Shizuku Yaegashi

Shizuku Yaegashi is a main character from the Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest series.

She is the best friend of Kaori Shirasaki and the childhood friend of Kouki Amanogawa.

Appearance
Shizuku is a beautiful woman with red colored eyes and a long black hair that is usually tied up in a ponytail.

Personality
"I’m in love with you, Nagumo-kun. And I’ll do whatever it takes to make you mine."

- Shizuku to Hajime Nagumo

Shizuku is a hardworking, kind and caring girl who passes her time on practicing her swordsmanship. She is referred to as a cool beauty but actually has a girlish side that like cute things. Kaori stated that she is often hiding her true feelings and putting on a mask so other people did not worry about her. In the Frost Cavern of Schnee, it is revealed that Shizuku didn't originally want to learn swordsmanship, but didn't want to betray her family's expectations, who praised her for her talent. This lead her to suppress her girly nature which included her dreams of being a princess and falling in love with a prince who would always save her. Due to this, she harbors a degree of dissatisfaction due to being unable to act as a normal girl and her constantly being forced to look after other instead of having someone take care of her. After falling in love with Hajime, she has come to terms with those feelings.

Shizuku has an extreme aversion towards bugs such cockroaches as demonstrated in the final trial of the Haltina Labyrinth, or her frightened reaction towards Hajime's Arachnae golems.

Shizuku is extremely sharp with an excellent grasp of people's subtleties and relationships, her kind and compassionate personality won't let her ignore trouble around her giving her a lot of hardships. She's also very smart and capable to process things without much explanation which impressed even Hajime Nagumo. Cattleya considered Shizuku to be the brain's of Kouki's party and the most dangerous because she could calmly analyze every situation and come up with an optimal solution, unlike Kouki, who simply charges into a situation without thinking while also letting his emotions control his actions.

One of Shizuku's most notable traits is her loyalty towards her friends or people she finds interesting. She stayed as Kouki's childhood friend despite her desire to cut ties for the sake of avoiding the bullying of other girls that were in love with him and would try to steer him on the right path when his habit of interpreting things to his convenience would lead him astray. In the case of Kaori, she would always try to help her whether it was protecting her or helping her in her pursuit of Hajime's feelings. She even attempted to help Hajime when their classmates would try to bully him and scorn him as she empathized with his situation due it being similar to her own in the past. After Hajime feel into the Abyss, Shizuku promised Kaori that she would help save him or at least allow Kaori to see his fate despite doubting his survival.

Shizuku is generally one of most realistic among her classmates. Unlike the idealistic Kouki, optimistic Ryutarou and the oblivious Kaori, Shizuku usually acted as the voice of reason and caution among her class instead of blindly rushing in. While she was shocked when Hajime killed Cattleya, she knew she didn't have the right to judge him for his action because she understood the situation, unlike Kouki who couldn't accept what Hajime had done, even through he had no right to complain after already failing. She even resolved herself to be ready to kill her enemies to better protect her friends, knowing full well it would make her a murderer. Due to her more realistic worldview as well as her previous cordial relationship with Hajime in Japan, she often took over the role of meditating conflict between the Hero party members especially Kouki and Hajime due to their clashing outlooks and worldviews.

When Kaori was trying to learn about anime and manga to get closer to Hajime, Shizuku got dragged into it by Kaori. This made her surprising knowledgeable about them herself. She even came to understand an otaku's greatest weakness: they developed many embarrassing chūni habits that haunt them forever. Using this knowledge, she was able to bring Hajime to his knees by threatening to spread all kinds of chūni nicknames about him around Tortus and Japan if he didn't treat Kaori nicely.

While she initially appears to be a cool stoic beauty, Shizuku has a secret cute and girlish side which she usually tries to hide due to embarrassment and to avoid being teased by her friends. She likes the color pink as well as cute animals as was seen when she petted a lost cat she found and has a fondness of cute bunnies which caused her to keep sneaking glances at Shea's bunny ears.

