Shiori Kirihito

""If it gets in the way, Shiori will kill it.""

Shiori Kirihito is a talented assassin from the Kirihito branch family of the Duodecim's Hazuki household. She is madly in love with Mai Natsume and will do anything to protect her. She was formerly hired by the Kisaragi family to assassinate Jin Kisaragi, infiltrating the Military Academy with Chachakaka.

Appearance
Shiori is a pale girl with shoulder-length blonde hair tied into two pigtails with blue ribbons, and bright blue eyes. Her outfit consists of a white shirt with a black waistcoat, of which there is attached a black cape and hood. She also wears a blue skirt with a brown belt with multiple compartments on her left thigh, and black and white knee-long boots with heels. Shiori's look is finished with black gloves that come to her elbows and are finger-less on the index and thumb.

In the Academy, Shiori wore its standard female uniform with a red cravat and short black skirt, accompanied by white knee-long boots with sharp heels. In her profession as an assassin, she wore a long black coat with multiple straps and buttons across it and a white mask with horns and a diamond pattern on the face.

Personality
Initially, Shiori portrayed herself as a sweet girl with average abilities and a frail body, but in reality, she is far from that. Her sweet facade belies an unhinged young woman who desires the suffering of those around her. She delights in erasing people's memories, and contemplates making her victims killing their loved ones, only to restore their memories afterwards. Her behaviour often meant that Chacha had to tell her to behave on their mission within the Academy. In some respects, this can be attributed to her upbringing which made her seal off her emotions.

Despite her savage personality, her emotions eventually start to show. She greatly loves Mai and is willing to sacrifice herself for her if need be. Shiori also detests losing in anything, being fiercely competitive and a sore loser. When addressing others, she will use honorifics such as "Sir" or "Lady", and is known to frequently swear when she is annoyed. Often, she refers to herself in third person, which is a sign of childlike behaviour in Japanese culture.

Biography
Shiori was born into the Kirihito family, a branch family of the Duodecim's Hazuki family. She spent most of her childhood being trained as the perfect assassin. She attempted to run away several times but was unsuccessful. The times she spent acting like a spoilt child or failing in her training resulted in severe punishments. Because of her treatment, she began pushing away her emotions, focusing only on her job as an assassin. Eventually, she was hired by one of the Kisaragi family to assassinate Jin. To this end, she infiltrated the Military Academy with Chachakaka, disguising herself as a first year student.

Remix Heart
With Chacha, Shiori went into the girl's bathrooms, finding Mai, Kajun Faycott, Noel Vermillion, Tsubaki Yayoi, and Makoto Nanaya. She greeted them before fondling Mai. She soon introduced herself to the girls, lying to them about being a frail girl who came from a humble family versed in medicinal plants, also revealing that she is Mai and Kajun's other roommate. They fell for it, and she heard about Mai's super taste ability before leaving to meet with Chacha. She assessed that Tsubaki was very close to Jin, and noted that she may use her to complete her job. Later that same day, she spied on the girls tending to Jin, Taro Sasaga'e, and Akane Teruhiko, making further notes that Noel was not close to her target at all. Shiori and Chacha were soon interrupted by a Novus Orbis Librarium guard, and she quickly dispatched him with her special poisons. She later walked into the room that she was spying on earlier, offering her "help" to the group. The girls worked together to create a porridge that would help the boys begin to recover, offering a special herb. She ate some of the porridge created by Noel, experiencing first-hand the infamous "death dinner". Shiori witnessed as Jin went berserk with the Nox Nyctores - Mucro Algesco: Yukianesa.

With Chacha, Shiori cornered Mai behind the men's dorms, and realized that she knew about the Kirihito family and that Shiori was sent to assassinate Jin. She began taunting the girl, saying she was going to wipe her memories and force everyone in Team Remix Heart to kill one another. This enraged Mai, and she broke free of Chacha's grip, fighting back against the two assassins. Shiori noticed her using Kirihito techniques and was grazed by her own poisonous kunai before Mai licked the poisoned blood out, not wanting the assassin to suffer and being unaware of Shiori's immunity. Mai, now knowing Shiori's childhood from her super taste ability, apologized to the girl, hugging her, and the assassin broke down in her arms crying. She went back to the women's dorms and slept next to Mai, telling her in the morning that she was in love with her.

With the others involved in the incident with Yukianesa, Shiori was tasked with looking after the formed icebergs. By this time, she had joined Team Remix Heart. Despite having fallen for Mai, she still looked to assassinate Jin, but became distracted in an attempt to cheer up Taro, who she had believed to be a rival of hers for Mai's affection. She had a contest with him to eat shaved ice, losing despite being cheered on. She threw the ice into his face and later resigned herself to resting under a parasol with a Torifune panda next to her. Some time later, she was introduced to Carl Clover while having tea with Remix Heart, later becoming deeply jealous as the rest of the girls prepared her for a date with Taro. She and the others went to fetch Taro as he was late, finding him with Mai later on and berating him for not initially turning up, even though the circumstances were slightly out of his control.

