Fräulein Kreutune

Fräulein Kreutune (フロイライン＝クロイトゥーネ) is a character introduced in Shinayaku Toaru Majutsu no Index.

She is a mysterious, seemingly human, woman who has existed since the age of witch hunts, and by the time of the Ichihanaran Festival Arc, was imprisoned inside the Windowless Building until being freed through the efforts of Kamijou Touma and Thor.

Etymology
Fräulein is derived from the Germanic honorific that is previously in common use for unmarried woman, comparable to Miss in English. It can be presumed that Fräulein isn't actually her name, as even Reading Thoth 78 has declared that her identity is unknown.

Appearance
Kreutune has the appearance of a woman who is almost two meters tall. She has silver hair, which is depicted as lavender in the illustrations instead of Index's "blue" silver hair. Moreover, the hair is unkempt and is long enough to reach her ankles and obscure her face. Her clothes consist of a two-piece transparent dress made out of synthetic fiber, revealing her pink underwear.

She is seen by Touma as having inhuman characteristics, despite no obvious signs of being different from a regular human being, just a feeling of something singularly off regarding her appearance, most likely similar to the Uncanny valley.

After eating the candy brain prepared by Cendrillon, she loses her function and becomes smaller and younger-looking afterwards.

Personality
She is an existence that is only appears to think, her personality of her seemingly infinite curiosity to absorb information. She is incapable of carrying out complex thoughts or to have deep emotions well up within her chest. As such, any sort of personality is from the copying of humans. This article shall document any apparent behavior that stands out.

Fräulein has no readily apparent personality, other than her seemingly infinite curiosity to absorb information. She has no concept of like or dislike, and she is driven not by any sense of ideology but by curiosity. It's as if her entire existence is based solely on her absorbing information or learning as much as she can from her environment, as concluded by Reading Thoth 78.

She is apparently not particularly malevolent and only attacks when provoked, or if she deems certain people as threats such as Thor or Kamijou Touma. Moreover, she's benign enough to be strung along by two children, specifically, Last Order and Fremea Seivelun. Furthermore, she is utterly taciturn, only speaking when asked, as with the case of her telling Last Order and Fremea Seivelun who she is, though has been shown to be able to carry out a conversation, as what happened to her with Touma.

However, she has shown behavior akin to someone who deeply cares for her friends. She has show lamentation over her function of eating Last Order, as well as decided to rather have her doom upon her than have her function of eating her be fulfilled. By the end of the Ichihanarasai, she has shown a tendency to hug, after being hugged by Last Order and Fremea Seivelun, believing it to be how friends normally act towards each other.

Origin
Her origins are a mystery, and comparing different interpretations of her existence by both sides yield no ultimate answer. Leivinia refers to her as an existence with no starting and no ending point. She cites a few things that may describe her, such as an Adam Kadmon that left its mother's womb before achieving clear individuality, and an existence that finished learning everything and achieved optimization while inside its mother's womb. However, Leivinia conludes that what makes her special is of her purity. The fact that Fräulein can eclose or evolve into a different form, can be used to give her a form that is desirable to someone knowledgeable, such as Leivinia Birdway, who need only manipulate Fräulein into transforming into a form that can kill her. It is implied that Aleister Crowley has the power of doing it too, though Leivinia assumed that he wanted to avoid it since it would definitely reveal his identity even if it would allow him to kill an inconvenience to his plan.

Due to her thoughts being simplified, she need only need to repeat simplistic decisions with only two possible answers one after another, in order to continue to find the easiest environment to live in even without great intelligence or experience. When she began moving to more comfortable environments, she eventually came upon humanity, and eventually began mimicking humans, deeming copying them as the ideal path to live comfortably.

