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 and Ryutarou Sakagami.

After Ehit's demise and having returned to Japan, Shizuku became one of Hajime Nagumo's wives.

Appearance
Shizuku is a beautiful woman with waist-length black hair that is usually tied up in a ponytail with bangs hanging over her forehead and red eyes.

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 regarded as a cool and stoic beauty, but actually has a girlish side that likes cute things, such as the color pink, as well as cute animals like cats and bunnies. She has often hid her true feelings and would put up a brave face, as a front so other people did not worry about her. In the Frost Caverns of Schnee, it is revealed that Shizuku didn't originally want to learn swordsmanship and only practiced it so that so that she wouldn't betray her family's expectations and be praised them 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 others 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.

Since her childhood, Shizuku is extremely sharp and wise 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 enough 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 own 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 sympathized with his situation due it being similar to her own in the past. After Hajime fell 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. Unlike Kouki, Shizuku did not blame Hajime for not warning them earlier of Ehit's true nature as an evil god that led to Eri and Hiyama's betrayal and subsequently the deaths of Meld, Nia, Kondou and the near destruction of Heiligh Kingdom by the Demon's invasion. As like her teacher Aiko, Shizuku agreed with Hajime's views of how Kouki would never accept it and even angrily deny Hajime's warning due to his misguided justice and bad habit of twisting and interpreting things to his own convenience, and also agreed with Hajime's harsh but correct criticism that he is not obliged to specially put in extra efforts just to suit their convenience and that it is their own carelessness and naivety to blame that they have all nearly died by Eri's treachery. Unlike Kouki who still stubbornly tried to pin the blame on Hajime.

Shizuku held tremendous love for her family and having an unbreakable family bond with Shuuzou, Kouichi and Kirino who would celebrate wholeheartedly whenever Shizuku achieved something. Shizuku took to heart all of her grandfather and parents teachings and philosophy, such as treating all disciples of the Yaegashi Dojo as foster family, never abandoning them no matter who much trouble they caused or became lost and misguided such as Kouki. Shizuku had started diligently practicing Yaegashi-ryu martial arts and swordsmanship solely out of family love and not wanting to disappoint her family's expectations. She even went as far as to suppress her true desires to be a normal, feminine girl. Due to her bond with her family, Shizuku was the first to sympathize with Hajime's desire to return back home to Japan for a family reunion with Shuu and Sumire, even if it means abandoning the people of Tortus to their own fates under the Evil God Ehit's malicious oppression. As she correctly guessed that it is Hajime's love for his family that drives his will to fight and survive in Tortus. As during the trip to Verbergen, Shizuku tried to get Kouki to sympathize with Hajime, telling Kouki he cannot force his idealistic justice upon Hajime as what drives Hajime to overcome countless experiences of brutal suffering and hardships ever since he fell into the depths of the Great Orcus Labyrinth, is not a grand and noble desire for justice, but for the sake of the people he loved, including the girls in his harem.

Due to her exceptional wisdom and emotional intelligence, Shizuku is generally one of the most realistic among her classmates. Unlike the idealistic Kouki, optimistic Ryutarou and the oblivious Kaori, Shizuku usually acts as the voice of reason and caution among her class instead of blindly rushing in. Out of all her classmates, Shizuku was one of the only two who immediately knew the full gravity of their situation after they were summoned to Tortus to help fight for Humanity's survival against the Demon Race. Unlike the majority of her friends and other classmates who were swept up in the glamor of having been summoned to another world and being praised by the natives of Tortus, Shizuku immediately figured out that they would soon face the prospect of taking the lives of other sentient beings, and understood that they will likely have to do so in mass, due to now being involved in a war. While she was shocked when Hajime killed Cattleya, she knew she didn't have the right to judge him for his actions because she understood the situation, unlike Kouki who couldn't accept what Hajime had done, even though 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 conflicts between the Hero party's 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 surprisingly knowledgeable about them herself. She even came to understand an otaku's greatest weakness: they develop many embarrassing chunni habits that haunt them forever. Using this knowledge, she was able to bring Hajime to his knees by threatening to spread all kinds of chunni nicknames about him around Tortus and Japan if he didn't treat Kaori nicely.

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 Azantium. 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 has immense strength and cutting power,since it was forged from Tortus's strongest metal ore, Azantium, it can cut through almost anything. It also has several functions that if supplied with mana, the blade can be extended up to 60 cm, in the form of a wind blade and can also shoot two more blades from beside the extended part. Its sheathe could be clad with thunder when mana's poured into it, as well as its scabbard opening shooting 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 - It 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 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 defended against by one that possesses spatial magic.
 * Treasure Trove - Is a ring-shaped Artifact that had a small 1 centimeter ruby set in its center. The ruby was actually an artificially created dimensional space where things could be stored.
 * Restoration Magic Hairclip - A hand-crafted hairclip Artifact made out of a pearl like ore with high magic affinity imbued with Restoration Magic which Hajime gave Shizuku to heal her fatigue and injuries from fighting her doppelgänger. It has a simple and elegant design of numerous dancing leaves and a morning mist.
 * Aerodynamic-Enchanted Boots - They allow Shizuku to walk mid-air.
 * Gate Key - A key imbued with spatial magic that opens a portal between Shizuku's and Hajime's houses.

