Ichika Kishimojin

""Let me tell you the two things that I hate the most. One is Mononoke... And the other is men who underestimate me because I'm a girl.""

- Kishimojin Ichika

Ichika Kishimojin (鬼子母神 一華, Kishimojin Ichika) is a well-trained agent from the Bureau of Espionage who works under Ryosuke Shiba in Division 2. She's the most skilled and experienced member of Black Torch's field team, and the only daughter of the famous Kishimojin onmitsu clan.

Appearance
Ichika is a girl of average height with bright red hair that she ties in a ponytail with a black scrunchie.

Her gear consists of a white bodysuit with short sleeves and short-shorts, the black tactical vest and belt, long black fingerless gloves, black thigh highs, and black calf boots. She specializes in quick barrage attacks with her Tanto, which she carries attached to the back of the belt at her waist. She also carries a pistol in a holster on her right thigh.

Her Quantum Camouflage Mode is a short pair of black running shorts with a double stripe down each side, a light colored jacket, black thigh highs, and fashionable ankle boots.

Her three sizes are: Bust 82cm, Waist 50cm, Hips 89cm. Her bra size is 28E.

Personality
Ichika is a proud individual who takes her job very seriously and hates to be underestimated.

Plot
Immediately after defeating the evil Mononoke, Jirō Azuma is detained by Ryosuke Shiba and Ichika Kishimojin and Ichika roughly knocks him unconscious with the but of her Tanto before dragging him away by the ankle. Ichika is guarding Jirō when he wakes and tells him he has been asleep for a day and a half, then ignores him until Ragō wakes up and says she "lacks any charm". She glares at them silently while Shiba explains their situation, and yells at Jirō for saving a Mononoke when he explains how he became bonded to Ragō. She continues to glare at him until she and Shiba leave, refusing to answer Jirō when he asks what her problem is.

After Jirō escapes Ichika is tasked with guarding him again when he voluntarily returns to their custody. She immediately handcuffs him and at first refuses to speak wit him. Eventually Jirō annoys her into responding and she tells him that he is no longer human, but a monster no different from Mononoke. As a professional she takes her job very seriously, so will do her job "no matter what sort of thing [she is] told to protect".

When he comments that he has been trying to be nice because she's a girl, Ichika punches the wall of the transport truck hard enough to dent it, and explains that the two things she hates most are Mononoke and men who underestimate her because she's a girl.

Ragō wakes up and tells Ichika he admires her pride before asking if there isn't something else she should be paying attention to. Before she can respond, the truck is attacked by two enemy Mononoke. Ichika tries but is unable to defeat them both alone. She initially refuses to remove the Spectral Aura sealing handcuffs from Jirō and Ragō. Jirō convinces her by reminding her that as a professional she should do everything in her power to complete a job, and that means letting them help her fight. After she breaks the handcuffs Jirō and Ragō are able to quickly defeat the larger of the two enemy Mononoke, giving Ichika an opening to defeat the smaller and faster enemy. Ichika says she won't thank them, to which Ragō responds that she is an ungrateful little girl, but Jirō says there's no reason for either of them to thank each other. She fought to protect them and they decided to help, so they don't owe each other anything. This seems to warm Ichika to him, as she reintroduces herself and tells him to call her by name. She also becomes less cold and dismissive after this and stops glaring so heatedly at him.

With their transport destroyed and the drivers eaten, the two are then forced to walk the rest of the way to their destination because Ichika does not carry money with her (thus they can't pay for a ride).

A few days later Shiba introduces Ichika and Jirō and Ragō to the final two members of Black Torch: Assistant Chief of Division 2 Hana Usami and the new rookie Reiji Kirihara. Ichika is initially uninterested in Reiji, stating she would follow orders but was "not keen on working with more troublemakers", but becomes flustered when Reiji calls her beautiful. Despite having a similar initial attitude toward him herself, she seems shocked when Reiji heatedly calls Jirō a thing and an eyesore, telling him he's mediocre and useless and to sit safely in a cage. When it looks like the two boys will start a fight she says they are getting out of hand but seems more annoyed by their behavior than concerned. She seems put-out when Shiba says he will test the boys' abilities by having them spar, stating that her testing took months and involved classes and tests.

As the spar begins Ichika initially believes that Jirō will be no match for Reiji without Ragō's help, as Reiji is a master of his clan's formal kenjutsu, and is surprised when he is able to hold his own and even end the fight in a draw.

Later, the squad is brought together for some anti-Mononoke training. Forced into an illusion courtesy of the human-friendly Mononoke Fuyo, each member of the group confronts their own individual trials. Ichika first watches a memory of the last time she saw her mother alive. She enjoys reliving the happy moment together, and when confronted by the stone statue that her mother had become telling her she will never succeed she easily defeats it, stating that such tricks won't work on her. Ichika is the first to safely emerging from Fuyo's illusion.

History
The Kishimojin Family is oddity even among the Bureau, being a lineage of kunoichi. Extremely matriarchal, the Kishimojin family forbids the presence of any man within their mansion grounds. Even Ichika's father, who officially married into the family, is allowed only limited access. Still alive, he presently holds a top position in the Bureau's policy-making division. While he did have the power of the Kishimojin name backing him, to avoid being called a "gold digger" he worked toward and earned that position primarily on his own merit.

After Volume 5
Ichika finally hears about her family's special ability directly from her father and, to become a little more like the mother she admired and to find the Mononoke that killed her, she begins training to control her ability. With the help of the Kishimojin Family's special maids (who are actually members of a Kishimojin branch family), Ichika eventually masters her Flameblood talent.

Around that time, Ichika hears rumors of people turning into stone happening in connection with a corporate espionage case. Finally finding a precious clue, Ichika takes her newfound ability and pushes onward in her quest to save her mother.

Power & Abilities
Ichika is highly skilled at fighting with a Tanto and at hand to hand combat. She is also able to overcome illusions with relative ease.

Together with their red hair, only the female members of the Kishimojin clan inherit the special trait called Flameblood. This trait is precisely what it says on the tin - flaming blood. By igniting it as it flows within them, they can gain bursts of inhuman speed and power. When it bleeds out of them, they can make it burn with a fire that only goes out if they will it. While powerful, this ability is a double-edged sword that exacts a heavy price from the wielder. It is for that reason that Ichika's parents didn't want her to become an onmitsu.

Etymology

 * The name Ichika means "one" (一) (ichi) and "flower" (華) (ka).