Hime Yarizakura

Hime Yarizakura (槍桜 ヒメ, Yarizakura Hime) is a dragon yōkai and the mayor of Sakurashinmachi. As mayor she works together with the Hiizumi Life Counseling Office.

She is a main character in the Yozakura Quartet series.

Appearance
Hime is a female teenager of 161cm in height with light skin and red eyes. She has long, dark brown hair that reaches her lower back and falls in strands at the sides of her face.

Hime keeps a long scarf with both ends extending to the ground. The scarf consist of two oranges stripes across the top and bottom of the scarf and a large black strip down the middle. Though Hime may may wear many different sets of clothes, she is often not seen without her scarf.

Hime's winter uniform consists of a black, long-sleeve vest and a short grey skirt. The vest is buttoned and is worn over her white shirt with a green bow around her neck, which is covered by her scarf. Her legs are covered by black stockings with a line of orange at the top. She wears black boots that almost reach her knees.

Hime's summer uniform consist of a yellow sweater with no sleeve worn over a white short sleeved shirt. She retains the skirt, stockings, boots, and green tie from her winter uniform.

When in combat training, Hime wears a white kimono.

Her swimsuit consist of a two piece bikini held to gether by knots, with a frilled top piece.

Personality
Most of Hime beliefs stem from her grandmothers teachings. Hime is very devoted to her town and the people that inhabit it and goes to great efforts to ensure that the citizens enjoy living in Sakurashinmachi. She is very kind and forgiving, allowing many of her previous enemies to live in the town and refrains from killing. Hime will often put the needs of the town and its citizens before the needs of her own.

At times Hime can behave childish, crying for food and being too stubborn to backdown from her position. Despite this, Hime does acknowledge the mistakes she makes and does her best to resolve them.

Hime has a romantic interest in Akina and has kept the scarf he made for her when they were children, at all times since then. When she believed Akina by Enjin she was prepared to kill Enjin in retaliation going against her policy of no killing.

History
Hime was trained by her grandmother Machi Yarizakura in the ways of combat and how to act as mayor. At some point in time Hime was given a pair of good luck charms by her grandmother.

As a child, Hime had her youkai powers sealed away by Yae resulting in a large scar across the front of her neck. This upset Hime much and caused her to wonder about town crying. Akina, seeing Hime upset decided to knit a scarf for her so that she could hide her scar. Upon giving the scarf to Hime, Akina realized he had made it too long insisted on remaking it, but Hime insisted on keeping it it the way it is. Hime would grow to cherish the scarf as a gift from Akina and wear it where ever she went.

At some point in time Hime travelled with Juri to Okayama via train to find and help Kyosuke and Touka Kishi. Hime chased the siblings through the forest trying to tell them she means no harm. Kyosuke refused to listen and continued to run through the forest dragging his sister by the hand. Hime saw this hurting Touka and was able to catch Kyosuke and slap him. Hime chastised Kyosuke for doing more harm to his sister instead of protecting her and tells Kyosuke that in order to learn to protect others is to be protected by others. Hime offers the siblings a chance to live in Sakurashinmachi where they will be protected.

When Hime invited Touka and Kyosuke to live at her residence with her grandmother, Akina came to greet them and shook Touka's hand. Hime saw this and grabbed Akina's other hand in jealousy greeting him despite being already acquainted.

When Juli first arrived in Sakurashinmachi, Machi introduced her to Hime as older sister. Since then Juli has taken care of Hime, acting as her big sister.

After her grandmother was tuned, Hime became mayor and had Yae seal the memories of the townspeople about her being a youkai, so that she could view situations from both human and youkai perspectives.

Several years after, Kyosuke discussed with Hime about being her mayoral assistant. Hime told Kyosuke that she does not need an assistant and recommended that he go to college. Kyosuke refused and insisted on becoming her assistant.

Equipment
Lacrosse Stick: Hime carries around a lacrosse stick which she uses to swipe and whack objects.