Past
Records of her existence in the past, specifically those in the age of witch hunts in the Middle Ages, shows that she is known to many of humanity, for there are many queer legends both fantastic and modern regarding her person. The narration implies that there may have been someone who had released information to either hide the truth or to have humanity optimize the legends surrounding her to calculate her her true identity

Of the records of her existence in the past, one report has her show that she wasn't as taciturn, specifically, her seemingly underhanded conversation with a "kind priest" who has sent her to torture. This is because she mimicked the behavior of a woman who was convicted of being witch.

She seems to be immortal, impervious to conventional forms of damage, and retains her youthfulness. Legends abound that she has survived and outlasted 308 of the trials by ordeal that became the basis for the "confession by torture" method that was later often used in witch hunts. Although accounts of her do exists, they are buried by numerous other legends during the time period of the witch hunts. Because she is an impedement to the Plan related to Academy City, due to her innate drive to learn and transform after acquiring enough information, she was imprisoned the formerly impenetrable Windowless Building, the same building where Aleister resides in. In total silence and darkness, this sensory deprivation prevents her from being curious.

Kihara Yuiitsu conjectures that Fräulein being similar to Kazakiri Hyouka, with the properties of being relatively unkillable, having the desire for friends, and the possibility of being controlled regardless of her personal beliefs, may have been used as a baseline for Hyouka. In turn, she is part of single thread that connecting her, Hyouka, and Aiwass.

Baggage City Arc

 * Main article:Baggage City Arc

Othinus first mentions Fräulein at the end of the suppression of Baggage City by Academy City, where Fräulein is apparently part of her goal to gain power through the distortion of the world—holism.

Ichihanaran Festival Arc

 * Main article:Ichihanaran Festival Arc

Eve of the Festival
Fräulein is mentioned several times by Thor, and uses the fact that she is trapped inside the Windowless Building to recruit Touma into rescuing her as she is the center of Othinus and Ollerus conflict that may put Academy City in danger. However, she first appears only after Thor and Touma break through Calculate Fortress, and from there, piques the attention of Fräulein, and creates a huge hole from which she emerges. She immediately notices Touma and Thor, and quickly subdues them via her powers, and from then on, the City went into Code Red.

Fräulein reappears after destroying the Four Wings that threatened Thor and Touma a while back during their attempt at breaking the Calculate Fortress, near a takoyaki stand that was preparing for the Ichihanaransai, and in her curiosity, first stares at the man working on it and then starts imitating him, as if she herself was making the takoyaki. At first she was clumsy at it but became more adept quickly. As she does that, several Anti-Skill operatives led by Kakita appear before her. As he reports to his colleague over the radio that he and his unit will now restrain her, but is apparently told over radio that they have no jurisdiction. Kakita argues with someone over the radio, after being told that they should take Fräulein to a place which has the jurisdiction. Kakita tries to argue his place, and states that the standard procedure is to take her to the nearest branch. He is then told a false report that Fräulein is a spy disguised as a diplomat, but this does not make Kakita yield. He later orders Momozawa to handcuff her, and Yashiro to bring the Anti-Skill truck around. However, before Kakita can finish his instructions, Fräulein stood up and they are forced to surround her. Fräulein gets away and can be assumed to have taken them out herself.

As Last Order and Fremea Seivelun continue to there lost sojourn in Academy after eating at the Food Stand Spire, the two girls discover Fräulein, who begins to mimic Fremea's movements. For some unfathomable reason, Fräulein aids them in finding their way back into School District 7, and is successful, as Last Order recognizes an area. After being dragged along, Last Order tries to thank and her and asks her name, to which she responds that her name is Fräulein Kreutune. Last Order and Fremea wants to exchange e-mail addresses with her, but seeing as she had no cellphone, Fremea however, gave Fräulein her child buzzer to her that was originally from Hamazura Shiage and the others. Fremea tells her that it uses GPS, and if she pulls the string, it will send her current location to the cell phone registered with it. Essentially, allowing Fremea to be notified of her whereabouts. Fremea notes that it can receive e-mails without cost from the registered cell phone. Fräulein seemed puzzled with the device, and continues to stare at it. She is interrupted by Last Order saying that they are now friends. Fräulein is confused by this, to which Fremea answers that there is no reason why they can't be friends. After analyzing the situation, Fräulein concludes that they are indeed friends.

