Kouzaku Mitori

Kouzaku Mitori (警策看取), nicknamed Mii-chan (みーちゃん), is a character introduced in the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga series. She is a mysterious girl who targeted Misaka Mikoto's Sisters under the orders of Kihara Gensei. After her defeat at the hands of Shirai Kuroko, she now serves as Shokuhou Misaki's informant.

Appearance
Kouzaku is a girl of roughly Mikoto's age, with purple-colored hair styled into twin tails and purple-colored eyes. When she was younger she wore her hair short, and that fell down on both sides of her head.

While working with Kihara Gensei and acting as MEMBER's liaison, she wore an outfit resembling a pink nurse's uniform, modified to contain elements of punk fashion, particularly skull-themed accessories. The reason for her cosplaying as a nurse was to better act as MEMBER's liaison, as it was her hobby. She also wore a pair of dark-colored hosiery and pink pumps. Occasionally she could be seen wearing a hood that concealed much of her outfit, and an accessory she often kept with her was a short whip called a riding crop.

Following her reunion with Dolly and working together with Shokuhou Misaki, Kouzaku often wears a black business suit with a white under-shirt.

Personality
Despite belonging to the dark side of Academy City, Kouzaku possesses a rather cheerful personality and a tendency to find time to be happy despite of her exposure to sinister environments, which is a testament to her sizable experience in the dark side. In fact, she considers those who are able to live peaceful lives in Academy City as "oddities". Though her cheerful demeanor was mostly an act that she put up for the researchers she worked with to develop powers, believing the best way to do well was to put up the facade for them, she did develop genuine feelings for Dolly, which led to her desire for revenge at the pain and suffering that she was put through for the sake of being a prototype experiment with no regard for her well being.

Background
When she was young, she was a test subject of the Clone Dolly project, the same facility where research in the Exterior Project was being conducted. She pretended to smile for the researchers to get on their good side. One day, she was asked to play with Dolly, who has taken a liking to her immediately, calling her "Mi-chan". Although she thought she was stupid, only with her did Kouzaku smiled genuinely unlike with the researchers. As she begins visiting Dolly everyday, she becomes suspicious with her situation. Kouzaku asks Dolly why she can't go outside, to which she confides to Kouzaku that she is being healed, so that she can help her little sister, which she has never met. She then says that if they can heal her then she can have many little Sisters.

One fateful day she came in as a check-up on Dolly was being conducted, and was shocked to see the life-support machines that were embedded into her body to keep her alive. She is then told to leave the room by a researcher, who explains Dolly's situation with her. Suspicious of this, Kouzaku began to investigate using her Liquid Shadow ability. Here, she discovers that Dolly is a prototype clone, where she is researched to get more data in creating more long lasting clones. She finds out that the researchers have been neglecting her health and was just giving her drugs to gather data, shortening her already short lifespan.

Kouzaku confronts a researcher regarding this, threatens to go public with the information she gathered if they do not stop the medication on Dolly. The researcher refuses and tells her that the experiment was requested by the Board of Directors, pointing towards the Windowless Building. Kouzaku is then beaten up by two geared men, and put alone in a room. Her life spared because her latent ability being useful for Exterior. This is likely the reason why she was never able to visit Dolly again.

Kouzaku later finds herself alone in the building, long after Shokuhou Misaki has taken control and shut down the Exterior Project and Dolly's death. She returns to the floor where she was shown the Windowless Building, swearing revenge. In spite her efforts, she discovered that the Chairman of the Board of Directors is untouchable.

