Kuriba Ryouko

Kuriba Ryouko (操歯涼子 (くりばりょうこ)) is a student of School District 20's Shinshikimi Middle School and the creator of Indian Poker.

Appearance
Kuriba Ryouko has vertically striped hair, alternating between light and dark from a dark stripe at the middle of her frontal fringe.

Background
In the past, Ryouko was involved in an experiment in which her body was split in two and the missing parts replaced with machines to create two separate cyborgs. After a year living apart, the two Ryoukos were recombined into one, with no split personalities or rejection, and retaining the memories of the time split apart. While Ryouko wished to test the compatibility between the cyborg technology and the human body, the institution she was working with also hoped to observe a possible side-effect - the creation of a "soul".

At some point afterwards, she created the Indian Poker cards which enabled people to record and view dreams, and distributed the method to produce them.

Dream Ranker Arc
Ryouko first appears in a Indian Poker card that Misaka Mikoto was using as she was searching for the Bust Upper card. Seemingly speaking to Mikoto directly, she speaks cryptically of the future and that there is a threat that not only Mikoto cannot ignore, but also a threat that could lead to another one if Mikoto eliminates it. Before Mikoto could confront her, she appears to split into two.

Mikoto later meets two "Ryoukos" for the first time after the Electromaster was asked by Shokuhou Misaki to investigate on Ryouko's background. The first Ryouko, which was entirely mechanical, escaped from her facility by jumping from the topmost floor (and surviving). Meanwhile, the original Ryouko is later tracked down by Mikoto in an apartment complex with the help of Misaki. Although hesitant to cooperate at first, the original Ryouko eventually agrees to explain her involvement with the "soul creation" experiment and the development of the Indian Poker cards.