Chisato Nishikigi

Chisato Nishikigi (錦木 千束) is the main protagonist of the original anime series, Lycoris Recoil.

Appearance
Chisato is a young girl with medium-length blonde hair and red eyes. She usually wears a red ribbon, tied in a bow in the left side of her hair. When operating as a Lycoris, she wears her red 1st Lycoris uniform paired with black knee-high socks and brown loafers. When working at Café LycoReco, she wears a red samue with dark blue and lime-green accents, a dark blue kimono skirt and a beige apron wrapped around her waist. She also wears an Alan Institute pendant around her neck at all times.

Profile
Said to be the strongest Lycoris of all time. She enjoys solving private-sector problems that the DA would not address. Unlike other Lycoris, Chisato is heavily committed to using exclusively non-lethal means to neutralize her opponents.

At Café LycoReco, she works joyfully and cheerfully as the self-proclaimed poster girl.

History
Like all Lycoris, Chisato was adopted by the DA as a young girl. She was originally part of the Offensive Security Force Training Course, where she received an A+ in her total evaluation in operational action. She would eventually transfer into the Special Guard Force Tactics Unit, where her grade dropped to a D-.

Despite being a top-tier Lycoris, she has a congenital heart disease, which makes her fragile. She also won't last for long. But with help from the Alan Institute, she receives an artificial heart with some conditions to meet.

While stationed at the DA Tokyo Headquarters, she shared a room with Fuki Harukawa.

She has gained a reputation from Kusunoki and her peers for being the top-tier Lycoris who singlehandedly protected the Old Radio Tower from a terrorist attack, her fame spreading even to rural areas.

At some point, Chisato left the DA and chose to work independently under her Lycoris license at Café LycoReco.

Story
In the early morning of a day in May, Chisato recieves an urgent phone call from Mika informing her of an emerging situation that requires her assistance. Mildly disgruntled by being summoned earlier than appointed, she traverses the quiet streets of Tokyo. Arriving at her target location, she stops to observe the destruction caused by Takina Inoue, expressing glee at the barrage of gunfire nearby. Following the abrupt resolution of the arms deal, she finds that her skills are no longer required, and as such, is picked up by Mizuki Nakahara.

Takina arrives at Café LycoReco following her dismissal. Chisato enters cheerfully, and the two are introduced to each other by Mika. Noting that they will be partners moving forward, Chisato is unable to contain her excitement, receiving Takina with her signature upbeat energy. She inquires about the injury on Takina's face, and upon learning the truth, calls Fuki to express anger at her violent outburst.

Takina questions why Chisato isn't working at the DA, despite her renown as a top-tier Lycoris. Chisato simply states that she's their "problem child". The two get to work resolving a variety of small private sector errands as Chisato introduces her new partner to the work she performs at LycoReco. The nature of these tasks comes as a surprise to Takina, differing greatly from her usual responsibilities. Taking a break in the park, Chisato explains that their duty is simply to help people in their local community. Despite their differing philosophies on the role of a Lycoris, Chisato requests Takina to lend LycoReco her strength.

The pair later receive a task from Abe to obtain information from Saori Shinohara concerning her stalker. While waiting at a café, Chisato tells Takina about the DA's history of cover-ups and commits to getting her re-instated. After Saori's arrival, Chisato discovers she had unwittingly photographed an arms deal, surmising that her stalkers were in fact the criminals in the picture. As such, she recommends that the three of them stick together for the night. Takina and Saori go ahead while Chisato returns to café LycoReco. Upon her return, she finds Saori taken hostage, and Takina engaging the stalkers in combat. She reprimands her for her recklessness and emphasizes that she needs to value people's lives.

Chisato engages the stalkers, expertly dispatching the group without sustaining injury. Using a combination of gadgets, evasive maneuvers and non-lethal bullets, she avoids killing any of her opponents. She goes a step further and tends to the wounds of one of the stalkers, stating that her commitment to preserving the value of life extends even to her enemies. As such, she refuses to hand them over to the DA for fears that that they may be killed, opting to use a Cleaner instead.

Returning to Café LycoReco, she notes that tracking down the arms dealers before the DA could help net Takina her reinstatement. Shortly after, Shinji Yoshimatsu arrives at the establishment for the first time, and Chisato and Takina welcome him.

Movement Prediction
Chisato is a genius at predicting her opponent's next move. Utilising information such as the movement of muscles and clothing, a weapon's characteristics and ballistic properties, the shooter's line of sight and trigger finger position, she can time the perfect evasive maneuver or counterattack. Chisato also accounts for the experience of her opponents. Fuki surmised that the more precise the shooter, the easier it is for her to dodge. As shots become more consistent, they become more predictable. As such, she is even able to dodge projectiles at point blank range.

Athleticism
Chisato displays abnormally high levels of raw athleticism, with strength, stamina, agility and reaction times far surpassing even the top Lycoris at DA Headquarters. When completing her physical fitness test alongside Fuki, an A-rated 1st Lycoris, she far outperforms her peer with little exertion. She is also extremely physically resilient, being able to perform without compromise even after sustaining intense physical trauma.

First Aid
Per her committment to resolving conflicts non-lethally, Chisato is adept at quickly administering first aid to both allies and enemies in the battlefield. This includes quickly fashioning a tourniquet from scavenged materials to slow down blood loss.

Etymology

 * The name Chisato means "thousand" (千) and "bundle, bunch, sheaf, wad, coil, handbreadth" (束).
 * Chisato's surname Nishikigi means "brocade" (錦) and "tree, wood" (木).

Trivia

 * Chisato's pistol is confirmed to be based off of a real life airsoft gun, namely the Tokyo Marui Strike Warrior GBB. The gun itself is based on the Detonics Combatmaster, a modified version of the famous Colt Model 1911 pistol, with a specialized close-quarters combat muzzle attachment equipped. She uses non-lethal rounds which are narrated as rubber bullets in the anime, but having the visual effect of pepper spray projectiles. These rounds can also fit into Takina's pistol.