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Arei Houjou is one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside her brother Seigo) of the Astral Buddy manga series, a spin-off of A Certain Scientific Railgun.
She is a ninja of the Houjou clan and Level 2 esper who becomes a technical exchange student at Tokiwadai Middle School, being a 3rd-year student. Initially, she aids Iruka Yumiya in her scheme to abduct the 5th-ranked Level 5, Misaki Shokuhou, and use her as bait to lure Junko Hokaze. However, its revealed that she's actually working with Ayu Mitsuari and her older brother Seigo Houjou to resume the Ideal experiment.
Appearance[]
Arei is a young girl with red eyes and messy black hair which is tied in ponytai. Unlike most Tokiwadai students, Arei wears a jacket with the school's emblem instead of the typical uniform. Underneath, she wears her full body suit along with her skirt.
Personality[]
Arei Houjou is a very stoic and apathetic individual who doesn't express many emotions. However, she proves to be quite merciless and bloodthirsty in battle, as shown when savagely beated Komaki Makigami to the point where Iruka Yumiya was concerened that she was overdoing it. She also enjoys fighting opponents that she deems as strong, best seen when she fought Junko Hokaze, after she momentarily bested her and making her bleed from her nose. Arei is also rather manipulative, as she used Iruka as a pawn to gain data on Junko's Rampage Dress ability for Ayu Mitsuari.
Despite this, Arei is shown to have a tender side of herself, as she genuinely views Iruka as a friend and often shows concern for her well-being especially when it came to their plan against Junko and Misaki Shokuhou. She was even willing to fulfill Iruka's wishes of wanting people to admire Junko. It's revealed that Arei wished that Iruka that Iruka would take a different path than her and her boss, showing that she deeply cares for Iruka.
Furthermore, Arei greatly idolizes her older brother, Seigo, so much so that she willingly took part in his and Mitsuari's plans. She desperately yearns for her brother's approval. During her interactions with Seigo, Arei shows a cordial familial relationship, as she was mildly embarassed and flustered by her brother's teasing and care for her, even slightly blushed when she told him that she wasn't a child anymore.
Biography[]
While not much is known about her personal history, Arei is a kunoichi of the Houjou Family, a clan of ninjas who were largely wiped out years ago. She is the younger sister of Seigo Houjou, who went on to become a scientist and doctor who specializes in plastic surgery.
Before entering Tokiwadai Middle School, she belonged to another middle school. Despite being a Level 2 esper, Arei was allowed to enroll into Tokiwadai as a technical exchange student due to her highly specialized skills and abilities being equivalent to a Level 3.
Powers and Abilities[]
Powers[]
Whisper Bell: Arei's Level 2 esper ability which allows her to physically hear people's emotions around her as distinct tones. Thanks to some training, Arei is able to interpret the emotional sounds as locations, directions and distances in 3D space, allowing her to detect people via emotions such as hostility, even if they turn invisible and to read the opponent's moves even if they try to shift their timing, seeing through bluffs and feints due to reading the emotion behind the blows. Her ability also appears to give her some defense against possession, as Senya Yuuri failed to control her body during her second fight with Junko.
Abilities[]
Expert Combatant: Arei Houjou is a skilled ninja and is quite proficent in hand-to-hand combat. She was able to go toe-to-toe with Junko Hokaze, whose ability grants her superhuman strength and speed, and nearly bested her. She was also able to take on Kuroko Shirai, who was supported by Misaki Shokuhou. Arei proves to be quite agile, capable of outmanuvering her opponents.
Equipment[]
- Tools: Arei carries various tools/weapons, such as a kunai and vials that can be used to temporarily blind an opponent by throwing their contents to their eyes. She also carries drug injectors, which can be used to inject a drug that will keep a target asleep for several hours and a pain killer.
- Electric Potential Elastic Suit: A special type of skintight clothing Arei wears under her clothes which increases her physical strength and speed, allowing her to break through titanium bindings and break a tree in half.
- Hard Taping: Hard Taping is a type of special military-use ultrasonic wave elastic taping which is used in Powered Suits to give them their mobility and speed. It can be used directly in the human body to enhance and reinforce joints and muscles to gain increased speed and strength, while still allowing for the subtle and minute adjustments characteristic of a living being. However, without the safety devices present in Powered Suits the Hard Taping puts a heavy strain on the user's body. Combining a custom Hard Taping with her electric potential elastic suit increased Arei’s speed and strength to the point of overpowering a tired Junko Hokaze, forcing her to user her esper power to its full extent.