Kouzaku later attended Kirigaoka Girls' Academy Middle School and later performed a terrorist attack on the Academy City Chairman of the Board by bombing his headquarters but failed in doing so. 14 months prior to the Daihaseisai, as Kouzaku Mitori was put in the Reformatory (Juvenile Hall) for the terrorist attack. Some time later, she was secretly removed from the Reformatory by some special forces geared men to bring her to Kihara Gensei, their he enticed her with the prospect of being able to gain the necessary power needed to annihilate Academy City. After explaining to her his plan, Kouzaku asks why she was chosen, to which Gensei points out that it was because of her hatred. She then begins working for Kihara Gensei and becomes part of the Dark Side of Academy City where under orders she infiltrated MEMBER and took away its liaison position for him, the latter as a middleman between MEMBER and the Academy City Board of Directors. Some point after her escape her records in the Bank were falsified to declare that she is dead. Based on data that Shirai Kuroko and Uiharu Kazari uncovered, Kouzaku would be a 3rd year student in Kirigaoka Girls' Academy Middle School at the time of the Daihaseisai if she hadn't been involved in the "terrorist attack" incident.

Daihasei Festival Arc
Kouzaku Mitori was with Xochitl when she received a call from Baba Yoshio asking for a safe place to hide after Misaka Mikoto destroyed his Type:Mantis and threatened him. Hearing that Mikoto hadn't been stopped, Kouzaku decided to head out. After being warned by Xochitl about Mikoto's strength, she said that she didn't have to defeat her and that she'd have things cleaned up within the day.

Kouzaku hacked into the visitor ID GPS system to locate Misaka Misuzu to use as a hostage. Finding Misuzu with Uiharu Kazari, she said to herself that having another hostage wouldn't hurt. She later approached Mikoto via her Liquid Shadow puppet in disguise, telling her that she wanted to ask her about something. When Mikoto mentioned she had no time to speak to strangers but would make an exception to anyone connected to the person who hurt her friend, Kouzaku revealed an unconscious Uiharu and held a knife towards her throat.

After getting Mikoto to end her phone call and throw her phone away, Kouzaku mentioned that she had no need to introduce herself seeing as how Mikoto attacked their villas and stole their information. When Mikoto asked what she's talking about, Kouzaku told her not to play dumb and that she should know what they were after - where the Sisters were being hidden. Mikoto asked why she was attacking her friends but Kouzaku asked her back if she could really say that, calling her an oddity for living a carefree life despite knowing what was going on in the city, mentioning about experiments on Child Errors, the trick used to obtain her DNA map and the inhuman Level 6 Shift experiments, all leading up to the highest levels of Academy City. Kouzaku said that Mikoto was different from the average ignorant student yet she turned a blind eye and lived an everyday life, asking her how she could remain calm despite all this.

Mikoto started to reply but changed her mind, saying that it had nothing to do with this and that none of this was an excuse to hurt her friends. Saying she had nothing to tell her, Mikoto warned Kouzaku to let Uiharu go, saying her electricity would reach her before she could move her knife. Kouzaku then mentioned how she thought she was Mikoto's friend seeing how she knew her mother. She then pointed to Misuzu, also held hostage. Saying that not even Mikoto could save them both and that it was clear that she didn't need to weigh their lives against the location of the clones, Kouzaku once again asked where the clones are. Mikoto again said she has nothing to say to her. Kouzaku asked Mikoto if she thought she was bluffing or if she was willing to let one of them die. Mikoto then declared she would save Uiharu no matter what. Kouzaku laughed and asked if her mother was expendable. As she remarked how cruel that was, Mikoto attracted some pipes with magnetism to pull Uiharu away while attracting her phone to block the knife, before moving in and attacking with electricity.

Seeing that the negotiation had failed, Kouzaku attempted to carry through with her threat, saying she wouldn't like it to end with Mikoto underestimating her and telling Misuzu to resent Mikoto for abandoning her. At that moment, Shirai Kuroko teleported in and threw her wheelchair down at her. Jumping out of the way, Kouzaku threw a knife at Kuroko, who evaded it. She then escaped as Kuroko was teleporting Misuzu to safety. As she was escaping, she had her liquid metal puppet attack Kuroko as she was moving to apprehend it and walk towards Mikoto, pointing towards her with a smirk before it dissolved as Kouzaku moved out of range.

