Yoshikawa Kikyou

Yoshikawa Kikyou (芳川 桔梗) is a character introduced Toaru Majutsu no Index. A researcher for the Level 6 Shift, after the event of the Sisters Arc, she is forced to reassess her life, and later becomes a guardian for Accelerator and Last Order.

Appearance
She is often seen casually wearing her a wear labcoat over a plain T-shirt. She wears faded jeans and sneakers. She is an adult, and has straight black hair cut short. Her body has considerable curves, and bust size.

Personality
She is described as someone that is naive, not kind, and this can be attested to the fact that despite trying to know each and every one of the Sister clones, she still has them perform an experiment that they will not walk out alive in, or allow Accelerator to continue to walk a path of blood despite him still being a child. She is described as doing things for her own welfare instead of genuine concern for others, and ways the risks and rewards of the decisions she takes.

However, she is someone who desires to change her ways, and become kinder. She has a cool head, and doesn't force others to do what they should do, and can be considered as an older sister, or a parent to Accelerator and Last Order. She is a practical person (choosing to use cheap panties for clones, knowing that they are unimportant variable to be considered in an experiment), and is a brilliant researcher and programmer.

She also has a habit of collecting things that the changes the body in quality.

Background
Little is known about her, except that she wanted to be a kind teacher but became a researcher instead. She later becomes a researcher for the Level 6 Shift, and was concerned with the manufacturing of the clones and of Last Order, as well as the maintenance of Accelerator. In her naïveté, she names all the clones in the experiment, and was as well, apparently, the one who chose their panties.

She also has a lifelong friendship with Yomikawa Aiho, though it is unknown how much she knew of her involvement in the Level 6 Shift. She also seem to have knowledge of the amazing skills of the Heaven Canceller.

She was the first adult Accelerator trusted due to the fact that she put a stop to an experiment that would have killed him when he was a kid.

Three Stories Arc

 * Main article:Three Stories Arc

Even after the project was put on hiatus, Yoshikawa kept herself in the research facility, awaiting for the restart of the Level 6 Shift. However, a week before August 31, she and fellow researchers discovers that Last Order has escaped her incubation tube, and she, was left alone to investigate the matters of her disappearance, as well as the fact that Last Order has been invaded by a malicious code that would force an order though all Mikoto clones in the Misaka Network to indiscriminately kill humans, by the time Accelerator returns to her, she has already suspected Amai Ao to be the culprit, and was in the process of writing a vaccine against the virus.

Accelerator later visits her after meeting Last Order, and wanting to fix her of her queer condition, and after a bit of talk, convinces Accelerator to redeem herself by saving the clones. She gives a choice to Accelerator to either capture Amai Ao, and force him to talk about how to stop the virus, or retrieve Last Order, with him choosing the latter. She guides Accelerator throughout his operation to retrieve Last Order, as well as during his operation against Amai Ao, who has capture her. She shows her practical side by telling Accelerator to kill Last Order, as the virus would activate sooner than expected and that there would be no time to destroy the virus, which she has yet to finish writing. She hears Accelerator's defiance, as well as his eventual downfall in the hands of Amai Ao, after concentrating his powers to save Last Order. She later arrives in the spot where Amai Ao took Last Order, calls the ambulances, and later shoots Amai Ao, but is unable to shoot him in vital spots. She is shot point blank in the heart by Amai while trying to protect Accelerator and Last Order but the Accelerator manages to use his ability to keep her from dying until she entered internal care, even though he was unconscious.

After getting a successful surgery from the Heaven Canceller, she is later told that Last Order is fine and is being looked after by Misaka 10032. He also tells her that Accelerator has lost his calculation abilities, basically making him cripple, but said to her that he will make use of the Misaka network to compensate for what he has lost, using them for his calculations. He tells her that she was saved easily, because Accelerator used his powers, despite being unconscious, to keep blood from spilling from her after getting shot Amai Ao. Before leaving Heaven Canceller tells her that she has been fired, as the Level 6 Shift, due to heir little display with Amai Ao, has been permanently closed, and that she should choose another path that is not that of a researcher, amongst the many paths. Kikyou says that she will not forgive the Heaven Canceller if he fails to save Accelerator, and he reminds her who he is, before leaving to operate on him. Here, she is proud that Accelerator was able to save instead of destroy.

Tree Diagram Remnant Arc

 * Main article:Tree Diagram Remnant Arc

Kikyou asks Yomikawa Aiho to take care of Accelerator and Last Order as she is still recuperating, however she later falls unconscious, much to Aiho's dismay, as she cannot complain to her.