Weapons & Equipment

 * Knight's Sword - Shizuku was given a knight sword that was slightly curved. Its edge was magically sharpened, and it increased the speed of her draw. It was broken during the battle against Cattleya.
 * Black Blade - a double-edged katana with a black blade made of compressed azanthium. It was a gift  from Hajime to Shizuku which she was grateful for as it allowed her to utilize her signature Yaegashi Style techniques. It had immense strength and cutting power that can cut through anything. It also has several functions that if supplied with magic power, the blade can be extended up to 60 cm in a form of a wind blade and can also shoot two more blade from beside the extended part. It's sheathe could clad with thunder when poured with magic power with it's mouth can shoot needles with tremendous force. With the help of metamorphosis magic and spirit magic, it became a living sword that can only be controlled by Shizuku. The following are the abilities enchanted in the sword by Hajime.
 * Thunder Blossom - an electric slash in a form of a flower released from 'Black Blade'.
 * Shock Slugger - she can generate a powerful surge of electricity that she can stream along her sheath.
 * Force Pulse - a slash that sends out multiple streaks of light.
 * Flash Claw - claws of air are created around the sword.
 * Gale - it shoots out blades of wind.
 * Sonic Slice - unleashes a a blast of wind.
 * Confluence - it gathers the energy from multiple attacks and releases it as a single massive attack.
 * Severance - a repulsion skill to blow the enemies away.
 * Gravity Flash - it removes gravity's pull on whatever it touches for a few seconds.
 * Flash Blitz - it cuts through space and can only be defending by one that possess spatial magic.
 * Treasure Trove - is a ring-shaped artifact that had small one centimeter ruby set in its center. The ruby was actually an artificially created dimensional space where things could be stored.
 * Aerodynamic-Enchanted Boots - they allow Shizuku to walk mid-air.
 * Gate Key - a key imbued with spatial magic that opens a portal between Shizukui's and Hajime's houses.

Physical Abilities

 * Genius Intellect - Shizuku has exceptional prodigious intelligence. Having an extremely sharp and perceptive mind since a tender age of four, combined with her mental maturity, Shizuku is able to understand and process subjects far more quickly than most of her peers. Alongside Hajime, Shizuku was the first member of her classmates to immediately understand the dangers of being summoned to Tortus compared to others who were at first instantly fascinated by the fantasy like other world. Her uncannily sharp mind also made her extremely alert to danger. Shizuku is the only one aside from Yuka to noticed the death trap Eri Nakamura had prepared for her and her entire classmates due to her instinctive fear and suspicions of all the surrounding Heligh Knights and Soldiers's state of Hollowness, even instantly realized that all of them including Nia are actually already killed and reanimated back as undead by Necromancy when Eri revealed her betrayal. Eri, a genius herself acknowledged that Shizuku is the only one who would be the greatest hindrance to her master plan, thus had to made a more intricate trap of using her personal maid and close friend Nia to lure Shizuku into getting stabbed and restrained. Shizuku even instantly and correctly deduced that Daisuke was Eri's accomplice in her massacre when Hiyama appeared to be the only one to be break free of the shackles that not even Kouki, the strongest member of their class could do so, when in reality Hiyama has pretended to be trapped and injured as part of Eri's countermeasure towards Kouki in case had Kouki managed to break free and retaliate. Shizuku was also able to see through the seemingly perfect illusionary world that realizes her deepest desires in the Haltina Labyrinth as a fake world and managed to break free of it by herself without any outside interference.
 * Enhanced Physical Abilities - After being summoned to Tortus as one of Ehit's heroes, Shizuku was blessed with superhuman physical abilities, excelling in terms of speed and agility.
 * Immense Speed - Shizuku's fighting style has always focused on speed over power as she was considered the fastest among the Hero's party.
 * Master Swordswoman - Trained since childhood in Yaegashi-ryu, a talented prodigy in Kenjutsu since a tender age of four in Japan, Shizuku was a peerless swordswoman who never lost a single Kendo tournament. After being granted several sword enhancement skills and superhuman physical abilities as a summoned hero and further extensive training, Shizuku became a formidable master swordswoman and one of the strongest members of the Hero's party, being able to defeat all the powerful monsters in the first 89 floors of the Great Orcus Labyrinth. Shizuku's preferred combat style revolves around using Japanese style swords, instead of regular ones used in Tortus. Because of this, she wasn't able to utilize her true skills until Hajime gave her the Black Blade katana to act as a replacement for her broken sword after her group's rescue in the Orcus Labyrinth. After receiving her new sword from Hajime, Shizuku is able to utilize all her Yaegashi-Ryu techniques to their full potential, even when deprived of her sight, Shizuku could deflect sneak attacks from Eri's undead knights and soldiers with incredible timing and precision. In the Frost Caverns of Schnee, with her newly acquired evolution magic to enhanced her physical abilities and swordsmanship, Shizuku could fight its monsters far more effectively than Ryutarou, Suzu, and even Kouki himself. Defeating the ice golem which was part of the trial more quickly than the three as well as fighting on pair with a magical doppelgänger of herself, ultimately defeating it in one strike. After returning to Earth, it been described that there is nothing Shizuku can't cut.
 * Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant - Shizuku has been trained in martial arts since childhood. While her exacted level is unknown, she has grown enough to impress her family when they witness her improved skills.