In the sewers, Kouzaku remarked that they couldn't have Mikoto dying yet, saying that direct negotiation was hard, though necessary as she could do too much over a camera. She then thought back on the conversation, thinking that Mikoto had no reason to feign ignorance, but they determined it was her from the witnesses. She then considered that the witnesses may have lied, or had their memories altered. Thinking about Mikoto's expression back then, she then said that there may be some hope left.

Kouzaku later reported to Gensei that it was Shokuhou Misaki who was the real culprit behind the attacks on their villas, only to find to her slight dismay that Gensei already knew. Gensei then told her to continue with her preparations.

When Saten Ruiko investigated the Shinohara Liquid Material Factory and was threatened into leaving by Xochitl, Kouzaku's puppet attacked Saten when she turned round, slicing her backpack, coming out of the pipes and scaring her into running off. She then asked Xochitl why she let her get away to which Xochitl replied that since the supposed plan was in its final stage, she didn't think she could interfere at all. Kouzaku replied that was no reason to let her live and went off with a subordinate to catch Saten.

After capturing Saten, Kouzaku remarked how she was an energetic rat as she struggled against her captors. When the subordinate asked what to do with her, Kouzaku told him to find out why she came there then dispose of her, saying she has something she needs to do. She turned to leave but turned back when Xochitl appeared and dispatched the subordinates.

Kouzaku asked Xochitl if she was betraying them or if she cared for Saten. Xochitl replied that she didn't care for the idiot but Kouzaku was the real traitor. She then revealed how the Professor had become aware that Kouzaku had used her position as a go-between to have MEMBER carry out jobs from someone outside the Board of Directors. After Xochitl declared her intention to punish her, Kouzaku asked if it wouldn't result in a one-sided slaughter, to which Xochitl told her not to assume she's safe where she's hiding, stating that Kouzaku doesn't know all of her spells. Kouzaku thought that this was probably a bluff, but noted that Xochitl's power, coming from outside Academy City, might be able to produce an unexpected phenomena. Considering that she couldn't afford to mess up, Kouzaku decided to retreat, leaving Xochitl a warning that she should leave Academy City if she wanted to live much longer.

Later, when Gensei initiated his Level 6 Shift attempt on Mikoto, Kouzaku looked on from a nearby rooftop, smiling. She then used her access to Exterior's Mental Out, granted by the Level Upper, to communicate with Mikoto, who wasn't properly conscious due to the shift which was being forced on her. Reminding her of the atrocities she'd seen, Kouzaku pointed out the Windowless Building and that everything would continue as long as it stood, suggesting she destroy it.

Kouzaku then watched in amazement as Mikoto unleashed a huge lightning strike on the Windowless Building. She believed that the building had been destroyed, but to her dismay the smoke cleared to reveal it unharmed. She then called Gensei, asking what was going on as this wasn't what as he said, to which Gensei replied that the building couldn't be damaged by attacking in head-on and that Mikoto was still growing, remarking on how impatient she was. He reminded her to carry out her duty if she wanted to achieve her goal, giving her another task to perform.

As Misaki met Keitz Nokleben on the roof of the Exterior building, Kouzaku attacked with her puppet, snaring Misaki's leg. As Misaki tried to use her remote, Kouzaku added to Misaki's earlier remark that only someone with Mental Out could oppose Mental Out, saying something remote controlled could also handle it. She then told Misaki to come with her and not resist. Her puppet's limb was then suddenly severed by a shard of metal, teleported by Kuroko.

As Kuroko declared her intention to arrest and question everyone present, mentioning Kouzaku's falsification of the Bank's data, Kouzaku attacked with her puppet. Kuroko evaded her attack and at Misaki's request, teleported Keitz and Misaka 10032 to safety. Kouzaku attempted to attack the two but Kuroko teleported herself and Misaki away. As Kouzaku had her puppet repair itself, she remarked on how they'd found her data in the Bank that soon. Noticing Kuroko moving to pursue her, Kouzaku informed Gensei that she'd failed to capture Misaki, asking him to handle her as she needed to protect herself. She also suggested to Mikoto to swat away the "fly" that was bothering her.