Academy City Invasion Arc

 * Main article:Academy City Invasion Arc

With Kikyou, Accelerator, and Last Order, finally released from the hospital, she takes them to A Certain High School to meet their knew guardian, Yomikawa Aiho. She meets with her, as well as her colleague, Tsukuyomi Komoe. After Yomikawa convinces Accelerator to let her help him despite his reluctance in involving other people in his life, they go to the Yomikawa Residence, to which here, she notes that Aiho was probably forced to make some report recently, as the room is clean, to which Aiho replies that she shouldn't say that as she is helping her find a job.

She, Aiho, and Last Order, take a bath together, to which Accelerator accidentally intrudes upon, however, she and Aiho pay no heed as they think Accelerator is only a child. They later scold Last Order for mentioning that they are old ladies. Later, when Last Order accidentally locks herself out of Aiho's apartment and decides to trick Misaka 10032, and later stops Accelerator from throwing a tantrum after he discovers Last Order having fun. She is later tasked to look after the apartment after Aiho and Accelerator go outside to look for Last Order.

At the height of Vento of the Front's and the Roman Catholic Church'sassaultofAcademy City , she tracks down Yomikawa Aiho, and later discovers that Accelerator is wanted for murder. It is unknown what happens to her afterwards, but it can be presumed that she too is affected by the Vento of the Front's Divine Punishment.

Skill-Out Uprising

 * Main article:Skill-Out Uprising

In the anime adaptation, she, Aiho, and Tsukuyomi Komoe, enjoys a small get together in Aiho's apartment, not knowing what Accelerator is doing in the dark side during the attack on the Dangai University database center.

Battle Royale Arc

 * Main article:Battle Royale Arc

DRAGON Arc

 * Main article:DRAGON Arc

Homecoming Arc

 * Main article:Homecoming Arc

Ichihanaran Festival Arc

 * Main article:Ichihanaran Festival Arc

Eve of the Festival
Kikyou first appears in Aiho's residence, preparing dinner for both Last Order and Accelerator. She tries to call out for Last Order, who is still busy playing with the Misaka Network in a video game. As such, she calls out to Accelerator, since he's her guardian, much to his chagrin. Kikyou reminds Accelerator that she cannot stay like a housewife in training, to which Accelerator asks if she has found work somewhere. Kikyou says that she is still making preparations, and states that she has been invited as a special lecturer in a college of science, though it is only temporary as she wants to get back in college. Kikyou says that she wants to be a teacher, and states her enthusiasm into becoming a Student Keeper.

Then, Kikyou remembers that she doesn't have green onions for the flavor of her mizutaki, to which Last Order, who was taking a break from her video game, that she would be willing to buy them. Seeing this, Kikyou tells Accelerator to go deal wit her. And as Kikyou analyzes which between Last Order and Accelerator holds the reins in their relationship, and the latter's subsequent irritated responses, they fail to notice that Last Order has stopped shouting and has gone off on her own. Kikyou then tells Accelerator to take care of it, much to his irritation.

However, Kikyou is later forced to accompany and help Accelerator in finding Last Order, and when they found nothing, they head back to their apartment. Much to their surprise, Last Order is already there, eating some chocolate. Last Order explains her little sojourn with Fremea Seivelun, then their eating competition, which reminds both Kikyou and Accelerator that they have yet to eat dinner.

Pseudepigrapha Railgun

 * Main article:Pseudepigrapha Railgun

In a short omake comic, a bunch of scientists attempting to create the perfect imitation of Mikoto's physical appearance, discover that they have yet to learn what underwear Mikoto wears. After exhausting all their options, even using Tree Diagram and Hound Dog, Kikyou appears with a bunch of cheap striped panties in boxes. The scientists protests, but Kikyou points out on how they are wasting resources to something as trivial as panties, to which the concede, and began to take a liking to the panties Kikyou brought.

Character Art Designs
Haimura somehow lost the digital design sketches for Kikyou, Amai Ao, and Last Order, though it can be found from Haimura's artbook rainbow spectrum colors.

In her appearance in the 5th Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index light novel, Haimura drew for Kikyou a new attire, and later drew an entire sketch for her new look in the event that she would appear in 6th light novel. Haimura refers to Kikyou as a researcher, not too concerned of her, as such she wears the same thing around the house as outside. This maybe the reason why Kikyou retains her laboratory coat for the entire part of the original light novels.

Quotes

 * (Kikyou giving Accelerator a choice, from Index Episode 19 ) "Pick your poison."
 * (Said to Amai Ao before being shot, from Index Episode 20) "It's over, Amai Ao. You're afraid of dying alone, right? Then choose my life to take along with yours. I will not let you choose a child's life, and I swear that by the kindness that lives in me just this once in my life."
 * (From Episode 20, referring to Accelerator saving Last Order) "See? He was able to do it... if he tried."