Combat Styles & Techniques

 * Yaegashi Style - A style of samurai martial arts has been developed by the "Yaegashi Dojo" that had been around for generations. Though its primarily focused on Kenjutsu, more suitable for weapons like a "katana", but it also has Iaijutsu techniques which utilizes the scabbard and also Taijutsu techniques which employed hand to hand combat. Shizuku is extremely masterful in this form, due to her natural talent as well as relentless training since her childhood. The following are the techniques under this style which Shizuku knows,
 * Rippling Pale Moon
 * Rising Dragon
 * Vacuum Slash
 * Swallow’s Gambit - the user distracts their opponent with their sword while attacking with the sheath.
 * Mountain Tempest - the use starts by slashing diagonally downward, but then switches grips and swings sideways with her sheath instead.
 * Thunderclap - the user blocks an attack with their sword, then steps forward and aims their elbow at their opponent's blind spot.
 * Slipstream - using an incoming attack as a pivot point to rotate all the way around an opponent and launch a fast sword slash.
 * Helm Splitter - by driving one’s blade into the opponents’ helmet, then following that up by pounding the sheath down on the blade, the user is able to cut through helmet and head in one clean stroke. It is one of the few power-based techniques.
 * Blade Reversal - a counter-attack that uses a reverse blade grip and angle the blade to the deflect the attack. They then finish by slashing upward using the backhanded grip.
 * Mirror Bolt - the user throws the opponent using Aikido, then attacks them while they are trapped mid-air.
 * Mist Piercer

Skills

 * Sword Proficiency - a skill that increase efficiency in using a sword, as well as an increase in attack speed using swords and sword drawing. Shizuku applies this ability along with Yaegashi-ryu swordsmanship, greatly increasing the proficiency.
 * Improved Slashing Speed
 * Improved Drawing Speed
 * Supersonic Step/Flash Step - allows high speed movement by making the ground decrease in distance.
 * Burst Supersonic Step
 * Continual Steps
 * Steel Legs - allows the user to reinforce their legs and increase the power and strength of their kicks.
 * No Tempo - a skill that enables movement without preliminary action.
 * Foresight - predicts the incoming attacks of enemies or where they are going to land their next move.
 * Sense Presence - a skill to sense others.
 * Projection
 * Invisibility
 * Illusionary Attacks
 * Evolution Magic - one of the "Ancient Magics" originating from the "Age of Gods", which allows the user to enhance or evolve all other forms of power, be it strong or weak. It can work on even other "Ancient Magic" as well, boosting their power and scope. The true power of this magic is the ability to 'interfere with the information about existing things'. This magic enhanced or evolved an ability or power by a stage of 1, by interfering with the targets information, and the increased it one-by-one stage.
 * Metamorphosis Magic - one of the "Ancient Magic" originating from the "Age of Gods", which allows a user to remake the form of a normal being and reform them into a different form. Normally it's used to remake a normal organism and turn it into a monster, or even manipulate the magic stone of a monster and remake them. But the true power of this magic is the ability to 'interfere with any organic material'. Meaning not only animals, but it's also possible to remake plants or intelligent beings, and reform their structure as needed. Even byproducts of organic material, like paper or food, can also be manipulated by this magic. The magic stone which gets created during the process is just a byproduct of the process.
 * Language Comprehension - a base skill granted to all those who got summoned. It gives the user the ability to understand any language and be proficient in it.