As Kuroko was searching for Kouzaku in the buildings near to where Mikoto was, Kouzaku had her puppet slice through a door to attack her. Kuroko then proceeded to engage the puppet in combat. Evading its extending limbs, she sent a stake into the camera around it's neck and used a device to deafen her echolocation to escape. After piercing the device, Kouzaku sensed Kuroko was heading her way. Realizing that the security cameras likely gave her location away, she had her puppet slice and enter sewer pipe to head to where Kuroko was. As destroying the cameras to allow her to escape takes too much time, she turns her attention on Kuroko, she used a floating camera to target her when she used the sonic device and stabbed at her with her puppet, spreading out her attacks to suggest she was trying not give herself away while viewing directly.

Kouzaku's puppet caught up with Kuroko through a ventilation duct, as she reached the last blind spot in the building. As Kuroko used another device to seal her echolocation, Kouzaku turned to the camera, believing luck was still on her side. Considering the lag when Kuroko teleports and the location she was likely to jump to, Kouzaku had her puppet fire a knife hidden inside it towards her. She saw Kuroko get hit by it and then saw her lying dead on the floor below. Laughing madly, Kouzaku apologized, saying she wouldn't have killed her if she hadn't interfered, though she added that she'd have met the same fate when the city was destroyed.

Sensing Mikoto's progress, Kouzaku then guided her into creating a black sphere, aimed at the Windowless Building. Mentioning that though Mikoto could destroy the city she had to make sure that person was definitely eliminated, Kouzaku told them to apologize to "her" in the afterlife, yelling for Mikoto to blow them away. She then heard something behind her and turned to see Kuroko, who had realized she was hiding in the sewers. Kouzaku was shocked that her camera, out of the thousands around, had been hacked with dummy footage, to which Kuroko replied she had the ultimate partner for that. Kuroko then declared she had nowhere left to run.

Cornered and with no time to call her Liquid Shadow, Kouzaku reached for her knives, thinking about how she didn't just come down there to hide but also in case she was tracked down, as the passage limited teleportation. She then planned to shoot Kuroko with her ballistic knife when she teleported to avoid her first knife, taking advantage of her lag, taking both of them down if she attacked via teleportation instead. As Kuroko moved forward, Kouzaku threw the first knife, but to her surprise instead of teleporting Kuroko intercepted it with her hand. Not reacting fast enough, Kouzaku was punched then kicked down by Kuroko.

Screaming, she lunged at Kuroko with the second knife but Kuroko teleported and kicked her in the back of the head. As she fell, Kouzaku thought of Dolly before losing consciousness. She is then handcuffed by Kuroko before she leaves the sewers to be picked by someone for her custody.

Some time after her defeat in the sewers, utterly beaten, she finds no reason in escaping her handcuffs with her powers. She is later visited by Misaki, and tells her that there is a clone that has been transferred with the memories and experiences of Dolly. She tells her that though she isn't Dolly, she just can't let her be, and tells her to come with her. Kouzaku escapes her bonds and asks why she didn't just use her powers on her instead of explaining things to her. Misaki asks if she needed to use her power, to which Kouzaku says she didn't. Thus with a mutual understanding, Kouzaku stands once more to bring an end to the tragedy that has befallen on Dolly.

Back with Misaki and Kouzaku, they enter the building where Dolly is kept, Misaki tells her that Dolly perceived her as Kouzaku, as at the time she still didn't have the ability to manipulate memories. Misaki says that at some point, Dolly noticed that she was a fake, to which Kouzaku notes that Dolly had surprisingly good intuition. Kouzaku then says thanks as the elevator comes to their intended floor. She says to Misaki that with her at the end of Dolly's life, at least she wasn't alone, and says that was her biggest regret. The door opens to reveal the capsule where the clone of Dolly is kept, and runs up to it. The clone's consciousness wavers until finally it awakens and calls out to Kouzaku's name at the sight of her. There, after a terrible long count of years, the two friends, Dolly and Kouzaku are finally reunited. Dolly, seeing Kouzaku, asks her if she is Mi-chan, to which she confirms. Breaking down in tears, Dolly says she missed her and the two girls embrace. Dolly says that she thought Kouzaku hated her because she found her creepy, to which Kouzaku denies. She then notes that she remembers Kouzaku's scent and notes on how nostalgic it is. She then says that she loves her.