While Fräulein ponders to herself what the term "friends," Anti-Skill surround her and uses anti-life form and anti-machine smoke bombs. The narration refers to having her eyes roll in a strange way that seemed odd for a response to violence.

As the eve closes down, Reading Thoth 78 discusses with Aleister Crowley, who apparently accessed the AI, regarding Fräulein Kreutune. It states that Fräulein will transform after acquiring enough information, though states that it will take 2,300 years for her to collect such information. However, if she consumes Last Order's brain and takes control of the Misaka Network, she can reduce 2,300 years to a mere 3 seconds. The AI notes that the time when Fräulein will acquire the properties that is needed for her to absorb powers through brain consumptions is within two hours.

During the Festival
Just before dawn of the Ichihanaransai, Fräulein Kreutune is in a back alley, where she had begun to acquire the function to gain other's knowledge and information by eating the brain of a person. Here, she has gained a seemingly unbearable compulsion to seek out Last Order's brain. Just when she had acquired this consuming function, she encounters Hamazura Shiage, Takitsubo Rikou, and Fremea Seivelun, as they were trying to return back to their dorm. Shiage upon seeing her, assumed that she was a drunk and carelessly approached after she collapsed. Fräulein quickly passes by the 3 people when she realizes that Last Order, the person she wants to eat, is not there. Fräulein's actions freightens Hamazura because he feels that he was just in a cage with a wild beast.

After walking around Fräulein had finally located Last Order, who were currently with Accelerator, Yoshikawa Kikyou, Fremea Seivelun, Hamazura Shiage, and Takitsubo Rikou. Fräulein then prepared her body to rush towards Last Order in the quickest manner which resulted in her tackling Hamazura and sending him flying through the air. Fräulein then lunged out trying to get close to Last Order in order to eat her brain, but was stopped by Accelerator's kick and vector manipulation powers. Fräulein, in order to not be blown through the air, rotated her body 3 times so that she could stay exactly where she was and to continue her efforts to consume Last Order. She is apparently unperturbed and persists on charging towards her. Last Order to stay Accelerator's hand, distracting him. And as she opened her mouth to consume her, a shot from one of Kakine Teitoku's White Beetles bent her body unnaturally. Coming back to the game, Accelerator kicks her away.

After Fräulein lost sight of Last Order, she was finally found by Kamijou Touma who had been looking everywhere in Academy City for her. The still bent Fräulein pokes and sniffs at the injured Touma like an animal, as he tries to convince her to leave. Fräulein uses her ability to negatively effect living things just like before when she escaped the Windowless Building, which causes Touma to collapse near the ground that she was standing. Touma touches an exposed car battery to shock himself to stop its effects, allowing for him to stay conscious. He tells Fräulein to hide and run away from Gremlin, Ollerus's group, and Academy City. However, Fräulein says that she couldn't run away or hide because her body had recently gained the function to obtain other people's information by consuming their brain. Fräulein says that this consuming ability is the same as a basic body function that she must do, which forces her body to only find a way to eat a certain someone's brain. The consuming function that she had obtained is forcing her to try and eat the person against her will, even though she is incredibly miserable due to her body forcing her to eat the brain of Last Order who called her a friend. She says that she knows not when she had attained the function, but says that her actions are now based on that imperative. She laments on her fate, and Touma asks who that person. However, she doesn't reply for she is slowly being overtaken by her function. Touma wonders how it came to this, and begins to doubt his decision to free her from the Windowless Building, thinking that it may have been the trigger for the change. Touma is slowly overcome by his injuries, and yet, he does not yield to the thinking that saving her was wrong. As Touma stands up, he tries to search for Fräulein, as he has lost sight of her. Fräulein leaves as soon as Touma is distracted by his injuries. He is later overcome by them, and is later found by Cendrillon shortly.

