Saten Ruiko

Saten Ruiko (佐天 涙子) is a supporting character from the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun sidestories. She is a Level 0 Academy City student and a classmate and close friend of Uiharu Kazari.

Appearance
Saten Ruiko is a girl with blue eyes and long black hair with a small, white flower on the left side of her hair. She also prefers wearing medium length skirts instead of short ones.

The Toaru Kagaku no Railgun booklets bundled with Blu-ray and DVD releases lists her height as 160 cm. However, Yumiya Rakko estimated her height to be 150 cm. It is unknown whether Rakko's estimates were completely accurate.

Personality
She has an outgoing and friendly personality, but is a little shameless as she sometimes flips Uiharu's (and only her's) skirt in public. At first, she displayed apathy towards being a Level 0 but then became envious of the abilities of her friends as she was unable to fulfill her dreams as an esper. Due to this, she used the Level Upper. Later on, she grows to accept herself and becomes determined to develop her own abilities. Like her friend Uiharu, she also has a deep sense of friendship; she was instrumental in helping Uiharu and Kuroko make amends and made Mikoto realize that she has friends who she can count on. She is also adept at reading the atmosphere, and often changes the topic when someone is feeling uncomfortable about something.

She is superstitious despite being in the city of science, though she likes to presume otherwise as when she states that she doesn't believe that her mother's good luck charm actually works. Because of this, she is a fan of internet rumors and urban legends, and loves telling her friends about them. This extends to herself, believing that her nose is sensitive to money, though she backs this up by showing Mikoto four bank cards she had already obtained. She has a natural tendency to be nosy regarding this, and often gets herself into trouble because of it, often needing to be saved by coincidental events or having become involved in events.

Saten Ruiko can be described as a normal-acting preteen in the series in comparison to her peers, not having any extracurricular activities like Judgment or being particularly book smart. She is very affable, quick to make friends, and cheerful. She knows the latest trends and fashions, and in fact has the most wardrobe changes in the series.

Background
She was born outside Academy City and when she was younger, she decided that she wanted to go to Academy City to become an esper. She even boasted to her brother that she was going to get powers. Her mother, although disapproving of her decision as she was afraid of what the city would do to her head, supported her regardless and said she could come back anytime. Her mother also gave her a good luck charm, which is shown to be always attached to her bag.

Sometime in Academy City, she became close friends with Uiharu Kazari. She eventually enrolled into Sakugawa Middle School along with Uiharu and was classified as a Level 0. She also let down her hair and wore a white flower on the left side of her head. She is currently a 1st year student in class 1-D.

Battle Royale Arc
She is featured in the color illustration of the scene where the member of the ITEM and Hamazura discussed about the attempted assassination of Oyafune Monaka.

Freshmen Arc
She, Uiharu, and Haruue appeared in the background of the color illustration of the scene where the members of the new ITEM sit in the restaurant.

Magic God Othinus Arc
In the final recreation of the world by Othinus created specifically to break Touma's spirit, known as the Version_Omega world in-text, where several characters from the original world have been "saved" or have not experienced great tragedy, Kuroko, Uiharu, and Saten are in the festival where Touma is after his spirit has already been broken, trying to decide how he should have himself killed. Here, they are all aware of the existence of clones. Kuroko complains on how there are too many people in the festival and wonders where Mikoto had ran off to. Uiharu comments on how it would be impossible to find her in the festival with all the people who look like her. Saten then comments on how she just remembered that Meigo Arisa may be coming in secret, referring to her "perfect mode" after becoming one with Shutaura Sequenzia. Uiharu comments on how she saw the doll-like child president wandering around earlier, as such Arisa may be around.

Kamisato Rescue Arc
On December 9th, following the Elements and the heat wave, Saten and Uiharu were present near the Trial shelter at the beginning of the '48 Hours to Restore Order'. As the shelter's residents were turning on the shelter's 'ruler' and looking to execute him, Uiharu wanted to help as a member of Judgment but Saten dragged her away, telling her that they needed to gather a greater number of adults to deal with the many people involved.

Coronzon Arc
Shortly after the evacuation of Academy City began on December 12th, Uiharu and Saten were picked up by their families.

Toaru Majutsu no Index Movie: Miracle of Endymion
She plays an extremely minor role in the movie, often just hanging around with Uiharu. She is the one who calls Mikoto on how Meigo Arisa has been abducted. Later, when Uiharu states that they need to destroy the explosive bolts of the Endymion in order to prevent it from crashing down to earth, and that they are in need of people to do so, Saten tries to offer her "services", showing off her bat, but is then interrupted by Tsuchimikado Motoharu, who hijacks their communication lines just to say that he is offering them his services. She later witnesses the Miracle of Endymion, and the space elevator no longer being in danger.

Toaru Majutsu no Index-tan
In the third episode of the shorts, Saten made an apperance, doing some mundane things while humming a tune of incomprehensible language, all while the Tree Diagram Remnant Arc happened at the same time. This refers to her not appearing or referenced at all in the main Index anime series. At her final scene at that short, she sleeps, while asking "Are you wearing your panties?", refering to her friend Uiharu, which appeared in the main series.

