Kuroko Shirai (Tokiwadai Maid)

General

Shirai Kuroko (白井 黒子, Shirai Kuroko?) is a Level 4 esper and a student of Tokiwadai Middle School, as well as a member of Judgment. She can usually be found accompanying the third-ranked Level 5 esper Misaka Mikoto — her best friend, partner, and roommate. Though a minor character in Toaru Majutsu no Index, she gets a starring role alongside Mikoto in the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun sidestory.

Etymology

The name Shirai Kuroko is quite interesting because it contains both the meanings of "white" and "black". The family name "Shirai“ (kanji: 白井) can be literally interpreted as "white" plus "(water) well"; while the given name "Kuroko" (kanji: 黒子) is more interesting: as a name, it can be interpreted as the stem "Kuro-" (meaning "black") plus the suffix "-ko" - which is commonly seen in Japanese female names (other examples include Saten Ruiko and Kongou Mitsuko); while not used as a name, the term "kuroko" means stagehands in traditional Japanese theater, who dress all in black. These literal meanings of Kuroko's name have been referenced several times in the franchise: In Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Episode 02, when Misaka Mikoto gets angered at Kuroko about the "computer parts", she says, "I'm going to char you as black as your name." In one clip in Toaru Majutsu no Index-tan Episode 02, a shadowy figure, who dresses all in black, carries Index-tan into the scene. This figure is an apparent reference to "kuroko" (the stagehands). Also, the two tawny ponytails extruding from the two sides of the top of this "kuroko" reminds us of Shirai Kuroko - another apparent pun on her name. Kuroko's character song is titled Desu no! White & Black.

Appearance

Kuroko is a girl with tawny hair tied into two wavy pigtails; the rest of her hair is left to hang as two rows of fringes divided in the middle. Her pigtails are tied in place by a red bow each. Her hair is naturally wavy and as such needs to get a straight perm for it. With 152 cm she isn't very big and with a flat chest her appearance is the usual appearance of an average girl at her age. As per ruling of both Academy City and Judgment, she wears the uniform of Tokiwadai Middle School and the Judgment armband though the latter only during on duty. On her thighs, she secures a pair of black straps where she stores the metal spikes used to secure criminals.

Personality Part 1

Kuroko can be described as a "girl living in the future". She is used to the world 30 years from now portrayed by Academy City and is ignorant to the customs that present-day Japan still practices, like the "love umbrella", which students usually use to link their names to the name of their crush, and the conventional technology outside Academy City. Aside from being a girl with a modernistic outlook, she can also be blunt when giving her opinions, and this has caused her to be at odds with Uiharu once. Another distinguishing characteristic of Kuroko is her feelings of romantic love towards Mikoto. In the ongoing Railgun manga her affections appear to be genuine and that she is truly in love with Mikoto. She even allows herself to get severely hurt in order to do what she can to help Mikoto. She is regarded as Mikoto's best friend. Although usually laid-back and friendly, Kuroko portrays determination and confidence in her own abilities when she encounters enemies, even to those whom she knows is more powerful than herself. To her credit, she is an honorable girl who keeps her word, is kind to children, and shares with Mikoto and Touma the same ironclad sense of justice that makes neither of them ever back down in the face of adversity. According to a particular rumor concerning her and Mikoto: "There's this horrifying teleporter in Judgment who'll tear apart your body and soul if she catches you...and there's another that rules over even that teleporter's body and soul - the strongest Electromaster," although Kuroko had no knowledge of this rumor until a robber she took down told her about it. Kuroko can be close-minded at times refusing to believe in urban legends without any concrete evidence and even then it will still take some time for Kuroko to accept it.

Personality Part 2

Examples include the boy with the power to make other powers stop working, despite knowing him personally and it was not until when she saw the effects of the Level Upper that she began to suspect it and even than it was only after seeing it a considerable amount of times. Kuroko doesn't seem to like the idea of Gemstones, believing that such a phenomenon couldn't be possible without the Power Curriculum Program. In her Japanese conversations, Kuroko has the habit of ending the determinative sentences with the auxiliary word "ですの" (desu-no), instead of "です" (desu) in standard Japanese language. This can be seen as her unique label in Toaru franchise. For example, Kuroko's catchphrase: " ジャッジメントですの！" (pronunciation: Jajjimento desu-no! meaning: I am Judgement! or This is Judgement!). This is also shown in her character song Desu no! White & Black.