The Academy soon held its survival training, and Shiori was paired with Mai and Kajun, working very well with the later. Their mission was to find the mountain jellyfish. They eventually succeeded in finding its tentacles, and Shiori was held up by them - Mai passed on information about its poison to the girl and she hit it with a poison that paralyzed it in response. Together with her team and Makoto, Noel, and Tsubaki, the girls passed the examination when they returned to Estella McKenzie. Mai, however, was sent into a coma. She was ordered by Cypher Albar to find other students with high Ars Magus aptitude, but Shiori relented, becoming suspicious of his behaviour and reuniting with Chacha. She vowed to kill him for hurting Mai, soon finding that Remix Heart, Jin, Taro, Akane, and Estella were captured in an alchemy barrier. She rushed inside with Chacha, breaking the alchemy that was stripping the girls of their ability to use Ars. Using the Ammit Cryas, Chacha revealed to everyone that Mai was formerly the male heir of the Hazuki family, particularly shocking Shiori.

Shiori saw as Mai awoke from her coma and effortlessly broke the alchemy barrier that surrounded the women, and as she battled Cypher. When the man was recomposing himself, Shiori and the rest of Team Remix Heart hugged her, telling her that they loved her regardless of her sex. She followed after Mai and Cypher as they went towards the cauldron of Torifune, continuing the battle against the mad alchemist. Shiori jumped in front of a fatal blow that was aimed at Mai, falling unconscious. When she awoke, she was in the higher levels, being treated for her injuries, having been carried there by Chacha, also learning that Cypher had escaped. She and Kajun soon found Mai outside and began to walk back into the main building having thwarted Cypher's plan to create the Burning Red Grimoire. It is presumed at this point that Shiori abandoned her mission to assassinate Jin.

Variable Heart
In what would have been her second year at the Academy, Shiori dropped out, reuniting with Taro. The two went to the outskirts of the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, finding Kajun surrounded by NOL soldiers. The two of them saved her, and journeyed with her further down the mountain to find Mai. Soon enough, they found her with Bell, and saved her from an assault by Ragna the Bloodedge. Shiori ran to hug her, happy to see her love once more. The group were interrupted by the 16th Fuzzy, who summoned various ghouls for them to fight while he battled Ragna. Shiori's poisons were largely ineffective, so she resorted to fighting them hand-to-hand. She watched as the vampire summoned a large Bone Dragon, and caught Taro as he was knocked away by it, calling him careless. Shiori watched as Mai threw the Gallia Sphyras: Outseal at Fuzzy and the dragon, wounding the former and destroying the latter. Mai finally defeated Fuzzy, but the killing blow was stopped by Meifang Lapislazuli and soon, the entire group were surrounded by the Zeroth Squadron. They were all teleported out of the area by Rachel Alucard to the 11th Hierarchical City of Shinatsu, next to the Hazuki estate.

At the estate, the group were met by Rin Hazuki and Houichirou Hazuki. Shiori explained to Kajun about Houichirou's strength and how he was able to repel Azrael, making him a legendary hero within the NOL. She further watched as Mai trained with Rin, and then the battle between Mai and her father, although they were interrupted by Kokonoe and Litchi Faye-Ling. Siding with Mai, the group (still consisting of Shiori, Taro, Bell, and Kajun) followed the scientists to the cauldron of Shinatsu since they would use that to travel to Sector Seven. They were found by an army of Fuzzy who kidnapped Bell, and Mai followed after them. Left behind to fight the vampire army, Shiori, Taro, Litchi, Kokonoe, and Kajun began to fight, and Kokonoe teleported Iron Tager to their location to help.

They continued to fight against the numerous Fuzzy, their large numbers overwhelming the small group. Eventually, they crumbled into dust, and Kokonoe ordered Shiori, Kajun, and Taro to save Mai from Meifang, teleporting the three of them into Meifang's Phantom Field. Reunited with Mai, the four of them battled against the corrupted Colonel, and Mai finally struck a killing blow. They soon escaped out of the area, and Shiori met her former assassination target - Jin. She was soon reunited with Tsubaki, Makoto, and Noel thanks to Akane.

Powers and Abilities
Due to her lifelong training, Shiori is an accomplished assassin. She has remarkable skill with throwing kunai, being able to hit a bullseye while running as a child. What makes her truly formidable, however, is her knowledge and usage of poisons. Her kunai are dipped in a poison which targets one's hippocampus, the part of the brain related to memories - according to Shiori, the poison destroys this part of the brain, but she does remark that she can wipe out memories and bring them back later on. In addition to her various poisons, Shiori is immune to them should they be used against her.

Shiori is also rather flexible and acrobatic, being able to strike the nape of a man's neck with her kunai mid-flip off of a tree branch. She also excels in infiltration, being able to not only sneak into the Military Academy, but managing to pass-off as an average student during her entrance exams.

Trivia

 * Shiori is one of the handful of confirmed LGBT characters in the BlazBlue series.
 * Mai briefly alludes to Shiori in BlazBlue: Central Fiction when she defeats Hibiki Kohaku, noting that his assassination techniques are different to hers.