Abilities
Enhanced Strength: As a youkai, Hime posses great strength surpassing that of regular humans. Hime has the ability to jump and land at great heights without getting injured.

Enhanced Durability: As a youkai, Hime is able to withstand more damage then regular humans. She is shown to be capable of deflecting bullets with her hands and fall from great heights with little injury. Hime is also able to recover from injuries at an enhanced rate, being able to rest for shorter periods of time than humans to recover from injuries.

Enhanced Speed & Reflexes: Hime is able run at high speeds, faster than vehicles such as Juli's ambulance. She possesses enhanced reflexes and is able to react to Enjin's near instantaneous movements.

Experienced Spear User: Having been trained at an early age, Hime is adept at using spears and other polearm like weapons.

Spear Techniques: Hime uses various spear techniques which are numbered by Stages (段).
 * 6th Stage - Kirin (六の段「麒麟」, Roku no dan Kirin): Hime slams her spear vertically downwards.
 * 9th Stage - Kumogiri (九の段「雲切」, Kyū no dan Kumogiri): Hime swing her spear horizontally with one arm at the target.
 * 14th Stage - Hikishi (十四の段「火消」, Jū yon no dan Hikeshi): Hime swing her spear upwards with both hands.
 * 18th Stage - Kumonoko (十七の段「蜘蛛丿子」, Jū hachi no dan Kumonoko): Hime jumps into the air and stabs downwards launching debris and creating a smokescreen.
 * 19th Stage - Ogumo (十九の段「大蜘蛛」, Jū kyū no dan Ōgumo): Hime stabs beneath the ground and launches it upwards, unravelling the ground onto her opponent.
 * 29th Stage - Hassai (二十九の段「八彩」, Nijūkyū no dan Hassai): Hime is seen using this in training. Its exact usage is unknown.
 * 47th Stage - Tenkai (四十七の段「天介」, Yon jū nana no dan Tenkai): Hime twirls her spear before striking forward.
 * 50th Stage - Getsuei (五十の段「月永」, Gojū no dan Getsuei): Hime slams her spear downards at her opponent.
 * 71st Stage - Chidori (七十一の段「千鳥」, Nana jūichi no dan Chidori): Holding her spear with one arm to extend its range, Hime stabs directly in front of her.
 * 72nd Stage - Namiuchi (七十二の段「波打」, Nana jūni no dan Namiuchi): Hime scrapes end of her spear across the ground and swings upwards.
 * 90th Stage - Kakoi (九十の段「囲」, Kujū no dan Kakoi): Hime strike the ground with her spear and uses it to do a flip.
 * Final Stage - Ohanabi (終の段「大花火」Shiyū no dan Ōhanabi): Hime spins around swinging her her weapon. When not using the Dragon Spear it causes her to spin around ineffectively and leaves her dizzy.

Dragon Pulse Manipulation: Hime is capable of manipulating the Dragon Pulse, an energy emitted from the earth. The energy can manipulated in various ways and used to enhance her abilities, increasing their power and range.
 * Dragon Spear Sakanade (龍槍 逆撫, Ryūsō Sakanade): Hime's primary youkai ability which allows her to manifest a spear of energy when attuned to the Dragon Pulse.
 * Bamboo Shoot (竹の子, Takenoko): Hime is able to manipulate the Dragon Pulse within the earth to shoot outwards. She can do this without being directly in contact with the ground.
 * Dragon Pulse Enhancements: Hime is able to encompass parts of her body with the Dragon Pulse increasing her power in various ways. By encompassing her hands with Dragon Pulse she is able to block powerful attacks with them. By using on her feet, Hime is able to enhance her speed. Using both, sllows her to easily climb and hold onto even flat surfaces.
 * Dragon Pulse Foothold: Hime is able to create footholds for her allies and presumably herself to stand on.

Appearances in Other Media

 * Hime appeared in the Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game KritiKa Online as part of a promotional collaboration for Yozakura Quartet: Hana no Uta. For a limited time, players would be able to aquire Hime as a costume for the Rogue class along with a Petit Hime cosmetic.