After trying to locate where Last Order was, Fräulein comes upon the second floor of the School District 7 multi-level overpass. Pain courses through her as a ever her function tries to force her to find Last Order and consume her. She was somewhat close, but her quarry is yet to be found, as her body continues to surrender itself to the will of its functions. Fräulein thinks about her past and present in order to think about the reason that she is living today. Fräulein concludes that she is a lost cause because her body is forcing her to kill Last Order who called her a friend. Fräulein then realized that she wished to die and let her life to end by thinking that her past was too painful to accept, and that she was going to create even more misery to herself by killing her friend Last Order. Fräulein realized that this was probably an almost impossible wish because she had an immortal body which would not allow her life to end so easily. As she struggles with herself however, Leivinia Birdway appears before her.

Leivinia asks her if she wants her to bring her to an end. Leivinia mentions on how the magic side has a different term used to describe Fräulein, though both magic and science sides apparently do not have the ultimate answer. However, she describes Fräulein as a queer existence that has no starting and ending point. She cites a few examples of her probable origins from the magic side point of view, and then tells her that the conclusion is the same no matter what, is that what makes her special is her purity. This piques Fräulein's attention, asking her about it. Leivinia states that pure thing such as her can be changed into making her impure, and her being the boss of a magic cabal that created new ways of valuing seemingly needless additions by taking the knowledge of the past and sublimating it to techniques leading to the future. Fräulein need only to transform into something that can be killed. Leivinia then asks her what she wants to do, as she will be using her as a bait for Othinus, and asks if her if she wants her to kill her afterwards so that she would not suffer anymore. Fräulein seemed to have accepted this proposition by remaining still, and sightly smiled because her desire to die would be fulfilled. Leivinia says that she will blow up her limbs and seal her into a cold coffin to bait Othinus, afterwards will kill her as soon as that characteristic of her being able to be killed shows up. Before doing the fell deed, Leivinia reassures her that the situation will not get any worse. However before Leivinia could take any action, Kamijou Touma appeared with the intention of protecting Fräulein.

Kamijou Touma confronts Fräulein, and tells her that if she can't bear to lose her friend, then she can't seriously want to give that same pain to her friend by having herself get killed. There are people who want to protect her, and do not want so see her get hurt, just as much as she feels those things for them. Touma then tells her not be so ready on dying, as she can find the path to an ending in which everyone is smiling. Leivinia however, advances turning her want into a sword and cutting between them, slicing the overpass. She tells Touma that Fräulein is not as human as he thinks, as everything about her is beyond his understanding. Seemingly uncaring about this, Touma states that all he sees is a girl that is struggling, and is on the verge of giving up. He says he made his decision to protect her as he definitely heard her that she wants to want to eat her brain's friend.

Leivinia then tells Touma those words were nothing but an imitation, trying to crush Touma's motivation. Leivinia states that Fräulein is fundamentally different from humans, as she is, always have been, and always will be, a creature that only appears to think, using simplistic decisions, she has come to the conclusion that copying humans was the ideal choice of living a comfortable life— a mimic. But Touma says that he believes in her, for he come upon this situation countless times before. Touma tells Leivinia that it is because she considered her to be human as well as the reason why she did not attack her right away, talked to her, and even reassured her. Leivinia falls into silence, but then had her wand that had turned into a cup ready. Leivinia too will not yield even if Fräulein does indeed have a heart, for her goal to destroy GREMLIN and stopping the production of Gungnir it at the utmost. And Touma accepts this, seeing the inevitable battle before him. Touma tells Leivinia that even if she defeats Othinus and destroys GREMLIN through sacrificing Fräulein, her taking the easiest path via deception and the harming of others will only change the name of the enemy that she is trying to protect the world and its peoples from. Here, Touma states that he will not allow her to become the ultimate villain.