Background

Not much is known about her past before entering Tokiwadai Middle School, but her family ran a major chain of convenience stores. A year before she entered the prestigious Tokiwadai Middle School, Kuroko joined Judgment, a special public committee group whose duty is to maintain peace and order in Academy City. The first major case she handled (along with Uiharu Kazari and Konori Mii) was the arrest of a bank robber who can use the esper ability Equal Speed. Despite her young age, she stood up to the much older esper and was beaten up in the process, although a particular bolt of lightning saved her from imminent danger. At another point in the first half of that year, having achieved Level 3 at the time and obtained the qualifications necessary to enter Tokiwadai (which she had discussed with her father about), Kuroko encountered Sha Danshan, the leader of the school's then-top clique, while on duty. During the encounter, under the guise of doing Kuroko's hair, Sha stole one of Kuroko's hair pins, in order to reproduce Kuroko's ability through her own ability later. In the April of the story's first year, Kuroko enrolls into Tokiwadai Middle School. She later falls in love with Misaka Mikoto, calling her "Onee-sama" (big sister), and then forces her way into her dorm, evicting Mikoto's roommate. The both of them later get punished for this act, but Kuroko stays as her roommate regardless.

Abilities Part 1

Teleport Her ability is Teleport (空間移動能力者, Kūkan Idō (Terepōto) Nōryokusha?, lit. "Space Manipulation User") because of this. Such an ability allows her to teleport herself and anything in her possession a certain distance in the blink of an eye. In volume 8 it is stated that her powers do have limits, being able to transport a total weight of 130.7 kilograms, to a distance of 81.5 meters from herself. It was revealed in Volume 3 of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga that before she went to Tokiwadai Middle School, she could teleport objects and other people, but not herself. She was eventually able to teleport herself sometime after enrolling in Tokiwadai. Not only is she able to teleport objects inside designated targets, allowing her to "throw" the darts she carries on her thighs with perfect accuracy, but she can also change their resulting orientation, shown when she teleported a standing Uiharu above a standing Mikoto such that their heads would collide. One disadvantage of her power is that she has to concentrate on where she, the object(s), and/or person she holds will be teleported to, while working out the spatial co-ordinates of jumping between 3-dimensional and 11-dimensional space, so any disturbance in her concentration will render her powers useless, as demonstrated in her fight against Sherry Cromwell. According to Kouzaku Mitori there is a one second lag when consecutively using her power in fights leaving her vulnerable in that one second interval before teleporting again. The one second teleportation lag is not referenced in the anime, due to Kuroko's teleportations only have delays up to a minimum of 0.4 seconds, obviously seen where she teleports Keitz and Misaka 10032 and then teleports quickly again when she gets attacked by Kouzaku's shadow puppet, with a delay of approx. 0.4 seconds.

Abilities Part 2

Other abilities Aside from her esper ability, Kuroko mainly relies on the skills she learned from training, which emphasizes throws and take-downs that compensate for her small size. Kuroko specifically focuses on drop kicks. Although usually displayed and used as comedy relief, Kuroko even displays a strong constitution, surviving constantly shocks from Mikoto, having her neck dislocated by the Dorm Supervisor, repeatedly pounding her head on solid objects in fits of either rage or terror or stupidity. Kuroko can use a handgun, as part of her Judgment training. However, she has difficulty with other kinds of guns, and may waste a shot on something harmless if it catches her by surprise. Equipment In addition to her darts, Kuroko carries small ball-shaped handheld devices made to interfere with listening devices for security purposes. She uses these to deafen the echolocation of Kouzaku's Liquid Shadow puppet. During the October 4th Park Fire, Kuroko wears a monocle and mouthpiece-type gas mask.