Meanwhile, Misaki, who is hiding in the shadows watching them, finally tries to leave. However, Dolly calls out to her, knowing who she is. Misaki tries to play it off, but Dolly says she knows she is Misaki because they are always together in their dreams, and says the time they've spent together is the only memories they both have. Misaki is at loss for words, and then finally, she apologizes to Dolly. With emotions overcoming her, Misaki says that she is sorry for deceiving her, manipulating her memories, and her getting lost in the comfortable lie of being her friend. She says that if she had looked into who "Mi-chan" was then she could've reunited her with Dolly, and if she had known the truth of the experiment she is sure that Dolly wouldn't have died. Misaki says that it is all her fault for selfishly putting herself between the two of them. And then states that she'll do anything to make it up to her.

Then, Dolly with Kouzaku, come from behind Misaki and embraces her, telling her that she wants her to take her to the beach, let her ride a roller coaster at an amusement park, let her see a hippopotamus at the zoo, ride an airplane, and see an aurora in Finland. She continues on with many more requests, to which Kouzaku says that it is way too much. But Dolly can only help but laugh. She says, as she leans on Kouzaku, that if they are all together, anywhere is fine, and asks if they can do that. Hearing this, Misaki says that Dolly still ignores what everyone says and force her opinion on them. She turns to them to reveal the tears upon her face and says that Dolly is selfish and that there's no arguing with her.

Dream Ranker Arc
In spite of her activities during the Daihaseisai, Kouzaku manages to evade incarceration and became an informant affiliated with Misaki. During Misaki's investigation of the Indian Poker card technology, Kouzaku uses a smaller version of her Liquid Shadow puppets to contact and relay information with the Level 5. In one conversation, Kouzaku comments that Misaki seems to be using the Sisters to urge Mikoto to take action, something she considers unnecessary due to Mikoto's tendency to take action depending on whether innocents are endangered. Kouzaku, in turn, speculates that Misaki is using the opportunity to help the Sisters (as they originated from her friend Dolly). Although the Level 5 denies the claim, smashing the Liquid Shadow puppet in response, Kouzaku isn't convinced. Afterwards, Misaki learns that with Keitz's help, Kouzaku has managed to locate the laboratory of Kuriba Ryouko, the creator of the Indian Poker cards.

Jailbreaker Arc
Kouzaku participated in the Second Reformatory's Jailbreak Trial event together with Dolly. Shokuhou did not particate, given the nature of the challenge and ignoring Director Kyougoku Ryouta's provocation. She did however assign two members of her clique, Mei and Kii, to secretly watch over the two and guarantee their safety, with their memories to be erased afterwards.

Before the outer wall was breached, Kouzaku attempted to send a drone through the ventilation ducts but it was intercepted by security. Dolly then saved her from a guard robot. Once within the walls, the two ran into one of the dog-shaped guide robots with the face of Director Kyougoku. Bringing it down with her drones, Kouzaku stomped on it in annoyance at what had been shown to her and Dolly, who was more amused. Inside the prison building, Kouzaku remarked on the absence of human security and thought about the differences compared to her previous experience before the two ran into one of the facility's giant robotic gigapedes. They were saved by the not-particularly-discrete intervention of Mei and Kii.

After the challenge concluded with Uiharu's victory, while accompanying Dolly at a nearby souvenir fair, she saw and thanked the Shokuhou clique girls for their help earlier, though she didn't let anything slip about Dolly to the curious pair despite that fact they wouldn't remember it anyway. She then thought back on the trial and how it seemed as though it had been set up so that an expert hacker could win it, as thought it was meant to find one. Dismissing the thought, Kouzaku returned to Dolly and found to mild dismay that Dolly had bought keychains with the man-faced guide robots for the three of them.