For the entirety of all the battles that takes place for her sake, Fräulein fights her own battle, trembling alone trying not to be overcome by her instincts. After Touma defeats Leivinia Birdway, Fräulein tries to stand up, and discovers that the security buzzer is vibrating, as a message was sent to her from Last Order and Fremea, and smiles, thanking them, but she is still unable to stop herself from eating them. There, being carried by Beetle 05, both Last Order and Fremea arrive, throwing caution into the wind. However, she is later freed by Touma after his plan in using up Cendrillon's left over parts to create a brain to trick her instincts. She consumes the decoy brain, and the it seemingly works. While eating, her unsettling act was seen by many, and by Accelerator and Mugino Shizuri, the former presuming the worst, he charges towards Fräulein in rage to utterly destroy her. However, his hand is stayed after Last Order calls out to him.

Fräulein's body was tricked indeed, but it also affected her in a much more obvious way, as her body shrunk smaller in size. Still seeing herself as loathsome, she tries to deny herself of her friends as she still couldn't stop herself from eating. But Last Order tells her that even if her situation was not taken into account at all, and her morality is determined by her functions, it does not apply to her now. She says to Fräulein that she need not be afraid or anxious about whether she is good or evil, it will not change that they are friends. In tears, she is embraced by the people she called friends, Fremea and Last Order, while Touma leaves in silence.

The Night After The Festival
Fräulein is later seen again after the end of the festival, hugging Touma from the back, believing it to be normal, mimicking Fremea and Last Order's actions. While Fräulein was hugging Touma, she was brought to Touma's apartment. When Touma and Fräulein had arrived to Touma's apartment Index demanded an explanation for why she was being carried by Touma. After Touma explained that Fräulein just thought that hugging people was normal to do, and briefly stated that Fräulein had also hugged Misaka too. He is ultimately bitten for his trouble by her.

Agitate Halation Arc

 * Main article:Agitate Halation Arc

Fräulein is first seen in this arc sleeping on a rooftop along with a chicken while hugging a body pillow shaped like a white rhinoceros beetle. Kuroyoru Umidori stumbles upon her while heading out for a job. After hearing Fräulein talking in her sleep about how delicious dreams are, Kuroyoru remarks that she's insane and leaves.

Fräulein is seen again in the epilogue. After having been destroyed by Kamijou Touma's Imagine Breaker, Yakumi Hisako is revived in a back alley thanks to an insurance she prepared in case she would die. She attempts to continue her plan, but Fräulein appears, claiming she 'found the bad guy'. She then proceeds to eat Hisako, despite the latter being an information life form with no physical body. After eating over 30% of Yakumi's existence with a single bite, Fräulein rates her as '2 stars. Not bad'. She continues eating, eventually leaving only a very small part of her intact. Fräulein claims that this is Yakumi's punishment for trying to hurt Fremea. She then adds that she will eat the last piece of her if Yakumi will ever manage to 'see herself properly' after thinking for a long time, and that she should look forward to that at the end of her long life.

General characteristics
Fräulein is a queer existence. According to Reading Thoth 78. despite some genetic differences, Fräulein can only be called human, therefore, she could either be another species of human or a subspecies of it. However, it concludes that her identity, probably including what she truly is unknown. To add further proof to this, she is referred to by the AI as a life form that does not possess a Personal Reality as she does not have a mind or ego, a prerequisite for humans to be referred to as espers, and that her powers project only from her simplistic mind in contrast to espers who control it through the use of their entire body and is corroborated by Thor referring to her as a person that has not been dyed by the colors of "magic" or "science." Also, she is able to see and interact with non-physical beings, shown when she ate most of Yakumi Hisako who became an information life form with no physical body.