MMR: Much More Railgun
In the first episode of the shorts, Saten first appears in the beginning of the special, flipping Uiharu Kazari's skirt in a strange accent. The scene where Saten and Mikoto are purchasing crepes in the first episode is parodied, here Saten receives Alastor from ‘’Shakugan no Shana’’ instead of a Gekota toy and offers it to Mikoto. Later both Saten and Uiharu are horrified after they witness Kuroko's neck being broken multiple times by the Tokiwadai Dorm Mistress, afterwards they discuss rumors about her being a former soldier in the jungle snapping people's necks. In a later scene Saten is seen sighing in a classroom wanting to eat shibazuke. In a later scene Saten's teacher asks her what would happen to the cat in the box (the experiment is similar to what Komoe demonstrated in Toaru Majutsu no Index) which looks similar to Sphynx, Saten answers that the cat would be either dead or alive and is proven wrong when the box reveals the Palm Top Tiger from . In the final scene Saten, Uiharu, and Kuroko listen to Mikoto and her suspicions of the many wind turbines in the city even when they are inland. Both Saten and Uiharu are both convinced by her that extraterrestrials are involved with this but is later told by Kuroko that in Academy City anything can happen.

In the second episode, Saten first appeared sliding onto the screen, saying that the lesson one has ended (referencing Genma War), while her friends are playing with psychokinesis and doing Akira references. Then, in the ''Teach Us! Railgun'' skit, she is the one who asks about synesthesia to Kuroko, who acts as a teacher to the skit. The next skit then shows her overreacting to brain freezing while eating shaved ice alongside Kuroko, much to the annoyance of Mikoto. In another skit, she tells to Uiharu and Kuroko about the rumor concerning the evolution of Stripping Woman into Sandals Woman, then she does a double reference to Pokemon and BlueDia Laundry Detergents. Later, she, alongside Mikoto, Kuroko, Uiharu, Konori, and Kiyama drink milk together while looking at the sunset. In the final skit, she, Uiharu, and Kuroko listen to Mikoto's suspicions of the city being surrounded by walls, with everyone pumped the future into their minds and them being watched on TV for fun. Then, after Uiharu stated that she posts the rumor herself, she questions her if she wears her panties in a strange accent, even cycling their responses. She then references Kaiji alongside Uiharu and later corrects Uiharu that the 'gray' that Mikoto mentioned is a band.

Being a photoshoot model under the sun isn't easy, you know
Set during episode 13, Saten accidentally takes a suntan lotion filled with aphrodisiacs, courtesy of Kuroko, that was meant for Mikoto. Aroused, she tries to see Uiharu's panties, and is quickly told by her that since she is wearing a swimsuit, she doesn't have any on. However, this only makes Saten want to see even more, and soon chases Uiharu. She later comes to her senses and apologizes to a scared Uiharu, though is quickly told by Mikoto that she was a victim herself.

Extra Franchise Cameo
Saten appears quickly for a second in Ookami-san and her Seven Companions (also produced by JC Staff Animation Studios), looking uninterested at the screen, as a potential bride candidate for the boy millionaire Nezumi Chuutaro.

Abilities
Her ability while using Level Upper is Aero Hand (空力使い (エアロハンド) ), a power that should allow her to propel objects using ejection points of air, though, she can only move small leaves in the palm of her hands. Once Level Upper was reversed, her ability level returned to 0.

Other abilities
She also is very athletic, being capable of running for a noticeably longer time than most students during her extra classes after the Level Upper incident, and was capable of quickly reaching the top floor of the large building that housed the Child Errors from the very bottom floor. Also, she is able to dodge the attacks of full armed and dangerous Powered Suits and hit them with a baseball bat. She is also capable of destroying expensive technology with merely a swing of a baseball bat. Both these situations emphasize her strength and agility.

She displays impressive skill in sewing.

Using Indian Poker, Saten learns a range of miscellaneous skills. These include kendama and the Youth Olympics-level running long jump.

In the Silent Party arc, she and Uiharu are able to memorize an entire manual of instructions on how to pilot a giant mecha in one night and able to apply it in battle. This is exemplified by Saten and Uiharu easily defeating two mobile weapons. It should be noted that she has not shown any sign of this sort of intelligence anywhere else in the series, and her ability to do this might have been due to it being on the spur of the moment with a lot being at stake or simply another aspect of Cloverfield as this was an anime original scene.

Design Evolution
Haimura designed Saten for the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga. Originally, he thought that she was a victim-type of character that needed protecting, that is until Kamachi told him to make her more bright and carefree, which forced him to redesign her. Haimura gave Saten a flower hairclip to match Uiharu Kazari's flower headband.

Trivia

 * Although she doesn't appear in the anime adaptation of Toaru Majutsu no Index, both her and Uiharu appear in the first and second openings, PSI-Missing and Masterpiece respectively. In the first opening, they can both be seen sitting in a café with Kuroko with their backs facing the camera. In the second opening, they walk by in front of Mikoto before the camera flashes to her.
 * In both of her cameo apperances, her hair color is slightly brown, as opposed to black.

Quotes

 * (To Uiharu)" I'm Level 0. No powers. But I don't worry about that sort of thing. As long as everyday is fun, I'm okay with it."
 * (To Uiharu on the phone)"I didn't like being so powerless. But I couldn't give up on my hopes...Mama..."
 * (To Uiharu)"I'm sorry...I got you involved in something dumb...I kept secrets from you...and made you go through all of this...Only a bit more, and I might have lost something far more important than powers..."
 * "There's no way it'd go so well. But...Let's keep trying."
 * (To Uiharu)"I'm not going to give up anymore. Yep, never again."
 * (To Mikoto)"It's not trouble to us. But instead of worrying about you after you're gone, I'd rather go with you and help you. Because that's what friends are for."
 * (To Therestina)"Don't you dare lay a finger...on my friends!"
 * (To Mikoto)"But don't forget this. We're here for you. If you can't do it on your own, please let us know anytime, okay?"