Tokiwadai Election Arc
Around the time of Tokiwadai's student council presidential election, when Hokaze Junko had been falsely accused of threatening a rival clique member and taken into custody, Kouzaku contacted Shokuhou to talk about a group (associated with the symbol of two squares or cubes) that Shokuhou had came into conflict with.

Not long afterwards, Kouzaku infiltrated an associated facility, only to find the people inside unconscious. She was then contacted by an individual claiming to be the previous #1 Level 5, residing with a cube, one of a pair referred to as Relics. Coming under the cube's influence, Kouzaku headed towards Tokiwadai, where the other cube was, with a number of robots encased in Shadow Metal along the way.

As Misaka Mikoto was facing the Synthesize Grid produced by the other Relic, manipulating Kokuchou Mayui, Kouzaku intervened with Absolute Leaf to break through the image of a potentially lethal attack and reach Kokuchou with cube in hand, bringing the pair of cubes into contact with one another.

Abilities
Kouzaku is a Level 4 esper, with the ability Liquid Shadow, which gives her free control over liquids with a of 20 or greater, which in her case, she prefers the use of liquid metal. The ability gives her high combat ability and she can remotely control the liquid from even several hundred kilometers away.

She uses her ability on liquid metal to make and shape forms out of it. She however has shown that she uses it form and control a copy of herself. This puppet is capable of manipulating its body parts to create weapons which can be as sharp and agile as a butterfly knife, and can withstand electric attacks and having objects teleported into it. However, it appears that the puppet dematerializes into a puddle when Kouzaku goes too far away from it. Kouzaku is unable to see through her puppet, instead using a form of echolocation to detect heartbeats within a few dozen meters of her puppet and a skull shaped camera worn around it's neck. She can also see using several Homing Cameras after the skull shaped camera is damaged, though depending on the angle of the Homing Camera she has to spread out the attack and even then not generated to hit the target properly. The puppet can also hold objects inside its body and can propel them outside, as when Kouzaku made it throw a knife hidden inside it to give Kuroko a lethal blow.

The "Liquid Shadow" only has the senses of hearing and touch, which compensates by having a puppet wear a collar with a camera on it. She also has some difficulty with precise body control if it does not have the same volume and shape as her own body.

Temporary Abilities
Thanks to Gensei using Level Upper to share Exterior with her, Kouzaku could access the Mental Out ability, though she could seemingly only use it to communicate with Mikoto after the start of the Level 6 Shift attempt on her, playing the role of her guide. After Exterior's destruction, she cannot access it anymore.

After coming into contact with one of the Relics and coming under its influence, Kouzaku wielded the cube and its associated power,  called Absolute Leaf and invoked with the command Throttle. Besides being able to neutralize an effect from the other Relic's power, it was capable of manifesting Shadow Metal.

Equipment
Kouzaku carries knives with her for emergencies, including a throwing knife and a ballistic knife. She is proficient with using and throwing knives.

She also carries a black tablet, with the image of a dark-pink broken heart on its back, used for communication and directing electronic equipment, such as the drone she used during the Jailbreak Trial.

Design Evolution
Kouzaku's design remains consistent throughout her appearance in the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga. The artist and character designer, Haimura Kiyotaka, was instructed to design Kouzaku in a nurse outfit, and he drew her as similar to from the  series or like a schoolgirl version of singer. Haimura also guesses he saw her as a more offense-oriented Shirai Kuroko.

Trivia

 * Her surname literally means "horsewhip".
 * In the manga, Kouzaku's speech lines are often depicted such that her shorter phrases, especially those found at the start of a speech bubble, are rendered in katakana.
 * Kouzaku can be compared to Sherry Cromwell, desiring to cause a large scale of destruction to Academy City due to what the Dark Side has done to a lost friend during her childhood. Furthermore, her Shadow Metal puppet shares similarities with the golem Ellis, which even Kuroko pointed out.

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Mitori Kouzaku