Information absorption
Her thought patterns are referred to as similar or even more simplified compared to an insect, but her body is overly optimized. Her only apparent motivation is to "learn". She scans the conditions of her environment and the direction that leads to the most suitable environment for her, and here, regardless of what type of information, she absorbs the information in her environment by scanning it. This ranges from apparently simple observation, to plain mimicry, as with the case of the boy in the takoyaki stand, which she starts imitating, eventually becoming even better at it. Continuing with the insect metaphor, once Fräulein has absorbed enough information, she will grow from a collection of continuous thought processes even simpler than an insect’s to a more complex and flexible thought process. In the process of that growth, she will likely experience a great change, that is probably greater to what can be referred to as "Fräulein Kreutune". Fräulein has the ability to modify herself to adapt herself in the environment. Since, she has physical limitations, her transformation will only occur after she has absorbed enough information which should take her an estimated 2,300 years. However, with the advent of the Misaka Network, if ever she can control it after eating Last Order's brain and reproduce its structure within herself to acquire its properties, she can reduced the time to three seconds. Furthermore, if she deems doing so is necessary, any personal circumstances, such as her friendship with Last Order, are estimated to not be enough of a factor to stop her true nature from taking over and eating the brain.

Once transformed a great change between a larva and an adult insect, that is Fräulein Kreutune, which her transformation conceals the possibility of reversing the position of prey and predator. If the position of the hunter and the hunted are reversed, the construction of the food chain will collapse and incredible damage will be done to the current culture that is centered on mankind’s use of science. The deprivation of her senses, and putting her in an environment that she does not consider interesting stops her from learning anything and potentially "transforming."

Other abilities

 * Immortality and Agelessness: Fräulein is seemingly immortal and has lived for hundreds of years if the records of her existence are to be held true. Moreover, if she is indeed hundreds of years old, she retains the look of an adult woman, giving her the ability to retain her youth.
 * Invulnerability: According to medieval records, no form of torture and trial, such as burning, crushing, and drowning, was able to kill or even harm her. This unique durability of hers and her characteristic of being neither a magician or an esper, is what attracted Othinus to her for her plans as she can survive any modification she will put her through. Although she is invulnerable to conventional methods, people such as Othinus and Ollerus may be able to find a way to harm her.
 * Microscopic substance insertion: It is the name Thor uses to refer to Fräulein's ability that she used on them and on the Calculate Fortress. She somehow inserts a microscopic substance inside the target, which immediately affects it. If the target is organic, it will cause it to faint, due to the effects that exhibit characteristics similar to an organ transplant rejection. If the target is inorganic however, the substance expands from within, tearing it apart. Thor states that he has no idea of the fundamental issue of what she is controlling, while Touma conjectures that it may be related to her durability and immortality.
 * Bioelectromagnetic tracking: Fräulein has an organ similar to that of the shark's ampulle of Lorenzini, which allows her to track the bioelectromagnetic information. She can only perceive the massive amount of signals traveling about as a "pressure." She used this ability to try and track down the Misaka Network and Last Order.

Character Art Designs
Fräulein is designed as she is described in the novels. Not much else is known about her design details, but Haimura comments on how she reminded him of the Pillar Men of Jojo's Bizzare Adventure fame.

She is later redesigned for her reapparance as a little girl. Here, she become much more rounder and smaller, moreover, to remove unnecessary lines, her see through clothing is removed as it did worked well with black and white illustrations.

Quotes

 * (Fräulein to a "kind" priest in a flashback from NT5): "If I am innocent, our Lord shall protect me."
 * (Fräulein to a "kind" priest in a flashback, ibid): "Oh, kind, kind priest... Have you run out of trials to put me through? Let’s see, there is one thing I would like to check on: now that I have weathered these trials by ordeal without suffering any harm, what are you supposed to do with me?"
 * (To Last Order and Fremea Seivelun, ibid): "Yes, understood. We are friends."
 * (To Last Order and Fremea Seivelun, from NT6): "Thank you so much."
 * (Talking in her sleep, from NT7): "Mumble mumble... Dreams are so delicious... This information is worth eating..."