat capability increased to a degree that she can easily beat several fighters of the topmost weight class at once in a hand-to-hand fighting. She's quite capable going against ten opponents at once, with decreasing confidence as the number goes up. Of course, the rule inside the cage is contrastingly different with the rule of the street; that came into the equation.

Regenerative Factor - YSG Augmented
The internal alchemy and traditional medicine techniques Hikari learned during her life around the cultists also helped her maintain her health. Augmented with her Yokai gene, Hikari's immune system was quite formidable against many types of poison and she could passively regenerate her cells and prevent organ failure or even aging to some extent. With her Yokai ability, Hikari could also accelerate her regeneration further and in a very rare case, she could even grow back her amputated limbs. Hikari's survival chance was top-notch.

Zen-Induced Mental Performance
The Zen meditation she routinely practiced also helped Hikari in focusing her mind and increasing the acuity of her senses. This also helped Hikari in dealing with the mathematical intricacies surrounding the metaverse programming she had been doing as her alternative hustles. Hikari's stable and calm mental state, along with her sense of spiritual purpose built her confidence in her skills and her capability to finish the gang jobs when the necessity arrives. Not only she was able to compute complex mathematical operations in her mind, Hikari was also quite an accurate and precise gunslinger. Of course, the chaotic gunfighting on the street would be different than the controlled environment inside the practice range; that also came into the equation.

Good Looking
The dietary discipline and routine exercise Hikari practiced, along with the traditional alchemy she consumed had formed her into an anatomical excellence both in performance and look. At many times, this kind of feat proved to be distracting for unfocused minds, taken away by the physical attraction Hikari could trigger. A simple walk with subtle sways or turns at the precise moments could spark the desire and lock the sights of the beholders of potential orientation toward Hikari. Sometimes, she even got her way into what she wanted from this seductive way of persuasion.

Weaknesses/Flaws:
Tender Pearly Core
The ability Hikari obtained for having the gene of Yokai Shogun also came with a price. When Hikari had her energy reservoir entirely filled with Ki, a powerful attack right toward her abdominal area would certainly destabilize her Ki flow. She learned this the hard way when at one day, Hikari challenged her opponent for a cage fight with her Ki reservoir being full. Hikari received a direct knee strike on her belly that resulted in a debilitating pain, followed by an internal explosion of her reserved energy. Hikari's Ki "bled" out of her and immediately deprived her totally out of her energy, rendering her unconscious and having some terrible abdominal pain and muscular soreness for several days. A fine-tuned Ki-flow management had to be performed, especially with Hikari's light-eating habit, for her to keep the Ki reservoir stable while also enabling her to utilize the gathered Ki for the Overdrive skill.

Abhors Cybernetics
In the world where cybernetic gears were the norm, Hikari had a tendency to avoid it at all costs. Hikari adhered to a philosophical belief of Organic Puritanism, like modern day Vegan but instead of being concerned with eating meat, she was concerned with using implants as a necessity. She had no utilization of the cyberwares even when they had been proven in increasing particular performances in the users. Even with a knack of programming capability, Hikari had no interest at all in the design of any cybernetics middleware. Adding her ignorance to cybernetics, Hikari loathed any person who proudly flaunted their physical modification, especially those who went to the extent of being proud in removing their anatomical resemblance of a natural human.

Y.S.G Ability(ies):

Base Ability: Light Overdrive
Like a photosynthesizing plant, Hikari was able to directly process any forms of light for her sustenance or converting it into a form of energy that she could gather inside her Ki reservoir. The rate of her energy reserve to get filled was slow, but she could quickly absorb the light around her to immediately fill a certain amount of energy, resulting in a local blackout. When the amount was right, Hikari could utilize the Ki reserve to unleash her Overdrive. When in this state, Hikari had her strength, speed, acuity, and endurance increased into several degrees higher, raising her combat and survival capability. The amount of time Hikari could have for her Overdrive was limited by the energy she kept inside her Ki reservoir. An instant minor wounds heal could also be performed quickly using the same Ki, but this would render her Overdrive disabled.

First Evolution: Yokai Vampirism
Awakened when she had to deal with Yokai in a night with no moon, Hikari's desperation for energy manifested in her being capable to extract raw Ki from severed Yokai parts. In a non-critical circumstance, this type of absorption allowed Hikari to access a different kind of energy that could augment her Overdrive to have the output performance multiplied in several order of degrees. Sometimes, Hikari temporarily brought along some features from the Yokai she absorbed, as if she gained a new ability copying the Yokai. Hikari's major regenerative ability could be enabled when she gained possession of this energy type, to the extent she could restore herself from grave wound or damaged internal organs as long as she was able to keep the kernel of her Pearly Core intact.

Second Evolution: Nigh-Immortal
As long as Hikari's Pearly Core stayed intact, she could always regenerate her organs back to normal. However, Hikari would need to turn herself into a vegetative state within indeterminate time if the damage was too grave, like getting her limbs amputated, vital organ destroyed, or anything that should be fatal to normal human. Moreover, Hikari would still need to be exposed to light, however dim it could be, to perform this kind of feat. Among the vital organs Hikari could regenerate, her Pearly Core was the hardest one to restore, being the most important part she had. Any attacks that managed to give major damage to the Core would immediately put Hikari into comatose until it got restored in the meantime. The Core was strong enough though, the only thing that could damage it so much that it ceased to function would be the Shogun Rounds, hitting precisely right on the Core's kernel.

Hikari found out about this ability in a smaller extent when she got herself healed after being cut open in the gut by the organ harvesters of The Institute. However, she did not notice how it worked as she was unconscious during the healing process. The potency of this evolved ability could still grow, but Hikari would likely have to face another life-death situation for this evolution to properly flourish.

Soul Binder/Weapon(s):
Gin'iro Yama-to (Katana) - Hikari's soul binder was a humble katana, a single-edged curved longsword commonly used by the ancient Samurai. This Soul Binder came with the necessary skill to fight using such form of weapon. One might notice how Hikari would have her stance and form shifted when she fought using her Soul Binder as if she had learned or accustomed for long in an entirely different martial art. This weapon had another feature in which it could be controlled telepathically and even unravel itself into tiny metal spikes, also controlled telepathically. The Ki that Hikari kept in her Pearly Core would deplete gradually during her time using the telepathic control for her katana.

Even with such ability, Hikari would prefer to stay with her hand-to-hand fighting as long as possible. The summoning process for her Soul Binder was quite painful for her. It would always begin with the handle materializing itself in front of Hikari's abdominal Ki reservoir. As she then would grab and pull the handle outward, the blade part would gradually form into its entirety, starting from the part being close to the handle and moving toward its tip. One would see as if Hikari pulled her Soul Binder from her navel, which was not entirely wrong because the summoning process gave Hikari a stinging sensation as if she had just been stabbed there and got the blade pulled away.

This Katana had its name, of course, Gin'iro Yama-to for its silvery blade manifestation.

Cybernetics/Gadgets/Accessories:

Cybernetics: N/A - Hikari was proud to have her body unmodified and still able to survive in this kind of world.

Smartphone - to make and receive calls; also installed with some fundamental software for Netrunning.

- No surname: Being born as a result of artificial insemination, having her mother taken away from her, and once living among the member of a secret society made Hikari recognize no particular bond where she should attach, whether it was family or clan.

- Credit to Miura Naoko (miura-n315) for the images used as the faceclaims