Kihara Nayuta

Kihara Nayuta (木原那由他) is a character introduced in a Toaru Kagaku no Railgun mini-novel, Toaru Jihanki no Fanfare, by ' and ' author,.

Etymology
Nayuta's name follows the pattern of Kihara family members having names related to science in mathematics. In Nayuta's case, her name is a Buddhist term that is used to denote an extremely great number or, in another definition, denotes the value of 1060 (or novemdecillion) or 1072 (or trevigintillion).

Appearance
She has blonde hair which she ties in two pigtails, looks like a elementary schoolgirl, and is often seen wearing her red backpack. Her original hair and eye colors had been changed due to the effects of drugs.

Personality
She is a little mischievous, manipulative, and competitive, though not to the extent of her relatives. She is also interested in Level 5s and wants to challenge them and surpass them. She is also quite knowledgeable like her relatives, knowing that both Sogiita Gunha and Misaka Mikoto are Level 5 espers.

Also unlike the vast majority of her family, Nayuta is noted to be the polar opposite to them, as she is kind-hearted, empathetic and thoughtful on the welfare of others and refused to use young children for experimentation and only participated in experiments with the assurance of the test subject's safety - these traits have made her somewhat of an outcast with the rest of her family as they disdain her for limiting her scientific advancement for the sake of others.

Background
Like her relative Therestina Kihara Lifeline, Nayuta took part in experiments at a young age, but because those experiments ensured the participants' safety, her relatives looked down on her in disdain, which sparked her anger over being called a "flawed item".

She had no kids the same age as her to talk to back then, and she talked with Nunotaba Shinobu only a few times. One day, she met in the Advanced Education Department Edasaki Banri and the other Child Errors that Kiyama Harumi was teaching, and became friends with them after a rocky start. Wanting to prove that they weren't "flawed items", Nayuta and her friends aimed to join Judgment, protect Academy City, and become Level 5s, but the experiment that left her friends comatose shook Nayuta, leading her to believe that her friends' teacher, Kiyama, was to blame.

Driven by revenge on Kiyama, her own desire to fulfill the dream she and her friends shared, and the naive idea that she could save children from dangerous experiments by taking their place, Nayuta volunteered herself to her grandfather Kihara Gensei. She later learned of Kiyama's actions to save Banri and the others and of Misaka Mikoto stopping Kiyama, which made her want to challenge Mikoto to see if Mikoto was someone to be admired.

Even after her grandfather vanished mysteriously, Nayuta continued experimenting on herself, taking drugs which changed the colors of her hair and eyes as a side effect. One fateful experiment rendered her body 70% mechanical, and she is only alive now thanks to Heaven Canceler's intervention. She donated to Child Error facilities, one of them being Asunaro Park, the funds she earned from the experiments she volunteered for, thinking that it would dissuade them from subjecting Child Errors to experiments for money.

She is part of a special branch of the Advanced Education Department that is affiliated with Judgment.

Toaru Jihanki no Fanfare
She is first seen looking for Level 5s to challenge, but since she is a member of Judgment, she cannot attack anyone without just cause. She later finds Misaka Mikoto kicking Vending Machine 7116 and stealing a drink, and uses this as an excuse to fight her. Using her abilities, she manipulates Mikoto's AIM field so that Mikoto can discharge electricity, which catches the attention of Shirai Kuroko and Sogiita Gunha, both of whom were fighting nearby and decided to go investigate.

When Gunha, Kuroko, and Haratani Yabumi arrive, Nayuta uses her ability on Mikoto to zap Gunha, indirectly sparking a duel between the two Level 5s; both of them, however, show no hint of animosity and are happily testing each other's mettle. The duel's intensity almost puts Nayuta in danger, but she is saved by the sudden appearance of the Tokiwadai Dorm Supervisor. Seeing the Dorm Supervisor easily subdue Mikoto, Nayuta collapses from confusion and fatigue.

When she come to, she finds herself being brought to the hospital on the Dorm Supervisor's back. She wonders if the Dorm Supervisor is a Hound Dog, but the Dorm Supervisor denies having heard of them and reveals that she knows who Nayuta is. She asks how the Dorm Supervisor knows, and learns that, as a Kihara, her donation to the facility the Dorm Supervisor volunteers at prompted the Dorm Supervisor to investigate her. The Dorm Supervisor warns Nayuta that she's only being nice because Nayuta's in grade school; once Nayuta enters middle school, the Dorm Supervisor would handle her like she would any Tokiwadai student. Afraid to make the Dorm Supervisor her enemy, Nayuta silently swears to herself to not pull off another incident like this one for good. Feeling the Dorm Supervisor's kindness, Nayuta falls asleep on the Dorm Supervisor's back, her dream of surpassing the Level 5s renewed.

Baggage City Arc
Kihara Nayuta is not shown during the Baggage City Arc, but she is mentioned by Kihara Enshuu and Kihara Byouri.

Abilities
According to Nayuta, her ability allows her to see and feel the flow of AIM diffusion fields and even overload other people's esper abilities by controlling their ability flow, which she compared to Takitsubo Rikou's power, but without the need for Body Crystal. She also stated that so far she's limited to manipulating the flow and timing. When affected by it, Mikoto felt as if the surrounding air was distorted, something entered her and that every part of her body was being seen through.

Through her ability she was able to make Mikoto unconsciously discharge electricity, though Mikoto found out that if she guided the electricity that was forcibly released against her will with a magnetic field she could capture the "overload", as Nayuta seemingly can't manipulate AIM diffusion fields that appear in more than one area. Since she can see AIM diffusion fields, Nayuta was able to see and feel the energy that forms the source of Mikoto's electricity in the instant previous to being produced and predict its direction, allowing her to dodge Mikoto's attacks even when she was temporarily robbed of her sight by Mikoto. According to Kihara Amata, if Nayuta trained her ability, she could be deemed capable of defeating Accelerator.

Due to experiments she went through, about 70% of Nayuta's body is not flesh anymore and has been replaced with Academy City's technology, as seen when her hand was damaged by Mikoto's electricity, but instead of bleeding and having tender red flesh under the skin, she leaked a transparent lubricant and had long strands of black artificial fibers. Being a cyborg, she displays superhuman speed and strength, although her cybernetics were meant to be medical in nature and not combat-oriented like those of Kuroyoru Umidori. Additionally, her right eye is artificial, possessing a color different from a natural eye. Nayuta can use this eye to release a bright glow to temporarily blind the enemy.

Quotes

 * (Nayuta, explaining to Mikoto): "My family reads the esper's diffusion field flow and uses the gap to attack. Because I haven't learnt that yet, I can only use this mechanical body and my own ability to make up for the lack of senses those amazing people have. They were able to detect the opponent's energy flow just through instincts and experience." -- "The one who taught me all these, Amata oji-san, told me that 'if I train this to the max, there's nothing to be afraid about when fighting that Number One esper in Academy City' and that I can win. But in fact, so what?"
 * (Nayuta, talking about Child Errors): "'Child Errors' are just flawed items to Academy City. [...] BUT EVEN IF THEY'RE FLAWED, HUMILIATING THEM LIKE THIS IS UNFORGIVABLE!!"

Trivia

 * In the New Testament Volume 1 Afterword, Kamachi Kazuma acknowledges her existence in the Index series canon, as the reason he had officially introduced cyborgs to the main storyline.