Spells/Attacks
Ancient Magic Spells
 * Eternal Severance - a spell that wraps the caster's weapon with mana, and strengthens their attack. “Peerless swordsmanship that rends even the heavens— Eternal Severance!”
 * Limiter Removal - evolution magic that exponentially increases her strength, senses, and reflexes.

Stats
Note :-
 * The base stats given above aren't Shizuku's current stats, as the last time the author provided stats for her in the Web Novel was before she acquired "Evolution Magic" from the Haltina's Labyrinth.

Quotes

 * (To Kouki Amanogawa): "Kouki, you don’t even know the first thing about Nagumo-kun. Not about what he was like in Japan, or what he’s like now. All of those girls looked happy to be with him, you know that? You’re the one ignoring reality and interpreting things however you want... Even though all you really want is to convince yourself that Nagumo-kun’s some kind of demon who doesn’t deserve Kaori. If that’s not making baseless assumptions, I don’t know what is."
 * (To Hajime Nagumo and his companions): "Nagumo-kun, Yue-san, Shea-san, Tio-san. Thank you so much for saving my best friend’s life. You’ve done so much for me, and I honestly can’t think of any way to repay you, but... at least know that I’ll never forget this debt. If there’s anything, anything at all that I can do for you, don’t hesitate to ask. I’ll do it in a heartbeat."
 * (To Kouki Amanogawa): "Kouki, I know you're feeling frustrated at the gap in your strength and his. But remember, he didn't start out that strong. He earned that strength by crawling out of hell despite being the weakest one of us. Everything he has now is a result of his unbreakable determination. And what he's determined to do isn't kill the gods or save the world. It's something a lot simpler. He's fighting for the sake of those close to him."
 * (To her doppelganger): "I won’t give up. I’ll find a way to get the things I want. Even if I have to fight you over and over, I won’t give up."
 * (To Hajime Nagumo): "Nagumo-kun, I want to hurry up and meet Kaori. Not just her, but Yue, Shea, and Tio too. And then— I’ll tell them that I fell in love with you, Nagumo-kun. I don’t know how they’ll react, but I’ve been thinking I should be more honest with myself."
 * (To Hajime's love interests): "Yue, Shea, Tio... Kaori. I learned a lot from this trial. It taught me what bad habits I need to fix, and what my true feelings are. I know Nagumo-kun already has Yue and Shea, and I know you love him too, Kaori. I realize this makes me a horrible person. But even so..."
 * (To Kouki Amanogawa): "Kouki. I’m in love with Nagumo-kun. And I want to be together with him."

Trivia

 * The name Shizuku means "quiet" (静) (shizu) and "crimson, deep red" (紅), "sky, empty" (空) or "long time" (久) (ku).
 * Hajime Nagumo considered Shizuku as a Yeagashi-Style Kunoichi.
 * Shizuku's family has been shown to have two different sides to their dojo with the 'Reverse Side' being something close to resembling ninjutsu though her family constantly denies this.
 * Shizuku is shown to be extremely popular among the female population on Earth and on Tortus to the point where they created a (semi) secret organization to covertly watch her (Tortus Branch) and to separate her from Hajime who they believe is no good for her (Earth Branch). Both organization call themselves the Soul Sisters.
 * Ryo Shirakome based Shizuku off of Kaori Kanzaki from .
 * Far from her role as the mature adult type, Shizuku is shown to have a large collection of stuffed animals and plush toys in her room.
 * Whenever she gets embarrassed about certain situations (mostly revolving around Hajime or any of her secrets being revealed) she hides her face with her ponytail as a way to hide herself and her humiliation. (Comically referred to as the "ponytail guard" by Hajime and the others)