Physical Abilities

 * Genius Intellect - Shizuku has exceptional prodigious intelligence. Having an extremely sharp and perceptive mind since the 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 have noticed the death trap Eri Nakamura had prepared for her and her entire class due to her instinctive fear and suspicions of all the surrounding Heiligh Knights and Soldiers's state of Hollowness. Even instantly realizing that all of them, including Nia, are actually already dead and re-animated back as undead corpses by Necromancy, when Eri revealed her betrayal. Eri, a genius herself, acknowledged that Shizuku is the only one who would pose the greatest hindrance to her master plan. Thus, Eri had to design 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 able to break free of the shackles that not even Kouki, who originally was the strongest member of their class could not do so. When in reality, Hiyama had pretended to be trapped and injured, as part of Eri's countermeasure towards Kouki, in case Kouki had managed to break free and retaliate. Shizuku was also able to see through the seemingly perfect illusionary world that makes her realize her deepest desires within 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. In her training with Hajime, her strength and speed increased.
 * Immense Speed - Shizuku's fighting style has always focused on speed over power as she was considered the fastest among the Hero's party. To most on-lookers, Shizuku moves too fast to be seen by the naked eye and can preform multiple attacks in a single second. However, her speed holds an inferiority to both Hajime and his companions including Kaori (while using Noint's body).
 * Enhanced Strength - While not her strongest area, Shizuku was still blessed with superhuman strength greater than even Meld Loggins, the strongest Knight of Heiligh Kingdom. She can easily carry a fully grown person and applied enough force on her Azantium katana to slice through most monsters, with ease.
 * Enhanced Durability - Through not as sturdy as Ryutarou's, Shizuku's body can still withstand most attacks while still maintaining the strength to fight.
 * Master Swordswoman - Trained since childhood in Yaegashi-ryu, and 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 the regular Romn/Medieval styled ones used in Tortus. Because of this, she wasn't able to utilize her true skills to their fullest, until Hajime gave her the Black Blade katana to act as a replacement for her broken sword after her group's rescue in the Great 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 Labyrinth, with her newly acquired evolution magic to further enhance 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 of them, as well as fighting on par with a magical doppelgänger of herself, ultimately defeating it in one strike after she finally started accepting her feelings about Hajime. After returning to Earth, it been described that there is nothing Shizuku can't cut.
 * Expert Marksmanship - Like her lover/husband, Hajime, Shizuku has significantly high talents of marksmanship and gains good accuracy when she fires needles from the mouth of her black blade's scabbard.
 * 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 has 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. Since she received a Knight's Sword, she hasn't been able to use them to the fullest, but having received the Black Blade katana from Hajime, Shizuku can now utilize them to the fullest.
 * 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 an opponent's helmet and head in one clean stroke. It is one of the few power-based techniques Shizuku employs.
 * Blade Reversal - A counter-attack that uses a reverse blade grip and angles the blade to deflect the incoming 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
 * Reverse Eagle Talon - The user plants one hand on the ground and launches a back kick at the opponent's crotch.
 * Double Rake - A follow-up to Reverse Eagle Talon in the event that it fails, the user uses the centrifugal force from the initial kick to do a side flip and leap over the opponent's sword. They then use their other leg while they're still spinning to launch another kick at the opponent's head.

Skills

 * Sword Proficiency - A skill that increases the user's 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 movements by making the ground decrease in distance.
 * Burst Supersonic Step
 * Continual Steps
 * Steel Legs - A skill that 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 - A skill that 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 about Kaori in Noint's body)"But, why in that body? Was Kaori’s body no longer alright? I thought that you guys could somehow manage to heal up the wound that was inflicted on her heart with recovery magic though..."
 * (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."

Etymology

 * The name "Shizuku" means "droplet" (雫).
 * Shizuku's surname Yaegashi means "eight" (八), "multilayered" (重) and "evergreen oak, (kokuji)" (樫).
 * Her married name Nagumo means "south" (南) and "cloud" (雲).

Trivia

 * Ryo Shirakome based Shizuku off of Kaori Kanzaki from .
 * Hajime considers Shizuku as a Yaegashi-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.
 * Far from Shizuku's role as the mature adult type, she is shown to have a large collection of stuffed animals and plush toys in her room.
 * Whenever Shizuku gets embarrassed about certain situations (mostly revolving around Hajime Nagumo or any of her secrets being revealed), she hides her face with her ponytail as a way to hide herself and her humiliation (which has been comically referred to as the "ponytail guard" by Hajime and the others).
 * Shizuku's favorite animals are rabbits.
 * Shizuku's experience in the Haltina Great Labyrinth was so traumatic for her that she can not eat any food covered with black sesame seeds, due to it reminding her too much of the cockroaches that served as the final guardian.